EDITING MY INVENTORY

After 5 years with gallery space at Woolworth Walk, downtown Asheville, NC, I'm adjusting my current inventory in order to make room for more work and to obtain a more uniform appearance.

I was on the wool/embellishing wool band wagon before there was a parade.  MY book "Embellishing With Felted Wool" was published by C & T in 2008. Working with felted wool will always be a style I favor, however it doesn't quite fit with the look of my current display space.

So.....I've decided to greatly reduce the prices on all remaining pieces.  They can be viewed at my online gallery:  https://marystorishop.blogspot.com    Scroll down to the Wool section and see if any of the pieces might interest you.  They are all prepared for hanging and carefully finished on the back side.

Examples can be seen below.

Printed by Nature - 14" x 28"  - Botantical printed wool felt, embellished by thread work.

Furrows - 13" x 11.5" - Resist dyed felted wool, bead and thread embellished.

Impressions - 12" x 11" - Resist dyed wool, bead and thread embellished

CAN'T LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE

My previous post showed 4 new wet felted vessels......two were kinda plain Jane's.  Of course they were lovely as is....but the embellishment itch that will probably remain with me forever had to be scratched. 

Before

                                                      After

After adding a piece of sea glass

KEEPING BUSY

 This is what I do between creating art quilts.....small items help cover the cost of having a gallery space...and those purchases I'm just as grateful for as the big ones....well....almost!

4 - small felted folded mono-printed baskets.

4 - wet felted vessels

FELTED BASKETS

GOSH.....I've had two days of fun making folded baskets from my mono-printed and shibori hand-dyed wool felt.  Like so many fiber techniques, it's far more time consuming then it appears it might....but for me it's enjoyable.

NEW WOOLFELT COLORS

I've been singing the praises of National Nonwoven's Woolfelt for years.  They keep generating new yummy colors and happily the availability of this product has just increased as Hobby Lobby will now be carrying it.

For those who might not be familiar with it, know it's a far cry from the thin, poly craft felt so often seen in craft and big box fabric stores.  WoolFelt Style -TOY022 is 35% wool (for stability & loft) and 65% rayon which helps to provide such great color, over 100 of them!  It's easy to cut and handle and best of all the edges do not ravel.  A big thumbs up!

CONTINUING ON.....ECO-PRINTED NOTEBOOK COVERS

My adventures into notebook cover making continues........

I returned home from my recent Arizona 'girlfriend' art camp with numerous eco-printed wool pieces.  Funny how strongly they were calling me to be turned into book covers.

It was a bit more challenging to work with this denser material.  Not surprising, I found it so much easier to create in a larger format, rather than the 

4 1/2" x 3 1/4" mini books.

Some of my large collection of Ultra-suede scraps I've been hoarding for years were utilized for the spines, flap trim, and tie closures.  Hummm.....am I done yet? Perhaps not.....now my indigo-dyed wool fabrics are waving at me.

FELT-WOOL MINI-NOTEBOOK COVERS

My wet felting wool supplies are now packed up as I shift my attention to making notebook covers.

Here's a look at one of the newest bowls that will be added to my inventory for sale.  My generous SIL gave me a nice collection of sea glass she'd gathered in her younger days along the shores of Lake Michigan where she grew up.  I've found them to be the perfect accent for these organic vessels.

The recent dive into making mini-notebook covers led me to eyeing a stack of felted wool fabrics that had been altered during the many Fiber Junkies play days.  This one features painted pine needle impressions.  The spine was made from an ice-dyed piece of bamboo/rayon felt.

This winter the FJ's worked with paint quite a lot.....printing fabrics with all sorts of tools and techniques.  As is often the case, I work with felted wool....which can be challenging due to the texture of the material. The marbled appearance of two of them was derived from a shaving cream printing session we had a couple of months ago.

Next I'll be digging into my stash of eco-printed felted wool....hoping I can find some pieces suitable for covers!

FELTED COASTERS

Sometimes after completing a brain teaser quilt, it's enjoyable to switch gears....  These coasters are new additions for my space at Woolworth Walk, downtown Asheville.

Despite being fairly putsy to make, they are good sellers.  For whatever reason the colors are not very true.....both sets are far brighter, bolder.....

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop, Whoop Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts.

FELTED POUCHES

The fun continues.....my hand wet-felted/ice-dyed wool yields various sizes of embellished pouches.  Available in space 235 - Woolworth Walk, Asheville, NC 

UP TO MY ELBOWS

The marathon wet felting continues...with vases and votive candle holders rolling out.  My fingers are wrinkled, my arms are sore, but there's a big smile on my face.....this is fun!

VOTIVE HOLDERS - FELTING FRENZY

My fingers have not be clicking away on my keyboard....yet, they aren't idle! My hands are vigorously manipulating wool fibers as I continue to replenish my inventory of felted votive candle holders.  

Here two (far left and far right) are glowing with battery operated votive candles that come with the purchase of each one.

I expect I'll continue to be quiet here for a bit as the marathon felting continues.  It's fun, but suprisingly time consuming in order to make them thin enough for the light source but hardy enough to hold their shape.

WET FELTING NEW SHAPES

My plate has become quite full right now.....not exactly over-committed, but getting there!  So rather than frustrate myself with big projects that require more studio time than I have, I'm enjoying experimenting with wet felting.  The goal is to develop some new shapes for my votive candle holder inventory.  

They are sold at Woolworth Walk, downtown Asheville, NC and in my online gallery.

WOOL DRINK COASTERS

This is certainly not a subject to complain about.....so don't consider this whining, rather it's an observation about how fabrics multiply...they do don't they?!?

 I've been tripping over several bins and additional piles of felted wool for months.  To keep some semblance of order, smaller pieces and scraps are retained in separate bins.  This stuff is expensive so I'm not throwing it out!!  Yet, finding purposes that don't venture too far into 'craft' descriptions has not come easily. 

So, I set about creating drink coasters as a way to utilize both big and small pieces.  Naturally wading through all those bins took time, as did coordinating the pieces to attractively fit a 4.5" square without waste was time consuming as well. In the end, I'm pleased with my results.......

Check out these blogs to view the work other artists accomplished this week.  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, and Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday, 
SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

PRINTED BY NATURE - WOOL WALL ART

.....Continued from previous post - piece now complete.

 PRINTED BY NATURE  - 14" x 28"

AVAILABLE HERE

Eco-printed leaves on ice-dyed wool, machine quilted.

Prepared for hanging but can also be a table runner.

DETAIL

INDECISION

Oh my.....talk about indecision.....I wasted most of my day in the studio switching back and forth with ideas that just didn't seem to jell....then boldly making matters worse with impulse trimming.  Big sigh......

 After making a pile of note cards the other day that utilized my eco-printed hand-made papers.....I moved on to work with a half dozen felted pieces that had also been printed.  Initially one was to be the focus of a piece of ice-dyed felt, mounted on a canvas covered frame.

 That began by trimming both pieces.

 .....then foolishly trimming again.  Next, way too much time was spent auditioning some embellishments. That's where it all came to a screeching dead end.  Truly nothing worked.

 Finally accepting defeat.....I trimmed even further.....and used it to decorate a felted basket that I made with the ice-dyed base fabric......

Hey, sometimes ya gotta just move on!

PRINTED BY NATURE - WALL ART

 .....continued from previous post......the piece has now been completed.

PRINTED BY NATURE  14" X 28" 

AVAILABLE HERE

Eco-printed leaves on ice-dyed wool, machine quilted.

Prepared for hanging but could easily become a table runner.

Detail

NEW FELTED WOOL PIECES

Now that the weather requires 'housekeeping' inside and OUT.....studio time may be a bit more limited as 'the husband's' recovery continues, now 6 months post-surgery!  Yikes....I realize now just how out of shape I am!

Happily....we've been having some rainy weather....allowing me some studio time to create a few more baskets and small cases for my shop.  The felted wool features ice-dyeing, mon-printing, needle felting, and screen printing.

FUN WITH RESIST DYED FELTED WOOL

Uninterrupted studio time has been abbreviated lately....however with short sessions here and there a new small piece was born.

A small piece of resist-dyed wet felted wool, paired with National Nonwoven's 70/30 wool felt......

.........a couple of hours of hand embroidery......plus machine stitching.....

IMPRESSIONS - 12" X 11"   © 2017 

AVAILABLE HERE

Resist dyed felted wool, hand embroidered, beaded, machine quilted.

Detail

After concentrating on patchwork lately, it was a pleasure to spend time working with felt and slow stitching. 

MORE WET FELTED ITEMS

I've been busy.......just added more wet felted votive holder sets and bowls to my online shop.  Here are just a few examples.....click here  to see the current inventory.

Take some time to see what other artists have been doing this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday,  Sarah's Whoop, Whoop Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts.