Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Recurring dream

There are a couple of recurring felt dreams that I have had over the past 10 years, one was the needle felt hat forms 10 years ago. About 6 years ago I had the opportunity to spend about half an hour really looking at, studying, inhaling the sensual colors an incredible piece of stained glass at the Kalamazoo Museum.

That night the dreams began about making felt with stained glass in it, with light shining through so that they could both be enjoyed. Now, usually I am pretty quick to jump on an idea that I have, but this one needed time to "just float". It was not something that I wanted to enter into quickly, mess up, or get frustrated with. This is only a small portion of the piece I started to day. I will no doubt have to work on it more in the next few days. It is many layers thick. Since I cannot roll the piece, I am quite literally doing it all by hand; so much so that the skin is peeling off of the palms of my hands. I had to stop before I could felt it all the way down to the finished stage. I wanted to get a bit of sample done today because my hope is to incorporate these elements together into my piece for Felt United, Oct 2, 2010.

This photo was taken at night, so it is difficult to show you that the light does shine though. The fiber has been cut away on both sides of the felt so that the wonderful colors of the stained glass can shine though. Now that I've started this idea, so many more are coming. So many ideas, so little time!

I think a lamp shade with felt and stained glass could be stunning. Does that give anyone else an idea?

Not much more for today. Heat, humidity and felting have done me in for the day.
Sleep well, dream well
Shalom
Suzanne

5 comments:

Licho_Nie_Spi said...

I made something similar with shells. It's hard to do it, skin on hands is peeled and become red. It was hard to roll either. I want to do a piece with mirror and I know that it will be time-eating, but result is worth!:)
Beautiful felt you made and glass within is stunning!

Hooked On Felt said...

Licho Nie Spi
I went through so much bubble wrap trying to protect my hands, but in the end, needed the warmth of my hands to get it to full further. I am going to give it a rest and then start it finish it on Friday. Today, I'll just work on something not as stressful for my hands. I'd love to see what you do with the mirrors. I've used the small circle mirrors in the past with decent results. I hope the same for you.
Shalom,
Suzanne

Becky Utecht said...

Suzanne, you are such an inspiration! I love your idea, sorry it's so hard on your hands though.

Joan Kirton said...

I like the idea of light shining through the stain glass....It looks lovely. We are just coming out of winter down under. During the cold weather my felt would chill very quickly,so I kept it warm by using a hot Iron over a wet towel...it really accelerated the felting process. Cheers Joan

krex said...

beautiful effect .I often drift off to sleep with images of what I want to make with felting, usually needle felt but have always wanted to use some of my life time of rock collecting to incorporate an old love with a new one . Wishing you loads of luck making this dream into reality .