Signs of obsession – three new needlefelt pieces.

July 10, 2015 by theresamartinart 11 Comments

Detail of 913

913 6″ x 26″

One definition of obsession is consuming passion and it takes that kind of passion to hand needle felt large sections of felt “cloth”. I find the process meditative and enjoyable.

All three new pieces featured here have large hand felted backgrounds with hand embroidery, beading and iron on transfers.

Detail of Star Halo The round dark circle at the lower right is my camera lens which unfotunatley shows up on the mirrored surface.

Star Halo has a needle felted background with an iron on transfer. I used Lesley Riley’s Transfer Artist Papers (TAP) which worked beautifully to make the transfer onto the wool felt. Beads and hematite stars make up the halo. The base, an old beat up tin tile, came from a salvage building material supply place. The tile has thick silver paint which is rubbed off in areas and it inspired the idea of the rubbed and scratched mirror. The blue vintage hand pull was colored with Swellegant, which is a dye oxide for making a patina on metal.

Star Halo 9″ x 14″

915 15″ x 23″  915 has a bit of a starry night swirl thing going on.

 

Detail of 915 The iron on transfer on the wool felt leaves some areas looking rubbed away, which gives the photo a feeling of being gently time worn.

The needle felting is done with a large Clover Mat brush and a five needle pen style tool. Here is a short video to show the process of needle felting which will you give you an idea of the “obsession” needed to make these larger pieces.

This video shows a man making beads instead of cloth, but the process is demonstrated very well in the video.

What is your obsession? What do you find meditative and enjoyable?