Adventures in Fiber

I have said previously that my primary goal is to be in balance within myself  and with the world around me, and for me, listening to Spirit and working with my hands keeps me in balance.  I am so happy when I am creating something that is three dimensional that I can actually hold in my hand.  Color and texture are inspirational and what can be created is only limited by imagination.

How it started:

Several years ago I encountered needle felting for the first time.  If you are not familiar with needle felting (lots of people are not),  needle felting is a process of interlocking wool fibers with a long, very sharp, barbed needle.  For this process you use short fiber wool roving as in wool that has been washed, possibly dyed and carded but not spun into yarn.  The wool is in a soft billowy state.  As you run the felting needle through the wool, the fibers catch on the barbs and the fibers start interlocking making the wool tighter and firmer.  This process can be used several ways.  You can do a flat piece like a wall hanging, embellish clothing or actually create a three dimensional fiber sculpture.  I am creating sculptures with a single needle and wool roving.

How the craft takes over:

Working with the fiber to create original dolls, animals and fantasy creations have become a passion for me.  I now work on eggs during the day in the studio and work on felting in the evening in our "media room"  (my son's old bedroom).  The "media room) has now become my needle felting studio and is packed with stacks of plastic tubs holding the massive amount of wool that I have collected.  Wool is dyed in many wonderful colors and combinations of colors and I just keep adding to the collection......because you never know when you will need that exact color.  I have thought about dying my own, but so much of our house/studio is dedicated to art, there just isn't any room to add another process.

I have found some wonderful suppliers who have everything you could possibly want in the way of roving.  My tow favorites are Living Felt and Opulent Fibers, although I often peruse through suppliers on Easy as well.  There are some wonderful things out there.
 
As with all the things that I create, I approach needle felting with the same intention and connection to Spirit.  Some of my little Goddess figures even contain a packet similar to what goes into the eggs.I put all the "medicines" onto a piece of roving, felt it into a little oval shape and then felt the figure around that.  There are bigger figures that are suitable  for putting on an altar, or to be used as a talking stick at a women's circle.  "Please Pass the Goddess".  There are also little goddess figures that I call "Pocket Goddess"  that hold prayers, come in a little silk bag with a certificate listing what is inside.  It's a sweet gift.                   Pacha Mama-Earth Mother..............

All my figures, animals land dolls are original, one of a kind, fiber sculptures.  The designs are totally my own creations.  Lately I have had a passion for creating Dragons and have been working on an Elemental series.  So far I have done Earth, Fire and Water Dragons and still have Air Dragon to do.  It has been a challenge figuring out how to create them and the Air Dragon is the biggest challenge yet.  So watch for the Air Dragon to be coming soon..........Fingers Crossed!!!!!
Here's the Fire Dragon.

One of the most recent dragons was created while at Oregon Country Fair.  The wool was purchased there from a vendor at the fair.  I like to sit and work on a project while people go by.  Such interesting conversations from all sorts of people.  Little kids like to watch and hope that you might give it to them, grown men stopped because they were intrigued by the stabbing motion of the needle and fellow crafter/artists stopped just to visit and investigate a new
craft.  Lots of Waldorf folks (Waldorf schools teach felting) pointed out the needle felting to their kids, hopefully, to give them inspiration.  It was fun and the dragon turned out well.  I gave him a crystal point to hold.  He is pictured at the beginning of this blog.


The Adventure Expands:

After needle felting for a couple years, I started to experiment with wet felting.  Wet felting is a process that interlocks fibers using soapy water and agitation.  Learning this process has enabled me to expand what I am able to create.  Some of the dragons have wet felted wings and some of the doll's clothing is at least partially wet felted.  Lately, I have been creating felted fascinators, hats and headbands.  Take a peek at a couple fascinators........     Yummy!













That's it for now.
Love Light and Laughter to All
Margaret Joyce