Below the surface

This piece was inspirered by the felt united theme of water and the ideas conjured up by the word drift. Many things floated into my head when I was contemplating what to make and I do not know why this idea came to the top

I wanted to imagine the water lily pads which look so beautiful and peaceful with their quiet regular overlapping shapes, from the underneath. I had seen a beautiful pool in the Netherlands in spring of this year.

But I was also reminded of something I saw many years ago where a swimmer was picking beautiful water lily flowers , by swimming in the pond and holding the blooms in his teeth.

I also thought it would be a way of trying out the technique of felting I learned from Miriam Verbeek at Feltfull 2013. Here you needle felt the fibres into your fabric, making a new feltable fabric that can be cut into complex shapes, which in turn can be joined together. Perfect for water lily pads.

Here's my sketched idea and a sample , alongside by needle felted felt fabric made from some home dyed cotton lawn and merino fibres , ready for cutting.

Having made all the individual lily pads I felted it into a single piece . It is about 1 metre long.langamL

After felting I stitched some small beads for the bubbles that I think must be there? As usual I had not really at the start decided how I would display when I started, but I knew it needed to to free, drifting. I choose in the end to back it with a clear blue sky mounted on canvas stretcher bars.

The finished piece will be on display as part of the drift exhibition organized by Lagom Felt Studio in Crieff Scotland.

 

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