I’ll put up a dedicated blog post to how felting works at some point, but to summarize for those who don’t know, to needle felt you stab a ball (or any other shape) of wool many hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of times with a special needle to compress the wool into shape. The needles themselves have little barbs in them, like inverted fish hooks, that allow them to catch the fibers and tangle them together when you stab the wool. Here are some of my tools:

To create my Sky Whale, just like with any other sculpture, I started off with a basic shape around the general size of what I wanted the finished piece to be. I chose to make his core a different color as well because I have quite a bit of it and rather less of the colors I wanted him to appear. This first picture is right after I felted the giant ball of fluff into shape. Next time I will try to get a photo of the amount of fleece I use before starting. You have use a bigger puff of fleece than what you want as the final size since it compresses so much. The ball of fleece I started with this time was rather unwieldy!

After I have the basic shape, I then start to build up and define it. When I use a separate core color I only build it up to a certain point because I’ll be covering it with another color and don’t want it to end up too large or for the core color to show through. I left the tip of the tail poofy so I would be able to create a strong joint when adding the tail.

Time for the first experiment! I imagined my Sky Whale with a mottled skin of blues, purples, and greens, with bits of bright sparks of starlight. The only way to achieve that was to card many different colors of fleece together. I’ve blended wool before, but trying to get something mottled appearing was new. I’ve discovered it’s actually very easy if you are using more than one texture of wool! The base blue and red colors were wool roving, which is smooth and has all the fibers going in one direction. Blending two rovings together generally creates a very smooth, even blend. The mottling colors of green, purple, and cyan were batting, which wasn’t smooth at all. Bits of the wool clumped together and the fibers went in all directions. It was perfect for creating the blobs of color spread throughout the base color. It was really fun learning to use the different textures to their best advantage.

In this picture you can see the pile of all the fleece colors waiting to be blended by combing them on one side of the brushes and the resulting blend on the other. It was really quite satisfying to mix them.

While I was carding the fleece, Jude was busy sneaking into my box of wool.

Lilith found it highly amusing to bat at Jude through the plastic, which annoyed him, especially since the racket alerted me to the intruder in the wool.

Once I chased the cats out of my wool and finished blending the color I wanted to use for his skin I started applying it to the core.

After that I created a second blend for the belly color and refined the shape even more. I also defined the tail a little.

Now came the hard part and the real experimenting began! I wanted to create feathery fins, but I wasn’t quite sure how to achieve it. I could felt every feather, but that would have been very time-consuming and I didn’t think it was possible to securely felt them to a thin fin without it getting over felted and cutting off. I thought perhaps I could wet felt a swatch of material and cut them out, so I got some of my blue fleece and made my first wet felted swatch!

To wet felt wool, you crisscross layers of fiber and then get it wet with hot water, add a little soap, and then agitate it. This causes the fibers to felt together. I was surprised at how easy it was and how quickly the felt came together as compared to needle felting. Here I have my square of layered fibers in a pan between some bubble wrap and tulle. I then got it wet and soapy and rubbed it against the bubble wrap and tulle, like you would rub a balloon on someone’s head to cause their hair to stand up.

Here is the resulting swatch of felt.

I then cut it into strips and started covering the strips with the skin color. Unfortunately it didn’t work out the way I was expecting and it was labor intensive to cover the strips.

At this point Lilith made it clear I’d paid enough attention to the “wet stuff” and she would not be ignored any longer.

After I’d appeased the hellion I decided I’d try felting the whole fin and cutting the feathers into it. Since I’d been able to cut the swatch of wet felted fabric into strips without it fraying the way a needle felted swatch would, I was optimistic that if I wet felted the whole wing it would stay together after I cut the feathers. First I loosely felted the basic wing shape out of the blue fleece and covered it with some of the skin color. Then I got the whole thing wet and soapy and proceeded to wet felt it.

It worked splendidly! After drying the felt with a hair dryer, I cut strips into the wing, then refined the edges by needle felting it. I also added some more skin color as the wet felting had caused it to blend more and lose some of the mottling. Here you can see one feathered fin and one fin before I cut the strips into it. The ends are loose so that I can firmly attach them to the body of the whale.

The tail of the sky whale was a little more tricky because I had to felt it directly on the body instead of adding it like the wings. Here’s the basic shape needle felted in the blue roving, which gives it the stability when wet felted.

And here’s the top part of the tail after it’s been covered in the skin color and wet felted, you can see how much more dense and sharp edged it’s become.

This is the bottom, which is the same teal color as the belly. I did the same for the wings.

Here is the tail after I cut in the feathers and refined the edges. Getting them both wings and sides of the tail as symmetrical as possible involved quite a bit of trimming!

Now I had the wings and tail finished, so there was just the dorsal fin left. I ended up using the few “feathers” I’d made with the strips of wet felted fabric, so they didn’t go to waste! Here is the whale after I attached all his appendages. He’s almost done! It was really nice to see him come together all at once.

I defined his mouth and added the seed bead eyes, but when I looked at him, there was just something…missing. He didn’t have enough spark. That one thing to make him really stand out was missing. By this time It was around 5:45am since I was working under a deadline of 12noon. I actually called him done and started taking his “portraits”, but the missing something kept bugging me. After trying and discarding a few ideas I realized he didn’t have enough contrasting stars! I grabbed some yellow wool and started adding little sparks of light all over. Here you can see his size in relation to my hand and the first couple yellow stars I’d added.

After adding a bunch of yellow sparks, he was finally complete! What a handsome fellow if I do say so myself. He was so much fun to create and I enjoyed learning all the new techniques. He also taught me to never ignore that niggling feeling that something is missing!

You can see details shots of him as well as a photo-manipulation of him in space here!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my process. If you have any questions about it or any of the techniques, leave a comment! I love chatting about felting.

**Update**
Vincent made it onto the shortlist of February Tale art for the Calendar of Tales Project! Wow! I’m so excited!!

May you travel long and well among the stars!
- Jülz

He’s 100% wool, no wire or filler, though he does have seed bead eyes. He was so much fun to make and quite challenging too, since the fins/wings required some experimentation and new techniques. I’m going to put up a “making of” post to talk about the creation process, (now found here) but for now I just want to enjoy the fact that he’s finished! And share all his detail shots with you of course.  I really love the way his face came out, it makes me smile!

Excuse the moon, but I really like this angle to show the way his fins curve.

Here is his wingspan. I should have stuck a ruler in there for perspective, but he’s 12″ from wingtips to tail-tip as well as across. His body is 9″ and the tail-span is 7″. He’s the largest thing I’ve felted yet! I’ll definitely be felting more larger items though, they have such a presence.

It’s been really dreary out, so I haven’t been able to take a nice “portrait” of him outdoors, plus, when I read Neil’s story I imagined the place where “the skies and seas are one” as an amalgamation of the ocean, sky, and space, so I give you this photo-manipulation. It was fun experimenting and learning new techniques to make a space scene too. All around making Vin was quite educational.

**Update**
Vincent made it onto the shortlist of February Tale art for the Calendar of Tales Project! Wow! I’m so excited!!

I would love to hear what you think of him, so leave me a comment below!
- Jools

PS. You can now view the making of Vincent here!

If you haven’t heart about it Neil Gaiman has teamed up with Blackberry to make this amazing collaborative art project. It started off with Neil asking 12 questions, one for each month of the year, on twitter. He then chose his favorite responses and wrote 12 short stories. The stories have now been released and artists can submit their work to illustrate these stories. Once submission closes, Neil will again choose his favorites and the project will continue, eventually leading to a book among other things. You can find out more about the project here.

I read through the tales and chose two of the images that left the biggest impressions on my mind to turn into artwork to submit. Here are the concepts for what I’m hoping to create.

February Tale:

“Only when my great-niece was gone and I was alone, did I swim upward, letting
the pendant pull me home, up into the vastness above us, where we wander with
the lonely sky-whales and the skies and seas are one.” [1]

I adore the idea of sky-whales! This guy swam … flew … swew?… into my head and I knew I wanted to bring him to life with my wool sculpture. I am really eager to felt him. I’ve felted a narwhal before, but I want this guy to have feathery fins, so that will be something new for me. I’m looking forward to experimenting with different techniques.
.

July Tale:

“I built an igloo out of books in my back yard….When I went outside I observed that someone had covered the whole world with books: pale-covered books, all shades of white and blue and purple. I wandered the ice-floes of books…I saw the shadows of the bears before I saw the bears themselves: huge they were, and pale, made of the pages of fierce books: poems ancient and modern prowled the ice floes in bear-shape filled with words that could wound with their beauty. I could see the paper, and the words winding across them…” [2]

This story caught really my attention. I immediately wanted to build an igloo out of mini handmade books. I also want to make a papier-mâché polar bear out of the pages of old books. I wish I could think of a way to make the words wind around the bear and move like in the story; I think to pull that off it would have to be digital though.

I only have 14 days until the deadline, so I don’t know that I will have the time to make both projects. I am planning on felting the sky-whale first. If I can finish him quickly I’ll make a start on the bear.

I would love to hear what you think. Which idea is your favorite? If you’ve read the stories, which story was your favorite? Will you submit any art to the project? If so, be sure to comment with a link to your work so I can check it out!
Have a wonderful night!
- Joules

Today I have been running behind and I didn’t have time to finish writing the post I was planning to put up, so instead I give you, Jereth, The Goblin King! He’s highly unimpressed with this world, but he’s so adorable when perturbed. I’ll brave his wrath to stick him in here. I suppose I should sleep with one eye open in case any of his gremlins come try to snatch me into the Labyrinth tonight.

If you don’t know, the character is from the movie Labyrinth and is played by David Bowie. It’s a great movie (if you like fantasy, muppets, and Bowie, but who doesn’t?) and one of my favorites.

Check back on Thursday for a post about taking your dreams seriously and let me know if he made you smile!
- Joules

Have a raven… or he’ll have you’re heart!
(to view larger, go here)

I am not a fan of the commercialism of Valentines Day, and since it’s a Singles Awareness Day for me, it’s mostly just another day this year. However, I wanted to create something to share with somebody, but what? I decided I’d make a Valentines for all my readers, watchers, and followers, but I didn’t want to make something pink or cutesy or kitschy. In fact, I wanted to do the opposite, I wanted to create something darker, especially because love has its dark underbelly that the Hallmark cards never talk about.

Now I had a direction, but still didn’t know what I wanted to create. I thought perhaps I could felt an anatomical heart, but to make one that would satisfy me would take more time than I had at the moment. Perhaps I could use my drawing of one? No, I wanted to create something new…

I was pretty stumped until this guy flew into my head! One he was embedded on my neurons he was very cooperative since he managed to get through my hand and onto the digital page without any fuss and came out exactly as I had envisioned, which is a rare, but extremely pleasant occurrence!

His name is Poeykeats, which is both a play on the word Parakeet (but please don’t tell him that he might peck my eyes out!) and alludes to the content and meaning of the piece. I didn’t just want him to be any old corvid with a heart drawn on him, I wanted to combine him with my love of literature and writing as well as with some symbolism. So, he became a raven, with the associations to Edgar Allan Poe and with death, but he also represents love in all it’s aspects with his heart and bloody talons and beak and he’s painted on a “page” of love letters. I chose John Keats’ love letters to Fanny Brawne because they are both wonderful and sad and fit the connotations I wanted the piece to have since Keats was extremely ill and died without being able to marry the love that he composed such beautiful work for. When I finished painting him and saw the thumbnail of the image on my computer, I also noticed that the raven himself formed a heart shape. How appropriate! Of course I totally meant to do that….. subconsciously.

So, here he is, a valentines raven from me to you to bring you a message of love and appreciation because if you are reading this, I very much appreciate you! I hope that wherever you are and whoever you’re with, you’ll share some love, appreciation, and kindness with others and remember someone out there loves and appreciates you, even if you feel alone.

Happy Valentines! <3
- Jools

This first image, which I couldn’t resist titling “Children Of The Moss”, is a macro shot of two little moss seedlings, about 1/4″ tall, growing up from a small patch of moss on a rock. I got soaking wet laying on the ground to get close enough, since it had been dreary and rainy. Still, to find something so tiny and make a print of it that is much larger than life was great fun.

This is a colony of lichen growing on a fence rail. It was almost dusk and I didn’t have a tripod, so I ended up wedging my camera between the fence rail and the wire fence attached to it to get the right angle without blurring it. I’m glad I took the time to stop instead of passing it by on my way out. I am really in love with all the textures and colors!

Here’s an image I took this past summer. There was a small cluster of cone flowers growing by the pond and I thought they’d make a great test subject for my new black and white “film” in the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. I’m pretty happy with how it came out, what do you think?

Another image from last summer, titled “The Forest’s Feather”. I grew up next to a lake and the surrounding woods were carpeted with lots of ferns. Unfortunately there are not many ferns where I am living now, so it’s nostalgic walking through the sections of the arboretum where the ferns grow, as they wave in the breeze as if they’re greeting their long-lost friend.

This last image, while it may not have much meaning to anyone else, is particularly special to my family. It’s titled “My Grandfather’s Bench” and the bench itself has a plaque dedicating it to my late Grandfather. I was asked to take a photo of it by my aunt and was really happy to have been there at the right time of day to capture the sun’s rays as they reached through the trees towards the bench. Without those rays it would just be a picture of a bench, but with them, perhaps it will convey to others a little of the meaning it has for my family.

The reason I was so excited for the prints to arrive is because I ordered the first two images as canvas prints from Artsy Couture. I’ve never ordered their canvas prints before, but they said they have “the tightest corners in the industry” and their prices are significantly less than other print labs. I am extremely pleased to say that they do indeed have the tightest corners I’ve ever seen and the quality of the canvas and print itself is outstanding! I am in love with these prints and will definitely be ordering from Artsy Couture again. Here’s a picture of the canvas, though you can’t really see the texture, you can see how sharp the edges are:

Here’s a close up of the corner. Pretty amazing!

Also, the canvas is mounted on a block. It’s solid all the way across the image, rather than just being on a stretcher frame as the other canvas prints I have are. This gives it stability and prevents the sagging of the canvas as it stretches. My only thought is that over the years it might develop a bubble, but I doubt it would.

The other images I ordered as dye infused metal prints from Bay Photo. They came out pretty splendid as usual. You really have to see them in person to appreciate the satiny finish though, so if you’re in the area be sure to stop by and visit the gallery! It’s running at the Jenkins Arboretum in Devon, PA from March 1st through April 5th.

Have a great day!
- Jules

So mischievous!

The reason I’ve been waiting to post these pictures is because Stitch originally started out as a gift for a dear friend of mine. He and I met in photography school and discovered we both loved Stitch (from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch for those who are unfamiliar with the character). This love eventually became a tradition of giving each other Stitch themed presents for birthdays and Christmas. In the past couple of years I started making the Stitch gifts myself rather than buying them, especially because it’s nearly impossible to find something that depicts stitch with all six arms and antennae  In 2011, I decided I would make a Stitch wool sculpture for my friend’s birthday/Christmas present. I felted up this little guy and promptly fell in love. So in love I couldn’t bear to part with him. My mother, upon seeing him, actually told me I was not allowed to give him away! So what could I do? Well, make another of course. Unfortunately, finishing that other Stitch took me until this past Christmas! The poor guy sat on my shelf 90% finished while I was buzzing around dealing with life and teaching. Finally I was able to finish him and send him to my friend for Christmas. He was a big hit and now I can now post pictures without spoiling the surprise. (See what I mean about how I’ve been waiting a long time?) He stands about 3 inches tall at the top of his head, though I’m sure he would insist I measure from the top of his antennae. Here’s a few detail shots.

And here is my Stitch with the one I made for my friend. His is larger and the face is not quite so flat. I think it’s more accurate to the character.

I told my friend that his Stitch came with a hug, here’s why:

D’Awwww……

I hope you find my needle felted Stitches as adorable as I do, cause that’d make it feel a bit less like bragging! Ha!
Aloha!
- Jullese

(If you prefer to skip the rest of the update, you can just jump to the images.)

Unfortunately, after my classes ended, winter got underway, and my depression reared its ugly head for about 3 months straight. It was particularly bad timing too since those 3 months were supposed to be my inventory creation months. Instead, I spent November, December, & most of January escaping into books and in a fog that clung to my mind in heavy banks and drifts, obscuring everything in gloom. I couldn’t do anything creative or productive. It was pretty bad. Finally one morning I woke up and the fog was lifting. It took a couple more days, but my mind finally felt clear again and I have been able to start working again.

I was able to convert my rooms into more of a work area, with new tables and shelves, during those months, so now that I can work again I actually have the space to do it in! I also just devised a daily schedule with blocks of time for creating, updating online, business work, etc. I’m also trying to start walking 3 miles two mornings a week. I just got back from my first walk and other than the fact that I got blisters on the balls of my feet and had to walk the last mile with my toes curled on one foot it was great. My dog really enjoyed it too. Hopefully things will get better from here on out, as soon as I google how to prevent blisters!

One pretty amazing thing did happen to me in November just before my metaphorical ship sunk; two of my iPhoneography photographs won places in The App Wars competition! The App Wars is a competition for mobile photography, but the photographs must be taken with either Hipstamatic or Instagram. The judges for the competition chose 100 of the best images submitted in each app’s category, for a total of 200 winning images. I am a Hipstamatic junkie and practically all of my iPhoneography images are taken with it, so I submitted to that category. To my surprise and honor two of my photos were chosen to represent Hipstamatic in the competition. The images were exhibited at a gallery in San Diego and there was discussion of putting a book out this year as well. So exciting! You can check out all 200 winning images at the online gallery, and here are my images:

Also, it’s time to register for my spring classes! My first class is on the 17th of this month, and it’s a new class: The Haiku Spirit: Exploring Nature Through Poetry. I’ll be teaching it at the Jenkins Arboretum in Devon, PA. I’ll be talking about haiku poetry and how it’s so much more than the syllabic form you learn in elementary school. You’ll also be able to write and share your own haiku. For more information about it check out the haiku class page. Check out the events page or any of the class pages for dates and information on my other classes as well!

I’m off to do some writing now, gotta have at least a couple of my haiku to share during class.
Have a splendid day!
- Joules

Isn’t it lovely…er….deliciously creepy? I had a lot of fun making it. Here’s the original image I began with. I was photographing a necklace and chose a Hipstamatic film/lens combination that was too dark for what I was going for, but as soon as I saw it I thought it would make for a great zombie photomanip.

The first step is making some basic adjustments. They’re more obvious when the image is viewed on black, but I darkened the brownish halo in the shadows and increased the contrast a tad.

Next step is to get rid of the necklace and the distracting area of light.

Now I begin the zombification process! First, ripping open my mouth.

Zombies need something to chew all those brains with, so I added my teeth back in from another self portrait and manipulated them into looking like I need dental care pronto.  I also made the edges of the flesh look raw by overlaying images of a cut.

Continuing with the theme that I’d met with a rather unpleasant end before joining the living dead, I added a nasty slash to my chest that seems to be infected with something…serious. I also added a few scratches and nicks to my face.

I’m very pale skinned and naturally make a better vampire than a zombie, so I gave my skin some greenish tones.

Just the toppings left! I finalized the image with a few overlay textures and voila! Zombie Jules.

I hope you enjoyed your Halloween and for those here on the East Coast, I wish you a speedy recovery from Sandy if you were affected.
Sayonara!
- Jules

***UPDATE: The dates for Needle Felting & Blown Ink were reversed and have now been corrected. My sincere apologies for the mistake***

September 2012 :

The Art of iPhone Photography
Saturday, September 29th
12:30-4pm
Creutzburg Center in Radnor, PA
Click Here To Enroll
Please visit the iPhoneography Class Page for more information!

The best camera is the one you have with you and if you have an iPhone there is no reason to regret leaving your digital camera at home. Even professional photographers and artists are recognizing the iPhone as a useful photographic tool. In this class you will learn how to take stunning nature photographs, pleasing portraits, and many tips and techniques for great photography with your iPhone.

October 2012 :

Art Journaling: Spilling Life Onto The Page
Tuesdays, October 9th, 16th, & 23rd
6:30-8pm
Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, PA
Click Here To Enroll
Please visit the Art Journaling Class Page for more information!

Journals have long been a private sanctuary for the expression of one’s truest thoughts and as a wonderful tool for coping with life’s trials. Learn to give your journal new life and spark enthusiasm for creative expression: collage, create, destroy, draw, and paint. Gain tips and techniques for journaling with busy schedules. Prompts and project ideas are provided, but feel free to follow whatever paths your heart and mind long to wander. Life is a multi-sensory experience, now your journaling can be too!

 

Needle Felting: Accessories & Embellishments
Saturday, October 20th
12:30-3:30pm
Creutzburg Center in Radnor, PA
Click Here To Enroll
Please visit the Needle Felting Class Page for more information!

Needle felting is a popular fiber craft in which wool fleece is sculpted, using a special barbed needle to stab it into shape. Using a few simple techniques you can create many different pieces from jewelry, embellishments, décor, and ornaments to toys, wool pets, sculptures, and dolls. You can also appliqué the fleece onto your favorite bag, hat, scarf, and other items. Inthis class you will learn a variety of needle felting techniques, create your very own broach, accessory, sculpture, or appliquéd embellishment and go home with all the materials you need to continue felting!

 

 

November 2012 :

Blown Ink: Abstract Masterpieces Anyone Can Create
Saturday, October 20th
1-3pm
Creutzburg Center in Radnor, PA
Click Here To Enroll
Please visit the Blown Ink Class Page for more information!

There is an artist in everyone and blown ink is a fun way for anyone to create dynamic and captivating pieces of abstract art. All you have to do is take a deep breath and blow! Have a blast creating twisting forms by blowing ink around on paper and experimenting with resists, colors, canned air, and other techniques. You can even illustrate your blots to create animals, flowers, monsters, and more.

If you have any questions about one of my courses, don’t hesitate to email me. I would love to see you there!

Another exciting thing is that my photograph “The Ritual” appears on the cover of the course catalog with one of my art journal pages on the inside cover. Check it out:

If you’d like to check out the other courses MLSN offers you can view the full catalog here or browse their website listings.

Aloha!
- Jools