VIDEO | Mieke Werners' Felt Technique

It's been awhile since I've posted something. We've been sick a lot this past Winter. But Spring has finally arrived and the birds are singing. It's still cold outside, but the leaves are showing and the blossoms are about to pop.

Today I bumped into a video on my Facebook Timeline about the felting techniques of Dutch artist Mieke Werners. I love watching other artists at work and learning from them. This video is just a short one (I wish I could watch her work for a whole day!) but gives a good impression of the technique and material that I also work with.

Enjoy!

Un mouton au pré

In our first week in France I took a tour around our campsite, and I bumped into these. Two discarded fleeces calling out my name. "Wash me, wash me. We are getting dirty here!"

She was a little shy without her coat, and kept hiding in to shadow - hence the bad lighting in this photo - but it was also very hot, so she must have been happy kind of naked.

Beautiful white wool that I didn't want to go to waste, so I asked the owners if they had any intention with it. They didn't. The sheerer said it's bad quality. Not fit for spinning. But what about needle felting? It's always worth giving it a try.

So I started washing wool again - on my holiday! Here I am washing by the outside shower.

It was harder to clean than I had imagined. Some parts were coated with straws. I decided to take a shortcut.

So this time I tried wet felting. But as usual that didn't go so well. The wool didn't want to felt. Look at all the holes!

So I enlisted the little ones at the campsite to help me with plucking the wool again! 

I had the pleasure to take two bags of soft white wool back to the Netherlands. I am now waiting for cool weather and early evenings to transfrom the wool into sculptures.

White wool

A couple of photos of the white wool cleaning process. It was pretty dirty, but I managed to get some nice white wool out of it.

Et voila! Another bag of beautiful clean wool. I couldn't wait to get started, but first we went on holiday to France.

Raw material

This Spring I was offered some raw wool. Friends of ours have some land in North Holland with sheep they were planning to sheer. They know I am working with wool so they thought of me this time as they are not using the fleeces themselves.

I usually buy my materials here, but there is something earthy about the idea to make something from absolute scratch. No clue how to wash the wool and get it to needlefelting quality, but I thought I'd give it a try. Thank you internet with all your information!

And thank you Patrick for doing the sheering!

Luckily I have a garden, and the weather was cooperative.

I used many buckets and lots of water.

The first rinse was extremely dirty.

I had to be very careful with the temperature of the water. It's the difference in temperature that starts felting the wool.

Soap is also tricky. You need it to clean the wool, but it also adds the process of felting.

Then I had to dry it, which went fairly quickly due to the lovely weather we had in June.

And last but not least, I had to pull it all apart again as it did lump together. 

Next I'll have to look into how to get it ready for needle felting. But that is another story...

Rococo lady, part 1

Those of you who follow me on Instagram, have been able to see the development of my latest piece. A needle felted portrait of ... what exactly?... a snow queen, a drag queen perhaps? My first thought was Rococo when I saw her outlines taking shape, so I guess that's what she'll be. 

Prepping my 'canvas.' At this point I still have no idea what I am making other than a face.

The birth of a face. This is such a magical moment - always - when I see the features of a face emerge from the wool.

Mouth, nose, cheek bones and eye sockets are in place. Now the fun part starts.

This is where I go a little crazy. I know I'll cover it up with white wool again, so the initial colors can be as bold as I want them to be.

See? The colors are just shining through.

First time I am using eye lashes. What a dramatic effect!

The bow is added for maximum Rococo effect (I used one of my daughter's ballet shoe ribbons).

Opening party art show SCULPTURES IN WOOL

It's almost April, but I am still reminiscing about the opening of my art show on my 45th birthday early February. What a party! So many lovely people showed up. 

I was overwhelmed by all the love and attention I got. I am glad my husband took some photos so I have a better image to hold on to than the foggy one in my head.

This is the wall in the foyer. I printed four of my photos on black wallpaper. 

What a thrill to see the name of my website - finally ready - on the wall. 

Getting a big hug from one of my oldest friends.

So happy to finally show my work to everybody I love.

Here are a couple of pics from my guests.

I even gave a speech. Which is kind of against my nature, but I am so glad I did it. I just had to explain. At 40 I finally realized I had always wanted to be an artist. I started to take art classes here and there, and I discovered the art of needle felting. Some of my work might not be that easy to look at, because a lot of my dolls are pretty sad, but they are a part of who I am and I am willing to show that part now.

I concluded by thanking a bunch of lovely people; my husband Greg for his love and support, my children Ila and Imre for their patience, my friend Marieke from Woolwoofles for inspiring me to make needle felted dolls and my father Peter for letting me show my work at his club Sugarfactory.

I've been spoiled with flowers, books and other lovely things. Thanks to all who came to my opening party at Sugarfactory!

Needle felting for market

Early August we came back from our vacation in France. Having been away for three weeks from my studio, I was very eager to get back to 'work.' 

Together with my friend Marieke from Woolwoofles, I was planning to sign up for a couple of markets to see if anyone would be interested in buying our work. So far I hadn't finished  a whole lot of dolls and wasn't sure I wanted to part with the ones I had, so I decided to start a whole new series of dolls that wouldn't take me too much time to make. Ha! I was wrong. These babies also wanted a lot of attention! But they were fun to make.

The technique I used here is called needle felting.  You basically stab wool with a very sharp barbed needle until the wool clings together. The more you work it the firmer it gets. 

For the dresses I used scraps of fabric that I have collected over the years. Embellishments are made with (vintage) lace, ribbons and buttons.

Unfortunately the market turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as nobody wanted to buy one of my girls. So I took them home and now they're happily sitting on their shelf again, watching over me as I type this blog post.

Letting go...

Today I listed my first doll on Etsy. I am not sure that I want to part from her, but I also need to make a living...

Creating Marie

On my to-do-list today I wrote: 

- baking almond cookies (I didn't)

- moving the couch (I did)

- dusting (I didn't)

- vacuum cleaning (I did)

- writing (I didn't, until now when I should be cooking dinner for my starving children)

- researching website building (I did)

- washing the windows (I didn't, but my husband did - sort of)

I should compliment myself that I got half of the things done that I set out to do today. I could have easily gotten all seven of my chores done, since there was no doll making in the planning. 

However here is the evidence of what I spent most of my day doing. 

 Who is this new creature? An angel or a dancer?

Male or female?

As soon as I give them eyes, their soul appears.

Ah, Marie it is.

Giving her a bit more lips.

This is the moment when I have to stop touching her face.

Even though it's not quite done, I will leave her like this while I continue working on her body.

How to present one's work

Over at Christmas, I was talking to my father about the dolls I have been making recently. My family had wanted to see them and I showed them by holding them in my hands. After having them been admired, I put them down again. A pile of colored wool. Just limbs. Almost carelessly tossed aside.

I have been thinking about that image a lot. 

Making the dolls is one thing, but showing them is quite another. How can I show them in a way that does justice to the nature of their character? I need to talk to someone.

My father instantly googled the name of the artist he had just met in Barcelona last November: 

Gerard Mas (Spanish sculptor, born in 1976)

What started as a search for ways how to present one's work, turned into an intense fascination for Mas's work. Here's a sample of what I found online.

The repetition of the statues and the pedestals could work for my dolls too.

It took me a moment before I spotted the bees. The expression on her face is  powerful and distracting.

Again, a quick glace doesn't do this one justice.

Like a fish on a plate. I wonder how big this one is.

Do you see 'it'?

The skin texture is almost real.

How about a frame?

Here the pedestal is part of the sculpture.

I welcome any suggestions about how other artists have presented their work. Please leave your comment below.