My interest in working with new types of media has led me to working with Botanical Contact Printing, where I gather leaves and vegetation from my surrounds and wrap this organic matter up in luxurious silk, merino and hand-made felt. These bundles are then tied tightly and boiled for hours to extract color directly from the organic matter; season, age of the plant, the acidity of the water used during the heating process, all these and many other factors influence the final color of the textiles.
This is a very large triptych which measures approximately 8’ X 8’. All of the silk was hand dyed and botanical printed and then hand felted. This piece was a huge undertaking that took a good part of a year to complete.
'Windfall' was quite a process, as are most of my artworks. I let the materials and pieces speak and take me along for the doing. Some of my works are never finished, or "done" but rather caught up in an all evolving thing... However, 'Windfall' is finished, and I am delighted with her! ALL NATURAL, The process involved felting the base with gorgeous ultra fine 14 micron merino wool which is as soft as cashmere! I then Eco Printed the felt with casuarina, ferns and rose leaves whilst dyeing the edges in onion skins. I hand stitched around some of the rose leaves with and flowing lines of the casuarina with silk and mounted.
'Windfall' was quite a process, as are most of my artworks. I let the materials and pieces speak and take me along for the doing. Some of my works are never finished, or "done" but rather caught up in an all evolving thing... However, 'Windfall' is finished, and I am delighted with her! ALL NATURAL, The process involved felting the base with gorgeous ultra fine 14 micron merino wool which is as soft as cashmere! I then Eco Printed the felt with casuarina, ferns and rose leaves whilst dyeing the edges in onion skins. I hand stitched around some of the rose leaves with and flowing lines of the casuarina with silk and mounted.
'Autumn' is a recent piece which I was compelled to create. I love trees and am an official tree huger. This piece is the start of a series on trees I am calling Tree Aspects.
'Autumn' is made with organza silk and merino wool which are nuno felted and then eco printed with red cabbage, onion skins and steel wool to give the effect of falling leaves in the background. The size is approximately 20" x 35".
I Hand-dye my silks both fabrics and fibers, and then use the hand-dyed silks in my felt works.
'Ecclesiastical' is rich in texture and saturated color. I think the complimentary colors work well together and it glows with the copper leaf.
'Ecclesiastical' reminds me of a cleric's robe plus it is holey.
I am very motivated by color and texture! In my past, I studied Textile Design and was a Woven's Designer for many years. I often retreat back to basic weave structures to incorporate in my felt-works. I love the complexity of the layers and textures with a network of intersections.
Nuno felted in layers with hand-dyed silks.
Flora Dora, 36"x 70"
'Flora Dora' is quite a complex piece. The yellow silk organza base fabric was eco-printed with eucalyptus leaves, then felted with a fine layer of merino. I then pre-felted flowers and buds carefully laid them out in a pleasing and whimsical design and wet felted it all together.
The sub straight of ‘String Theory’ is a 4.5’ x 4.5’ piece of organza silk, Shibori hand-dyed with protein dyes. The center is felted with wool locks and then foil is used to promote motion. ‘String Theory’ is mounted on a 4’ square gallery wrapped canvas.
'String Theory' is Shibori dyed silk with some felting and foiling.
48" x 48"
Welcome to my fanciful floating poppies. These are hand felted flowers in brilliant colors (hand-dyed) that can float from the ceiling or be hung on a wall. No two flowers are exactly the same size, shape or design. They are made to order. You pick the colors and I will design them. Each flower shown is approximately 20" diameter.
My felted floating flowers have evolved into a mobile. Now they revolve! The flowers are light enough to move, spin and sway in the air while retaining their shape due to stiffening the center of the felt discs. No two flowers are the exact same size, shape or design but they work well as a balanced whole. Watch the VIDEOS!
Commission for Jane
These fabulous felted floating flowers were designed for above her bed headboard.
This is a felted floral grouping commissioned for Jane's bedroom.
Dune Daisies are my attempt of creating the various Gallardia and Correopsis (Indian blanket flowers) in felt. They are the Florida state wild-flowers and I see them often on my daily wonders to the beach. Each felted flower is approximately 15" diameter. They are fun to hang as a grouping or are even more dramatic when hung from the ceiling with mono-filament to catch the air and add the sensation of movement.
Dimensions as a grouping- 48" x 54"
I have always been inspired by stained glass, especially the rose windows in the grand cathedrals of Europe.
Hand-dyed and felted organza and lace. This piece is made with vintage lace and hand-dyed color swatches of organza silk which is nuno felted with merino wool to achieve the texture. The size is 14" square.
Cathedral (detail)
'Stained Glass Diamonds' is nuno felted with hand-dyed silks and yarns. 24" X 60".
Stained Glass Diamonds (detail)
'Anemone' is a combination of shibori dyed and textured silk with felting. This piece was great fun to create! I love to experiment and combine techniques to get strong textural and colorful effects. This won best in show at the St. Augustine Art Association Cutting Edge show in 2013. It measures 22" x 50".
This hand-dyed and felted silk organza with curly locks. silk thread and tussah silk fibers. This ethereal sunrise hangs beautifully off a piece of drift wood.
50" x 60"
Fifth Dimension is dyed and felted silk with vintage lace and wool, and is mounted in layers with hand felted Moebius pieces on the sides. This piece also won an award at the St. Augustine Art Association.
I love vintage textiles, especially handmade laces. Arabesque is made with hand tatted collars of which I embroidered on top. The center piece is what I call fiber fusion that is hand felted onto a piece of hand-dyed organza all on a piece of stretched jacquard fabric which I designed as well.
20' X 32"
I love vintage textiles, especially handmade laces. Arabesque is made with hand tatted collars of which I embroidered on top. The center piece is what I call fiber fusion that is hand felted onto a piece of hand-dyed organza all on a piece of stretched jacquard fabric which I designed as well.
20' X 32"
'Africa, What's Beneath the Surface' is a handwoven tapestry stretched over hand-felted fabric. This piece is made with merino and silk fibers plus various novelty yarns, leather and diamond crystals. 16" square.
'Stagasm' is a very interesting piece and was great fun to create. It is made of two pieces silk organza and pieces of silk cocoons, silk carrier rods and miwata or silk roving arranged and sewn in between the silk organza. It was then stretched and dye-painted. I mounted it a few inches off the wall to get the translucence and ethereal effect.
Dimensions are 42" x 27"
Love Bubbles is an award winning Shibori dyed and hand felted wall hanging made for the Tactile Art Show at the St. Augustine Art Association in 2015. This piece won "Best in Show" and was also a favourite of the children from the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.
'Feel the Love' - Hand-dyed and felted wall hanging with sculpted and hand-felted Braille letters.
This piece 'Feel The Love' I designed and felted for the Tactile Show at the St. Augustine Art Association in October. It is a very special multi-sensory show and they bring in classes from the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind to experience the artwork. I even won best in show!
This section of felt works is dedicated to my 'Network Tapestries.'
I aspire to create lively and interactive artwork in which the interplay of light and shadow speaks to the viewer. 'Luminosity' is translucent. Light and air move through the artwork. Also, the reflective capabilities of the silk fibers and the gold leaf shimmer and create highlights.
Techniques:Silk Organza hand-dyed and degummed then nuno felted with merino fiber in a woven pattern. I then added the gold leaf and hand stitching.
Materials:Hand-dyed and degummed silk organza and tussah silk fibers, fine merino fibers, composition gold leaf, and silk embroidery thread.
'Connecteclect'. 28" x 72", is a felted network tapestry. In designing and fabricating this tapestry, I was thinking about connections to others throughout my life. No matter how brief or obscure the encounters may be, the quality and attention of our connections to others flows forward affecting and connecting all.
Network felt with morning glories.
24" x 62"
'Flora Orba' is the beginning of a series of felted globes which are able to be lighted with LED lights. When lit it gives off a cosmic effect. And when not lit it has a beautiful porcelain look...
Much like my Botanical dyed/prints on silks and wools, this is a collection of botanical prints (also known as eco prints) on cotton rag watercolor paper. They are mounted on wooden panel boxes, varnished and often gilded with gold, silver or copper leafing which is added to the prints and panels.
Eco printing is a form of mono print, or botanical contact print. Using heat and pressure I transfer the leaf pigments and leaf outlines directly to the paper. I also use natural dyes and pigments to enhance my prints and artworks.
“Bellatrix’ was meticulously HAND-crafted from HAND-dyed silk organza substrate with an itajame shibori hex geometric pattern. The merino fibers were HAND wet felted together with the silk. The surface design elements were HAND-stitched and HAND-needle woven. There are layers of hundreds of years of fiber art forms in my artworks! This piece was in a black, white and shades of gray exhibit which was a good challenge for me being a color driven artist. Much of the exhibit consisted of digital photography, that is why I am pronouncing the HAND…
