Saturday 12 July 2008

Wallhangings

For a while now I've been working on some wall hangings. Mostly experimenting with shapes, fibers and embellishments.
Making a perfectly square piece of handfelted fabric is not as easy as it may seem. Keeping all those fibers straight is quite difficult. They tend to... 'disperse'.
After hours with my hands in soapy water, I did find my own way (which probably is no discovery really) of making perfectly square pieces. And then... I figured they were boring. See, they are not me. I am a firm believer that what you make, if you let your juices flow instead of "copying"; will be a reflection of your personality. Which means that if in life you are a bit messy, loud, spontaneous... your art will probably be too. And I am messy.... and loud... and spontaneous. Exotic they call me here ...which is too funny. Let's bare in mind that I live in The Netherlands and I come from a latin country. Latin culture by definition is all 3 of those adjetives, and more!. (nononono, doesnt mean that the dutch can not be messy. but it is quite unusual! ).

Anyway...
I have this Milschschaf flees which I got some time ago, which is super soft (and still smells like sheep) and used it as the base. I then used merino wool to' draw' the shapes on it. I used silk to give some light to the petals too. But that was not it. I used chenille to needlefelt the contorne of a flower, some rainbow yarn to make stems and leaves (also needlefelted) and I hand embroidered some details as well. Wait! almost forgot! there are some linen fibers as well! pheeewwww... lots uh? Yeah.
I like them. And no, they are not perfect squares. And you know what, better. They remind me of these old mexican paintings made on leather that were always hanging on the walls of my dad's study. Very ethnic!

My husband added a piece of wood on the back for support and then a little hook so they can be hanged (otherwise they wouldn't be wall hangings, right? ).





There are a couple more to come!
Since I am not a good photographer I know the picture do no justice to the actual piece. But... one works with what one has, uh?
These two are listed on my etsy shop. In a few days, some more.

9 comments:

'fancypicnic' said...

These are super! Love the intensity of the blue tulip, and the swirly leaves. You're right...let those creative juices flow, be spontaneous!! Produces the best work. Me? I haven't mastered the art of felting, but I wish I could! Don't think I've found you on indie yet...let's be friends! xx

Mariana said...

hahaha yes! let's be friends!!! :)

Wendy said...

Wow these are gorgeous! I've never seen anything like it.. beautiful work :)

Mariana said...

Thanks Wendy! very flattered :)

Fibrespace said...

wow, they're fantastic, I don't like neat squares either!!

Recursos para tu blog - Ferip - said...

Me gusta tooooooooooodoooooooooo!!!!!

En euros? sólo tengo pesos...buáaa!
:))
Besos!

Mariana said...

Hola feripula! Bienvenida... asi es la vida. Yo estoy de este lado del mundo... que se le va a hacer.
Me gusta tu Profile: docente decente...! Cuantos blogs... a cual voy?

Sara Millis said...

Oh wow, oh wow!
Sara xx

Mariana said...

Wow Sara... pure wow! :P