Nuno Felting Class Project/ Experiment

In my previous post I wrote about my recent class with the amazing Margo Duke!( If you click on Margo's name you will be taken to her Flikr library of amazing felted creations!! SWOON!!)  I love the class and had a great time being with Margo and her wonderful spirit and trying to learn all that I can . I finally got around to finishing up the project that I started in the class and I was not at all pleased with the result.  This happens, more times than I care to remember, but when one is just trying to get a handle on a new technique, the path is not always free of ruts and obstacles. In this case I think that I pushed the envelope too much.  there is a reason for the old axiom, Keep It Simple, STUPID!!! This was one of those times.  So when I got a less than stellar result, I deconstructed it and remade the wool and cheesecloth part into this!

Once I separated the cheesecloth/wool from the silk I had a square of wool/cheesecolth with stripes of cheesecloth.  I cut the square into three rectangles and attached the rectangles to each other end to end.  In that process and the subsequent wet felting, several holes developed.  I like the random placement of the holes and I plan to add beads and stitching in those areas to add more areas of interest and tiny sparkling surprises.The edges of the scarf are very organic and the scarf itself is extremely lightweight and is full of frothy texture from the felted cheese cloth.

So from a lemon I got some extra special lemonade and I made" Nuno" felt with cheese cloth rather than silk- it is still "Nuno", as it is definitely a "New" Cloth!!


the thin threads of color that you can see running over the top of the cheesecloth are silk fibers that I added into the felting structure for some more color interest and silky shine.

  I was able to remove the vintage silk scarf that I had tried to felt with and will use it for another project.
So, in the end, it is all good and I learned  a lot, mostly about what not to do.  But often the big mistakes make for the most valuable lessons!!

So now I will be adding some bead work to this piece and setting up a bunch of lengths of cheese cloth for the dye baths as I think that I have stumbled on something that I really want to explore!!!
thank you again Her Majesty Margo Duke for yet another great class!!!