felt – Weave Story

Critic or Critique?

January 26, 2015/7 Comments/in felt, Interesting stuff, Projects /by bschutzgruber

Critic (noun) a person who expresses an unfavorable opinion of something

For many people, including myself, the idea of having your art judged does not bring happy thoughts to mind and can crush creativity. My elementary school did not have an art teacher. A picture from a magazine would be taped to the chalkboard and we were simply told “Draw this.” The results were always graded using letter grades (A to E) one for content and and one for neatness. My work, if I was lucky, might…. just might…. get C-/D and there were no suggestions to help me improve my work. To this day the thought of drawing something sends me into an anxiety attack.

Critique (noun) a detailed analysis and assessment of something

Getting a thoughtful critique can raise art to new levels, broaden perspective and increase creativity. Last year I worked on large felt wall hanging for the annual Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild show which runs the month of February in the lobby of the Power Center for the Performing Arts here in Ann Arbor, MI.

View From Above
(28″ x 82″- felted wool fibers)

This was one of the largest felt pieces I’ve ever made and felting it was physically demanding. I was pleased with the design – the mix of colors and line movement. It made a statement, especially from a distance. I believed it was good enough, so fingers crossed….. I submitted it.

It was not selected and in my disappointment I suddenly found myself emotionally back in elementary school. But here is where ‘critique’ turned this experience from the negative ‘critic’ into something positive. The jury committee had made comments. Some were positive (it was felted well and it did catch attention from a distance) PLUS there comments about where it still needed work:
1) there is no real change in value (light/dark) within each of the colors used
2) there was nothing new to discover once you stepped closer

So for the next year I thought about what I could do to embellish this piece yet stay true to my desire to only use felting techniques.

Using a barbed needle to punch fibers into place,

I needle felted silk fibers to give a broader range of color value and bring more interest and details, then I repeated the wet felting to blend everything together.

Top detail – before and after

Bottom detail – before and after

I am happy to say that Coastal Waterways was accepted for this year’s Power Center Show.

Critic or Critique? It’s all in how you say it and where the emphasis is placed.

Coastal Waterways
(26″ x 79″ – felted wool & silk fibers)

Look Ma….. No Seams!

September 30, 2014/3 Comments/in felt, garments, Interesting stuff, Projects /by bschutzgruber

In the middle of September I spend 3 fabulous days in a felting workshop with international feltmaker and clothing designer Charity Van der Meer from the Netherlands. The workshop was organized by Michigan felt artist Dawn Edwards and held at Design Street, a community art education center in Plainwell, Michigan.

The old fire station has lots of natural light and plenty of space for 12 large felting stations.

Charity’s work is amazing! She combines colors, textures and shapes to create clothing that is soft, light weight and comfortable to wear.

The focus of this workshop was to make a one-piece nuno felted dress or skirt with an emphasis on pleating, layering and adding godets to the design. Using her very simple but effective patterns we were encouraged to use our imagination and develop our own fashion ideas. We calculated our starting dimensions (the dress will shrink 100%) and Charity showed us how trace out our patterns onto plastic and add the godet panel(s). [A godet is a triangular piece of material inserted in a dress, shirt, or glove to make it flared or for ornamentation.]

Using silk chiffon fabric and merino wool fibers we created layers wrapping the silk & base wool around the plastic pattern. The plastic works as a resist to keep the wool & silk from felting into a 2D shape instead of the 3D shape needed to be a dress. Overlapping the silk fabric and wool fibers at the shoulders and sides creates the ‘seam’ so no sewing is involved!!

Day 2: The silk fabric & wool fibers are layered for the other side but this time making sure to cover the godet separately.

Now the fun begins = adding the details and embellishments to the dress!! I used wool fibers, silk fibers, polyester lace fabric, blended wool/silk fiber, plus wool and silk yarns.

Wet down the front of the dress with warm soapy water.

Layout my design and wet down the back.

Sandwich everthing between plastic……

Roll it all up in an anti-skid rug mat and old sheet then start rolling…… rolling…. rolling….

Day 3: Continue rolling…. rolling… rolling…..

Now it’s time to unwrap and try it on! (Oh…. was this the part soggy!!!)
And…. oh my gosh…. it fits like a glove!!

Charity helped smooth and give finishing touches to everyone’s dress.

And we all went out for a group photo. Each dress and skirt was true one-of-a-kind work of art!!!

I even had enough time to layout a shorter top before leaving and felted it at home the next day.

This workshop was just the ticket to my get my creative juices flowing this fall! I will definitely continue to work with this technique and I’ve made a note in my 2016 fall calendar = Charity may be back to give another workshop!!

April-May happenings

May 11, 2013/1 Comment/in felt, garments, Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving /by bschutzgruber

It’s been a month since I last posted and life has been busy!!!

April 13th – Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild Fiber Feast – Fashion Show, Luncheon & Sale.
30+ guild members had items for sale and/or on the runway. I had 3 pieces on the runway, a sales table, and modeled some wonderful garments! It was a FABULOUS afternoon.

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My focus then shifted from fibers to my other life as an artist – storytelling.

April 25-28 – The annual conference for the Northlands Storytelling Network held in Lake Geneva, Wisc.
I presented a workshop (with Dorothy Cleveland of Minneapolis) on story structure “Hero vs Heroine…. Does It Matter?”, told an impromptu story (‘Spot Attends a Funeral’) at the opening Slam event (first person, factual stories, 6 minutes or less) where I was the only performer to get a perfect 10 as my high score. Multiple judges mean the high and low score are tossed out so I did not win but came in 2nd. Not bad for my first attempt at a slam!! 2 of my stories (‘The Mysterious Visitor – a String Story’ and ‘The Insatiable Pumpkin’) were videoed by StoryLibrary.org and will eventually be posted on their website. Workshops, Fringe performance, connecting with good friends (long time & new) and hearing great stories at the 3 concerts made for a superb set of days!!

May 3-4 I was thrilled to perform once again at the Jackson Storyfest, Jackson, MI.
Celebrating its 26th year of free concerts. This year, 5,122 (4,538 students/584 adults) heard stories Friday morning in 15 venues!!! Fabulous kids and 15 fabulous tellers. More stories Friday and Saturday night for teen/adults with Dan Keding and Mary Hamilton, afternoon family show with Gemini, plus workshops by Dan and Mary.

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The opening of a new shop The Eyrie in Depot Town/Ypsilanti has brough me back to fiber.

This is wonderful shop of every eclectic items, most of them made by Michigan artists. Several of my felt purses are being carried there. If you’re in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area stopy by and take a look!!!

Felting with Suzanne Higgs – Day 2

April 2, 2013/2 Comments/in felt, garments, Projects /by bschutzgruber

Felting at the Michigan Fiber Festival Symposium in Kalamazoo, MI at the end of March. I did 2 workshops with Suzanne Higgs.

Day 2 – Fabulous, Funky, Fun Felt Bag

For this workshop we made felt bags using recycled sari silk as surface embellishment.

Light weight, flexible plastic 1 1/2 times larger than the desired bag size is used as a resist – a middle core/layer to keep the wool from felting in the center of the bag.
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Working from the inside out, thin layers of wool are laid out on both sides of the plastic resist. The inside of the bag will be yellow, with a pink rim folded over to the outside.
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Periwinkle will be the middle color
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and finally the sari silk is wrapped around the entire bag.
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Wet with soapy water, wrap in plastic and start rubbing to felt the wool to the silk
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Here’s how the inside and the outside came out:

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The starting resist size (26″ x 26″) compared to than the final size (15″ x 12″ after folding the edge down).
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Add handles, magnetic snap closure and I’m done!

Felting with Suzanne Higgs – Day 1

April 2, 2013/4 Comments/in felt, garments, Projects /by bschutzgruber

March ended with 2 days of felting at the Michigan Fiber Festival Symposium in Kalamazoo, MI. I did 2 workshops with Suzanne Higgs.

Day 1 – Dyeing Habotia Silk & Nuno Felting

1) We started by dyeing 5mm habotia silk with Jacquard Acid Dyes. Mine began with three dye passes using yellow, hot pink and burgundy. This came out kind of “interesting”….. and Suzanne suggested over dyeing it. Why not!! We mixed up a combination of more hot pink than I used the first time, red-orange and a touch of black. It looked like a black mess but once it was rinsed out = VERY nice!!

2) Next we laid out the silk leaving bunched up sections that will give texture.
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3) Then laid out thin layers of wool over the silk and gently rubbed using soapy water to felt the wool to the silk.
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4) I LOVED the end result = looks like tree bark!! I have just enough to make a vest.
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A Frame for ‘Day Dreaming’

March 19, 2013/0 Comments/in felt, Interesting stuff, Projects /by bschutzgruber

After looking at the wall pieces in the AAFG exhibit at the Village Theater, my felt piece ‘Day Dreaming’ needs some ‘drama’ before I submit it again to anything. This morning I got an idea = actually frame it using an old window frame!! Did a test print on paper to see how it might look = I like it!!! Checked out the local Re-use/Re-cycle place and yes… they have old window frames for only $5 = woo-hoo!! Next step figure out how to actually do it.

Making stuff in March

March 18, 2013/1 Comment/in dye, felt, garments, Projects, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

Been a busy set of weeks since my last posting!!

‘Heron’ was accepted for the AAFG show in the gallery at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill, Canton, MI. The show run March 1-26, 2013.

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March 8-10, I spent a fabulous 3 days in a dye workshop with Jane Dunnewold. Jane is a wonderful artist and teacher! Using fiber reactive MX dyes, we printed on silk, cotton, linen, and rayon fabric using stencils, thermofax screen printing, paint brushes, stamps and more!!

I spent the last day working on a parasol. Using stencil, thermofax screen printing and paint brushes on a commercial cotton umbrella blank I created ‘Butterfly Sunshade’ Parasol. Using the brushes to ‘paint’ the dyes created the textured ‘watercolor’ effect. UV block sun protection fabric treatment provides 30+ UPF.

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Over the past 2 weeks, I made 2 new garments from yardage I wove last summer. The jacket and vest (along with the dyed parasol) have been accepted for the runway at the AAFG’s annual Fiber Feast Fashion Show on April 13th.

Woven in plain weave @24epi. The warp is 5/2 spaced dyed mercerized perle cotton (‘Prairie’ from Valley Cottons) with a 1″ stripe of 5/2 black perle cotton. The weft is 10/2 perle cotton. The woven fabric reminds me of the dark chestnut coat and stripes on the hindquarters and upper legs, the Okapi of central Africa.

Woven in plain weave – @24epi. The warp is alternating stripes of thick and thin Rayon Boucle. The weft is a Mohair/wool/nylon blend.

The woven fabric reminds me of the changing colors of the fall foliage here in Michigan. The finished vest is fully lined in silk habotai.

So much to do… so little time!

February 23, 2013/3 Comments/in felt, Projects /by bschutzgruber

The good news is… it’s been a busy 2 weeks.
The bad news is….. it’s been a busy 2 weeks and there are only so many hours in the day!

A dear friend of 30 years passed away on her 90th birthday. Jean was an amazing woman – a teacher, master gardener, weaver and storyteller who was always up for an adventure and road trip. She’s the one who connected me with my very first weaving teacher – Gloria Teeter. I’ve been helping her family inventory and organize the sale of her loom and spinning wheel, plus all the equipment that goes with them! [The loom is still for sale so if anyone is interested in the details – send me an email.]

Last weekend I was the emcee for the Storytelling Festival at the ARK here in Ann Arbor with Donald Davis, Carol Birch, and Laura Lee Hayes performing. The stories told on Saturday night for adults and Sunday afternoon for families were a spellbinding blend of humor, poignancy, rich language and imagery.

Plus I was working on a second felt wall hanging to submit with ‘Heron’ for the AAFG show in March at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill in Canton, MI. I decided to do a self-portrait. Now I struggle when it comes to sketching/drawing and being a ‘process’ artist/‘experiential’ learner … oh this was going to be an adventure!

Because I don’t ‘draw’ I take a lot of photographs and use those as my ‘jumping off’ point when it comes to design.

Here I am in the lantern tower windows of Ely Cathedral, England.

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This is the view from the floor below!

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I cropped the photo…

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…enlarged to make a 36″ x 43″ pattern.

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Take #1
I laid out Merino wool fiber, black silk chiffon fabric and then backed it with Romney wool – the only black wool in my stash. I felted it – rubbing/rolling using soapy water. End size is 29″ x 24″ but the Romney was too ‘hairy’ so it did not felt the way I wanted and worked it’s way from the back to the surface = oops!! Even after giving it a ‘shave’ with an electric beard trimmer, this was not going to work…..

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…but it did give me a piece I could practice adding the facial features….

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Take #2
12″ x 18″ sample while I waited for my order of black Merino fiber to arrive.

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Third time’s the charm!! “Daydreaming” (29″ x 33″)

GreenMan still on pause…..

February 7, 2013/1 Comment/in felt, Projects, tapestry /by bschutzgruber

With 2/3 completed I’ve had to put GreenMan is on ‘pause’ so I could get a piece submitted for the AAFG show at the Power Center on the University of Michigan campus. It was not selected – darn. Any time you submit something for a show that features multiple artists (over 24 with this one!) the committee has to look at balancing the variety of techniques used, over all impact in a large space and balance of the exhibit. I’ll submit it for our next show in March which is a smaller gallery setting.

‘Heron’ is wet felted. The image is carded wool fibers on silk chiffon fabric which is backed with 2 layers of carded merion wool fibers. Finished demensions 28″ x 34″

Below you can see the difference 40%-45% shrinkage makes. Staring dimensions approx 43″ x 54″

heron layout

Catching up…..

December 1, 2012/0 Comments/in felt, Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving /by bschutzgruber

October was a sad time with the death of my mother-in-law, Gertrude Margaret Marion Gruber (1927-2012).

Marge Gruber

Marge was gentle spirit and an amazing fiber person – knitting, embroidery, and sewing many of her own outfits as well an amazing Santa suit, plus so many Halloween costumes.

November was spent on the road with storytelling events and getting ready for the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild Holiday sale so again… not much time to be posting. Here’s a look at the new scarves & purses. If you’re still looking for that ‘one-of-kind’ gift for the holidays…. let me know!!

At the Holiday Sale I had a blast giving a 2 hr felting demo:

If you have group that might be interested in having me come and talk about felting and fibers…. let me know!!

The final days of November were spent making a small bag for the annual ‘Festive Exchange’ with the OnLine Guild. This is something fun for our members to be part of, to show off our love of all things fibre, and especially to get to know a few more members of the guild better since we come from all around the world. This year’s theme is a Bag.

I made a bag for knitter, spinner and dyer (natural dyes) who lives on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Since she lives on Prince Edward Island and I’m in Michigan, the water and waves of the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes were my inspiration with different shades of blue and the froth of whitecaps. The button reminded me of a compass rose from the old nautical charts.

To make the fabric for the bag I wet felted carded wool fibers and used a variety of wool and synthetic fibers as embellishment with wool yarn representing her knitting and spinning and a bit of red to for her dye work. The bag is long enough to hold knitting needles or maybe even a drop spindle.

The bag that is coming to me is being made by a weaver (floor loom & tablet) and Kumihimo braider who lives in Germany near the Swiss border. I’ve just gotten an email letting me know that the bag is on it’s way here = I’m excited!! I’ll post a photo once it arrives.

And now December begins…..