Such remarkable results but a grueling process for the kids, I probably won't repeat it next year. But boy oh boy these are beautiful, and were inspired by Lori Lawson of Capistrano Fiber Arts. Thank you Lori for sharing your process with my kids and I.
The Process
Laying down small pieces of hand dyed bluefaced leicester wool that are overlap and splayed out (very thin).
These rovings were hand dyed for us by Lori.
Wetting the fiber with a warm water spray bottle then slowly and carefully rolling the wet fiber in the plastic shelving.
Re rolling many times from several different directions, getting more aggressive with each roll.
Unrolling and throwing the pre-felted works against the ground over and over again. This was pretty fun stuff and probably the kids favorite part of the assignment.
How they look as we let them dry.
The pre-felt being turned in for the first phase of the grading process. Each student made two different colored pieces knowing that at a later date they were going to be cut apart and resewn together as one. You can see them here stacked on top of each other.
The kids came up with a plan to cut these two pieces apart. They drew out many ideas. Then after they learned how to sew on sewing machine, we came back to them and sewed them back together again as one. Above senior Brittaney Lee is beginning her needle felting designs on top of the pre-felted piece.
Below we see a piece that has been cut apart, sewn back together, holes cut out as design, fringe hand sewn on with their own hand spun wool, as well as their needle felted designs. And it's still not done!
Back to the shelving plastic it goes, wet again with warm, soapy water, and rolled several more times until it turns into felt.
Below junior Nandi Best is adding extra details such as beads and hand stitching.
Below are the finished products and their close ups after all the work is done.
Above works by junior Nandi Best, freshman Aman Patel, senior Jessica Jay, and junior Carolina Navor, and below a close up of Nandi and Carolina's handwork.
A close up of Aman and Hilary Chan's designs. Hilary spun her own wool for the fringe. These kids are phenomenal!
Above and below we have junior Kelsea Lee's gorgeous and colorful piece.
Above are the lovely works of seniors Florence Buendia and Vivian Vo, both girls I've known and worked with since the 7th grade.
And lastly we have the incredible work of senior Brittaney Lee. Check out the detail she put into her scarf below. Wow!
