Showing posts with label my felt work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my felt work. Show all posts

Monday, August 30, 2010

"High Fiber & Raw Materials" exhibition



My "Funky Monk" felted coat was accepted into the exhibition "High Fiber & Raw Materials". The exhibition runs from August 26-October 7, 2010 at The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake, Houston,TX,USA.
I'm really happy with the way my coat is displayed. They really did a great job. Someone said it reminded them of Mary Poppins. I could see my coat from outside and my first words were: "my coat is flying".

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Friday, May 7, 2010

The Climate Is Changing - Italy

"The Climate is Changing" all felt exhibition on view May 7-July 7, 2010 in the Textile Museum in Prato,Italy. It's a travelling juried exhibition which will also come to the UK, Germany and possibly other countries during 2010-2011. The felt artists from around the world are taking part in this wonderful exhibition and I'm very happy to be a part of it as well.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

HAFA Fashion Show

Here're my 2 outfits that I presented at our annual Houston Area Fiber Artists (HAFA) fashion show at the end of April.

This is a nuno felted dress, fully reversible. It's a completely different look on both sides.



This is also a nuno felted dress which came with a giant nuno felted wrap that I wanted to look very chunky. This dress has an open back, too bad I don't have a photo of it. I'll try to make some more photos of those 2 dresses and post it soon.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Dunes - Nuno Felted Scarf





My new work. Nuno felted scarf. Made of silk and wool. Natural dyed.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Seaweed - Nuno Felted Wool/Silk/Bamboo Scarf from Light and Airy Collection




I had a completely different idea for this scarf in the beginning, but then in the middle of the process it took a different turn and I was not getting the look I was going for any more, so I had to do something else. I was mixing different colours, making a few dye baths and finally it worked. It took me longer than usual to achieve the final look and I'm really happy with the result. When it was dry it reminded me of seaweed...the texture , the forms, colours. The time was really worth spent.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Funky Monk - Felted Coat





This coat I made a few years ago. It was wet felted from wool, silk and hand-spun yarn. Done in one piece, there're no seams. It took part in the annual HAFA's( Houston Area Fiber Artists) fashion show and in CHT (Contemporary Handweavers's of Texas) biennial conference fashion show. It got a few awards from CHT and one from HGA (Handweavers Guild of America).

Friday, February 19, 2010

Spice - Nuno Felted Scarf





Here's my recently made scarf "Spice" from Light and Airy Collection. Made of silk, wool, bamboo.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Something Special




I made this scarf as a present for my brother, who lives in Russia. It was quit a challenge for me. I really didn't find it easy to make something for a family member. My concern was that he might not like it and if he doesn't then he won't wear it and it will end up in the back of his wardrobe. I kept going back and forth with ideas in my head and then one day it just came together. I wanted to consider his style and at the same time staying true to my ideas. That's what I learned from Project Runway, TV show. Tim Gun always says: "Listen to your customer, but at the end of the day it's your design, so don't loose your identity"...something like that. My brother finally received his scarf after 2 months in the mail (never send anything abroad in November/December! lesson learned again). Looks like he really loves it. He said he can fold it in half and wear it short or wear it long like Vladimir Mayakovsky (Russian poet and playwright). My brother is such a funny guy.

Friday, December 11, 2009

"Melt" is chosen for the exhibit "The Climate Is Changing !"

My work was accepted in the exhibit "The Climate is Changing", a juried traveling exhibition of felt textile art on the impact of human actions on the environment. The exhibition will be opened at the Museo del Tessuto (Textile Museum), Prato, Italy on May 7, 2010 and then will tour Germany and the United Kingdom and possibly other countries during 2010 & 2011.


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Fabulous Trade

I saw this absolutely fantastic necklace on Flickr and immediately thought that I wanted it so bad. I absolutely loved the design. So I wrote to the artist asking if this necklace was available. She replied to me saying that it is in fact available and she would love to do a trade. "Perfect..." I thought, I couldn't thought of a better idea. The trade was in my head too, I just wasn't sure if that's appropriate to ask. And she happens to live in Austin, TX (I'm in Houston,TX), small world...it's almost like shopping local. She wanted me to make a Nuno Felted scarf for her daughter in pastel green/blue/lavender colours. So I went with lavender, I thought it's perfect for a teenager who probably wears jeans all the time ( I might be wrong here...). It was a perfect trade, my first ever. So, if you ever see something that you like, don't hesitate to ask if the artist is willing to do a trade with you. He/she might agree or not, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Visit Randee's Etsy shop for more of her beautiful work.

Industrial Strength Necklace by Randee M Ketzel
Lavender Nuno Felted Scarf by me.


Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween !

Here are a few of my scarves that fit right in today's holiday. Boo...:))) Hope that everyone is having a fun day !

"Magic Noir" - Nuno Felted and Hand-dyed Scarf
"Ilze" - Felted and Shibori Dyed Wrap


Saturday, October 3, 2009

Felt United Day-my installation "Tree Huggie" at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

Finally the day came. So much have been done from washing the wool fleece to dyeing and finally felting. The idea to make a "Tree Huggie" came to me exactly a week ago. I was at the Craft Center and looked at the garden. I saw this beautiful pine tree, just reminded me of my home country, Latvia, there're so many tall beautiful pine trees there and if you go to the woods the smell is absolutely wonderful. Immediately I've decided I wanted to make something special for that tree. When I needed to take some measurements a friend asked me how I was going to do that without a tape measurer and I said: " I'm just going to hug it." So that's how the idea came to life. The look I was going for was something wild, unpolished, natural, not perfect, organic, raw and I really love the way it turned out. The piece measures at 77"x30" and it looks just as it belongs on that tree. There were other feltmakers at the garden demoing and educating the public about this ancient craft (it's older than weaving) and I think kids really had so much fun and they even took their finished works with them home. The day was definitely a success and I can't wait to do it again next year. I'll post more photos to my Flickr page soon.






Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Preparation for Felt United Day October 3rd PART 2

So far very productive day. No washing wool today, may be tomorrow just in case I need more. Have been dyeing wool the whole day, I don't think I ever done that much washing and dyeing in 2 days, call me crazy :) The wool has been drying slower than usual, well it's fall and why do I expect the sun to be very strong ? Well because it's Texas and we usually get plenty of warm weather on and off till January. As the matter of fact usually for New Year's we're in T-shirts, can you believe it's that warm. It was supposed to rain today, but the weather has been very cooperative with me, I really needed the sun. Tomorrow is the fun day, felting all day long till I drop and want to do some washing in between felting, multitasking....the brake is not for relaxation, but for doing more stuff :). Should be fun :)

Monday, September 28, 2009

Preparation for Felt United Day October 3rd PART 1

If you've been following my blog, not long ago I wrote a post about Felt United Day, which is going to be October 3rd 2009. Feltmakers around the world are celebrating this day by exhibiting their works, making demonstrations to public etc. Here in Houston local feltmakers are bringing their feltworks to Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and will display it in the community garden, so If you're local make sure to stop by and check it out.
At first when I learned about this event I knew for sure I wanted to do something, just wasn't sure what exactly. So finally, a few days ago I got an idea, but for now I'll just hold that thought. Back home we don't tell details until it's completely done, just for good luck...I guess it's a Russian thing. For my installation I'm using raw fleece, which came straight from the sheep with all the extra "good stuff", you know what I mean... I love the organic and natural look you can achieve with raw stuff. Today I've been washing it, about 6lbs so far ( I think I chose the dirtiest fleece possible, but who said life is easy ?) and dyeing in the colours from the colour wheel slice from yellow to red, that's the only requirement. I'm using all the local fleece, by that I mean from USA sheep growers. Merino and merinoXcorriedale are from Colorado and I also have some mohair locks and rambouillet from Texas. I'm trying to use my stash, which grows constantly and out of control, so I got the perfect project for that and I'm thinking not a small scale too, at least that's the picture in my head, hopefully I can get there.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Etsy Finds: Foray Into Fall

Recently my felted scarf was featured in Etsy blog Storque. Get ready for fall, find out the hottest trends by reading the whole post here.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Contemporary Handweavers of Houston Annual Sale Event

Weaving and Beyond, the 2009 CHH Annual Sale, will be held September 24 - September 26, 2009 at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. For more information see our Sale Page.
Hours:
Thursday, September 24, 2009 - 6 pm - 9 pm
Friday, September 25, 2009 - 10 am - 5 pm
Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 10 am - 5 pm

At our annual sale event CHH Guild members offer beautiful and functional hand-woven, hand-spun, hand-felted works of fine craft: fashions, linens, tapestries, baskets, jewelry, baby items, toys, gifts and decorations. CHH members use the finest materials from silk, wool and cotton to tencel, bamboo, wire and willow.
If you're local or just happen to be in Houston these days, please stop by at the HCCC for a great chance to get some one of a kind hand-made items. My hand-felted work is going to be there.

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Power of Green

This scarf is absolutely one of my favorites (I probably say it about all my scarves). The colours are just gorgeous...it was a mix of different green colours that mixed at some point into this gorgeous shade. Lately I'm drawn more to nuno felt, because probably of the climate I live in. It's really hard to wear scarves here which are made of wool only since we don't really get a lot of cold around here, in fact it's hardly can be called cold at all. When I explain to someone back home about the weather here I usually say it's summer all year round: there's cool summer (winter), hot summer (spring), very hot summer (the actual summer) and warm summer (autumn), so you get the picture...This scarf was dyed using resist method, which gives you a truly one of a kind look. So check it out...










Friday, August 14, 2009

My Felt Piece from the Workshop with Karoliina and Rod

Here're my works that I made during the 3 day felting workshop with Karoliina and Rod. When I first heard they're comming I signed up right away. I thought it's going to be fun to meat such wonderful feltmakers. I got familiar with Karoliina's work long time ago and was really admiring it. I didn't expect to learn that much during the workshop to tell the truth, it's amazing. So if you ever have a chance to take their workshop don't even think twice do take it, it's so worth it. We used finn wool, which I think is so great for felting, it felts like a dream. Also we were required to have design ready, surprisingly I started thinking about the design right away as soon as I signed up and had the sketch ready with colour selections. It really helps when you make sketches, usually I don't, just go with a flow.

sample 11"X12" (28cmX30.5cm)
the actual piece 20"X32" (50cmX80cm)