New Website

I finally got organized enough to create a website.....

www.chrisliszak.com

Here you can get the story of my journey with felt and fibre, and see photos of art, wearables, and workshops.  I will continue to chat here, but I hope this new website can add a new level of information to my profile....

I am now about to attend a large artisan market in Niagara Falls this weekend.  If all goes well, my inventory will take a big hit, and I will have a reason to happily felt through the coming winter months.  And I also plan to teach a lot of felting workshops at the Fibre Garden.

Here are a few photos of my latest workshop (three days of winter felt yardage to become a coat)

Here are a few photos of the work I have been doing getting ready for my Holiday Market event in three weeks.

 Above are a few of my new scarves... soft merino with neutral palette, suitable for men as well as women.  They are more geometric and less ruffled.

 Here is a basic chair, covered with left over felt from one of my winter coats.

And here is a nuno felt vest, in burgundy and khaki.  Love this mix.  

A box full of new dryer balls.  Very pretty and quite practical.  Reduce drying time and no need for chemical filled dryer sheets ever again! 

More coats

I had a busy week. I made two new coats for my upcoming show November 22-24 in Niagara Falls.
They just need buttons. You can see i am obsessed with black and white details at the moment!

 My coat workshop (booked through the Fibre Garden website) is full and coming up mid November. I will post fun photos of that three day event here, and announce my next workshop date hopefully in January.  You can buy a finished coat.... or create your own!

Shop in person In November...

Thank you to all who came out to see me at the Etsy Made in Canada Day.  It was a great day and I had enough sales to refocus, and start felting again with enthusiasm!  I will have my next show at the HandMade Market, Holiday Event at the Scotiabank Centre in Niagara Falls, November 22, 23, and 24.  Plan to visit this event with 200 artisans under one roof.  Shop local and handmade this Christmas.

A new season of felting workshops has begun!  You can find the postings on The Fibre Garden website under "workshops".  There is a new Felt Art workshop, "painting" with wool and fibres.  You can bring a photo you love, like the scene below.... Nature, scenery, landscapes, houses...  Most outdoor photos.  Bring your photo and I will guide you through recreating the image in wool, and also trading tips on how extra stitches can make the artwork pop!

 Again, we will have the intense two day vest workshop.  This one will teach working over a custom resist to make the seamless garment.  We will use sari silk and fine merino batts and fibres to make it special. 

 The classic nuno felt scarf workshop is back.  Always popular, you can design colours and textures to make it your own wearable art, fusing silk fabric or silk hankies with fine merino wool fibres.
You can never have too many of these!

It's back to felting time!  See you at a workshop soon.....

Here is a sneak peek at my latest art project....  I made a huge sheet of nuno felt in all the autumn leaf colours.  With merino wool and hand dyed silk hankies...

 Close up of a couple of the leaves.  I used a maple leaf as the cut out pattern.

 This is a photo of the felt before wetting and working to a firm felt finish.

Finished project?  Wait and see....

Reversible seamless vest...Tutorial

Here is a short, photo dense tutorial of a reversible wet felted vest.  Basic felting knowledge is assumed, and this is mostly a guide for those who have attended my vest workshop and would love a visual reminder of the stages of vest-making.

You start with a resist, approximately 1.3 times the size you need to fit perfectly...

To make it reversible, add some sheer silk fabric and maybe some silk fibre, and yarn, and other details... Think of the pattern as face down against the resist...  Lay your merino batt on top of this.

Then, on top of the batt, you should add sheer silk fabric (here are two different sari silks, one in black with beading), also added are circles of merino top and wool and silk fibres centers.

Wet the back with cool soapy water, and rub completely down.  Cover with plastic and turn over carefully to expose the other side of the resist.  Create your front right side with an outline of merino top.  Decorate the under side with silk as on the back (no photo of that step) and cover with batt.

Fold the hang over sides and shoulders over the new front batt, and trim the excess at the armholes.
Go ahead and decorate this side with silk sari fabric and more merino top and silk as on the back.

Wet down the right side with soapy water and cover with a smaller piece of plastic, just enough to cover just the right side.  Rub down well.  Then, over top of the new plastic, outline the left side and decorate the underside of the left front.  Cover with batt, and sari silk.  Don't forget to wrap the sides and the shoulders to the front side. 

Wet with soapy water and cover the whole thing in more plastic... Rub flat to remove air and to start the felting process.

And here are the finished photos of the vest...  The "underside" as it was laid out against the resist...

and the back...

Then the reverse side front....

and the back...