Some of you may wonder how to make a picture out of felt. This is a mini tutorial on the process of felt artistry. I have found that prefelt works best, It will hold the shape of the cut without "bleeding" too much into the fibre beside the cut piece. To that end, here are the three prefelt pieces that I made for this project... A "poster" of Niagara Falls, in a 1950's advertising style.
First is the waterfall itself, with streaky blues and greens. Prefelt is a piece of felt worked to the point where it is well fused, but not shrunk at all. You will want to have it join with more wool at the next stage. I lay the fibre, then wet it with cool soapy water, then roll it for about 15 minutes. Then open it and smooth it and let it dry. No need to rinse out the soap, as it will be worked further.
The next one is red fibre laid with red silk (nuno felt prefelt), to use as the lettering in the "poster"
The third piece is the rock for the cliff that the falls is falling over. Black and grey in a streaky pattern.
As stated above, I rolled each to a flat single prefelt.
So here is the layout... Very large, I started with cream as the base for the sky and the water, and taupe for the base of the rock and the walkway.
Here is the rock, cut from the prefelt, laid in place, and the walkway defined by pencil roving and streaky taupe merino.
Here is the waterfall, Niagara Falls from the Canadian viewing point, closest to the Falls. (Use the underground tunnels to get to this small "balcony" jutting from the rocks).
Here I added loose fibre of white and blue for the sky, and white silk fabric for the clouds and the mist. Silk fibre also edges the mist and accents the falls.
Stylised letters announces the Falls. Cut from the red nuno felt prefelt. The railing is cut from the black and grey prefelt.
The tourists are cut from the black prefelt. A camera will be embroidered into the hands of the standing tourist. It is Pre-Selfie days!
Then I rolled and rolled and rolled, then hot and cold baths in my kitchen sink.
Final photos to come!!! The final size is 3 feet by 4 feet!
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