“COSMOS” – FELTED BAG JOY
Art is always in a state of development in my life. These past two years, I have been experimenting with designing and creating one of a kind mixed media felted bags. Now, as an artist with no set in concrete plans to consult, I use the term “enjoyed” in a rather understated manner. At times, the process was anything but enjoyable as I contemplated pulling my hair out in exasperation. Honestly, if this was an easy task, I would not bother as everything I create must have intellectual stimulus and originality and must be worth the physical effort and time involved in bringing an imagined object into reality.
This colourful beauty is the first prototype that I enjoyed designing and making up. The red bag is hand dyed Merino tops I custom dyed and turned into a piece of felt, before lining the felt and starting the ever so laborious but highly enjoyable process of embellishment via free form hand embroidery and beading. I liken the reds/pinks/orange to pomegranates I pick from the front door tree every autumn. Wonderfully rich, “look at me!” colours. I have also added some beautiful turquoise blue viscose during the felting process and they have fractured beautifully. The turquoise really stands out against the warm background colourways.
“Cosmos” is finished up with sturdy black cotton lining. I added reinforcement within the bag interior at the bottom as well as a magnetic clasp. Hand dyed felt is a lot of hard work and I had to do around 1,200 hand rollings on this piece just to finish off the felting aspect. However, the embroidery element took me weeks to achieve as well. With my felted pieces, I tend to divide up the process into the following steps:
Imagined project,
Colourway consideration,
Acquisition and preparation of supplies,
The actual making of the fabric,
Preparation of said fabric for further embellishment,
Actual embroidery and embellishment process.
If you are having difficulty in your own art practice in fulfilling your imagined piece, sit down with pencil and paper and break down the steps involved in what you want to achieve. This process has assisted me greatly.
As with most of my bag designs, I added a variety of lovely bells so when you take a step or rummage through this bag, you are accompanied by a pleasant jingle. Each bell is inspected to ensure it has a functional clapper before being sewn into place. There simply must be “jingle” for joy.
This bag has been titled “Cosmos” in deference to the myriad of colour, form and texture I designed and created. I am always inspired by looking up at the Milky Way in our pollution free (and light pollution free) part of the world. There is always inspiration to be found in the twinkling stars and planets. Meteorite showers are an added bonus at certain times of the year and I have yet to interpret these into a felted piece.
I also included a variety of beautiful segments of sari silk borders, plus two Shisha mirrors on the front of the bag; along with a lovely vintage brooch for added texture and sparkle. The embroidered sari silk borders have been nuno felted into the Merino tops. One can never have too much of colour, form and texture is my mantra in my felting endeavours and any other art I create, including bead embroidery jewellery. I cannot underestimate the sheer joy I experience of having a nebulous design turn into reality. I suspect other arty folks may also feel a similarity of achievement in their design work.
This part of my website is now my dedicated blog for my art works. For general blogs relating to life matters, please visit me here: