Fiber artist working in felt, silk and other fabrics. One of a kind millinery.
Pleased with the way this hat turned out. The rich rust colored silk is really set off by the chocolate brown wool and viscose fibers. Nicely finished with a black leather band and vintage button. An elderly friend gifted me her button collection about ten years ago and I continue to find gems in it to this day. It has the added bonus of entertaining my grandchildren. I have many fond memories of playing with the buttons in my grandmother’s button box. Sometimes the simple things are the best.
I am pleased with my latest light. Each light is one of a kind and the whimsy is a bit different with each one.
Finally able to get some trim on a few new hats.
I seem to be heavy into small project mode. Have a number of hats waiting for trim and I keep making little sachets. The heart sachets are made out of Nuno felt – a combination of hand dyed fine wool felted with silk fabric or fibers. Most of the kitty sachets are made from wool fabric that was left over from a jacket project a year or so ago. The fabric was eco printed with eucalyptus and makes for some cute kitties.
Just finished the trim on a charcoal grey/black silk and wool hat. I used several different types of hand dyed silk fabric on the surface of the hat. I am pleased with the added texture the silk provided. The button band was inspired by a black straw hat I saw. The buttons are from my collection of vintage buttons that I received years back from an elderly friend. A new advantage of having numerous tins of buttons is discovering my not quite 3 year old granddaughter thinks they are fabulous.
Just finished up an asymetrical cloche with more Sumi Ink on the silk. A simple black leather band, with Raku pottery button seemed the perfect trim.
For a number of years life has been way to hectic to blog but I am hopeful that the coming year will allow more time for creating and sharing. I have been playing with natural fibers for about 30 years. I raised various fiber animals over that period of time. We started with a very large flock of Angora goats back in the 80’s and eventually downsized to a flock of Shetland sheep, which were joined by Bluefaced Leicesters and finally BFL/Gotland crosses.
I tried spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing and finally found my passion in felting. Back in the day, the only way to learn new techniques was to travel to another state to attend a conference or take a class and I was very fortunate to be able to pursue my passion in this way. Today with the availability of on-line classes with talented teachers there is no limit to new techniques to learn.
My latest class was with Fiona Duthie (“Ink on Cloth”). I have taken a number of classes from Fiona and they have always been a great way to take a new direction with fibers. Life definitely got in the way of participating in the class but I have finally have a bit of time to go through the materials and do a little playing and this is a photo of one of the hats I made using silk that I hand dyed grey and then embellished with Sumi ink.
Judith Colvin Designs