Pine Needle Felt- Learning From Leiko Uchiyama

In April, I traveled down to California to the Tin Thimble to take a class from my friend Leiko Uchiyama.   I was finally able to get the time to download the photos from the workshop I took at this workshop.  I took the Pine Needle Samples workshop with her.  It was a terrific class and I really enjoyed seeing Leiko again.  We figured it had been almost ten years since we had seen each other!  

Here are Leiko and I with one of her pieces at an exhibit she was featured in.

I was having difficulty with the technique at first because I made my "needles" too thick, but I persisted and eventually got the technique correct. I then tried other fibers (the teal one below left is a silk/wool blend) and putting the lace into a shape (The red background with a circle of orange lace in the middle below right.)  I really felt good about these samples-like I accomplished something because I could get the lovely lace.  Eventually, it is this technique I used in my project.

Notice that the piece on the left is too thick, while the one one the right is correct. 

We worked another sample in her class as well.    Here is the front and back of that sample.

The project I did make is a shawl. After doing the samples, I was inspired to make a felt of a long ago memory- the memory of long pine needles falling into the water at a lake and gathering in a group like tumbled pick up sticks as the lake swells pushed them to shore. This is the resulting shawl, more lovely in real life than in the photo. I love the fine merino I used from Opulent Fibers in Portland, OR. Their colors are yummy and the photos don't do them justice. The photo on the right is closer to the colors than the one on the left.

I decided to make this shawl my project for the “Water” theme from Felt United’s International Day of Felt.  (October 5, 2013) It was a terrific theme, and it fit in well with my memory. 

I’m not sure when I will use these techniques again.  But I was quite pleased with the knowledge I gained from this class.  And, of course, getting to see Leiko again.

 

Installation for International Day of Felt at the Corvallis Arts Center.

It was a wonderful weekend with the installation of the piece I had planned for the International Day of Felt, which was October 3. The installation looked so good we left it up for one more day.

The project turned out really great. Let me explain how we did it. My 4H kids, family and I went to four different public venues in Albany, Lebanon and Corvallis and taught about 60 people to make felt. They made small units of felt approximately 3 inches square which I then dyed in the theme colors of yellow-red from the color wheel. In addition, I went to the Corvallis Waldorf School and with Shellece Millison, taught the 5th grade and the 6th & 7th combined classes how to make felt. Shellece then taught the 8th grade class: altogether about another 40 people. I taught some friends at my studio as well.

So in total, a little over 100 people learned to make felt. The installation itself was made up of 20 strands of wool yarn which hung down from the trees. Each yarn had 16 squares sewn to it at intervals, so that they looked like leaves hanging down from the trees. The squares flickered as the wind blew, much like the flicker of aspen leaves. The strands themselves also moved with the wind. It really was lovely.

Here is a link to some of the photos from the installation. Some videos are here.
Below is a photo of Shellece and me at the installation.



For more information about the International Day of Felt, go here.