Start of the Layout for a Lavender Green Nuno Felted Scarf

When I teach feltmaking, I encourage students to take time, to really slow down, in selecting which fibers they’ll use.  Sometimes if you just take the time to assemble colors that look right, the design seems to create itself.  That’s how I’m feeling about this nuno felted scarf.  Suzanne Morgan’s hand-dyed silk fabric is the inspiration for the colors I’ve chosen, and in working on the scarf I’m using the very organic range of colors on the silk fabric as a guide for how I place different colors and fibers.  When the silk fabric is this lovely and the range of colors I’m working with seem to balance my state of mind, the many hours it takes to complete a nuno scarf are among those “magic hours” in the studio.  You cannot rush art; and among the arts, fiber art is among the naturally “slow art” forms.  More when this scarf is done.

Lavender and Green Nuno Felted Scarf

I’m working on a nuno (wool and silk fiber on a base of silk fabric) felted scarf today in my favorite colors: shades of leafy, spring greens and a range of lavender and purple.  In the design, wispy layers of merino and dyed silk fibers interconnect to form a vine motif.   Here are two photos of the start of the process, with more photos and info to follow…  The first photo shows the wonderful silk fabric, hand-dyed by Suzanne Morgan (Presence is her business name) and the second photo shows an array of merino wool and silk fibers from which I’ll create the wispy surface design.