Shades of Magnolia Pearl

I took this class with the highest of hopes. I waited all weekend, with anticipation, for this all day Nuno Felting class at the Art Is...You Retreat and I was not disappointed.
I think we all came into this room with the desire to learn something about this amazing form of felting.

To create a beautiful scarf out of pieces of fabric and wool fleece.

This is Lorri Scott. She was our instructor. She is a self-taught fiber artist. She transforms silk, fabrics, yarns and ribbon into wearable art creations. She lives in Santa Cruz, CA. With the assistance of her sister, she  guided all of us into the world of Nuno felting and by the end of the day we all had a beautiful scarf that we would proudly wear out into the real world.
The process of Nuno felting is long, rather complicated and physically demanding. First you lay bubble wrap on a towel. Then you lay out the pieces of fabric that you want to piece together. They can be odd shapes or long strips.
When you get the design you want, you "glue" them together with small amounts of wool fleece which will eventually adhere all the pieces together with the wool backing that you layer on top of the fabric. This is a very simplistic way of telling you how the process goes but there are plenty of online videos that explain this in detail. Just google Nuno felting and marvel at the amazing process.
Lorri first had us do a small piece (about 6x8 inches after felting) that taught us the process of Nuno (which means cloth in Japanese) felting.

When we were comfortable with this we started laying out the pieces for our scarfs.
I was so busy I didn't take any photos of the process... beginning to end. Darn! I'm sorry I didn't. It would have been the best way to show you what each part entailed.
When the scarf was laid out and everything was in place, we wet the whole thing with soapy water, rolled it up and started the felting process... to MUSIC. Lorri had some good music to roll with.  FELT AND ROLL... FELT AND ROLL..
You do this for at least two songs before you stop, unroll it and check it to see if the wool is sticking to the fabric. If not, then you roll it back up and FELT AND ROLL SOME MORE.  It takes about six to eight songs  before you're done.... if you're lucky. You can use a timer or count to 1000 or some other creative way of passing the time, but good music would be my choice. If you have ITunes... Perfect.
You'll have good strong arm muscles if you do many of these scarfs.
When you get tired of rolling with you hands and arms, you can put the roll down on the floor, sit in a chair and roll with your feet.
I think this art is the answer for people who don't like to exercise other ways. This exercise also gives you a sense of accomplishment and produces something besides sweat. Well, you may sweat a little. You are going to have sore muscles but you'll have a lovely scarf in the end.
After the rolling.. there is the hot water in a bag and slapping the fabric around on  the table or floor. It's good for ridding yourself of pent up anger and  ugly feelings.
Then you rinse and towel dry.
Then you scrunch and roll until the fabric is all drawn together.
It's fun to watch what happens.
When your arms are ready to fall off, you're probably done.
Lorri had us throw the scarfs in the hotel dryer so they would be dry in time for dinner and knock every one's socks off.
Here are some  closeups of samples that Lorri brought... to inspire us.

Talk about Gypsy colors...

And using lots of lace.

I will have to try a scarf with lines of fabric like this on (on the left). I like the look.

Then we had to show off our finished scarves. These were done by the students in the class.
They are so varied and beautiful...

What a way to use up your scraps of fabric. If the fabric is silk, nylon, muslin or any fabric that you think is loose and open enough to felt through... it's usable.

I love this one. The student used lots of pieces of fabric and almost drew a picture with the pieces. She must be a painter.

And finally my completed scarf. Again, I didn't take a picture in the class so when I got home I staged my own photo shoot.

 Yes... Shades of Magnolia Pearl.
The ends of the scarf are lace curtains. Lorri recommended leaving them on the end and only felting them where they attached to the scarf. I really like this idea.
It's all lacy and open and... well... like Magnolia Pearl would make it.
Lorri modeled the scarf in the classroom and almost didn't give it back. I took this as a compliment.
What do you think? Pretty?

This is a close up of the main part so you can see how the felting shrinks but the fabric doesn't. When this happens the fabric gets pulled together and makes this new, interesting, textural  construction.

I asked my grandson to model the scarf when I stopped by on my way home.
He wanted to keep it. Somehow it didn't quite go with his tie dyed tea shirt. So...

I brought it home to the farm. Maybe I'll use it over a window. Can't you just see how beautiful it would be with the sun shining through it.
And maybe I'll wear it for the holidays.

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Art Is... You Retreat  was a wonderful adventure and widen my artistic awareness.

I'm never going back to being passive and unmoved by life. It's just too much fun to get my hands dirty... to be excited about things.
Life is too short to stand at the edge of the pool. I finally want to learn how to swim... in the deep end.
What ever you do... do it with passion.
The word is PASSION...
and the color is any color you want.