Sunday was the second and final day of our complex bag workshop and the end of three brilliant days felting with Lyda Rump. Because Cristina and I had worked well into Sunday morning to complete our bags we had a great opportunity to try something else whilst watching Elaine and Carmen’s bags taking shape as they felted and fulled. I decided to make a small felt vessel which had been in my mind for a while and Lyda showed me how to design the template to give me the result I was aiming for. Sometimes another brain or a bit of lateral thinking makes all the difference because I would have used a round resist myself and cut the opening down the middle in a wave, Lyda suggested an oval resist with a wavy top edge and this proved to be an entirely better option. What it is to have artistic ability combined with years of experience!
Vessel in progress
Carmen and Elaine worked on the various parts of their bags by rolling, pulling, stretching and spot fulling with a felting mouse. When the bags were almost finished they were rinsed thoroughly in clear water and then put to drain in my washing machine with a towel to add a bit of friction and weight. Doing this does not shrink the felt any further but it does remove a significiant amount of water and then you can work the felt further if you want or just stretch to shape and leave it to dry if you are happy that it is fulled enough.
Elaine, Lyda and Cristina showing off the felt bags!
I don’t have a picture yet of Carmen’s finished bag as she decided to do the final shaping at home and felt a beautiful scarf during the last hour or so of the afternoon. More about this in my next post and also some discussion about the various handle options when creating a felt bag.
I would like to say a really big thank you all for leaving such lovely comments about my own complex bag! It is great to be able to feel so connected to everyone through the medium of the internet and I really appreciate you taking the time to leave your thoughts, tips and advice!!
I’ll leave you with an image Lyda took as I was preparing my small vessel on the gravel for a photo, it gives a good overhead view of the scalloped edges of the opening.
Positioning the vessel for photography
Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles 
Lyda phoned me to say how nice her time with you was!
You made indeed beautiful work!
love
yvette
what an intriguing idea of having scallops on the opening. Will this be a bag that closes with a zipper, flap or will does it not need a closure. Oh what fascinating approach.
Deb
Hi Nicola,
One quick question from your friend who always has a question. As I would have thought along the same lines as you, round resist, cut scallop opening, just wondering about the positives of this option over the other. One day, I’m not going to have any comment or question…It’ll be your most peaceful day ever:-)
Thanks for always making me think…At my age, I need it. I’m going to be turning 52 next Monday…I can’t believe it…I still feel young but I’m over the half century mark!
Love the picture of the 3 happy felters with their bags! And thanks for the image of the scalloped resist as well as the tip about cutting a shaped opening into a circle shape because it gave me another clue about working with resist shapes to get the desired outcome and final shape. I need all the tips I can get!
The bags are fantastic!