Mushrooms...the start of something?

Felted Mushroom

Today I have typed up a proposal written by my friend Helen and I for a piece of performance/installation art involving felting and mushrooms and Kendal. I do not wish to give too much away suffice to say that if our proposal is accepted I think it will be one of the most fun, and random, projects I've worked on, and I've worked on some strange projects!

I have also made a small felted mushroom from Jacob and Shetland fleece to get into the spirit of things. I think it's really quite sweet. I used a seamless felt method where a plastic resist is used to form 3D shapes, in this case a bell shape and tube shape. The Jacob, used for the cap and mixed with the Shetland for the stalk, is quite a coarse fibre and the resulting felt is still quite hairy which gives the mushroom a rather fuzzy texture and appearance. The spots are merino which felts much more easily and is a much softer fibre which I think works well as the spots kind of melt into the cap.