White felt

Stitching on felt is wonderful - with hand stitching, the needle glides so easily through the wool, and the wool feels so wonderful to hold. With machine stitching, the lines of thread instantly sculpt the felt and the stitching gives a wonderful tactile contrast and an entirely different pliability to the "raw" felt.

This morning, following the links in various emails led to several encounters with white felt.

Liz Berg is into it in a big way - she seems to be immersed in industrial felt - have a look at her blog here.

Seeing the work of Rebecca Howdeshell has got me itching to stitch - she works in white on white, stitch on industrial felt, and it's anything but boring - have a look here.

Finally, in a museum in Massachusetts, a life-size white whale made of industrial felt by Tristin Lowe. Machine quilting makes the lines on its skin, and deeper lines, like scars, in some areas, and also barnacles. It is pumped with air and a fan blows to keep it upright, giving the effect of a breathing animal. I'd like to see this "in the flesh" -I've made lots of coloured felt in years past, and the moths have helped by making interesting incursions into it (a project for another time...) -- suddenly, the cleanness and simplicity of plain white felt is calling to me. If only one could do everything at once!