Amanda Fiebing

Its been quite a summer already. I spent the first part interning for a lovely group of women who put on Urban Craft Uprising here in Seattle. I kept my fingers exercised (blogging) and my legs in good shape (riding my bike around the city handing out promotional materials). And there has been no shortage of fantastic camping and hiking.
Art has taken the back burner while I figure myself out and go with the flow. But I usually take a large side of laziness with my introspection. Hence, my blog silence.
The other day, though, I sat down with a monster of a summer cold and did some needle felting. I’ve been seeing these geometric panel necklaces flying all over the internet. They really feel like something new on the scene to me. I like their retro feel as well. So, I did a little experimenting and found that I liked how they looked in felt in addition to the standard embroidery they come in.

I didn’t plan on it, but I think I will get a chain for at least one of these. If they aren’t the comfiest necklaces to rest upon my decolletage!
Happy Summer guys!

Tags: Art, geometry, necklace, silence, Urban craft Uprising.

Here is a series of watercolors I did a few months back. I found them when I was doing some spring cleaning yesterday as a way to take my mind off of photo uploading woes. I can be so computer illiterate sometimes. Anyway, here I was really focusing on colors and watercolor pencils which I have used without water up until recently. I quite like them now.

Color Studies: Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, 2009

Tags: color study, spring, watercolor, watercolor pencil, work on paper.

Happy Friday! I couldn’t ask for better weather. This morning my studio was completely drenched in sunlight. Beautiful, and exciting, but almost too bright to sit in. I said almost. I decided to power through the rest of the Kombucha project. I now have a full case of waterless Kombucha tea, which is good for…. er. It was a fun project. I am now craving some Gingerberry.
When I my resource for fantastic photographic abilities home I will get pictures of each one, but for now: The Full Case.

Kombucha, 2010

Tags: cotton, fake food, Felt, glass, kombucha, wool.

I admire the simplicity in structure and care of Air plants. Pick em up, water them and then shake them off and the rest of the time they are there for you to enjoy. I have nothing close to a green thumb so, it actually surprises me that I don’t have one of these yet. Well, for now. Its going to sit on my bookshelf until a very lucky person purchases it for their delight. Heh.


Air Plant, 3.2010
Buy it on Etsy.

Tags: air plant, fake plant, Felt, felt terrarium, needle felting, soft sculpture, terrarium, wet felting.

This is a recreation of one of the many mushrooms I saw this past weekend on top of Mt. Guemes. This one is quite a bit larger than its natural counterpart. Its about 9 inches tall. Needle and wet felted. Inside the glass dish are the beginnings of an air plant terrarium.

Felt Mt. Guemes Mushroom, 3.2010

Mt. Guemes Mushroom, 2.2010

Tags: fake food, fake plant, farm, Felt, mushroom, needle felting, soft sculpture, wet felting, wool.

I started my week by making some chunky mushrooms yesterday. I’m in the process of getting ready for spring craft shows and markets where I plan to show my felt work. And I like the idea of making my table look like a farm vendor’s table. Mushrooms and fresh produce and terrariums, a felt farm and garden if you will.
So, here we go:

mushrooms, 3.2010
Please visit my flickr for more photos of mushrooms and other fun things.

Tags: farm, Felt, Fremont Sunday Market, mushrooms, soft sculpture.

I got my inspiration for these babies from this photograph by amazing West Seattle-based photographer, Machel Spence. She has some truly fantastic work. I love when science and art blend the way they do in her pictures.
I used all white Merino wool roving. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite types of roving because of its smooth and silky texture that is soft but can be manipulated into something much more rugged and structural. The stems, after some wet felting became very tough to use needles on because they became so firm. This merino also works the best, I’ve found, for making very fine and delicate sheets of felt. An essential part of these mushrooms. I needle-felted the top sheets this time and was overjoyed with the lack of shrinking and knotting. The process definitely took longer but the end result was a more even blend of the wool into itself.
Here they are:


white translucent mushroom pair, 2010
Now on Etsy! Buy them.
p.s. if anyone knows the type of mushroom these resemble please please please tell me! Thank you.

Tags: delicate, fake food, Felt, merino wool, mushroom, white mushroom, wool.

Here are my three most recent collages made from left over color fields I made for this project. If you look closely you can see, but a small amount of drawing in the background doesn’t quite show up in these photos even after a little tweaking. I may have to get the light box out of storage.

Collages 3.2010
cut paper, watercolor, graphite
2010, Amanda Fiebing

Tags: Collage, cut paper, graphite, watercolor, watercolor pencil.

I have a lot of projects on the front burners right now. This week I really need to focus on finishing as much as I can. Its looking like a very busy week but with a huge reward for the weekend. A long bike ride in the San Juan Islands and a stay on Guemes Island will be a very sweet reward indeed! This past weekend wasn’t too shabby either. It all started with Joey Bate’s opening at Some Space Gallery, sunshine, skiing, funk bands, and finally the Academy Awards with some family time in the mix.
But first, I finally listed my mushroom sculpture on Etsy. Buy it. And here are some watercolors I started working on after seeing The Bodies exhibit last week. They are further along now, but I’m currently battling with the Aperture program over uploads. Irk, computers.

Tags: body parts, etsy, Felt, organs, watercolors, weekend.

I’m going to The Bodies exhibit today, somewhat reluctantly, as part of my research for my felted body part project. Henry said he’d pick up my ticket if I braved the morbid scene. I, at least, found a friend to go with.
Yesterday, I picked out colors and started color mixing for my Brain, the next installment in felted organs. Check out my flickr to see what happens when you lay out roving on the floor in front of a cat.

Tags: brains, The Bodies Exhibit, wool roving.