Amanda Fiebing

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.

Last week I cleaned all of these bottles that once held delicious kombucha tea. Today, I took the next step. I’m both excited and worried. I think that the project will definitely work better visually as a series. This first one looks to me more like the product of a head cold than tea. But then again, does kombucha itself even look like tea? Yum.

Tags: cotton, experiment, Felt, kombucha, needle felting, oh no, snot, tea, wool, work in progress.

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Sometimes people ask “well, could you make [this] out of felt?” when they see what I’m doing. Those questions stick with me as sort of a challenge in my invisible notebook (brain). As I experiment with this medium I am constantly learning what I can do and.. well I haven’t found too much that I want to do an can’t. Having the basic knowledge of how this wool fiber functions is my most powerful tool.
One more recent “question” was that of Lichen, could I make wool lichen?(Thanks Jeremy!) Well, I can, and I started small with this new terrarium. As I branch out from my mushroom infatuation the lichen will get bigger.

Terrarium with Lichen, 2010

Own it

Tags: Art, Felt, felt terrarium, fiber art, lichen, needle felting, soft sculpture, succulent, terrarium.

Here is the latest installment of ‘Amanda makes felted mushrooms’ project. Is my art blog becoming predictable? Well, I really think I made some progress on creating the “paper thin” gills with this mushroom. Somehow it feels less delicate than the first gilled mushroom I’m not so sure that it is, though. I stuck with my mushroom muse Both will be up on Etsy very soon. Now isn’t that exciting?! I’m still feeling concerned about shipping these bad boys because they are art and so very fragile. I’ll figure it out, I’m mostly excited for someone to have these in their home.


gilled fungi, 2010

Etsy (soon to be live!)

Tags: Art, etsy, fake food, Felt, gilled fungi, mushroom, needle felting, soft sculpture, wet felting, wool.

Here is my first attempt at creating the gills that I have sought after in these soft sculptures.



Gilled Mushroom, 2010
It is probably the most delicate so far. I used the wet felting process to make “paper thin” sheets of wool felt. Then I starched and ironed them. Next time, in lieu of chemicals and heat, I will spend more time agitating the wool in the wet stage. More agitation, I suspect, will give me a stronger felt that will lend better to attaching the gills to the top. This one will be on Etsy when I find the right vessel for it.

Tags: etsy, Felt, gilled fungi, mushroom, needle felting, process, wet felting, wool, work in progress.

After all this rain its hard not to think about mushrooms creeping up in random places. For instance, I wonder how many and what kind of mushrooms are currently fungifying the underpass across from my apartment near I-5? I probably don’t want to know. Anyway, in addition to rugs the world of felted mushrooms and terrariums in particular has been opening up to me. For this I did a little wet felting, which wasn’t necessary. And I used a vase I had laying around. Here’s my little contribution:

Terrarium, 2010

loose rocks, 2010

Etsy
Flickr
thanks Henry

Tags: etsy, Felt, mushrooms, needle felting, terrarium, wool.

I’m getting into the season of love. This is what I started today. Someday it will look more like a heart than it does now. Stay tuned….

**I’m hoping to make many more things for Valentine’s day, any suggestions?

Tags: blood, Felt, heart, heart sculpture, needle felting, soft sculpture, valentines day, wet felting, wool, work in progress.

The past couple weeks included some commissioned work. The project came to me through word of mouth which was really inspiring. Ok so it was one of Henry’s coworkers, 2 degrees is still 2 degrees of separation, right!? This commission was for a grouping of mushrooms to put in a basket as if they were freshly foraged (and cleaned). With the request for two specific kinds, Botelus Edulis and Agaricus, I made this bunch of fungi:

See larger photos here.

***I’m happy to report that even after spending hours making mushrooms from felt their edible form isn’t any more appealing to me.

Tags: agaricu arvensis, Art, botelus edulis, custom, fake food, Felt, handmade, mushrooms, needle felting, soft sculpture, wool.

This set of felted mushrooms was a gift I was most proud of giving this past holiday season. Its interesting, I have never eaten a mushroom myself (well, maybe fragments here and there against my knowledge or will).  From first sight of the fungus I knew the meaning of repulsion as instinct. Their shape, their name, the idea of eating a ‘fungus’, the smell,  their smell when cooking; all things that put me off of mushrooms. Ew, yuck, patooey.

I must say, though, that this winter at the produce stand on Beacon Hill something changed when I was picking out some lemons. I saw a previously unseen beauty in these shriveled and sickly pale gilled fungi sitting next to the lush citrus fruits. Suddenly it clicked, the perfect gift for my mushroom-loving sister, Kathryn of KAM gear in Ballard, WA; felted mushrooms.

fly amanita & white button

black chantrelle & white button

black chantrelle & white button
Photos by Henry Rose

More are on the way for another commission. More photos to come.

Tags: Art, fake food, Felt, needle felting, sculpture, soft sculpture, wool.