Amanda Fiebing

Early this morning I sat down at my table, still foggy in the eyes even though I’d already been out of the house. I started thinking about the micro flotsam and jetsam that drift across the veneer of your eyeball when you’re staring into space. Sometimes they look like little chains of cells or organisms, floating jelly, that sort of thing. Usually, I find I see more of this crud when I’m outside. This brought on an idea that would continue the various starts I had made for my collaboration. I still have all my painting and collage work out from last week, because honestly, I can be a lazy beast and leave clean up until the last possible moment. Actually, that worked out for me today. The color fields on watercolor paper resembled various types of weather I might stare into and see f & j. A work in progress, I re-moistened them to use water color pencil and they are still drying as I snatched them up for picture time. Rippling, Oops! When dry I will start going in with more drawing and cut paper collage.

Tags: drawing, Joey Bates, watercolor, watercolor pencil, work in progress.

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.

    (1) Comment

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.

Another work in progress.
I should have researched a better way to remove labels from glass bottles before I started this part of the project. It was an obnoxious 45 minutes, razor in hand, stripping paper and glue with soap and water. The next step is to start ‘filling’ the bottles with my idea of ‘felted kombucha’. You see, I’ve begun drinking a bottle of kombucha on a (most)daily basis and really enjoying it. My sister turned me onto it after much convincing that it was not, in fact, a mushroom. And now I’ve turned Henry onto it.
I started thinking about making some faux-bucha and realized I had vessels already sitting in the recycling bin. Here they are so far.

Bottles, 2010

Tags: Felt, glass, kombucha, photography, work in progress.

This is another in-progress project. I’ve seen some pretty great looking rugs made out of felt balls over the course of my work in wool. This rug, in particular, has caught my eye many times. And this crafty site gave me the idea to use small bits of leftover wool.
The process is easy (albeit time-consuming)take old stockings (or purchase cheap-y nylons from the drugstore) gather and squish small handfuls of roving. Then bundle it all the way into the toe of the stocking. Tie it off and you have your first stone. Repeat the process to fill up the tights as tight as you can (I like to do this and that is why I am going to Hot Yoga :)) Toss your tights in the wash and this time, for the first time hopefully, you dry your tights in the dryer. And that is where I am:

When I got these pairs back from the laundry I thought they looked more like a sea-creature and for a minute thought about other directions I could take this stage. Full focus ahead, though, we’re creating a rug now.

I’ll need a few more pairs of tights before this projects reaches more than the size of a place mat. Before it gets too big I need to track down the best type of nylon cord for durability. But I am anticipating a most divine feeling mat to step on at the end of this.

Tags: Felt, felt stone rug, pebbles, rug, stones, wool, work in progress.

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.