La Fleur Series 2

Desirability

Mrs. Lalita Seemontara

Introduction

As a Textile Design lecturer, I had the opportunity to be an assistant in the textile workshop on felting of Mrs. Geri Forkner (an American textile artist), and that was my starting point.

Felting is a well-known technique in Western countries that uses wool as a material for arts & crafts.

Crafts enthusiasts are starting to use this technique in Thailand, but it is not yet popular. The wool material is not produced in this country and must be imported, and thus is quite expensive.

The felting techniques come in a variety of forms, both 2-D and 3-D, depending on the method. It was something that interested me and I wanted to experiment with it in my art works.

The inspiration for my work comes mostly from impressions gathered from my travels. This time, I visited the United States during the springtime when colorful flowers were in bloom, and that gave form to the creation of this work.

Conclusion

These three artworks were created by experimenting with wet felting and needle felting techniques on wool.

Designers can explore the challenges of creating patterns on paper and transferring those patterns to real materials.

Sometimes it is impossible to control the outcome of the artwork as designed, due to variations caused by water temperature and production time.

The results were satisfactory to the designer and of good quality.

Objectives Aims or Purposes

Artist’s interpretation of he Five Aggregates, The Trinity of Existence (Anicc-Dukkha-Anatta), Duty of Being Human in a form of V.

Process or Methods

1. Draft the artwork.
2. Create a pattern.
3. Make wet felting techniques from the pattern.
4. Create separate parts of the handbag and other details, such as petals.
5. Use needle-felting techniques to apply a decorative pattern to the petals.
6. Finish ‘pollen’ details with embroidery techniques.

Techniques and materials

Wet felting needle felting and embroidery with wool
Material Wool, Silk Chiffon and Beads

Size or Mins.

Textile Design No.1 42×47 cm. No.2 32×20 cm. No.3 16×23 cm.