ILLUMINATIONS...

As Christmas approaches and the nights draw in I’m thinking back over 

another busy year of feltmaking…  

and one of the highlights of the year came from a very unexpected direction…

I’m really proud to have been involved in the Festival of Flowers at Winchester Cathedral, helping the West Wight Floral Society with their arrangements.

The WWFS had been invited to participate in this magnificent event,

entitled ILLUMINATION, a theme inspired by the Winchester Bible. 

Their arrangements were to represent the colours of the Medieval artist’s palette

The fun and hard work started way back in the spring when the society’s 

vice chair, Chelsea gold medallist and fellow feltmaker Sue Clarke explained 

her plan of incorporating hand-made felt as a backing for NINE large panels 

that would support the floral displays…

  

I offered my services and was thrilled to help —initially just to demonstrate to

 the team how to layout and felt the coloured fibres that would 

make up the panels…

The main efforts of felting and embellishing the panels was done over many weeks

by the ladies of the society, led by Sue whose vision and 

creative expertise saw it all through… 

The next time I saw the panels was when they were installed in the Cathedral, 

covered with flowers…

What an amazing spectacle, as can be seen by the photos…

The textured quality of the hand-made felt can be seen clearly in these details

Alongside this grand display of ILLUMINATION… 

this year has also seen several of my feltmakers experimenting with

 illuminations of their own!

On a much smaller scale, these felt light shades and lumineries are

incredibly effective…

 

The soft warmth of the felt (combined with other textures such as lace) 
gives a wonderful glow - 
perfect for warming up those long wintery evenings... 

as does Tash's amazing foxglove lamp!
  

And the effect of simply placing led candlelights into little felt bowls 

is quite magical!!!

Many thanks to Soosun, Dorothy, Tash and Helen for letting me include these..

But a word of caution...
If you are inspired to make any felt illuminations of your 
own please do not place lit candles or high wattage light bulbs close to felt! 
All the examples shown here use small battery powered led lights 
and low energy saving bulbs to be safe!

Finally - a special THANKS to you for taking time to read my blog.

I'd like to wish you a very peaceful and restful Christmas
where ever you are in the world 
and a happy creative 2019...

And if you are visiting the Isle of Wight maybe I might see you
next year at one of my workshops...