Butterfly Creations!

It's been a while since the exhibition at Richmond Station which was a delight to share with the lovely Fiona aka Marmaladerose. Since then it's been a time of catching up with commissions and other family stuff going on.
 So to have a break from pastels, which I like to do from time to time just to keep me 'fresh', I thought I'd do another butterfly...I've been promising myself some more woolly fun for ages now but the pastels have taken all my time so far this year....I don't mind, they are my passion, but it's good to do different things occasionally (at least it is for me).
I discovered felt-making about 15 years ago now (gosh is it that long?) when I saw it being demonstrated at the Harrogate 'Stitch and Knit' event and I fell in love....I HAD to try it. I still love it today and have copious amounts of boxes with the most sumptuous colours of wools imaginable.
A few years ago, I happened to stumble on a you-tube clip of an American woman using dissolvable paper as a base to 'attach' the fibres. She was making rectangles which she then sewed together to make bags etc. I thought to myself, ''I can do something more creative with this technique'' and so the butterflies and moths were born......
After a couple of trial runs with some small samples, I mastered it enough to make my first big butterfly.....

And then a moth........

The butterfly went to a new home, the moth is resting in a gallery in Cornwall and various others (mostly smaller ones) have sold via my Etsy shop. I did a range of small ones for accessories, one of which I still keep for my hair specially for those 'Up-do' days.

So I started a huge blue butterfly at the weekend while outside the heavens opened and we had the most amazing storms ever.....
I posted it as a work in progress on a textile site and was inundated with requests to see how it was done. So, as promised, here it is.....

Firstly you need some dissolvable paper (the sort embroiderers use), some wool tops or fibres and a needle-felting tool. Also a piece of sponge so your table doesn't end up looking as if it has woodworm!  Oh and a reference photograph. Mine was taken from a box of real specimens.

I draw the wings individually onto the paper and start to apply the wool fibres using the needles....watch your fingers, they're sharp!

 I keep building up the layers until I'm happy with the finished result .....

The repeat for the other 3 wings......

When that's done, wet-felt them in the usual way to bind the fibres together and dissolve the paper....it might need a bit of boiling water to finally dissolve it all but I find it doesn't matter if some is left behind...as long as you can't see it.

While they're drying, it's time to make the body. Now I know this picture doesn't look like much....in fact, in the words of The Two Ronnies it looks like a 'small, brown Richard the Third'...it WILL eventually transform into a butterfly body...honest!

The next stage is a bit tricky....attaching the wings to the body.....be patient. Gently 'stab' the two together with a few fibres over the top....

You're nearly there!
When  you've positioned the wings, make some antennae from a piece of wire painted black and attach to the head using more fibres to fix it in place.

Et voila!

This one's about 65 x 50 cm so rather big...if I were you, I'd start with a smaller one....

I know I've probably made that all sound very easy when it isn't particularly but practise makes perfect and I'm certainly not there yet.......we'd better keep practising.....next a Cabbage White. :)

'Blue Butterfly' will be going into a box frame so that it looks like a proper specimen (albeit a large one!) and will be available to buy either via my Etsy shop or my facebook page. Why not pop across and say hello to me there and if you have any problems, I'm happy to help.
                                                       
                                                              Until next time.....
                                                                                    Sue xx


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Exhibiting

 Showing now at Richmond Station......Natural Magic

For the next two weeks (30th May - 11th June), I've joined forces with the very talented Fiona Gill of Marmaladerose to bring an exhibition to the Station in Richmond, North Yorkshire. We've called it 'Natural Magic', a title which seemed perfect for our work....we both love natural subjects but you couldn't get two more different media....I work in soft pastels so my hands are always messy, Fiona in wet-felting so hers are beautifully clean and smell of soap.

Detail from one of Fiona's pieces....amazing...you could almost reach in and lift him out, couldn't you?

One of my soft pastel hares ...I had a bit of a thing about them for this exhibition...they're a dream to paint. My favourite bit is putting on the very last strokes of hair on the hare!

So here we are now for two weeks. It's a great place to visit, not least for the Artisan shops along the old platform...the bakery is to die for. There are also 3 cinema screens and a gorgeous bistro...oh an 2 other exhibition spaces. From the back, you can walk along the old railway lines which follow the river for most of the way or into Richmond itself which is full of history and interest....it truly is a stunning venue.

On Saturday 6th June, we'll be demonstrating our stuff there all day (10am -4pm)....come and watch and maybe have a go yourself if the urge takes you.....keep an eye out for us.....!

For more details you can contact me at sue.godden14@btinternet.com or through my facebook page
www.facebook.com/sueorreygoddenartist.

Sue Orrey-Godden-artydaleslady

This week I started a new painting of two cute dogs who I am quite familiar with as they live at the other end of my village and are prone to barking at me every time I pass their territory. The painting is for a surprise 50th birthday present very soon. I took my own photos a couple of weeks ago so I had some good reference material to work from.
I have trouble starting something new....I think it's the 'blank canvas' syndrome....I'll even do the ironing to avoid a new beginning.
Doing the initial drawing and measurements takes an age sometimes but once I'm happy with the composition and proportions, I'm off!
After putting in a background (this may change later but it's always better to do this first as much as possible) next come the eyes....for me there's nothing worse than two empty holes staring back....as soon as they are in place, the character starts to appear and I have someone to relate to.

So then it's time to find the 'undercoat'....the colours that will create a background to the visible coat....to create form and shade. It's hard to describe...sometimes if you squint, you can see it better. With these two, for the one on the left it's a sort of pinky brown and the right one, a pale mushroom or warm light grey. This gets darker and lighter in tone depending on how much shadow there is but it's basically the same colour.

I also like to use a pale blue and a green to create shadow. Green is in fact a very important colour when it comes to animal fur and in portraiture.....but it has to be the right green which comes with experience really. The right one can lift the whole feel of the painting quite subtly and give a depth to the coat.











So as you can see, I got on quite well today...I think I could finish it in another half a day. I usually get to a point where I need to leave it for a while so that I can figure out exactly what it needs for me to declare it finished...sometimes this can take a very long time...I'll look at it in a mirror which often helps to show up any strange things that are going on with it which I can't see the right way round! I've even been known to 'take it by surprise' ...all proper artistic techniques of course!


Now being new to blogging, I can't seem to be able to upload a photo to show you what I'm talking about....go to www.facebook.com/sueorreygoddenartist to see the results until I figure out where I'm going wrong! Back soon. x