We always seem to be talking about surface design on the Felting and Fiber forum: stitching, embroidering, embellishment fibres, beading etc. And there have been quite a few projects using resists lately too: Lyn's pod that she posted about on The Felting and Fiber Studio site last week, Nada's resist Slipper tutorial, and Carole from the forum showed us her gorgeous sculptural vessels with lots of surface design and embellishment. A couple of months ago, Nada reminded me of some projects I'd done using resists to create surface design, so having nothing new to post about, I had a look through my photostream for some examples and hope you don't mind revisiting some old stuff!
I think this was the very first piece I made using resists to create surface design. I wanted to have a go at trying out lots of different ideas at once, so made a piece using six resists to try out different cuts/shapes.
I wanted to try out using resists with more contrast between the top layer and what it revealed underneath. This one has green/brown/mossy shades revealing slashes of orangey brown shades of wool with embellishments of silk noil, bamboo, silk hankie and soya fibre.
This burgundy piece is cut away to reveal orangey mustard shades with soy bean fibres.
I think this next piece is probably one of my most adventurous. The resists and cuts were fairly straightforward, but it was quite big, very thick to make it stiff enough to support itself, and I used a flat resist - not something I ever have much luck with for a 3d shape!
This last piece is one of my favourite vessels. I love the colours and textures and was really pleased that it came out just how I'd imagined!
If you're interested in using resists in felting, Ruth did a post on The Felting and Fiber Studio quite a while ago about using flat resists for different hat and vessel shapes. Also, Lyn and her daughter Annie (Rosiepink) have written a brilliant PDF guide to making 3D vessels using flat resists. If you are interested in all aspects of surface design, Fiona Duthie has an online surface design workshop starting soon and has info on her website.
