Hi Everyone
I just have a question for you, this might sound a silly question but its been bugging me big time,
i was wondering how you all found your thing lol I'm just getting back into felting and i love just about everything i see and think ooooo i'd love to try this or that but what i really need to do is to find MY THING and i dont know how to do that !! Its so frustrating, i learnt to make sculptured dolls and although i love them i dont want to make them all the time. I'm trying to work out in my own head what i'd really love to do and its an empty space lol Some of the felted thing i see just blow me away, i get so inspired to create something but its usually something i've seen first and not my idea. I seem to be getting more angry then creative so does anyone have any idea's of how i dig in and find my niche ?????
You all must have started somewhere, like Kasey and her amazing Goblins, Barby and her mice, Kay and her dolls.
How did you know what you wanted to make ?????
I first learned to wet felt and then I tried needle felting and I also bought a machine needle felter and while I enjoy all three disciplines my love is wet felting. I really love making wall hangings and 3D fish and other items and laying out the roving and even rolling it. I needle felt for embellishment but I do not get the thrill or enjoyment out of needle felting that I do out of wet felting.
ReplyDeleteI have also seen completed projects on the internet and tried my hand at duplicating them but the projects I like the most are the ones that come out of my head. Some of them work out and some of them don't and I have a large bag of stuff that I need to make into something else.
I did not really answer your question but just try a lot of the things you have seen and hopefully you will also find that niche that works for you.
I am taking the City & Guilds distance learning feltmaking 2 course and that is really making try things that I might not otherwise work on. I just did some mosaic inlays pieces that are not really very good and definately not my things but I can do them and appreciate the work that goes into them and just be thankful that I don't have to make my living doing inlays!
Karen, try some new projects and even if they don't work embrace your failures and your sucesses and you will hopfeully "find your groove".
Pat
Yellowknife
Thankyou so much Pat, you really are an angel. I have tried wet felting to but i much prefer to needle felt, I have so much fun seeing something or someone come to life but i just feel like i'm copying other people which i dont want to do. I'm going to try lots of different things in the future and see if i can come up with something that's just right for me.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your input Pat its made me feel so much better
Cheers and happy felting xoxoxoxoxo
Dear Karen, Very interesting question! And I'm not sure I really found my thing yet...
ReplyDeleteI startet out needle felting and right from the beginning it was so much fun and people thought the things I made were great. Then I tried wet felting, because as I am a very practical person, I thought I prefered making practical things... But then, as with you, I had the feeling I was only copying people.
Last year I did a Needle felting course; Faces with Birgitte Krag Hansen and something suddenly did cklick. I hadn't needlefelted for a long time and I could put so much of my artistic me in it that I knew that needlefelting was more my thing.
As Pat said, try lots of different things. I make things, like my Faces, that I think are really me, and I make pixies that look alot like Birgitte's, but I want them to look like that, because they are the cutest Pixies around!
My Faces are probably not very commercialy viable, so I do still keep on looking and perfecting, but I have decided to stick to needle Felting in some way or form!
Thankyou Mattie for taking the time to answer this, i really appreciate it. I do love needle felting a lot more than wet felting and after taking Kay Petals Felt Alive course i was hooked, but i didnt want to just make dolls ( although i love them) i needed to try to expand my horizon lol if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteYou've just made me realise though that although i did do the class with Kay, i'm not making her dolls i'm making my own lol Everthing i do i am putting me into it, just like you said. Your an angel
I will forge ahead and try new things and just be happy with what or who i make ,
So there you go lol i'm so silly sometimes
p.s i tried to leave a comment on your blog but couldnt find where to leave one. Yours is a bit different than mine so i'm sorry i couldnt tell you on your blog that i love your work. xo
Hi Kaz, I don't think I've really found 'my thing' yet either. Actually, I don't think I've really 'progressed' much since I first started wet felting, because I'm still having fun exploring colours and textures. I do like to make things with my felt so it isn't wasted, sat in a box somewhere, and often think of things to make (usually book covers!) out of felt.
ReplyDeleteI agree that trying lots of things might help, and it isn't copying, just learning. And while you're busy learning, the pressure is off and your own ideas can flow more easily.
Karen - as you say in the comment above, just keep working. Your needle felted people are your own and in your own style. The more you make, the more you'll be able to see your own style in them.
ReplyDeleteHey Zed, Thanks so much for that i feel better about not copying someone, more like being inspired by something someone has made instead. I'll find my thing eventually i know i was just getting a little frustrated, Exploring color and texture is your thing and i know when i'm looking at something that you made it !!.
ReplyDeleteThankyou Ruth, i appreciate that, i'm about to start another little person so we'll see how he turns out, I do love making them and i have so much fun. Hope my style shows itself soon lol i'm sure it will xo
I am not sure I've found my thing yet. I'm still borrowing from other people's things. But I may have found my thing... stay tuned. ::grin::
ReplyDeleteHey Annie i'll be waiting hehehe
ReplyDelete