What does a tapestry artist and weaver do when she turns to felting?
Gabriella Kovács (pronounced Kowatsh), Hungarian felt artist, reveals more about her work.
“I had soooo many yarns …”
… that’s why you can find lots of yarn in my felting work. Sometimes they lie parallel, sometimes in a jumble, adorn backgrounds or patterns that have been cut from pre-felt and felted with a thread pattern.
Felted images
1. Toscana
Freely arranged and woven yarns embedded in felt.
“What changes us” …
… is the name of this felted picture with my children. The two figures stand out from the background through the play of threads. The lines rise like stairs. This symbolizes on the one hand the generations, on the other hand the connection between them and the stepping forward.
Trees of Life…
The first grew on a round piece of felt and was “empty”. After a while, birds and flowers appeared on the trees, underwood, sun, and moon came along as well.
For a picture for a family, I additionally embroidered the faces on the tree.
The Hungarian folk tale “The Magic Tree” inspired me as well.
A Piece of Music…
Debussy: White and Black.
White wool, black yarn of a single type in a harmonious interplay. Like a light scribble that arises while listening to music …
“In pairs together”
These are the 1: 1 silhouette of me and my husband. The body proportions are very much the same. We complement each other in life too.
The thought of Plato guided my hands: After the unified nature split, the halves seek each other forever and ever …
I used complementary colors. The picture is embroidered: on the male side I embroidered more on the brain, on my side the heart is more decorated.
“Arcadia”
In idyllic poetry, the land of happiness and happy shepherds.
Paul Valéry wrote “Human being lives and moves in what he sees, but only sees what he thinks”.
At a young age I realized that the outside world and what I perceive of it are not the same, that I perceive all impressions through my own filters.
The image and the applied mirrors remind the viewer of himself in a seemingly logical, yet complicated world with visual labyrinths.
Arcadia is the idyllic place we long for, where we find ourselves in spaces that our brain can interpret.
But if you follow the lines, yarns appear that break this logic and tip the construction out of its order. This forces us to confront ourselves.
I first made this image small using a tapestry technique and later I felted it in a larger scale.
Biiiiig Fish… & Whales
Lots and lots of yarn and pre-felt scraps.
The whales are part of a series of pictures that highlight endangered species. Its Latin name and dimensions are delicately hidden between the yarns, next to the whale.
Click on the pictures!
“The Cat Ladder”
I work backwards: first I lay out the yarns. This is followed by the later background of the motif. Finally, I put the wool for the back on the previous layers.
You have to think another way in order to see the motif in the direction, after turning the felt, as you would imagine.
2. Everyday objects
Like felted pillows and teapot warmers are some of my favorite themes.
Felt with Gabi
Soon I will teach in the Virtual Felting Camp April 2021. Hop in HERE.
… it needs concentration and is like meditation.
14 thoughts on “Wet Felting with Yarns”
These are so lovely – I did a picture last year of music but I used pencil roving, so much thicker lines. I was thinking along the lines you have illustrated with the lines not being parallel to each other too, but you’ve got there before me! Particularly love those pieces!
Using pencil roving AND yarn of the same color is really like using different markers on a sheet of paper.
I am preparing a workshop : felting with yarn. So I made a lot of samples. This is really inspiring
Oh, that’s really good news! Nearly endless opportunities…I think already the difference is very exciting if you use the yarns in the background or as a foreground pattern. Or on prefelt and then cut the prefelt and use that as a pattern…
I was luck to have taken a class with Gabi in Hungary and see some of her beautiful felt creations.
I am really looking forward to working with Gabi again in the online virtual felt school.
I love the idea of using yarns with the felt as I am also a weaver.
Janine, then you are a “double-fiber-soulmate” to her: felting and weaving.
I have experimented with yarn twice, for a hat and a cowl, when my efforts to create pencil roving were frustrated. I was happy with the results. I am so inspired by Gabriella’s spectacular work! There are so many beautiful yarns being created by talented artists that I can’t wait to incorporate!
Uh, yes, using art yarn is another dimension. 🙂 And those hand-dyed yarn are also so wonderful…
Using my handspun yarns to use their linear qualities, which get lost in knitting, was the reason I took up felting. These works of Gabriella’s are astounding, magical, and enchanting.
Yes knitting hides sometimes a lot delicate details of wonderful yarn. That’s why I sometimes prefer making needle weaving on felt of a wonderful and thinner yarn. I can see more of it on the surface.
It seemed like a big leap of faith to book this virtual camp ,
I feel we have had so many lovely inspirational emails already with workshops over Easter I’m part of the camp already!
Looking forward to camping next week with my wool and snacks!
Soooo glad I leaped !,
This will rock! 🙂
I would love to see a video of your process for one of your art pieces.
Please contact Gabriella Kovács felt artist because thos blog post shows her works. 🙂