The Prince and the Blooms – Hellen Edwards

Wet Felted using Merino wool and other Organic Fibres. Free Motion Embroidered.

Wet felted using the earliest textile technique known by early man! Creating a picture with painterly qualities using an explosion of jewel likecolours using soap, water and heat. Agitating the fibres to create a painting that is seductive, tactile and using surfaces that conjureatmosphere and vitality, to be both dreamlike and real.
The painting is a blend of Merino wool and Icelandic wool collected on my travels to Iceland. A place that is proud to expand the versatility ofwool , its qualities, and its sustainability, – its ability to be both practical and beautiful in its many forms.
For me, I enjoy taking raw wool and other organic fibres such as bamboo, silk, banana fibre, flax and many more into another creativedimension. Using the fibres like paint, layering up textures and colour in order to produce something visibly pleasing has always been anexciting and unpredictable process for me. The final stages are Free motion stitching, which is the art of using a sewing machine like a pencilor a paintbrush, bringing to life and giving it an extra layer of tactile essence, with a quilted texture to give an almost 3D affect.

The piece is 100% Textile. Consisting of Merino Wool, Icelandic Wool, Silk an oil, Flax Bamboo, Mulberry Silk, Viscose fibre , and woolNepps.
It has been Wet Felted then Free Motion Embroidered with a small amount of needle felting at the end.