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Mulch Media Gallery » Creations with Wool » Fea the Soul Weaver

    

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Fea visited the Westercon 69 Art Show. I didn't bring the project board but did pin a copy of her story to the dress.

Read the legend behind the gown. Here is the story of Fea the Soul Weaver (PDF).

Costume creation story board: The Gown of Fea the Soul Weaver

Costume creation story board: The Gown of Fea the Soul Weaver

The Gown of Fea the Soul Weaver - Final view

The Gown of Fea the Soul Weaver - Final view

The Gown of Fea the Soul Weaver - Final view

The Gown of Fea the Soul Weaver - Final view

The Gown of Fea the Soul Weaver - Final view

The Gown of Fea the Soul Weaver - Final view (black & white)

Fea design sketch. • The Fea project developed out of wanting to explore two ideas. The first was based on seeing an image of Animal X’s costume, “Holocaust“ (http://www.ibelieveinfaeries.com/animal/gallery/gallery/pages/death.htm). I thought the idea of having faces integrated into a garment was fascinating. Unlike Animal X’s costume though, I wanted to explore making the faces more a part of the garment, like an overall texture.

The Fea project developed out of wanting to explore two ideas. The first was based on seeing an image of Animal X’s costume, “Holocaust“ (http://www.ibelieveinfaeries.com/animal/gallery/gallery/pages/death.htm). I thought the idea of having faces integrated into a garment was fascinating. Unlike Animal X’s costume though, I wanted to explore making the faces more a part of the garment, like an overall texture.

Inge Stahl “Medea” To find more visual inspiration, I searched the internet for images that had the integrated texture I was wanting. Inge Stahl’s work titled “Medea” (http://homes.hallertau.net/~bst46/english.htm) and Kalenisis’ photo “Sister of Earth two” (http://kalenisis.deviantart.com/art/Sister-of-Earth-two-3533467) were two images that I liked the merging of natural elements onto the female form.

Kalenisis “Sister of Earth two” To find more visual inspiration, I searched the internet for images that had the integrated texture I was wanting. Inge Stahl’s work titled “Medea” (http://homes.hallertau.net/~bst46/english.htm) and Kalenisis’ photo “Sister of Earth two” (http://kalenisis.deviantart.com/art/Sister-of-Earth-two-3533467) were two images that I liked the merging of natural elements onto the female form.

The next step was to dye the wool into the colors I wanted for the project. The best and easiest instructions I found to follow were from Pie Knits’ blog, Feb 20, 2006 (http://pieknits.blogspot.com/2006/02/dyeing-with-wiltons-icing-dye.html). This was an incredibly easy and fun process. Because the dyes used were edible (Wilton’s Icing Dye), the entire process could be done in the kitchen using the pots I already had, no special equipment purchases were necessary. Another amazing thing about dying wool is how little mess there is. You know when the dying process is done when all the dye has been absorbed from the water by the wool. Unlike fabric dyes, there is no real rinsing required, the wool as fully absorbed all of the color.

My felting needles were purchased from Wool Works (http://woolworks.com/).

Once I had the tools and supply of wool I tested out the felting process by making one face. It was fairly time consuming the result worked well enough that believed I could make the project work.

Making the faces took a lot of experimentation but I finally developed a system for I could produce them fairly efficiently and with good results. Many of my early attempts had to be reworked so that they looked better and matched the later version.

In general, the method I worked out was to layout several layers of the dyed wool. Each layer was spread out so that the “grain” of the wool was in a different direction. With enough layers so that the wool was about an inch thick I would then felt the layers together with my multi-needle tool. With the lightly felted square I would then pinch in the major features of the face, tacking each into place by using the single needle to push the wool into the foam work surface. I then used the single needle to felt in the rest of the facial details: pushing in recesses like nostrils and wrinkles; teasing out obtrusions like eyebrows and noses; cutting in holes like eye sockets and mouths.

As part of a human and organic element, I wanted to work in a fringe of hair around the wool faces. I made wefts out of a mix of synthetic and human hair. The wefts were made by laying out layers of the three different colors of hair onto a bead of glue. A strip of fabric (so I have something more solid to sew to the dress) is pressed onto the glue. Once dry I cut the strip of fabric down the middle to create two long wefts of hair.

As part of a human and organic element, I wanted to work in a fringe of hair around the wool faces. I made wefts out of a mix of synthetic and human hair. The wefts were made by laying out layers of the three different colors of hair onto a bead of glue. A strip of fabric (so I have something more solid to sew to the dress) is pressed onto the glue. Once dry I cut the strip of fabric down the middle to create two long wefts of hair.

As part of a human and organic element, I wanted to work in a fringe of hair around the wool faces. I made wefts out of a mix of synthetic and human hair. The wefts were made by laying out layers of the three different colors of hair onto a bead of glue. A strip of fabric (so I have something more solid to sew to the dress) is pressed onto the glue. Once dry I cut the strip of fabric down the middle to create two long wefts of hair.

The next step of the project was to arrange all of the faces onto the dress. With the base-fabric gown draped on a dress form, I arranged each of the face with the lightest colors towards the top and the darkest at the bottom. The goal was to add a weight to the garment, to show Fea’s heavy burden while weaving in the souls of the fallen. In addition to the color arrangement, the faces were also rotated and laid out to create a spiral pattern; the faces wind their way up Fea’s form.

Each face was square and built to look straight on, but I found that with pushing the wool around and adding filler where needed, I could tilt the faces into different directions.

After having the general layout planned, I squished and shaping each face, grouping them so that they were looking out in different directions.

One of the problems I discovered was that I had to work with the gown on the dress form for all planning. Once I laid the gown flat to work on felting the faces down, the pieces would lay differently; so what didn’t look right laying flat looked great hanging up.

After having the general layout planned, I squished and shaping each face, grouping them so that they were looking out in different directions.

After having the general layout planned, I squished and shaping each face, grouping them so that they were looking out in different directions.

The majority of this work was done with the gown on the dress form to ensure that it would look right. The hair wefts were draped onto the dress and hand-sewn to the fabric.

The majority of this work was done with the gown on the dress form to ensure that it would look right. The hair wefts were draped onto the dress and hand-sewn to the fabric.

Later, after I filled in the spaces with additional wool, I trimmed up hair so that each was a length I liked. Similar to how the faces were arranged by color, I filled in with darker colors of the wool as I reached the bottom of the gown.

I also ripped up the bottom edge of the dress, fraying all the edges to help add weight to the form.

The final piece of construction was to add some beading. Because souls as I imagine them are mystic, ethereal things, I wanted to have a little bit of sparkle integrated within the wool.

The final piece of construction was to add some beading. Because souls as I imagine them are mystic, ethereal things, I wanted to have a little bit of sparkle integrated within the wool.

I tried out many different patterns and beading techniques and eventually settled on scattering the beads out into some general lines versus having them clumped together or worked into specific patterns. To plan the layout I used some scrap tule, draping and pinning the lines into a general flow that I liked. Similar to applying heavier and darker amounts of wool at the base of the gown, I also applied heavier amounts of beads.

I tried out many different patterns and beading techniques and eventually settled on scattering the beads out into some general lines versus having them clumped together or worked into specific patterns. To plan the layout I used some scrap tule, draping and pinning the lines into a general flow that I liked. Similar to applying heavier and darker amounts of wool at the base of the gown, I also applied heavier amounts of beads.

    

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