Needlefelted Amarna Geese

Sketched Geese

Sketched Geese

I have a picture in my mind of a gaggle of geese, fresco’d on an Amarna wall. Unfortunately, all my rummagings haven’t turned up a reference or any idea where I saw it.  So I am going to make it up!

I spent some time online, looking for pictures of geese, and made some sketches. I’ve decided to use my embellisher – this is a sort of “bonus” project, as it won’t go on the main panels.

Geese Cut Out

Geese Cut Out

So the next stage was to cut out some geese from some light grey pre-felt. One of them is to be slightly more upright than the other two, but since needlefelting – like wet felting – reduces the dimensions of the piece, it’s anyone’s guess how clear that will be when I’ve finished!

Goose with layers

Goose with layers

I’ve tried to create the basic appearance of the goose using fragments of wool – several shades of grey merino, and some of the very wiry white wool from Heligan. It’s all needlefelted into place by hand.  Not enough hands – I’m sure I could have done with another pair, or some other way to control the bits I hadn’t managed to deal with yet!

At this point there was a pause for thought… I have neither the inclination nor the patience to add the details with needlefelting, but equally, how much detail will I really need?

14 Comments

  1. Something very strange afoot with this comment facility and I’m not sure if you will get this or what it will look like. Have tried in two browsers.

    Anyway…. do i take it you have some of those barbed needles for hand needle-felting? The one you’ve done is looking very good and I think the odd stitched detail, if that’s what you decide on, will look well.

  2. perhaps it’s because you’ve changed the colour of your font. the comment in the comment section is all in block caps and almost invisible, in the same colour as your background cream, but it publishes as green and in lower as well as upper case. i can only see what i’ve written if i highlight it.

  3. … and now the upper case has disappeared!

  4. Sue Jones says:

    Invisible typing! Ouch! Sorry, don’t like reading the green on dirty cream, either. I do like the undetailed goose – I think she’s just perfect as she is.

  5. jenclair says:

    Eyes and some feet–that is all the geese need! Thanks for changing the comment format to what I can see. 🙂

  6. Cynthia says:

    I like the layered goose, the needle felting softens the edges nicely. It needs feet but not much else.

  7. Lady Fi says:

    Ooo – I like the new look of your blog! Very nice. And cute geese.

  8. Carolyn says:

    I like the changes to your blog layout and I have to say that I am a sucker for geese. They have so much ‘atitude’.

  9. Penny Baugh says:

    I too like your new blog layout. I have to say — you are the most wonderfully experimental artist I know. The best part about is that what you create always comes out so beautifully. LOVE the geese!

  10. Susan says:

    Your whole felting journey is so interesting to me. I’m really enjoying your explorations. What about a few embroidered details over the felting? Or can you felt in some embroidery work?

  11. Karen says:

    I love your goose, made up or not! You are entitled to a little artistic license…

  12. I like your goose! I also like your new layout, and have no difficulty in reading what I am typing in the comment form.

  13. Anita says:

    I like the way the goose looks . I think feet and eyes will do..

  14. Terrie says:

    I am quite happy to see you have some felted works.