Tuesday 29 March 2011

Dryer Balls Lead To 3D

Quite literally!!
I f you think about it , a ball is a 3D object, so once you've tackled and mastered the Ball, you should in theory, be able to make a head, animal, bird or whatever!!
It's all a matter of planning and practice. 
As I have said in previous posts and this goes for pretty much any artistic endeavour or worldly skill, practice is the key. Many people over the years have taught me, that whatever their skill level, they found that without regular, (not continuous, otherwise there is the risk of boredom), practice, they were able to quickly resume the level of participation(think sportspeople) that they were capable of.
So, from the simple ball, all sorts of shapes are possible. A small ball added on top of a larger one, immediately says snowman!! An even smaller ball on the front of the 'head' part is the nose! A series of 'sausages' become arms, legs, hands and feet, I think I'll stop there before I get myself into hot water:-) But you see the direction I'm taking??
Before I get into detailed construction procedures of all manner of objects and beings, I should encourage those who fear 'they can't draw to save their lives' , I'm not looking to make anyone of you the next Leonardo, and it really doesn't matter a jot, what others think of your handiwork at this early stage. I want you, the reader of this blog, to feel that no-one is judging your artistic abilities but rather, just encouraging you to take up arms or in this case, felting needle and have a go!!!
I really hope that within a very short time, that you will have something on your sideboard(I don't know what the American equivalent is) that you are happy to show family and friends and feel proud of.

Lets have a go at making a Fairy Mushroom(actually for the purists, Toadstool) but whatever, it's a simple starter and is a fun, brightly coloured piece.
Here's a picture of what we're aiming to make.
As you can see, there are two basic shapes here, a cone and a cyilinder. There are two cones joined by a cylinder. Now to start with, the shapes are made with polyester fiber wadding or batting, this simplifies things to the point of silliness but it does illustrate how easily objects, that at first may appear relatively complex can be broken down into very easy stages.
Right, if you'll forgive me, for today, I will stop here and publish but I will be back tomorrow to finish up.Good night.

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