Carding for Wetfelting

Although I have been felting for several years, the use of carders has added a lot to my Felting for color blending. It has taken me a while to get used to the carding, but now I love it!

First carding lesson with Betty Barry 2019

Carding colors for Massanutten Mountain

I wanted to felt the iconic shape of Massanutten Mountain. I had captured many images from a visit in December and most recently in June that I was eager to felt for an online class with Fiber Artist, Moy MacKay. The carder has at least 5 shades of greens and blues which I lightly blended to give the mountain perspective: Olive toward the base on the left and darker blues on the right to emphasize the difference in distance. There’s also a quaint little barn and home in one of my photos so I was eager to add a barn to work on structures in wetfelts.

Wetfelt Layout

Progression

After Wetfelting, I’ve done some Needlefelting to add some fine details in the house, trees and foreground. There’s a little sari silk (yellows) in the foreground which I received from Carr Park Artisans - a great resource for hand dyed merino wools and Wetfelting fibers. Last I added some machine stitching to outline and also to show highlights (white).
Here’s a quick photo showing how Massanutten Mountain turned out.