Felt Enchanted

Artists' Statements: Amira Mudfaery Porporina I love to felt! Felting provides so much opportunity for creation, it is impossible to keep up with all of my visions! From the woolly, uncarded, natural look, to fine felted Merino and silk…I love to explore it all! Needle felting has opened up the world of felted sculpture for me. As a sculptor of earth, this is exciting! I have combined needle felting and wet felting for many of my creations. Much of my work reflects my faery heritage. I find the most magical creatures hiding in the wool! My other great passion for felt is with making clothing. I have only scratched the surface of this area of felting and am doing more and more wearables. Having altered and made my own clothes since I was a kid, Felt has given me the opportunity to create my own fabric! What a magical process! (Commissions encouraged!) Cynthia Ngahere Lorrian Growing up with a weaver, Cynthia has always loved to make stuff out of fibre. She has a passion for Harakeke and other natural fibres. Working with the Nelson Arts Festival, Cynthia has much experience creating fabulous spaces with fabric and fibre. At home, Cynthia spends time in her garden and finds inspiration in the flowers and plants, drying them and dyeing them when they are past their time as living plants. Cynthia also loves seeing creatures in the wool and gently prodding them to come out with a felting needle. Esther Wiechers My name is Esther Wiechers ter Hart. I emigrated two years ago from the Netherlands where I first came to know about wool felting nine years ago. What I love about felting is the sharing with other women. I feel the bond with all the women through time who sat together and shared this old technique for the sake of making rugs, bags, boots, tents and so on. I feel inspiration from storybooks with magical pictures, I love bright colours and going into detail. The use of silk and other fibres or textiles bring more excitement to wool felting. What I love to do most is making work on commission. Something unique or tailormade. I like listening to someone's wishes and looking at personalities in order to make something special, fit for just that person. It can be a wallhanging, a hat which is stylish or just very funny, a baby blanket or a special bag. What I am working on at the moment is a portrait of a rooster who is quite a character and this family wanted to have him portraited in felt. I just love doing that, it is so much fun! Giving workshops is something I do naturally. There are so many ideas and theme's to work on. I give classes for children as well as for adults. I have worked in schools in the Netherlands and also in New Zealand where I worked with children on projects on wool felting. I was very inspiring and a great experience for me as for the kids. For some children it was more than just a creative day in school. I have seen that wool felting does something good to people and I think especially children benefit from the special soothing qualities that warm water, soap and wool have to offer. It feels so good! I would like to work on some more school projects in the near future. The name Heartfelt comes from my surname ter Hart, it means: from the heart. That is how felting feels to me, it does come from the heart and when I am in that place creativity just flows.	Amira Mudfaery Porporina
	Cynthia Ngahere Lorrian
	Esther Wiechers
Shalimar Sculpture with Mushroom Cap $1600 (cap lifts off wood with sculpture) Or: with Oak Base & Stem $2000 (price negotiable with Amira)	View of Shalimar Sculpture head (all prices are in NZ$)
Showing Oak Base & Stem with Mushroom Cap	Lacy Gordian Dragon of Silk Undergarments $85
Mudfaery Hat (left) NFS Mossy Sprout Hat (mddle) NFS Tree Bark Hat (right $180 Hobbitty Boots (right) $700
"Mosstique" $8000	"Mosstique" showing felting of headwear/hat
"Arnott @ Age 120" (NFS)
Furry Elf Hat $200	Seed Pod Hat $160
Mermaid $520	Dancing Angel $195
Crocodile Hat $390	Flower Hat $325
Enchanted Slippers $490	Whale Radar Hat $325
From Mongolia to New Zealand $625	Spiral Mandala $195
"Silence" $325	Rufus Gordian Dragon of Spikey Eggs $50 (incl. Spikey Eggs)
Sleeping Faery and Her Garden $85	Jewellery "Eye of the Mother Gaia" Boulder Opal $320