The reason I called it "Ullswater Felt Art"
Thank you for visiting my website. I am Jane. Since I started felting in 2017, I have evolved a style of felting with a strong 3-dimensional element using local wool. I started with the sheep I see around me (Herdwicks, Swaledales, mules, Rough Fell and Blue Faced Leicesters) but I now felt a wide variety of sheep, goats, ponies, cows, hares, red squirrels and landscapes
I work in a converted garage overlooking Ullswater. I have used wool from my neighbour’s sheep that I can see from my window. Shearing time is busy because it is an ideal opportunity to stock up on the colours and textures I want. There is a surprising variety of sheep in my local area, so putting my name on a fleece in advance is a good way of securing what I want! A whole fleece is a lot of wool, so takes a lot of washing.
I wet felt my basic shapes (the same process that shrinks a wool jumper in the washing machine see blog page) and needle felt the detail and the background using a barbed needle that entangles the wool fibres in a similar way to wet felting.More recently, I have acquired a drum carder to card and then dye my own wool.
The Quiet Site, Ullswater has permanent exhibitions of my work.The Eden Valley Artistic Network Gallery in Penrith and the Lion Gallery, Penrith also have some of my work. Two village shops (Pooley Bridge and Askham) keep my greetings cards.
I take commissions too. Felting someone’s sheep with its own wool is particularly satisfying.