Introducting Sylvia Brestel

Meet Sylvia Brestel

One of the artists in River Run Gallery Fun Art Studio

is

Sylvia Brestel.

She is one of the reasons this is a FUN art studio.

Her work is glorious.

It is vibrant, unusual, colorful, useful

and just plain fun to have around.

Here are some photos of her work and her explanation

 of her inspiration and process.

  If you haven't seen her work in person, you really need to stop in to see it for yourself.

 Blue Wrap

My pieces are inspired by the colors and textural spaces around me.  Nature is a strong inspiration for me.  Many of my pieces have feathers or leaves that reflect my love of birds and trees.  The hand painting often represents sky or trees textures and colors.

The nuno felted blue wrap is a piece inspired by my love of Japanese Shibori and the color reminds me of the sky on a beautiful summer day. 

First, I laid out wisps of silk and wool fibers making sure that the layers are even.  Then, I wetted down the silk and wool with olive oil soap and water.  The felt is bonded to the wool during the nuno/wet felting process.  During the felting, I added my own design of feathers along the edge. 

 After alternately rolling and rubbing down this piece during the lengthy felting stage, I hand painted the wool and silk.  First I folded the item and then gathered and bound it around a pole.  I then steamed the piece to set and bring out the brightness of the colors.  Last, I gave the fibers a gentle conditioning bath to rinse it and then let it air dry.

The felted green scarf is made of silk and wool and is also hand painted.  It was made in the same way as the blue wrap by laying out the wool and silk fibers and then wet felting them together.  I folded, gathered, and bound the item around a pole and hand painted the piece, steamed it, and rinsed it.  I formed leaves at the ends of the scarf during the wet felting process.  After it was felted, steamed, rinsed, and air dried, I sewed beads on the ends of the scarf to embellish and highlight the leaf shapes. 

Sylvia also has made beads, bracelets, bags, coasters and bowls using her felting process.  I will show you a few of her items and give you a link to the gallery website where they can be purchased.  As I said, you really should stop in to the gallery to see her products in person.
  

 Click HERE to see or buy more of Sylvia's work.
You can also go to her website at www.feltedfeather.com