Marion is a retired geography teacher and crofter who has emigrated from Shetland to the Cevennes in southern France. She is an embroiderer and feltworker whose interest in wool stemmed from her early days in Shetland when she learned to spin using wool from her own sheep.

Always a lover of embroidery, over the years she explored different techniques. Despite many years where the demands of teaching and crofting prevented her from indulging in creative activities she maintained an interest in embroidery, finding the Guild of Embroiderers a lifeline enabling her to remain informed of developments in the textile world. She is also a member of the International Feltmakers Association.

Retirement at last allowed opportunity to re-focus on her creativity.

With 70 kilos of fine quality Shetland wool from her last wool clip there was no shortage of raw materials for dyeing and felting. This is a medium she is now exploring. Inspiration surrounds her and themes present themselves from the wild surroundings in which she lives. The textures and patterns provided by the natural environment are a constant inspiration. The combination of felting and embroidery allow her to use a wide range of techniques. Each piece of work becomes a ‘painting’, using wools, silks and threads as her paints.

How I make my felt

“I make my felt from a variety of materials - wools, cotton muslin, silks and threads of many different types. These are my paints.

In France most people think of felt as boiled wool, but true felt is made from layers of fibre which have been meshed permanently.

Layers of wool are laid down by hand, wetted with soapy water and then rolled until the fibres unite into a single layer.

WOOL is a fibre that has little teeth along it and when you subject it to FRICTION, HEAT and SOAP the fibre is shocked. The reaction of the wool is to shrink as the teeth interlock permanently through the layers making a strong fabric.

The FRICTION is caused by rolling the layers around a pole of some kind, by rubbing or by throwing. Each technique brings a different texture and appearance to the felt. Up to 1000 rolls may be necessary depending on the weight of felt required.

The HEAT is warm to boiling water according to the stage of felting and the type of wool.

The SOAP causes a change in the acidity of the wool which reacts by shrinking.

The wools I use include:

• MERINO which I buy ready dyed in a huge range of colours from England
• SHETLAND ORGANIC from our own sheep
• GOTLAND and NORWEGIAN both silver grey wools from Scandinavia.
• BRITISH wools - the UK has over 50 different breeds of sheep and the wool varies tremendously, which offers much opportunity to experiment.

COLOURED WOOLS Most breeds produce white or cream wool which can be chemically dyed enabling one to match wool at any time. I like best the wools I dye with natural plant materials because they have softer, more subtle colours, but they are almost impossible to match! The SHETLAND breed produces a wide range of natural colours. The wool is nearly as fine as Merino but comes in many shades from black to 'silver' and has a big range of browns from nearly black to pale beige/pink.