DIY: Felting a Dress is a Scream!

So the other day, a maintenance dude was in my art room installing what appears to be The World's Largest Flat Screen T.V. (seriously, ya'll. What am I gonna do with this thing, shop on QVC whilst the kids are art-makin'? Hey...wait a minute...). Annnyway, we got to chatting and dude tells me a story about his high school art teacher that is so deliciously demented, I just have to share it with ya. Apparently, this art teacher salvaged her daughter's hair after a hair cut and, wait for it, knitted it into a sweater.

[I'll pause here until you finish with the dry heaves.]

But wait, there's more! Dude then proceeds to tell me that whenever you were working on your masterpiece, the art teacher, forever in her Hairy Hoodie, would lean over to offer advice and, when doing so, the hairs would tickle your face. 

[Again, I pause. Heave away.] 

"Because all art teachers are weird, you know," said that formerly tickled and tormented soul. "Even you!" Mind you, I just met this guy and he's already got me (accurately) pegged.

Why tell you this story? Because I remembered it when I was felting hairs into this dress. Not human hair, mind you, but that of some colorful sheeps and, well, maybe a rogue cat hair or twenty.

And I'm left with the thought: Will my sweet art-lovin' students tell stories of their Hairy-Dress art teacher?!

I scream at the thought.

According to my calculations, there here is my 12th Hairy, er, Needle Felted Creation. For my latest felted -n- foxy masterpiece, follow this linky-loo which will lead you down a rabbit hole of cheeseball needle-felting tutorials and a look-see of my Needle Felted Projects of the Past.

With that outta the way, let's chat about this here Munch-inspired Scream dress, ermkay? I gave ya'll a look-see (as well as a brief history of el Munch-o) in this What I Wore post. I've had my mind set on creating a Scream dress since my Adventures in Making an Artist-A-Month Dress began. And I've had my eye on this years-old (and slightly ruined from a formerly failed DIY) dress as the perfect canvas for this Scream-tastic adventure. I began by drawing my design out in chalk as it's easy to erase with an elbow or completely rid of with a toss in the wash.

Way back in January, when hubs and I took to the Smoky Mountains for some adventuring, I stumbled upon a knitting/weaving/felting shop that had this amazing felt roving. When I saw it, I immediately knew it'd be perfect for The Scream and scooped it up for a mere $14, ya'll. I thought the mix of colors would save me a lotta labor layering colors...which I spent a lot of time doing in this piece.

And in 30 minutes, I had a wee bit of sky in place.

Many more than 30 minutes later, I had made some progress...however, it's become apparent to me that I need to size-up on my needle felting tool as that little bitty pencil-sized thing takes For.Eve.Rrrr.

However, I was determined to finish this super hairy beast. So I strapped on my headphones, jammed out to some rando tunes (I ran the musical gamut from Mazzy Star to Siouxsie and the Banshees and some Lily Allen. I tole you, rando) and worked until the loopeyness set in...

At which point hubs came in to check on me (I wasn't responding to his hollerin' due to said headphone/jam-out sessions). He brought Ashie with him who we promptly styled with a rogue piece of roving. Question: Do you prefer the Conan O'Kitty on the left or the Cat-Faux-Hawk on the right? Let's be honest, this cat looks good in any random roving we put on her head.

When the dress was finally complete, it seriously weighed a ton. I totes wasn't  expecting it to be so hot and heavy, heehee. Ahem. To smash down the roving (and lock the fibers into place), I flipped the dress inside out, as seen, and ironed the crap outta it on the steamiest setting available.

This helped flatten the otherwise lumpy and bumpy look to the dress. Which is never appealing.

By the way, I saved the Scream-y face for last. I was certain I was going to mess it up. And that's like the most important part. Mess that up and you lose the image entirely.

And I did struggle with it a bit. Originally, I created the hallows of the eyes in brown. However, that appeared much darker than is seen on the original. So I toned down the hallows with a very fine veil of peach roving. This worked to push the eye sockets back a pinch and made it so the pupils could come forward. It was a happy accident and I'm excited that I discovered a fun way to play with value whilst felting.

Of course, no post about The Scream would be complete without a dorky attempt at The Scream. I had to channel my inner Home Alone/Macaulay Culkin. My sincerest apologies.

And there you have it! One felted The Scream dress that's hairy-feltedness is sure to tickle the face of some poor student who will live to tell about it to generations to come. And by "generations" I mean their many therapists.

Until next time, I hope your week is a Scream, ya'll!

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What the Art Teacher Wore #95 and Edvard Munch

Clay Adventure Monday: This week began the beginning of a two week adventure introducing the entire stinkin' school (all 400+ of 'em) to the Wonderful World of Clay! I absolutely love clay and so do my students. However, it's super hard teaching them in 30 minute increments. That's why I'm dragging it out for two weeks -- I want the kids to have as much time in the mud as possible. I can't wait to share with you all that we're creating! sweater: vintage, Four Seasons Vintage in Knoxville; cat blouse: used, Buffalo Exchange; skirt: thrifted; tights: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina; necklace: Forever39

Oh, hey there, ya'll. Is it just me or does it kinda sorta feel like summer is around the corner? Maybe it's the weather (it's a balmy 80ish degrees here in Tennessee today) and the longer days, but I feel like summerness is nigh. And it has me TOTALLY FREAKING OUT. I've got, like, one million clay projects currently wrapped in plastic bags in the art room (it looks like I'm running a Barbie mortuary what with the little wrapped plastic bags) that all need to be fired, glazed and ready for display in a month. Not to mention all the art projects that were put on hold for said clay madness. I'm a little stressed that the end is so close...we've got so much art to make!

All this craziness has kinda put me in the mind of this painting...

The Scream (of Nature), Edvard Munch, 1893 Did you know that there are four versions created by Munch of this painting/pasteled piece? AND that two out of the four have been stolen (and recovered)  one in 1994 from the National Gallery and another in 2004 from the Munch Museum in Oslo. But it's no wonder as these paintings are worth mega bucks. In fact, The fourth version (pastel, 1895) was sold for $119,922,600. Who has that much coin to drop on a painting, ya'll? I'm guessing it wasn't an art teacher.

So I spent part of my weekend in my sewing room felting away. I've had this old Brooks Brothers dress for years and it was sitting in my "give it to Goodwill" pile until I decided to punch a buncha felt into the thing. Sadly, this might be one of the last felted numbers I do for a while since the temps are on the climb. I can already tell, with the front of this dress being entirely felted, it's gonna be one hot number. Like, literally, ya'll. I'll be Screaming for mercy (pun, unfortunately, intended).

Whilst felting away, I realized, I didn't know all that much about ole Munch. So I thought this week, I'd share with you some of his work and a wee bit of history about the dude. Until next time, have a super fab week, ya'll!

Totally Tuesday: It was teacher appreciation week at my school and I absolutely loved it! Everyday of the week, the kids brought the teachers some sort of awesomeness and Tuesday was flower day. I loved being able to take home an arm full, especially a giant sunflower! necklace: Paper Source; top: used, Buffalo Exchange; skirt: old, Target; mini-palette hair clip: DIY by me

Self-Portrait with Skeleton Arm, 1895 You know, cuz that's normal. So, as you might have guessed just looking at Munch's work, he suffered a pretty difficult childhood. Both his mother and a sister died of tuberculosis which left Edvard and his three other siblings to be raised by their father who sounds a wee bit like an odd dude.  Munch wrote, "My father was temperamentally nervous and obsessively religious—to the point of psychoneurosis. From him I inherited the seeds of madness. The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side since the day I was born" (go here for more details.) 

Vampire, 1895 If I told you that Munch's dad read his children ghost stories and tales by Edgar Allan Poe, would ya believe me? Whenever I see Munch's work, I always think of Poe. I never knew that there was an actual connection.

Ballsy Wednesday: It never fails, every time I wear this necklace (which is often, cuz I loves it), I get the question: Did you make those balls?! I crack up every time. Partly because I have the maturity level of a 12 year old (no lie) and also because, well, I suppose I coulda. I mean, they are felted balls. But I try not to make it a habit to play with my balls. Felted or not. blouse: thrifted; skirt: vintage, Etsy; tights: Target; shoes: old, John Fluevog

Shore with Red House, 1904 While I find Munch's life fascinating (has anyone read this book? Thinking it might be a good summer read) I've never been wild and crazy about his paintings. Granted, when I think of Munch, I usually think of The Scream, Vampire and Kiss (the painting, not the band). And, having seen those paintings so much, it's hard to appreciate them apart from their commercialness. So I scoured the interwebs and found some Munch paintings that I actually loved. Like this one. I love the colors in the foreground and the patterns on the rocks.

Full of Hot Air Thursday: The other day, while walking on the track at my school with some buddies, I swear to you, a hot air balloon almost landed on top of us! I think it mistook our playground for a nearby park. Just when it appeared they were about to land, there was that super loud blow of hot air (you know, what I sound like when I'm talking) and up and away they went. It made for an exciting walk! hot air balloon sweater: Anthro; skirt: Target; tights: dunno

Weeping Nude, 1913 I read that the German Expressionists were greatly influenced by the work of Munch. In fact, I thought Munch was German for the longest time. Dudes from Norway, ya'll, in case you were wondering. I can see the influence, can't you? When I was in college, all angst and stuff, I was In Love with the German Expressionists, particularly Kirchner. And now...not so much. Do you have some odd artist faves from your college days? I know I'm not alone.

Hello, Friday. P.S. My Feet HATE These Shoes: I now keep this cute little fold up pair of ballet flats in my purse for that very reason. Because walking around the art room barefoot is like taking my life into my own hands. blouse: old, Target; skirt: old, Marshall's; evil shoes: Anthro; belt: Target

Workers on their Way Home, 1913 From what, their shift at the local haunted house?! Yikes, this painting is way more frightening than The Scream, don't you think?! And I've never even seen it before. Which just goes to show that artists are so much more than their most famous piece of artwork. 

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