Wonders of Wool Exhibition

I’m thrilled to team up with fellow fiber artist Cecilia Ho for a joint exhibition at the Metropolitan Arts Council gallery now through February 18th. Cecilia and I are both self-taught and although we work in the same medium and have a few techniques in common, our work is very different. I love how the exact same materials can yield totally different results!

The opening reception is Friday January 21st from 6:30-9 at the gallery (16 Augusta Street, Greenville, SC). All are welcome! There will be food, wine and other refreshments, and Cecilia and I would love to meet you and share our work with you.

About the show:

Wool is all around us. It’s in our closets, our blankets, our shoe insoles, and even the insulation in our homes. This incredible natural material has been used for centuries for a wide range of practical solutions, but in this joint exhibition Cecilia Ho and Sarah Mandell explore the material purely for its beauty. With 25 years of combined fiber art experience, Ho and Mandell use needle felting, wet felting, nuno felting with silk fabric, rug hooking and punch needle techniques to create 2D and 3D work inspired by all aspects of nature.

Enjoy this sneak peek virtual tour of the gallery!

For more information about the gallery, or to purchase work, please contact Metropolitan Arts Council: https://www.greenvillearts.com/

Punching a Pillow

For the first time in a long time, I have room in my schedule for a personal project. Believe me, I’d much rather be out in the world doing craft shows, teaching workshops, and finding inspiration at a residency, but this pandemic had other plans for the spring season. But I’m certainly making the most of this time!

I took a week-long rug hooking course at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the fall, but punch needle is something totally different (even though they’re both referred to as “rug hooking” in many circles). The traditional rug hooking I learned at the Folk School involved pulling up little strips of cut wool fabric (with a hooked tool) through primitive linen backgrounds, working from the back to the front. Punch needle, on the other hand, uses a large needle that’s threaded with yarn (or other material) and you push the needle through your fabric from the backside, creating loops on the frontside.

As a beginner to both of these crafts, I have found punch needle techniques to be far more forgiving, and I think that has to do with using thick yarn. It fills out your piece more neatly, and you don’t have to constantly worry that your strips of fabric are getting twisted or if your loops are slightly different heights. Punching is also significantly faster so you see way more progress in the same amount of time compared to traditional rug hooking.

I received Rose Pearlman’s “Modern Rug Hooking” book for Christmas and after reading through it, I was able to get right to work. I had tried to teach myself and make some pieces on my own before that, but was having trouble getting things to work. It was simple things I had wrong - I hadn’t purchased the right background fabric, the yarn I wanted to use was way too thin (or thick) for the punch needle I had, etc. However, after reading through the book, I could move on from all of those rookie mistakes.

I’ve been dabbling in some mixed media fiber art pieces, combining traditional rug hooking with punching and even needle felting, so this was my first large scale project that’s created from 100% punch needle techniques. This accent pillow took about 10 hours of work and nearly $100 worth of yarn and other materials, so it’s not for sale (I don’t think anyone would pay that much for a pillow), but I really enjoyed making something just for myself, for my own enjoyment. I know once the pandemic is over and we get back into our busy lives, I would never have the time to invest in something like this, so I’m glad I was able to do this now during this slower season.

Introducing Wool Color Studies

Back in October, I took a week-long rug hooking course at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. I had big plans for this new skill, plans that involved combining other materials and techniques, specifically needle felting. I’ve been needle felting for over 10 years now, and have fallen in love with the texture of wool, so the thought of achieving a whole new level of texture through rug hooking was extremely tempting. During my week at the Folk School, I tried out some preliminary pieces where I hooked wool fabric strips using traditional rug hooking techniques, but I intentionally left gaps and came back to fill those in with needle felted roving. I really loved the combo – it was everything I hoped it would be!

Fast forward to late January. Where did the last 3+ months go? Oh yeah, the holidays! The Folk School feels like ages ago, but I haven’t forgotten my original mission, despite the craziness of the 4th quarter. After returning home from Brasstown in October, I used the remaining funds from my Metropolitan Arts Council grant to purchase the basic supplies needed for rug hooking – a frame, 2 hooks, foundation cloth, curved scissors, etc. This stash of new supplies and tools has been sitting in my studio, waiting for me to return to a normal schedule. Now that the holidays are behind me, and I’m back from my big wholesale tradeshow (Atlanta Gift Show), it’s finally time to dive into this new crafting realm.

I started out small – nothing larger than 8” or so. Practicing on a reasonable scale is purely for my own sanity. If a piece isn’t working, it doesn’t feel like a huge let down when it’s smaller. Plus, I wanted to try out a bunch of different ideas so that’s a lot more manageable when I can finish a piece in a few hours rather than investing in something for a few weeks only to discover I don’t like how it turned out. I’m a beginner in this new medium, and I want to set myself up for success and allow for exploration.

I’m excited to share this new series of mixed media color studies. This first collection is inspired by the colors of gemstones like yellow topaz, aquamarine, kyanite, obsidian, and rose quartz. Each hoop art piece is really about exploring texture and features an overall monochromatic color palette. Each piece has a dyed wool backdrop that sets the tone for the color palette, but also acts as a fantastic foundation cloth. I wasn’t thrilled with the primitive linen look that’s traditionally used for rug hooking, so I tried out a few other options before discovering washed wool fabric. It’s way more expensive to work with, but I love love love how it looks!

Each hoop art piece has rug hooked wool strips, needle felted roving, punch needled yarn (wool, acrylic, chenille, and others) and I also flipped the piece several times throughout so that I can showcase both the “right” and the “wrong” side of the loops. I think it’s so cool how the “wrong” side of the loop can look – it’s so much tighter and shorter, but then the “right” side is so plush and has incredible density. To me, there’s no right or wrong side – it’s all about which texture you’re going for. As for me, I want ALL of the different textures represented!

All wool color studies are available on my website under Fiber Art / Textile Art and I’m also offering a custom option – choose your size and color palette and I’ll make it just for you!