I have never been what I would call a "gardener". At best, I have been able to keep the hardiest plants alive inside. And have successfully chosen plants for, and looked after, two perennial gardens outside. I listen to others talking about their LOVE of gardening, and that is not the word I would choose. That said, I am a "wicked" weeder and trimmer, which has come in handy over the decades.
I am happy to announce that I have found my perfect kind of garden. It suits my trimming and weeding skills, and it cannot be killed.
SURPRISE! It is made from wool. I have created 4 gardens in anticipation of a workshop I will be teaching in Cobourg next Thursday, the 29th. First time for me. First time for this class of brave hookers.
A bit of a back story needed here. Several years ago, our Ontario Hooking Craft Guild Annual was held in North Bay at Nipissing University. Adjacent to the big room where the rug show and vendors were located (I think we were on top of the covered skating rink in the athletic centre) was an anti-room that contained a "living wall". It was the first one I had ever seen and I was in awe.
Although I don't remember it exactly like this, I found this picture on the university's facebook page and it is in the athletic centre, so I guess this is it.
Recently, these "vertical gardens" are popping up EVERYWHERE. Many office buildings are using them - as respites from work, as dividers, whatever. And if you go online you can order materials to make your own - even DIY instructions to make moss ones - even artificial ones.
A while ago, I decided why not see if I could make a small garden out of wool. I would use not-so-traditional techniques like "quillies" and "proddy" and make up the rest as I went along.
Here is the first result of my exploration. It is nestled inside a shadow box that I think is 10" x 10".
I quickly realized that you could shape just about any kind of leaf - like ferns - just by cutting into the wool. And your imagination would let you create flowers that would never exist in nature.
About the same time, Pinterest was blowing up with "vertical garden" reference. I started collecting all the different things I fell in love with. It's amazing what materials are being incorporated into some of the recent ones, like twigs and other kinds of wood. Some are even planted inside driftwood. They are amazing. And, like all art, these walls are following basic art rules with respect to design, colour and texture. Eureka!!
On to the next one, which is a sweet little 4" x 6" mini, inspired by a "mossy" one I found on Pinterest. Here is the inspiration garden
And here is my inspired "tiny garden" in a special little hanging frame. Look closely and you will see quillies and French Knots, some high loops cut in a fringe, and some novelty yarn that has been kicking around in my stash forever.
Talk about addictive. There are just so many incredible images of the real McCoy, that my faux collection was bound to keep growing - pun intended.
Number three was also inspired by a Pinterest image. This wall that features a collection of little live gardens made me realize that I could make an arrangement of my wooly wonders. And I happened to have an oval frame that I found on sale, and I was eager to try some new effects. Here's the image
And here is where I netted out on my oval garden.
This time, my proddy flowers included some green Sari Silk, which gives a different look and feel when combined with green wool. A couple more quillies and some French Knots, wool trimmed to look like dangly ferns and directional hooking gave this lots of contrast and texture. But the real fun in this exercise was the grey and white "marled" yarn which I pulled high and trimmed to see if I could create an effect similar to the feather plants in the "inspiration" garden. Then I diluted some glue and painted it to see if I could shape the yarn and make it stand up. (A little manipulation goes a long way!)
I am just finishing my fourth sample, which I will share when it is framed. It was inspired by a hand spun yarn I bought at least a decade ago. Bright colours, lots of fibres spun together to create knots in the skein that are just beautiful. I knew I would use it as a dangler at the bottom. And the colour in this hand spun would inspire some colour inside the garden. Luckily, the more Pinterest images I saw, the less I was afraid to put some colour bursts into this one.
The garden is done, but when I went to put it on my stretched canvas, I realized I needed to add another row - or two - of regular hooking all the way around.
You will just have to come back to see it.
