This work was developed alongside the carving About Face (2018). As stone carving is a reductive process where the form is revealed through the removal of material, there seemed for me a disconnect between the finished form of a carving and its raw origins. The felt became a way of recording the process of the stone taking shape and thus holds a memory within its undulating form.

I use a process of wet felting where the sheep’s wool fibres are laid out dry and then coxed together with warm soapy water creating a strong flat felt. The felt while worked shrinks as the fibres become more and more interlocked. This shrinkage also works to stiffen the material allowing it to hold the stones shape.