About Felted Yarns and Katy Small

Over the last 30 years I have explored many different artistic mediums, having worked in Theatre making props and costumes, studying Fine Art, Sculpture and Millinery. Personal interests have included working with fibres and yarns, painting and embroidery.

For the last twenty or so years I have been teaching Design & Technology, Art and Textiles. 2020 is the year that I acknowledged that I am an artist and valuing my work enough to show and sell it.

I now make, sell and teach. Please feel free to check my New pages to see my journey in the last couple of years. If you want really up-to-date information, you can follow me on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/katysmall_feltedyarns/

A thoughtful present from my husband, a felting workshop rekindled my love for working with fibres to create textiles pictures. Over the months and years, I have played with different fibres, experimenting with their possibilities, finding my own fibre language, hoping to express stories and feelings in the pictures I create.

Originally from the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland, I moved to Yorkshire almost 30 years ago and found inspiring landscapes that I fell in love with. Visiting Northern Ireland several times a year my work draws on the changing skies and landscapes, as much as the tiny, busy world of a hedgerow. The vibrant colours of the farm fields, the changing colours of our skies.

I am obsessed with Merino wool as it offers such softness, delicacy and vibrancy. I love exploring with other yarns and fibres, such as silk….. to create textures and will probably change as I find more and more to play and experiment with.

My pictures start as a drawing or small painting in my sketchbook. The background is made using a technique called ‘wet felting’, blending fibres is similar to blending paints or pastels. The wool has a life of its own and often the picture will take exciting and unexpected turns.

I love the textures of tall grasses and heathers, seeing patterns in the rolling fields and furrows. The silhouette of a tree is majestic. Clouds, dance and roll. I do not aim to re-create an actual scene, but rather evoke a feeling, an impression, a mood, allowing the viewer to choose what they see.