Artistic | Laura Lee Burch

Modern Art, No Calories

For me the thrill of wool is being able to create an object from fiber, from which one would never have guessed it was made. It’s a bit magical!

Needle felted-waxed chocolate cake with strawberries and blueberries. This cake and berries are needle felted from wool! The cake was constructed by making a rectangle-shape of felted brown wool then connecting the ends to make a circle, a separate felted circle was placed on top making a hollow cake. I covered the cake shape with brown and pink colored wax for icing.

“Most recently, I’ve started to create felted-waxed food. The felted-wax process is perfect for many types of food. I continue to challenge myself in this medium concerning texture in search of realism. “
Laura Lee Burch

Each berry was needle felted from wool, waxed with bee’s wax and the strawberries were varnished. The little seeds in the strawberries are sesame seeds. I had to dig a little hole for each seed, pick it up with a needle and lay it in place: time consuming!!!

Material Engagement interviews Laura Lee Burch about her Needle Felted Sculptures

“I started experimenting with different aspects of wool. It bothered me that hooves, a nose or a beak were still slightly fuzzy, even when finely felted. I started waxing areas of my felting that should be smooth. “

https://www.materialengagement.com/posts/blog-post-one-lauraleeburch

Needle felted-waxed Cheese Plate by Laura Lee Burch.

Thank You Jennifer Hoyden.

Encaustic Needle Felting

Winner of Fiber Art Now’s Excellence in Fibers VI 2020, Needle felted and waxed sausages.

Vegan Sausage detail. I’ve been using bee’s wax in my felted sculptures for about the 10 years; it started out as a way to help make the horns, hooves and noses of the animal sculptures that I felted more realistically. As my felted sculptures became more realistic, it bothered me to see something that I knew should be very smooth, appear a little fuzzy.

Needle felted wool, waxed pumpkin. Private collection: Dr. Aya Hadass. It also became a challenge to create innovative ways to alter my sculptures. Each time I used the encaustic method, I learned something new. It has become a game of sorts, a challenge to myself to come up new techniques to alter the textures and colors of my sculptures. Keeping in mind that this is textile art, the appearance become quite unbelievable! Combining the felting technique and the waxing method have helped me to create a new outcome.

Needle felted-waxed pomegranate and beads. I like incorporating other elements into my pieces, of coarse making them mixed media. Beads , stems, glass eyes and embroidery are some of my favorite extra elements.

My Art Studio by Laura Lee Burch

It took a long time to finish my studio, after we bought the 150+ year old Ottoman-era property in the ancient port city of Jaffa, Israel; we had to design the space and then rehab it with the help of ancient architecture specialists (architects, engineers, builders and carpenters) because the building is historic and required many special details in its restoration. The building has been many things over the years but it’s original purpose was as a barn. The building is located in Shuk Ha Pish Pishim (the flea market); in ancient times herders kept their livestock in the area below our apartment and slept in the rooms that are now our house. The herders sold their livestock in the market that still exists today albeit with a very different look and feel! The flea market today is a very hip and gritty place with many bars, restaurants and boutiques.

There are 2 outdoor spaces in our house now but years ago the rooms were built around an indoor courtyard, a very common feature of Arabic architecture. The rooms are designated by the vaulted ceilings, one of the most striking features of the house.

It took us a little more than 3 years to rehab our home in which my studio is located. My art studio has a mid-century modern look; it contains 8 large storage cabinets with transparent backs so you can see the stones behind, a card catalog for storing tiny supplies like threads, tape, felting supplies, knick-knacks etc., two mid-century style tables, my aquarium of turtles and a little sofa. There were two niches in my studio (we don’t know what they were for); I now use one as a storage area and one as a bathroom.

I keep my wool, fabrics and finished sculptures in my storage cabinets.

I have a mid-century style handmade, walnut sewing table and a matching taller table with my computer on it; this is where I felt because all my wool is in the cabinets behind me. As I sit and work I can watch my turtles in the aquarium that separates my studio space from the rest of the house. Louie and Shmoopy (my dogs) often visit me in my studio, Shmoopy is currently banned from the studio because she has eaten too many of my felted pieces; she jumps up on the table and cabinets and steals them.

My sewing table has an inspiration board behind it. I have many memories stashed inside the studio; the chair was my grandma Burch’s sewing chair.

Sewing has been a handed-down activity. From my grandma Burch and from my mother to me, from myself to my daughters.

My father made this wooden tool chest when he was just starting his career.

I’m holding Alice’s needle felted flamingo.

I’ve added many family heirlooms in my studio; they give me inspiration and they are reminders of quality, old-world craftsmanship. My fiber-art is needle felted, many times with embroidery, beads or textiles incorporated into the work.

Studio before:

Studio space before: stucko walls and ceiling.

Studio before: Second cubby hole, now used for storage.

Studio after the walls and ceiling were sandblasted and the cement floor was layed.

Needle felting and Mixed Media

The beginning of the long process of embroidery.

At one point in my needle felting I began to wonder how I could make the surface more interesting, so I began to experiment. I needle felted a mask using a large felted ball as a mold to help me obtain the curved shape of the mask. I felted the mask face as I’d felt any doll face but as I started to apply the colors of the face I became bored with the felted outcome. I decided to start the long, arduous process of embroidering the mask.

It took me several years to finish this project because many other projects became more important and I put the mask away, time and time again. Because of the tediousness of the embroidery I wasn’t excited to finish it.

As I progressed with the mask embroidery, the shape of the mask changed and I had to keep reshaping it. Getting the needle through the center part of the face was very difficult. By this point (above) I was anticipating adding color so the process became more exciting!

Multi-media mask for Purim, Halloween or the theater.

The mask came to life with the addition of each different color that I added. The more colors applied to the surface, the faster I worked!

I compare the many colorful thread stitches of my mask to brush strokes; the outcome reminds me of an impressionistic painting.

My Theater Mask has a felted, embroidered handle.

I sewed/glued a chop stick to the side of the mask for a handle; I felted a handle, embroidered it black and inserted the thread-wrapped chop stick into the handle. I sewed black beads around the mask to compliment the handle.

The feel that the messy, inside of the mask is as interesting as the outside! I’m looking forward to my next needle felted-embroidered mask and I’m sure I will finish it in record time!