Maker Spotlight: Lydia Leaf // Nearlyblindartist

This month our featured maker is Lydia Leaf, also known as Nearlyblindartist.  It's been great to learn about her and her work, and if you fancy seeing it all in person she'll be at the Open Studios Notts later this year!

When did you start your craft?
I started painting and dabbling with felt about 4/5 years ago in order to regulate my emotions at a particularly distressing time. I begun with needlefelting, creating a picture for the primary school where I had worked. The fibres lent themselves to the animals that all the classrooms were named after. They still have it in the foyer at the school. I started wet-felting when I was running art workshops for adults in education, and it was great fun to share and learn as I tried new things for the learners, and then to witness their delight and inspiration as their new skills and their confidence developed.

What do you like best about it?
The whole experience, it appeals to all the senses, from the visual with the colour combinations and the initial selection of fibres to the textural, as all the wools are different, and through to the physical process where I enjoy the magic of how those fibres change.  I add essential oils to the water and soap and put some music on and the whole experience is wonderful and therapeutic.

Do you have a favourite thing to make?
I love felting on a ball, its very physical and I have a long way to go before I have the consistency but its great fun and the bowls are beautiful! I would like to make a bag and a shawl but all in good time!!

Why is crafting important to you? 
When I work with my hands and get into the flow of crafting or painting I forget about all the things that are happening to me physically or emotionally. It is a tool to build resilience. The things I create are often imperfect, as am I, and I try and find something I love in each one. It may be the colours, the way the fibres have blended or the shape, or it may just be the feeling I had when I was creating it. If I can apply the same philosophy to myself then that builds a little bit of resilience and joy.

What are your preferred products to use? 
Merino wool, the elegance of the fibres lend themselves to wet-felting, but I also enjoy the surprise in a mixed bag of odds and ends – there are some real delights and that allows for improvisation and creativity to flow.

Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to take up your craft? 
Yes! Do it! But wear gloves or use natural soap which you can grate and dissolve (with a cheese grater…preferably not the one from the kitchen) it is kinder on the skin!
(Mixing up your cheese grater and soap grater isn't something you do twice...speaking from experience - WoW)

What's your favourite thing about World of Wool?
The products are outstanding and they are really reliable when sending out their products. 

You can find Lydia on Instagram and her own website.