The first poppy is the beginning of the creation of an art installation commissioned by Queensgate Shopping Centre Peterborough to commemorate the centenary of The Battle of The Somme in World War I.
The first poppy is the first of over 1000 hand felted poppies to be included in the installation with each poppy representing over 1000 casualties in the battle that ran from the 1st July when the men “went over the top” to the middle of November in 1916 in France.
I will be working again with collaborating artisan Felter Eve Marshall with whom I worked very successfully on THE BLANKET OF POPPIES and FLORALIA in 2015. There are blogs on these works if you would like to know more about these.
The bulk of the poppies will be made in workshops with community groups, schools, businesses and individuals who would like to take part in an iconic artwork that will remember those involved in the bloodiest battle in British history. The story of The Somme will be featured in a future blog.
The poppies are made from fluff or wool fibres that are agitated until they turn into felt. Its not a complicated process if you have a great workshop teacher in the form of Eve who is a highly experienced Felter and teacher.
The fluff is placed, water and soap are added to help with the agitation as this is wet felting. You then end up with your basic flower which can then be added to with embellishments of all kinds.
The first poppy has had a centre button added and then a pink/red seed bead selection added in a random manner to decorate the poppy. Not all poppies will be beaded as this detail will not be seen on most of the poppies. This is the first poppy that will be the logo of the installation and the project to create it.
The edges have then been stitched with 3 layers of running stitch in royal blue, pink and navy.
The finished poppy is now ready to be photographed in high resolution for whatever purpose we need it for.
If you are part of a group or business who would like to take part then please email happy art@charronpugsleyhill.com for more information and one of my team will get back to you as soon as possible.
For individuals please like my Facebook page Charron Pugsley-Hill Art(please note the ART page) for details and dates of the forthcoming workshops.
We look forward to involving as many people as possible in this amazing opportunity provided by Queensgate Shopping Centre. Thank you to them for commissioning this amazing project!