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NANCY MCCARTHY PHOTOS
A close-up of felted wool sand dollars on Robin Montero’s ‘Atomic Beach’ hanging shows their
three-dimensional quality.
Wavy felted wool lines in coral and maroon are featured in Robin Montero’s ‘Study in Coral.’
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‘All about the details’
“There are so many things you can do
with fiber,” Montero said.
Her wall hangings range from multi-
hued ocean waves and beaches in blues,
tans and whites covered in three-dimen-
sional sand dollars, to delicate daisies and a
geisha mermaid.
She uses a combination of needle felting
and wet felting in her work. Needle felting
is done by poking strands of wool fibers
through fabric with a barbed needle; the
barbs catch the fibers and lock them into
the fabric.
Wet felted wool is created by layering
strands of woolen fibers perpendicular to
each other, soaking them with hot water,
brushing those layers through a mesh
screen until they are combined and rolling
them in bubble wrap until the fibers are
bonded into a material, that, after it is air
dried, can be cut and shaped.
Then the fun begins. It’s up to Montero
to decide what she wants to create and how
to do that.
“This medium is wonderful because
there are no rules, there are no limitations,”
she said.
In the center of the felted wool waves of
one her works, lying on the felted, beaded
wool sand is a glass bottle with a message
inside.
‘Coastal Daisies’ by Robin Montero. Delicate daisies on a felted wool background is one of Mon-
tero’s simpler sculptures.
“My dearly beloved, I can’t wait to be
with you again,” says the message, written
in Italian. “Here is the key to my heart. I
will always love you. Love, Georgio.”
“There is a key in the bottle,” Montero
said. “It’s the skeleton key to my bathroom
door.”
That piece took about 150 hours to
create, including sewing individual beads
to look like small rocks among the sand
dollars, which took the most time.
“But every now and then when you catch
the twinkle — that’s what it’s all about. It’s
all about the details,” Montero said.
‘There are no rules!’
History center Director Elaine Trucke
asked Montero to exhibit her work because
“I am a huge fan of felting and what artists
do with it. I was especially partial to the
lamps that she created.”
Some of Montero’s work, including Po-
seidon and his wife, Amphitrite, look like
Greek or Roman sculptures, Trucke said.
“But instead of cold stone you have soft
and warm fabrics … Her love of the sea,
of historic art, and even her background in
costume design. It’s just so different from
what most people are doing with textile.”
But the details present challenges. When
Montero knows what she wants to do, she
usually develops her own technique —
something that’s not found in a how-to
book.
In her felted sculpture of a geisha mer-
maid on display at the SunRose Gallery,
she used a variety of methods and materi-
als. Along with a purple velvet jacket, sewn
of leftover costume material, the mermaid
wears a skirt of sequined black, blue and
green fabric. Her fins are layers of silk
organza and metallic threads. The pearl
necklace hanging from a hook beside her
reflects Montero’s other interest in jewelry
design. Titled “Proposal at Sea,” the piece
has a felted wool and beaded background in
blues and lavenders.
Always thinking of the next project,
Montero keeps a notebook of ideas, where
no boundaries restrict her creativity.
“There are no rules!” she said about her
textiles. “That’s the best part.” CW