“Salty Breezes” captures the warmth of sun-kissed sands, the whispers of swaying grasses in the cool breeze, and the rhythmic calm of waves lapping at the shore, interrupted only by the occasional call of a hungry seagull. The perfect place where saltwater meets the infinite blue of a quilted sky as it kisses the golden sands, seducing them into revealing their treasures of amber pebbles and seed pearls. In the ocean scene, the artist utilized merino wool, silk, silk gauze and silk ribbons for the grasses, silk cocoons, amber beads, pearls and glass beads. The possibilities are endless. The piece was completed using only natural and high-grade materials.

The “Salty breezes” represents a mixed media felted tapestry. The process of completing this piece involved multiple steps. The very first of which required wet-felting. This is accomplished by layering already-dyed strands of raw wool and silk several times over, to arrive at the rough image. The piece is then felted together using warm water and soap during which the artist rolls the work up that is sandwiched between pieces of bubble wrap, felts it between the palms of her hands, then scrunches and throws it for eight to ten hours, until the flyaway strands are felted into one cohesive piece. Then the tapestry is rinsed with water and vinegar to restore the proper PH balance of the wool and silk, and it is left to dry for several days. Once the base tapestry is ready, a dry felting technique is applied to add, enhance or adjust the finer details of the work, before moving to the next stage of free motion quilting. For this, a swatch of white interfacing material is affixed to the back of the piece, to allow the quilting needle to run and pierce the thick wooly textures. Finally, the work is completed with hand embroidery, which is when all the little details come to life, using silk ribbons, textures, yarn, silk cocoons, beads, gems, lampwork, and more. Typically, each felted tapestry represents anywhere between one to three months of intensive labour from beginning to its’ completion. This piece took approximately two months to create.

This piece has been purposefully left unframed as it is a mixed media work and it is meant to be experienced not just by sight but also through touch. The fine interplay of luxurious fibers, textures and colors are a delight to the eye and to the touch. During the process of wet felting, Dominika can mostly control the loose wool and silk strands and what they do; however, there is always a degree of suspense of how the different fabrics will react to the hours of rolling, scrunching, rubbing and throwing. The results are the natural waves and ripples that leave the edges irregular, ultimately resulting in a very liberal expression.