Helen Farnham is a fiber artist. She's also a fine artist.

Seeing her collection of fiber art, both wearable and hangable, created over the past 20-plus years, it's hard to imagine how she has found the time to produce the magnitude of wall hangings, hats, scarves, wraps and pillows that adorn every nook and cranny of her home in Boothbay Harbor.

Farnham's creativity and her talent for making felted art are only exceeded by her imagination. She learned most of her skills through books and hands-on experience, but also took some classes in wet felting at Halcyon Yarns in Bath.

Even with studying, classes and practice, though, a fiber artist couldn't achieve the artistic excellence that shines through all of Farnham's works of art, without her artistic nature.

Farnham’s wide range of artistic endeavors also includes paintings and cards. She has been making her fabric art since the early ’90s. In 1976 she had an antique/arts & crafts shop in town for a short time, but now works out of her home on Lobster Cove Road.

Inside the cozy Maine cottage-style house, there are bags full of colorful pieces of fabrics and unspun wool, and most surfaces are covered with works in progress and finished pieces.

Farnham said she thinks of fabrics as her paint when working on her fiber art. She does three types of felting: needle, wet and nuno, a technique that merges two fabrics — mostly merino wool and silk. She prefers merino to other kinds of wool because it's softer — not scratchy.

Her wall hangings range from images of colorful fish and whales swimming through waves of felted water filled with swirls and currents to landscapes and gardens. Her unique scarves, wraps and hats are adorned with an array of different fabrics and colors.

Farnham describes the time-intensive nuno process of making a scarf: “I take a piece of silk or velvet and lay loose unspun wool roving, or fibers, onto the fabric, then put a screen over it to hold the fibers in place. Then I ‘sand’ it to ruffle up the fibers and make them attach to each other.” Finally she “felts” the piece, using soap and water, then throwing it down and rubbing it around, causing the silk to crimp up and look, well, edgy and cool. “It seems to be the rage these days,” she said.

The ends of the scarves, made in an array of colorful, and black, white and gray fabrics, are sewn together, making them a simple pull-over neck piece, or collar, that will enhance any outfit. One of these with a pair of jeans and a simple white T-shirt will surely turn heads at any gathering.

On Oct. 25, the artist was working on a large wall hanging featuring a breaching whale. She had made a chalk drawing of the basic outline on a piece of charcoal-colored wool felt, and was pressing pieces of unspun wool roving onto it. She would then “needle felt” the wool to the felt using a sharp, barbed needle.

A series of floral wall hangings ranging in sizes up to 36” x 36”  are whimsical and full of dazzling color. Another series depicts joyful life in the ocean — mackerel, stripers and alewives — and a mother humpback whale conversing with her cub. One hanging shows four seals eating fish. It's called “Dinner for Four.”

The “African Series,” consisting of seven large panels depicting jungle cats and African women, is still a work in progress. Farnham said she will be adding more, including an elephant.

Farnham said she is always branching out with new ideas. “I do what I do, and then I'll see a piece of fabulous fabric and I just have to do something with it.” Most of her pieces aren't pre-planned in full. “They’re all subject to change as I work on them.”

The scarves, hats and wall hangings will be available in shops and art and crafts shows during the holidays. Farnham's marine pieces will be featured at the Island Institute store, Archipelago http://www.thearchipelago.net/ in Rockland and other pieces can usually be found at Markings Gallery http://www.markingsgallery.com/ in Bath and the Boothbay Region Art Foundation in Boothbay Harbor. She will also being showing and selling her work at the Studio 53 Christmas Show on Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor.

See more of Helen Farnham’s fabric art here.