a life of felt

Archive for the ‘Felting’ Category

Recycling 2

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

I have so enjoyed this project. Fun and quick.
Rather than a round wreath I decided on a heart shaped one to hang on my studio wall.I began by cutting it out on paper to ensure I liked the shape. The cardboard wasn’t very strong so I cut out two shapes and glued them together.

The next job was to glue on some ribbon for a hanging mechanism and then start the fun bit of
sticking on the felt. I used a hot glue gun.

As I moved along I kept changing the way the shapes were attached to change the direction of the folds.

This is just fab, I’m loving it.

Still loving it but decided to add a few more decorations in the shape of felt balls.

I couldn’t stop there either so I applied a small amount of glitter glue to the edges.
Sorry, you can’t see it on the photos

It’s not dry but it’s already hanging on my wall.
Maybe a round one for Christmas next.

Recycling

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Do you remember this?

I really wasn’t happy with it and several people were kind enough to make suggestions on how I might improve it. Well, it then sat in my cupboard for 7 months. Last week, I mustered sufficient enthusiasm to look at it again and even to put a few stitches in it.

I then asked another friend what she thought and her idea was to chop it up and make it into something else. Now I think she meant something else in which you’d see the design but that doesn’t seem to have been what I’ve done.

This is going to be a project you can do at home with the kids or alone. Felt won’t fray so I began by cutting lots of squares.

And made them into these.

They’re very rough discs. They don’t have to be perfect circles or be the same size, this is why it’s a good one to do with kids. Next, I folded them in half and then in half again and secured with a few stitches.

Now I have lots of these. In my next post I’ll show you what I made with them.

Don’t throw your offcuts away, save them for stuffing small Christmas tree decorations or
put them in the compost.No landfill here thanks.

Playtime

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Managed a little playtime today. Doesn’t it look lovely, so soft and inviting when the fibres are still dry.

Soft lilac with black and white. In the top one I’ve added yarns and dyed silk noil.
In the second photo I’ve added silk noil and sari silk fibres
In the third I’ve added black and white yarn.

I’m quite pleased with these, they’re just a little bit hairy but with nice texture.
Just need to find some beads now.

Keeping up to date

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Sat here, I’m thinking  how busy I’ve been just recently but struggling to think exactly why. Yesterday was a lovely day so obviously it was best spent washing a sheep (fleece) in the bath, food shopping and clearing the drains – such fun we have here! In between I did manage to plant
bulbs in the garden which I really enjoyed.

I’ve recently sold quite a few brooches, some on commission (as per yesterday’s post) and some from the shop but that’s good and I have managed to put some more items in my shop.

Waiting to be photographed and listed in the shop are; more brooches, scarves, a cushion and a couple of handbags.
All of which I hope to have on there very soon.

Off to new homes

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

Thought I’d show you these few items before they go off to new homes.
This is natural grey Merino wool with silk fibres.

Deep purple and crocus coloured Merino

I did call this one Bark and you can barely see where the brooch ends and the table begins.
Loving all the copper coloured glass beads.

 I think this one is my favourite colour and I’m very pleased to have used some of
the rug wool which I rescued from a skip and dyed.

Adelaide Walker giveaway

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

First ever giveaway has been announced at Adelaide Walker for 100g of gorgeous touchy feely Wensleydale curls. Time to visit facebook ladies and get your entries in. Oh, and before you ask, I’m definitely banned from entering :-)

Great in spinning, wet and dry felting or embroidery. Fantastic hair for dolls.

New workshops

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

I hope it’s less wet where you live, we’ve had to get the scuba gear out this week! Without more ado,
new workshops for your delectation.

Sat 19th Nov – mixed media and texture – one place now available

Sat 4th Feb – felt bags with integral handles and flap. For more advanced felters we’ll add internal and external pockets.

Wed 29th Feb – introduction to needle felting – a simple 3D creature

Sat 3rd March – slippers, moulded to your own feet. This is deifinitely wet felting and you will need to be able to bend your leg onto your knee to enable the moulding to happen.

Thurs 22nd Mar – stitched in felt – amalgamting simple stitch with felt making to create a beautiful book cover or picture. If you can do a simple running stitch, you can do this workshop.

Sat 21st April – nuno felt scarves – the art of combining silk chiffon and wool fibrre to create unique scarves

Fri 11th May – low relief and texture – put more into your felt and raise it up.

Sat 19th May – felt rug in a day – smaller than I usually make but fiished in a day and you’ll learn all the traditional techniques along the way.

Thurs 14th June – felt jewellery, beads, brooch, bangle and pendant.

Sorry folks, you’ll notice that prices have risen for the first time in over 18 months, this is a direct result of ever climbing wool prices. Nuno scarves and felt rugs are slightly more expensive to reflect the extra cost of materials for these workshops.

Thanks to all those who’ve been to workshops this year, I hope you’ll come back soon and that
I’ll get to see some new faces too. Be warned, felting is addictive!

Remember this?

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

At the beginning of October I ran a workshop where we made 3D items in British wool. A couple
of the items were well on their way but not quite finished.
Do you remember these from my earlier post?

Well just look at them now. They look fantastic Judith thanks so much for sending in your photos.

Not sure

Friday, October 7th, 2011

I’ve been wanting to make a felted lampshade cover for the living room for a couple of  months now.It’s not the first lampshade cover I’ve done and the delay was really only down to finding the time. As it’s in a room where my hubby will see it daily it’s important to me that he likes it too. Now, that’s when my problems start. Designing for me is one thing, designing to keep someone else happy is quite another.

Obviously I wanted to make it in British wool and Blue Faced Leicester has a lovely crimp that shows up very well on a lit lampshade so BFL is what I’ve used. I wanted the cover to extend beyond the frame a little and I didn’t want to use any kind of stiffener as it changes the feel of the felt.

Cylinder lampshades are very easy as it’s basically a rectangular piece of felt but coolie style lampshades are more difficult. You either have to make a rectangle and cut it down to size or work out your shape carefully and felt it down to size. I prefer not to cut felt so I carefully removed the old shade from the frame and used it as a template.

You can see that both top and bottom lines curve, without the curve it wouldn’t fit the frame properly. I considered using white BFL but decided in the end that oatmeal would be a better colour to blend into our room. I had some hand  dyed BFL curls spare from another project which I placed along the edge but was careful not to let them hang over. Although I’d be happy with dangly curls along the edge I know my hubby wouldn’t be. This little bit of colour lifts the shade and helps it to blend with the wooden base.

Really not sure if I like it and if the white wouldn’t be better. Hubby admitted this morning that he wasn’t sure about it when I was stitching it on but he actually likes it when lit up. Just need to decide what I think now.

Phew!

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Thought I’d never get this finished and dried to show you but here is my table runner – at last!

Remember, it’s all British wool.

I didn’t use the Masham in the end but I did use BFL, Shetland, Cheviot, Jacob, Manx and Black Welsh Mountain

I’ve decided to call it Cherry Topped.

Now to do a matching item – watch this space but please don’t hold your breath as it may take a while.