Isn’t it adorable. It’s not quite as out of focus as you think, it had started to snow. But enough of the weather, here’s a few of those bags you were all waiting to see – I did say it was a bag workshop did I?

This lovely bag was made by Jeni and has a pocket on the inside. I changed the workshop slightly today and brought Blue Faced Leicester fibres for people to use in oatmeal and black. It’s a brilliant British fibre and well worth trying for yourself.

In order, we have loveliness from Lindsay, Angela and Elaine. All handles and catches are felted in, the flashes of colour are provided by Merino fibres and Elaine’s bag also has vegetable bags included. A nice bit of recycling.

The top bag is by Cera with an all over spot decoration and internal pocket. The bottom bag is by Pauline and has Merino fibres and Wensleydale curls.

Top bag by Pauline, her first ever piece of felt, pretty good it is too, lovely solid felt. Bottom left is by Karen another first time felter who did a great job, you’d never have guessed it was her first piece. Bottom right is understated gorgeousness by Sue and it has 2 internal pockets. We tried really hard to finish early but what is this, a lone felter?

Yes, I’m sorry to say Lesley was naughty and had to stay behind. No, not really, this is what you call dedication and perseverance when all around you have left.

It was worth the work though wasn’t it and when the Wensleydale curls dry they’ll look even fluffier, what a fab bag. Thank you ladies for a great day and I hope everyone got home okay. Do please send photos when they’re dry and you’ve added buttons.

]]> http://www.angelabarrow.co.uk/Blog/2012/02/first-workshop-of-the-year/feed/ 1 http://www.angelabarrow.co.uk/Blog/2011/07/remember-this/ http://www.angelabarrow.co.uk/Blog/2011/07/remember-this/#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:48:32 +0000 angela http://www.angelabarrow.co.uk/Blog/?p=2821 In May I showed you this little blue pot

I’d been playing around with the shape and couldn’t decide what to do. Some of you were kind enough to respond with suggestions and Kate suggested putting beach glass in the holes. It’s taken me a while to find the time but here it is.

I decided to put the beach glass on the outside rather than in the holes and I like the finished piece. The brown beach glass looks good and I’m so pleased to have found a use for some of it as I seem incapable of not collecting it.

I was chuffed to find a thread that matched and it does look good on the gravel. Thanks Kate.

This is all part of my move towards working more with British wool fibres. The inner two layers of the vessel are hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester and the outer two layers are Wensleydale. Wensleydale is a gorgeous rich cream colour, long staple and a great lustre. As a coarser wool it’s slower to felt than some but I actually like the texture of some of these wools and combining them with easier to felt fibres like Blue Faced Leicester really helps to speed it up.

The eagle eyed amongst you may also have spotted that I’ve added an extra fibre to the outside, it’s milk protein fibre which adds more lustre. Wish I’d put a little more on really but it looks better in the flesh than on the photo.

I’m not overly fond of the pink fibres I dyed but they do work very well to give a bright splash of colour to the interior and it contrasts well with the subtle blush colour seen from the outside. As the fibres have felted the bright pink has shown through the Wensleydale to give subtle colouration. I designed it with flowers for the exterior and I wanted those to be subtle too and not have bright pink showing.

I made a Blue Faced Leicester sandwich pre-felt i.e. Wensleydale fibres, then Blue Faced Leicester, then more Wensleydale and some milk protein. It’s given me the same colour in the flowers and I’m very pleased with them. I hand stitched the flowers on after felting and there are baby pink seed beads in the centres.

I’ve decided to focus on 3D but that still gives scope for quite a few different things to be made. Try your hand at a pot moulded on a vase / bottle or freeform it just like working clay!  Bring along your own 3D item you’d like to cover – any shape can be covered once you know how. Make a handbag from British wool – many of our native  breeds make lovely hard wearing felt which is ideal for a bag or even perhaps a pair of slippers. Some breeds, like Cheviot, also needlefelt quite well.

If the felt is fine then it looks lovely lit up with a tea light or perhaps you’d like it thick and sturdy to cut into and reveal hidden layers? There’ll be chances to experiment with surface texture and fabulous lustrous plant fibres. If you work on small pieces I’d estimate that you’d make three items like the ones below made by Judith last week. If you’re super speedy, it could be four per day!

You bring a towel, packed lunch, olive oil soap and don’t forget a camera, I’ll supply some delicious British snacks. If you’ve a recipe for any British biscuit that would suit the occasion (we need energy for all this creativity) please let me know. Can’t wait to see you there, I’m so looking forward to it already.

I formed this one around a mould and it was destined to be a stand alone felt pot – the felt is sufficiently sturdy. However, when I stood back and looked again I really liked it with the vase left in.

Not sure that it looks so good on camera so you’ll just have to trust me when I say they seem right together and will stay that way. The surface is decorated with milk protein fibre which I’ll be using a lot more of as I think it has a lovely rich colour and lustre.  Obviously this can be used for fresh flowers but I also wanted to show it to you with a candle in so you can see how different it looks when lit up.

I quite liked it this way with the top rolled down but it wasn’t fully felted and was a little too organic for me although now I’m not so sure.

Very plain but I liked the fullness of the shape however, I decided to keep going.

Less plain with this shaping around the neck but I just couldn’t leave it alone!

So this is what I’ve got now. it has some shaping around the neck and is encircled by 8 smaller holes. Still not sure about it. It’s getting smaller all the time and is very nearly at the point of no return but I could just reshape the neck if I wanted. Opinions? Looking at these pictures now I wish I’d gone with the rolled over neck!

Originally it was intended to hold fat balls for the birds but the wind was always ripping it off the tree, I tired of hunting for it in the shrubs and set it aside to do something with. It’s been set aside for about a year but yesterday was the day I had an idea. I’ve lots of felt balls (waiting!), a rusty bell garland (also waiting! it was a new year bargain), a surplus bird (waiting! it was a sample from a commission), some newly died rug yarn and some leftover Teeswater curls.

I cut up the garland and hung it from the heart doubling the overall length. Somehow, just doing that makes it feel more of a statement art piece. Rust is orange / brown in colour so looks perfect with blue and I had some turquoise blue rug yarn. Silently thanking Yvonne for the suggestion to put some weaving in the heart, I used the rug yarn to warp up the shoulders and then wove the Teeswater curls through it. A few curls were tied on but I haven’t made the weaving solid as I want it to have holes and texture. Not sure if I should add some yarns through here, too just to give even more texture – opinions?

The bird was way too brown so I sat and couched on a fancy yarn in turquoise in my favourite flowing scroll shapes. Blue cap, throat and eyes completed the bird which I then needed to attach to the heart. The bird is too solid to push the spike into so I covered the spike base with an unfinished brooch layer (yes, it was waiting!), glued on some balls to cover the spike and glued the bird to the balls. Sort of looks like it’s on a nest of blue eggs doesn’t it?

I attached three blue balls to the bells below the heart and was very happy to find a turquoise ball the perfect size for the hole at the top. Sometimes, it’s just meant to be. I’d like to put this in the garden but we’re in a very windy spot and it just wouldn’t survive so for now it will hang in the dining room as soon as I get a ceiling hook.

I promised to reveal it weeks ago but first I didn’t finish as quickly as hoped and then the weather has been so grey I haven’t been able to get a photo. Here it is at last.

I made  it in Blue Faced Leicester fibre for hanging outside and really wanted something to be inside the pod with lots of slits / windows into it.

The last photo is a little dark but I wanted to show you some of the textures on the pod. Both inside and outside there are teeswater locks. Inside also has some fabrics as well as the hanging curl you see above which is wire bound with wool fibre and silky yarn.

There are six openings. Both top and bottom tails have rope added for extra texture. The top tail also has three holes in it. the top hole can be used for hanging the pod or it can be tied in a knot as shown.

This silky yarn is the devil to work with so I first wove it in a round and then felted it in. You can’t see the weaving now but it is a fabulous shiny texture!

I’m quite happy with how this worked out but it is only a prototype for larger ones I have in mind and I would like to see MUCH more texture on the next one. Here’s hoping I find the time soon.

He was hiding behind a bush. Was he shy or did the fact he has only one eye mean he couldn’t see where he was going? We stood and waited quietly until M.Poo Smurf showed himself.

Why what big feet he has! A sudden appearance by one of the cats and Mr Poo Smurf went into hiding. Was he behind the bush? No. Was he hiding round the corner? No. Can you see Mr Poo Smurf?

There he is, hiding in the plantpot. This time we managed to introduce ourselves before he ran away and hid again.Mr Poo Smurf didn’t like being on the ground with cats around so he sat on the edge of the planter.

When we left he was looking very much at home sat sunning himself in a quiet corner. I wonder if he’ll visit again?

Mr Poo Smurf has been a fun figure to make, although I am slightly worried about my imagination! If you’d like to make your own visitor then why not come along to the 3D figures workshop on Saturday 6th November.

I thought it seemed a shame to hide it at the back of a cupboard and had the bright idea of recycling it into a decorated bird. As I’d already wet felted it there was no chance of adding more fibres on that way so I have been busy with needlefelting.

I’ve really enjoyed playing with it. The lines of pink I adore and over all it has something of an indian influence I think. When I have more time it needs to be mounted or hung so it can be admired from all angles. There are still two more rejects to play with but it may be some time before I get to them.