Nuno and Bamboo
I found time last week to make a notebook cover from the bright flowery nuno piece I recently made. The finished felt piece turned out bigger than I’d expected and I did play with the idea of making a passport style shoulder bag. Maybe if I’d had a nice button or some Delrin clips I would have, but in the end I thought a book cover would look nice. This is the front:
And this is the back:
I usually leave the natural felt edges on the inside front flap, but when I worked out the best position of the felt for the cover, it ended up on the inside back :
So the ‘neat’ cut edge is on the inside of the front.
I’ve been mostly working on some ideas using natural wools and fibres recently. As much as I like nuno and brightly coloured Merino, the natural shades of wools and fibres and the different textures and properties of the wools and fibres and how they work together is a bit of an obsession for me 🙂 I made a few pieces with different bamboo fibres this week. Some were just samples as I worked out the crinkles of ideas and played with the fibres to get the look I want. This is a sample piece I made using black bamboo blended with black merino:
This piece worked out just how I imagined and wanted it. It’s 18.5 mic Merino with bamboo staple fibre for subtle shiny texture:
What have you been working on lately?
9 thoughts on “Nuno and Bamboo”
The texture on the book cover is going to make it very tactile and I especially like the look of the orange flower now that is ruched (top photo, right side). Very pretty.
The black is gorgeous (reminds me of geological layers) and so is the white, but what did you do to get the ruching on the white?
Thanks Lyn 🙂
I ruched the white piece up by pulling thread I stitched through it, and felting more.
The textures in these pieces are luscious. I love the way the ruching makes the flowers come alive on the cover. I’m sure the black bamboo is sparkly and soft. How big is the white piece? Like Lyn, I’m curious to see what you do with it. Embellish with beads and yarn. I like it the way it is. They all beg touching. 🙂
Thanks, Marilyn 🙂
The black bamboo is odd, it’s kind of shiny in a way, but looks really matt, like a smoky coloured cat. The white piece isn’t very big, maybe about 6 x 4 inches.
The black piece is very interesting, it is surprising how the two fibres look so different despite being the same colour. The finished felt reminds me of black slate. Is it destined to become a book cover? I think it will look very striking and masculine if it is.
Thanks Teri 🙂
The black piece isn’t big enough for a book cover, I did recently make a large piece of black felt for a book cover though 🙂 I’m hoping my finished pieces will all be similar sizes, more decorative than functional though.
I think the black and white pieces could go together somehow. They do say something special about textures. I see something like fingerless mitts with a white ruff. I love the cover. Beautiful.
Thanks, Liz 🙂 I was thinking of a piece combining ideas, but don’t get to felt that often, so I’ll see.
The book cover is really textural, someone will love it. The samples came out great, It would be interesting to put large beads in the valleys of the white piece and then frame it.