Small Spiral Fail
I want to make some small spirals that will work on the stick-type keychain/bag charm things I have. I did them with some sheep I had last year.
I have a T-shirt that says; Hold on, Let Me Overthink This. And this is where I am starting with this project. I took Helen’s Spiral course last year, and it was amazing. If you have a chance, you should take it. I want to scale this down to end up about a 3-inch drop on the spiral. So I am starting by thinking this is going to be really hard to do, so naturally it is.
I started by making an underlay spiral to use as a template and resist.
The spiral was small, as I said, so I had to cut my fibre as it was far too long for one of the layers. Can you hear the spinners screaming NOOOO in the background? LOL Also, I was being supervised by Jan’s Llama
After much fiddling, it was sturdy enough to be removed from the resist. I worked on it more, but the layout was not good, and there were thin spots and narrow spots.
All in all, a sad looking spiral.
Next, I made some prefelt to try.
I tried to stretch and shape it around the resist. I already knew this was not going to work well. Wet felted prefelt does not have the stretch of commercial needle felted prefelt. But I kept going anyway.
This one is better, but although it’s hard to see, the middle of the spiral is very lumpy.
Here they are flat side by side. You can see the pumpy parts of the pink better here.
Oh well, it was fun trying. My friend Hether decided they were just what she needed for her bike.
14 thoughts on “Small Spiral Fail”
You and the llama both look horrified as you use the scissors on the fibre 🙂
Credit to you for trying something different – without experimentation we wouldn’t have progress – and thank you for sharing the experience.
Well at least Heather is pleased with her new bike charms!
It was very funny at the time. There were several spinners in the room at the time. Heather is having fun with them so they will not get lost in the didn’t work out box.
They say we learn at least as much from what doesn’t work as we do from what does (whoever ’they’ are). I’m sure you could make it work (would carded batts be better?) but maybe it’s not worth the hassle. And who knows, bike charms might be the next big thing.
I think I will go with prefelt and a thinker resist next time, when ever that will be. Bike charms does sound like fun.
Ann, thanks soooo… much for posting this! I too took Helene’s class and thought of making them smaller but now I will not😀.
I also thought of crocheting hypebolic planes and spirals out of fine wool yarn but would not know how to put in the resists so they don’t turn into a big blob when felted.
Yes, where would we be if we did not experiment with our felting? That is what creativity is all about. Good for you.
P.S. I checked with Katy and the merino ram that she bred with #6 (yes, that’s her name) is all black!
You should take the class it was great. It got me thinking about things in a different way and thinking about the limitations we put on our thinking. #6 is a great name. Think how famous 7 of 9 was. 😁You don’t see black merinos very often.
It was interesting to see your experimentation. Maybe you should scale up and do a few more spirals so you can figure things out? And I love Heather’s creative use of your samples.
Thanks. i did Helene’s class so I can do a big one. I think the prefelt will end up being the answer.
In the words of Thomas Edison – I have not failed, I’ve simply found 10,000 ways that won’t work. Or Henry Ford – Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
Reading ‘try-again’ posts are up lifting as all too often we just read about successes which as we here know, is not the real world. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 for your experimentation and how lucky your friend is with her decorated bike.
You work with raw wool fibre & spin it….my suggestion for simplicity (and hopefully guaranteed success) would be to crochet a thin hyperbolic spiral maybe using 1 strand of un-plied yarn. Delicate work but maybe far less fiddly than working over a resist at that scale. As we know – agitated for too long or washed too hot, knitted or crocheted jumpers felt!
Sending power to your fingers Ann….xx
Ps I did Helėne’s class a couple of years ago….with a great result. But that you tried it so small….wow….kudos to you.
Thanks, a challenge is fun and we do learn form our fails. I can not knit and am at the dishcloth and ball stage in my crotchet journey so knitting something is not an option for me. I have a bag to make then I will try the spirals again.
Good try on small, but tiny never seems easier. I laughed about cutting the fiber, I am going to cut batts for the girls at camp. I’m sure the screaming will be heard all over the world.
Hi Ann
Thanks go out to you and all the lovely folk her who have taken the Spiral Session – I am so glad that you all enjoyed the experience – a little diversion in the 3D universe.
I’m thinking here …. (makes a change says many). Why not set aside the fibre for a while and work with paper and sticky tape. Once you get the desired shape then transfer it onto fibre.
To paraphrase Baldrick from Blackadder …. I have a cunning plan m’lady ….
Helene x