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The Bull

The Bull

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We have three public houses in Sturminster Newton (at one time there were 11 in our small market town!) and The Bull Tavern is one of the oldest. The building consists mainly of a 3 roomed 17th Century cottage with an attic room, built of old timber infilled with wattle and daub. Some additions were made in the 18th Century. Records show that the cottage was definitely an alehouse by the late 1700s. Apparently there was a slaughter house at the rear and a Pound where straying animals were kept until collected – upon payment of a fee of 1 shilling (which must have been a fortune when you consider that a married man’s weekly wages at the Town’s Workhouse were all of 9 shillings and a single man’s only 6). Part of the C18th additions was a stable block (which eventually became a skittle alley and later part of the restaurant of the pub). It is rumoured that the horses stabled there were used to help get carriages and carts up the adjoining steep hill leading to Sturminster Common and the small community of Broad Oak.

The building, known to Thomas Hardy (one of our famous inhabitants) as The Old Bull Inn,  is shown on the earliest known map of the area dated 1783, as being part of the Pitt-Rivers Estate.  You can learn more about the Pitt-Rivers family here: https://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2012/04/sturminster-newton-and-the-pitt-rivers-family

About 18 months ago, after our then favourite landlords moved from the White Horse Inn in Hinton St Mary, the pub was closed for refurbishment. Hinton is a village about 1.25 miles away, where the Pitt-Rivers manor house is situated.  We used to walk there 3 times a week – our exercise with benefits – but since the benefits had disappeared we decided to patronise The Bull – for our exercise of course.  The only trouble with that was that it’s uphill on the way home whereas it was down hill from the White Horse.

During that time we had come to enjoy the chats with Marianne and Lance, the Bull’s managers.  Lance being the very good chef, and Marianne “Front of House”.  Early in January 2021, they announced that on Christmas Day they had got engaged.

One of my felt paintings – commissioned by a mutual friend –  had been given to the White Horse landlords as a wedding present a few years ago, and Graham, my husband, suggested that I do something similar as a wedding present for Lance and Marianne.

Felt picture of sepia tint image of old public house
My interpretation of an early image of The White Horse, Hinton St Mary

Although The Bull itself is a very interesting building, I wondered if I should do a picture of an actual bull for them. No date had been set for the wedding at that time, but I thought I should at least start collecting reference pictures, both of the pub itself, including some of their Pub sign and of some animals. I thought about breeds that might have been around in the 16th Century – White Park Cattle and black Gloucesters; and also looked at Herefords since that was the breed on the Pub sign.

image of Bull Tavern sign with hereford bull above image of the public house
The Bull Tavern and it’s sign
image of black bull with winners rosettes and image of large white bull
Gloucester and Park White Bulls
image of hereford bull head, image of bull grazing, image of bull in field
3 Hereford Bulls. I eventually picked the one at top left.

In the end I decided on a Hereford bull. After a lot of thought and manipulation of pictures, and also starting on a background field for the bull to stand in, I still could not come up with a layout that I was happy with. One idea was to surround the image of the bull with cameo pictures of nearby local landmarks – the water mill and the mediaeval bridge – with perhaps an image of the pub itself as well.

Then, just after Christmas 2022, Marianne said that they had set the date for the wedding – 10th June 2023.  Now I had to get my ideas together and get on with it.  The picture would need to be simplified if I was going to get it done and framed in time.

It was about then that my picture of the horse on the hillside in Devon was finished and it occurred to me that I could use a similar method of producing a figure with more depth.

image of felted horse on background of trees and stream
Detail from my Glorious Devon picture showing the horse added to the finished landscape.

  I finally decided upon a cameo type picture of the bull’s head and shoulders and I would use the background which I had made back at the beginning of this saga.  I would paint (with wool) the shoulders and neck and outline of the head on to a piece of flat wet felted core fibres.  With a separate face and ears, and a further separate set of horns and the nose on another piece.  I would cut all of the pieces from the backing when these were substantially finished.  I would fix the torso and neck onto the original background and layer on the face and ears, horns and nose, then I would do the final titivating and framing.  I made a start and here are the initial progress pictures:

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As I said earlier, it was intended that this picture would be a wedding present for Lance and Marianne, but at the beginning of April this year, they told us that, because of various unforeseen difficulties arising out of successive pandemic lockdowns (which included them catching Covid between lockdowns so having to shut the pub again)  they had decided to give up the tenancy of the pub.  They had obtained a job, with accommodation, managing a Touring Caravan Park in Cornwall.  Marianne was leaving almost immediately and Lance would stay on for a couple of weeks, with his last trading day on the 19th April.  So the picture was going to have to be a leaving present.

That caused a bit of a panic at home as you can imagine, so I had to get my head down and finish it NOW!  These were the final steps;

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I managed to finish the picture and, with Graham’s help, I mounted it in a deep box frame in time to hand it over to Lance on the 19th, when we went in for a final lunchtime meal.

So here’s the completed and framed picture – my entry for the 2023 Third Quarter Challenge – Something Special About Our Town.

image of felted bull head and torso on a field and sky landscape in wooden box frame
Finished and framed.
Ann and i figuring out the shape to add for the belly gusset for the dino-bag.
Math take two, Dino-Purse

Math take two, Dino-Purse

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Back to the math, Continuing the Dino purse

This will be just a wee tiny post compared to my regular verbose discussions. I have been a bit run off my feet with fun layouts and drafts for various proposals for the upcoming 75th anniversary of the Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild. I am also involved with the monthly summer library days and the guild got a gift of 10 sheep and 2 alpaca fleeces, my car is still a bit aromatic. Since I am sure more changes on layouts are awaiting in my email, I better tell you about the continuation of the Dino bag quickly and then get back to work.

When we last chatted about the Stegosaurus, I had just been dealt a crushing blow by numbers, evil uncaring numbers who thwart my want of a phone-carrying device!!!

From my misinterpretation of Ann’s suggestion, I had wound up with a much bigger carrying device than originally intended.  What do you mean you did not mean 50% added to each side?

1) scaling up, a bit over enthusiastically small paper stegosaurus lying over a stegosaurus twice as big drawn on a resist.1) scaling up, a bit over-enthusiastically

A quick review:

I had created the shape I wanted and then added gussets for the top and bottom. (This is how you can make a sewing pattern. But unlike sewing patterns felt patterns need a lot more “seem allowance” for shrinkage.  Figuring how much was where I derailed.)

After a bit of Consoling from Ann (it was such a cute dinosaur and I had been so careful in the measuring and redrawing!) Ann reviewed the math (ick) half of the distance, then half that again and put the halved half on each side. Ok, I think I can’t screw that up twice (don’t tempt fate but really I think I got it this time. <mutter mutter stupid dyscalculia>)

Next, we considered how to add the gussets to the side section.

2) Adding the belly gusset to the body shape. Ann pointing at paper pattern pieces of body and belly gusset2) Adding the belly gusset to the body shape

Ann suggested lifting up the legs (to be added separately, which I had considered as an option as well) and then drawing in half the belly gusset.

3) talking about adding the back gusset Ann pointing at space between plates.3) talking about adding the back gusset

Again take off the plates and add half of the back gusset.

The plate can be made separately. Which will allow them to be heavily/ stiffly felted. If I then leave a fuzzy end, I can attach them to the body partway through felting.

4) side panel of Stegosaurus with legs and plates folded up, ready to be traced to make a new template. ready to trace onto another piece of paper.4) side panel of Stegosaurus with legs and plates folded up, ready to be traced to make a new template.

Now to create the new pattern.

5) drawing half the width of the belly and back gussets to the side pattern this makes a large slug like shape5) drawing half the width of the belly and back gussets onto the side pattern

I traced the stegosaurs then added the half belly and back gussets to the body shape. I marked where the legs and plate went for reference. I have now achieved Stego-Blob!!

Ok, let’s try again on expanding the pattern:

When I weave, I usually measure my warp length with a string with knots marking the loom waste and the halfway point in it. When I made tamari balls, I used a folded paper band with pins. I am going to avoid the ruler I used last time with those untrustworthy misleading numbers and resort to a reliable piece of paper I can fold in half and then half the half.

6)Drew a grid over the new shape and found a scrap paper to use as a measuring tool. there is a mettle yardstick various pattern pices and a role of painters tape.6) Drew a grid over the new shape and found a scrap paper to use as a measuring tool.

I did use the ruler to make the graphed lines but carefully ignored most of the numbers.

graph overlay on blobby shape letters indicate horizontal lines bisecting shape and numbers indicate vertical lines bisecting shape.7) graph overlayed on the blobby shape made by adding the belly and back gussets to the body.

On each vertical line, I took my scrap paper and matched the distance from one side of the stego-blob to the other along the line. I folded that distance in half on the paper then folded it in half again. That distance was then added to the top and bottom of the line and a point was plotted.

As I got closer to the head and tail you can see (in picture #6) that the increase is greatly lessened. By the time I had all the vertical lines plotted,  Ann was looking a bit concerned by the curvature around the nose and tail.

I explained this was only step one in the expansion plan. Step two would be to plot the horizontal lines next. Then as step 3 would be to average the two plotted dots and figure out the new outline. Ann said she would just estimate and go from there.

Oh no, time to stop!! A tornado warning just went off on my phone. No wind outside but that may literally be the calm before the storm.  When we chat again, I will let you know how the horizontal lines go and then average the points to make the new MEGA-Stego-Blog!!  (only 6 pages in Word, It is a tiny blog today.)

Update: looks like there was a tornado in Barhaven, it’s a suburb in the southwest end of Ottawa and North of Ann, it’s located between us. There is another band of the storm system coming later this afternoon but most of it should be south of both Ann and me, just in case it is more aggressive than it looks on the weather map I better get this posted!!! yep, the tornado alert just went off again but there is sunshine coming in my office window, so I will keep working on this rather than hide in the basement, but I will keep an eye on what’s happening out the window, just in case the weather changes its mind. (There is lots of comfy soft wool to keep me safe in the basement, but just not the specific wool I need for projects I am working on!!)

3 New Chickadees for 3 new relatives

3 New Chickadees for 3 new relatives

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Now a momentary pause from my last post and the horrors of math gone wrong.

Instead, I shifted gears back to a project I had started working on a couple of weeks ago but the deadline is now coming up quickly. As you may remember reading, as a commemorative of their parents, I had made each of my brothers-in-laws (there are 5 brothers in total), a chickadee.

6 sets of checkadee feet 1)Chickadee feet, birds in progress for the 5 brothers from 2021

We recently had exciting and unexpected news from one of the brothers. He had been contacted by new family members and was able to arrange a first meeting at the end of June.  I wanted to find a good way to have them feel welcome. When we lost both my in-laws, I made each of the five brothers a Chickadee. (There is a post about that somewhere in the blog.)  We all have fond memories of sitting on the back patio, or washing dishes in the kitchen sink and watching the birds, there were only a couple of bird feeders but so many birds!! The blue jays, cardinals, robins, finches, sparrows, other little ones (that I wasn’t too sure who they were) and the determined throng of chickadees. (There were also crows but I think I was the only one who liked them, plus an army of squirrels, oh and the occasional very cute rabbit.) I have inflicted photos of most of them on you already! Well, maybe just one more to inspire more felted birds.

Blue Jay stealing penuts2) Blue Jay steals Peanuts in Oakville

What we found out was that the brothers have gained a sister! (Ancestry has made a match!) And she has sons so we now have two new Nephews!!! (New to us, they are a bit older than brand new nephews usually are).  We knew that Brother #4 and family would be visiting in Ontario and could travel closer to the eastern end of the province so may be able to arrange a meeting. With a flurry of e-mails, all was arranged.

We were grateful to my brother and his wife for lending us their cottage.  This is the cottage from my childhood, where I honed my by-hand-hunting-skills with the local frogs (bull, leopard and occasionally tree frogs), snakes (black rat, Garter and grass snakes) and turtles (Snapping, painted and soft-shelled mud turtles). Unfortunately, I think my hunting days are behind me.) My brother focused on sneaking up and decapitating unsuspecting wildflowers (hunting) which were more appreciated by my Mom than my much more difficult to catch gifts. (Who could possibly say no to a tree frog? Ok, it was my Mom.)

We went up after work on Friday, it was a bit overcast but was forecast to be a hot weekend and it’s always cooler at the cottage than in the city. I packed up my box of chickadee supplies and was determined to finish all three before the new relatives arrived!

It is a fabulous spot looking out into the trees well above the level of the lake. It was a very inspiring spot to work. As you can see I took over the dining table and then spread to the coffee table. Felting is lighter to transport than spinning or weaving but it sure can take up a lot of space when it escapes from its confinement!

needle felting coving dining table in front of big windows at cottage 3)Wool expanding to fill the space provided (dining room table). Large windows showing trees and tiny glimpses of the lake, far below.

i left my hubby a bit of space to read as the rest of the table is covered with needle felting suplys4) I did leave my hubby a bit of space to read his book.

The Mer’s had come with us, as well as Miss Manta. The Mer’s tried out the teal chaise longue before checking out the window view. Once the Mer’s were happy, I got to work on finishing the Chickadees.

5)Mr and Mrs Mer, Necking on the chaise longue5) Necking on the chaise longue

Mrs and Mr Mer standing on there fins looking out window through trees to lake

I had gotten all three armatures wrapped in wool and to the point that they were ready to have their top coat added before leaving Ottawa.

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7.1- 7.5) Adding tail colour and underwing detail

One of the beaks was not behaving as well as I would like. I noticed the wool on the top upper end of the beak was just a bit looser than when I had wrapped it and was looking a bit fuzzy.  This suggests I either did not use quite as thin a bit of fibre or I had not kept wrapping and rubbing the fibres long enough after running out of wool on the beak. Under the wool is floral tape which is embedded with wax but I found it was not quite as sticky as other times (it may be the section of the roll or its age? I don’t do a lot (or any) wrapping of flowers so I’m not sure of all the factors. It could be that I just didn’t pull that section quite as enthusiastically and did not activate the stickiness correctly.

If I have a bit that should be tight (tips of claws, beaks) and is not up to what I would like,  I can add a bit of conditioned wax.  Wax on its own can dry too brittle or not penetrate the wool, so something that makes it more pliable when dry is preferable. I did not have my wax mix from Sara (Sarafina fibre arts) so I resorted to a dip of wax from a blue candle that was conveniently sitting on the hutch. I first tried using the end of a felting needle to transfer the wax but found the wax cooled too quickly and did not penetrate the fibres, instead sitting above the felt. I cleaned off the unhelpful wax and finally just put the tip of the beak into the wax puddle, which worked.  I rubbed the wax as it cools and found it had penetrated into the wool nicely.  (I bet the little bird will not be looking for seeds in wax candles again!)

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I don’t think I have shown you this, it’s another way to make a line on the surface of your felt.  I wanted a line on the back that was visible, but not as hard-edged as one that is created by tacking down at one end and then drafting out. (I did use that technique along the wings.) For this I started with a wisp of fibre blended to the colour of the line I wanted, laying it over the area the line would go.  I used a needle (I think it was a T-36 or T-38 ( a finer gage would not entrap as much fiber so it would just take more poking and could make a finer more wispy line.)

lay a whisp over the area to add a line and (poke/stab/impale) embedding the fiber in the general line-ish shape you want9) Step 1 lay a whisp over the area to add a line and (poke/stab/impale) embedding the fibre in the general line-ish shape you want.

Lift the fiber up (vertically) away from the felt10) Lift the fibre up (vertically) away from the felt.

If you were wanting a semi-hard edge colour change you could flop the fibre down on one side of the line and blend away, but I wanted to see a slightly indistinct line so I lifted both sides up and used my curved blade embroidery scissors, you can see on the table, to remove the excess fibre.

 11) the excess fiber from the whisp has been cut away leaving a line embedded in the surface of the felt 11) the excess fibre from the whisp has been cut away leaving a line embedded in the surface of the felt

You may already know this way to make lines and have used a similar technique when adding fur to a sculpture but without such enthusiastic trimming.  I figured I should mention it in case you had not yet investigated further and seen further possibilities.  The only drawback to this form of line making is that the wisp can obscure where you are laying the line if the “wisps” is not as wispy as a wisp of fibre should be! (Well, that is the start of a good tung twister I am sure one of you can expand on that thought!) I have been finding the curved blade embroidery scissors work very well on curved felt surfaces. This red handled pair I found for sale online out of China.

When I had the backs ready I created little wing shapes in 3 pairs. I added detail. I had made a special trip to get a brighter white fibre. When I tried it on the first wing, I found that it looked very odd compared to the other tones. So, I went back to the off-white/natural white which looked much better.

12) Once I was pleased with all the wings I added them to the little bird bodies.12) Once I was pleased with all the wings I added them to the little bird bodies.

13) Here all the wings are on and looking good.13) Here all the wings are on and looking good.

One last step to do, now where is the thread, giant bead needle and the little black beads go? Ah! Not to panic the thread and needle were in the bottom of the little toolbox and the beads are in the bottom of the box marked Chickadee!

14) Eldest Nephew of brother #4 joins the Mer’s admiring the lake (through the trees)14) Eldest Nephew of brother #4 joins the Mer’s admiring the lake (through the trees)

Saturday afternoon Brother #4 and his family arrived and were impressed with the cottage. (Thank you again to my brother and his family!)

15) I had just finished putting on the eyes and tucking each bird into his little box when the new members of the family arrived.

I am not sure we were quite what they were expecting. (I hope we didn’t disappoint them too much!) I think my new sister-in-law may have been a bit overwhelmed but they were all fabulous!

16) New Neffue #1, New Ant!, New Nefue #216) New Nephew #1, New Ant!, New Nefue #2

They did seem quite interested in the needle felted birds (as well as the Mer’s and Miss Manta (who seems to have dodged all the photos), so I sent both my new nephews off with a bag of felting needles carefully labelled with gauges for them to try. I am determined that there will be a next generation of felting, spinning or weaving but I had thought it might be my nieces on Glenn’s side or maybe a niece on my side. This is fabulous I may have two more nephews to confuse with fibre!! I wonder what their thots on spinning wheels are? Maybe next visit! (I don’t want to frighten them!!)

It was fascinating to suddenly notice similarities between the nephews and their new uncles. I think nature is winning out over nurture again but all in a very good way.

17) New Sister, New Nephew #2, New Youngest Uncle, New Nephew #117) New Sister, New Nephew #2, New Youngest Uncle, New Nephew #1

We had a wonderful visit on Saturday afternoon and evening, then they returned on Sunday morning for breakfast. It was sad to see everyone headed home, but I am hopeful we will get to see them again soon.  We lingered to do a final clean-up of the cottage. While we were sweeping, vacuuming and collecting laundry, we found the Mer’s were cavorting or maybe that was air swimming, it’s hard to tell.

18) the Mer’s having fun at the cottage.18) the Mer’s having fun at the cottage.

Once we had persuaded everyone into their project bag, we took a moment just to enjoy the quiet (ok there were sea-doos and the loons and some other birds and that daredevil squirrel…) for a moment, before heading back to Ottawa.

19) Hubby taking a moment to relax and read his book.19) Hubby taking a moment to relax and read his book.

The lighting was truly fantastic and the living room made a perfect chickadee finishing spot.

20) one last look before heading out and back to Ottawa.20) one last look before heading out and back to Ottawa.

As we got closer to town, we noticed that haze was back, and then that the smell had returned …. More forest fires still burning. I was hoping so much that all the rain would have dissuaded the hungry flames.

It was a memorable weekend, it’s not every day your hubby and his brothers get a new sister and two adult nephews! They definitely seem like part of the family, Art, Music, and I suspect a lot of reading! I hope they will get to meet the other brothers/Uncles soon. In the meantime maybe I can distract them with a bit of needle felting! Or maybe they would prefer wet felting? Or maybe both!! I have pointed them to the blog, and Sara and Marie’s YouTube felt-a-longs, I can’t wait to see what they make! Maybe some more Mer-People? The Mers should have relatives too!

PS Happy 4 of July to our southern nabours and family!

Making Waves Update

Making Waves Update

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In my last post I mentioned a few of the projects I was working on with the “Making Waves” theme, along with other members of the Waltham Windmill Textile Group. I’d begun work on a 50cm x 90cm felted wallhanging inspired by the markings on large stone slabs on the beach at Seahouses in Northumberland.

Having recently bought myself a drum carder I carded a variety of left over bits of fibre, mainly blues, greens, yellows and neutrals, to make my background and laid them out with off cuts of hand dyed silk fabric, scrim and large nepps. On the left is how it looked after felting and on the right is where it’s at right now. I’ve added synthetic sheers, machine wrapped cords, hand and free motion stitch and in some areas I’ve heavily machine stitched to push them back and encourage the adjacent areas to stand out. The original bottom left section wasn’t working with those silk circles so they were pulled off and replaced with some stiffened, rust dyed fabric circles, recycled from another piece of work. I’m calling it Going With The Flow because a) it’s inspired by a trip to the beach b) it has flowing lines and c) like most of my work its design wasn’t preplanned. It’s evolving as I work on it, adding bits in and taking bits off until it feels right. It’s got a way to go yet before I can call it done.

One of the other challenges within the Making Waves theme is to make a 3D fish and my immediate thought was to create what many would regard as an ugly fish but which I prefer to think of as a fish with shedloads of character……..one that would get noticed amongst a group of pretty fish!

Anglerfish
Tasseled Scorpionfish
Oyster Toadfish

Having typed  “ugly fish” into Google I lost many hours over the next few weeks looking at images and some incredible videos of life deep in the depths of the oceans. Each new search revealed yet another fascinating species of fish, some quite honestly didn’t look real while some, like the Tasseled Scorpionfish were strangely beautiful. One of the weirdest I discovered has to be the Red Lipped Batfish. If ever there was proof we descended from the oceans this red lipped, whiskered fish that “walks” on its specially adapted fins has to be it! 

Red Lipped Batfish

Last month the Waltham group had a day making felted fish, some are finished, others are still work in progress.

Lucy made a wonderful wet felted Puffer Fish adding recycled plastics, including pipette tips, wine bottle netting and glass beads with recycling symbols underneath, to highlight the plight of our oceans.

Sue is very new to wet felting but she’s taken to it like a fish to water (couldn’t resist!) and has made “Angry Fish”. I think he looks more sulky than angry but he’s terrific!

Barbara’s felted fish is still work in progress but looking great, as is her sketch book and fabric fish purse!

Originally I had intended to wet felt my ugly fish but, after all those hours of studying them and getting excited about what I was going to make, for some reason when I took out my carded Corriedale fibres I found myself felting a cartoon version of an Angelfish…….I didn’t see that coming! Her name is TroutPout and she’s approximately 33cm x 36cm excluding her fins.

I’ve been enjoying teaching 3D Seed Pod workshops recently using wire wrapped with Tyvek fabric so decided to make my Anglerfish from wire rather than fibre. It was only when I’d got the 60cm x 33cm framework made that I sat back and realised I’d gone past the stage where I had meant to start adding my fabric! Time for plan B…..maybe I could use wire mesh to give it “body”?

I looked for some online but hesitated as I wasn’t sure how flexible or suitable the mesh would be. Having put the fish to one side, a few days later I joined the Lincolnshire Textile group and at my first meeting I was offered a piece of silver coloured Sinamay. Sinamay is one of the most popular hat-making foundations. It’s woven from the processed stalks of the abaca tree, a type of banana native to the Philippines. I couldn’t believe my luck……..being silver coloured this off cut looked like wire mesh but wasn’t and if I sprayed it lightly with water I could easily shape it to fit and stitch it with aluminium wire to my framework. So this is how far I’ve got. I’m going to add a few more wire spirals and do something more interesting with the eyes. He should have menacing teeth but I might not go that far!

Wire frame Anglerfish

Another feature of next years Making Waves exhibition will be an Octopus’s Garden so once the fish are done it’s straight on to making lots of coral and a few Octopus. I’m loving this theme and could quite happily continue with it way beyond our event next year…….it has to be the most interesting and enjoyable we’ve had so far!

Purple and yellow wool laid out over resist to create mushroom.
Felt Mushroom

Felt Mushroom

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Teri wrote a post a while back about making mushrooms. She inspired me to give it a try. I already had a small circle resist (7 inch diameter) and just needed to add the stem. I cut a rectangular piece of floor underlayment (6.5 inches x 2.5 inches) to add to the circle.

Book page resist for mushroom created out of duct tape and floor underlayment foam.

Here it is after I duct taped it together. Now ready for wool. I wanted the process to be fairly quick so I chose some colors from my selection of short fiber merino which felts very quickly.

Purple and yellow wool laid out over resist to create mushroom.

I decided to ad a few pieces of pre-yarn in brown to the base. I should have put these on the outside layer but I covered with more yellow before wetting down.

Here you can see both sides of the mushroom resist covered with four layers of wool and wet down. Then on to rubbing and making sure the edges were taken care of so I wouldn’t end up with a ridge around the resist.

Purple and yellow felt mushroom upside down on shelf lining material before removing resist.

Here’s the mushroom before I removed the resist.

Felt mushroom laying on it's top with stem upward, felt cut and resist removed.

Once it was partially felted, had a good skin and starting to shrink, I removed the resist. Then on to working the cut edges and begin more aggressive felting, fulling and shaping.

And here’s the finished mushroom on a plastic base with a rod in the center to hold the mushroom erect. I didn’t quite get the bottom even enough for it to stand on it’s own. This was a fun, quick project and I plan on making a few more with a bit more surface design next time. Thanks for the inspiration Teri!

 

 

Mrs Mer lounging on her back on a table showing her new top and butterfly koi fins.
Keeping Mrs. Mer from getting chilly

Keeping Mrs. Mer from getting chilly

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Mrs. Mer has been having a difficult time since I started working on her hand a couple of weeks ago. It has been hard to stay warm with only one hand to keep herself covered!

1) Mrs Mer at the gaming/felting convention. Felting needles working on SCM muscle in her neck, as she covers herself with one hand.and I am about to start working on the other.1) Mrs. Mer at the gaming/felting convention. Felting needles working on SCM muscle in her neck, as she covers herself with one hand and I am about to start working on the other.

This only got worse when I started to add her eyes and she could see the people around her!  I had sculpted her skull so that I would add eyes and then add lids over the eyes. (I had then used one of my longish thumbnails to create the curve for her brow, which had worked quite well. I was sure I had snuck a picture of her, pre-eye lids (it was truly unfaltering) but when I went back through the camera memory cards I could not locate it. I am starting to suspect small hands with the help of lidless eyes may have deleted the truly shocking shot of Mrs. Mer.

I had been invited to a small spin-in with some friends.  I was looking forward to seeing them especially after 3 long days in the guild library working on donations and the book count (checking that each book was on the shelf where it should be.) I have the circulating books done and am partway through the magazines. That leaves the reference books left to do.

I know it was a spin-in that I was going to but, my friends are very patient with me when I bring fibre but don’t have a wheel or spindle. Instead, I arrive with little barbed pieces of mettle, a garden kneeling foam and possibly a Naked mer-woman.) Seeing that she now had eyes (that sounds like a pun) I felt I should really help her keep her modesty or keep her warmer at least. I decided she needed a top.

Eventually, she will need a top that suits her fish parts and hair but for now, a quick top in white should suit the purpose. I found some white in the project bag she and her hubby have been…ummm ……hanging out in. (who knows what they’re getting up to when I am not watching!!  They may need an open plastic project bag soon!!!)

At a recent sale of one of our local guild members, I was able to buy an actual clover tool and clover brush.  I have wanted to try one for quite a while now. I have a large collection of Fake Clover Tools, this is the first time I have tried a real one. I found they are a bit quieter than the blue fake version, the green clover handle is comfortable and the movement is a bit smoother than the blue one is too. If you spot one second-hand and in working order I would suggest trying it. The blue is quite a bit less expensive and is still a good alternative if you are trying to stay frugal (saving your money for more fibre).

2) Green Clover tool (multi-needle holder) and the first layer of wool, both sitting on an old green foam felting base.

Under the Mer’s in their project bag, I found some white, which I started to lay out In a bra-like shape.  I started with the traditional double triangle and would add more fibre for an upper strap and a longer lower tie. I had considered a ribbon but I only had blue at hand. Which I did not think would work with her eventual highlight colours. I started with the clover multi-needle tool to get the basic shape firmed up.

3) the basic flat shape of the halter top3) the basic flat shape of the halter top

As I am sure you can see, the flat shape would not be very comfortable and there is the likelihood of gapping, which could cause drafts or wardrobe malfunctions.

4) the beginning of curvature in the top I have yet to add the halter strap or the under bust tie. Fiber is sitting on the green foam with the clover tool in the back ground.4) the beginning of curvature in the top I have yet to add the halter strap or the under-bust tie. Fibre is sitting on the green foam with the clover tool in the background.

To bring the flat shape into a more fitted full-figured shape, I switched to single needles (a T-36 & T-38). I started by making a dent to fit under the underarm.  Then I focused along the bottom edge of the braw to create the same effect as a dart or gathers. I put arrows on the diagram below, to show you the direction of needle insertion (Poking) to get the fibres to contract allowing the cup to start to form.  Another way to have made it would be to use a small rounded support like a foam ball or curved support shape.  If you were making a more rubenessque mer-woman you might want to consider some wire support (under the wire) for a mer-woman with greater endowments or substantial cleavage.

5) Arrows show the direction of fiber movement to create the cups and fitting under the arm.5) Arrows show the direction of fibre movement to create the cups and fitting under the arm.

I had her try on her top a few times adjusting a bit at a time. (She is very patent but I did promise to add her eyelids as soon as I could make her a somewhat respectable top.)

As you will see below I had laid in her eyelids before it was time to head off to see friends.

6) Mrs Mer shows off her new top and eye lids.6) Mrs. Mer shows off her new top and eyelids.

7) You can see how well fitting her new top is from this angle. On the table behind where I am working are some of the snacks we were nibbling on.7) You can see how well fitting her new top is from this angle. On the table behind where I am working are some of the snacks we were nibbling on.

8) If you missed the tempting tasty snacks hiding behind Mrs. Mer here is a close up of a couple of them! Paper napkin has Udderly Delicious with a cow picture on it.8) If you missed the tempting tasty snacks hiding behind Mrs. Mer here is a close-up of a couple of them! The paper napkin has Udderly Delicious with a cow picture on it.

9) Mrs Mer and felting tools sitting on the table, snacks a pop and Mr Mer to one side of the table with Bernadette and Ann in the background.9) Mrs. Mer and felting tools sitting on the table, snacks a pop and Mr. Mer to one side of the table with Bernadette and Ann in the background.

Mr. Mer also attended, he stood on a chair at the table and was holding a Mountain Dew (highly caffeinated carbonated lime/grapefruit flavoured beverage). I think that Mrs. Mer having eyes and a stylish top has captivated his attention since he did not flirt with anyone else that was there.

 10) close up o Mr. Mer sitting at the table with his bottle of pop, some wool and a pair of scissors. Behind him is a window with a hanging plant. 10) close up o Mr. Mer sitting at the table with his bottle of pop, some wool and a pair of scissors. Behind him is a window with a hanging plant.

He may like this beverage since it goes well with his hair.

It was a fun day and great to see a few of my friends especially when I am not working on the library but just being social.

I Dropped off Ann on the way home and then stopped to take pictures of the early spring colour changes. There are the reds, ambers and light greens of new buds.

11) Scrub brush in the colours of spring. Red wood branches, bits of green budding , amber and green grass. Small trees, and old fence posts leaning aesthetically.11) Scrub brush in the colours of spring. Redwood branches, bits of green budding, amber and green grass. Small trees, and old fence posts leaning aesthetically.

Lastly, I have a question for you about an upcoming post.  I have 3 hand carders which need covers, which fabric pattern would you choose?

12) fabric squares, Patterns from the top Right; Mice and yarn balls, Black white and gray sheep on clouds, Alpaca that look like long necked cat faces, blue paisley, Black White and Grey sheep with numbers, Cute fluffy white sheep on gray back ground. In the plastic bag, a second paisley and a light grey graph check.12) fabric squares, Patterns from the top Right; Mice and yarn balls, Black white and gray sheep on clouds, Alpaca and long-necked cat faces, blue paisley, Black White and Grey sheep with numbers, Cute fluffy white sheep on gray background. In the plastic bag, a second paisley and a light grey graph check.

One final shot of Mrs. Mer’s progress  (starting to work on her left hand and arm.

13) Mrs Mer with Needle in her Left wrist as she lounges on her back on the studio table at a guild social.13) Mrs Mer with Needle in her Left wrist as she lounges on her back on the studio table at a guild social.

2 Dollarama carders one in its packaging one lose.
the local Gaming/Felting Convention is back – blending skin tones for Mrs. Mer

the local Gaming/Felting Convention is back – blending skin tones for Mrs. Mer

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A break from all the felting machines!

We had a great day on Easter Monday testing out the felting machines. We added Ann’s new purple one from Georgia to the mix.  But since we have had non-stop machine chatting I think we need a break from the sound of needles impaling wool at high velocities. So why don’t you join me for a day trip out to the Kanata Games Club one day spring Gaming (and felting) convention?  Mr. and Mrs. Mer came with me, in hope of adding more detail and some skin tone to Mrs. Mer.

 

The Kanata Games Club used the same Church as before. It’s built on a hill and has two large halls one on the lower level with big windows. This time they were only in the upper hall since this is the first big gaming event since the pandemic restrictions. We all wore masks (the church is still masking) except the Mer’s who didn’t have masks of the correct size. I may have to make them some. Or maybe their fishy-er parts keep them immune. Can fish get covid? (better not think about that or I will never get to tell you about the day.)

We arrived and as soon as I was settled, he quickly wandered off to one of the big tables. The big round tables were full of people with brightly coloured games with many interesting little pieces.  I found one of the smaller unoccupied tables by one of the windows.

1) Shortly after 9 am, I was happily left at a rectangular table with a Tim Hortons bagel and my felting supplies in a small clear plastic box. Mrs. Mer is reclining with bits hand blended skin tone.

I got comfortable for a nice long day of felting!

2) Mr Mer was there to supervise and cheer on the gaming. Mr Mer leans ageist a blue bag on the table in front are the small wool pad, the wrong beige, my phone and audio book, and my small clear plastic box of tools.2) Mr. Mer was there to supervise and cheer on the gaming. Mr. Mer leans ageist a blue bag on the table in front are the small wool pad, the wrong beige, my phone and audiobook, and my small clear plastic box of tools.

It quickly became apparent that while I had packed almost everything I needed, there were two small problems.  I realized I had brought a slightly different shade of base tone for her skin tone. Well, That can be fixed with a bit of extra blending.  The second problem resulted from the ongoing rebuilding of my office into a fibre studio, which is messing with my ability to know where everything is (specifically my mini carders AKA small pet brushes have disappeared)!!!  Oh well, I can blend a bit of this nice yellowy-ness with this tiny bit of raspberry red to the new base tone and that should be just about right. Without carders, I was blending tiny bits by hand which is slow when you are both sculpting more detail and putting on a colour layer. I am not a fast felter, I like to putter, consider, add a bit more wool, and eventually decide whatever I am making is complete.  But hand-carding all that I wanted to work on today would be a bit slow even for me!

3) Skin tone base colour from blending white (re-carded world of wool core wool), beige and amber Coriodale  and a bit of red I think may be merino.3) Skin tone base colour from blending white (re-carded world of wool core wool), beige and amber Coriodale,  and a bit of red I think maybe merino.

4) Not fully homogenous blends one with a stronger white and one with a stronger beige under tone.4) Not fully homogenous blends one with a stronger white and one with a stronger beige undertone.

I spent a long time hand-blending bits of skin tone for Mrs. Mer. I used white, beige, amber and raspberry tones. The world is not made up of flat uniform colours, so not blending to a uniform colour will provide a more natural looking tone. Today I wanted to improve Mrs. Mer’s head shape and extend her skin tone.

Hubby came to check on me at the end of his first game and I explained the lack of carders. Luckily the Dollarama was just a bit farther up the hill at the closest mall, a bit far to walk, (there was still snow) but a very fast drive.  He returned with a set of carders (pet brushes), a plug to charge my phone (it was dead again….) a couple of drinks and some candy(that will keep me felting!!).

5)  Dollarama $4.00 carders (pet brush) with safety tips.5)  Dollarama $4.00 carders (pet brush) with safety tips.

Recently at one of the local guilds socials, one of the pet brushes was being used to tease out the ends of locks. This is sometimes called flick carding. (Bernadette can show you how to properly flick card some time if you are at a social). The locks were not very long and there seemed to be a lot of poking of fingers as well as combing of fibre.  The Carders/pet brushes, that I had just been given, have little white plastic tips on each wire, safety tips!!! The packaging says the covered tips are to protect the delicate skin of your pet, while it also makes it much safer for your fingers if you are flick carding locks.

Like full-size wool carders, these pet brushes have little wires embedded into a backing.  some carders have wires that are quite stiff and some are more flexible. The same applies to pet brushes.  For comparison Cotton carders (like the name implies are used with cotton which has a very short staple length compared to wool) have shorter more closely spaced wires and tend to be longer rectangular shapes than wool carders.

If you buy two of the little pet brushes you can use them exactly like you would a set of wool carders. It takes a bit of practice to get the movement of the carders to blend and mix the fibres but it’s worth the practice.

6-7) Close up of teeth on the comb. note the bend about 2/3rds up the wire 6-7) Close up of teeth on the comb. note the bend about 2/3rds up the wire6-7) Close-up of teeth on the comb. note the bend about 2/3rds up the wire

You can see that one wire has lost its safety tip. it may have been missing when I took it out of the package and I just didn’t notice. I did not seem to lose any others while carding. I have heard of small pet brushes that had longer wires and larger safety tips that can come loose and disappear into the wool. So far this brand seems to not have that problem. (it will be worth keeping an eye on these to see if the tips stay attached over time.)

starting to blend first blend with constituent colours in background a darker blend with Mrs Mer in the background the two blends showing the lighter and darker vertions8-11) Examples of blending fibre to create skin colours

It’s nice to have a pallet of blended colours pre-made to pick from when you’re adding the top layer of colour. I am also doing a bit more detailed sculpture of her head and neck so a general mid-tone is also helpful.

12) MRS Mer laying on her back, double needles working along angle of the jaw (Mandible)12) MRS Mer laying on her back, double needles working along angle of the jaw (Mandible)

13) New muscle development below the oxiput and above upper traps.13) New muscle development below the occiput and above upper traps.

As with Mr. Mer, I was concerned with her ability to see where she was going when swimming. Unlike a full fish whose eyes would be looking forward and to the sides, her eyes in anatomical position would be looking at whatever is below her as she swam. This could allow for painfully swimming into things or being attacked by a bigger fish that she didn’t see coming. To alleviate this anatomical problem of blending fish and human anatomy I added an extra muscle on top of the upper traps to help her hold up her head for prolonged swimming. I will also beef up her erector spini in the back so she can also tip her torso up to reduce potential neck stain. The things you have to consider when felting are just amazing!!!

I worked along the underjaw and corrected some of the asymmetries in her skull.

14) attachment of SCM mucle scluping along jaw and adding skin colour.14) attachment of SCM (Sternocleidomastoid) muscle, sculpting along the jaw and adding skin colour.

15) gaming tables with people playing board games

The gaming continued around us, with players switching tables as one game ended and a new one began.  A few came over to see what I was working on, but most have seen me at previous felting/gaming events. Someday I am sure I will get to share my table with another felter!!

I took a break from her head and neck and worked a bit down her arms and started adding a bit of skin tone on one of her hands.

16) Mrs Mer through her arm into the air while trying to stay modest and warm with the other arm/hand (I need to make her a shirt soon)16) Mrs. Mer through her arm into the air while trying to stay modest and warm with the other arm/hand (I need to make her a shirt soon)

17) Mrs Mer’s waves goodby as its time to pack up.17) Mrs. Mer waves goodbye as it’s time to pack up.

I was in the middle of working on Mrs. Mer’s hand when Glenn’s last game ended.  So it was time to pack up after about 9 hours of fun felting. We both had lots of fun and hope there will be another Felting ….errr …. Gaming convention soon!

If you do a lot of 2D or 3D needle felting and enjoy working with blended colour you may find one of the types of carders handy. Depending on how much fibre you need to blend at a time will give you an idea of which type of carder may be best for you. (carders give you a woollen preparation for spinning while combs give you a worsted preparation)

Here is a quick reference chart showing the amount of fibre needed and tool options to achieve that amount.

Amount of fibre Tools to consider Notes, Pros/Cons
Smaller than a handful Hand blending -(if the staple length is longer than you want you can tare it or use scissors to shorten it)

Pros: free!, quick and easy to do for small amounts

Cons: can stress wrists and fingers pulling fibre apart as you blend it.
A Handful or a couple of handfuls Pet brushes used like wool mini-carders -like mini carders quality varies by manufacture. Some teeth are very stiff some are very flexible.

Pros: cost $2.50 to 10.00 each (cheap)

Cons: some are not well made and don’t hold up to stronger wools or heavy use.
A double handful Wool carders -designed to work with wool. Comes in various teeth counts (fine/Medium/course).

Pros: You can sometimes find a set secondhand from spinners.

Cons: new hand cards can be pricey but not as pricey as a drum carder.New Around $100.00 Canadian with shipping.
A larger amount (a batt) Drum carder -designed to work with wool. Comes in various teeth counts (fine/Medium/course).

Pros: can create larger amounts of blended fibre than a hand carder.reasonably easy to use,

Cons: a bit harder to clean for some. Even second-hand 150.00 to 350.00, new; high 200s to much more for larger or electric versions. The smaller ones are moveable/ sort of portable. The bigger ones are better left in a work area)

 

18) 3 full size hand carders, pet brush carders (my real mini carders will turn up as I keep shuffeling things) and small combs; a set of Rodger Hockins and one bee decapping comb in the interm location in my ofice/studio18) 3  full-size hand carders, pet brush carders (my real mini carders will turn up as I keep shuffling things) and small combs; a set of Rodger Hockins and one bee de-capping comb in the interim location in my office/studio

If you do a lot of 2D or 3D needle felting and enjoy working with blended colour you may find one of the types of carders handy. Depending on how much fibre you need to blend at a time will give you an idea of which type of carder may be best for you.

Felted vase cover with mixed greens and yellow, orange and red floral elements.
Felted Garden Vase Cover

Felted Garden Vase Cover

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Four Ravens Gallery in Missoula, MT (USA) is holding a garden themed exhibition in May. I have several pieces that will be included in the show. I decided to make another felted vase cover to fit a glass vase that is 4″ diameter and 6″ tall.

Layout of green wool (layer 1) on resist for a felted vase cover.

I wanted a mixture of greens but didn’t want to take the time to card a batt. So I laid out different colors of green wool for each layer. Here’s the first layer, so that’s the inside of the vase cover.

Layout of green wool (layer 2) on resist for a felted vase cover.

Then I added a second layer which is much more neutralized green.

Layout of green wool (layer 3) on resist for a felted vase cover.

The third layer was a mix of greens that I had hand carded and was left over from another project.

Layout of red, orange and yellow embellishments and wool (layer 4) on resist for a felted vase cover.

Then comes the fun layer. I added a variety of green wool, yellow silk noil, red mixed wool in tufts and burnt orange locks. There are also a couple of pieces of bright green cheesecloth under there somewhere. Then the felting and fulling process (no photos) happened.

And here’s the vase. The photos show it from different angles. In the center photo, you can just see a small piece of the bright green cheesecloth. It’s a bright and cheery piece and reminds me of spring in the garden. If you’re in the Missoula area, you should check out the gallery as there are some wonderful artists represented there.

First Tests of Ann’s and Jan’s New Felting Machines Part 1

First Tests of Ann’s and Jan’s New Felting Machines Part 1

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This past Christmas I received an electric needle-felting tool. This one was made in Ukraine using 3D printing. It had a small motor driving a single needle. Glenn found it on Etsy after he notice I had been having long online chats with a representative, (Amy), of the brand XianDafu, sold by William Wool Felting Supplies Store. Who manufactures a different style of hand-held electric Felting machine from China.

Poor Amy, I spent a long time asking questions, mostly about their needles, what gauge, shape, and how many barbs per side. They are using needles with the crank and part of the shaft cut off (there are a couple of hand-held needle holders that require that the crank be removed too, but they’re not common). Ann’s very kind husband has cut needles for her before but I thought it sounded a bit intimidating so had been hesitant to buy one.  Amy was excellent to chat with, being quite familiar with the machine but didn’t have as much background with commercial felting needles.  So I went into teaching mode and likely overwhelmed her with details and info on needle shapes, gauges, barb placement…… and finally manufacturers I suggested checking out both the Chinese manufacturer Doer and the German Gross-Brecket. I passed on her information to Ann who decided it sounded interesting and placed an order.

By the time Ann’s order arrived and I got the chance to check it out, I decided it might be useful to have a second style of machine) the price had gone up! (Stupid fluctuating dollar value). The positive was that now there were a few options for accessories; I could order extra needles and/or extra screws. (They are tiny screws, so I thought it might be a good idea to get extras)

Ann’s Unboxing of the Chinese needle felting machine. opening the box, the parts are well packed in foam, vile of cut needles, the speed control with adapter for the plug1) Ann’s Unboxing 1

Ann’s unboxing 2 retractable guard. the guard retracted and extended.  2) Ann’s unboxing 2 retractable guard     

You can see my unboxing here https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2023/02/04/felting-machines-from-ukraine-and-china/  The synopsis, in case you don’t want to go back and read the post, for the packaging from China it was amazing in its use of extreme layers of skid wrap, over Bubble wrap,  over shrink wrap and inside the box, lots of good foam. I suspect the Ukrainian machine was also well packed for shipping, but it was not wrapped for shipping when I was given it, in Christmas wrapping. (I am pretty sure it did not arrive through the mail covered only in Christmas wrapping paper)

The concepts of having an electric needle-felting machine are:

  • reduce strain on your body (reduce repetitive strain injuries or tendinitis irritation)
  • increase the speed you felt at (the machine can poke holes into wool far faster than I can.) you can also adjust the speed of the needle in both the Ukrainian and Chinese machines that we looked at)

other things to think of, Mechanical considerations:

  • Ergonomics: Is it comfortable to hold and use?
  • How difficult is it to change the needles?
  • Both have a limited run time for the motor then it will have to rest and cool down. We seemed to work for up to 5 minutes then pause to adjust or add wool. The suggested run time is 10 minutes for the Chinese version, so well over what we had been doing. It would be important to adhere to the run times so you don’t burn out the motor which would not let you enjoy the benefits of the machine
  • Vibration, noise and Kick back should be considered.
  • How many needles can the machine hold and effectively work?

Ann and I have been trying to meet on a Monday before a social at the local guild to try out your new felting tool.  We had a few things we wanted to test with both machines. My pre-test suspicion was that the Chinese machine would be best for pictures and the single-needle Ukrainian machine best for sculpture. Let us see if I am correct and what you think from our initial test runs.

Let’s start by looking at the Silver Metal Electric Needle felting tool from China first. (The script on the box seems to say “Zendaifuku fibre moulding machine”)

Let’s start with how to add needles, since if it is not reasonably easy to change needles then you will be less likely to use the machine.

Ann Adding needles to the machine using a small allen key and inserting the needles that have had the crank removed.3) Ann adding needles to her China-made machine

This machine requires that the top of the needle (the crank and part of the upper shaft) needs to be removed. This can be done with needles you already have or you can purchase precut needles from the manufacturer of this machine. This is an extra step that the Ukrainian machine does not have. On the other hand, being able to use up to 4 needles gives you more options than a single-needle machine.

We both found that adding or changing needles to this machine was not difficult. Because the screws are tiny, those with reduced eye acuity or essential tremors in their hands may find this a bit more challenging but it should still be achievable. Caution: if you want to run this one with less than 4 needles, I would suggest taking out the empty place screws and storing them in the little screw topped vile holding your needles. I would also suggest ordering extra screws they are so tiny and likely to disappear if you don’t keep your eye on them while changing needles. (Sneaky screws!!)

4) Needle holding vile with screw top (these are Ann’s, mine has extra screws in the vile)4) Needle-holding vile with a screw top (these are Ann’s, mine has extra screws in the vile)

Ann lost one of her screws while running the tests for this machine. She took out two of the four needles to see if fewer needles would create less resistance and less kickback. She had left the two screws in the machine without the needles. She noticed one of the screws without a needle was missing and we used a tool I have shown you before to look for it. (Princess Auto has these, extendible-handled-magnet-with-light. Very handy for picking up needles, screws or pins from your weaving)

Using the extendable magnet with light tool to look for the missing screw under the table and close up of tool 5) Extendable magnetic with light

We started with the different felting surfaces we had with us; Firm foam pad (yellow), pool-noodle-type garden kneeling foam pad (green), and medium firmness wool pad (charcoal).

pool-noodle-type garden kneeling foam pad (green)

   6) My accessories and felting machine on the green foam with extra needle cases, Allen keys and tiny screws. Back of 100% wool felt base with Ann’s machine with only 2 needles.   6) My accessories and felting machine on the green foam with extra needle cases, Allen keys and tiny screws. Back of 100% wool felt base with Ann’s machine with only 2 needles.  

The green kneeling pad produced some kickback, but the Chinese machine did embed the fibre into the green wool felt base. Though it did work better with Ann’s machine with 2 needles rather than mine with 4 needles.

Firm foam base (a piece of the kneeling pad) yellow

    7) Firm foam base (a piece of kneeling pad) yellow7) Firm foam base (a piece of the kneeling pad) yellow

The yellow firm foam had the most resistance to the needles and had the most kickback. Holding the machine on an angle helped the needle barbs engage the fibre.

Wool mat (medium softness) (I have one that is thinner and firmer and one that is thicker and softer)

8) 2D and 3D on wool mat with Chinese machine8) 2D and 3D on a wool mat with the Chinese machine

On first impressions with this tool and this wool mat, Ann liked the 3d more than the 2d felting.

 9) Increasing Speed using dile on cord 9) Increasing Speed

Increasing the speed improved felting in both 2 and 3 D but she is still having some kickback with 4 needles.  She also found that working on an angle worked better than vertically. We again suspected that the lower angle might be engaging more of the barbs with the fibre, than when held vertically. With the amount of resistance felt with this surface, we may not have the speed, gauge and number of needles set up to optimize for this machine. We will investigate further.

Ann held the tool at an angle and found it worked better. We think that the surface may be too resistant to the needles in use. We suspected finer gauge needles or fewer needles might improve the felting.  For a second try, Ann switched to two needles instead of four this reduced the kickback but didn’t remove it.

10) Ann reduced to two needles and tried the wool mat again. it was more effective.10) Ann reduced to two needles and tried the wool mat again. it was more effective.

11) We also tried a 3-D object, using 2 needles and without an armature.11) We also tried a 3-D object, using 2 needles and without an armature.

This caught and entangled fibres into the felt successfully. As you can see, Ann was running it with the guard locked in the retracted position.

After checking the mats we had with us, we came to the conclusion that there may be too much resistance and maybe we needed something more like the clover brush pad to allow the machine to work to its best potential. Neither Ann nor I have one and they are so small a work surface. We needed to come up with an alternative. I found my red kitchen scrub brush and Ann went to a hardware store and found a bristle scrub brush and a driveway brush. So we now had 3 brushes of different stiffness, height of bristles and bristle density to try next.

  12) 3 brushes to try (since we dont own clover brushes)12) 3 brushes to try

 13) Princess Auto red scrub brush; tightly packed, stiff plastic bristles. 13) Princess Auto red scrub brush; tightly packed, stiff plastic bristles.

14) Whisk brush with handle from Home Hardware longer and softer bristles that are tightly packed.14) Whisk brush with handle from Home Hardware, longer and softer bristles that are tightly packed.

15)  Driveway brush without its pole handle also from the hardware store; firm bristles more dispersed than the other two brushes.15)  Driveway brush without its pole handle also from the hardware store; firm bristles more dispersed than the other two brushes.

16) Prefelt over the driveway brush 16) Prefelt over the driveway brush

Using the driveway brush as you would a clover brush seemed to be the most effective of the options we have tried. The other two brushes were found to be too stiff (Red) and on the other, the bristles seemed too close (Black). The driveway brush created less resistance than even the pool noodle-type garden kneeling pad foam, which was better than the wool or hard foam with this machine.

I suspect that if changed to finer needles, with the barbs located closer to the tip we would again see an improvement in fibre engagement.

If this company makes a new version I would suggest it would be nice to have the guard able to lock at a couple of spots so you could set the depth the needles would penetrate. Secondly add “Extra Fine” needles to their options, with barb placement close to the tip. (a shallow working depth but maybe not as shallow as the crown needles)

The machine itself felt comfortable in the hand, it felt safe and solid to work with. The adjustable speed worked well and we remembered not to get too excited and overwork the machine, so no more than 10 minutes on. We probably were working more in the 5-minute run times, then letting it rest as we set up the next bit of wool to work on.

Next, we will look at the “orange Fly” electric needle felting machine from Ukraine. We can then compare the two.

Ann and I would be interested to hear if you have tried the metal electric needle-felting machine from China. How did you find it?

This is the link to the Chinese Needle felting Machine. The price has fluctuated quite a bit due to the strength of the Canadian dollar. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004984061419.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000014.4.64382604aj7QsK&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.281175.0&scm_id=1007.40050.281175.0&scm-url=1007.40050.281175.0&pvid=c33f93e0-5aac-4884-bd34-54c5fe444a00&_t=gps-id:pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.40050.281175.0,pvid:c33f93e0-5aac-4884-bd34-54c5fe444a00,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238114%231999&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000031240835199%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%2230050%22%7D&pdp_npi=3%40dis%21CAD%21206.27%21206.27%21%21%21%21%21%402101d1b516779458756708517ed103%2112000031240835199%21rec%21CA%211912286868

side view of a bowl with a picture of a hobbit house.
Making a Pin Cushion

Making a Pin Cushion

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For Christmas this year my granddaughter gave me a small bowl. Her mother says she saw it and was excited and adamant that I would love it. We have no idea why. She is right I do like it but maybe not for the reasons she thinks. I love it because it’s from her and because she is so sure I would. I do not think she knows what Lord of the Rings or Hobbits are.

side view
inside
bottom

I wanted to think of some way to use it that wasn’t just popping it in with the other bowls in the cupboard. I decided on a 3D scene to use as a pin cushion. And what else could I make for the scene but a hobbit house?  I started with a dryer ball to save time filling it and some green/brown mixed roving to make the top and the hill.

I had to make a hill for the hobbit to live in. I made the hill with the same green brown wool. For the front of the house where the door will go, I used much more of the brown/burnt grass colour. Then at our last meeting as part of the felting machine test, which you will start to hear about in Jan’s next post, I used Jan’s needle felting machine to attach the front of the hobbit house to the hill

This is as far as I have made it. I need to make the door and attach it, then the hill is ready to attach to the wool base in the bowl. Now I have to decide if I am happy with the green “grass” I think it may need a little bit of brighter green.

I suppose I should go do some research online to see the colours that are used. So far I was just going with the picture on the bowl. It’s a slow project but it is coming along. Slow and steady wins the race….right?

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