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Sunset on Little Bitterroot Lake at Kiwanis Lodge.
Annual Art Retreat

Annual Art Retreat

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I went to our annual art retreat over Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30 – Sep. 1) at the Kiwanis Lodge at Little Bitterroot Lake near Marion, MT (USA). Luckily my husband is a Kiwanian so we are able to use this lodge once a year. I got there a bit early and while waiting for the others to join me, I took a few photos and gave Edgar a swimming lesson.

Kiwanis Lodge at Little Bitterroot Lake

This is the lodge, this side faces the lake. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, no smoke (August is usually fire season around here) but cold enough at night to need a fire in the fireplace.

View of Little Bitterroot Lake looking from shore with boat dock towards the lake and mountains in the distance.

Here’s a view of the lake. Even on a holiday weekend, the lake wasn’t busy and we even saw 8 loons swimming about. Edgar, my dog, has short legs and a very dense body. He’s not overweight but weighs fourty pounds. When he has tried to swim in the past, he had a really hard time keeping his head above water. He just sinks. So we bought him a life jacket and I took it with us to the lake. (Edgar got to go to the retreat for the first time because hubby was going to Missoula for a UM football game.)

A mixed breed dog (Edgar) wearing a life jacket and swimming in the lake with a branch in his mouth.

After a few tries, he got the hang of it and was eager to have me throw the stick so he could swim out to get it. Needless to say, Edgar had a good weekend.

Two buckets with indigo vats and one bucket with clamped fabric soaking in water.

Our main art activity this weekend was indigo dyeing. Both Paula and Louise set up an indigo pot on Friday and then we dyed various fabric, clothing etc. on Saturday. Here you can see the two indigo pots and some clamped fabric soaking in water in the pink bucket.

Louise (on left) and Paula (on right) working with indigo vats.

Louise (left) is putting her first piece of fabric into the dye vat and Paula (right) is getting rid of the “bloom” on the top of her indigo pot before dyeing. I have personally never made an indigo pot but they used the directions that are available on Dharma Trading Co.

Louise (left) holding soaked fabric about to be put into indigo pot and Sally (right) looking on.

Here Louise (left) is explaining to Sally (right) about how to use the indigo pot and getting her fabric ready to put in the vat.

Indigo dyed fabrics laying out on plastic. One piece just taken out of vat, it is green before oxidation will turn it to blue.

The coolest thing about indigo, in my opinion, is that it comes out of the dye pot green and then when it hits the air and oxidizes, it turns blue. The longer you leave the fabric in the dye bath, the more blue it will end up.

Here are a few pieces drying on the grass. The one on the right was rust dyed first and then put into the indigo.

Paula brought some clamps and different shapes of wood, which once clamped on the fabric, resist the indigo. You can see the results of some of those in the right hand photo.

Sunset on Little Bitterroot Lake at Kiwanis Lodge.

It was a wonderful weekend and we enjoyed some gorgeous sunsets while sitting out on the porch.

For those of you who wish they belonged to an art group (felting group or whatever), my suggestion is to start your own group. If you meet someone who might be interested, ask them to join a group. All the people in your group don’t have to be felt makers. You can learn so much from creative people who enjoy other media. So don’t be shy, just ask others that you know or meet and start up a group of your own. That’s what I did and now more than ten years later, we are still going strong.

The Quest Continues

The Quest Continues

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I left you last time as I was about to felt my sequins. I put the fabric on both sides of some felt and felted them most of the way. They felt quickly. The fabric they are attached to has a very open weave.

After they were dry I cut out diamonds.

sequined fabric cut into diamonds

I now have a great admiration for everyone who sews costumes or anything with sequins. What a mess they make. Sequins have ambitions of being glitter and being everywhere. I am sure I will be finding them in odd places they flew for quite a while.

cut sequin mess on a towel

 

I felted then again to seal up the edges

diamond shaped sequined fabric

A quick trip in a side direction. Jan did some shopping for me at Twist. I didn’t ask for anything but she knows I would have bought it if I had been there.

A New Brunswick woold worker who specialises in fibre arts accessories, had made a palm felter.  It looks really beautiful, it feels really nice in your hand, and it works great. It has a shorter profile and shallower indentations and is lighter than the other similar ones we all know. I found that one quite heavy when I had a look at it at a fibre show.

Back to sparkle. I made 4 colours using super bright trilobal nylon to make some squares. The nylon is on both sides. Again I felted them most of the way and they will need to be felted a bit more to seal up the edges.

after cutting them out I had little shards of sparkly nylon all over. I guess sparkle just likes to spread.

 

I think I have way more than 75 diamonds already. Jan has been working on her dragon hand for this project. I am sure you will hear about it from her.  I have had to pause this project to get on with my sheep and shepherdess for the Guilds retrospective at the Museum. They need to be ready much sooner. I need to make more legs. but that’s another blog post.  As always seems to be the way, you curse along ( lol, that was supposed to be cruse along but curse seems to fit too) with no deadlines or pressing projects then, all of a sudden you have too many.

 

 

 

top of landscape sowing sky sea and rocks with cut outs from the oican
Maureen Shared her vacation, which became A Little Needle Felted Landscape

Maureen Shared her vacation, which became A Little Needle Felted Landscape

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I know some of us are very lucky to live near an active guild.  Many fibre arts people don’t have that source of fibre friends and inspiration. One of our guild members was on a road trip. She kindly brought us along vicariously through her posted shots.  Some were of the spots where she had stopped and spun yarn. One of the shots she shared with the guild particularly caught my eye.  It was a good composition, but the tilt of the horizon bothered me.  I could fix that…..

the original photo of Maureen’s Vacation spinning picture “spinning in front to the Arches at Arches Provincial Park”. not the odd tilt of the horizen. 1) Maureen’s Vacation spinning picture “spinning in front to the Arches at Arches Provincial Park”

Tuesday, July 09th: I was at the Kanata Games Club on Tuesday night, Glenn was busy and I had wool, a nametag size piece of green wool, needles, and scissors, now where is my felting mat and the fine Sharpie I thought I had?  Ok give me a minute, I know where the dollar store is, just down the hill from the gaming. It’s a bit too far to go with the walker, but really close by car. I was back with a garden foam kneeling pad and 3 fine sharps (and snacks) by 6:30 pm.

one print out of the photo to use as a template and another few to use as reference. i have croped the picknick table and some of the width mostly trees2) 6:30-ish pm at the Kanata Games Club.

The piece of green I had grabbed was a bit shorter in length than I wanted. It was also not as rectangular as I would have liked. It’s wool, So not a problem!!! I just added more wool fibre to make it the size I needed.  A bit of work with the Clover multie-needle tool and I had a solid felt base the size I wanted.

I am again using the template method of image transfer and a bit of divine editing of the angle of the horizon.

template method; cutting out the sky then using the remaining image to mark the sky, i have flatened the horizen so the picture is now on a slight angle. i did not add reference marks since the image fit over the felt i was working on. that will come back to hont me later.3) Cutting off the sky and then straightening the Horizon.

sky and horizen in, fixing not squaire felt base 4) Straitened the horizon, and squared up the short corner of felt.

cutting the next section of the photo out and then adding the sea5) cutting the next section out and then adding the sea

Cutting out the rock and the next section of ocean.6) Cutting out the rock and the next section of the ocean.

Continuing to cut away a section of the photo, draw in the new edge then felt in the open area7) Continuing to cut away a section of the photo, draw in the new edge then felt in the open area

I am not the fastest of feltres, this is about 3.5 hours.  Glenn has just finished his gaming and it is time for me to pack up and head home. I am pleased with the progress so far.

 

Wednesday, July 10th:

Resumed felting, ……time for a break, I got over-focused on felting.  Where did I put the camera? On drat, I missed a big chunk of time,  I had better stop for a photo break.

Continuing to cut out a section, then use sharpie to denote the edge, then add wool. replacing the remaining picture to check angles.8.1-8.2) Continuing to cut out a section, then use a sharpie to denote the edge, then add wool.

Laying over the un-felted space with the remains of the reference photo, to see how the image is coming along. You can also see that I have stuck the wool mat in a heavy freezer zip-lock bag. It has not entirely kept the fiber from transferring but the migration has been reduced drastically. This is the third name tag/ picture I have been working with the green base wool on this wool pad. I have been using the same side of the pad but now have rotated the plastic bag. I should last till the end of this picture then I will likely change it for another freezer bag. If you are curious let me know and we can investigate this further, looking into ways to reduce wool transfer to your work surface.

9) My Reference image is now on the computer, note zip lock baggie with all pieces that have been cut out so far.9) My Reference image is now on the computer, note the zip lock baggie with all the pieces that have been cut out so far. it’s above the Right corner of the felting.

I now have my reference image up on the computer, as I am working while waiting for Marie, from Texas, to start Wooly Wednesday on YouTube. You can see the parts of the image I have already cut off in a zip lock baggie so I can refer to them if I need to. (such as the area at the top left where I still need to add a tree in front of the water I have already felted.

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 10.1-10.2) This felting experience was enhanced by the nibbling of blackberries,  just make sure your fingers are clean before getting back to the wool. note the Sharpie it’s double ended (Fine and Extra fine tip)

I am now adding the outline for the right arm. In addition, note the double-ended sharpie (Fine/Extra Fine), and the heavy zip lock bag over my wool felting mat is reducing the amount of wool wanting to transfer into the pad. Blackberries are also very inspirational but don’t let them change the colour of your fingers and then your wool.

the arm is in11) Arm is in

adding shorts12) adding shorts

this is about at 10.5 hours13) This is about 10.5 hours

I still have a lot of detail work to do adding all the flowers a bit more edge defining and tree extensions. But I am quite pleased so far. Time for bed.

 

Thursday;  Finished writing my blog post for the 14th and started writing this one. Ok, I am as slow at writing, as I am at felting. (I did wind up writing about Ann’s Name tag before getting back to finish this one.)

 

Monday, July 15h: I brought the little landscape in to get Ann’s opinion. She said it looked like Maureen’s hair was curly I will try to fix that. I also consulted on the sheep name tag I was making for her.

picture in zip lock bagie, held on to shelf by a magnaet.14) Waiting for a consultation with Ann and I was working on her sheep name tag

I worked a little bit on Wednesday and got the tree in the top left corner blocked in. as you will see when I got back to work at the social. I like to be able to put a piece down and think about what I want to do next, decide on my options and then look at it again with fresh eyes and Reassess.

 

Monday, July 22nd:

By this point, it’s getting down to details and finishing touches. You can’t tell but in person, the straw yellow is not as embedded and solid as it looks in the photo.

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15.1-15.2) Assessing the progress I have made so far.

I have added a bit of a suggestion of wildflowers and fussed with the green undertones but something is not yet right.

Helping your brain to not just look, but see what it’s looking at can be challenging.

When you are working and get to the point you are unsure, it may be that your eye and your brain are arguing.

The eye says “this is what I am looking at” and the brain says “I know what a tree looks like! I don’t have to look at another tree” There are a few ways to help the brain pay attention and actually see what it is looking at. Here are a few I learned while painting but can be applied to felting too (which is painting with wool).

  • Use a mirror to look at your felt image. By reversing the image, it gives a fresh perspective and often you can see a proportion or angle that is not quite right.
  • Photography (camera, cell phone, iPad); look at the felt image as a digital image. You often will spot something off in the photo you did not notice in the work. You can also digitize the image you are working from. It lets you scroll in close to part of the painting to see details,
    • see the image in black and white or
    • oversaturate the image with colour to see hidden colours.
  • rotate your image and reference until it’s upside down (inverted). It becomes easier to see negative space and spatial relationships when the image is not looked at in the usual way.
  • Set your work and image look at it sitting vertically (on an easel or propped up against something so you are not looking down at it) Step back and look at the work.
  • Take a break, go do something else. Come back with “Fresh eyes”.

16) ways to help your brain see what you are looking at 16) ways to help your brain see what you are looking at

Remember that it’s your image, it doesn’t have to be exactly the same unless you want it to be. You can be the god of your landscape and move a tree, make a shrub shorter or fuller or remove it. Do you feel the image needs more sky? Then add it. As long as the image makes sense  (no double points of light sources unless you are on an alien planet with 2 suns) it will be believable. You are unlikely to hang the photo reference beside your finished piece, so move a tree if it offends you. If you are working on a portrait, you have to be a bit more accurate. Then use the above suggestions to help get as close as you can to the original.

I have put my piece aside, so I can think about it and see the image with fresh eyes before I finish the fine details. So I have switched to work on another little project for Ann. (which you  have seen; https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/07/24/name-tag-sneaky/ .) Next time i will show you what i find and how i fix it. Have fun and keep felting!!

 

gold foil placed within the design
Inspired by nature – part 2

Inspired by nature – part 2

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In my previous post I had completed two nature inspired collages https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/03/28/inspired-by-nature-part-1/ and had then decided (in my infinite wisdom!) to create a third and form a set. Collages one and two were partners, now I was heading for a family!

 

My original completed piece
1   My original completed piece

 

A second work including a found twig, fabric snippets and embroidery stitches
2   My second piece

As I was now creating a ‘triptych’ – meaning the two different nature inspired collages needed to be tied together – I had to concentrate on colour and texture, because I didn’t have enough snippets of all the various fabrics previously used. At the same time, I needed to think about the design direction.

One of the hardest decisions was deciding which way up, I finally wanted to present collages one and two, as this would have a bearing on three. When doing abstract work, I usually work from different directions so that, to me, it is balanced from all sides. This enables me, or a client, to decide which way to hang the piece, or simply present the opportunity to ring the changes!

 

Design sketches and potential fabric pieces to be used
3   Thinking about the design

 

the final auditioning of fabrics
4   Auditioning the fabrics

 

Once I’d decided on the final hanging direction of collages one and two, the next hurdle was the actual design layout. Again, the priority for me, was to unify and compliment the previous finished pieces, for which my various sketches proved very useful.

I’ve been asked many times ‘where do you get your layout ideas from?’ Zimples…I look through my vast collection of images that I find interesting (landscape, architectural, food etc), then finding one I like, I either trace or freehand copy the main shapes. These then become the kicking off point. I’m repeating myself I know, as I’ve mentioned all this before….I just want to get the message over that this method is available to everyone – whether they are ‘arty’ or say they can’t draw for toffee!

 

Fabrics finally chosen and laid out in position
5   Layout of fabrics finalised – including some paper birch bark (the yellow underside was more interesting than the white top).

 

With my final decisions made on the design layout and the fabrics to use, it was time to start adding some embellishing stitches.

Although not immediately obvious each work also has some golden elements (paper or foil) included with the dried peeled cherry & birch bark (from felled trees), twigs, or dried bark chips (these were a beach combing find!). All from my ‘that’s too good to throw away/it might come in useful’ stash!

Then it was back to the entire same auditioning process re the placement of Mother Nature’s treasures with the added complication of now having to balance these elements with those of the other two completed works, which in turn, might decide in which order the three collages should be displayed (1,2,3 or 1,3,2 or, 3,1,2 etc).

In terms of design, balance, or colour – if I saw a glaring ‘gap’, yet more embellishing stitches were added, particularly to subtly enhance the circles.

 

gold foil placed within the design
5a   Just to show the gold elements. Notice the copper thread too on the bark

 

These collages are all about being nature inspired, so the following photographs show some close-up details which I have paired with various of my (oh so many!!!) images of Mother Nature’s spontaneous creations that surround us, even in the tiniest of corners.

close up details from my originally collage
6   Detail 1 – A variety of stitches on the original collage

 

 

close up of stitched bark paired with a twig
7   Detail 2 – Stitched cherry bark overlaid with a sheer with crocheted lichen and copper wrapped twig

 

 

close-up detail of second collage
8   Detail 3 – Eco printed fabric, expanded wet-wipe and yarn tufts

 

 

Embroidery stitces to emulate moss and lichen
9   Detail 4 – Embroidery stitches to evoke lichen and moss

 

 

Placement of fabric evokes the cracks seen in rocks and cut tree trunks
10   Detail 5 – Reminiscent of cracks in rocks and aged cut tree trunks

 

 

detail of copper wrapped bark with a tufted yarn to resemble moss.
11 Detail 6 – Copper wrapped bark, ‘cracks’ or maybe twigs and yarn moss

 

Framing the three collages….

I used my favourite method – by stitching each to card cut to fit the frame. I was so lucky that on one car boot sojourn, I found 3 IKEA frames, just perfect for my wall space. Each collage is 22 x 22cm (8½x 8½ins). At some point, I might present them in larger square frames with a wide 10cm (4in) mount (mat) to provide a counterfoil….before that….I’ll need to move house to have more wall space!!!

And herewith the final pieces, enough collage work for now I think….

The first collage
12   The original work – I blame this one for setting me off down this path….I enjoyed it so much!

 

Collage two all framed and ready to hang
13   Collage 2

 

The fianl collage all framed ready to hang
14   Collage 3 – Giving birth to this baby was not quite so easy as it had to share it’s parents’ features!

 

But maybe something beckons….

Lichen and moss covered rocks on top of a stone wall
15 Mother Nature’s circles – Mmmm food for thought perhaps!

Did I forget to mention that I also love the rocks and stones on which the lichen grow!!!

 

We’d love to hear about any dip or triptychs you’ve created.

 

Small things and help with visor problem

Small things and help with visor problem

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I am working on my May slow stitch I have a few things done but it’s not finished quite yet. I plan on finishing it at our guild social on Monday  I think the “May” should be bigger. It’s not a very full page this month but it will have to do. I am liking working with the wash-away stabiliser. We will see if I am still happy after it is dissolved.

 

I have done a little spinning and plying so I have a few new balls of yarn to play with. I got a Moodie Blues pack from Carlene. It’s one of the World of Wool collections.

 

I still need to ply the one on the left. I only have one more to go, the top left one. It amazes me the way the wool changes as you spin it. I think because the colours are side by side they become more subtle. I really like the dark one with the blue slubs in it.

Lately, I need some advice on my mirror cover for the visor in my car. I had stuck it on with some Velcro squares. It worked fine all winter but no it’s hot the glue has melted and it has fallen off. What else can I use to attach the cover?

 

 

February’s Slow Stitch

February’s Slow Stitch

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If you recall I did a small slow stitch piece in January. Look here if you missed it:  https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/01/26/slow-stitch-on-felt/ I enjoyed it so much that I thought I should do one a month. They are not very big, 4 inches by 5 inches or 10 cm by 13 cm. The base and all the bits and pieces fit in a sandwich bag in my purse.

February has Valentine’s Day so I decided on a heart theme. I rummaged through some offcuts and found this piece with lots of silk embedded in the surface.

Hand made felt with lots of silk on top.

I then had fun going through my threads to pick out my colour palette. Mostly pinks and a contrast. Later I will add a dark blue as a contrast.

many embroider threads for colour pallet.

As you can imagine with this being a slow stitch project and a portable one I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have but I think I have enough to show my progress through the month.

I wasn’t sure where to start so added the month and a felt heart with a simple outline stitch heart to make it pop a little. You can see I was thinking about the second heart when I remembered to take a picture

A felt heart stitched to a background. A paper heart pinned to a background and a stitched FEB

Some were online I saw someone stitching over an object and wanted to try it. I wove some pink floss over it.  I didn’t like the white and did try to carefully cut it out but that did not work at all. The cardboard was much too stiff.

pink weaving over a paper heart

so I did some unstitching and then tried again. this time I took a Ferrero Rocher Chocolate wrapper and after smoothing it out some, covered the heart. and tried again.

Just as an aside I was very disappointed in my Quality Street chocolates this year when I discovered they were in waxed paper. One of my favourite things to do at Christmas as a child and now was to flatten and smooth out the foil and transparent plastic wrapper. I know it’s more environmentally responsible to not use shiny plastic and foil but it is just not the same.

Anyway here is my foil heart.

Pink thread woven over a gold foil heart.

I added more hearts as the month went on.

You can see in the last picture I added some multi-strand multi-coloured colonial knots, here’s a close-up. I didn’t like them they just didn’t seem to have anything to do with the other part of the piece. I was hoping the multi-colours would tie them in but it didn’t.

multi colour colonial knots on a felt background

So out they came. I decided that scattering little X’s around to represent kisses would work better.

Here is the finished piece for February.

I know there are no X’s on the left edge but I did that on purpose, with a view to making them a book later and that would be the bound edge. So now I am on to March, You will have to wait to see what it ends up.

Grid of small collages in a sketchbook.
Playing with Collage

Playing with Collage

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My local art group has been playing with collage for our last several meetings. We usually find an interesting online video to “follow” and then take off with the basic ideas from the video.

Grid of small collages in a sketchbook.

The first attempt was with small squares on a page and using a limited palette in all the squares. Then add some markmaking with different tools, small pieces of paper glued in place; then more mark making on top. This is my attempt at the technique. I wasn’t able to attend our meeting so I didn’t get any photos of my friends work.

Gelli plate print glued into sketchbook

The next video suggest starting with an old gelli plate print glued into the sketchbook. Then to “randomly” add collage, printing and painting on top “without thinking too much”. I never seem to do well with this type of activity as it gets way too jumbled and nothing ends up looking good to me.

Sketchbook with layered collage on table with paper, tools, glues.

Here’s where we were working and you can see my hideous collage results in the foreground of the photo. There are many layers and thinking a bit more about my choices might have improved this mess.

Layers of collaged papers and paint in sketchbook

Here’s the final outcome of my collage. Still pretty hideous to me.

Sally created two collages using up a lot of her eco printed papers that she had in her stash.

Collaged papers in a sketchbook

Louise was still working on hers but had a great start.

And here’s Paula’s effort. She was working on two pages in a spread. I don’t think she was finished with these yet.

The nice thing about this project was using up painted and printed paper from our stash and just allowing ourselves to play a bit. Even though I wasn’t happy with my outcome, I had fun messing around 😉

Experiment with Inktense Colour blocks

Experiment with Inktense Colour blocks

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Just before Christmas, there was a discussion about all sorts of ways to modify colour on felted pieces.  The topic of Inktense pencils and paint blocks came up and they fascinated me. So I decided to give myself a gift of experimentation for Christmas.

The basic box has twelve colours.  I didn’t get the box with white.  This might have been a mistake, but the block is available as a single unit so if the need is evident I’ll see about ordering one.

The blocks are water soluble and can be used the same as any watercolour.  They do not re-wet once dry do can be painted over after set.  This is the intriguing bit for me.  I cracked out all the old equipment and some new to test the flexibility of these blocks.

Watercolour mixing bowl, watercolour brushes,

And some fabric that I knew would come in handy for something someday.  This was unbleached cotton, a very fine weave and perfect for experimenting.  I have no idea what its original purpose might have been, but I have loads of the stuff.

The first experiments were just smearing water onto the bars, and then painting the wash onto the fabric.  The wash was thicker and thicker with each brush stroke.  Then I tried stamping with some tiny stamps, to see if thick paint worked better than thin.

I had hoped to use the stamping method to mimic the aurora borealis to use on my 75th Anniversary bag as background for the moose, but getting the aurora right is very, very tricky.  This is the best I could do on the first try.

 

It needs much more work before I could ever be satisfied with this.  So the next few experiments involved painting on wet fabric, painting with a dry brush, etc, etc. and waiting for the material to dry.  Then washing the goods in scalding hot water to see if everything was colour fast.

 

If you look very, very carefully, you might see a tiny little bit of blue in the middle. That’s how much the tiny blue stamp transferred to the paper towel I used to blot the test fabric when drying.

The uses for these paints/inks still have me curious.  I want to do a warp with multiple layers of colours.  I just need to work out the logistics of the method.  I can see using them in combination with stitchery and felting to really embellish fine art.  On a practical side, they can repair dye loss in all areas of fiber design from the finest to the most prosaic.  I will be using the hot pink to repair a dye loss on one of my favourite sweaters.  The match isn’t perfect, but close enough

Slow Stitch on Felt

Slow Stitch on Felt

Comments 27 comments

As January started I found I wanted something unimportant to fiddle with. You know something that didn’t have a deadline, had to be made for a class or show, or have any practical purpose. I had been sorting through all my bits and pieces of felt that accumulate,  the ones that may be good for a picture or are just too good or interesting to get rid of.  I was trying to sort them into possible uses and tidy up my area of the living room. I wasn’t very successful at either of those things but I did manage to get the felt into sizes.

I decided a slow stitch, random sampler sort of thing would be good. I had lots of small pieces to choose from. I chose a quite dark piece with some lumps on it. I have fiddled with the picture to show the colours properly. This is the best I can do. The dark green is darker or maybe deeper. The light areas are not as light as they show. The shine on the silk areas is causing a lot of bounce back and messing with the colours.

I think I used the rest of this strip of felt for a needle book. I marked out the year before I remembered to take a picture.

Next was picking out some threads. I wanted to stay with the same palette. They are different brands but all 6-strand floss

I started with the year. Strangely, the 4 was the hardest number.

 

I thought it might look interesting to make a flower on one of the bumps. I used lazy daisy stitch and colonial knots

 

I added some little leaves under the flower. I did them 4 ways but they are too small to see the stitches properly. They look like leaves so that’s good enough. I wanted to do something else with another bump and did this wheel sort of thing.  I didn’t like it but I lived with it for a few days trying to think of a way to improve it.

 

In the end, I just decided it was just ugly and I cut the the stitches off. I added another lazy daisy with much looser petals and added a contrasting stitch to the middles and I used stem stitch and outline stitch to a…. swirl? ….curly queue? not sure what you call it but I like them.

Next was a bug for one of the bumps. It doesn’t look in but he is nice and round. I added a stem and leaf to the daisy and another swirl thing but in back stitch.

The swirl looks very white, even though it is cream.  It stands out too much so I took it off and changed it to a darker colour. I also did stem or maybe its outline stitch. I can not remember, left stitches are one and right stitches are the other. Both give a much smoother line than back stitch.

I like the light streak of silk on the right and thought it looked like a tall flower so that was the next step. I used colonial knots and French knots for the flowers.

That’s as far as I am. I am going to add some more arms to the swirls but not sure what else. I was thinking I might stitch the month on it and start a new one on Feb 1 and see if I can keep it going all year. Then I will have to figure out how to make it into a book like Ruth does.

Title of piece plus images of items made from Bags of Inspiration
Bags of Inspiration

Bags of Inspiration

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Having just read Kiki’s tutorial  https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2023/11/19/left-overs-yessss/ on using up prefelt scraps, it occurs to me that I may not have mentioned something we used to do at our Guild (Dorset Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers) mainly to raise funds for the Guild but also for fun.

When I attended the Stitch and Creative Crafts Show at the Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet (Somerset, UK) back in 2010  – I saw a stand selling (for £8.00 each) bags containing 35gr of silk fibres, yarns, fabrics scraps, carrier rods and cocoons in various colours, left over from old projects which, when put together, made a fascinating collection for future projects.  So fascinating that I bought three of them.

They must have made quite a bit of profit on them because they appeared mainly to be the “waste” from artwork.

At that time (when I was part of the sub-committee organising the Guild’s Exhibition and Sale of Work) we were looking for a Guild Project which could be part of the exhibition or something hopefully to help raise some funds.  Well, I thought, our weavers must have lots of off-cuts of hand woven fabric, not to mention warp ends.  Then there were the spinners who would have odd bits of spun and unspun fibres of all types and colours.  We also had members who were dressmakers, beaders and embroiderers, and a soft furnisher, who were bound to have the odd bits and pieces that they didn’t really need.  So, with the blessing of the committee,  I put it to the members in the next newsletter that if they would donate to the Guild any odd bits of fibres, yarns, threads, warp ends, bits of fabric, beads, button, feathers, felt, cords, braids, tassels, sequins, sequin waste, ribbons, silk flowers and any other bits and pieces they could think of, we could make up some “Bags of Inspiration” and sell them to members of the public at our open days and outside demonstrations.  (I don’t know about in the rest of the world, but in the UK the word “bags” means “lots of” as well as “containers”, so the punning name “Bags of Inspiration” seemed apt.)

We used A4 sized polythene bags (which I was able to buy quite cheaply from our local green grocer) with an A4 sheet of card inside for stiffening, and I made up some stickers with the Guild’s logo on and a brief description of the contents, and posters also giving details of the contents.

Image of a poster detailing contents of a Bag of Inspiration
Bag of Inspiration Poster

We arranged a few bag making days at a pub in the village where our then President lived.  She had persuaded them to let us use their skittle alley at no charge, and we had a great deal of fun making up the bags and tucking in to “refreshments” from the bar and kitchen.

The members who came to these, brought with them all sorts of goodies which we spread out on tables, so that we could make collections of pieces which seemed to go with each other.  Those who didn’t think that their colour theory was good enough, could pick out a picture from a selection of magazines and have a go at matching colours from this  It was amazing how compulsive making the bags became.  You could pick up a piece of fabric that looked so dull and dreary and be amazed how it perked up and positively shone with life when paired with different fabrics, yarns, trimmings etc.  You just couldn’t stop picking up likely bits.  The difficulty was keeping the weight of each bag between 80gr and 100gr, so we quite often ended up making up at least 2 bags with similar contents.

image of tools and accessories for making up Bags
Equipment & Extra “Bits” for making up Bags
Prospective contents of a Bag of Inspiration - fabrics, yarns, fibres etc.
Prospective contents of at least one Bag of Inspiration

We put a price of £3.50 on each bag and they went like hot cakes – we sold out on their first appearance at our exhibition and sale of work.  Embroiderers and mixed media artists in particular liked them.

After a couple of years, we didn’t get so many volunteers to make up bags but we still had mountains of “stuff”.  So we added another string for our open days – Pick and Mix Your Own.  I had remembered that Woolworths (now there’s a blast from the past) used to have a counter full of different sweets and you could take a bowl and pick and mix what you wanted, and in the process buying a lot more than you would have if just buying a ready filled bag.

Boxes of different sweets to be picked and mixed
Pick and Mix Sweets.

It worked with our stuff too.  We gave the visitors the polythene bags and they could wade through all the bits and pieces picking what they needed, and we weighed them when they’d finished, charging £3.50 for 100gr.

We had had a lot of fibres donated so we started making up what are now called Art Batts and selling them as “Batts of Inspirations”, but because we were mainly selling these to Guild spinners and felt makers, they didn’t do quite so well as they were mainly able to make their own.

In all we made around £1000.00 for the Guild in the four years we were doing this.  Eventually though the members got fed up with spending time on making up the bags and the whole thing was shelved, as the Guild seemed to be relatively well off at the time.

Some time after that I took the idea back to myself and I was making up Batts to sell at Guild meetings, using luxury fibres as well as merino and synthetic fibres.  I made up some bands to fix around the Batts detailing the various fibres included in each.

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I was also making up and selling Bags, mainly at a Needlework Festival in Dorset where most of the vendors were selling materials and equipment for crafters, as well as various craft fairs and so on.

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I was getting the odd question like “they’re lovely but what do you do with them?” and  “can you make a bag out of what’s in here?”  So I made a sign from images of items that I’d made myself over the years and that helped.

Image of items made with contents of Bags of Inspiration
Some of the things I’ve made with the contents of BoI over the years

However, once Covid started causing problems, my selling opportunities dried up.  I had been intending to try selling Bags and Batts via my website, but it was very difficult and too time consuming to photograph the Bags so that the contents were visible, because of reflections on the polythene bags.  So that sort of died a death too and I’ve now shelved that project, and am using the bits and pieces I’ve collected over the years on theatrical costumes and props.

Perhaps some of our readers’ organisations, like Ann & Jan’s OVWSG, might use this idea to raise funds?