After a big hiatus, my knitting mojo finally woke up, and it was craving complicated stuff, not just the customary stocking stitch pattern.
I’ve a soft spot for lace shawls, particularly those by British pattern creator Boo Knits (find her by searching on Ravelry). Bev also allows knitters to sell finished shawls, as long as they credit her as the pattern author – very useful for a fibre business owner like myself.
I set out to knit a shawl named Out of Darkness. The lace pattern is beautiful, yet simple enough to not drive me mad (as long as I pay very close attention to the instructions and count my stitches frequently).
Lace looks very underwhelming when you’re knitting it. The stitches don’t look defined or “pop,” it’s as if you’ve gone through a lot of trouble for not much.
Once you block it, however, the magic happens.
Isn’t the transformation amazing? The pointy bits look on point (pun intended), the beads suddenly make sense and this is now a thing of beauty, luxurious even.
This was intended as the show stopper in my new online shop, so I went out of my way to create decent photos.
Finally, I also gathered up courage to take some “lifestyle photos,” as they say. I even managed a straight face…
You know how that classical novel ends with, “reader, I married him?” Well, my story ends with, “reader, I ended up selling this beauty before I finished setting up my shop!” Ah, well.
So here it is, my adventures in lace knitting. What have you created with your hands lately?
A few weeks ago, Ruth posted about how the shape of a seedpod she made using prefelt was influenced by differential shrinkage. I thought I would try out this technique with a couple of variations. 🙂
This is the seedpod I was inspired by. I found it on a beach in Thailand, but I have no idea what plant it is from!
Unlike Ruth, I didn’t make “fresh” prefelt. I have a box (or three!) of old felt experiments and pieces I don’t like very much, which I am happy to cut up and reuse in new pieces. Technically this is not prefelt but actual felt. However, roughing up the surface with a wire brush usually loosens up enough fibres to allow it to attach to fresh fibre.
For this experiment I decided to use a felt tablet cover that I didn’t like, as it was very thick (I think it was two layers of merino sandwiching a layer of Gotland).
I worked inside out on this piece, partly because I wanted some spikes protruding from inside the pod and partly because I have found that it is easier to attach the prefelt or fabric this way.
First I made some spikes.
Then I cut out some vaguely diamond shapes from the tablet cover and roughed up the inside surface (which was white) with the wire brush. I laid these upside down (that is, purple side down) on the circular resist.
Then I covered them with a thin layer of orange merino. I laid it in a circular pattern because I wanted the piece to shrink more around the circumference than along its height.
After wetting down and a bit of gentle rubbing, I turned the piece over, folding the felt diamonds over and covering them with more orange merino. After wetting down and minimal rubbing, I added the spikes in the centre with more merino, rubbing very thoroughly to ensure they were properly attached.
Once I was sure that the spikes would not detach, I rolled the piece, rearranging the position of the spikes every time I changed direction.
When the felt passed the pinch test and I could see the darker outlines of the prefelt coming through, I cut a hole in the opposite side to the spikes and removed the resist.
I continued to roll the piece to start the shrinkage and firm up the cut edges and then turned it inside out so that the spikes were now on the inside.
To help with the fulling I immersed it in hot water and continued to rub and roll, sometimes turning it back inside out to continue the shrinkage and shaping process.
The spikes were actually a little bit short, so I curled the top edges of the vessel down and pushed up the bottom a bit to ensure they protruded properly. Also, I wish I had made them a different colour – maybe red.
And quite a lot of the Gotland has migrated through, so the final piece is a bit hairy. I might shave it.
Around December of last year, I was asked by a friend and customer to make a life size sculpture of a raven. I’d never done one before, so it was an exciting challenge to accept.
My husband, a professional painter and sculptor, helped me create a template. I then created the core with needle felting foam rectangles, which I cut and glued to size. I then covered the foam with wool.
Feathers were another challenge for me, I researched quite a bit online to see how other people were making them and tried a technique whereby you add wool top to fusible interfacing, add a wire in the middle and steam iron everything together, but the interfacing was just too white and showed through. Sorry I don’t have any pictures of these, they would have looked very nice in a differently coloured bird. This part stumped me and took ages to resolve.
I left the feathers conundrum to simmer in the back of my head and moved to raven feet. I made mine out of wire that I covered with pipe cleaners and then wool.
Although the feet looked nice enough, they were not too lifelike. As it turns out, the wire was also not too sturdy for something this big, since it became clear it was too soft to hold the raven’s body at the angle I wanted. The poor thing stood too much like a duck!
It became clear I needed to replace the feet, so I did some surgery: I cut the original wire out, then added a sturdier one and repaired the cut site with more wool and felting. I had an idea to use polymer clay on the feet at first because I thought it would look more lifelike but it was an absolute fail: clay, once hardened, has obviously no yield and therefore can’t be posed, which can be a problem depending on the surface you’re placing your sculpted animal on. Back to wool it was.
Enter a magic technique I had never tried before: wax.
Adding wax to wool makes it look less like fibre and more like a proper part of animal anatomy. See below:
You can see by one of the pictures above that I got the feathers to work eventually. After much musing I cut felt sheets to size and put the sewing machine to work to add the central stem you normally see in real feathers. Some of them still had wire in them for structure.
Because I really love how the feet looked after adding the wax, I couldn’t wait to play with this new-to-me material on another part of the corvid: the eyelids.
Here’s an image of my raven without eyelids. The poor thing looks too startled and weird to be real.
Now behold, with eyelids!
What a difference. I wonder how I made it without using wax on sculptures this long.
After making more longer feathers for the tail, my corvid was ready to be unveiled. Photographing black wool is notoriously difficult so I apologise for not having more professional-looking pictures to show, but I believe these show you the end result well enough.
This chap has been named Huginn (old Norwegian for “thought”) after one of Odin’s ravens. I think it suits him.
I felt sorry to send Huginn to his forever home. After spending so much time (5 months!) working on him on and off, I really built a connection with this character. I’m glad he’s receiving much love and will even have a custom-built dome to keep him protected against the elements…
Let me know what you think of him in the comments, and if you’ve any questions about the making process I’ll do my best to answer them. Thanks for reading.
The workshop with Clare was very different, in that it was nuno felting and very small. It was quite a surprise to a few of us (with felting experience) that she only uses one ‘thin’ layer of merino wool, to which she then adds various fine open weave strips of fabric. She creates small (often randomly shaped) pieces approx 15 x 10cm (6 x 4ins) which she carries everywhere in her bag to embroider on during any spare moment, hence ‘Travel cloth’. Once stitched Clare then stitches the pieces together to make a bigger cloth.
Clare’s work
With the previous workshop result still frustrating me I established, before the due date, what our goal would be and decided to create a monochrome scheme (obvious here that I was now avoiding colour!) and set to rummaging in my monochrome stash.
We were given a list of materials etc to bring which included white merino wool and fine fabrics. As I have a very ‘what if’ enquiring mind (I’m a great fan of Zed’s experiments) I took along self carded shetland wool (of which I have a large amount) and a variety of thick, thin, and textured fabrics….my thinking….this would be the ideal opportunity to experiment.
Just a few of the fabrics I used. Left photo – top left was a skirt, top right was a jacket, the bottom 3 fabrics were blouses. All from car boots, washed then cut up and stored. The grey fabric centre bottom (on top of the cream) is vilene I stripped from the jacket. Right photo – top is screen fabric from IKEA, bottom left is a bandage from hospital, on the right is an old cotton vest used as a cleaning cloth for years and ‘acquired’ from mum!
Where possible I do try to keep the labels for future reference
So I set to with laying out my one layer of thinly drafted wool and then added my fabrics on top. Following Clare’s rubbing method through thin plastic.
I just had to take a photo – the pattern appealed to me
Needless to say the felt shrunk, as expected, in one direction only, but when I set it aside I realised my ‘thinly’ drafted shingles were too thin! For the next pieces – I cheated and laid two layers in opposite directions and ignored the word ‘thin’. This gave much better results. I also created more rectilinear designs rather than just neighbouring strips….I’m not really a rebel!
Above you can see the lovely results from the members.
Using Clare’s method of fulling didn’t seem to shrink the shetland wool for me despite the hot and cold water treatment. Seeing this she took a piece and gave it the friction burn treatment between her hands….it certainly shrank….I actually had to rescue it, by putting another piece in her hands whilst she was talking, before it became postage stamp size! I also learned that sometimes ‘brutal’ works, although I would probably go back to my method of fulling.
The vilene (top right) worked really well, as did the scrim, finer fabrics, devore, the bandage (bottom right) and various yarns. The white is the vest. The skirt fabric (plaid dark grey) felted well, but the jacket (bottom left photo) not quite so, although has given great texture. Using a different wool might well produce different results.
At home I re-wet the pieces and continued fulling until they were all modular in size. Then unlike Clare I decided to stitch them together before starting the embroidery. The piece thus far is now 43 x 33cm (17 x 13ins), but will need a backing so the size may well change again.
Up against the light the reverse side shows how thin that first piece is (left section). You can actually see the fabric and is too thin to hold stitches so needs backing.
Within a few days of the workshop and I had started the embroidery!
In terms of design I am favouring the horizontal and want to overlay a design over the whole piece. So I started playing with some ideas on my iPad, but to do the ‘playing’ any justice, I will need to install a painting/drawing app….yet more learning!
Wood grain effect with lots of stitches came to mind. However, creating this post has brought the photo to light I originally took of the plastic….so maybe a simplified version of that will be my design springboard.
I printed out the plastic film photo, then overlayed tracing paper to mark the lines. I do have a small light box but mother nature is much better – I just needed to keep replenishing the blood into my arm!
Then came my next big challenge….to beat Microsoft. About 8 years ago they stopped the facility to directly scan from the printer into word etc without going on a very tortuous long winded route. A new printer, research, several attempts, a few hours and a Macro later….tadaa. I’m exstatic as I can now ‘play again’!
My scanned image split up in Powerpoint
I’ve also had an extremely steep learning curve, with these posts (learning to resize my photos to reduce the file size) which for this post I’ve now achieved. But my heartfelt thanks goes to Ruth for all her hard work and patience whilst I got here 🙂
In the meantime between various workshops I have been busy in the good weather we have been given to finally wash some more fleeces….still more to do! In the process I have finally perfected my back saving technique.
All I can say is that learning comes through experience and as I aim to learn at least one new thing per day (sadly, I might not remember what I have learned) then logic implies I must fill my life with many experiences….a faithful friend by my side helps!
I just had to finish this long post with a cute element!
In the last few months I’ve attended two felting workshops tutored by happy feltmakers who have been very generous with sharing their experiences and knowledge. The first by Jenny Pepper was titled Decorative felt Surfaces (I had no idea what this was to be), whilst the second by Clare Bullock was making nuno Travel Cloth at a workshop for our local textile group.
I have certainly experimented, I’ve gone out of my comfort zone totally but learnt a lot (and as you will read – continue to learn!).
Jenny demonstrated the laying of the felt to all giving the instruction to ‘lay the shingles thinly’ (important note to self), before she then added her decorations choosing from her vast collection of silk waste, silk fibres, silk gauze, silk carrier rods, wool locks, pieces of cut-off felt etc to name but a few.
I commenced my piece working to the maximum size possible on our tables by laying out my 3 layers. Ha…thinly has different thicknesses (note – next time I must check)! I draft very thinly compared with others, so on inspection Jenny suggested I add another two layers. Fine – five layers total not a problem….but I had forgotten the colour placing by this time!
First layer added
A few layers later
Encouraged to try as many different decorative elements as possible – I went for it….although totally out of my comfort zone!
I came home and showed my endeavours to EPH (ever patient husband) who was quite silent. When I said I thought it was too busy (my five layers of colours didn’t help) his comment was ‘Mmmm it’s certainly not your usual style!’ Following several days of pondering I decided to mute the cracked area by picking up the colour of the silk carrier rods. To do this I blended suitable colours from my wool collection (BFL, merino & Nepalese). Using this I then needle felted it in.
Trying to make it secure I decided to brush the reverse side, raising the fibres, then further wet felt that area. Definitely a learning experience!
The surface pilled very badly so once dry I attacked it with a rasor and de-bobbler!
Three months later, the work measuring 380 x 420cm (15 x 16.5 ins), remains a PINOS (project in need of something), and currently hangs where I can see it every evening to ponder what I can add/do to make it acceptable in my eyes and to decide on its direction – I definitely know which two it is not! Although?
The two to the left I feel are a ‘No’. What do you think? Then come further questions – should I cut it square, or into strips? What can I do to it – apart from a very obvious one of ‘bin filing’?
My next post will be about the second class that I took, Clare Bullock was making nuno Travel Cloth at a workshop for our local textile group. Stay tuned!
Ann told you about the workshop she gave on felted Flowers. So I thot you might like to hear about the last workshop I was teaching. This was the first time I had taught it and I was a bit nervous and excited (inner voice to self, take a deep breath, relax). In December you heard about the panic of making the Catalogue sample for this workshop. (https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2018/12/01/this-is-the-story-of-a-felting-emergency/)
As you may remember I have a background in both commercial and fine art. Add to that the sivear dislexia which tends to change my way of approaching a subject or at least the way I tend to interpret it.
Last August the guild started to set up the list and order workshops that would run in 2019. There were a number of felting workshops but we had requests for felted landscapes in 2D. I had signed up to teach Inkle weaving as usual but Our Workshop coordinator was sure I could do the landscape and re-run a felted sheep class I had done over 10 years ago. I said sure and between working on the Catalogue for the workshops, restructuring the Guild library and a few Exhibition and Sale chores I started writing my notes.
I am pretty big on notes. I want a student to be able to look back on them and remember what to do even if it’s been a year since they took the workshop. For this one I felt I needed to include a bit on composition, perspective, aspects of different mediums of painting and finally how to deal with the felting itself. So think small book rather than regular notes.
(picture 1 Name tags and a bit of back ground information )
I was going to teach them a different way to look at felt; treating it more like a water colour than an acrylic and using some of the work principles used in pastels and oil paintings. Because of the time restraints of only 5 hours to felt I went for a smaller size, working in a 5×7 inch format.
(picture 2 the supply, a stack of notes, a picture chosen and all ready to start )
I prefer workshops where you don’t have to go searching for a long list of supplies to bring. So I try to have everything that will be needed to start your adventure included in the materials fee. The Introduction to inkle weaving workshop is the same, students even get the integrally important box of smarties. For this workshop smarties were not as important but they did get a 5×7 frame with white mat, a selection of needles, a mat to work on (I took a workshop from Megan Cleland who had used Dollarama Garden kneeling pads as work surfaces which were light and worked very well. The handle even held fibre I was working on!)
I had found some mid-weight felt at Michaels that was longer then needed for the project so we had enough to do a name tag too. I started everyone off by making a name tag. Firstly, so I would remember their names. Secondly, it would give them a chance to try the eye-hand coordination required to needle felt. It also let them get a feel for the differences between needles at moving fibre. They had 2 each of the fine, medium and coarser needles and one spiral in a fine gage. I had ordered a Multi-needle tool (it’s the flake clover needle holder from china) but it was not expected to arrive in time. it arrived Friday afternoon just before the Saturday workshop.
(picture 3 transferring image )
We started by discussing different ways to transfer an image to the felt. Megan was teaching a variation on the light box using a window. This will only work well on thin felt. So if you want to work on a heavier ground or a dark colour choosing another method would be preferable. I mentioned the most common methods for scaling and transferring images including using a Lucy or projector, the grid method and the template method. (I also mentioned pouncing as an option, it is used with frescoes) Since I haven’t seen anyone teaching template transfer we went with that. Its low tech and requires only scissors, permanent marker and an image.
I had selected a number of images ranging from quite simple to more complex since the class was to accommodate beginner and intermediate students. I had a couple students bring their own images too. With a bit of discussion they all chose there images. As they prepped and transferred there images to the felt I did a vary brief overview of perspective, how overlapping objects give the illusion of distance, how colour fades out as it recedes, detail in the foreground and less detail in the background and sky is lighter at the horizon and darkens as you go up. We discussed light and shadows and keeping your light source consistent if you are using more than one photo reference.
I also explained about thinking about using wool as paint. Using properties from water colour , acrylic and oil techniques.
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(picture 4- 14 Slideshow Work in progress )
By that time they were ready to begin. There was much poking but I don’t think anyone stabbed themselves. (I did have 3 boxes of bandages just in case) Most of the students had never felted before so were quite amazed as the wool started to turn into a picture. There was some reworking of areas to get the shadows they wanted but it started to come together.
(picture 15 Framing there work)
As you have probably found out yourselves if you put a frame on even a simple sketch it gives it importance, focuses the viewer and gives it the feeling of Art. As the students put there finished pieces into their frames it was fun to see them so pleased with their results. Two of the students had to leave early due to impending bad weather and lengthy drives home.I realized afterwords i missed getting a picture of there finished piece.
I attended a local event yesterday called PechaKucha. I had never heard of it before and thought you might like to hear a little more about it. The idea began in Tokyo in 2003, when architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham devised a format to present creative ideas informally and in a more relaxed setting. The format for presentation is to show 20 images, each for 20 seconds with the images advancing automatically. This gives the presenter 20 seconds to talk about each image or to tell their story with photos.
PechaKucha events have spread to over 1,000 cities throughout the world. The events provide a place for creative people to get together and share what they have been creating, their stories, thoughts or just their holiday/vacation photos. The great thing about these events is that anyone can present. There are no set rules on what can be presented but what works the best is sharing your passion or something you love. It allows people to tell others their story and what is presented is often unexpected, sometimes poignant or humorous, sometimes very personal but always different.
The local event that I attended had nine presenters including a potter, a mixed media artist, a graphic designer, a photographer, a web developer, a textile designer, an iron sculptor, a master boot maker and a travel photographer.
Here are a few photos from the Kalispell event. Sorry about the quality but it’s what I could get with my phone. The recording of the event will be uploaded to the main website in the next several days. The venue was quite small for the number of people who came but we still enjoyed the event. This session was focused on art and design, all of the presenters were from the valley and everyone’s story was very different. I think this would be a wonderful way to spread the word about felt making and fiber art. If I get up the nerve, I may try presenting at a future event.
Or, if you really want to be brave, you could start a PechaKucha event in your town (as long as there isn’t already another one going). You need to hold an event four times a year to qualify and you can get more information here.
Last weekend I took part in an exhibition at The Creative Craft Show held in Manchester’s EventCity. I attended as a member of Jeudis, a mixed media textile group who meet monthly in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire. The group work to a different theme each year and each member creates either a large piece of work, or a series of small pieces, in their preferred medium. The current theme is Abstraction and so far I’ve made three pieces, two framed pictures using Merino fibres, Lutradur and sheer fabrics and a wall hanging in Bergschaf. As they are all on the large side I had to select just one to exhibit and went for the Bergschaf “Rockpool”.
Abstraction – 72cm x 40cm mixed media
Abstraction II – 80cm x 40cm mixed media
Abstraction – Rockpool 53cm dia Bergschaf and found objects
This is the work created by the rest of the group…..
Sue also works in fibre and created these wonderful pictures enclosed in tree bark
Christine is a book maker and creates mixed media collagej
Gill created a large bowl incorporating fabric, paper and stitch
Cathy’s work is very geometric and often features architectural imagery
Linda used her interested in yoga and the various associated symbols to create this colourful quilt
Hazels hand coloured and embroidered scroll
Jeans mixed media with fabric, paper and stitch
Elaine’s piece is hand painted and stitched on pelmet vilene
We had a lot of visitors to our stand and some great feedback which was very encouraging. It also led to me designing more “rockpool” inspired items for the sales table…
It is almost a year to the day that I gave up my day job of setting up clinical trials of new drugs for hospital patients to pursue my dream of making felt full-time.
A post on FB this week, prompted me to reflect on why I made that choice. One year in to my new adventure and the start of a new year, this seems like a good place to pause and take stock.
The post on FB asked us to choose the 3 main reasons why we chose to use our creative talents to go self-employed because lets face it, most of us don’t do it for the financial rewards, if economic security is top of your agenda, going self-employed in the creative arts is likely to be low on your list of employment choices.
This is the list of values to choose from but you are welcome to add your own, they came from Shannah Kennedy’s book: Simplify, Structure, Succeed.
Which 3 did you choose?
Mine were:
Freedom and Health: being self-employed means I can go for a 2 hour run or a long walk in the middle of the day if I want to, being able to down tools and go outside when the sun is shining has made me far more physically active and the psychological benefits of spending more time outside, in our beautiful British countryside, means I am far less stressed. This also relates to biophilia (see below) which is also supported by working with wool.
I also love that I don’t have to get up a silly o’clock in the morning to sit in traffic jams with thousands of other equally miserable people trying to get to the office before 9 am. There’s a lot to be said for home-working!
Order/stability : I found working in the corporate world could be incredibly stressful, every 2-3 years we would have a new VP, none of them could ever accept that the systems installed by their predecessor worked just fine and so felt they needed to restructure the entire company in an effort to leave their mark, like dogs peeing on a lamppost. We were constantly working in a state of flux, trying to navigate new processes but never being allowed to do the same thing long enough to get good at it before a new VP would come along and change everything again!
I wouldn’t describe my life as particularly ordered; Einstein summed it up well, “If a messy desk reflects a messy mind, of what does and empty desk reflect?”. I am messy and proud! 🙂 But compared to the corporate world my current work-life does feel a lot more stable, my processes only change when I need them to, not because someone else is peeing on my lamppost!
Of course, one downside to being a self-employed maker is that many of us feel we have to take the work when it comes, this can lead to working 18 hour days but that is my decision to work long hours (not due to some arbitrary deadline set by a faceless manager) and if I don’t want to work that many hours, I can always refuse a commission or only accept it with an extended delivery deadline. There’s nothing to say you have to take on every piece of work that is offered to you, in fact I think there are some things you should always say no to, but that is a whole other post!
Biophilia: Not on the list I know, but I think it is very relevant for most of us. Those of you who make felt on a regular basis will understand the deep connection with nature and the past that it brings, taking natural fibres and thousands-year-old techniques to create beautiful works guided only by your imagination and what the materials want to do.
I recently discovered this connection with nature and the desire to surround ourselves with natural materials has a name; biophilia. It seems to be something of a trend in textile studies at the moment but of course felt-makers have been familiar with the concept (if not the name) for centuries 🙂
Felting Friendships
One of the respondents on the FB page also talked about how isolating it can be to be a creative working from home, she described how she has changed from an assertive, confident woman to feeling like a timid mouse. I felt so sad reading that but I can easily relate to where she is coming from. Working on your own, 7 days a week can be tough, even for introverts who are comfortable with their own company, I can only imagine it must be an impossible challenge for extroverts.
For me, while designing and making are where I find the most fulfilment in my work, I realise that attending fairs and teaching are what keeps me sane. I need that social interaction, while Pickle (my cat) is very chatty, his conversation is hardly what anyone would think of as intelligent.
If you mostly work alone, how do you find it? Do you have strategies for coping with the isolation?
I think we are social animals (even the introverts!), we need to connect with other humans and for me, I am finding I need to collaborate and share with others, Open Studio events and craft fairs are a great way to connect but are quite sporadic so I was chuffed to bits to spend a day with Janine and Nancy making winged vessels in Janine’s studio (she has a studio to die for!). I am already looking forward to our next play-date and hope this will become a regular event in our diaries. I have long admired Ruth’s creative textile gatherings and hope we can develop something similar.
These are the pieces we made:
Janine – green vase, Teri – cloche hat with rosette, Nancy – large winged pod
This year one of my brothers-in-law decreed we should not give gifts at Xmas. Oh no! But I love Xmas. It’s so fun to see if I have guessed right what everyone will like.
So this year I did 5×7 Xmas cards for our Oakville Xmas. That technically isn’t a present it’s a card. I had a plan.
OOPS, I took Mom shopping 2 weeks before Xmas and had 3 bags of groceries; one was just a bit heavier than the others. Ok, as soon as I lugged it into the house I knew it was too heavy. I lasted long enough to get everything into the fridge and realized I wasn’t doing anything else. I was much better after spending most of a week in bed being very uncomfortable, frustrated and all caught up on Xmas movies. So I was a week behind on Xmas and sure I had a bit longer until it arrived. (Surprise! It’s still on the 25th!) Drat!
My husband works for the post office so this year was going to be a very short visit. (The Post Office was open on Monday, Dec 24th.) The original plan was to drive for 5.5 hours arrive late on the 24th or early on the 25th drive back on the 26th so he could work on the 27th. He had requested to have Monday off so we could leave earlier but we had to wait to see who else requested because it would go by seniority and there are a lot of more senior people working at his station. Thursday night he found out that he could have Monday off and we had a mad scramble to drop off Ottawa presents (before the freezing rain arrived) and gather everything for the trip.
Friday started out with freezing rain changing to rain. I had collected my portfolio a bag of various coloured fibre and a strip of the felted duvet that had been donated to the guild felters. I think I told you about that a while ago. I finally got to use a bit of mine and it worked very well. So if you acquire a felted wool duvet do not despair take it apart and use it for a base to felt on!
The drive down started with light rain changing to vary heavy rain eventually stopping and changing to decorative wisps of snow north of Toronto but nothing stayed on the very green ground we found in Oakville. There was an amazing decorated Xmas tree and Glenn’s Parents to greet us. so Green Xmas isn’t all bad.
No Snow in Oakville but a spectacular tree!
So Saturday morning I pulled out my bag of fiber and sent Glenn to find a cereal box in the recycling bin in the basement. I cut out part of one side and made a 5 x 7 window and sent the rest back to recycling. Then took over a corner of the dining room table. (My back still wasn’t very happy and decided that living room furniture was not to be tolerated but dining room chairs were fine – stupid back)
Hum, what would my in-laws like on their card? Well, we were definitely having a green Xmas and we hadn’t brought any snow with us (what little we had after the rain and freezing rain in Ottawa) ok, a snow scene it would be.
swirly application of fibre
adding a tree and a snowy slope
another tree and more swirls to the sky and a winter sun
Again wisps of colour laid down this time in swirls of patterns to the sky, very van Gogh of me! I added bare trees (there is a golf course full of bare trees just across the street) then needed something to balance their weight. The nephews had created a grisly snowman murder seen the last time they had visited but unfortunately no snow so no snowmen. Hum ok, a less grisly snowman with a scarf to blow in the wind.
check with the cereal box frame for balance to the composition
Ooh, a frame makes everything look better! One down 2 more to go
Yes, l think that will work.
One down 2 to go!
Next Brian and Alex like birds and there are lots of birds usually here. But this visit seemed to be all about squirrel wars and retrieving the squirrel-proof feeder from where the Raccoons had taken it across the backyard. I hear there is an opossum visiting but I didn’t see it.
Squirrel wars, a momentary pause
Usually, there are lots of cardinals and blue jays, sparrows, chickadees, morning doves and never enough crows for me. Ok, cardinals it is.
A quick trip to the internet since my camera wasn’t as helpful as it usually is and I had chosen a bird.
cardinal underway
Again background blended with wisps of colour then started adding the detail work. Checking the size with the 5×7 window and a lot of poking (but not my fingers!) and I had Xmas card number 2 done.
It was Xmas Eve afternoon by the time I started the last one. Bob and Judy were not expected until about 4 pm Xmas day. So I had to felt my fingers off since I knew we also had turkey dinner, Xmas breakfast and a lot of presents to open!
Christmas Morning! One more to finish!
Glenn’s Christmas morning Blacksmithing hat and lots of pyjamas
part of Jan’s Christmas tablet weaving books!
Hummm, now what might they like? I had rectified the lack of snow and did one of the birds that we enjoy here. Oh yes, the rabbits! We see them mostly in the spring and early summer but they’re very cute. Bob would like them and make him think of his parents’ home.
So bunny it was. I didn’t have the photos I had taken of this spring’s bunny visitor but remembered what it looked like so off to the internet for photo reference. Much poking later I had a very painterly interpretation of an Oakville bunny.
beginning of the bunny
adding more detail
Framing of Christmas card #3
You may have noticed I tried a different base to work on. It’s the foam from the dollar store that kids’ play mats are made of. Mine was about 7 inches square and had a puzzle piece in the centre of each square. The puzzle part in the middle tends to want to pull out but I would suggest not using tape to hold it together since the stickiness would transfer to the needle and make a mess. I found holding down the center worked fine and it wasn’t as annoying as it sounds to work on. When the bigger ones reappear I will get more. I did work 3 layers thick so had no poke through even with the top surface deterioration. If you haven’t tried this as a base you may want to experiment.
Dollar store foam pieces
3 layers worked well
All recipients seemed very pleased and surprised with their “Xmas cards” I had found frames at Dollarama with a white mat so they looked a lot more polished with the frame as presentation.
Now on to class notes for the 2 workshops I’m doing in January! I can see a lot more felting ahead in 2019! I hope you get a chance to try small format felting, it is relatively quick, doesn’t take much wool and it’s lots of fun!
(picture 2 the supply, a stack of notes, a picture chosen and all ready to start )
(picture 3 transferring image )
(picture 15 Framing there work)
