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Working on new workshop samples

Working on new workshop samples

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When teaching my vessels workshop a few weeks ago, I was showing the class pictures and talking about some more advanced vessels. They expressed an interest in all of them but especially in the book resist vessels. It got me thinking and now I am planning to give an intermediate vessel workshop later in the year, or maybe the new year, depending on scheduling.

At this point, my plan is to make 3 samples. That will help me write down the order and figure out how to teach it. I need to work out the materials list and timing, as well as how to teach it. Making them will also help me think of where things might go wrong.

I know there will have to be a prerequisite of having made at least one item, and preferably 2 or more items over a resist.

I plan on 3 different vessels. The first is a simple 6-sided circle pot.

 

The second one is more oval shaped vessel, I cut down the paper template from the circle so they will be about the same height when done.

And the last has an “odd” shape, again I used the half circle from the circle to draw the new shape to keep them about the same size.

As with most best laid plans, I discovered all I had for tape was narrow painters tape. So I will have to head to the store for some wide, strong tape that will hopefully stay stuck through the wet process of making a vessel.  In the meantime, I think I will start writing the instruction so I can jot down additions as I go.  I am not sure how long it will take to do all that. If I want to teach it in the fall through my guild, I will need to get the proposal in when the call for workshops goes out in the spring.

 

Twist 2024; Part 2 – Demos!

Twist 2024; Part 2 – Demos!

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HAPPY HOLIDAY MONDAY to those who are enjoying the long weekend!

Last post we drove out to Twist Fibre Festival, in the heavy rain, and checked out some of the booths. https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/08/23/twist-2024-part-1-shopping/

As you saw, this year there was a reasonable distribution of different vendors for weavers, spinners, sewers/Quilters and yarn for knitting and crochet. for felters I only found one that had felt things (boots and slippers) and two that had tools and one had needles.

DEMOS At TWIST

At 1:45 pm, I arranged with the workshop people to get a table and a couple of chairs for our demo space. it was the best spot for demoing, right outside the main arena, where everyone would pass. Since there was no demo box, which had tablecloths and other demo supplies, I was left with whatever I had in the car and the felt pieces I had brought to choose from, as a display. I went back out to the car, to drop off shopping (we will look at that later) and see what I had to work with.  I found an old sign I had made for the carp fair in 2017. (No idea why it was still in the car)  It was in a plastic sleeve, on card stock. It had our web address, a bit of info about workshops and our name. OK, signage covered? I have a number of lightweight black car blankets to cover stuff in the back of the car, which will work to cover the table.  I also grabbed the bag of felt pictures, the bag of wool I had brought to work from, and 2 of the braids I just purchased. With the walker loaded, I rolled back through the rain, off to set up a demo.

As I was setting up I had people dropping their stuff on the table, to get organized before going out in the rain. So I only used 2 of the black blankets to allow space at the end of the table, in case more people needed to prep for the weather. I set up all the felting I had brought and pulled out the Dragon hand (more about that even later too!) to add the first colour layer. I didn’t actually get much done on that, but I had a steady stream of questions about felt pictures, sculptures, armatures, needles and wool.

French was my favourite class up to grade 7 when our new teacher decided to teach us to read and write in French. I was very optimistic and had a working hypothesis, that I was enthusiastically testing; maybe I am not dyslexic in French! That did not work out as well as I had hoped and was proven to be a false hypothesis. While I was enjoying French, my English teacher was not. It seems my English spelling worsened and I was kicked out of French, by my English teacher….. I have since lost most of the vocabulary I had acquired before my ignominious removal.

So I was very pleased when another guild member dropped by at the end of her shopping as she waited for a friend to finish a workshop she was in. She had a sweet little support spindle and fibre to demonstrate spinning and spoke French! She was able to chat with many more of the people who stopped and was able to answer their questions or translate what I said. I was so happy that she was there to help!  By the time she left, the crowd had decreased and I was able to chat with most of the remaining people.

This was a great spot and I hope they will ask us back next year.

demoing of felting, pictures, and a few sculptures with armatures
It was very busy, and these pictures, as I set up, were the only ones I got during the demo.
Friday demo space, the table was beside the the door going into the area of the Arena.
The demo spaces at the end of Friday are all ready for the Saturday demo teams.

Sunday Demo teams Spinning, Weaving, Fiber prep with a swing picker10.1- 10.3) Demoing Friday afternoon, demo space at 6 pm, and Sunday demo teams

Now should we check and see if we bought the same things during shopping?  What did you select?

braids of fiber, spindles, silk, a small bat of green, a breed study kit from World of wool, 2 bags of locks, a small bag of cashmear, battery pack for EEW6. Book The Techniques of Tablet Weaving.
Friday’s Shopping
close up of braids most are combed top, 2 plastic spindles,
Close-up of Friday’s Shopping
Sunday's Shopping, 2 more braids of top, 2 twist angle guides,2 more of those spindles i got on friday, a pen holder for a note book, extra parts for the EEW6.
Sunday’s Shopping

10.4, 10.5, 10.6)Shopping!! braids, wheel parts, spindles, fibre, Book, Silk, Cashmere and twist guides!

On to The Shopping!!

On Friday: I found 7 Braids of combed top, most were BFL, Targi and a Romni cross in deep tones. Many were dyed over grey wool. 2 large top whirl 3-D printed drop spindles, I was crossing my fingers there would be a few remaining on Sunday since they spun like a dream, holding their spin for an extended period of time.  In the top picture (10.4) you will notice I found the Collingwood tablet weaving book I was about to order, and beside it is a mysterious cardboard box!  That is holding my new battery, it will make my EEW6 spinning wheel free of electric plugs!!  I had purchased a bag of these locks before and liked them enough to get 2 more bags this year! I was intrigued by a breed discovery pack from World of Wool (I was inspired by the upcoming workshop on Sunday), a green batt, a small bag of cashmere from the Black Lamb, and a small bag of grey/silver silk that may wind up on the dragon hand.

On Sunday after the workshop, I finished my shopping. First I was off to find 2 more of the spindles I had liked so much, then off to look at a couple more braids of combed top. (Batts are easier to needle felt but the colours!!! I could not help myself!!!)  Yes, I did cave and get a braid with Merino, bamboo and silk, it was the colour! and it will likely hang out with one of the spinning wheels. I found 2 twist angle guilds for the spinning wheels to share. I went back to get info on how to hook the battery up to the electric spinning wheel and also got an extra parts bag, just because I had not seen them available anywhere and it’s good to have spare parts when you need them. Lastly, I also found something for Ann, she has been looking for one for a while but she will tell you about the item in the paper bag (no it isn’t a knotty nostepinne!!)

Although my shopping skills are not up to Carlene’s ability, I did try my best! I hope your vicarious shopping has inspired your next felting, spinning or weaving project!

Thanks to Glenn for carrying loot and wheels on Sunday (he did not shop, since there was a serious lack of blacksmithing related items at the fibre festival, maybe he will have more luck next year? He did enjoy a nice day of reading a book.)

Still to come: Twist 2024; Part 3 – Breed Study Workshop, but first a quick trip to an impressive tapestry exhibit! that will be for next week! Have a wonderful long weekend for those who are partaking!!

Nametags: Glenn

Nametags: Glenn

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Nametag for Glenn

As I mentioned previously,  this is the local Weavers and Spinners Guild’s 75th anniversary. One of my jobs to get ready for the party was to find and print out the nametags I had made for Demoing, quite a while ago, when I was demo coordinator.  This aligns perfectly with one of my goals for this year; to learn the names of more of the guild members.

One of the ways I am trying to do this is by suggesting using nametags. For the party, we seemed to run out of time to get everyone to make their own name tag, but I did have the old weird sheep name tags I had made when I was the guild’s demo coordinator. We used some of them last year for the Sale and Exhibition for vendors and demo people.

I dug through the computer and found an old file with some of the pictures.  After a quick perusal of Google image search, I added to the weird sheep pictures, then added them to the formatted guild name tag file. After a couple of days of work, I had the updated sheep-related nametags printed, cut, and ready to go into lanyards or pin-on tags for the party. This would also allow non-guild members to know who were guild members at the party.

a pile of nametags with odd or funny sheep photos and cartoons. printed on cardstock, cut out, and ready to use.1) Silly sheep Name tags for the Party Sale and Demos

As cute or silly as the sheep theme is, it does not fully represent all guild members as well as making their own personal name tag would. So for the long weekend, Monday social, I suggested we start the personal nametags-making project.

Name Tag Supplies: plastic bag with a bit of wool in a few colours. Bag of green wool felt underneath it. dollar store “embroidery” thread, little balls of acrylic yarn, bag of safety pins, Reece’s peanut butter cups and KitKat mini chocolate bars, plastic bin with sewing stuff, and bag with the last of the coridale bump In white and top black possibly merino wool.2) Name Tag Supplies: plastic bag with a bit of wool in a few colours. A bag of green wool felt underneath it. dollar store “embroidery” thread, little balls of acrylic yarn, a bag of safety pins, Reece’s peanut butter cups and KitKat mini chocolate bars, a plastic bin with sewing stuff, and a bag with the last of the corriedale bump In white and top black possibly merino wool.

I already have a nametag on my apron (one of the sheep ones and a magnetic needle felted sheep head), but Glenn is unidentified.  Glenn has been attending socials with me since he was released from the hospital in January. This might be his last for a while as he is finally starting a graduated return to work.  I had brought some over-washed green wool felt.  It looks like a pool or billiard table green, that’s been washed. Why someone would want to wash it, I have no idea but I found it second hand and it would either work for miniature war gaming or name tags.  It will make an excellent base to build up colour to make the nametags.

I suggested a landscape.  Glenn said he also wanted to have a train. (He likes those long, math-involved, 18XX train games. The trains are not X-rated!  it’s just that all the various versions of the game are covering the 1800’s involving trains laying track and the stock market. Board Game Geek describes them as: “18xx is the collective term used to describe a set of railroad-themed stock market and tile laying games. The 18xx set has two main branches: the 1829 branch (1829, 1825, 1853, and 1829 Mainline) and the 1830 branch (1830, 1856, 1870, etc).”)  it still doesn’t sound fun to me but OK, landscape with train. Ann kindly gave me about 6 inches of light blue combed top, for the sky, I had white, black and some weird bright green with flecks of orange and blue. I also had a bit of heathered purple with me. I overlaid the white first, it would tone down the billiard table green. Then added the green ground blended with a bit of the purple to tone down the green. As well as a blue sky with a few clouds.

covered green felt with white to make a slightly thicker baseand hide the intesity of green . starting to add sky and ground, using Clover tool and small pet brush for blending sky with clowds and grass with small flecks of colour suggesting posibly flowers3.1-3.2 ) Covering the billiard table green wool with white then adding the ground and sky. I used the Clover tool to block in the basic colours.

showing the back of the felt and how much wool has been pushed through4) The back of the wool base

Off to Google to find historical train silhouettes.

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5.1 a selection of train silhouettes

5.2) the train silhouettes under consideration in various sizes, then cut out to get approval.

-5.3) I thought he would choose this one

I had thought, “smaller train pulling the name “Glenn” behind it”.

Train selected, I printed out a range of sizes and cut a couple out to show him.  Glenn chose the largest one that obscured most of the landscape. I cut out the train and traced around it with a permanent marker. I should have cut out the train to make a stencil but oh well. I placed the train on the background and realized that a black train would overpower the tag.  so suggested a compromise, how about an outline of a train?  With the “Glenn” inside? That was agreeable to him and off I went outlining the silhouette.  I scaled up the train a bit further, so the name would be easily read inside the train.

outlineing train sillowet in wool outlineing train sillowet in wool6.1-6.2) Glenn chose the largest train which I traced with permanent marker, then started to outline in black wool

Next, what font to use? I went through the list available in Microsoft Word (2010 edition, yes I am retro but it still works just fine.) I found four options I liked and thought would work with the train, and then narrowed it down to Lucida.

4 text fonts “Glenn” in Freestyle Script, Gulim, Pristina, and Lucida Handwriting7) “Glenn” in Freestyle Script, Gulim, Pristina, and Lucida Handwriting

I drew a picture of the name on a card that would fit in the train. Going with Lucida as I like the letter spacing and the curves juxtaposed with the angles. Which I felt mimicked the feeling of the old train. Text isn’t just letters, it’s shapes, spacing and negative spaces and it’s filled with emotional content. Ok, that is likely just the dyslexia compensating for the rest of you telling me that b-d-p-q is not the same letter just seen from different viewpoints. Don’t get me started on the untrustworthiness of u-n-c, w-m-3-E or even t-f depending on the font.

glenn drawn onto a scap of file card to get spacing8) Drawing out the letters to make sure they will fit in the space available

Font decided, I worked from the guide and added the name to the tag, by this point it was after 11 pm but I was still inspired so kept going. The N’s wound up to be a bit off, so I blame the lateness and they are a tricky shape.

Well, it has all the letters, they seem to be in the right order, and I didn’t miss any of them (Glenn got both his N’s even if I think the second one is just there for decoration. Look how silly Jann would be with 2 n’s! well, actually, it gives it a bit more gravitas and does balance the weight of the J ……. Maybe I do need a second N too? No that’s just one more letter that could go horribly wrong!!!!)

text added into the train9) All letters are there and in the correct order! G L E N N

Now I am at the last step, how to attach it to the Glenn. I could add magnets, a broach pin or I could add a lanyard. I think the lanyard would be most practical for Glenn. So where did I put my kumohimo discs and fake embroidery thread (it’s braided so doesn’t actually come apart, so it’s not embroidery thread) from Dollerama.  No clue where the box with disks went. Glenn has been working through stuff in the living room and has moved everything… but I know where some of the dollar store embroidery thread is!! (Bedroom, wicker basket, little plastic bin with sewing stuff.)

I had the remains of a box of crackers so used a glass to make the circle and then messed up the bisecting of the segments. I need to divide the circle into 8 sections. Then cut a ¼ inch in at each section for the yarn to fit in. I have 7 embroidery thread bobbins (in plastic) to wind and I will find one of the big bulldog clips for a weight.

Cracker box cardboard with hole in the center divided into 8 sections. Plastic embroidery floss holders are my bobbins10) Cracker box cardboard with a hole in the centre divided into 8 sections. Plastic embroidery floss holders are my bobbins.

I want the cord to be reasonably thick so it will be comfortable on the neck so I divided the scenes in half. The tags say they are 7.3m or 23.9 feet. That should give me about 8 feet of braid. I will need enough to go around the nametag then up and around his neck. Not more than 4 feet. Just keep braiding until it’s long enough! You would need less if you did not want to outline the tag too. I got comfortable with making the cordage,  watching YouTube then listening to my book and realized I had enough cord and still quite a lot on the bobbins. I guess I can finish it while I listen to another book later.

Before I cut it off I sewed around the tag and got Glenn to try it on. There is enough! So did a bit more tied off and cut the braid. The last bit of sewing is to join the braid to the name tag and then assess it. Hmm, it needs a bit more wool to hide the stitches at the back and a quick touch-up of the front and it will be all ready for next Monday’s social.

Kumihimo cordage sewn to the name tag11) Border on and length of lanyard adjusted

testing the nametag at a guild social. yes it works12) Name tag working correctly at the guild social.

Ok, the tag works at socials, one last test will it work with the Kanata Board Game Group?

the Name tag works on gamers as well as it works on spinners and weavers!13) The name tag works on gamers as well as it works on spinners and weavers!

While Glenn was busy,  I started another little landscape on one of the name tag bases. I was inspired by a friend’s vacation photo and wanted to try it as a landscape, but I will show you how that turns out later.

Spinning some very dirty wool

Spinning some very dirty wool

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Last time I told you about our demo at the Log Farm shearing day. When they seared the first sheep they brought over the fleece and laid it out under the tent so people could see it. I used some dog brushes to make small rolags from the fleece and then used my drop spindle to spin some yarn.

Being me, I didn’t take any pictures of the carding or rolags so when I went to the guild I took a bit from one of the fleeces still waiting for a new owner and made some more and both Jan and I took pictures.

 

a drop spindle and some small carders and some dirty wool

You can see all the debris from carding, so much falls out. Then my sort of rolags. The dog brushes are small so it’s hard to make a real roll.

a drop spindle and small carders and wool rollags for spinning. and a lot os little bits of dirt that fell out of the wool while carding

 

I added the wool to the yarn on my spindle, then I plyed it and wound it off to be washed.

 

a drop spindle with dirty wool spun on it

A nice close-up so you can see how dirty it is.

close up of dirty wool on a spindle drop spindle and dirty skein of wool.

At the demo, people had lots of questions about how to wash it, when to wash it and did we have to wash it. The answer to when is at any stage along the way or not at all. I don’t suppose a fisherman in the North Atlantic is too fussed about his waterproof sweater smelling sheepy.

About how to get it clean.  These fleeces are dirty and full of hay bits and other dirt. Carding them takes out some, spinning it takes out some and washing it takes out more.

I wash in a dishpan with Dawn dish soap. It is a good degreaser and most of the dirt is stuck in the grease ( lanolin).

Here is the water after the first wash

a tub of dirty water will wool soaking in it.

and the second wash

second wash of the wool , less dirty water

Then I rinsed it and let it dry. Once it was dry I shook the skein over the dish pan to see how much more would come out. I was surprised by the amount that just shook out.  There is hardly any debris left in the yarn and what there is would pick out easily as you were knitting or weaving.

Little bits of debis shaken out of the clean dry skein

 

Here is the result, with a small amount of unwashed yarn I kept for comparison.

clean skein of wool with some dirty wool for comparison. close up of some clean and dirty wool.

 

Spinning in the grease is enjoyable on a warm day. The lanolin helps it slide. It’s not so fun on a cold day when the lanolin gets sticky and doesn’t like to slide. Washing fleeces is not one of my favourite things but a little yarn is fun.

 

 

 

 

Demo at the Log Farm.

Demo at the Log Farm.

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As some of you know the farmers market I go to is at the Log Farm in Ottawa. https://thelogfarm.com/ Along with the farmers market on Saturdays, there is also a working small farm with the original log house and barns where you can visit and see some animals and enjoy a break from the city without leaving the city.   Last weekend was shearing day for the sheep they have at the farm. They asked my guild to do a demonstration, and of course we said yes.

Here we are setting up under the tents. You can see in the first shot that the styrofoam head and hat had already taken the first of several tumbles with the wind. in the second shot, you can see the container of goodies I brought as a treat. A little bonus for coming out to demo on an iffy weather day.

This is Josee demoing on her table loom.

This is Paula spinning on her electric spinning wheel. She also has her incle loom set up and was demonstrating that too.

This is Maureen Spinning on her wheel, an Ashford Traveler. You can see it in Paula’s picture too. I think Maureen was chatting with someone when I took this.

And to be fair here is a picture of me teaching some girls how to make felted beads using some pencils. I know I am blurry but it was the best shot of the girl’s hands.

 

As I said we were there for shearing day. here are the sheep staying dry while they wait for the shearer.

Here is one getting shorn. They had their own tent so the shearer could also stay dry.  All the wool was donated to the guild and Jan and some others bagged it all to give to fellow members.

Here are some pictures of the surroundings. Some barns were renovated last year. after a few years, they will weather and not look so brand new.

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We had a great time despite the ominous clouds and several downpours. I was surprised at the number of people who attended with the forecast we had but they all seemed happy and I think we gained a couple of guild members.

felting tools on wool pad with chickadee
2024 CanGames (and Felting) Convention

2024 CanGames (and Felting) Convention

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sign and arrow indicating CanGames1) Sign outside of CanGames with a gnome smoking a pipe and carrying a big axe and short sword

May 18-20th was the Victoria Day long weekend. It is a federal holiday, on the last Monday preceding May 25, to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Birthday, which was on May 25th.  It is also the long weekend that CanGames happens!  The first CanGames was in 1977. I am told, it is the longest-running gaming convention in Canada. The website says, that this year there will be over 300 different games spread over the convention’s 8 time slots (https://cangames.ca/events/ ). As well as an open gaming area, and shopping options (although there was a horrible lack of fibre sellers present!) there was also a second-hand game sale to check out Saturday morning. (Don’t worry there will be felting in this post too.)

I have attended quite a few CanGames and expanded the scope of their convention a bit, into a Gaming and Spinning or Gaming and Felting convention! One year I even ran pick-up games of “spin the golden fleece”. They had to make a Turkish spindle, were given some nice golden combed top, and then had to spin a length of yarn with it.

The convention was at the Rideau Curling Club, in downtown Ottawa. It ran Friday: Noon – 11 pm, Saturday: 8 am – 11 pm, and Sunday: 8 am – 11 pm. Knowing that parking is very limited at the curling club and the city lots are a good hike away, we arrived early to make sure we could find parking.  Good thing we came early, the reserved handicapped parking was no longer there, but we found a spot that would work.

The Rideau Curling Club was started in 1888, they moved a few times and in 1949 they built the present location, replacing a coal yard and blacksmith shop on the block (Glenn will not be pleased to learn that!). In 1965, a second storey was added, including a kitchen, dining room, and meeting room. To reach the second story is a wide, turning staircase, with a Scottish tartan display (sorry I was sure I had a shot of that! I will get it next year). Unfortunately, in 1964, although it is a lovely addition, the thought of adding an elevator was not a consideration. So unless I could get someone to carry the walker up the long stairway I was staying on the ground floor and iceless rink. (There were ramps to get to both of those!)

Now that you know where I have wandered off to, let’s get back to the felting!

I had brought two of the chickadee bodies that I had made for the workshop. I still needed to take photos to add to my notes. I also brought 12g aluminium and 26g steel wire to start the next moose bag. I was being optimistic I would have the chickadee photo shoot done reasonably quickly.

By a little after 12 noon, Glenn had me set up by the “games library” run by the Kanata Games Club.

chickadee armature with fiber ready to wrap down the legs2) Chickadee armature with extra crimpy Shetland locks drafted to about half an inch wide. The background is a wooden table that the games are about to need.

Some years there is an extra table and I can work there, this year it was busy, luckily we had not taken the small folding table out of the car. Glenn went to the car to get it and I switched to that.  I found a nicespot  at the edge of the curling rink and set up there.

folding metterl table, 2 moose bagsd, a baket of felting suplys sitting at the edge of the iceless curling rink3) Setup for a weekend of felting, note 2 bottles of Mountain Dew (sugar and caffeine pop) not in the picture is my walker which I will be using as my chair.

I got myself sorted out for felting, with a small table, basket and moose bags, Glenn wondered upstairs where the games he was interested in were going to play.

the end of the curling rink showing the lower area with tables and the upper areas with more gameing too4) upstairs in the curling Club

The curling rink (without ice for the summer season) is a large two-story space with lots of echo-y sounds of happy gaming. I started the afternoon with headphones and a good audiobook, while I wrapped legs and tiny toes with crimpy Shetland locks. I moved on to adding strips of the core carded roving from World of Wool to the body. By about 5 pm the crowd had grown and it was getting hard to hear the audiobook!

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Time for a quick break to look aground, I am starting to get hungry and I should stretch my legs a moment.

Games library 6.1) this is the games library that I am sitting beside.  The shelves were labelled with how many players were needed for the game. The tables in this section were all in use most of the convention.  

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6.2) This is the second-hand games section that will be open for shopping at 10 am Saturday. There are already large piles of games coming in and there will be more dropped off tonight.   6.3) another angle of the second-hand games area

All afternoon and into the evening more boxes of games arrived for the sale starting at 10 am Saturday. While Glenn dropped off games he was going to try to sell, he said he spotted a Napoleonic board game for 10.00 that he would like, but he has a game he is signed up for on Saturday morning. He said he would go look after his game was done and see if it was still there.

Ok back to work time to add colour!! (I keep getting distracted and should show you more of the felting component of the convention). I pulled out the reference photos to check the colours and placements.

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 7.1) consult the reference photos  7.2) Consider the colours to make the colour I want  7.3) Use the tiny pet brushes to blend the fibres 7.4) Check with the photo to see if I have the colour close  7.5) Add the colour to the body and then blend and add the next colour.

On Friday night, there is traditionally a game of Chariot racing (7-11 pm). There are a large number of chariots (24), at the start line 2 deep, across 12 lanes. The lanes quickly narrow down to four, before you reach the first corner. Each player writes down how fast and the number of squares they will go that turn (the faster you go the more damage you can take). The players are selected randomly for the order they start each round.  This means a chariot from the back row may start before the ones in the front row, squeezing through and causing and taking damage (they keep track of that on their page for speeds). I watched through the first turn.

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 8.1 set up and the first 2 chariots art out on the track!  8.2 deciding which chariots to try to slip between (hoping not to take too much damage)  8.3) 2 chariots trying to occupy the same square,  they will roll for damage in a moment.

Starting the chariot race!

I will come back and see how they are doing later.  Now back to work on the chickadee. It’s now time to add the tail colour! Blending a charcoal grey, to match the photos, then adding it to the very thin tail. This is where the angle of needle use is important if you want the underside to stay white!

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9.1) blending colours for the tail   9.2 carefully adding the tail colour to only the top. (This would have been easier with a crown needle)   9.3) adding feather details over the black

Oh, the charioteers are getting low better take a look! The leaders are now past the second corner but the carnage left behind is already heavy!

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10.1 heavy carnage before the first turn!  10.2 Close-up of chariot wreckage!! Note the headless charioteer is still driving!!

Ok, I better get back to work, the tail is looking good, now, on to the wings. I have made chickadee wings in multiple ways.  This time, I want to do the wings as a single shape and then add the details before adding them to the little bird.  I could do this faster if I started with a piece of felt or pre-felt of a medium charcoal colour. Unfortunately, I did not have premade felt but I did have wool and can make my own! I started to create felt with the wing tip end, which are darker than the shoulder end of the wing. I used the Clover multi-needle tool to felt faster. I also started to add a suggestion of the details of the felted edges.

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11.1 wing tip end starting to form, using both the single needle and the clover multi tool   11.2 adding feather edge detail, the lines are still a bit too bright for what I wanted.  11.3) note the areas that will be covered by the wings do not need to be covered in colour but it’s better to allow a bit of overlap in case you need to move, or adjust, the wing placement slightly.

Check the shape by using pins and look from various angles. Humm, getting closer but not quite right yet.

using sewing pins to position the wings12) Checking the wing position, consult the photo reference.

Ah, Glenn’s game has ended, time to pack up and we will be back tomorrow morning, Early!

Saturday, 8 am to 11 pm. We again found parking, Glenn got me set up with the little table in the same spot as yesterday and headed off upstairs to his game.   My goal today was to finish the wings and attach them. I was also going to try to find the mysterious “Napoleonic war game for $10.00” and kept an eye out for a lineup to start to go in and buy the second-hand games. But first, back to the chickadee!

I used the sewing pins to try the wings out to see how the wings fit. I like the shape but the shoulder colour needs work. The first thing to do is add whisps of the grey/green from the colour I used on the back to the top and front edge of the wings.

side vew of wing placement13)  I add the wisps of green/grey at the wing shoulder. I also toned down the whiteness of the feather edges, by used the clover tool, which worked very well.

using clover tool on wing14) using the clover tool to soften and lighten the shoulder edges of the wings

Yes much better, now before I add the wings to the body, I can trim any stray fibres from the back with the curved embroidery scissors.

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 15.1 Using curved blade scissors on chickadee’s back (the spot that will be between the wings and hard to trim later.  15.2 Close up of the curved blade on the embroidery scissors (got them off aliexpress)  15.3) The flat and curved embroidery scissors and other felting tools on the wool felting mat (bat on a stick is also here)

Next, the wings need to be attached. Make sure you don’t flatten the wing too much, or it will not look like it is sitting above the body.

16) Adding the wings to the body  

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17.1 Then adding beads for eyes  17.2 Chickadee with his new beady eyes, standing on my needle picking up tool, ready to supervise my work

Oh look there are 2 people starting the line for the games! Back in a moment! I asked one of the organizers and the 2 nice guys in line before me, if they had any idea what game Glenn had been talking about.  I would end up having a number of gamers trying to help me find the mysterious game. We did find one but it didn’t match all the criteria (it was only 5.00) so I kept it and kept looking. Another gamer picked up the one I was looking for but decided not to buy it (Thank you!!) so I now had 2 board games about Napoleon, one of which was listed for 10 dollars!

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 18.1 I was #3 in line waiting for the curtains to open so we could start to shop   18.2 some of the games  18.3 af few more games  18.4 just one of the piles of games being purchased!

I picked up a couple of games that looked interesting, including a Settlers of Catan board that held the pieces in place, since I remember Glenn mumbling about the annoyance of moving tiles. (More on that later). It was very crowded and there were a lot of games being scooped up and sold. I took my selection and hid them under my basket.  Save Doctor Lucky, Napoleonic wars, War of 1812, a couple for the cottage. OH!, I almost forgot I found Exploding Kittens.

19) games hidden under my basket cover and basket! He will never think to look for games there.

Since I have the chickadee done and before I start on the next moose bag, I think I should take a look and see what’s being played at the moment.

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 20.1 my view of the convention from the back corner by the games library   20.2 Miniature soldiers and mounted troops in blue off to fight the little guys in grey in the background   20.3 Another battle in progress, the games are taking a brake. Unfortunately, I could not ask who was fighting    20.4 this was a new game that was being introduced. it had really cue miniatures and the rules allowed you to play as individuals or teams. 20.5 is another historical miniatures game being set up. The reference book was a nice touch.  20.6) this game, from the games library, ran a good chunk of the day, the gamers are taking a snack or shopping break

Glenn finally emerged from his game and went to see if he could find the Napoleonic war game….strangely he had No luck, but he was excited to find an expansion for a game he had. The title did not sound too appealing, too much water.

We had both watched for any type of sheep game but no luck this year. We will try again next year! Some day we will get Glenn to tell us about all the sheep-related board, card and stacking games he has found. It is quite the collection!

21) Expansion for underwater cities (sounds too wet for my liking)

Glenn was very pleased with the games hidden under my basket.  Yes, I did get the correct game but I also bought one he was selling, OH well, he did like it enough to have bought it the first time!

I had people drop by Friday and again Saturday to see what I was doing and then how it was going. I think a couple will follow up and try needle felting.

With the chickadee done and now supervising from the needle-on-the-floor-collector-tool (magnet with extendable handle) I was ready to start project 2 of the weekend. But, I likely have distracted you with enough strange games for today.  So let’s paws here, before going on to the next project, and the rest of Saturday and part of Sunday.

April round up.

April round up.

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April is now gone and May will hopefully bring more sun and more flowers.

I started the month with some felt stars. It was a fun little project and might work for a fast free workshop. Maybe at a guild social. You can read about how I made them here

wool and silk felted stars. Green and Yellow

Next was an eyeglasses holder for beside my bed. It was an interesting project with some strange wool. Here it is hanging up beside my bed. I didn’t realise how dusty the bookcase was until I took a picture. Then I had to dust and take it again. The things I do for our followers. LOL

wet felted hanging eye classes case.

 

I taught 2 workshops this month, Nunofelt Scarf and  Felt Birdhouse/Feeder workshop. We had a lot of fun. Here are the ladies with their finished scarves. Sorry, I forgot to get a group shot.

And the finished Birdhouse/feeders.

After teaching I decided to treat myself to a Workshop. I signed up for Helene’s Felt Spiral Workshop. I really enjoyed making my spiral. I learned a lot along the way. It is wonderful to see how different people do things. It would be wonderful if we all lived close enough to get together regularly.

I am full of ideas for more spirals now.

purple spiral movie

I couldn’t get the movie to work so here is a still.

With April finished I have another completed page for my slow stitch collection.  I decided to include a little needle felting this time. I included some flowers but also the solar eclipse we had here, a cloud and rain because we have had a lot of April showers and my purple umbrella to keep me dry. I really do have a purple umbrella. I added the Autism Awareness infinity symbol because it is autism awareness month.  Then I was left with an empty spot at the bottom and I couldn’t figure out what to put there. I did a special days in April search and on the last day of the month, I was reminded of the first day of the month and added the fake glasses nose and moustache for April Fools.

a piece on hand made felt with needle felt and stitched pictures for the month of April

and lastly, because it is spring this last week we have started having lambs.

Lambs and moms in a group pen

And these are my current bottle babies. Sven( thanks to Jan for the name) who no one would claim. He is doing a good imitation of a Valies Black Nose with his black nose and knees.  And Henna whose mother hates her( probably because she is really good at yelling at the top of her lungs for no reason) Once they are both drinking well and down one feeding per day ( they are on 5 times a day right now) they will go live in a lambing pen until they are a little bigger then they can join a group.

 

cover image, moose on bag with bits of wool fiber to use for top layer.
Moose bag 3 as a take along project

Moose bag 3 as a take along project

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I wound up spending more time working on moose bag #3 over the last couple of weeks than I had anticipated. My hubby woke up not feeling right, and we quickly wound up in emergency. As I ran out the door I had grabbed the moose bag, and my audiobook player, (an emergency to us, can be subjective to the hospital staff who assess your emergency), but this time he was quickly seen. After a quick trip to the magic doughnut (Cat scan), they decided they wanted to keep him. Then the usual speed of emergency kicked in, as we waited through the day for a spot to open up in the ward he was being sent to. Good thing I had my moose bag project, which helped keep my worry down. Glenn slept and I worked on the moose, there is no photography in the emergency ward so no picture of either of them, moose or husband. The wait was worth it, as he was transferred to a private isolation room on the ICU floor, (it happened to be the one that became free not that he was in need of isolation) at the far end of the ward. It was quieter and the lights could be dim which helped him feel better.

While he slept, I got to work on moose. I had built up the underlayer mostly to my liking using the greyish-brown Maori short fibre batt. I had begun to add the lighter tones for the legs and upper lip. I was still not happy with the head and spent time working on the upper lip and face details.

felted moose on canvis bag. wier armature in antles and neeles sticking out of his hed 1.1 The under-structures are mostly good, now adding the last details and starting the leg colour change.

1.2 The walker made a slightly low table.

By the 27th of January, the room was needed by another patient, so we were told we would be going to one of the ward rooms. That plan quickly changed and we were sent to a semi-private room, but not the bed by the window.  As he got comfortable in the newer bed, I got back to work on moose. I had printed off reference photos from online and had been propping them up against my hubby (he was sleeping and didn’t notice). He was very helpful in holding them for me while he slept.

useing my sleeping husband to prop up my forto refference moose fotos2) Consulting photo reference for the surface colour of a moose

I had rushed off to Dollerama to get word and number puzzles for him to work on. I also spotted little cat brushes (like hand carders, but really tiny) so got 2 to help with blending for the surface colours. You may be able to see part of them just to the left of the bag with the reference info. They were perfect for making tiny amounts of various colours. Carders are faster and more ergonomic than hand mixing if you are making many little amounts or a larger amount of a base colour.

moose with little amounts of various colours with carders and refrerence on the hospital bed 3) Tiny carders (cat brushes), the reference photos, a pallet of small bits of wool, scissors and moose enjoying acupuncture

Like painting, it’s nice to have a pallet of colours to work from.

more small mixes of coloured wool to make up the moose pallet4) Working from the pallet of blended colours while moose hold bits of wool in his antlers

Since my husband was busy with napping or specialists, I decided to add an articulated jaw and brought in a wire to do so. I added the wire but I think that instead of a loop with a single wire, I should have used a “u” shaped wire, so the jaw would have two points of wire attachment to the skull. (That would make a better TMJ joint, temporomandibular joint.) I may have gone a bit overboard and added a pink tongue too. You may be able to see it when his mouth is open, (the moose, not my husband). You can also see he now has a felted eye, which has moved slightly higher, closer to the antler base.

 

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 5.1-5.2) mouth opens tongue is slightly elevated, and the eye has been added, in felt not a bead this time.

In my quest across the internet looking at Moose(S) (why is Moose the plural of Moose?), I found an article on the wonders of the Moose’s nose. It included a fabulous series of diagrams of moose nose muscles. Did you know they have muscles that can close their nostrils so they can root around in the muddy bottoms of ponds for plants and not get mud in their nose? How Brilliant!! If you are curious about this interesting topic you may want to look here to see the myology of a moose nose;

https://people.ohio.edu/witmerl/Downloads/2004_Clifford_&_Witmer_moose_nose.pdf

Moose almost done just waiting for my hubbies paperwork so we can all go home.6) Moose is almost done just waiting for my hubby’s paperwork so we can all go home.

By the following Saturday, he was feeling up to a trip out to the Chesterville spin-in (he snoozed in the corner for parts of it). Both Moose were much admired by the spinners, some of whom bought their own un-embellished moose bag. I hope they will add weaving, spinning or felting to theirs too!

at chesterville spin in moose bags, embellished and unembellished, Ann is in the background on the Left and Wendo is on the Right.7) moose bags, embellished and un-embellished, Ann is in the background on the Left and Wendo is on the Right.

a vew of teh moose from above, showing odd nose 8) Another shot of that nose it is truly an odd shape!

Hubby is much improved but has a lot of medical appointments over the next few weeks particularly. while we are waiting, I still want to do a tiny bit of firming up on Moose’s hooves, but otherwise, I think I am done. I may have to start another moose bag to keep me busy at doctor’s offices waiting for appointments. Good thing dry felting is an easy take-along project, easier than carrying a floor loom or a wheel to appointments!!

PS. While we were in the ward we had nurses and other patients drop by to see what I was doing. I explained about needle felting, and how the needles work and told them how much fun it is, (and that they should try it too).  I heard that moose was very talked about by the nurses and I was referred to as the moose lady. I was very impressed with their work too, taking such good care of my husband and being supportive and positive about his progress. I am sure his recovery was greatly assisted by their attention.

 

Getting ready for the sale

Getting ready for the sale

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So this week is the week before the sale I posted a few days ago. Jan, Carleen, Bernadette and I are all very involved in the planning and running of the sale. We are running around getting the organising done and trying to get our stuff ready too. Bernadett has a booth with another friend, she has to fill. The other 3 of us are in the co-op booth. It’s a booth for guild members who don’t have enough stuff to get a whole booth to themselves.

I have 3 things to put in the booth. Felted soap.

I have bags of sari silk in several colours

And lastly some spinning kits. I have only 6 of those the wooden wheels I use for them were back-ordered.

So now I am down to making signs and making sure I haven’t forgotten to do something critical to the sale. The weather has turned cold so that should help people start thinking about buying Christmas presents. Fingers crossed for a great sale for everyone.

 

3rd quarter challenge and Pinhey’s Point

3rd quarter challenge and Pinhey’s Point

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I will start with the third quarter challenge.  Onf the challenges is to make something about where you live. I remembered this piece I made. It has a wet felted background, needle felted water and significant roads and stitched secondary roads.  It is about 6×6 inches or 15×15 cm. It was a fun piece to make. It just needs framing, like so many pieces.

 

 

I did a little bit of wet felting at a demo we did a few weeks ago at a historical site near Ottawa called Pinhey’s Point Historic Site. https://pinheyspoint.ca/visit-pinheys-point/

I made this little bag for my purse. I will add a few snaps.  One to keep the flap closed and 2 more in the top pouch part so I can keep something in there without it falling out every time I open it.  It is for keeping a power pack and my square point of sale device mostly. I forgot to take pictures during lay out but here it is on the resist to show the shrinkage. I will probably add some stitching at some point. the finished size is 7 1/2 inches x almost 5 inches   or 19cm x 12cm

 

I did take some pictures of the group spinning and showing how the tapestry and 4-shaft table looms work. these are definitely candid shots that I only just remembered to take so I wouldn’t be in hot water with Jan.   It was a quiet demo with there being a lot of smoke in the air from the fires in Quebec. You can see in the background the faint outline of some hills. That is about 1/2 a kilometre away across the Ottawa River to Quebec.  You couldn’t see that much when we arrived about 10 am to set up.  It was nice to spend time with friends and to chat with the few people that dropped by to see what we were doing.

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That’s about all I have been up to other than a little spinning on my drop spindle. I will try to get some pictures of my little balls of yarn for next time.