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Mega-Stega March Break Sampling

Mega-Stega March Break Sampling

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March 2026 has been busy with Guild library work, questionable weather (is it spring yet? It must be spring, I feel so ill (stupid snow mould allergy), no, it’s snowing again). There was a bit of needle felting. There was even my birthday, I had forgotten to have one last year with all the anaesthetic (but math caught up to me on this one, so I am older than I originally thought).

walker seat is piled with 3 large clear bags of wool and a large zipper bag with more wool, and the camera bag.1.1) Arriving at the guild with my trusty vehicle, laden down with fibre, camera, and cookie.

This month, we had a chance to have a mid-week felting day in the local guild studio during the March school break. We had a few of the local felters (Wet and Dry) drop in for part or all of the day. We each had our own projects, and it was fun to do them together. We chatted and it was great to have others to discuss our projects with.   Ann had a sculptural project using differential shrinkage, and I returned to the Mega-stegosaurus-bag, this time it would be a bit less mega (smaller) but remain Stega.

My goal was to figure out the correct size for the pattern and do a bit of sampling to make a final decision on colours.

Ann and I discussed more of the mechanics for the legs. When I put the bag down, I want it to stand on its own. Who wants a stegosaurus that falls over? Originally, I was going to put large wooden dowels in the legs and a base inside the bag. This would make the legs wool on the outside with a wooden centre.  While chatting with Ann, we discussed removing the hollow legs and making the wood legs a feature, showing them.

I had planned a wooden base to hold the legs, but I can adjust this to the new plan. It will give a strong attachment site and keep the bottom of the bag flat.

Diagram showing bad drawing of stegasurus bag with wooden block legs and wooden base inside the bag2.1) Diagram of the side view of Mega-Stega leg design with four separate leg blocks

Since I want to have Mega-Stega stand when put down, he or she will need 4 legs screwed into the wooden base inside the bag. I may have to add 2 screws per leg to keep the legs from rotating or unscrewing. If I want to have fewer screws, I can use a block with a carved groove to represent the 2 front legs and another block to represent the 2 back legs.

front vew of mega-stega bag, with 2 options for legs2.2) Front view of Mega-Stega bag with separate legs vs 2 carved blocks representing 2 adjacent legs

paper pattern with extention for belly2.3) Dropping legs and adding belly to the general shape of Stegosaurus

floor underlay pattern with adjustment in size and angle of neck2.4) Ann suggested changing the angle of the neck and lengthening the tail.

Since I will need a way to get into the bag, I am considering the evil zipper. I am not fond of sewing zippers. I have done it before, but most of what I enjoy sewing are historical costumes, which don’t have them.

Because of the shape of Mega-Stega, having a head/neck end and a tail end, I have the option of making a pocket in each space or stuffing them to make them firm appendages. I also have the option of adding a partial armature so I can curl the head and or tail so it will hug the body rather than stick out in front of or behind. I will think about this more as I work through the rest of the design.

Ann reminded me that I should expand my pattern, but not as much as the last one. As you saw above, we removed the legs and added more belly to allow the belly to flatten to create the bottom of the bag.

Ann with her multipart resist sitting on table in the studio.3.1) Ann helped me create the floor underlay resist shape.

As you already know, a Stegosaurus has 2 rows of large plates running adjacent to the spine, and spikes at the end of its tail.

When I was in kindergarten, I got up very early (6 am) on Saturday mornings in the hopes that the TV would be showing the Palaeontology lectures from the University of the Air. (I was disappointed if the Math or English courses played.) One of the best classes had a gest Geologist discussing a new discovery: blood vessels in the plates of Stegosaurus. He suggested that this suggested that the plate might be a cooling system, which was unnecessary in cold-blooded creatures. By the time my parents woke up, I was finished with dinosaurs and was happily watching cartoons.

A year later, in grade 1, when the teacher said all dinosaurs are cold-blooded, I asked about Stegosaurus’ plates. She didn’t know what a stegosaurus was. Ah, yes, I see the problem! Adults don’t get up until after 7 am on Saturdays, so she must have missed the cool University lectures.

I will add plates, but I need to inset them slightly down the body, so I will have space to add the zipper.

mega-stega resist and ann's multi part resist3.2) Considering plate locations. Ann’s multi-part resist is on the other side of the table.

close up of positioning plates3.3) close up of plate location considerations

I want to give the suggestion of the flushing colours that a blood vessel system might have.  I dug through my bag of red/orange. I have this braid of BFL/Silk, and I have a small amount of pure silk in a similar colourway.

BFL braid in Orange red and yellow4.1) Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) and silk 100 gr in shades from yellow through orange into red

I had considered a white base layer. Let’s make a sample.

Sampleing white wool base with red/orange/yellow overlay4.2) Sampling over white wool

I found a bag of fibre that I thought was Corriedale. Whatever the fibre was, it seemed a bit spongy rather than firm as it felted.  Hummm. That is not quite what I wanted in either the firmness or colour.

Let me try again. I have a half bump of black, it may be Merino. Why is it not labelled? I used the plate shapes I had cut out of the floor underlay as a template. I don’t need them to be hollow, so I don’t need to add a resist to the plate.

I lay out the shape in many thin layers of black, then added wisps of yellow, orange, and Red BFL/Silk. I then flipped the plate and put the top colours on the other side.

black wool under layer with same colour blend that was used over the white wool in the previous picture4.3) sample on black wool

Yes, that is more what I was thinking. Essence of blushing blood vessels! I made more samples in the various plate sizes I had cut out. I tried to leave the bottom part loose so I can attach it to the body eventually.

4 samples of the plates in black under wool4.4) Samples of pates

I will have to make more, but this is a good beginning.   I like the colours with the black under layer. I should be able to trim the tip on the one that is a bit messy.

samples and resists used as templates4.5) samples and templates for the plate

I now have a colour scheme, a pattern which I think will work, and samples at least some of which I should be able to use. Now I just need a bit of free time and table space to try to create my Mega –Stega bag.

I will have to put this aside for a little while, as I finish the preparations for a new workshop I will be giving next week. I hope to show you more progress in the near future, have fun and keep felting.

Making a spindle case mark 1 continued

Making a spindle case mark 1 continued

Comments 11 comments

Last time I was telling you about a spindle case I was working on. It is here if you missed it making-a-spindle-case-mark-1

last time I had added all the wool so now it was time for some decorations. I grabbed some of my handspun and covered the case in a random pattern all over, remembering to go under the flap and to leave some sticking out to wrap around so it is continuous on the other side.

The other side. I didn’t do the ends because they would be folded. I did cover all the yarn with a very very thin layer of the background wool as I wanted it to adhere without too much effort.

I gave everything a good rubbing until it was starting to shrink and the yarn was well stuck and then rolled it.  I got it back down to 12 inches in length but the other way didn’t want to shrink up.

I rolled it more and harder in that direction. I heated it and rolled it in my hand but it didn’t want to go where I wanted it. I thought I would try rinsing it, and throwing it in the sink and shocking it with hot and cold water. Fortunately, that did it. The next step would have been putting it aside for a few days and trying again. I do know from experience that letting something rest often works. But I didn’t want to wait.

Here it is finished. It looks ok. I am not sure I like the accordion folds on the ends. I have never been good at them, they never look sharp like I see others.  The next one may get different ends. Overall the look is good but it is not stiff enough.

spindle case closed

spindle case open

 

end of spindle case

Here it is with 3 different size spindles in it. I am using the clip to keep it open. the small one is very loose in it. The medium one is a fairly good fit and the large one will not fit at all.

felt spindle case with spindle
spindle case with small spindle
spindle bag with spindle
spindle case with medium spindle
spindle outside case for size
Medium spindle outside case for size.
Large spindle not fitting in bag
Large spindle not fitting spindle case

Different wool might be better. I used Merino because it is what I have the most of. Coriedale might be enough but maybe Finnish or Bergshef.  I also think it needs to be thicker as well as stiffer. It doesn’t feel like it would be very protective against bumps and knocks. What are your thoughts on improvements?

Making a spindle case mark 1

Making a spindle case mark 1

Comments 10 comments

I saw this picture that is for a workshop by Marti Csille at the  https://giftofthelambs.hu/

There is no way I can get there but I thought a felt spindle case would be a nice thing to have. I have a whole afternoon when I am not supposed to be doing something,  I will make myself one.

12 inch finished length should be good but how big around? I didn’t have a handy spindle but I did have a couple of whorls waiting for shafts. I had to use string to measure it as I can never find a sewing tape when I need one.

I am going to use Merino so I will expect a 30% shrinkage. I added 50% to the measurements, then I added some points on the end so I could fold them in. I thought that looked nice and if needed you push them out and stuff extra wool into them.

I added an extra piece of underlay resist for the flap to close it.  I was going to add lone felt ropes to close it but although I like the way that looks I find them a nuisance to use. 2 or 3 button closures should work.

Next was adding some wool. I didn’t measure out how much. I just added sool until it felt right. I will have to weigh it when it’s dry here is the flap side laid out.

I will get you the rest next time. I ran out of time to tell you more. I was selling for Jan and myself at the Chestervill spin-in and forgot until midweek I had a wet felted flower class on Sunday. No in-progress pictures of that but I have a nice group shot of the end of class I will share with you.

Cover banner, has 2 moose bags, one is as it comes the other has part of a landscape behind the moose.
January 2025 a review of the Moose bag landscape.

January 2025 a review of the Moose bag landscape.

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January is full of appointment this year. The first of the doctor visits was no fun, but I did get more done on my present moose bag.

You have seen my various moose(’s) in their partly 3-dishness.  The project bag I started with is made of the same medium weight canvas for each bag. When I was working just on the moose I used a 14” quilters hoop, (It’s like an embroidery hoop but much stronger). Since I was not working on the whole surface of the bag, the hoop encircled the moose and kept that part of the canvas tot to work on.

original Moose bag for sale in the OVWSG Studio. the moose bag is hanging in front of a library cabinet with a sign saying they cost $20.00 (Canadian) each.1.1) the bag with no embellishments

two of the previous moose only augmented bags (Glenn’s on Left, Mine on Right - it has a quilting hoop on the bag.) both bags are sitting on my walker. 1.2) two of the previous moose only augmented bags (Glenn’s on Left, Mine on Right)

I could not use the round hoop and have the full working area available while I am working on the background. Instead I selected one of my foam (like a pool noodle) garden kneeling pads. This is what I have been giving my picture felting students to work on. I also remind them to keep the plastic covering on to reduce wool pick up on the work surface. Once the plastic starts to detach, its time to put it in a large Zip-lock bag and possibly start on the other side of the foam pad.

2) Close up of bag with toggle holding the working surface (foam garden kneeling pad and bags of wool behind it) close up of toggle closeure2) Close up of bag with toggle holding the working surface (foam garden kneeling pad and bags of wool behind it)

If you are working on a larger bag or an oddly shaped bag, you might consider the pink ridged foam basement insolation. It is very loud in its ah…., ok it sound like it screams in displeasure at being stabled but this helps anyone who is overenthusiastic about impaling the wool into your backing fabric.

This project also emphasizes the rule of the vector the needle goes in is the same vector the needle comes out or you are buying more needle! no changing your directions from insertion to extraction!

Last rule, which is just an obvious tip. don’t leave needles in the front face of the bag. Inevitably the fabric will shift or you will knock your needle into something and it will again brake.

Its also important to look at the needle you are using, how many and how far up the needle are the barbs paced. This determines the working depth. Particularly with picture felting,  you only need to engage the fiber with the barb and move it into your ground, in this case the canvas. So the barb has to move past the canvas but does not need to keep going after that. The extra stabbing distance is unnecessary to embed the fiber and the extra work will fatigue you so you can’t keep having fun. <Pouty face>  we want more fun and less work!

In this case I want the wool to be securely attached to the canvas without damaging the canvas. I found the T38-333 (medium barb spacing) needles worked well at not being too fragile, while still small enough to not damage the canvas. Make a test patch on a piece of your ground fabric you may find you don’t like the T-38 and would prefer a T-36? Watch for breaking of the woven fabric you don’t want to weaken your project bag.  There are committal needles designed to work on ground fabrics but are not commonly available to us at the moment. Maybe in the future.

3.1)Diagram of the Doer brand Needle, I have been using to felt the bags. 3.1) the Doer brand Needle, I have been using to felt the bags.

3.2) I have been storing them in the kneeling pad, but should remove the needles from the aria I am about to work on. you can also see the puncture marks of the needle  in the working surface.3.2) I have been storing them in the kneeling pad, but should remove the needles from the aria I am about to work on. you can also see the puncture marks of the needle  in the working surface.

This is a project that will help you slow down. Speed stabbing, and deep stabbing will often lead to having to get a new needles. with needles getting more expensive this could be a good incentive to slow down and consider where you are going to stab next.  Think of this more like a silver (mettle) point drawing rather than a quick gesture drawing.  If you have not tried silver point drawing, you use a mettle stylus on a prepared (gessoed) ground. The line made by the stylist looks like a 2H pencil.  When you tip the picture on its side to catch the light, then it has a hint of gold silver or coper to the line, depending on your stylus. It was use to teach drawing in the renaissance, no messy ink spills. Lines cannot be erased,. Misplaced a line and the ground must be redone and you  start again. so each line is considered carefully before being adding. It make  for a slow carefully considered drawing. Working with canvas is a bit similar, but with needle brakeage rather than having to re-gesso!

The waiting room at the last doctor was not really conducive to having my photo reference out  to consider as I worked, so I guessed. I was laying in what I remembered, generally, and will correct with wisps of fiber like transparent water colour washes later. I didn’t take any pictures while working there,  since there were no photos signs in other parts of the hospital. Normally I do take photos to check my progress. You often see something in your photo that you didn’t see looking directly at you picture.

4) Moose bag landscape in progress working on trees with light coming through them.4) Moose bag landscape in progress working on trees with light coming through them.

I have been working in the upper right corner of the landscape adding tree in between the bits of light peeking through them.  I started by adding the light backgrounds and then have been adding the trees. I still have a lot of the deep shadow to work on. you can see the blank areas.

The size of the project bag allows me to have the working surface (holding extra needles) and multiple bags of fiber I had been using. I have one larger baggie of the green dark to light shades and a sandwich bag of yellow/peach shades and tints.

5.1) Various bits of green blends in one large baggie, and a smaller baggie of blends of yellows, to peaches.5.1) Various bits of green blends in one large baggie, and a smaller baggie of blends of yellows, to peaches.

5.2) I am mainly working from these two bags, but have the base colours in bags underneath them, in case I need to make more.5.2) I am mainly working from these two bags, but have the base colours in bags underneath them, in case I need to make more.

The majority of the fiber is coridale, but there is some unknown wool,  and I am sure a bit of white was blue faced leister.

I get a lot of curiosity about what the inside of the bag looks like with the wool attached. If the short fuzziness bothers you, or you are afraid it will catch on things in the bag,  I would suggest a cotton or if you want something more posh, maybe silk would be the lining for you? I think I will likely leave it and see how it wares.

6) The inside of the  needle felted bag, still in progress.6) The inside of the  needle felted bag, still in progress.

I still have to do a bit more felting on the front. It is not a flat as I would like. I was given the suggestion of gently wash it mild soap and adjitasion. I am leery to try that in case I shrink the bag and ripple the image.

My next doctor visit is chatting with an anestatist, I think I may be his first patent for the day, so I may not get to do much felting there. I will bring it just in case, it will reduce my stress levels I hope. If I don’t finish it before the 31st I will work on it during my recovery.

Have fun and keep felting, wet, dry, or damp!

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

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One of my best customers for my 3D-printed felting tools, a fellow felt teacher in the US, asked if I could make a smaller version of the wand tool for making jewellery. I had previously investigated making the wand longer and narrower towards the tip but the tips kept breaking, I don’t make a lot of jewellery or small items so the idea was abandoned.

I mentioned the request to Mr TB who suggested a couple of possible solutions for the fragile tips. He printed 2 of them for me and I have been testing them this week. I may be biased but think they are pretty good, I have been using them quite aggressively and they are still in tact and working as I had hoped.

For the tests I decided to make set of felted rings. Normally I use a bundle of pencils held together with an elastic band but this maker pen with a tapered barrel came to hand first. Pencils / pens are ideal because you can alter the size of your ring by adding more pencils to the bundle, then remove them one by one as the felt fulls and the ring shrinks down.

Wrapping wool around the pen before adding soapy water and gently rubbing
Once the felt was starting to shrink I transferred the ring to the tool and fulled the inside of the ring
This is how much the ring shrank, the inside of the ring was wide enough to stretch around the widest part of the pen at the start
Looking for more pens to make a larger ring I came across this beaker instead…

I made a small felted ball to finish the set and make a pendant, which layout do you like best?

The fulling tool just needs a couple of minor tweaks and a name (any ideas?), another round of testing and it will be ready to join the others.

Apologies for the poor quality of these photos, they were taken in my current studio (the garage) and the light in there is awful. The new studio is coming along well though. Another month and the floor will be tiled, the kitchenette and shelving installed and all my fluff moved from the garage to its new home 🙂

The rest of the reno is progressing too, our new kitchen is half installed, the bathrooms and deck are nearly finished and this week the builders are putting in a retaining wall.

The house and garden 2 years ago
The house and garden this week – spot the difference?
The studio with new deck

In between painting and moving garden plants I have not had much time for felting so have been getting my “fix” through teaching…

A private, beginners bag class…

These ladies know how to felt in style – home made G&Ts! 🙂

Mosaic felting at the Auckland Creative Fibre retreat…

I also had the pleasure of teaching a felted pod class in collaboration with Deaf Aotearoa last month but I’m afraid I forgot to take any photos. This was a wonderful experience and I have no hesitation in recommending teaching this way if you get the opportunity, most of the participants could lip read but we also had a sign language interpreter with us. The hardest part for me, was trying not to talk while demonstrating, I am so used to explaining what I am doing with my hands I had to keep checking myself to explain first, so everyone could watch the interpreter and then demonstrate with the wool.

I’d better get back to painting…. happy felting!

Eye Glasses Holder

Eye Glasses Holder

Comments 19 comments

Sounds like a quick and easy project, right? I thought so too. This is a case for my glasses to go in when I’m in bed. It will hang off the little bookcase beside my bed. Probably better than on the edge of the bed where they sit now.

I picked up some very pretty little batts at a local fibre shop. It is a combination of Canadian Ramboullet and Merino. It is sold as a wet felting wool, among other things. . The colours I picked were mottled and it is quite a short fibre. I did not do a sample as this is such a small project it is the sample. The batt is 50 grams and I don’t think I used half of it.

The other factor in doing this now was I knew I was going to the store to pick up wool for my workshop on the weekend and could pick up more if I liked it. I thought this small project would be just the thing.

 

This is the shape of the resist. I will fold the long part over to make a loop and use a button to hold it in place.

                                    

I split the bat so I could keep it thinner and still have it go in 2 directions. I am not used to using batts but they are a fast way to do simple layouts. After the first layer, I added some offcuts of cotton batting I thought might make an interesting raised texture. I wet it all out. It took a little more soap than expected to wet it out. I think there is some lanolin still in it but it is not greasy feeling.

I rubbed it for a while. it did get a skin but wasn’t starting to tighten up. I did a bit more and switched to rolling. I did that for a long time, flipping and changing direction, rolling on a ribbed mat all the usual stuff but no shrinkage. This was after about an hour rolling. You can see that it hasn’t shrunk at all

 

Next was heading home to the kitchen to rinse with hot water and get tough with it. I scrunched and rolled it in my hands and threw it in the sink. Maybe a little bit of shrinkage. It is definitely felt. It is holding together and I have removed the resist and the insides are not trying to stick to each other.

So what next? Time to do some laundry. I put it in a small delicates bag and tossed it in with a load of laundry, and then into the dryer. No pictures of that, I was too frustrated by then. I was also thinking that I would take it out and it would be 3 sizes too small.

This is the result, a very small amount of shrinkage, mostly in height. This is actually after it was dry and I had turned it inside out and then back because I forgot to take a picture.

I turned it inside out which made it stand open more so that is better for the purpose. I had to smooth out the edge divot from turning it inside out . the felt is quite thick.

                           

 

It will work for the purpose. My glasses ended up a little too far down in the holder so I stuffed a little wool roll in the bottom so my glasses are easier to get hold of. It’s not a big difference but I can grab them a bit better. more wool may be added.

                                    

I just need to add the button and I am good to go.

I did let the store know that the wool is not good for wet felting. They said the mill is trying different ratios of the wools to find what works best. I suggested it would be good to make socks that would be fine in the washer and it is still good for needle felting.

Spring is here, My hubby has veggie growing fever. He has half my table as one of the few cat-free areas. Why do cats like to lay on top of seedlings?

Samples for my Valentines class.

Samples for my Valentines class.

Comments 14 comments

I was asked to give a Valentine-themed workshop, specifically hearts. No surprise there. This is a short evening class. I am teaching in person in Ottawa at my guild on Feb 7, 2024. https://www.ovwsg.com/events/event/2407-felted-hearts/I had no pictures to put with the workshop so I had to create something. I decided on heart-shaped baskets with rope handles.

I started by finding a heart shape on the internet and sizing it up to about 6 inches across. I decided to do one this size and one bigger to end up at 6 inches.

 

they will fit nicely onto my rolling mat. I need to keep an eye out for a bigger one of these. This one is supposed to be for drying dishes. It might do for one person for their lunch dishes.

I decided on one in red and one in this year’s Pantone colour of the year coral pink. The colour doesn’t show well wet but you will see it when it’s dry

Next was adding embellishments. Coral pink is one of my least favourite colours so I added some sari silk in the colour Salsa. It is primarily red with bits of other colour in it.

The red looked pretty plain so I added a pale pink heart

Next of course was all the rubbing and rolling and cutting it out and rubbing and rolling and fulling. The red one is now 6 inches across and the pink one is 4 inches across.

 

I rolled a couple of snakes for handles. The idea was to poke holes in the hearts to poke the snake ends through and tie a knot. the pink one was okay, but the red one wasn’t long enough so I just felted the ends in. Jan thinks they should have a bell on the tip but I am not sure. I think I will offer them to the student but I don’t think I will add them.

And here they are on Jan’s new photography backdrop which I am sure she will be telling you all about in a later post.

Tada!

I like the picture of the pink one best. The angle is good. The red one is more from over the top of the heart. The chocolate hugs are some Jan gave me as a librarian present. Perfect for a Valentine’s photo shoot.

 

 

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

Bags of Inspiration

Comments 21 comments

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?

Pink and grey synthetic fabrics, layered free motion stitched and heat distressed.
Melting & Felting

Melting & Felting

Comments 17 comments

As much as I enjoy felting and working with natural fibres I also love mixed media work and getting creative with heat manipulative, man made fabrics. It’s all the more enjoyable when you ask at the start of a class if anyone hasn’t worked with a heat tool or a soldering iron and you see the hands go up. You just know there are going to be some “ooohs and ahhhs” and huge smiles coming from excited students once they get melting their fabrics!
Last week I was invited to teach a group at Stainfield Village Hall, just a half hour from home. The groups organiser, Clare, had attended my Layer, Stitch & Burn workshop a few months previous in Sleaford and had so much fun creating this sea shell inspired piece she asked me to repeat the class with her group.

This technique was developed by the Canadian mixed media textile artist Susan Lenz.  It involves layering synthetic fabrics on a background of acrylic felt before adding free motion stitch using cotton, viscose or rayon threads. The last stage involves  “melting” the background fabric with a heat gun to create a lace like effect as seen in Susan’s In Box and Stained Glass Series 

Susan Lenz creates colourful mixed media textile art using heat manipulative fabric.

You would imagine all acrylic felt would melt and therefore be suitable for this process but I’ve discovered the hard way that’s not the case! If you’re going to try this technique I would suggest testing your background felt before stitching as some simply discolours and singes rather than melting! Having been caught out once I now order a sample before purchasing by the metre. My latest supply came from Empress Mills and melts a treat!
In the workshop, although everyone is given the option of working with simple geometric shapes, I like to encourage students to think outside the box (pun intended!) and create a piece that’s unique to them. In the past I’ve had ladies using fossils, gum nuts leaves and all sorts of other motifs as their starting point for a design as you can see from these three examples…..

Working with a more organic design is also great for those who haven’t done free motion before, or maybe are not as confident with it, as your stitching doesn’t have to be precise. In fact a “sketchy” approach, similar to the leaf design, looks great!

At Stainfield not everyone got finished on the day but I’ve been told that, at the groups meeting this week, not only did they finish off what they had started with me but most of the ladies also began working on a second piece! The size we worked to was approximately 23cm square so it fits the square IKEA box frame. 

Another heat manipulative workshop I teach is the Lutradur Leaves. This Wednesday evening I loaded the car and drove up to East Ayton near Scarborough, a really beautiful part of the country, ahead of Wednesdays class for Anita Cassidy and the Textile Experimental Group. I knew we were going to get on like a house on fire when I heard the name of the group!
The village hall was very light, airy and spacious, perfect for this type of class.
The group were encouraged to bring some leaves to use as inspiration and I supplied sketches for those that wanted them. Everyone worked with a medium weight 70gsm Lutradur and once again the ladies produced some fabulous work which sits nicely with their current theme of “decay”.

Between my last post and classes starting up again after the Summer I’ve done a bit of dressmaking, or “top” making to be precise. I’ve got a very simple linen, sleeveless, dart-less, top that I really like and I decided to clone it, adding darts to make it more fitted. Not having made anything with darts before I figured YouTube would be a good move….and it was!

I tried the pattern out with a very cheap floral fabric from Boyes. I think it’s viscose, it’s not silky but it shifted constantly while I was working with it so I’m amazed it turned out wearable!
The “palm tree” fabric is 100% cotton and was so easy to use, it’s definitely the better of the two. 

The following week I had to create a wet felted shoulder bag to promote a forthcoming workshop. In the past I’ve sometimes deliberately used colours that I’m not that keen on to ensure I keep a piece as a sample and not be tempted to use the item myself! This time I did the opposite and carded Dream and Granite Corriedale slivers from World of Wool’s Hefty Hues range to make a bag that won’t be living in a box until the workshop in the new year!

Pale grey, square shaped wet felted shoulder bag with cut out surface decoration revealing dark blue fibres beneath.
I’ll finish with a quick update on the Making Waves fish. Jane has made this fun Pink Punk fish complete with studs, chain and wire specs…..

Mixed media Pink Punk fish. Wet felted Merino fibres with studs, chain and wire spectacles.
…..and Pip has almost finished her Scorpion fish. I’m told there’s just a bit of needle felting detail to add. Producing work like this it’s easy to forget that neither of these ladies have been felting for long. 

Wet felted Scorpion fish in shades of brown and blue

I haven’t managed to get to the Waltham meetings for quite a while so I’m looking forward to catching up next month and seeing what else the members have been up to.

close up of paper side template over resist - OOPS
Blacksmithing and working on the dino-purse…oops

Blacksmithing and working on the dino-purse…oops

Comments 15 comments

This past weekend was Father’s Day and to celebrate we went off to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum to watch a blacksmithing event. This year the workshop was to create a replica antique door latch (Norfolk Latch). It was a 2 day workshop and fascinating to watch most of it. Blacksmiths and blacksmithing are very photogenic, with about 430 shots from Saturday and only 290 from Sunday (the battery died and the backup was in a similar state of uselessness. Don’t panic!!! I promise I will not show you all the photos but there were a few that you might enjoy.

the Norfolk Latch that was being recreated, a rolled collar on round stalk1 the Norfolk Latch that was being recreated, a rolled collar on round stalk (it will be part of the handle)

2 brushing scale off the tenon of the handle created a spark, tongs in front of a lit coal forge.2 brushing scale off the tenon of the handle created a spark, tongs in front of a lit coal forge.

There were 10 students, an instructor and an assistant. There were also blacksmiths who were not participating but were still watching and enjoying the demonstrations.

3 thick smoke hanging in the air from 10 coal forges starting up.3 thick smoke hanging in the air from 10 coal forges starting up.

This is not more smoke from the wildfires, this is 10 coal forges starting up under one side-less barn building.

After the weekend of photography, it was back to fun in the guild library. I added a new magazine, got the library open and ready to use, collected incoming books and got the outgoing ones ready to put into the circulation file. Since the library is now in hand I would get a chance to draw out a couple of options for the wet felting purse. (See I did get to felting!) I had wanted to try the Stegosaurus 3d bag which will be much trickier than the manta ray purse option.  Remember I like my felting dry, I can wet felt but making my own shape for a resist is not a common occurrence. Let’s see if I can work this through (With little math and minimal spelling!)

Option 1: this was a more cartoon proportion of a stegosaurus.

4 very simple shape with legs the same length front and back.4 very simple shape with legs the same length front and back.

Option 2: is still quite cartoonish but the back legs are closer to correct

5 still simplified but more anatomically correct than the previous Stegosaurs.5 still simplified but more anatomically correct than the previous Stegosaurs.

Next, the phone test;

6 laying the phone over the two drawings from #4 and 5 to make sure the phone will fit.6 laying the phone over the two drawings from #4 and 5 to make sure the phone will fit.

As much as I prefer the more realistic version, there is better space in the more cartoon one. Ok, so I should polish that one up a bit more.

7 expanding the scrap paper so I can add a better angle and length of tail and the tops of 2 plates.7 expanding the scrap paper so I can add a better angle and length of the tail and the tops of 2 plates.

Next, trim the sides so I can figure out the gussets for both the back and belly

8 taped strip of paper to figure out the belly gusset of the dinosaur.8 taped strip of paper to figure out the belly gusset of the dinosaur.

First attempt at the belly gusset;

9 estimating gusset for under tail, body, neck and head.9 estimating gusset for under tail, body, neck and head.

I checked the fit by using painter’s tape to set in the belly with the side

10 Belly gusset fits nicely with side.10 Belly gusset fits nicely with the side.

Once I liked the belly I started to work on the back gusset and taped that in to check the fit.

11 inside view with back and belly gussets in.11 inside view with back and belly gussets in.

12 adding width to the head and marked where a zipper would go if I choose to use one.12 adding width to the head and marked where a zipper would go if I choose to use one.

I wondered if I could attach the belly with the body between the legs and see if I could join the two parts

12 adding width to the head and marked where a zipper would go if I choose to use one.13 The belly is attached at the belly and behind the legs but not on the neck and tail.

The belly strip would only be half the width but I would have to raze the tail and head. But that might work. I will get a second opinion from Ann when she arrives. I had a quick message chat with Ann to review percentages and shrinkage for firm felting. We decided on 50%. So, I needed to scale up from the finished paper size.  I started by measuring the longest and tallest sections.

14 the longest line through the body and the height through the front leg.14 the longest line through the body and the height through the front leg.

I then took it further and graphed the general shape so it would be easier to scale up

15 1 inch graph added to the body.15 1-inch graph added to the body.

I tried to estimate the height and length but was having trouble scaling up the legs and still having space for the belly…. Ah. I started at the centre and between the legs and worked out from there.

16 i have most of the body estimated adding half to each side. The graph is making it easier to scale up.16 I have most of the body estimated adding half to each side. The graph is making it easier to scale up.

17 This is what I had graphed out by the time Ann arrived.17 This is what I had graphed out by the time Ann arrived. (there was a lot of measuring and adding while I was unsupervised.)

18 Ann lay the paper mock up on top of the resist18 Ann lay the paper mock-up on top of the resist

Ann (who is very experienced with wet felting resists) said she thot something looked a bit off. Other than the spikes I was sure I had carefully added the same amount all the way around. Oh…. You meant to add half of what I had, not half on all sides. Sorry, I think I am thinking in 3-D again.

So I now have a shoulder bag-sized dinosaur, not a phone and i-pod audiobook reader sized bag. Well, I could add wool and a couple of spindles at this size but I probably better go back and reconsider my math. I will probably just use the calculator I found last week and had meant to use and totally forgot! (I should never trust my own ability with numbers it is just as bad as my interpretation of spelling! It’s like interpretative dance only much more interpretative.)

So it’s back to the drawing board! Or, I could make it all out of dry… no be brave! I can always wear gloves and keep dry!! I will have to have a little pause and get back to working on 3 more chickadees which I may need for this coming weekend. I just need more hours in the day but for tonight it’s way past my bedtime and I will shortly either fall backwards off my stool or face-plant my keyboard.  I will keep you updated with the horrors of math or if I just decide I will make a bigger purse!

Have fun and keep felting!