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Some Past Holiday Exchange Cards

Some Past Holiday Exchange Cards

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Hi All It seems I forgot I had to post today so I am late. I am reposting a post showing some of the past Holiday Exchange Cards that we have done. I did remove the links to sign up for this exchange.

Hi all,  for those who may not know we also run an interactive forum for felting and fiber folks. It’s a great place to share your work, ask questions and help each other out. http://feltandfiberstudio.proboards.com/

Each year we have a holiday exchange. You make a small felted postcard or similar size card with some felt on it.

Here’s the timeline:

October 4-Nov 9: people sign up

November 10 partners are announced.

November: Make your card, contact your partner for an address

December 1: Mail your card

Here are some of the cards from our past exchange, there has been lots of variety.

 

   

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Christmas Raven, Card exchange with Leonor

Christmas Raven, Card exchange with Leonor

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Many years ago, you may remember, I was an art student. First studying commercial art, and then getting a degree in fine art and art history. Having the training first in Commercial Art changed the way I approached fine art.

The combined training also gives me odd bits of knowledge and techniques that a regular fine art student might not have run into. Yes, I can draw using a ruling pen, but I’m not sure that is a transferable skill to felting and fiber arts. Some of the painting techniques I was taught, in both disciplines, likely are of use to picture felters.

Today I am working on a Christmas card exchange for someone who seems to have the same aesthetic senses as I do, (leaning towards the Goth, with a liking for skulls, and a fondness for Crows and Ravens). So a macabre Christmas it is! But let’s hint at X-mass and make it more winter seasonal or solstice sort of image, so it doesn’t have to be removed after Santa has left the building.

As usual, I started with research!  I get to look at crows and trees, since my original intention was to do a more cartoonish large raven bending over small Christmas tree (think, Charlie brown Christmas tree).  But as I worked with the image, I felt the focus was on the unfortunate fate of the about-to-snap tree, rather than the fabulous raven, who threatened its demise. Humm, ok, keep looking. Maybe I should review what is the difference between crows and ravens so I know which one I am making?

I found a couple bird websites with visual depictions of the differences and added them into to my reference file. If you too want to tell the differences, here are the two web sites I found helpful.

visual diference between crows and Ravens1.1) https://www.junehunter.com/blogs/nature/crow-vs-raven 

 

1.2) https://avianreport.com/identification-raven-crow/

Ok, plan 2, raven as focus, on pine branch, in winter. I found a Raven image I liked but not on the rite branch, ok lets look a bit at pine branches in winter, no that’s not what I was wanting ether, ok how about overcast snowy sky pine branch and add pine needles with snow. yes that more what I would like to make.

The image of the Rave I like, is vary grey scale already, I can add the pine branches but paint this as a grisaille. That would be an under painting in grayscale only. It is part of a technique of painting, which produces depth, in both field and colour. It uses a limited palette of Black, through shades and tints of Grey to white.

Grisaille a 3 part prosses.

  • starting with an under drawing, I used the extra fine tip sharpie marker to draw in the Raven and branch onto the felt ground.
  • adding the image in tones from black through grey to white. Some painters will block in the tones while others will take the image through to completion but only in grey scale. You can stop and declare you are done or you can go on to the next step.
  • adding the final colour layer. This can be done in washes or glazes, so the tones of the under painting are seen through the overpainting. This gives greater depth of colour. This can also be done with wool. (wisps of colour like in the Watercolour technique with wool.)

If you are not feeling that Gothic gray, underpainting can also be done in other monochrome pallets such as verdaccio (done with shades of green), brunaille (shades of brown), or ébauche (dulled, muted forms of the final colors).

I am not sure if I will push into hints of colour or be happy with the grey scale image I am creating. I will decide as I progress.

It took a bit of looking, but I found the green travel kit of felting stuff where I remembered putting my double ended sharpie (fine and extra fine). Using the reference photo, I drew out the Raven and branch onto my piece of wool felt. I am quite liking the extra fine tip on any felt that has a particularly smooth surface. If the surface is soft, try stippling your line (a line of little dots), rather than dragging the pen across soft felt.  When I was pleased with the underdrawing, and was sure I could work with what I had, I put away the pen so I could find it later (I think I need to put a leash on pens, they keep wandering off).

Under drawing complete, it was time to add the wool. As with pastels, I tend to work from background to foreground. It is easier to add the sky then the trees, than it is to put in the trees and try and add the sky behind them. So, I turned to adding the greys to the sky.

I had a few different greys and a deep charcoal mainly for the raven. I wanted to keep him as the focus. To blend with them I had a unlabeled ball of white top which is likely BFL since it has a good sheen and is smooth but strong. I hand tore it into pieces similar in length to the grey and used the larger pet brushes to make little pile of different tints and shades of gray.

I put all the grey option into a zip lock baggie as well as the charcoal and the white. Then took my project, a wool mat, the reference material and wondered off to bed. I had not been feeling very well and felting in bed seemed like a good idea. Ok I did not fall asleep and wake up stuck by a needle but after more consideration, this was not really one of my best ideas. Even more so, because I had left the camera by the computer. Well that dose explains the lack of photos of the starting of the Raven.

As sometimes happens, when you finally get an idea and run with it, I got focused on what I was doing, and didn’t stop to take pictures. Ann often complains about this happening to her.  I had crawled off to bed, bringing a foam pad, the blended pallet of greys I had just made, my reference material and my felting needle. Really, it’s not the best place to be felting, you don’t want to lose you needle in bed or fall asleep while felting. (Both could go quite horribly wrong), but I had had a rough day and was really tired, but also finally had the plan for the card.

one night of felting2.1) assessing what I had felted before falling asleep

Next morning I returned to the computer, put on an audio book (Pattricia Briggs’ A&O 01 – Cry Wolf) and assessed the image I was working on.

adding silk to create the highlights2.2) adding white silk as highlights

I hunted around and found some very bright White silk, to use for highlights of snow and to mix into the sky.

added a branch with pine needles, not sure this it the direction i want to go.2.3) adding a pine branch with needles, maybe not?

I considered a branch with pine needles but was not sure that was what should be there.

I had originally planned to crop the image around 3×5 or 4×6, but I was getting intereeged to find out what was in the forest behind the raven. But I didn’t want to visually over power the raven. So the image grew as I puttered, listened to the end of the first book in the series and started the second (A&O 02 – Hunting Ground)

not a branch but a streem and waterfall in the back ground!2.4) change of plans

Oh I see it is not a branch at all, it’s a cascade of water falling into a lake. Well that makes more sense.

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3.1-3.5) investigating the background, then adding the highlights to the raven.

I think that is exactly what I was looking for, I think adding colour will again take away from the raven. I hope she will like it too.

The postal employees took a strike vote, was it last week? I don’t know what the result was so I had better get this in the mail soon. Monday Nov. 11th  was reembrace day, so no mail, but I had the little raven ready to go into work on Tuesday Nov.12th  with Glenn. He works in one of the main stations and  the raven would go from his station to station 1 Tuesday morning, to be sorted later on Tuesday or Wednesday morning. it should have been on its way to Leonor by Wednesday afternoon. It was a good thing, since Glenn was on strike on Friday Morning.

Wednesday Nov 20th,  I got a note from Leonor that the raven had arrived. Ravens are very good at doing Air mail apparently!

 

 

Side of Farm Race box with sheep and pig figures
Kanata Board Gaming and Felting Convention 2024

Kanata Board Gaming and Felting Convention 2024

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I hope you will join me for a trip to Kanata, its not too far a drive, in the west end of Ottawa. I promise, I will get to a bit of felting too. November 18-19th 2024, was the annual Kanata Board Games (and Felting) Convention. As usual, the felting side of the convention was very exclusive,.. ok it was small,… well tinny,…. ok, it was again just me, but i did demo felting and i both confused and had interest from the gamers. (One gamer kept coming over to see how I was progressing. Each time saying I had so much patents! Some of those board games can take most of a day to play so I’m not sure that felting would be too slow!!) The organizers were very happy to see me felting in the corner on Friday and I brought my own little aluminum table for Saturday since its always much busier on Saturday, so they need most of the tables to felt errr…… game on.

It is held at the same Church that the Kanata board games club meets at, on Tuesdays evenings. Unfortunately, being a church, the hall is already booked for some ongoing event on Sunday morning. So the convention runs Friday and Saturday. (There was a rumor that a Sunday available site, was being considered, but most locations in Kanata, are very pricey. This year they were very close to full capacity for their current location, so a move may be in the future.

The club has a large games lending library, from which games can be signed out, played, and then returned.  Some gamers brought their own games too. There were also tables reserved, for playing three new games, thought out the weekend.  I even spotted a game being play-tested at one of the tables!

Games library from the Kanata Games club 1.1) The Games Library, you can sign out a game to play with other convention goers.

The convention was very busy, with Saturday having the largest attendance, partly because of the used games sale starting early Saturday morning.

As I looked through games in the library and those already in play, I found one that was sheep related! This one may be of interest to fiber people! “Farms Race” – the apocalypse has happened, the animals have taken over the farms! (Glenn says it is fun)Farm Race Game box Front cover Cow from side of box dressed in bommer jacket sheep with eye pach and pants with weponds Side of Farm Race box with sheep and pig figures Back of Farm race box2.1-2.5) Farm Race Game box

Friday I usually sit in the corner, at a table by the window. This year the table was already filled with gamers!!! so I calmed half of one by the kitchen door (not a favored gaming location). I had 2 projects for the felting part of the convention, add diamonds shapes to the Dragon hand and then work on the next moose bag.

Dragons claw before adding dimonds dragons clawed hand starting to add dimons shapes with silk3.1-3.2) Starting to add diamonds

I had brought the silver silk, you can see in the zip-lock bag by the headphones in the above picture. It was very short fiber so I spun it into yarn then took some of the twist out so it was a bit easier to needle felt in. (I do tend to be a bit overenthusiastic about twist, it likely comes from learning to spin by being handed a handful of cotton and a drop spindle.)

silk with very short staple lenght 4.1 – short staple silk

using a drop spindle to add twist to the fiber so it will hold together as a single ply yarn4.2 using a drop spindle to add twist to the fiber so it will hold together as a single ply yarn.

4hand spun silk on one of my drop spindles with a few pins sitting beside it 4.3 hand spun silk on one of my drop spindles with a few pins sitting beside it.

using the pins to mark out the diamonds4.4 using the pins to mark out the diamonds.

I used the pins to work out the diamond shapes as I went. I started from the claw tips and worked across the palm and doorsum then up the arm. i sent Ann a picture of the in-progress Diamond pattern and she said it looked like fish net stockings! well i was considering adding a bit of colour on one end of the diamond-like shape maybe that would help? i will have to wait untill i find the other bags of silk, i think i saw them somewhere in the office….

Most of Friday, I was sitting beside a table playing Arkum Horror,  it’s based on the Cthulhu mythos and everything gets steadily worse as the game progresses.

Arkham Horror (Work as a team to save the town of Arkham from monsters and a Great Old One. 1–8 Players) game in progress5.1) Arkham Horror (Work as a team to save the town of Arkham from monsters and a Great Old One. 1–8 Players) game in progress

There were many games being played, some of which had lovely artwork or elaborate game pieces. here are a couple i thought you might like to take a peek at. the last one is called Landmarks, and seems to involve one player trying to guide the others across a board with  single words that suggest which square they should go to next.  i would like to try that one some time.

a game called Rome close up of some of the pices in the Rome game6.1 6.2 Rome  

game called Potion explosion being played6.3 Potion explosion  

a game called Landmarks pices ready to start playing 6.4 Landmarks

There were also door prizes throughout the weekend.  Hummm, unfortunately none of them were felting related.  Maybe I should donate a prize for next year?

Friday door prizes on a tale a person is orgnizing them7) some of the Friday door prizes

Throughout Friday boxes and bags of used games had been brought in and mysteriously disappeared down the stairs.

Saturday morning started with a HUGE board game sale. This year they moved it to the large downstairs room, rather than in the main hall, as it had been in previous years. The games for sale this year, were also greater in number than any of the previous conventions.

the front of the church, with large orange red maple tree there is a line curving into the parking lot of people lineing up to go buy games 8.1) the line is forming to go in to shop!

There was a waiting line to go in and as someone left they would let someone else in. I waited until most of the line had gone through, and then went down to see what was left.  It took me quite a while to work my way through the rows of tables and the wall of shelves (I am not the fastest reader and I was on a quest for sheep related and cottage possible games).

Game sale people shopping looking through the piles of games on the first table Games sale game stacked on shelves with man looking at them Game sale, games piled on tables filling large room8.2 -8.4  I finally reached the front of the line and got to see what was Left of the games (there had been a lot of games carried upstairs and i was near the end of the line so i was supprized there was so much left. at 11am a second line would go through and some of the game prices would drop.

I found 2 sheep games one of which the library has (under a different title). The second, Dragon’s Hoard, is a game where you play a dragon and are collecting sheep!! That sounds like fun. It’s for 2-4 players and takes about 45 minutes.  I hope we can try it out at the next long weekend social.

front of box for Dragons hoard Back of box for Dragons hoard front of box for Wooly Bully back of box for Wooly Bully8.5-8.8 the two sheep games i found amongst all the other games

Glenn also spotted and then ordered a new sheep game on line, which has now arrived. We have not tried it yet. From the box it suggests you collect sets of animals until a black sheep turns up. It’s for 2-5 players, it is a quick little card game that should take about 20 minutes to play.

front of Game box for Bye Bye Black Sheep back of Game box for Bye Bye Black Sheep9.1-9.2) Game box for Bye Bye Black Sheep

I spent Saturday working on my second project another moose bag. I hope you are not getting bored with all my variations on a moose! This time I am working not on the moose part but giving the stenciled moose silhouette, a landscape. I will be showing you how that is going in a later post.

progress on the moose bag landscape close up of moose bag working on moose bag with convention going on in the back ground10.1-10.3) progress on the moose bag landscape

Baggie of green wool fiber (this is my pallet)10.4 Baggie of greens (this is my pallet)

moose in shalow lake at sunrize with mist distorting sunlight and insistickt trees in the gackground. 10.5 the image i am working from.  its hard to see it in the first moose picture (10.1)

i have been using my pet brushes, mixing baggies of colours to work from like a pallet, this time its various tones and tints of Greens. I am then pulling little bits out and layering them onto the bag. treating wool like water colour is not the fastest way to work, but it dose give some of the luminous atmospheric affect of a Turnner water colour, so worth the extra time.

Next year, maybe there will be more felters at this fabulous convention! if not, I will represent the dry felters, and it is fun to watch the gamers. Maybe I will even try to play a game next year?

Lastly, I wanted to give you some inspiration (if you have not spotted a game that looked interesting), here are a couple shots from the church parking lot, of the fall colour in Kanata. We have some extreme temperature swings in Ottawa, but that does give us beautiful fall leaves to enjoy before the snow arrives. (maybe it will inspire a moose or other bag embellishment?)

Fall colour in Kanata Canada. maple tree with blue sky behind close up of leaves of maple tree a red shrub i did not recognize but had suning dark to light shades of red to red purlple11.1-11.3) Fall colour in Kanata Canada.

Shepherdess and Sheep

Shepherdess and Sheep

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I spent some time working on the flock of sheep. Maybe not the most elegant sheep transport and sounds a bit like a horror show when you say a bag of sheep and sheep parts but it’s a bit of a production line when working on a flock of them.

As you can see I was being supervised in my Dr Franinstien endeavours. In this picture, she is wearing her first shirt and coat. You can see the sleeves are too big around and I didn’t like the way the hood worked on this one.

 

Last time I had finished the clothing, or so I thought. I ended up doing the shirt 4 times to get it the way I wanted it. The third one would have worked but I cut the neck hole too big.

I did get them finished and she had a dress fitting. I added a blanket stitch to the neckline and a blue star to her dress. I think this kind of dress is called a pinafore. You can see some of her flock in the background.

I took her to the Almont Fiberfest that Jan told you about and she supervised while I got her sheep some wool. This is the opposite of the way sheep, wool and shepherdesses usually work.

And another unshearing.

Next post there will be hair, a new coat and more colourful sheep. And a picture of them on display at the museum.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian followers. I hope you had a great Turkey Day!

The third corner. Autumn

The third corner. Autumn

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Autumn has arrived. Time for celebrating harvests, and gathering the fruits of the hedgerow. There are many  apples, plums, damsons, bullace,  greengages, and pear trees all laden with fruit, a little dexterity is needed to get a tasty snack, or to collect for pies, crumbles and jams. Many a blackberry has been collected and eaten, or frozen, made into jam, or used to make a tasty liqueur by soaking in vodka, or whiskey along with a little sugar, and left to mature in readiness for adding to a glass or two of bubbly at Christmas. Yum. Not the whiskey obviously! Not forgetting the profusion of hazelnuts, walnuts and glorious conkers, and sweet chestnuts that are such a treat to find.

 

Each year from early August, I go searching for some hop vines that may have escaped from cultivation, and moved into the hedgerow at some point. I am not sure if there is an actual wild hop though. From mid August to early September I am on the lookout for the tell tale leaf shape and colour, and lime green  shade of the hop flower, as the vine clambers over nearby trees and shrubs, and hoping that I can remember the spot that I collected them from the previous year.

 

So, for the third corner of my blanket I have decided to needle felt an impression of a small portion of the hop vine that I collected early September.

I love finding these vines. I use the dried hops along with some lavender to make little pillows to slip inside a larger pillow to encourage a restful sleep. I also hang a hop vine in my kitchen, such a lovely decorative addition, and I change it each year.

 

               

Hop growing is plentiful in Herefordshire where I live, and also in Kent, but alas they are not as widely grown as in years gone by – but I am hoping that I am mistaken in this belief. It is lovely driving along and spotting a field with the hops stretching up the tall poles and wires. I’m not sure where else in the UK they are grown other than already mentioned, but with so many craft beer makers in this country the growing of hops is unlikely to die out any time soon.

I have needle felted my hops and used some yarn to illustrate the vine. A photo shows the size of the vine I am using. I have removed all the leaves – as I usually do – but some are present for size.

 

                 

I have machine stitched over the ‘hops’ to secure, and also added stitching to the vine. The hop flowers are a lovely shade of green, with a touch of yellow when fresh, and gradually the colour fades as the flowers dry.

                 

I have stitched the leaves using my machine too, and I have left them bare, so to speak. I was planning on adding some colour to the leaves, but I think they look better without.

 

Mer's in project bags on table
The Mer’s Preparing for the 75th Anniversary Exhibition Part 2

The Mer’s Preparing for the 75th Anniversary Exhibition Part 2

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In my last post, I showed you Mr. Mers’ new fishy northern pike spots (in silk!) and his son’s fancy new hair, eyes and jewellery. now let’s look at Mrs. Mer.

Mrs. Mer

I have been questing for the perfect Red for her Kohaku Butterfly Koi body.  Koi-red comes in a range of red-nesses from an orange-red to a deep intense red and in various intensities of those reds. I had found a small project bag of reds in various fibre types and preparations. I had picked up a very promising red with silk top and locks to match but it had too much pink in nature light, I had another set that had too much yellowness to the red, making for more of an orange colour. The locks I found to go with it were fabulous and if I do a mermaid that is part goldfish it would be perfect.

Mrs. Mer perused my offerings and we both agreed on the deep red bat from  Alpaca Tracks T(h)read Lightly and the lustrous long locks from Monica at Olive Sparrow. So dark red it is!

Alpaca tracks small bats of red wool Held by Mrs. Mer's Hand3.1 Alpaca tracks small bats of red wool

Odd I was sure I had a shot of Monika’s locks, let me look a bit more…oh I have a shot from the Olive Sparrow booth at the Almonte Fiberfest on Sept 7-8th.  The bat and locks go together perfectly!!

top row way to the left is right red Mer hair I was looking for. The are lots of different colours of  locks in 2 lengths.3.2 The top row way to the left is right red Mer hair I was looking for. The are lots of different colours of locks in 2 lengths.

Ok, I have the colour of fibres I was looking for! Next where to put the fiber. Great more fun research!! (really, I do enjoy the quest. research is fun!!!)

After a lot of previous browsing about koi and butterfly koi, I decided on Kohaku (the white fish with red spots) if you are curious you can check out a brief overview here.  https://nextdaykoi.com/koi-fish-facts/many-faces-kohaku/

After looking over the options of head and body patterns, and reading up on scale types,  we decided that Yondan or Godan would likely be best. If you count the red hair as a spot she would be a Godan pattern but if the hair is not counted as a spot she has the Yondan pattern. Since go is 5 in Japaneses, I bet you can guess how many spots a Yondan koi has! (4)

Head and scale diagram of Red and white Koi fish Body paterns for red and white koi fish3.3 this is a helpful chart showing Kohaku (red and white Koi)

I found the batt of “Canadian Wool” was an interesting springy, crimpy wool, not coarse but not as soft as merino or even corriedale. It is not a long staple and it needle felted wonderfully. I think it was the T38-333 I was using to add the red wool. (if you were curious about the needle used)

When I had started to block in the fishy parts of Mrs. Mer, Ann suggested it looked like the fish was eating her. I kept that in mind as I started to work on the spots making sure the red spot at her waist/hips were integrated with both her human and fish parts. Thinking of non-fishy parts I finally got around to adding her ears.

The long locks were the perfect colour and a lovely long wavy length. I found a small hair clip so she could wear her hair partly up.

Side vew of Mrs Mer admiring her new hair in a side vew3.4 Side view of Mrs Mer admiring her new hair in a side view.

Mrs. Mer Back view3.5 Mrs. Mer Back view

close up of Mrs. Mer admiring her new hair3.6 close up of Mrs. Mer admiring her new hair

I sent Ann a picture to get her suggestions.

Ann said, “Needs Eyebrows.”

Hummmm, ok, I can do that.

close up showing new eye brows and her new necklace (Red Agate, 2mm and shell)3.7 close up showing new eyebrows and her new necklace

I think both Mrs. Mer and Ann should like that! Did you notice her shell necklace? Those are very tiny stone beads (one strand of Red Agate, 2mm)

I got new project bags so Mr and Mrs Mer would not get over excited and mess up their hair! (I will have to consider a non-see-through project bag if I find them cuddling again!!!) I added Shark-boy and the Mer pets, Sharkette and Miss Manta, to another project bag. I printed out a copy of their entrance forms, for each of them, ready for pick up for the Almonte show.

Item #2  Ice Dragon

I had asked Glenn what else I should send, and he suggested either the Ice Dragon or chickadee I had made for him. I went with Ice Dragon since I would need the chickadee for a workshop in December.

Ice Dragon,  ¾ view, Wire armature and wool body and wings 4.1 Ice Dragon,  ¾ view

Ice Dragon,  Back View, wire armature and wool body and wings,4.2 Ice Dragon,  Back view

Ice Dragon, from the back ¾ view, Wire armature and wool body and wings 4.3 Ice Dragon, which I had made for Glenn ¾ view from the back

Item #3 Maureen’s Vacation

My third submission is Maureen’s Vacation which you saw earlier too. If you would like to get more information on this one look back to Summer 2024.

I chose it because it shows one of the guild members enjoying spinning outdoors. it seemed to make sense to include it in a show about the guild and its members!

Landscape of Maureen's vacation, woman sitting with spinning wheel infront of grasses, with rock with arches, trees and the ocian in the distance5 Landscape of Maureen’s vacation

I packed everything up, Glenn lugged it all out to the car, and off we went to the guild social on Monday. Ann got to check out the Mers and their new hair and spots!

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6.1-6.3 Ann Inspects the Mer’s at the studio

some of the items ready to go to the Almonte Textile Museum Bags and boxes on a table in the guild studio. in the back ground spinning and chatting are happening at a soical6.4 some of the items ready to go to the Almonte Textile Museum

There were quite a few pieces ready to go to the Almonte show, waiting on the table for pickup. The organizing team will get them after the social. I am sure we will let you know when the show is up and ready for viewing!

Now on to moose bags again! I have one more partly 3D moose bag underway and am starting a more 2D version of the picture too. I will keep you updated on these as they progress (I hope you are not getting bored with variations on a moose!!) (I am trying to inspire more Moose augmentation!!)

Until the next time we chat, Have fun and keep felting!

 

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!!

Progress Made

Progress Made

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I am making some progress. I refelted the cut diamonds

 

They are now in a bag waiting for me to work on the diamond project.

I did more work on sheep and shepherdess.

Jan made me a wire shape or the shepherdess for me.  Then I wrapped it in some waste wool and used a felt ball for the head. than wrapped that in Corriedale.

Once I added wool it was not stable enough to stand. So I asked Jan about adding a piece of wire front and back to stabilizers. so she took it and started working on it. We added a ball in the bottom but then I decided she was too tall for the sheep I was making, and she cut the ball in half and squashed her down. Jan added a snail tail that stabilises her well. It will be covered by her cloak.

I have been putting sheep together. I make the parts separately. Long snake to cut into leggings and ovals for heads. I made some flat pieces in the 3 colours for the ears. I cut them out but I want to felt them some more.

After I add the ears to the sheep I will add the curls like the orange sheep on the right. I also need to make some clothes for the shepherdess. I think she will be a brunette but I don’t think she will get a face.

Lastly for today, is why felting small things and holding them with your fingers and talking to people is not a good combination.

 

 

21) adjusting the Pink Sweatshirt the little pet combs are being used as carders as blend purles, pink and a bit of light grey and white
Part 2, Maureen Shared her vacation, which became A Little Needle Felted Landscape

Part 2, Maureen Shared her vacation, which became A Little Needle Felted Landscape

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Part 2 of Jan’s picture.

Now that i have sat and thought for a while, lets get back to felting fun!!

Monday, July 22nd: I have spent some time to consider, looked at my digitized progress felting, and have decided what to do next. The shadow is not deep enough in the sweatshirt, the spinning wheel needs more definition, and the suggestions of flowers, need more suggestions. Let’s see if I spot anything else I need to improve.

I had a short-staple small batt of yellow that had tiny nepps in it. I would not have had fun spinning it but a tiny pinch and a pair of embroidery scissors shortened the fibres even further and I got the nepps to look a bit more like yellow flowers.

adding the suggestion of yellow wildflowers17) adding the suggestion of yellow wildflowers

I had some carded top in white that I pulled off a staple length, then cut it into short bits about ¼ inch to maybe 1cm long. I then opened out the fibre creating more of a cobweb, that, was positioned where I wanted bits of white flowers to be.

Top cut with scissors 1/4 inch or about 1cm18)Top cut with scissors

That’s a bit better….

19) the wisps of short fibers of white, teased into loose cobwebs to suggest many little white flowers amongst the various greens19) the wisps of short fibers of white, teased into loose cobwebs to suggest many little white flowers amongst the various greens

The yellow is still a bit too intense…yellow can do that, I laid over a light spiders-web-whips of white. It’s getting better. Now let’s try to define the wheel a bit better.

20) I like the wheel, but let’s fix the pink top it had deeper shadows.20) I like the wheel, but let’s fix the pink top it had deeper shadows.

21) adjusting the Pink Sweatshirt the little pet combs are being used as carders as blend purles, pink and a bit of light grey and white21) adjusting the Pink Sweatshirt

Hum. No the edges are too strong but I like the tonal values, they are a little darker looking in the photo than the felt.

The angles are not quite right yet, let me fix that. There is something odd with the shorts too, they’re too short.

seeing more spots that need a bit more work 22) a few more spots that need work

Ah, looking at the angle of the back is not right. I think it was a wisps that extended themselves a bit wider when I wasn’t watching. The angle at the elbow is also a bit off…  I can fix that too.  This may be due to not putting a reference frame in as I was transferring the image and the image slipped a bit as I was using the Sharpie. I will remember to use pins and more reference points next time.

Oh now I have to do a bit of touch-up on Ann’s Sheep so I will get back to this later this week.

 

Wednesday, July 24th:

Marie is having another woolly Wednesday on YouTube, so while I wait for that to start I am continuing to fix the sweatshirt, I am almost done, I think…

nuged wool over a bit to fix the angle on the back and have lenthend the shorts. still fussing a bit with the hint of flowrs too.23) I have nudged the wool over a bit to fix the angle on the back and have lengthened the shorts. still fussing a bit with the hint of flowers too. the sweatshirt looks much better, I’m almost there.

Hum, still missing the highlights

fixed the highights on the sweatshert and i think i may have it to my likely. 24) fixed the highlights on the sweatshirt and I think I may have it to my liking.

That’s close I think I should look at the picture in a mat.

adding mat and frame floating felt by pressure so I can assess it. Yellow arrows show specks on the mat from the frame paint chips.25) adding mat and frame floating  the felt by pressure so I can assess it. Drat! bits of black flecks on mat!

The frame is lint-ing bits of black paint onto the mat, the Yellow arrows show specks on the mat from the frame paint chips. they were very obvious to me in person and they will annoy me if I leave them (13 years of picture framing coming back to haunt me!!!)  I will take it apart and clean it again.

Yes, I think that’s better let me think about it for a bit but I may be done!

took the frame apart and recleaned the mat, dusted the mat and wiped the frame. then put it together again.26) re-matted with a cleaner mat.

I will look into a better mat.  it’s a standard size so it should not cost the price of a full sheet of mat board for an 8×10 mat. I wonder if I can find a piece of acid-free 2py to go with it?

I am going to leave it in this mat and frame for a bit and see if it still feels finished.

I wonder if Maureen will recognize the picture! I am so glad she posted it! You never know where you will see an image or idea that inspire you.

More work on my blanket.

More work on my blanket.

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I am making progress with my ‘found’ blanket, and I have decorated another corner of it with some needle felted flowers. Again, I have used some more of the plants from my garden as inspiration.

The flowers I used last time were from spring  – tulips and primulas – and Spring seems such a long time ago now. This is a photo of the first corner I wrote about for that post.

 

The plants that I have chosen for this corner of the blanket are from the summer flowering groups. I have chosen alliums and some ‘red hot pokers’, as they are commonly known – the proper name is kniphofia, but I think red hot pokers sounds so much better! This photo is of some of my alliums, and pokers, but I have cropped the photo too much I think – but I hope that you get the idea.

I love purple and orange in the garden, I think they go together really well as a plant group.

I have needle felted my picture, and then wetted with water and the use of some soap to encourage better adhesion to the corner of the blanket. Some yarn is added to give the impression of stalks. I used some little scraps of orange felt for the pokers.

                               

These orange scraps did not show up very well in the photo, so I have used a little orange acrylic paint to enhance the colour.

 

Now to decide what stitching to add, and hopefully add some definition. I used some french knots in a lighter colour of floss, on the alliums, in an attempt to highlight the little individual tiny flowers, that form each allium. These little individual flowers on the alliums provide food for bees, and make a lovely dried seed head to add interest later on in the season.

                                       

I used a fly stitch on the pokers, and I have couched the yarn ‘stalks’, both done for added security in the event of inquisitive little fingers in the future.

I am pleased with my progress on the blanket, it is really nice to take time to think about plants and seasons when doing something like this, instead of the constant rushing and wishing for the next lot of plants in the garden to show themselves.

I have two more corners to decorate, and I am making plans for that – well thinking about it anyway!

So, this photo shows both corners together, leaving me an impression of spring and summer in my garden.

My aim for the final two corners is to have an autumn and winter feel, perhaps with some seed heads and leaves.