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Metal bead shaft for decorated key ring, with a small ring on one end and a small globe screwed onto the other
A Few Oddments

A Few Oddments

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On looking through my file of possible posts I have found that there are several subjects on the list about which I don’t have a lot to say, so I thought I’d put them all together.

First, my work basket.  You may recall that I told you about the craft basket makeovers that I had done some years ago https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2023/06/12/craft-basket-makeovers-part-1/  After we moved to Dorset I acquired a marketing basket, can’t remember where from now but at the time it was “in” to be seen wandering around the shops with a basket on your arm.  I didn’t use it for that for long though as I was worried about my purse sitting on top of shopping and being a bit of a temptation.  So I decided that I’d turn the shopping basket into a work basket.  At that time I hadn’t been introduced to felt, I was still spinning, crocheting, tatting, sewing and embroidering so a market basket would be ideal for that.

I used some more of the fabric remnants which I had bought from the same shop in Maidstone where I’d got those which I’d used for the spinning baskets.  I lined the basket, having attached some internal pockets to the lining and made a padded/quilted lid.  That was fixed at one end of the lining and a covered button and loop held it closed at the other end.  I had found a miniature washing basket at a charity shop and I turned that into a pin cushion and I made a small pouch to hold small accessories like cotton reels.  That was fixed to the side of the basket lining with a snap fastener.

The basket got quite a bit of use, as you can probably see from the state of the lining.  One drawback I’ve found to sewing the lining to the basket is that it makes laundering it a bit difficult!

One of the first projects I undertook once I had learned to needle felt was a challenge from a company which used to supply packs of mixed yarns – at least I think it was from them though it might have been a Guild challenge.  It was back in 2002 and as I did not make any notes that I can find, I’m not entirely sure.  I seem to have taken some progress images as I have found lots of these though unfortunately they are not of particularly good quality.

What I do remember is that I had decided that I would make a miniature of a herb knot garden but |’m afraid that my memory of how I found/chose the design is now so hazy that I can’t be precise. I do remember that when I learned to needle felt our teacher gave us pieces of old woollen blanket on which to draw a design that we could fill in with needle felted fibres.  The idea was that we could then wash the work and it would become permanent.  I have amongst the progress pictures images of the design as drawn on a piece of blanket and of the lines becoming “box hedges” and the spaces being filled with “flowers”.  I can also see from the last couple of pictures that I added a “topiary tree” in each corner.

A couple of years later, I acquired a quantity of (I think) Jacob fleece which had been carded all together so that what I had was a sort of grey mixture.  I didn’t really want to spin it as I think I had been duped into buying a bag of really rough fibres.  At about that time I had become interested in stone carvings – gargoyles (water spouts), grotesques, and  heraldic beasts – particularly the Queen’s Beasts which are statues on display at Kew Gardens.  Anyway, I decided that I’d have a go at needle felting some gargoyles using the grotty grey Jacob.  No progress pictures I’m afraid, just finished pieces mounted on fabric covered card or canvas blocks.

Finally  you may remember that Ann M told us about some sheepy key rings that she had made.  https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/06/13/sheep-key-chain/ These looked so good that I’m afraid I stole her idea.  I told you back in December 2024 about the Norwegian Gnomes that I made at our local Museum Shop, for sale there. https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/?s=The+Museum+at+Christmas

Ann’s idea made me think that some miniature gnomes impaled on the metal “spike” could look good as bag charm gnomes to sell in the Museum shop.  I had to change the description from key chains to bag charms because the gnomes were a bit too fragile to sit inside someone’s bag/purse, but should look good dangling on the outside.  Here are photos of the “shaft” on which the gnomes are made, and a few of the gnomes.

 

My year in review; 2025

My year in review; 2025

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Belated Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Christmas. I hope you are still enjoying the festive season (hopefully with fibre and felt!)

What in the world did I get done this year? This should be interesting, since most of this year was a blur of post-surgery and anaesthetic recovery (including a few very tiny but powerful pain pills – I have no idea what they were, but I vaguely think they may have been green?), I am extremely curious to see if I actually got anything done this year. If you are curious too, let’s take a look!

 

January: I was trying to get organised after getting bad medical test results (I was never good at tests) and found out I was going to have another surgery at the end of the month. Then be out of commission for a lest a couple of months afterwards.  I focused on getting notes ready for the other librarians to take over running the whole Guild library while I was out of commission.  I also taught an inkle weaving workshop and took a workshop on tablet weaving.

A big cheer up was the felt Christmas card from Eleanor. I was not feeling well after diagnostic testing and dreading the impending surgery, so perfect arrival timing!

Felted cristmas card exchange from 2024, a 3-D christmas tree and a raven on a branch in black / white/ grey1.1) Above the card from Eleanor, below was the card I sent to Eleanor

 

February 1st found me getting a drive home from the hospital rather than going to the Spin-in in Chesterville, Ontario. I have photos of the guild’s February meeting, and a few shots from other guild members of some of the things I missed. I know I was doing things, but I don’t remember any of it.

 

March was also a write-off. Anaesthetic and my brain are not friends. Luckily, Ann and Ann were running the library.

 

By April, one of the Librarian Anns had to step away from the library due to illness. I returned to work,  a bit early, Glenn dropping me off and picking me up (driving was not an option yet), it was unfortunately shorter than normal hours. I was not really up to speed; it took all day just to keep the library running. I brought in felting to work on if I got my library work done, but no luck.moose head and moose bag i had been working on at the end of 2024 but was not getting enuff work done to work on them in January2.1) Moose head and moose landscape bag. At this point, it was still probably a good idea not to be doing a lot of stabbing with sharp objects.

April was not all frustrating and forgotten, I also got a surprise to cheer me up! I was watching Marie from Living felt on YouTube and had been commenting on her videos (not that I remembered doing so shortly after each episode), one of which was her store’s Birthday party. My anaesthetic brain at the time did not remember winning anything, so I was so happy and surprised when one of her deluxe wet felting kits arrived! Thanks, Marie, that really cheered me up! (and I got to try it for workshops much later in the year).

Living felt from Texis wet felting tool kit and bag2.2)A surprise from Living Felts on line Birthday party

 

May arrived, but was still mostly lost in the fog. I seem to have worked on the Library report, and I am pretty sure it was Glenn who drove us down to the fibre festival at Spencerville (south of Ottawa). I have vague memories that I was very sore getting there and back, but it was so nice to get out and see friends and look at shopping.

3.1) Spencerville Fiber festival 2 photos of shoppers and booths3.1) Spencerville Fibre Festival

The long weekend in May (Friday to Sunday) was also CanGames and ghelting convention, which I have told you about before. I finally thought it might be safe to try a needle felting project. I may have been a bit premature in trying that. I somehow wound up with 6 fingers on one hand, and my under structure wrapping was not as tight as it should be.

3.2-3.3) Oops still can’t count! hand with 5 fingers and a thumb 3.2-3.3) hand repaired to only have 4 fingers and a thumb3.2-3.3) Oops, still can’t count!

evicting racoon in live trap from the garrage3.4) I somehow forgot we evicted another garage dweller. He was not impressed.

 

By June, I was feeling safer to make expensive decisions, but I limited it to one new camera. The old one was over 13 years old and was needing an upgrade. I still don’t really remember much unless I am looking at the photos from what I was up to. (I am glad I took pictures, or I would not remember doing anything!)

4.1) new Nikon bird watching camera with sneaky powerful zoom feature.4.1) new Nikon bird watching camera with sneaky powerful zoom feature.

4.2) I continued to putter on the Mer-Boyfriend I was creating for the missing Miss Mer 4.2) I continued to putter on the Mer-Boyfriend I was creating for the missing Miss Mer.

June 07, we tried to be in two places at once, the Lamsdown Fibre festival and the Dickonson Day Demo. I was doing shopping and photography, so no felting!

4.3) Demo at Dickonson Day4.3) Demo at Dickonson Day

4.4) one of vendors at Lamsdown 4.4) one of the vendors at Lamsdown

I had been trying to be careful about large perchasess with anesthetic-brain but I had been waiting for a stock tank of about this size to go on sale, so I bought it!

4.5) 75-gallon stock tank, becomes perfect fleece washing station. 4.5) A 75-gallon stock tank becomes a perfect fleece washing station.

With the addition of a fleece washing station in the side yard/Driveway, I got to work washing my way through the fleeces from the last couple of summers I had not felt up to working on.

4.6) Glenn was very helpful working the spin dryer for me. (its an old RV hand washer/spin dryer) 4.6) Glenn was very helpful working the spin dryer for me. (It’s an old RV hand washer/spin dryer)

4.7-4.8)the father’s day weekend brings a blacksmithing workshop to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan Onrario (East of Ottawa) - black smith made sisors on display on a folding wood table 4.7-4.8)the father’s day weekend brings a blacksmithing workshop to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan Onrario (East of Ottawa) - needle felting mer-person4.7-4.8)the Father’s Day weekend brings a blacksmithing workshop to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan Onrario (East of Ottawa).

This was a great chance to do some photography of blacksmithing, and do a bit more felting, on the young mer I had started last month.

4.9)There was also a demonstration of finishing a blanket by walking it. (walking is likely spelt differently when applied to a wet blanket thumped repeatedly on a table.) 4.9)There was also a demonstration of finishing a blanket by walking it. (walking is likely spelt differently when applied to a wet blanket thumped repeatedly on a table.)

 

July continued fleece washing, a bit at a time. I still seem to keep over-exerting myself, but I was feeling so far behind.

5.1) 3 more bins to sort and wash. 5.1) 3 more bins to sort and wash.

5.2) Trying to sort without a skirting table 5.2) Trying to sort without a skirting table.

This month, I was back to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum to demo felting for them at their Fibre/Textile day.

5.3) 3 of the Mer Family and their pets get out to a demo. It was an extremely hot day and they seemed happy to be in the shade of the porch.5.3) 3 of the Mer Family and their pets get out to a demo. It was an extremely hot day, and they seemed happy to be in the shade of the porch.

 

In August, the guild had a workshop on Cyanotype printing with felt. It was a half-day workshop and ran twice. I took lots of photos, which reminded me of playing with the enlarger in the dark room.

6.1)Cyanoprinting with felt6.1)Cyanoprinting with felt

August is also the time of the very large fibre festival Twist, about an hour away in Quebec. Glenn came with me as my attendant, and I filled in at the guild demo table with the Mer boyfriend I was working on. I missed getting a roll of garden felt, so I went back on Sunday. (We had the comfy duck sandwiches twice this year!)

6.2) I missed out on this size, but got a piece from the big roll 6.2) I missed out on this size, but got a piece from the big roll

There was more shopping, a bit closer to home, at Stash-it Fibre Festival in Kempville, Ontario (about a half hour south of Ottawa)

6.3) I seem to be focused on fiber acquisition again, I see more fleece washing in my future.6.3) I seem to be focused on fibre acquisition again; I see more fleece washing in my future.

 

September is Almonte Fiberfest (about half an hour west of the west end of Ottawa). I again did a “few” photos for the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, who run the event (I hope I remembered to send them!)I am pretty sure I showed you the Booth Birds of a Feather by Catherine

7.1) Birds of a Felter booth, at Almonte FiberFest7.1) Birds of a Felter booth, at Almonte FiberFest

A few more fleeces to wash, the stock tank has been helpful, and fall seems to be holding off, so I may get these done before snowfall! One was a lovely but horribly dirty ram Shetland fleece

7.2) big Shetland fleece (looks like he took a mud bath before sheering)7.2) big Shetland fleece (looks like he took a mud bath before shearing)

 

In October, I tried a wet felted Slipper workshop with Ann. I was sure I could make a simple pair of slippers in a day…. No, not quite yet, it seems, but I had lots of fun, stayed reasonably dry and am looking forward to finishing up the slippers when I have another burst of energy.

8.1) Jan’s almost finished slippers at the end of Ann’s Class.8.1) Jan’s almost finished slippers at the end of Ann’s Class.

This month, I also spotted a cottage for sale, very close to my brother’s cottage. It had just had a major price drop, which might have potential, so worth taking a look at it.  There is also a Quonset hut, on about an acre of land, not too far from that’s for sale too. One is better for spin and felt in’s the other would be better for blacksmithing. At least neither is attached to a piece of protected swamp, which was almost everything I have looked at for the last few years!

8.2) cottage option8.2) cottage option

October is also the month for KanataCon Board game and Felting convention! They are the gaming convention with the HUGE second-hand game sale where I found a game about alpaca and one about lamas! I also got a lot more work done on the Mer-Boyfriend for Miss Mer.

8.3) Fiber related board games8.3) Fibre-related board games

8.4) Glenn with the young Mer-sturgeon now with bumps!! (on the mer not Glenn8.4) Glenn with the young Mer-sturgeon now with bumps!!

The day after the gaming/felting convention was a new Fibre festival in Merrikville Ontario. It was a nice drive down, fabulous weather for photographing the locks and a bit of good shopping.

8.5) Fall colours and the locks at Merrickville8.5) Fall colours and the locks at Merrickville

October was very busy. The day after Merrickville, we jumped in the car and headed for Toronto. We did a couple of shopping stops on the way to Oakville, but made it through all the Toronto Traffic! (Rush hour may be nearly 24 hours long!)

On Tuesday, Glenn and his brother did legal stuff, and I had a lovely day staring at architecture, photography, and felting.

8.6) Happy with his hand upgrade8.6) Happy with his hand upgrade

The next day, we stopped to shop with Monika at the Olive Sparrow on the way back to Ottawa. By the time we made it home, I felt wiped!  I think I could have slept for at least a week.

 

November arrived, and it’s time for the Guild Sale and Exhibition. This event is run by Ann, and I help where I can. I am still noticing I am not back to full steam yet. I usually can photo-document the event as well as run the music and demo felting. Not this year, photos and music were all I could manage. Most of the signage and layouts could be updated from last year, so not as much pre-work either. We had a couple of good felters with booths this year. If you check back in the blog, you will see the photos.

 9.1) Ann showing how a drop spindle works (she is wearing her new name tag) i cant remember when i made her her new name tag?) 9.1) Ann showing how a drop spindle works (she is wearing her new name tag).

At the end of November, I ran the needle felted landscape workshop. We look at wool in a painterly approach. Ann took this workshop and has been having fun with mist and trees!

9.2) November students and their felt Paintings (it looks like they had fun)9.2) November students and their felt Paintings (it looks like they had fun)

The next day, I got up nice and early and headed back to the guild. This time Ann was teaching, and I was the student. I was oddly tired (as if I had been very busy the day before) even before we started, but it was fun (and dangerous, you could get wet). I was able to get all the rolling done by the end of the class. I still need to do a bit more shaping to finish off, oh, the want of free time!!  I am not sure where all the time goes, but I seem to be missing more of it this year than usual!!!

9.3) my odd shape black hat in progress9.3) My odd-shaped black hat in progress. (Can you guess what it will look like?)

 

It’s finally December, and I’m not sure I was ever going to make it to the end of the year, but I am happy I did. I had a workshop teaching beginning Inkle weaving, with great students again!

9.4) Inkle weaving workshop9.4) Inkle weaving workshop

Inkle looms make straps, belts, trim, ties, and narrow woven band. It is usually woven where only the warp is showing, and usually the colour order of warping will determine your pattern. There is the option of Pickup (for which there are other better teachers), and I have taught the “inkle Two” class of many of the truly weird things you can weave on an inkle loom, but may or may not want to.

 

Throughout the past year, with the help of the other librarian, I have continued to volunteer at the guild library. I usually put in over 500 hours each year.  I am about to get to the number crunching for the library year end data. (which, considering my lingering deterioration of math skills, may make this more of a challenge this year)

I am glad this year is almost behind me. It was interesting to see what I did, even if I didn’t remember doing it, until I saw the pictures. The heavy fog seemed to go on for more than the first half of the year, with mini fog attacks even up to recently (I will be able to add again any time I want to soon). I am going to try to avoid having any anaesthetic for as long as I can in hopes my spelling improves, and my little bit of math comes back!!

 

I am optimistic that you are as excited and hopeful about 2026, it’s a pleasant shape, for a number, so I am optimistic. I also have some wet felting to finish and some dry felting to find! Have fun and see you Next Year!!!

A Summer Round Up

A Summer Round Up

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As I sit down to begin this post the sky has darkened and the rain (fingers crossed) is about to fall, heaven knows we need it, but what a fabulous summer it’s been so far here in sunny Lincolnshire! I don’t know about you but I tend to not do too much in the way of creative stuff through July and August as there are too many distractions and this year the intense heat has made me feel very lazy so lots of time spent relaxing, reading and watching creative videos. Consequently I’ve now got a table of projects I want to finish and a head full of others I want to start!

A couple of projects I did do this summer are two wet felted vessels. The first one, inspired by a shrivelled seed pod, was made at the İFA Region 8’s Summer School in Arnesby near Leicester. Our region encompasses several counties and is so spread out we struggle to get our İFA members to attend. On the other hand we have a regular group of creative ‘non members’ in the locality who are more than welcome to come along to our events, and thankfully they do! It was a busy and fun two days…..

My seed pod began life as five leaf book resist measuring 27cm x 36cm and various colours of Merino and Corriedale fibres.

It’s final shape was formed after lots of pushing and pulling and using strong clips to get it to stay as I wanted it.I decided to keep the opening as tiny as possible and, as a consequence, the resist had to be ripped to shreds in order to remove it! I’m wondering about adding some hand embroidery here and there in the shape of circles using a dull gold thread, I think it’s lacking something but is that it?

Photo of a wet felted 3D multicoloured seed pod with a shrivelled appearance.
Photo of a wet felted 3D multicoloured seed pod with a shrivelled appearance.

The second vessel was started last Friday when I was working at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln. I’d seen a post somewhere mentioning they were having their second Artist Studio Day and inviting local artists to apply. If successful it meant I would get the use of a table in their ground floor workspace and get to spend the day with four other artists. It sounded like a great opportunity and I’m so glad I applied! Only four artists turned up on the day and unfortunately one of those had to leave early. My other two companions were both painters and it was nice to get to know a bit about them and watch them work. We had a few members of the public come in to see what we were doing but for most of the time it was very quiet which allowed us to focus on what we were doing.

Knowing I wouldn’t get finished, but would need to get my vessel to a stable state before leaving the gallery, meant I needed to do a bit of prep the day before. So I decided on a size, cut my circular resist and made this piece of prefelt combining threads, fabrics and fibres to cut up and use as surface decoration.

Prefelt for surface decoration
By the time we had to leave I had a stable prefelt that looked like a pizza and could be folded into my bag….it was too large to carry it flat!
The finished rock inspired vessel

One of the Summer pieces I’ve yet to finish is an Iris which I started at the end of July. This is going to be for the Lincolnshire Textile Groups Bountiful Botanicals competition taking place in October. I’m creating it from hand painted Tyvek fabric and wire and the flower will be approximately 30cm dia by 115cm tall. I’ve just got the leaves to do now and then I’ve got the perfect spot for it in my lounge when it’s finished. I don’t want to reveal too much before the competition so this is a sneak preview for now…..

 Finally I’ll leave you with some images from this year’s fabulous Asylum Steampunk Festival. As ever there were some outstanding costumes, some very strange costumes and some that looked like they’d missed the theme altogether but it really didn’t matter! There were steampunk enthusiasts represented from all over the UK and from various European countries. One lady said she had come over from Hong Kong especially to join in the festival! The atmosphere is the friendliest you could imagine and the whole Cathedral Quarter was buzzing!

True to form I didn’t make time to create a costume but this year I did dig out a long skirt and a waistcoat as a (very) token gesture in order to wear my oversized steampunk dragonfly brooch.

 

Photo of a 3D dragonfly created from machine stitched fabric. It’s painted in metallic colours of mainly green, pink and blue.
Felted Shells and Fabric Insects

Felted Shells and Fabric Insects

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In my last post I showed you my wet felted conch shell made from Merino and Corriedale fibres with ribs made from Sari silk yarn. I liked the shape of this and wanted to make another, this time in off white with pale coloured ribs. I found a site on Etsy selling a beautiful subtle coloured variegated sari yarn but unfortunately when it arrived it was so loosely spun I realised it wouldn’t be suitable for this particular project.

Pale neutral coloured Sari yarn layer out in rows


As I was in the mood for felting I didn’t want to have to reorder so decided to search for a pastel “slubby” knitting yarn which I knew was hidden somewhere in the depths of my yarn stash.

A ball of pale grey knitting yarn with slubs in shades of grey and peach.

It turned out to be far easier to work with than sari silk as it was less inclined to move while felting and it had just the right amount of colour and texture for the look I was after. I was intending to leave this shell plain white but now it’s made I think it will benefit from a bit of shading so that’ll get added at some point.

I increased the size of this one to approx 31cm long x 15cm wide x 6cm high. My spinning group has a coastal theme for our 2026 exhibition so there will be lots more shells being made in various fibres, fabrics, techniques, shapes and sizes.

Two wet felted conch shells. A small one in shades of red and blue. A larger one in white with pale grey and peach coloured ribs
A white wet felted conch shell with ribs in pale grey and peach.


Wet felted spiral shells crop up a lot online and I’d been wracking my brain for ages trying to work out how these are made. I had a light bulb moment back in December when I made this small spiral shell from 10gm of carded Corriedale. Since then I’ve worked out another way of achieving a similar shape and so made this larger version using 20gm of carded Corriedale fibre and measuring approx 13cm x 9cm.

Photo shows two wet felted spiral shells, the larger one is beige, the smaller one is grey.

At one point the shell was sitting next to this bowl and I wondered how the centre piece from the bowl would look inserted in the shell…..

Photo of a wet felted bowl made with blue and turquoise Bergschaf fibres. Felted cords radiate out from the centre of the bowl creating height and interest.

…..I quite liked it so I’m now wondering whether to leave it in there as an abstract hermit crab or make the effort to felt a more realistic looking crab, what do you think?

Beige coloured wet felted spiral shell. Lilac and pale green felt cords protrude from its opening suggesting an abstract life form.
Photo of a beige coloured Wet felted spiral shell with abstract hermit crab poking out of it.

Another theme I’m working on right now is insects, particularly dragonflies and butterflies. It all stemmed from a tutorial by textile artist Anastasiya Goleneva to make this beautiful dragonfly brooch. It’s made from hand and machine stitched and painted calico. At 16cm long x 21cm wide it worked out a bit too big for me to wear as a brooch so instead I’ve put a Command strip on the back and mounted it to the wall.

Having enjoyed making it I decided to do another but using interfacing and my own technique for the body and legs that would allow it to stand and give it a more delicate, longer, slimmer look. One thing I’m not happy with is the “flat” face which suited the brooch but doesn’t look right on the standing dragonfly so version three is underway!

Photo of a 3D dragonfly made from machine stitched fabric and hand painted. It’s standing on an outside table with greenery in the background.
Photo of a 3D dragonfly created from machine stitched fabric. It’s painted in metallic colours of mainly green, pink and blue.

The dragonflies led to my friend Diane asking me to show her how to make a simple butterfly brooch so I made a couple of samples with body and wings made from painted cotton velvet. This fabric takes on a beautiful leather like look and feel when painted with fabric paints or acrylics and remains very soft and flexible. I was thinking of hand embroidering the wings but decided to keep it basic as Diane could add more detail if she wanted to.

…

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skeleton of a hare standing on hind legs
Hare Today !!!

Hare Today !!!

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I had been wanting to go back to needle felting sculptures for some time, so when I came across a tiny picture of a hare in our local free newspaper New Blackmore Vale Magazine,  I knew I’d found what I wanted to do.  Rather than the usual boxing hares, which I may well have a go at sometime in the future, I felt called to this solitary speeding hare.  He only had one fore foot on the ground and was obviously in a great hurry.

Brown Hare running on snowy ground
Original Inspiration

On getting my necessary supplies together, it was clear that I would obviously need a good strong armature for him and a solid base to hold it steady.  Trawling through my drawer of wires, I found what looked like an unused coil of old, cotton covered, bonnet wire (probably pre-WW2).  I’ve no idea what gauge it was but it was obviously strong enough to hold up an old fashioned bonnet brim, so I was sure it would keep the hare upright.  Having  resorted to Google for images of hare skeletons (naturally I wasn’t able to find one in the actual pose I needed, but I did find a couple of useful references) I looked out some other wires which would probably do for the pelvis and rib cage.  I fiddled with the images and printed off one enlarged to the size I wanted to make the hare and then made a tracing/drawing to use as a working pattern.

My idea was to have a base made from two pieces of wood, with  extended leg wire from the only leg actually touching the ground passing though a hole drilled in one piece of wood, and then bent at an angle of 90º. The wire would then be pressed into a slot cut into the underside to stop the hare swinging around when mounted.

image of wire protruding from bottom of piece of wood
Showing the extension of the armature from the grounded foot protruding from the bottom of the base

The second piece of wood would be fixed under the first piece to keep the wire in place and also to add extra weight to avoid the whole thing being top (or hare) heavy.

I would use the bonnet wire for the spine and head, and pipe cleaners for the pelvis and ear armatures, then go back to bonnet wire for the limbs.

While I was working up the armature I first had the leg wire stuck in a heavy reel of wire.

Subsequently, when I was needle felting, the leg wire was passed through a newly made slot in my felt needle felting cushion.

Using more of my scoured merino, which I had bought quite some years ago now from Wingham Woolwork, I started to fill in the inner body.  The wool is scoured but not otherwise prepared, so it required quite some carding to get it into a state where I could use it to wrap the armatures and to fill in the muscles to give some substance to the animal.  Here are some views of that work in progress.

I had of course gone to Google Images for reference pictures of hares from an all round perspective, both for body shape and for colour, from which I blended various colours for my palette.  Here are a few of those.

Then I started adding the “top coat”.  Working on a sculpture rather than on a “painting” was a bit complicated (and painful at times) until I found myself a small piece of polystyrene packing foam to use when I couldn’t rest the part of the hare I was needling onto my felt cushion.

Another complication was transporting the hare from home to the various venues where I was working on him.  In the end I used an empty plastic box and turned him upside down into it.  It was a bit of a squeeze but he just about got in safely.

Bit by bit, over several months, he began to emerge from the fibres.

I had originally thought to use a pair of glass eyes which I had in stock as they were the right colour and had the black surround which can be seen on a real hare.  Unfortunately they were too big so I fell back on giving the hare orange woollen eyeballs and working them up from there.

When he was substantially finished, I added some “grass” and “rough undergrowth” to the “soil” on top of the wooden base.  This consisted of all sorts of odd bits of fluff, fibre, yarn and fabric selvedges, plus some suitable acrylic paint.

4 different images of waste fibres and yarns in greens, creams and browns
Some of the bits and pieces of scrub and grass

The footwire was poked into the hole in the ground and bent under so that he was running across the scrub land. Then, using his carry box as a stand, I added and secured the second piece of wood.

showing clear plastic box topped with 2 blocks of wood on top with needle felted hare attached upside down inside the box. The two pieces of wood are stuck together with masking tape and partly screwed together
showing his carry box and adding the 2nd part of the base

Although the 2 pieces of wood were from the same larger piece they did not look good when screwed together so I painted them green, obscuring the fact that they were not one large piece.  I thought I was done then, but unfortunately one of the pieces of wood started to warp and spoiled the illusion.  Eventually, after some thought, I removed the bottom piece of wood and glued some non-slip matting over the base (having first taped the footwire into its slot in the bottom of the base) and painted the underside the same green as the sides.

Whilst working and looking at the reference pictures of the whole animal, I realised that he probably had had lots of whiskers.  So I looked for more reference pictures of hare(y) faces and saw that indeed he did.  So how to add these essential appendages?

4 images of close up pictures of whiskery hares' faces
harey faces

I have for some years now been collecting cats’ whiskers.  (They make great fishing rods for fishermen living in the countryside of 00 gauge model railway layouts!)

Black paper with many white cats' whiskers
It’s the cat’s whiskers

I would use some of these for the hare.  Initially I was adding a dot of glue to the end of the whisker, poking a hole in the hare’s muzzle and pushing in the whisker.  The problem was that the whiskers were life-size for a cat, but too big for my hare.  The whiskers were actually strong enough to be poked into the hare’s muzzle without first making a hole, (provided there wasn’t a bit of armature in the way), so in the end I just poked them in and through and out the other side, chopping off the protruding bit and leaving the right length behind.  In fact, unless someone tries to pull them out, the whiskers will stay where they are.

needle felted hare's head with whiskers poked through muzzle and protruding ends being cut off with scissors
cutting the poked through whisker ends

I am hoping to find some form of clear box to cover the hare and stand, if only so I don’t have to keep dusting him.

Here he is.

completed and mounted needle felted hare placed on juniper branches to resemble running free
Out enjoying his run, whiskers and all

Since making him, I have inherited a book all about gnomes.

front cover of book "Gnomes" showing front and back images of gnome with pointed red hat, leather belted blue coat, brown trousers and "deer skin" boots. Gnome has brown face and white hair, eyebrows, moustache and beard
Cover of Gnome book

One of the fascinating things I have learned about them is that they can run as fast as a hare and are small enough to take a ride.  So you never know my hare may gain some friends some day.

Final thought – what should I name him, any ideas?  (Don’t say Harry, I don’t think the Prince would be amused.)  I understand that Hares were introduced to the UK, probably by the Romans, so perhaps he might be named after a Caeser!

 

CanGames and Felting Convention 2025 Part 2

CanGames and Felting Convention 2025 Part 2

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Saturday

I hope you are well rested after your nap at the end of my last post. If we want to have accessible parking, we should get going early! Don’t forget to bring a bit of money, there are other vendors and the second-hand game sale is today. Now off to the car with an extra item (ok, Glenn was carrying the extra item). Wow, the highway in town is not busy this morning, oh yes, it’s Saturday, not Monday!

I am again set up by the open games area. I think they are used to me sneaking in beside them by now. Today I brought in my little Canadian wheel, the Lendrum Rook. Gord Lendrum, a Canadian spinning wheel maker, made about 40 of them in the mid-1980s. Mine needs a bit of repair, it was at least second-hand when I got it. The weaver spinner whom I was chatting with on Friday said she would be dropping by, I can show her how this one works and hope it’s similar to the wheel she has at home.

6.1) The Rook wheel and some pretty roving were added to yesterday’s felting stuff.

I worked for a bit while watching for the line to start, then it was time to line up for the sale. This year, I was second in line! Again, with the same person in front of me, last year I was third in line. This year, Glenn had me hunting for another train game. This one was called “British Rails”.  It still does not sound as fun as sheep.  While the organisers were setting up, they put a pile of train games close to the checkout. I was able to see them from the line! I know where to check first!

pile of games on the table more will be added. 6.2) A quick peek as the games are still coming in this morning to the sale and are being put out on the tables. By 10 am, the time the sale starts, games more than fill every table!

Last year, I had bought some of the games Glenn had brought in to sell, because they looked like ones he would enjoy.  This year, I know his badge number, so I will try not to do that again! Shortly before 10 am, I looked behind me to see how long the line had grown. It went all the way across the curling rink!…. turned and started up the far side of the rink, passing where my table was and extending past the open gaming section!!  Oh my! I am glad I am second. I put away boyfriend-mer, who I had been working on while sitting in my portable chair (ok it’s my studio on wheels… er.. alright it’s my walker) and got ready to shop.

looking back across curling rink to see the lenght of people lined up for the sale 6.3) The line goes across the curling rink and then proceeds along the far wall

10 am arrived, and they let the shopping horde surge forward. All of us are trying to fit into the confines of one little corner of the rink with tables stacked high with piles of games. Some were in rows on their side, but most were piled multiple games high. All the miniatures for war gaming were on the back table, I skipped that for now and headed to beside the cash where I had seen a pile of train games. (You may want to go the other way around the table and keep an eye out for the elusive sheep games! Even an alpaca game could be thematically fun?)

I picked up the train game he wanted, found a few more and spotted one of those unfun 18XX games Glenn likes, sold by badge number 118, oh Drat! He is badge 118, so I better not buy it for him!  There were lots of pretty boxes to look over. I was trying to shop for Glenn and find some games for my brother’s cottage, too. I even found another Sheep game to add to the collection. This one is for 2 players and has little wooden sheep tokens.  They are sooo cute!!!

I finally escaped the crushing throng of game seekers and made it back to my little table to resume work on the new mer-person. Building up his torso, now his head seems too small.. ok add more brains!  (think zombie voice “Brains”) Glenn returned from his morning train game, victorious (he came in first) and was checking over what I had found. I was successful in my game quest for him, and he was pleased with the others I picked up.

game with sheep on the cover6.4) “Agricola” is a 2 Person game about raising sheep. (We have not tried it yet, but the sheep are wooden and look very cute!)

pile of games on small table 6.5 Some of the Games I found, including what he had requested!

We took another peek at the games as the crowd thinned. Odd, I saw lots of things I had not noticed the first time. I added a couple more to the pile while Glenn got us lunch. The curling rink caterers are very good this year. I had asked for grilled cheese with bacon, but got a club sandwich, which was very tasty, but seemed short of the grilling and the cheese. Well, maybe we can have that for dinner?

I did promise I would get back to work on felt-related matters (this is a gaming and felting convention!).  I continued slowly building up the muscles on my new Mer-Boyfriend.

upper torso from the back of Mer person, felting needle sticking out of his back 7.1) stabbed in the back by a felting needle, but he has a bit more latts!

mer person lounging on bag of white core wool7.2) Lounging on the bag of world of wool core carded roving

mer person from the back starting to work on glutes 7.3) Ooh, I have reached the glutes and the first fins!! Oh, the possibilities, they have to be good glutes, to attract Miss Teen Mer back to the office when I get home!

Then I realised the weaver spinner I was speaking with yesterday should be arriving soon, back from her shopping trip to Wabi Sabi (that’s one of the local yarn and fibre shops in Ottawa). I had better get ready for her arrival and switched to my wheel. I have a bit of yarn on the bobbin and some of the same fibre left to spin.  Let’s finish spinning that and then wind it off into a double-ended ball. That means it’s wound so you can pull from the inside of the ball and the outside end of the ball at the same time. The advantage to this, over plying with two bobbins, is you always get to the middle at the same time from the outside and the inside piece! With 2 bobbins, often you have one bobbin still having yarn on it when you have emptied the other. The drawback of a double-ended ball is that it can all go horribly wrong and get tangled if you are not careful (and sometimes even when you are careful), but if you’re frugal or only have one bobbin, this is a handy way to ply yarn.  Oh yes, not all of you spin, plying is taking the single yarn you just spun and spinning it back in 2 layers or plys in the opposite direction you spun the single ply. See clear as mud! But it keeps your yarn balance if you do it just rite. If you knit with energised yarn, you can make diamonds instead of squares, which can be interesting but probably not what you wanted.

You can weave with energised singles yarn (there is still a good amount of twist energy present in the singles). There are some medieval fabric finds that are woven in plain weave (under over under over under over……). Because they are warped in little groups of yarn spun with the twist going one direction (Z) beside little groups with the twist going the other (S), when you take the fabric off the loom, the twist fights with its neighbour, producing what looks like some complicated twill all in plain weave. I will try to show you that someday.

Lendrum Rook spinning wheel with tiny scain of blue/green yarn7.4) cleaned off the little bit of yarn on the bobbin, ready for spinning.

I got back to felting. I continued to asked anyone who stopped to chat the questions; if they thot an Orca or Sturgeon boyfriend would be better….I continue to get the orca would look better, but the sturgeon voters kept reminding me about the horrible, possible slaughter of her family if she dated an Orca!

8.1 The open gaming section filled up after the game sale had slowed down and remained full all day.

mer person on table with foam nealing pad as work serface game going on in background 8.2) I added sewing pins to give me eye locations while I work. It’s getting very busy with games now.

Since there is no sign of the spinner/weaver, let’s take a quick look at what gaming is happening today.

There were games I had no idea what was happening, and battles setting up for carnage and slaughter

game with small shapes making a pathway with little meeples on the path 9.1) Not a clue what is happening, but they seemed very focused and having fun.

car racing game very pritty bord and extras 9.2) This is a racing game that was being played on the table beside me. Like many of the games I was seeing, it has lovely graphics.  Even if watching cars drive in a mostly circular track isn’t really your thing, it’s still really pretty to look at.

part of an army about to go to battle stored in top of box 9.3) Definitely impending carnage!

small painted buildings as part of playing area for combat game 9.4) Some of the war games with figures had very interesting architecture or terrains

town with trees set up as playing aria of this war game.9.5) This one had a part of a town, I don’t remember what kind of army was fighting through it. It was possibly more normal than guys in space suits from the other table.

Being set up at the other end of the hall from me was a large metal cube that rotated on a frame. That looks intriguing, shall we go have a look?

table in front has cards and robots for the game cube on the next table10.1) This game is for 12 little magnetic robots. You can see the little robots on the nearby table, all sides of the cube is where they will be racing.

close ups of game being played10.2) A robot racing game on a cube

This metal cube has magnetic-backed maps showing pathways on each side. The robots are also magnetic and will drive around the various sides of the cube. Each robot has a hand of cards; they have to select five instructions for their robot to follow like a program, and lay the cards face down in the order they want the robot to move. Everyone reveals one card at a time, and the movement occurs. Unfortunately, things can go horribly wrong when robots try to land on the same square or miss count and bump into a wall or other obstacles.

takgin a photo of one side of cube to figure out the next 5 instructions to give the robot10.3) A good strategy seemed to be to take a picture of the part of the board your robot was on, then select your cards from your photo(then hope for the best).

cube showing robots are now on 2 differnt sides of the cube  10.4) As you can see, the robots are dispersing on two sides now

5 cards layed out the first 2 are now turned up 10.5) They are working through the second card of this round.  They are having lots of fun, and it’s been fun to watch.

I wandered back to my felting but again got distracted by all the cool details in the  3-D printed dungeon architecture.

3-D printed rubble and castle doors10.6) You can see the layers, so those must be a sedimentary plastic rock, maybe sandstone? Such fine detail in the 3-D plastic!

skelitons in coffins and skelitons climeing out of graves10.7) These little skeletons were so cool, but where would I put them? I did enjoy looking at them over the weekend, and they were quite photogenic for skeletons.

Glenn has returned victorious in another train game, and I was wiped. Even though I had not seen the weaver spinner yet, it was definitely time to go home to sleep. You can stay on if you like, and I will meet you back here for day 3 tomorrow. I hope to get started on the fishy parts then!

Edge Exhibition

Edge Exhibition

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I live in a coastal town in SE England called Whitstable. As a member of a group called Made in Whitstable (a loose affiliation of local artists & makers) we had a group exhibition coming up with the title of “EDGE” at The Horsebridge – our wonderful local community arts centre. We needed to produce at least one item that fit the Edge brief, however we wanted to interpret it. The rest of our work was entirely up to us. 

I could have got away with explaining that practically everything in my wet-felted pictures happens at the water’s edge, and it therefore met the brief. But I was actually quite excited to think through some new and different work. I particularly like working 3D and it feels like a while since I’ve felt really energised by the creative process. So, I thought about what ‘edge’ might mean and I ended up making 3 different interpretations.

Edge 1

For my first piece I pondered the edge of the felt as a focus of a picture. 

I decided on a flat background with strips of felt jutting out to show their edges. I’ve made things like this using multiple resists to create flaps that then stand out. I wondered if I could pre-felt some strips before attaching, rather than creating flaps with resists in the lay-out stage. 

I selected some home-dyed Corriedale wool I had left over from an old project. Just as I’d decided to use this I noticed how well the colours went with a second-hand silk scarf I’d just bought so I decided to use some of that too. 

Home-dyed Corriedale wool and charity shop silk scarf

After I’d laid it out, leaving a fluffy edge to help attach it to the background, I realised I’d made it far too wide. “Oh well”, I thought, “I’ll cut it into strips once it’s prefelted”. I’d intended this to be a test for a more thought-through piece.

Wool layout
Adding silk
Prefelt reverse
Prefelt right side
Cut into strips
Testing strips on prefelt background
Fully felted

I decided to stick with what I’d done and move on to something else: I never made the more thought-through piece.

Edge 2

For my second piece I started to think about the outside edges of a shape. I decided I’d try using a book resist to make a vessel with a large surface area. 

I scanned the internet for book resist ideas that didn’t have too many ‘pages’. I alighted on an article Gladys Paulus (a felting hero of mine) had written for DHG comparing bergschaf and merino wools in which she included a 3 page book resist.

https://dhgshop.it/blog/article-compares-carded-wool-bergschaf-and-merino_88.php

I decided I’d use a similar shape using black and white wool but would cut and shape it differently from Gladys’s. 

I wanted to use carded batts as they’re much easier to lay out than tops / rovings when navigating complex shapes.  I had a good supply of white Norwegian wool batts but was struggling to lay my hands on anything appropriate in black.  I found a black merino batt and decided to go with that, though I wasn’t sure how the wools would interact, with the Norwegian being much more coarse than the merino.

Book resist
Starting to full the shape

The Norwegian wool was slow to felt and the black merino didn’t come through as much as I’d imagined. Interesting, if not surprising.  Eventually I ended up with something that looked decidedly anatomical: three lungs was the most polite thing I could think of.  I got a lot of comments about the anatomical possibilities of this one!

The vessel is an odd shape so I decided to embrace its oddness and bought some curved screw-in metal studs to add to the top of each segment. Given the brief was ‘edge’, I thought these would add a little extra edginess.

Edge 3

And, finally, I created a vessel using a circular resist that I would stand on its edge.  I’d recently bought a carded merino and silk (70% : 30%) batt from World of Wool that I was dying to use – it is deliciously soft and scrumptious to feel.

I laid out the first layer clockwise around the resist, and the second in circles radiating from the centre. 

Layout for Edge 3

Having wetted the fibre out, I turned it tightly over the resist then set about laying out another two fine layers in the same pattern.  Or at least, that’s what I intended. Looking back, I think I got distracted and may have only laid out two layers on one side, as the reverse side feels decidedly thin and soft, despite long and patient fulling.  Distracted? When I’m making something I’m finding fun, I tend to add lots of “what if”s and “how about”s instead of sticking to my original plan. See the ‘ooh, shall I add some silk’ for Edge 1.  On this occasion my “how about”s included a stripe of mohair tops, a dark circle cut from Edge 2’s offcuts (one on each side) and a strip of curly locks.  Fun, but not very scientific.

Adding ‘stuff’

Anyhoo, here’s Edge 3.  It does feel lovely and is very light but I wish I’d paid more attention to the layout.  I’m tempted to make something similar with a 6 layer layout.

In the meantime, here’s my exhibition space. I was pleased with the results and had very much enjoyed making three experimental pieces. 

Before I leave you, I thought I’d show you a natural phenomenon I saw while I was making my edge pieces. Being lucky enough to live by the coast, I often have a speed walk in the morning by way of exercise and enjoyment. It was a clear and sunny early morning when I noticed some mist rolling in. I saw a puzzling white arc in the sky – sort of like a rainbow except it wasn’t raining. I decided it might be a ‘mistbow’ and looked it up when I got home. Turns out it’s called a ‘fogbow’. It’s unusual as you have to have very specific conditions: enough mist or fog to reflect the sunlight but a low sun behind you which isn’t obscured by the mist / fog. The water droplets in mist are very small so don’t refract the light like raindrops do, they just reflect it. It’s also called a ghost rainbow. I saw this photo while I was uploading the images for this post and thought you might be interested. I’d never even heard of such a thing but I found it really lovely.

Keeping out of mischief!

Keeping out of mischief!

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Between exhibitions and challenges, I have been busy for the past few months – at least it kept me out of trouble. I thought I might present some of the pieces to you here.

Just by way of background, I am a member of a small group of feltmakers. At any time, there are a maximum of 10 in the group and the group is called Unperfect 10. I recently learned the reason for the name.  It is in recognition that all members are very ambitious but far from perfect.  I like the name even more now that I know its history.  We meet online every six weeks and we agree a theme for a challenge, the result of which we present at our next get together. Although the theme changes each time, the weight stays the same. The piece we present should weigh 10 grams. It’s not always that easy to weigh in at exactly 10 grams (perhaps that is another reason why our group is called the Unperfect 10!)

So far, we have met three times this year. The theme for our January meeting was ‘Home’. Members’ interpretations were very personal. For me, home revolves around the kitchen. It is the place for gatherings, happiness and informality. This I represented in a cup of tea. Unfortunately I cannot find my original resist but I have drawn one here to give you an idea what it looked like. I laid out the orange fibre on the cup, the handle and just inside the rim and the laid the white and light brown fibre on the upper dome to represent the tea. I then added the circles on the cup as decorations. I felted and fulled the cup, cutting a hole in the base of the cup to remove the resist. I turned the dome top to the inside of the cup, shaped and finished it off. Here are photos of the result.

  • rough sketch of the concept
  • View of the cup
  • I’ll have a half cup!
  • View inside my cup of tea!

 

Our meeting in February required a little more planning. The theme was ‘Carnival’ and each member had to make a prefelt for another member and post it on to them. This prefelt then was used as the main fabric for our creations. Once finished, the piece was posted back to the person who made the prefelt. After a lot of research, I decided to make a colourful version of the Venetian Moretta mask. While in its day, the Moretta mask had other connotations (think Dangerous Liaisons) I was attracted to the button or ball which was attached to the back of the mask as it stopped women from talking, something I felt was pertinent in many societies today. I included curls on the mask – this was a ‘nod’ to the Romans who are believed to have invented carnival, although it was a different affair back then. I used part of the prefelt I received, added some extra fibre, margillan silk and, of course, a button.

  • Front view of the carnival themed moretta mask.
  • Side view of the mask. The Curls are a reference to Roman sculptures.
  • The back of the mask. I added margillan silk and, of course the button!

We had our third meeting in early April. The theme this time was a little more challenging as we worked from a number of words. M.C. Escher; Optical Illusion; Tessellations; Black and White fibre; 3D Sculpture; Resist; Template; Stencil. All of which had to be completed in a 10g presentation! M.C. Escher was a Dutch Graphic artist and if you like you can find out more about his work here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Escher

I found a section of an Escher piece that I liked and got to work. First, I made my pattern which comprised three identical diamond shapes that made up a cube. Then I made three different colour prefelts (Black/White/Grey) which I then cut out and made into 25 joined cubes (75 pieces). These were then felted together. Once dried and shaped, I stiffened the piece and mounted it on pins in a box frame. The optical illusion is the 3D effect, especially when it is viewed in the frame:

  • My inspiration: Portion of MC Escher’s artwork ‘Cycle’
  • Checking the diamond shapes
  • Checking the layout of the prefelts
  • prefelts are ready for felting!
  • Altogether Cubes weighed in at 9.65g
  • Another side view of the cubes. I removed the glass as it was causing too much shine!
  • Cubes front view. The shadowing can be seen here.
  • View 3: walking around the piece
  • Side view of the cubes. It is pinned into the backing

I also had two pieces in exhibitions during March. The first was a live exhibition which was run by my local felting guild, Feltmakers Ireland. The guild is very well run and there is always something happening in it. If you are based in Ireland, it is well worth joining. The theme of the exhibition was “Symbols of Ireland” and I chose the Irish dry stone wall which was recently formally recognized with its inclusion in UNESCO’s prestigious list of protected cultural heritage practices, and the native Galway breed sheep for my piece. Ireland’s dry stone walls have been around since the Neolithic period so I felt that it would fit the brief. The Galway sheep produce beautiful fleeces which are very versatile and can be used for spinning, weaving and of course felting.

I first had to design and build my wall on paper. Then I made lots of different shades of grey nuno prefelts which were cut to the shapes of the stone drawings. Once the wall was felted onto its background, I needle felted the sheep’s head so that it would add dimension to the piece. This was attached to the picture and then the main body was needle felted using Galway fibre. I made a variety of prefelts which I then cut into the shape of foliage and lichen. These were then needle felted onto the stones. Unfortunately I did not keep a record of my process but here is the result.

  • Irish dry stone wall with sheep
  • A close up of the 3D effect and nuno work
  • Another closeup showing 3D plants and lichen
  • The top of the wall with additions

My final piece was for the online exhibition of the International Feltmakers Association. The theme here was ‘Connections’ and I was not sure what I would do for this. One morning I woke up with the words ‘Chaos theory’ in my head. I knew I needed to investigate this. It led me to my chosen topic ‘The Butterfly Effect’. The butterfly effect suggests small actions can have massive, unpredictable consequences. In society, this idea highlights how individual decisions—like a single vote or a small act of kindness—can ripple through time, influencing social movements, global events, or personal lives, ultimately shaping broader cultural and political outcomes.

Lyn and Annie’s beautiful work with tree canopies provided me with the inspiration for the background of this piece. I have been looking up a lot more since reading their posts on the beauty of the tree canopy. My base was inspired by a photo I took in New Zealand some time ago. I then needle felted the butterfly and then wet felted it. I wanted to be able to manipulate its wings so I added a light wiring to the back of the wings. I then decided that the tree canopy deserved a different perspective – what did we do as kids when looking up at the sky? I remember spinning around. So my square picture became a circle. I attached the butterfly by needle felting it securely to the picture but I also secured it to the felt backing to give it added dimension:

  • My inspiration. Taken in Auckland NZ last year
  • The tree canopy is laid out
  • close up of the felted butterfly
  • Checking possibilities for butterfly placement
  • I decided to cut the background into a circle. This gave me freedom to hang at any angle!
  • Closeup of the 3D butterfly

I hope you enjoyed my little ‘retrospective’. I would love to hear about what you have been working on over the past few months.

Just a little reminder: Registration will open shortly for my wet felted hanging spiral workshop which will begin on 2nd May. Please feel free to click here if you would like to find out more.

Making cards, Malta and Miniature Felts.

Making cards, Malta and Miniature Felts.

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Anyone who knows me knows I’m not big on Christmas and up until last year I rarely gave, let alone made, Xmas cards. Then Ann reintroduced the holiday card swap and after making Caterina’s “non Christmas” card I found myself sketching comic reindeer and having fun making a whole batch of stitched cards! This year I’ve resurrected the same designs but changed the colour schemes.
Appliqué fabric shapes laid on card prior to machine stitching.
I enjoy making these and using free motion stitch to attach appliqué fabric shapes on to a card base. Finer detail is then added using felt pens before stitching the coloured base on to a blank card using the machines zig zag stitch.

Three comical reindeer Christmas Cards.


For Helene’s card I wanted to incorporate some fibre so decided it should be a quirky Santa with a bushy Merino beard. This is how he started out but in my rush to meet our agreed deadline for posting I completely forgot to take any other photos so you’re just going to have to use your imagination to fill in the blanks!! 

Let’s just say that when I received my wonderful Christmas Box from Helene with her gorgeous felted card, red bells and those lovely papers I wished I had put more time and thought in to my contribution!! 

Close up photo of Christmas tree with home made baubles
Anyway, moving on…….There must have been something in the air the day I was making my cards as Mark wondered in to my workroom and asked if he could make one too. This is a man who rarely (and only at a push) sews his own buttons on and who has never ever used a sewing machine in his life. Here he was saying he wanted to sew a card!!! I suggested he draw out a basic shape and we’d take it from there. He drew a snowman (thankfully simple enough) and traced the shapes on to fabric before cutting them out. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive at the thought of teaching him how to use a sewing machine. Turns out he’s a natural and I was amazed at how well he did, not only that but he looked to be enjoying it, just look at the concentration on his face! He doesn’t know I’m sharing these photos though so, if you’re reading this and you know him, please don’t let on!!

Did I mention I’m not big on Christmas? Once the cards were made and my tree was up and decorated I felt I’d peaked and got the urge to get away from it all! A quick search on Airbnb and I found a beautiful apartment just a twenty minute walk from Valetta so we flew out to Malta on the 14th December for a week.

The weather was changeable but very pleasant with temperatures ranging from 17 to 20 degrees. You could easily spot the tourists in their sandals, shorts and sleeveless tops because even on the warmest days most of the locals wore boots, sweaters, hats and coats!

View of Valetta taken from L-Isla
View of Valetta looking from the Lower Baracca Gardens along the water front.

Malta’s capital Valletta is a fortified city located on a hilly peninsula between two natural harbours. It’s built on a grid system with its narrow, steep streets fanning out from the main thoroughfare, Republic Street, and dropping down to the waters edge. Approximately one kilometre long and pedestrianised Republic Street runs from the City Gate to Fort St Elmo and houses buildings such as the Maltese Parliament, the Courts of Justice, the Royal Opera House, and many more. This is the area to be if you’re looking for lively bars, restaurants and shops but you only need to walk a few steps either side of Republic Street to feel like you’re in a different world!

Ornate balcony windows are a big feature of Maltese architecture and they are everywhere you look in Valetta.

One of the many narrow steep streets in Valetta with ornate overhanging balconies

Exploring these narrow streets you can find fabulous boutique hotels serving great coffee and home made pastries, tiny bars with wonderful atmosphere and good beer. I also came across these impressive window displays with outfits constructed from folded paper…..

Valetta shop window display of an angelic figure with cloths made entirely from folded paper
Valetta shop window display of a human female figure with a stags head. The costume and head are made entirely from folded paper.

Another window display that caught my attention was this one in Sliema with skull shaped vodka bottles.

Skull shaped vodka bottles

And instore was even better with these bottles of tequila encased in very elaborate beaded heads. Unfortunately my budget didn’t stretch to bringing one of these home!
Tequila bottles with beaded covers in the shape of a dragons head

Close up of Tequila bottle encased in an elaborate beaded head

Back in Valetta I came across a sign for the St Paul Shipwreck Church above a narrow entrance on the equally narrow pedestrianised St Lucia Street. When you see a huge impressive building you have a bit of an idea of what you are going to find inside but when I stepped through this open door I had no idea of the cavernous interior that would open up in front of me! I’ve since read of others who have struggled to find this church so I’m pleased I popped my head through that doorway!


Interior of the Church of St Paul’s Shipwreck
Interior of the Church of St Pauls Shipwreck
Interior of the Church of St Pauls Shipwreck
Silver head of St Paul

Obviously we didn’t escape Christmas altogether in Malta but it was nice experiencing it in such a scenic setting.

Valetta is the smallest capital city in Europe with a surface area of just 0.55 km² and approx 7,000 inhabitants and the city was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. It’s a beautiful city steeped in history with a wonderful climate and friendly inhabitants with the added bonus that at this time of year there are not too many tourists so it proved to be the perfect getaway.

I’ll leave you with a couple of small wet felted pieces I’ve made since we got back. The first is a little Nuno snake inspired by a free online wet felting tutorial from feltmaker Yaroslava Troynich (also known as Bibabo Puppets) If your not familiar with her work or online classes I recommend taking a look. Hissing Sid makes the perfect pet and now sits on his felted stone on my desk keeping his beady eyes on my every move.

The other make was this very tactile small spiral shell approx 7cm wide and made from 10gms of Bergschaf. 

I hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas, however you’ve chosen to spend it, and wishing all of you a Happy New Year and a very creative 2025!

Leafy Seadragon

Leafy Seadragon

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Several of my recent posts have been about the work that was being created by members of the Waltham Textile group for our Making Waves Exhibition. It’s been about six weeks now since that took place so many of our readers will have already seen images, and possibly the video, but if you haven’t, and you’re interested, you can view them on Facebook or Instagram.

Something else I had wanted to make for the show, but didn’t make time for, was a felted Leafy Seadragon. I discovered so many weird and wonderful sea creatures while researching for the exhibition but this species is in a category of its own!!

The ethereal looking Leafy Seadragon has leaf-like appendages that provide camouflage for this delicate creature
Image source: Treehugger.com

Leafy seadragons inhabit rocky reefs, seaweed beds, and seagrass meadows in waters off the coast of South Australia, where they have been adopted as the state’s marine emblem.

These timid creatures grow to between 20 and 30cm in length.  They use their ornate leaf-like appendages as very effective camouflage to blend in with their surroundings, becoming almost invisible to the untrained eye.

Belonging to the same family as seahorses and pipefish, Australian leafy seadragons are generally brown to yellow in body colour, while their spectacular appendages are typically olive-tinted and provide near-perfect camouflage in seaweed. Depending on the age and health of the individual some Leafies can also change their colouration if they need to.

The leaf-like structures are not used for swimming. They move very slowly using their pectoral and dorsal fins which are so delicate they are almost transparent.

Image source: @animalfactfiles


So I thought I’d have a go at making a Leafie this month and I’m hoping there will be space for me to display her as part of my submission to “Water“ – the 2024 Lincs Textiles Exhibition in Lincoln Cathedral at the end of August. Our work will be on show in the Chapter House at the Cathedral so if you are in the vicinity it would be lovely to see you there!
I know these creatures are normally pictured horizontally but for aesthetic purposes I’m using artistic lisence and hanging mine vertically! So, would it be wet felted and stuffed or needle felted? I liked the idea of wet felting the body but decided against it as I didn’t think it would provide enough support for the appendages.

Photograph of wire armature for a 3 dimensional Leafy Seadragon

Best to start with a 1.2mm galvanised wire armature and needle felt the body…..but what was I thinking when I switched to 0.5mm aluminium wire for the appendages? I was thinking I could form the leaf shapes using that wire and fill them in with painted lutradur……what I wasn’t thinking was that they would twist and bend and drive me nuts all the time I was needle felting the body! That wire was making the whole thing too fragile and too difficult to work with so it had to go!

It was replaced with 0.6mmgalvanised wire which, being retro fitted, would now require careful poking and anchoring to ensure they all stayed put! This also meant the leaf/seaweed shapes would need a rethink. They wouldn’t be outlined with wire, as I’d originally intended, because the replacement wire was far too stiff for that. But at least it was easier to work on now!

I began adding detail and colour to the head. When I was happy with that I moved on to wet felting several boney spikes to attach in rows along the back, front and sides and then needle felted colour to the body.

Next the new wires that will hold the foliage were wrapped with fibre and I made flat felt to cut up for the leaves.

This is where I’m at right now. There’s more foliage to add and the de-fuzzing to do so I’ll include a photo of the finished dragon in my next post. In the meantime I just have to share some inspiring Leafie sculptures I came across online.

I was blown away by the beautiful design and detail in these first two which are the work of artist Ellen Jewett Ellen says “Each sculpture is constructed using an additive technique, layered from inside to out by an accumulation of innumerable tiny components.  Many of these components are microcosmic representations of plants, animals and objects.  Some are beautiful, some are grotesque and some are fantastical.  The singularity of each sculpture is the sum total of its small narrative structures.”

In addition to her life as a professional artist Ellen operates a small scale animal refuge with the help of her partner on their Vancouver Island farm.

Image source: ellenjewettsculpture.com

Image source: ellenjewettsculpture.com

I also like this one made by Australian artist Dean Fox using recycled copper and brass on natural rock…… “I am much inspired by the beautiful environment of Kangaroo Island in South Australia where I live. The beaches and bush alike are a constant source of ideas and materials. During my working life in the building and metalwork industry I learnt the many skills I now employ in my creative work. I work in metal, copper and brass and may incorporate found objects and natural timber into my work.”

Image source: deanfoxsculptor.com

Mine is still very much a WIP but in my head I’m already working on a more abstract version for Leafie number two which may or may not involve fibre.