Natural Wools and First Quarter Challenge

Natural Wools and First Quarter Challenge

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We made thick mats/placemats/coasters at the well being group last week. I took in some natural wools, partly to keep costs down, but also because I really like the combination of colours and textures they create when used together. I made my base out of some Portuguese Merino batts I’d put through the drumcarder. The fibre was really short and had tiny nepps in. This is how the back looked:

The edges were a lot thinner, I didn’t add the top ‘decorative’ layer of wools as thickly there, so I got what I can’t help thinking of as a ‘pie crust’ effect:

Some of the wools I used were raw so kept their character:

Close up:

The ‘pie crust’ edges reminded me of when I made another natural piece years ago. I used lots of different wools, with different shrinkage rates, which created a similar effect on the edge. I used my steam iron to firm up and shrink the edges before cutting it into pices for small placemats and coasters. It was alsmost 8 years ago, and the mat has sat on my computer desk ever since. I do use it as a placemat, so don’t look too closely because I noticed it needs a wipe! This is how it looks today:

I found an original photos of it, it was a bit dark so I brightened it, and the colours look a bit different on the white background, but here it is 8 years ago:

Those of you who read my last post will know I was asking about print-on-demand sites for t-shirts. I don’t have an update on that yet, but while I was asking around at local printing shops, one of them mentioned transfers, which reminded me that years ago (probably about 11 or 12) I bought a pack of transfer papers to make t-shirts at home. I found the pack, but had lost the instructions (typical!). I also found some prints I made and never used because of a tiny ink splash. I thought I’d combine experimenting with how long I need to iron the prints with trying them on different surfaces for the First Quarter Challenge. The first thing I tried a print on was a felt sample. I can’t remember what wool I used, but judging by the tiny crimp/texture, I’d guess it’s either 18.5 mic Merino, or one of the fine Swedish wools Zara sent me. This is how it turned out:

It felt crispy! I did get a nice imprint from the hem of the tea towel I used to protect the wool, though:

The next thing I tried was a transfer print onto Muslin. I used a print I’d just made which had turned out wrong. It looked ok in parts:

But in other parts I didn’t iron it long enough and part of the transfer paper came off, but some didn’t … still won’t even after soaking:

The last attempt on muslin was a bit better. I probably should have ironed the muslin first, so I could line the print up with the weave:

If I hold it up to let the light through you can see the weave still:

And here’s a close up of the edge, it doesn’t feel quite as ‘crispy’ as the wool, but is definitely stiff with texture:

Now, I just have to try the samples and see how they felt 🙂

Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach Online Course Registration is Now Open!

Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach Online Course Registration is Now Open!

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You can now register for any of the four modules of Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach. Just hop over to the online classes page that you’re interested in and fill out the form at the bottom of the page. All four modules will be starting April 6, 2018. I would suggest taking these classes one at a time and not trying to double up or take them all at once. They are all online four week classes with an extra two weeks of tutor support and make up time if you get behind. Click on any of the links below to register or for more information about the class. Each module will be offered on a quarterly basis and the class schedules are listed on each page.

Nuno Felting with Paper Fabric Lamination

Screen Printed Felt Journals by Ruth Lane

Experimental Screen Printing on Felt

Printing, Stenciling and Playing with Thickened Dye on Felt

Free Motion Machine Stitching on Felt

As always, our beginners class is always available with unlimited access so you can sign up at any time.

Wet Felting for Beginners

Bags Galore!

Bags Galore!

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Over the past year I have been working on a series of bag tutorials for the FFS online bag class that will begin on May 24th. I am so excited this long-awaited class is almost here! 🙂

The first week will cover the techniques to make a spectacles/phone/pencil case that uses only felt for the closure (no buttons or magnetic snaps), to date most of my pouches have been cats with bling, so this weekend I have been making a giraffe to illustrate that you can choose any animal you wish, it could be beloved pet, a friend’s pet (they make very personal gifts), a wild animal, or even an imaginary monster, the choice is yours! 🙂

In each case below, the tongue of the animal forms the tab that closes the flap over the pouch opening.

 

 

The second week will be about making a bag with adjustable straps and internal pockets, adding a magnetic closure and how to shape the bag so it has a flat base that will sit on the ground without falling over.

 

Finally in week 3 we will look at how make a backback with large internal compartments and multiple pockets, choosing the hardware and making adjustable straps from either canvas webbing or wool. Consideration will be given on how to make large bags durable enough to carry a heavy weight without being heavy themselves.

The red backpack is my bag, it gets daily abuse from me and this is what it looks like after 6 months, they are pretty sturdy bags!

The pale green/yellow slit you can see on the back of the green backpack is a large pocket, I will add a zip when I get a spare hour 🙂

The great benefit of online classes is that you can work at your own pace and at times that fit in around you and your other commitments. Although the class nominally runs for 3 weeks, the forum will be open and I will be there to offer support  and answer questions for an additional 2 weeks in case you are unable to make a bag one week or would like to make more than 3 bags and share photos of your wonderful creations with the rest of the class. 🙂

The PDF tutorials from each week will be yours to keep after the class has finished.

For more information and to register your interest in the bag class please follow this link and complete the contact form at the bottom of the page. I will be in touch by email just before registration opens at the beginning of May.

Making Socks from Start to Finish

Making Socks from Start to Finish

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Our guest artist is Leonor  from Felt Buddies who is sharing a special sock story and process.

Today I’m sharing with you some sock making, from the dye pot to the finished product.

A few months ago, I got a new tattoo from my husband’s co-worker Jim (if you’re guessing my other half tattoos for a living, you’re guessing right). In exchange for his work, Jim asked me to knit him a pair of socks – he’d seen me knit whilst in the studio and was fascinated by the concept of having a garment made especially for someone. I happily obliged!

Because I own my own fibre business, I have a lot of sock yarn available to dye at my pleasure. After talking to Jim about his colour preferences, I got to work. I loved that he asked me for three of my favourite things in socks:

  • Mismatched colours with contrasting heels and toes;
  • Bright colours (you can’t get brighter than magenta and purple!)
  • Socks that glow under UV light.

I had some yarn I was keeping for a special occasion and this was the perfect time to use it. It’s a very soft alpaca/merino/nylon blend.

For some reason, at the time I thought it was a good idea to break down the yarn into four pieces – two for the main body, two for the heels and toes. I’ve no idea why I did this, since I was only using two colours, but hey. I simply weighed the skein and took out 15 grams for each foot to make the smaller parts.

I then soaked the fibre in some water and synthrapol in preparation for dyeing. Synthrapol is a wetting agent and helps the wool absorb more dye. It’s also excellent to rinse out fibres.

After the yarn was thoroughly wet, I made my dye stock using professional-grade acid dyes and to the pots I went.

After adding the colour to the water, I placed one little skein and one big one in the pot and let the fibre sit for a few minutes without any heat. Because this yarn isn’t treated to be superwash (non-felting), the dye takes longer to penetrate the fibre, so I wanted to give it some time to get to every bit of wool.

I then turned the heat on and once the water started simmering, let it be for about 10 minutes, turned it off and let the wool cool completely in the pot. This allows for the remaining dye to be soaked up, and also makes for a brighter finished colour work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In order to turn my skein of yarn into a ball, I used an umbrella swift (pictured above, on the left) to hold the fibre whilst I pulled it onto a skein winder (above right) to make a neat ball. I have all the cool gadgets!

Once the yarn was dyed, washed, rinsed and dry, it was time for knitting. I had made an impression of Jim’s foot beforehand and used it as my template to make sure they’d fit. If you’re curious, this is a technique taught in a pattern called Fish Lips Kiss Heel that makes for fail-safe sock fitting (and heel-making). It’s available on Ravelry at a very low price and I highly recommend it.

And here’s the finished socks! I still had to weave in the ends in this picture, but I’m happy to report that’s been done since and I have presented this squishy pair to a very enthusiastic Jim.

Now, for a fun little extra: I asked for a photo of him wearing the socks for my social media. Be careful what you wish for! Jim took the picture, alright – he got down to his underwear and struck a hilarious sexy pose for me. If a bit of skin doesn’t offend you and you like a good laugh, hop on to my Instagram @feltbuddies and look for yourself. There’s a black and white photo with a disclaimer about the partial nudity, and after you swipe there’s Jim happily wearing my socks… J

 

Thanks Leonor!  If you’d like to follow more of her fiber adventures,  you can see her work here:  https://www.feltbuddies.co.uk/

 

Textures

Textures

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I was really happy with the way the green vessel I showed last time dried. I was worried it’d lose shape, but it kept it and also ‘came to life’ when the textures/sheens of the different wools and fibres appeared after drying. This the vessel from above:

This is my favourite side:

I can’t remember which fibres I did use, I know it wasn’t many, I think the blue on the bottom is bamboo fibre. Most of the texture came from BFL locks:

This is a few of the tiny locks teased apart:

And this is a different angle of the single lock and orange BFL from the 2nd photo, where the side curves onto the bottom, there was a small amount of carded lime green BFL on top of the Merino, which helped create the texture:

This is the soft, wispy piece I was making in the photo from the well being centre:

I thought at first this was silk noil, but it looked a bit too shiny, looking closer I realised it was soy staple, just a bit more dense than I’d normally use. But we always do get carried away piling on the embellishments on these pieces!

Some red nylon, clashing nicely with the Green Merino:

The end of a purple Gotland lock, anchoring down a synthetic thick/thin yarn, with some pink viscose trapped underneath:

Just out of curiosity, has anyone used a ‘print on demand’ site for t-shirts? I’ve been looking at a few like Society6 and Teespring, but thought I’d see if there were any recomendations before choosing.

Techniques for Intermediate Felters Class- the morning.

Techniques for Intermediate Felters Class- the morning.

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On Saturday I was teaching Techniques for Intermediate Felters.  It is a sample class.

First we talked about how felt shrinks and then  did ruffled edges.

As an aside it was Jan’s ( top right) birthday and the class was one of her presents.

Only two finished ruffle pictures thanks to two of the students.

After ruffles we did cracked mud. They did a double sample. One side was done with painters tape and one was done with floor underlay with holes cut out. On Lauren’s piece here you can really see the tape and the underlay.

I wanted them to see how even the thin underlay makes it much harder than the very thin tape.

Some needed a little more fulling at this point but were progressing well. We were on to lunch and then more techniques. I will tell you about the afternoon next time I post.

 

First Quarter Challenge – Part Four

First Quarter Challenge – Part Four

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I am still working on another idea from the First Quarter Challenge, adding mixed media to felt. Here is Part One, Part Two and Part Three if you missed anything. I had decided that I wanted to try to keep the poured paint cotton a little smoother when incorporated into felt. So I thought I would make a little felt frame for it.

I used short fiber black Merino and made a small oval resist. Here I laid it out to kind of get an idea of what I wanted to do.

I then took it over by the sink and wet down the bottom layer of wool, added the resist and then added the top frame portion of wool.

When I wet it down it was all wrinkled and had pits in places. So I added more wool on top to fill in the parts that needed it.

Then I began gently rubbing it. I didn’t get any further felting/fulling photos because I got into felting and forgot.

Here’s what it looked like when dry. I then cut the paint poured cotton to size and inserted it into the frame.

The framed result on the left is much flatter than the result on the right when the cotton was felted inside and then cut open. Both are interesting but with very different look.

I also tried some free motion machine stitching on the left over piece of paint poured cotton fabric. It stitched very easily, much nicer than the paint poured felt. And it didn’t need a stabilizer as the paint provides stiffness.

So have you done anything for the First Quarter Challenge yet? We’d love to see your results, just come on over to the forum and share your photos.

Green Man – Guest Post by Carole G.

Green Man – Guest Post by Carole G.

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This is a guest post by Carole G. one of our forum members. You can follow her here: 

https://www.facebook.com/BagsaLicious/

https://craftybeetle.wordpress.com/

I love forests, the magical paths that lead you through oaks, birch, beech and ash and the faces, there are always faces to be seen in tree trunks.

It is this imaginary along with my curiosity about the ‘Greenman’ and the many ways he is depicted that has taken me along a path of my own. A path of experimenting with leaves, print, shapes to eventually create my own ‘Greenman’.

Part of this journey including using paints, hand dyed fabric, freehand machine stitch, trapping fabrics together with stitch, I even tried trapunto, my final attempt was using merino and bits of fabric with stitch then cutting out shapes. I’m not particularly happy with the final piece but I adored the journey and will revisit this in the future.

First of all I decided to paint paper and print leaf shapes on to it.

Then I decided to use sun dyes to create leaf shapes on fabric ( I haven’t tried this on felt but I think it would work the same way) and highlight the shapes using a freehand machine stitch technique called trapunto.

My next leg of the journey was to explore ways using freehand stitch and trapped merino and other fibres to create leaf like images.

Moving on I decided on the trapped fibre approach and made up a few leaves before trying them out as a Greenman face.

Moving on I needed a backing for this man of the woods, so I painted up some burlap to keep a rustic feel going and hung him from a branch.

You can follow my creative meanderings on both:

https://www.facebook.com/BagsaLicious/

https://craftybeetle.wordpress.com/

 

Various Vessels

Various Vessels

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I mentioned in the blog post before last that we’ve started working with resists at the well being centre. After our first piece using strips to cut make channels and cut flaps, we moved onto 3D. Our next piece was using just a flat resist to make a simple case, either with or without a flap. I chose to do mine without a flap, because I wanted to finish it off at home and shape it differently over a bottle. I shaped it over a Lucozade bottle so it would fit perfectly:

The week after we moved onto bowls using a flat, round resist. After we’d done our final layer we added some carded Bluefaced Leicester and a few locks. Somehow our balloons for shaping had vanished so we took them home to finish off. I really liked the shape of mine, it was really texturey. It still had a bit of a ridge around the middle, but I decided to just leave it because a previous vessel I’d liked the bumpy shape of lost it went I worked on it a bit more and put absorbent cloths in. The vessel is still wet in these photos. This is the bottom:

One side:

The other side:

BFL Texture:

One of the weeks, there was just a couple of us and none of the new members so we made slightly more ‘advanced’ vessels. I used a resist that I usually use for birdpods, but shaped it for a vessel:

The top had an interesting shape where I’d cut it open, I thought about neatening it, but liked the curves:

I fulled it a lot and got some nice migration from the yellow inside. It looks a completely different shape from this angle too:

I rarely take photos at the well being classes, the room has a strange orangey light, and I generally just forget! We had another new member so we’re making soft wispy pieces again, and opposite me, our previous new member is making a more advanced vessel with very little instruction. I hope she brings it in next week, it was a great cylindrical shape by the time we finished, but needed more work at home:

Lambs

Lambs

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This is a short post today.  There is not much time for felting at the moment. We have started lambing here on the farm. We are a little early. Seems we missed a ram lamb and he was a very active little  fellow. Naturally with the weather being cold and wet we have some in the house.

Here is a brand new lamb, still all wet. Mom and baby were moved to a pen of ther own shortly after I took the picture.

These are the house lambs They are on bottles. This is ther first top in the living room. They have now moved to a Big pen in the basement.

And this is one that is getting warm sitting on my knee as I type this for you to read.

I am not sure how I am supposed to get ready to teach  Techniques for Intermediate Felters on Saturday. No rest for the weary as they say.

Well thats it from me , I have lambs to feed.