I hadn’t used Nylon fibres in felting until I bought a few different types earlier last year. Recently, I’ve been playing around with them again. Nylon was developed as an alternative to silk and can be dyed with acid dyes the same way as wool or silk, so when I dyed some silk throwster’s waste recently, I also dyed some nylon. I’d only dyed the nylon in red, yellow and blue, so I stuck to using just red, yellow and blue merino aswell.
I layed out a couple of layers of the merino, then I blended different amounts of the nylon and merino colours to give more shades. It felt very fluffy to lay out, and I expected it to be spongy like the plastic fibre or at least be thick, but it wasn’t, and it felted really nicely, and feels very soft. There’s a shininess and ‘synthetic’ look to it if you tilt it in the light, it’s not obvious enough in this piece for the camera to pick it up though. It’s a nice fibre to work with, and the crimped parts can be used to good effect.
Here are some photos of the finished felted piece, and the lay out before felting. If you use nylon fibres in any kind of fibre arts/crafts, I’d love to see the results 🙂
I love texture, especially natural textures such as lichen, bark, fungus, moss… I could go on and on. I have tons of photographs of these types of surfaces and I’m always inspired by looking closely at them. So my challenge for the first quarter is related to surface texture. I want you to go exploring and find an interesting texture that inspires you. You don’t have to limit yourself to the natural world. Perhaps you are inspired by a rusting piece of old machinery, multiple layers of posters stuck to a wall, peeling paint on the side of a boat or whatever captures your fancy.
Once you’ve found the texture you’d like to develop into a work of fiber art, take photos. I’d love to see your working process with this challenge. Since you have three months, take your time and see where the original inspiration takes you. Perhaps you just jump right in and just start laying out fibers to felt or whatever it is you do. Or maybe you draw some sketches and paint some pages in your journal, make some samples and then begin your final challenge piece. Show me your working process and how you got from the photo to your finished piece.
All four of us here will be posting periodically through the next three months for the challenge. If you’d like to join in, please join our Flickr group and post your photos there with a tag of surface texture challenge. Or if you have your own blog, post about the challenge and then come back here and leave us a comment with a link so we can go check out your surface texture piece or process. We’ll put all the links into one of our Felting Around the Web posts so that everyone can see.
What surface texture inspires you? Please do tell! I know I’m not the only one who is taking photos of odd things while everyone else is taking photos of the scenery. 🙂
We’ve decided to have a giveaway in celebration of our new Felting and Fibre Studio and also just for fun! To enter and win this fibre pack you need to leave a comment on this post for one entry. Competition will be for 1 week and the winner will be announced by random number draw.
The pack contains just over 100grms of Fibre
Some hand dyed and carded small batts
Romney Fibre
Merino Roving
Natural Merino Roving
Merino Silk Blend
Natural Silk Noil
Silk ribbon
This is a fun pack to use in your fibre arts.
Competion will end on Sunday the 16th at 9.00pm Australian Time
Looking forward I am tempted to say I see trees, lots of trees but can’t seem it find the forest. I too had a look at Ruth’s link and thought this was a much better way to move forward. I was thinking of using release, as in her example because getting organised is one thing I am always saying. Instead I decided to pick Breath.
Breathe out slowly and let go of inhibitions and all the other things that hold me back from moving ahead with my felt.
Take a deep breath and plunge ahead with ideas for new felt pieces.
Make breathing room by getting rid of stuff that is just in the way.
Say no, so I can catch my breath.
I am sure that if I practise my breathing I will be able to back up and see the whole forest.
I am looking forward to helping Ruth, Zed and Kaz develop out blog and Forum. Along with following along with the various challenges that come up on the Blog and Forum I want to make more complex resists to make more complicated and interesting hats, vessels and birdhouses. I want to explore nuno felt more, being more creative with combining silk or other fibres with different wools and I want to use some raw fleece to make a bag with long curls. I think all that should keep me busy.
What an awesome start to our year with the birth of our very first Grandchild, a girl called Charlie, this will set the good vibes rolling throughout the year and I know its going to be amazing
Following Ruth, I haven’t made a resolution but I’ve decided on a word instead, I’ve been trying to think of one that will set my scene for the year and I’ve written down 5
Change, Trust, Adventure, Belief & Willingness
I’ve spent the last year or more being kind of suspended , I have had a bit to deal with in the later part of 2011 but I was still not really believing that I have what it takes to follow my dreams. Not being able to trust that I could really begin my adventure into the world of Felting and Fibre Art but working on the new Studio Site with my friends has made me realize that if i have the willingness to change my way of thinking, I can do anything.
So my word for 2012 is Willingness and no matter what I try , my Willingness to learn and focus will be foremost in my mind and my work, I guess I could have chosen any one of those 5 words as they all have a meaning for me , but, without the Willingness to Believe, Trust and Change then I’ll have no Adventure at all !
So with my Adrenaline Running on Willingness I would like my 2012 to be one of creativity, to learn and share and be the best person I can be.
I’ll be giving much more attention to The Studio Site and our Virtual Forum
I’ll be starting a 6 week online course with Victoria Crowder Payne in Feb called the Mixed Media Stitch Journal
I’ve already started working on Take a Stitch Tuesday and creating my very own book of stitches
I’ll be working on some embellished Journal Covers and Wall Hangings
I’ll be getting to know more about Fibres and making up some sample pieces as well as laying out my favorite fibres to use in mixed media backgrounds
I’ll be practicing more on creating better textile beads
I’ll be working harder on my Etsy Store and adding more items to that
I’ll spend less time on the computer and more time at my work table
And I’ll also be spending time Babysitting my Beautiful Brand New Granddaughter !
Small steps I know compared to most but I’m happy and im healthy
I never really have a plan for what I’d like to do in the coming year. There are a few things I’d like to do, though.
Karen sent me a package of gorgeous fibres that I can’t wait to try, and Ruth sent me a package of lovely hand dyed threads to use and some lace-weight yarn to dye myself. I don’t know many stitches but Mariana was telling us on the forum about Take a Stitch Tuesday, so hopefully I’ll learn some new ones from that.
I really enjoyed experimenting with direct dyeing on felt, I’d like to explore that some more, try some different techniques and use more colours to get interesting patterns and designs, and maybe even try some stitching on it. Wrapping leaves in felt and steaming to get the pattern interests me too, it looks gorgeous when it works well.
Early last year, I made a couple of Huacaya alpaca fibre felted samples, with the intention of making a scarf. I wanted to see whether 1 layer or 2 worked best (I decided that 2 made a more even felt without losing the curly cobwebby effect). I then bought some Suri alpaca fibre with the intention of making similar samples. I’d like to make the samples and hopefully make the scarf too.
I mentioned in my 2011 review that I’d bought a lot of new ‘other’ felting fibres and made samples. It always fascinates me how adding different fibres to wool can alter the way it felts or looks so much. I’d like to do something with what I’ve learned from using lots of different fibres over the years, maybe write some tutorials or an e-book for the Studio site. I’d also really like to be able to make felting fibres more accessible and affordable to people through the site. There seems to be a misunderstanding that these fibres are hard to find or expensive, they’re not. I hate to see people being ripped off and misled.
I’ve had a few ideas for projects in my notebook for a couple of years, hopefully I’ll get chance to try them out this year. The ‘trouble’ with felt is, it always seems to teach you something new with each piece you make, so it’s very easy for plans to get derailed as other ideas are explored. Sometimes it’s nice to go back and rework old ideas.
I can’t wait until Ruth’s book is published. It was a real privilege being asked to help out with it. I know just how much work she put into it, and what a wealth of information is in there. I also know just how clear the instructions are because I have no idea what any of it looks like, none of us have seen any of the photos, so I really can’t wait to see how all the projects look.
One thing I’m really looking forward to in 2012 is continuing to learn and be inspired by the great felting and fibre community we’re part of. I really like the way people have joined in with the spirit of the site and helped each other out through comments, passed on links and information. I don’t think I’d have tried direct dyeing on to felt if it hadn’t been suggested in a comment. I’m also looking forward to the Studio Challenges and seeing what Karen, Ruth and Ann work on this year.
Last year, instead of making goals, I chose a word for the year. I saw this first on Christine Kane’s blog and she explains about choosing a word in her post Resolution Revolution. I like that the word you choose is related to everything in your life as it is about “being” instead of “doing”. Keeping one word in the forefront of your thoughts is much easier than trying to remember a list of resolutions. Last year, my word was “choose”. I did get a lot done last year in relation to my fiber arts, I was happy with the choices I made and I want to keep moving forward in that same vein. While I was looking at the list of possible words that I might choose for 2012 on Christine’s blog, I came across several that spoke to me. I wrote those words down and my list included clarity, focus, mastery and discipline. After I looked at these words for a few minutes, it seemed to me that all four of the words fit under the word focus. Focus has several meanings including the center of interest, to adapt to the prevailing light and become able to see clearly, to concentrate or to think about closely. So for the coming year, I will be thinking about focus and how that relates to fiber art.
Vision Quest
I also have a list of intentions that I want to accomplish during the year. I’m not sure how I’ll get them all done but I’m sure if I focus…
Continue the Level II Hand and Machine Stitch course
Promote my book when it comes out in August
Begin teaching felting classes at a local yarn store
Investigate future teaching possibilities (felting/fiber art) at the local community college
Mentor artists through the Montana Arts Council program at the store about the business of art
Participate fully in our new virtual studio The Felting and Fiber Studio
Continue exploring the combination of hand and machine stitching with felting
Begin making video fiber art tutorials (which I’m sure will involve more than I think it will)
Learn more about Photoshop and use it more frequently
Continue to explore surface design including more eco-printing with leaves with my local group
Begin researching and planning for The Yurt Project
Now if you were paying attention, you might be saying “What yurt project?” I have really wanted to make a yurt in the traditional way with a felt covering for a long time. It will be a ton of work and I’m sure I won’t get it all done this year. But I’m going to start working on it this year. I have already gotten some books from the library and my hubby is going to help with the frame construction. I may see if I can involve some school groups or civic organizations and teach more people about felting. The idea is still brewing but I’m excited about moving forward.
What are your plans for 2012? I’d love to hear about them.
Once you’ve developed some amazing items that you want to sell, step back and take a look at what you’ve created. Do you have a line of products that are interrelated and form a unified look? I don’t mean that everything has to be the same color or look alike, just that the products should seem related in some fashion. The easiest way to do that is to concentrate on using a consistent material or technique. You could also combine various methods in to one type of “mixed media” but you don’t want to present disjointed products that have little in common. It should be easy for the customer to take a look at your items and understand what it is you’re selling. Don’t be the hobbyist who can’t decide what to sell.
If you are like me, you have lots of interests in arts and crafts and it is very easy to start branching out in all directions and trying new products or new techniques. To form a cohesive product line, you will need to concentrate on one ‘craft’ and improve your skills in that area. Look at old ideas and create new lines from those ideas. Try to produce items that can be made more easily in larger volumes with a streamlined process.
Your product line should include a variety of price points from something under $20 retail to higher end, one of a kind items. Concentrate on the mid range price points and have more of these types of items available for sale than the lower or higher price points. Do offer one or two products that are a premium version of your mid price product line for that segment of customers who want to buy the ‘platinum’ variety item. Don’t try to control costs with this product, add real value such as using more valuable materials and create an incredible result.
Once you’ve got a line of products that are cohesive and include a range of price points, think about how to make your products easier to buy. One way to enhance the value is to name your product lines. Perhaps your lines are coordinated by color; consider using the color names to develop a memorable name for the line. Look for ways to include the benefits or functionality of the product into the name. Emphasize how the product will make the customer feel and add a story to your product. Telling a story about you or about how the product was made will add value and enhance the ability to sell the item.
Next time, I’ll talk about diversifying your product line (if you’ve already been selling your work for a while) and how to deal with change.
It’s funny how a year can start off one way, and then take you in a whole different direction as we learn, grow and be inspired.
Needle Felted Santa
My year started out only ever having created needle felted characters, which did create a lot of laughs but I knew I hadn’t yet found my thing.
Needle Felted Character
As I watched my friends create the most gorgeous wet felted pieces, I took the plunge and gave it a go. I started out with some wet felted cuffs and a couple of wet felted bags, I really did enjoy the process but I knew they weren’t right and really lacking something. So I went back to basics and purchased a Fabulous e-book from RosiePink called “Creating Felt Art”. The girls put so much information into that e-book it was very easy to follow and I was able to create this piece:
First Wet Felted Hanging
And so another new journey began into Wet Felting, the process of laying out those gorgeous fibres made me wonder why I’d never tried it before!
Laying out Fibres
From there I purchased an online course with Susan Sorrell to create Fibre Collage incorporating Felt as the main fibre piece. It didn’t take me long to realise that mixed media and embellished felt is exactly where I want to be. I’m learning that you can add so much to a felt piece with simple stitches , beads or anything you feel the need to use!
Fibre Collage
I’m also learning to make textile beads using Tyvek, metallic threads & plastic strips. I am enjoying that thoroughly although I’m still trying not to burn them!
Textile Beads
I entered Zed’s spiral challenge and created my first journal cover using lots of beads and stitches!
Spiral Challenge
I’m exploring more mixed media and this piece was made using paints for the backing board, Felt, Stitch, Beads and a Button:
Mixed Media
And I’m working on an Album Cover right now that has a long way to go yet but I’m really enjoying seeing that come together.
Album Cover
One of the most exciting parts to 2011 was being a little involved with Ruth and her book. That was definitely an eye opener and I know I didn’t do much, but just seeing the amount of work Ruth has put into that book and what was involved was totally awe-inspiring and I’m looking forward to seeing it in print and in my hands.
My absolute Favourite thing to happen was joining forces with Ann, Ruth & Zed to bring this new site together , to learn, share , be inspired and talk all things felt and fibre to our hearts’ content. It amazes me how we’re oceans apart but working side by side for the love of Felt
Thank you Girls, I’m really looking forward to sharing the next 12 months alongside you all 🙂
