the Chinese and Ukrainian felting machines sitting on green kneeling foam with cords and power/speed adjusters.
First Tests of Ann’s and Jan’s New Felting Machines Part 3

First Tests of Ann’s and Jan’s New Felting Machines Part 3

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Part 3:

This will be a “short post” since we have had a third machine to add to our investigation (which I hope will continue on next Monday).  Ann has received a package from Georgia, hopefully containing the Solar Bee she ordered. It is vary similar to the design of handle and motor placement of the Orange fly but instead of a single needle it can have up to 4 needles. We will let you know what we find out about it soon.

The continuing investigation into the first 2 electric felting machines (China and Ukraine)

A quick look at trying detail work on pre-felt:

I tried fine detail work on pre-felt with merino, first with the Orange Fly (Ukraine). I did not have trouble working along the edge of main branches but found that it felted much faster than I am use to. the increased speed of felting is especially noticeable when we tried felting the tiny branches. Although it worked well, I did not feel as confident in my control of wool moving, I suspect I just need more practice.

1- dry felting on dry pre-felt. creem prefelt, black winter bare tree, orange fly needle felting machene on foam mat with a cuple needles and a bit of black merino wool 1- dry felting on dry pre-felt.

Next I wanted to try a piece of pre-felt that had been wet felted by Ann. This was one of her tree prototypes that she did not use as her finished tree.

2-3 pre-felt with one of Ann’s wet felting tree tries. - During wet felting. 2-3 pre-felt with one of Ann’s wet felting tree tries.2-3 pre-felt with one of Ann’s wet felting tree tries.

   4-6  I wanted to try adding little cardinals (red birds) to the tree. adding red dots to tree branches to indicate cardnels (red birds) black tree branches on prefet with red dots, adding a bit more fiber suddenly got a lot bigger dot. 4-6  I wanted to try adding little cardinals (red birds) to the tree.

I found that the machine grabbed the fiber and pushed it with enthusiasm into the pre-felt. A bit more than I had expected.  Again I think more practice would improve the bird-ish-ness of my red blobs!

back of prefelt showing red wool penitration 7 the back of the pre-felt showing the red fibers pushed to the back.

 I also tried on the orange Fly on 2 more wet felted bases with good results and not as good results.

Our next test base was a felt Ann had made in two colours of brown.

It was about the thickness for a wet felted hat but could be a good surface for a picture.

The single needle of the orange fly did not have trouble embedding fiber into the felt.

adding blue fiber to solid wet felted wool on a wool pad back of wet felted wool pad showing penitration of fiber. adding blue fiber to solid wet felted wool on a wool pad adding blue fiber to solid wet felted wool on a wool pad. using orange felting machine on an angle.8-11 working on solid wool felt.

I found that I felt more fiber movement when I angled the needle insertion. This would allow more barbs to engage fiber without having to imbed the needle into the wool felting mat.  (Angling the needle reduces the depth of insertion while still allowing more barbs to grab and entangle fiber.)

Having only one needle should be slower when laying in a general background colour. But, it is still quite quick, and there was no stress on my wrists, fingers, elbow or shoulder.  Ann and I should try a race between the felting machines vs. the 10 needle bar tool, which I find very fast for laying in backgrounds. But speed is not the only factor that the machines address.

We also considered the mettle machine from china. As you remember the mettle machine did not like most of the felting surfaces as much as the orange fly did. We used the fake clover brush (driveway asphalt painting bush from the hardware store) which is what seemed to be its favorite surface so far in our investigations.

mettle machine felting into wet felted wool on bristal brush 12 Mettle machine felting into wet felted wool on the driveway brush

Wet felted (Fulled) knitting as a felting surface.

Ann had fulled a piece of knit sweater and brought a piece to try felting into. the orange fly did transfer the white fiber through the knitting successfully but it was a bit more resistant than the firm felt.  (It is quite firmly fulled knitting.)

felting into fulled knitting on wool pad back of fulled sweater showing wool penitration 13-14 Orange Fly felting fulled wool knitting on a wool pad

Next I tried the mettle machine on the same surface. I noticed one of the screws loosening so stopped and tightened it. I suspect that you may want to check all the screws occasionally just so you do not lose one.

  15 mettle machine felting into fulled sweater on wool mat, 16 one of the tiny screws had started to loosen.15-16  mettle machine felting into fulled sweater on wool mat, one of the tiny screws had started to loosen.

There is less resistance when using the driveway brush  as a work pad but there was still the most resistance when we were felting on the fulled sweeter. Running with 2 needles was also less resistance than running the machine with 4.

  17-19 checking work angle and comfort holding mettle machine

I again tried holding the machine vertically and on an angle.  Both were comfortable to hold and there was less vibration/resistance when using the brush with this machine.

I have been making a chart for the 3 machines so next we will investigate the machine from Georgia and fill in the rest of the chart. We will open the package and put it through its paces next Monday (which is a holiday) and hope to have some test results ready for the next blog post!

For working on wet felting the orange fly seems to be a bit more enthusiastic towards embedding fiber into the felt/fulled 2D picture ground .  I will not give up on the mettle machine, I suspect we have not found its forte yet. I want to look further at 3-D sculpture. i am a bit concerned with the machines hitting armature wires (I may have to find some safety goggles before I try that!)

Until we can find out what’s in Ann’s mysterious package, Have fun and keep felting!

20 the mysterious package arrives at Ann’s

Nuno Felt Scarf Class + Sheep

Nuno Felt Scarf Class + Sheep

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I had another wonderful day teaching some ladies to nuno felt scarves.

I was busy ( talking) and didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked at the beginning. So no pictures of the starting silk. I dye the blanks myself using the scrunch method of low-immersion MX dying. I learned how to form Paula Burches All about hand dyeing site. It is an amazing site. Don’t go unless you have some time to explore, there is so much information.  http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml 

If you click any of the pictures they should open up larger in a new tab.

Back to the class, here are the layouts just before we wet them down.

pink and purple wool in the shape of a scarf, with an orange silk flower pink and purple wool in the shape of a scarf, with an orange silk flower. close up

Dark grey wool with silk hankies in various colours. In the shape of a scarf. Dark grey wool with silk hankies in various colours. In the shape of a scarf, close up

blue, grey and brown wool and silk in the shape of a scarf. blue, grey and brown wool and silk in the shape of a scarf, close up

pink and orange wool and silk in the shape of a scarf. pink and orange wool and silk in the shape of a scarf, close up

and then everyone got rubbing. This is the time it’s great to have a chatty group. It makes the work go faster. And I don’t have to do all the talking.

woman rubbing a wool scarf layout to make a felt scarfwoman rubbing a wool scarf layout to make a felt scarf

woman rubbing a wool scarf layout to make a felt scarfwoman rubbing a wool scarf layout to make a felt scarf

 

Sorry, no rolling pictures. The problem with a chatty group is I love to chat too and forget to take pictures.

But I do have some pictures of the finished scarves once all the fulling was done.

Finished pink and purple nuno felt scarf with an orange flowerFinished pink and purple nuno felt scarf with an orange flower. close up of flower end.

Finished grey, brown and beige nuno felt scarf with colourful accents.

Finished blue grey and brown nuno felt scarf Finished blue grey and brown nuno felt scarf up close

finished Pink and orange nuno felt scarf. finished Pink and orange nuno felt scarf close up

here’s a nice group shot from the end of the class.

Group of women holding nuno felt scarves

 

One of the ladies went home and dried her scarf so she could wear it right away. Doesn’t Kim look great? The colours really suit her.

Kim taking a selfie with her new scarf.

Denice also sent me a picture of hers when it was dry. I love the silk flowers.

nuno felts scrf on a hanger, dry

It was a fun day for everyone.

I taught a short sheep class the other day. They were young people so just one picture of the finished sheep.

4 multicoloured felted sheep

2023 SECOND QUARTER CHALLENGE

2023 SECOND QUARTER CHALLENGE

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Calling all fibre lovers – knitters, weavers, stitchers, crocheters and felters – challenge yourself to make a table runner or mat.

Here are a few that we’ve made in the past 😊

This starry felt mat not only protects the hall table but it looks good too …

Felt Table Mat white stars on dark background

…and it looks just as pretty on the reverse!

reverse of felt table mat

Here’s a cobweb felt (merino wool and silk top) table runner that we nicknamed ‘Miss Havisham’ …

cobweb felt white merino and silk table runner

… and a 3D felt decorative table runner ‘Spring Flowers in the Snow’.

white felt table runner with 3d spring flowers in the snow

This plant pot mat, in the style of Clarice Cliff, was made for a previous challenge.

Felt pot plant mat in the style of Clarice Cliff

In the first quarter challenge, it was suggested that you find a tree you like and depict it as it awakens in spring with buds/new leaves/blossom – it could be realistic or representational.

If you’d like to continue with the tree challenge, then please do so!  Depict your tree in its next season.

Please post your entries in Studio Challenges here:

https://feltandfiberstudio.proboards.com/board/18/studio-challenges

Or if you are unable to upload a photo, use this link to post your photo

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/community-photo-submissions/

then please tell us about your make in Studio Challenges on The Felting and Fiber Forum.

Completed Nuno Felt Landscape Blue/White Background with Appliqued Birch Trees, Free Motion Stitched Branches and Hand Stitched Red Twig Dogwood Bushes.
Winter Birch Landscape Completed

Winter Birch Landscape Completed

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I have finally completed my winter birch landscape that I have been slowly working on. You can see the prior posts here if you missed them.  I had about determined to skip adding any extra snow in the foreground but then I decided I should try a sample of needle felting the snow.

Nuno Felted Background with Stitched Red Twig Dogwood and Needle Felted Snow Under Dogwood

And, surprise, surprise, it worked better than I thought it would. So I added a bit of snow and then needed to figure out the distant red twig dogwood bushes. (You can see the snow in the final photo.)

Sample of red twig dogwoods drawn with marker on to nuno felt background.

First I tried using a marker on my sample to see if I could get away with something easy. The thinner marker made a very light line and the heavier marker was too heavy. Plus, using a marker on nuno felt gives a very uneven line. On to the next idea.

Sample of needle felted wool thread compared to stitched wool thread.

Next, I tried needling the wool thread into the sample background. It didn’t feel like there was much difference between the stitched bushes in the foreground compared to the needled line on the top left.

I decided I would try a cotton machine thread (30 weight). The stem stitched sample on the left shows two different colors. The redder color is straight off the spool but I wanted the thread to be a bit darker and variegated. So I colored the thread by hand with a black marker. The photo on the right shows the thread before it was darkened (left side) and the thread on the right side of the photo has been darkened with a black permanent marker. It worked perfectly although it’s a little messy on the fingers.

Completed Nuno Felt Landscape Blue/White Background with Appliqued Birch Trees, Free Motion Stitched Branches and Hand Stitched Red Twig Dogwood Bushes.

So here’s the finished landscape. I used the machine thread for the distant red twig dogwoods and you can see the small amounts of snow that I added. I’m happy with it but I will put it on the design wall to look at to make sure it’s finished. Then I will need to choose a “matte” fabric and get it ready for framing. I’m thinking of calling the piece “Winter Color”. Or I could stick with “Winter Birch”. Which do you prefer?

 

What makes an Art Yarn Scarf into a Stole?

What makes an Art Yarn Scarf into a Stole?

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I’ve been practicing my spinning skills for a while now, and although I have mastered the technique of spinning finer yarn, I have a true passion for the more bulky, art yarns.  I’m not a great knitter, I do occasionally enjoy crochet but I much prefer to weave.  When I first took up spinning, like everyone I found that my yarn loosely resembled an ‘art yarn’ more than a fine yarn. It lacked a sense of purpose and it didn’t have that look of “yes, I intended to make this”!  So my priority was to be able to spin an art yarn that looked like it was meant to be an art yarn!   However, at the same time, having read so many comments about people who can only spin fine yarn or art yarn I didn’t want to reach a point where I was only able to spin one or the other.  So I have tried really hard to chop and change my ideas, to try and avoid the pitfalls associated with spinning only one style of yarn.  I’ve also tried really hard to make an art yarn that looks like it is meant to be an art yarn.  I definitely think I am making some progress on this front.  Let me know what you think…

 

I started with a selection of merino wool top in various colours, including an orange, cerise pink and teal as a base for my art yarn.  I then decided to jazz it up with some beautiful turquoise bamboo, which I thought would add some sheen and lustre to the project.  Like all good art yarns, I wanted to add in some interest so decided I would use curly locks of various different colours.  Finally, to finish the interest side of things, I decided to include some recycled sari silk that was made up of different random colours.

 

To start off, I began to add the base merino to the carder.  Unfortunately, I have broken one of the belts on my carding machine – it’s the one that operates the smaller of the two drums.  But for this project, it didn’t really matter as I was not wanting a fully blended batt.  So I was able to add all of my fibre direct to the larger drum.  I did use my little packing brush to flatten it down as I went along.

 

You can see some of the recycled sari silk running through this photo.
You can see some of the recycled sari silk running through this photo.

 

 

In this photo, I’m adding sari silk again to the the mix.  It was helpful that it seemed to work using it like a bangle, wrapped around my wrist enabling me to place it where I wanted it.  If I hadn’t done it this way, it would have been hanging down and could easily have got caught up in the drum.

 

Once I’d finished carding a nice thickness of batt, it looked like this…

 

A completed wool batt   

 

I was happy with the way in which it turned out as I wanted to keep the definition and not have a muddy blend at the end of it.  But before I started making any more, I decided to spin it, just to check I was happy with the way in which the colours turned out.

These are some shots of the spun art yarn on the bobbin but only after I plyed it!  Unfortunately, I got slightly carried away because I was enjoying myself so much, I forgot to take any photos!  For the main art yarn, I spun this using a fine mohair yarn to core spin around.   I made a mixture of thick slubs and thinner spun yarn, so that when I came to plying I could make some nice twirly spirals to add interest.  When spinning the core yarn I also added in some random curly locks, which were all sorts of colours, that contrasted with the base colours I’d used in the batts.  I also added some extra sari silk into the spin at random points through the yarn when I felt it needed a bit of Va Va Voom!

I was quite pleased with the spin…but as I said, unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of the yarn before I began plying.  However, I did take a photo of one of the fat singles in teal.  I also spun some in orange but no photo sorry.

Fat single in teal
A fat single in teal merino. 

As you can see, there was quite a lot of twist in this as I was scared it would all fall apart when I was plying!

 

This was my first attempt at core spinning, so I was pleased to see it coming together as I intended.  I started plying the art core spun yarn with the fat single, and it looked promising…

As you can see, I'm using an Ashford Jumbo Bobbin with my Ashford Traditional Wheel.  

As you can see, I’m using an Ashford Jumbo Bobbin with my Ashford Traditional wheel.

I then transferred it to my niddy noddy.  I didn’t want to soak the yarn in case I damaged the slubby spirals, so decided to set it using a hand held steamer.  These are a few photos of the yarn on the niddy noddy.

  I tried to take different angles to show the range of effects.

All in all, I made two batts of art fibre, which were about 100g each that I used for the core spin.  I didn’t weigh the fat singles but by the end, I had four skeins of art yarn, weighing approximately 300g.

Looking at three of the skeins hanging up together, it looks quite ‘jewel’ like.  So pretty, I’m pleased with the colours…

These skeins look almost ‘jewel like’

I wanted to use my yarn to make a woven scarf.   However, I’m not confident enough in my home spun yarn yet to risk using it as a warp.  This was especially true as I was hoping to use this project for the blog.  I was mindful that the art yarn was going to be quite chunky.  I only had a 7.5  30/10 dent reed for my rigid heddle loom, which would have been much too small for the art yarn.  This was another reason I had to choose a different yarn for the warp.  Having used mohair in the core spinning, I toyed with the idea of using it as a warp.  However, I had read that mohair is very ‘sticky’ when used in weaving, so I did some research first before trying it.  I did find some advice that said you can use it, if you utilise a pick-up stick behind the heddle to help clear the shed.  The only way to know if it would work was to try it!  So, having looked at my reed, I decided that given the thickness of the art yarn I would only use every third reed.  That way, I envisaged that I would be able to space the warp out evenly when I when I separated each strand.  Also, it would allow more space for the art yarn to show in all its glory.

This is the warp before I started weaving.  As you can see, I decided to use three different colours of mohair, just to see what the effect would be…

  This photo show how fluffy that mohair  really is!

I started to weave with the art yarn, and to my surprise it was far easier to weave with than I had anticipated.  The ‘stickyness’ of the mohair really didn’t present any issues for me.   I think that because I had only warped every third reed, it didn’t have the impact it could have had, which was good.

I only took these two photos of the actual weaving process.  One thing that I discovered when doing this project, was that I don’t actually have the weaving loom that I thought I did.  When I first got this loom, as I always intended weaving with art yarn so I also purchased a freedom roller.  I didn’t want to have the restriction in length of weave that I would face when using really chunky art yarns.  Having never used the freedom roller before, I decided I would fit it onto the loom for this project as I really didn’t know how bulky the final weave was going to be.

However, when I got the freedom roller out and started looking at how it would fit on the loom, I soon realised that there was no way it was going to work!  I struggled to understand why, so I took some photographs of the freedom roller and my loom, and sought some advice on a Facebook weaving group.  It was only then, I discovered that my rigid heddle loom was in fact a samplet loom!!! I realised that what I thought I had ordered, was not in fact the loom I did order! School boy error on my part, as a complete novice!

In the end, all was good as it turned out, I didn’t need the freedom roller after all (she breathes a sigh of relief!).  When the project was finished, I removed it from the loom, and considered what to do with the ends.  The mohair was very thin and sparse, so would not make for a good fringe.  Having twirled the mohair into little tassels, I then decided to tie some additional curly locks to pad out the effect.

Here, you can see one end completed…

  When I tried on the scarf, I realised that I had made it a little too wide to make it into a comfortable scarf.  So it was at this point, I decided that rather than using it as a scarf, it would work better as a stole.  However, this now presented me with another need…

If I was going to use this as a stole, it would need to have some sort of decorative pin to hold it in place.  I didn’t want to have anything too colourful or fussy, as that would be lost in amongst the art yarn.  So I decided to make a wet felted butterfly, with wings that were primarily one colour, with some accents of a different shade.

Here is my blue butterfly…who does have an orange body, just to make the body stand out a little…. The wings and body are made from merino and the accents of paler blue, are made of the bamboo, which I fixed with wisps of the merino to felt them into place.  I decided  to leave the resist inside, just to provide a little more firmness to him.

  I did try to add some sequins as way of creating more sparkle, but as they were so small, I found them difficult to sew on (my fingers are not so nimble as they used to be!).  I tried gluing them in place, but that didn’t work either!  So in the end, I just left him as he was.  I do intend making him some antennae, but I haven’t had time to add those in yet.  He is attached to a large kilt pin, so he can be used to hold the stole in place.

       

I’m really happy with my first project, using my own spun yarn, hand woven, and completed with wet felted butterfly pin.  I’ve used three different skills in this project, and I’m really pleased with the end result.  I was surprised at how dense the weave turned out.  Having only used every third reed, I expected it to be much looser than it ended up.  Perhaps next time, I will try an even wider warp, using the whole loom and leaving a larger gap between the warp threads.  It’s all a learning curve, but for now, I am really pleased with the results.  It’s lovely and warm too!  I’m almost sad summer is on the way, but I’m sure I’ll get lots of use out of it next winter,

 

 

Making Waves

Making Waves

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One of the things I’ve noticed from being at felting workshops is how predictable we tend to be when it comes to choosing our colour schemes. Whether we’re making a wearable, a bag, a vessel, etc whatever it is the majority of us will reflect that colour back in what we are wearing or the accessories we carry on that day. Before a class begins we can mostly tell at a glance who will be working with reds, who with greens, who with neutrals, etc, etc.

Personally I’ve always been drawn to neutrals, working with fibres in various shades of grey and beige with a small amount of accent colour, usually yellow or green. Unsurprising then that my wardrobe also tends to be filled with neutral colours. So what happened when the Waltham Windmill group launched their latest theme “Making Waves”? I could have followed the theme while sticking with my neutral pallet but for some reason I found myself wanting to work with blues, and not just as an accent but as the main colour. What I hadn’t realised until this last week is that blue hasn’t just found it’s way in to my studio but, without making the connection, it’s also started appearing in my wardrobe and I really hadn’t seen that coming!

The shades of blue Making Waves vessel

Within the groups theme we have free reign to make whatever we want plus we’ve agreed a number of specific items we will each make, one of them is a jelly fish. Having done a bit of research into the many and varied species of jelly fish I came across the spotted Blue Jellyfish which is native to UK waters. My first thought was to create a “wet look” using Merino fibre covered with lots of viscose which would create a sheen and then I would free motion stitch the spots. That was quickly replaced with the idea of making my fish from sheer fabrics…..I seem to have accumulated lots of sheers and only ever use tiny amounts so this would be a perfect opportunity to use up some of my stash. After rummaging through a huge sack of fabrics, almost losing hope of ever finding the colour I needed, I came across a small piece of blue and another of turquoise, just enough to do the job…..so much for stash busting!!

The remnants of fabric, and the size of my embroidery hoop, determined the size of my jelly fish. I’d got some of the wash away stabiliser left over from a project I did a few years ago so that would be useful for stiffening and shaping the jelly fish.

I had enough blue fabric to cut out two circles plus one slightly larger from the turquoise. I also added a small white circle of fabric underneath thinking it would highlight the spotty area. Next I cut up some scraps of felt for the spots and arranged them on the blue discs before covering with the turquoise sheer. This sandwich was then put in the hoop and I machine stitched around the spots…..or at least that was my intention! Unfortunately I struggled to see where some of the felt was so it’s a bit hit and miss but it was near enough!

After removing it from the hoop I washed out some of the stabiliser retaining a good bit of the glue on the fabric to enable me to shape it over a plastic bowl. I didn’t think to photograph the drying stage so the next image shows it dry with the unattached tentacles cut from tulle and sheers.

The final step was to wet felt a blue “inner”, with additional thin felt tentacles, sew the fabric tentacles inside it and insert into its casing.

The finished spotted blue jelly fish.

I’m quite pleased with the finished result and this particular area of the exhibition should be interesting as we’ve used lots of different styles and techniques between us.

Another piece I’ve made for the theme is a felted sculpture inspired by a spiked shell, I’ve simplified the shell shape, lengthened the spikes and it’s currently hanging on my wall but it doesn’t feel finished. I think it maybe needs more colour variation and possibly a few embroidered barnacles…..what do you think?

Spiked shell inspired sculpture

Speaking of which, I’ve always had a fascination for Barnacles and can’t resist collecting them when I find them on stones and shells. These marine crustaceans are related to the crab and lobster and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings.

There are around 1,000 different species and, as adults, typical barnacles are covered with calcareous plates and are cemented, head down, to rocks, shells, pilings, ships’ hulls, driftwood, or seaweed, or to the bodies of larger sea creatures, from clams to whales.

They feed by reaching into the water column with eight pairs of thoracic limbs called cirri which are long and feathery. The cirri extend to filter food, such as plankton, from the water and move it towards the mouth as you can see in this video. (Follow the link and scroll down to Ecology)

Barnacles on rusty metal

I’ve always liked this photo of barnacles on a rusty piece of metal which was taken on a visit to Ullapool harbour so I’m experimenting with different fabrics, including cotton and Tyvek, to make a barnacle inspired wall hanging. So far I’m leaning towards the Tyvek fabric.

Cotton fabric barnacles
Tyvek fabric barnacles

Something else I think will lend itself to the theme is dendritic printing. I love the vein like patterns, very reminiscent of coral, which can be created by pressing acrylic paint between two sheets of glass or plastic and then printing with it. I’ve been trying this out on different surfaces including paper, Lutradur, chiffon and cotton.

The most surprising result was a the print on felt, I was amazed at the clarity of it and I can see this being developed further with added stitching.

Working on ideas for felted sea anemones

There are so many possibilities within this theme that my mind is working overtime and I’ve a few other projects on the go right now. One of them is this small 20cm dia embroidery being worked on an eco print cotton fabric……note the lack of blue!

Another is a 95cm x 54cm background I made a couple of days ago throwing everything I had to hand in to the mix! There’s Bergschaf, Merino, Viscose, Silk, chiffon, synthetic net, slubs, knitting yarn, etc. I see this being an ongoing project for quite a while….something I can build on, picking up and putting down over time, adding stitch and texture until it feels finished.

At our next meeting, this coming Friday, several of us will be creating wet felted fish which we are all excited about. I will show you how those turned out and give an update on the other projects in my next post. Now………where did I put my blue cardigan?

Trying To Organize My Stitching Projects

Trying To Organize My Stitching Projects

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Lately I always seem to have several stitching projects going on at the same time and I have found it helpful to use one basket per project to store my threads, etc. in. I have a friend that makes lovely pine needle baskets and I have mainly been using them. But lately I seem to have more projects going at one time and found that I didn’t have enough baskets for all of them! I found myself going around my house emptying the contents of other baskets so I could use them for my projects. (This of course, led to another issue about where to put all the stuff I was taking out of those baskets!) I guess that tells you how crazy things are at my house!

When I was at a retreat in February, one of my friends was making fabric covered rope baskets for her projects. She also likes to have all her project’s supplies in one spot, and she likes to be able to easily move them from place to place as well as have the option of stacking them. My thoughts kept going back to her baskets as I kept running out of storage for my things.

Over 20 years ago I took a class at my local quilt shop and made a fabric covered rope basket. It’s been sitting in my closet all these years waiting for me to attach the handle. It’s kind of big and funky but I love the colors. I think I planned on using it for my knitting projects. I could still do that, but I decided to use it right now to store my wool socks in. I don’t need the handle attached although I guess I could still do that. (Maybe in another 20 years??) I am also kicking around the idea of deconstructing it and making 2 or maybe 3 more usable size baskets out of it.

This one is 9” tall and around 12” in diameter. I think I was having too much fun sewing it together and didn’t know when to quit!

These are still all my favorite colors!

Colorful fabric rope basket

 

The way the rope was covered in that class 20 years ago was not how I wanted to make a new one. Back then, we wrapped folded fabric around the rope and straight stitched it to the rope which was a nice feature as there were no raw edges visible. Today that seems like a lot of prep work that I really don’t want to do. My friend was just wrapping approximately 1” strips of fabric around the rope and zigzagging the covered rope pieces to each other. Much faster process. I’m all for getting things done faster! These baskets are a great way to use up fabric scraps or fabrics you wondered why you bought them in the first place.

I followed the tutorial from my friend’s website Create Whimsy and tweaked it to my needs.

https://createwhimsy.com/projects/fabric-coil-baskets-and-bowls/

I had a jelly roll of 2 1/2” fabric strips sitting around that I was never going to use for a quilt. I tore them in half and started wrapping my 20 year old leftover rope and zig zagging them together.

Fabric torn for wrapping around rope

sewing beginning of basket bottom using grey fabrics

I wanted the bottom of the basket to be at least 6” wide and the sides to be around 2” high. I wasn’t sure how much rope I would need to make the size I wanted. (I ended up having enough rope left to make a smaller basket if I want to.)

Finished basket in blues, grays and orange

I was happy with my first basket even though I wasn’t crazy about the fabric used for it to begin with. Those big white blobs are the selvedges. I decided I didn’t like how they appeared, so I started cutting them off as I introduced new strips. I like how the stars on the fabric appear as bits of white. Overall, I’m quite happy with how this turned out! It will be very usable and will definitely not be sitting in my closet for the next 20 years!

I also had some fabric covered rope left over from my 20 year old basket project so I thought I’d see if I could make a basket out of it.

Fabric covered rope for basket

 

It was interesting to see how different the two methods of covering the rope were when zigzagged together. I think I like the newer method of just wrapping the fabric around the rope and not caring about the raw edges or the joins. It’s kind of fiddly but looks just fine to me after stitching. The “prewrapped” rope had lots of puckers to it, the wrap as you go method coiled together with a snugger fit.

sewing beginning of basket bottom using orange fabric wrapped rope

Here is the finished second basket. It definitely had a looser feel to it although it is still sturdy enough for a project basket.

Finished thread bowl in shades of orange and red

Here’s a peak at my little menagerie of baskets, including my two newly made ones.

Fabric covered rope baskets and pine needle baskets

It was fun to make them, and they sewed up rather quickly. If you try one, I’ll forewarn you that you’ll go through quite a bit of bobbin thread. And they are kind of addicting to make.

I also found two felted bowls in my closet that I had made years ago. (Wonder what else is in that closet that I could put to use today?) They were knitted to begin with, and they were my one and only foray into felting. This one was under consideration for becoming a project basket, but it’s too flimsy. I am now using it for my thread bits. Perfect use for it!

Felted thread bowl

Happy stitching!

Tesi Vaara

Lichen, textiles & my goal – Part 1 Experimenting

Lichen, textiles & my goal – Part 1 Experimenting

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I’m enchanted by lichen. Also, by moss, fungi and forest floor wonders, although to a slightly lesser degree. Sit quietly next to a tree, some old wood, weather-worn stone or metal and look….really look……..you can easily be transported into a micro magical world of different shapes, texture and growth patterns, not to mention the incredible subtlety of colours.

 

Close up of moss & lichen on wooden garden bench
Close up of moss & lichen on wooden garden bench

Just as we have omnivores, vegetarians and vegans etc, curly hair, straight hair or….no hair 😉, in the lichen world there are 3 main types – foliose, fruticose and crustose. The last two are almost self-explanatory – fruticose, bearing fruiting bodies whilst crustose is….well, crusty! This is an extreme simplification….so any lichenologists reading this (yes, I learnt there are such specialists, along with funginerds or funginuts), please – don’t shout at your screen!  

Common orange lichen, Xanthoria parietina
Common orange lichen, Xanthoria parietina

Why do I love them?

Lichens are our pioneers. Generally, they are the first to settle anywhere, growing in so many different substrates and habitats including in some of our planet’s most extreme conditions (artic tundra, mountains, hot deserts, after fire destruction, even toxic environments) some even grow inside solid rock (!!!) and they cover about 7% of our planet’s surface.

Six lichen photos by Richard Droker
Six lichen photos by Richard Droker

Lichens are symbiotic so if they live on a plant, they only use it as a base rather than stealing nutrients. They can be used for food, dyes, and medicine and, due to their long life-span and slow regular growth (the world’s oldest living organism, Rhizocarpon geographicum, ‘map lichen’ is thought to be 8,600 years old) some lichen species are used as a means of telling the age of rocks. The oldest lichen fossil dates from about 400 million years ago. Generally, growth is extremely slow, with most crustose lichen growing only 1-2mm in diameter per year! There are about 20,000 known species and can be regarded as self-contained miniature eco-systems that often thrive in communities.

Wow – as humans we should be learning so very much.

Colours, depending on special pigments, can vary from reds, oranges, yellows and browns or bright green to olive grey and black. Then there is another whole overlay of colour depending on whether the lichen is wet or dry.

Four Lichen photos by Richard Droker
Four Lichen photos by Richard Droker

I’ve been fascinated for years with the amazing beauty of lichens and thought I’d finally do something about it.

So, I’m currently working on a personal project – translating what I see, and perhaps feel, into mixed media/textile creations. There are so many extremely talented artists, worldwide, who are recreating realistic representations particularly in textiles (Amanda Cobett is one such artist), that I’d fail miserably if I went down that route.

Sketches of interesting patterns from lichen etc
My sketches of interesting patterns from lichen etc

My goal is to ‘see’ either from life or research online photos (Richard Droker, above, is just one of the many amazing photographers worldwide) and interpret my findings using what I have to hand around me. At this point I need to add, that I’m a firm believer in the Spirit of Mottainai – the idea of respecting resources and not wasting them.

View down one side only of a wool shop in Germany, with shelves stacked full of so many wonderful yarns
View down one side only of a wool shop in Germany, with shelves stacked full of so many wonderful yarns

Yes, I will buy new supplies (I’m always being seduced by luscious yarns – who isn’t! – as evidenced by a recent trip to Germany), but I also want to repurpose and re-use where possible. I simply couldn’t throw out an extremely, seriously (you get the message!), wear-challenged sofa cover….it offered far too much potential. We won’t talk about where it will be stored!!!

Worn, thready, fabric stiched onto a contrast fabric snippet
Worn, thready, fabric stiched onto a contrast fabric snippet

I want simply to evoke the magical landscapes I see. Mmmm….’evoking’,’ Mottainai’, ‘re-purposing’….I didn’t set out to write a mission statement….😜

An interplay of fabric pieces, including a very thready worn-out sofa cover & paper, all heavily hand stitched
Lichen, dry, on various gathered fallen twigs

Twig with common orange lichen or yellow scale
Close up of 2 different tree lichens, dry
Heavily branched lichen on a wooden garden bench

My poor EPH (Ever patient husband) dare not throw anything out. I often see a clutter of spent, used items (garbage in other words), on the kitchen work surface….

’What the devil?’

’I didn’t know if you needed them?’

Guaranteed the one item he does throw away was the very item I particularly wanted! Oh yes, my hairdresser, shop keeper and even our car mechanic haven’t escaped unscathed!

Bags & bags of experiments, all stored in boxes.
Bags & bags of experiments, all stored in boxes.

My experiments involve sewing both by machine and hand, crocheting (I dislike knitting intensely), ironing, printing, playing with liquids for chromatography, burning (many methods & always next to the sink – I value my house too much!), bending metal, soldering….in other words – I’ve been wracking my brain for every technique I’ve ever used….over very many decades!

I’ve also, mischievously (there’s always one!), taken the opportunity during our local textile group’s workshops to further my exploits.

Two cut lino designs, one of lichen the other of tree bark
Three colour-blended prints from the bark design
Others thought the bark design looked like a landscape with the sun
More prints. Two are very feint but will be useful at some point.

Some experiments fall in line with Thomas A Edison’s theory – “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”.

Wool & carded wool tops needle felted together not a good result
Wool & carded wool tops needle felted together – not a good result

Having studied a great many lichens online, I tend to see something destined for the bin & then think ‘ah ha – that reminds me of….’

So herewith a few other experiments to date….

Photos by Richard Droker of Peltigera lichen
Fruit protection cardboard trays cut and manipulated
Wet waste paper pulp poured & dried over a branched twig
Different structures of lichen, dry, from curly broad leaf to fine wire. Aall branched and bushy
Different structures of lichen, dry, from curly broad leaf to fine wire. Aall branched and bushy
A collection of lichen inspired paper experiments
A collection of lichen inspired paper experiments
Suphur yellow crustose lichen on a metal garden chair
Suphur yellow crustose lichen on a metal garden chair
Splotches, that have merged, of creamy white edged grey crustose lichen
Splotches, that have merged, of creamy white edged grey crustose lichen
Overlaid coffee stains on packaging paper
Overlaid coffee stains on packaging paper
Coffee stained paper with silver flecks ironed off wrapping paper
Coffee stained paper with silver flecks ironed off wrapping paper
Cromatography and burned edges
Cromatography and burned edges
Cromatography paper pieces some marked up with pen & ink
Cromatography paper pieces some marked up with pen & ink
Crustose lichens on a tree trunk looks like a map of countries
Crustose lichens on a tree trunk looks like a map of countries
Flat scrunched plastic bags filled with various bits
Flat scrunched plastic bags filled with various bits
Fine yellow almost powdery lichen with mini droplets of bright orange jelly spot fungus
Fine yellow almost powdery lichen with mini droplets of bright orange jelly spot fungus
Plastic milk bottles cut to produce various shaped pieces
Plastic milk bottles cut to produce various shaped pieces
3D plastic milk bottle pieces wrapped with yarn
3D plastic milk bottle pieces wrapped with yarn
Flat irregular shaped donut pieces from plastic milk bottles wrapped with yarn
Flat irregular shaped donut pieces from plastic milk bottles wrapped with yarn
Intergrated hummocks of wet moss on a roof
Intergrated hummocks of wet moss on a roof
Variety of random shaped hummocks of yarn
Variety of random shaped hummocks of yarn

I also need to explain at this point that whilst I do have patience, I like the creation of individual elements to be the most effective and speediest….for me!!!! This involves challenging myself to find an easier method to achieve the same result – ie trying to create 3D mounds to represent moss, I tried several old techniques including velvet stitch and Victorian tufting, but my patience was not of the centennial variety. So, I thought long and hard and devised a method using the sewing machine and hand stitching. EPH reckons I only need a few more to make our new carpet!

Miniture hummocks of green moss growing on a brick path
Miniture hummocks of green moss growing on a brick path
A collection of gentle rounded hummocks of yarn
A collection of gentle rounded hummocks of yarn
A tree stump covered in moss, showing its growth structure
A tree stump covered in moss, showing its growth structure
Plastic packaging manipulated to emulate the structure of moss
Plastic packaging manipulated to emulate the structure of moss

The challenge also includes remembering to keep detailed notes 😉

Notes & samples of experiments
Notes & samples of experiments

All I need now is ‘time’ to put my experiments to good use….it is on my wish list!

I hope the next time you look at any lichen you will delve below the surface. Let us know of your findings.

Left-hand detail of a textile artwork with different white or neutral textiles felted or sewed on a felt neutral base
Felting and thinking

Felting and thinking

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I wish to show you my last abstract piece: I am quite proud of having included free crocheting and free knitting bits and of having gone bigger than my usual size, all things outside of my comfort zone that were inspired by other artists’ and crafters’ works.

Neutral and white coloured felted abstract artwork with textile embellishments on a white wall
“Good girl bad girl” abstract felt painting, around 80 x 50 cm.

It was about experimenting with felt without the distraction of colour, and I decided to use undyed or white and whitish materials, so as not to distract my eye from the final purpose. This made me think about “lack of colour” and “white” in terms of emotions and morals: how you are not supposed to show a lot of true emotions if you are a “good girl”, how the colour white has been linked to “good” in certain cultures, how silence and demure behaviour (not showing your colours) had been linked to “good behaviour”  in such cultures.
So, this has made me think about what “good girl” and “bad girl” meant when I was growing up, and how problematic those concepts have become for me in time (and have been even then). This led to me choosing specific fabrics and fibers, and techniques to add to the piece. So, I guess, concepts and techniques called one to the other from the beginning of my project and I can’t say which came first, if ideas to express or techniques to try.
I thought of the piece as layered, as our life experience and identity are layered, and being a “good girl” or “bad girl” is not something straightforward either. So, firstly I made a layer of felt to go over a pre-felt background.
But how to make the surface layer? I remembered about the layout for cobweb scarves that  had been suggested in the  Felting and Fiber forum, the one that is made by tearing a long length of merino tops and then carefully teasing the whole length open: I wanted holes and different thickness on my surface layer of felt, so I went for that type of layout for it and it worked very well.

Kiki's left hand is opening up a long bit of natural white merino wool on the bubble wrapping sheet on a table. There is another bit of merino wool waiting on the side.
Laying out my natural white merino wool on for the cob-webbish upper layer

Table covered with towel, bubble wrapping and natural white merino wool in a cob web layout
How the cob web layout progressed

The surface layer was embellished with undyed locks, undyed white eri silk fibers, scraps of undyed habotari silk, white flax, and silk carrier rods. Its shape is very irregular and there are vertical holes from which one can peek at stuff underneath. I liked the fact that it’s not one single white, but many different shades of undyed natural white and of bleached or optic white. Even stretching the idea of “white” a bit to include cream and beige even.
I added a natural-fiber net that I got from my grocery shopping, and on the background strings gotten from labels of clothes and scraps from a cotton handkerchief, to remind me of all the mother-work wife-work women-work that is the “good girl” ‘s lot in life.

Cob web layout of natural white merino wool and embellishments on a table covered with towel and bubble wrap
An overview of my upper layer layout with all the embellishments before felting

Detail of a vegetable carrier net, silk carrier rods and natural wool locks on natural white merino wool
Some of the embellishments that I added on the merino wool : you can spot the vegetable carrier net, locks and a silk carrier rod.

Detail of natural white habotai silk scrap on natural white merino wool
An habotai silk scrap and some locks on another part of the upper layer merino layout before felting

Embellishments on merino wool before felting are used to bridge gaps between merino wool parts
In various areas I used the embellishments as bridges over the holes between the merino wool parts, so as to link all the parts together.

I lightly rubbed it and then used the sander to be sure that all the bits could stay firmly in place. I did not want it felted firmly, and I rolled it only a few times in two directions, horizontally and vertically. I washed it and left it to dry.

Wet prefelt of the upper layer of Kiki's artwork on a table
This wet prefelt of the upper layer does not seem too exciting, yet, but the holes seem just right for what I want to do.

In the meantime I prepared the background layer, with 3 layers of undyed merino wool in a simple horizontal-vertical lay-out. I rubbed it and rolled it a few times, leaving it at the pre-felt stage. I washed it and let it dry.
On the second day, I combined the two layers, that were mostly dry, and all the other embellishment elements.

Two irregular layer of natural white wool prefelt on a brown carpet
I laid out the two prefelt irregular layers on my carpet to have space to work on them and add all the sewing.

I wanted to explore what it used to mean to be a “good girl” and to make mistakes and be a “bad girl”, so on the background and peeking through the holes I placed different things that had been linked to women’s craft and life, including commercial lace, scraps from a child’s wool vest (mothers always used to make their kids put their vest on underneath their shirts) and different fibers and yarns, and strings (women forever tying and untying shoes clothes bags families).

Strings, lace and scraps of upcycled wool fabric on prefelt natural white merino wool, on a brown carpet
A detail of some of the embellishments that I added to the bottom part of the artwork: strings and lace and scraps of an old merino wool baby vest.

On the background, like alpha and omega at the top and bottom, I also wanted “wrong” (but free) crocheting and “wrong” (but free) knitting pieces, and the making of those was an experience in itself, as I found very hard to let go of purpose and of “perfection”, especially in the knitting. I used a cotton yarn for the crochet and a mixed wool yarn for the knitting, as those two types of yarn are most closely related to those crafts to me. I have to say that I quite enjoyed the free crocheting and I maybe will use it again soon, whereas I doubt that the freeform knitting will become a favourite of mines!

On the foreground there are Kiki's hands knitting with a beige yarn, in the background there is Kiki's artwork in progress
My “wrong” knitting at its very beginning

On the foreground there are Kiki's hands crocheting with a white cotton yarn, on the background there is Kiki's artwork in progress on a brown carpet
My foray into free form crocheting

Detail of a white crocheted embellishment in an irregular shape, on a natural merino prefelt on a brown carpet
The irregular shape of the crocheted embellishment quite pleased me.

A detail of a knitted embellishment on natural white prefelt merino wool on a brown carpet
On the top, the knitted embellishment is waiting to be sewed fast and then felted into the artwork.

After placing all the elements where I wanted them to be, I hand stitched them in place with a few hidden stitches each, starting from the top and the outer edges towards the inner parts and the bottom. It took me a bit, but it was essential, as I was much more confident that nothing was going to move when I went on with the following wetting and sanding and rolling. I hate hand sewing, but this time I felt that it was worthwhile!
I washed and dried the piece, and then waited to see if anything else was needed: I often find that I need to let the work get washed and dry out to be able to see what is not fine yet! In fact, I found that the merino wool vest scraps had not quite felted in as I wanted them to do,  so I decided to needle felt them with a bit of added merino wool top fiber. This gave me the itch to add a few needle felted 3D shapes, vaguely organic shapes that are a symbol of the “good girl” sense of her body.

A felting needle working on a merino wool sphere attached to Kiki's felted artwork
A needle felted sphere shape seemed also a good idea

A felting needle is gently stabbing at a doughnut wool shape on Kiki's felted artwork
I added some needle felted organic shapes

I really liked the journey and I think that the piece says what I wanted it to say. Moreover, I enjoyed trying new things in making it, and using those techniques in an organic way to express a world of meanings and experiences that I hope will find resonance in the viewers.

Detail of Kiki's artwork: in the center there is a tight spiral made of a scrap from a merino baby vest.
Some of the embellishments on the finished artwork upper part

Lower left detail of finished abstract artwork by Kiki
Lower left of the finished artwork

Upper right corner of the finished artwork by Kiki: the two felt layers can be seen, along with many embellishments
The upper right corner shows clearly the two layers of felt

Lace embellishment detail on Kiki's finished artwork
The laces have not really felted in, but I was not expecting them to: it’s synthetic commercial lace, so I make sure to sew them to the felt quite well.

Finding Fiber Happiness During Respite

Finding Fiber Happiness During Respite

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I spent last night processing my planned article in my sleep. I woke up with a solidified plan. ✅ I sent the following message to my BFF Lisa: I’m writing my blog article, which is due tomorrow…finding (fiber) happy places, when we need respite. I was ready to go – then I decided to quickly file for Medicare, which must be done in the US, 3 months before we turn 65. I had already started the process, and was waiting for my window to complete it. No problem, I thought: just tell them what I want, and be done with it. [What on earth was I thinking??]

Sunrise on the beach
Walking to the Ocean at Dawn.

I’m looking at this photo, with a cup of tea, feeling my shoulders fall. This is a beautiful morning, Brian and I will never forget. It was the first morning of our vacation, and we were off to an excellent start.

I had a short list of photos, I wanted to capture on this trip. My plan is to eventually felt some beach scapes, to hang in our home. Crazy as it seems, I couldn’t picture an accurate sunrise or sunset. This relaxing vacation changed all that. It gave us so many meaningful memories, and beautiful photos at the same time. I am excited to begin playing with my fiber and supplies. I captured interesting photos as the tides came in and out, in the inter-coastal waterways and oceanside.

Beach at low tide

I thought the ripple patterns made at low tide were fantastic!


I have photos of trees dripping in Spanish Moss, and I can tell you how it grows on the Live Oaks, in the southern US. Our family and friends asked us what we did with ourselves, in 4 weeks, together?? We enjoyed each others company, and the beauty all around us.

Spanish Moss draping Live Oak trees
Live Oaks draped in Spanish Moss, were in full bloom.

I managed to felt a couple examples while there. They are not great by any means, but they were made with what I had with me.

Tree limb

Felted Live Oak dyed Teasdale Locks