Browsed by
Tag: felt

Felted Knitting Bag

Felted Knitting Bag

Comments 18 comments

I was asking people on face book what they make to sell in warm weather. One suggestion was a knitting bag.

I used the flat resist method and cut the handle and flap form the top of the resist.

yarn bag

After cutting the handle and flap I blew up a balloon inside it and wrapped it up and let it bounce around the dryer for a while.

yarn bag ready for a tumble

Next I cut the J. Thinking of the bag like a portable knitting bowl. Then another tumble.

yarn bowl J cut yarn bowl another tumble

I wanted to bind the edge. I tried leather but that wouldn’t work at all. Then I tried some bias tape. That worked better but not great. It was ugly but part of that is the bad sewing too.

yarn bowl binding attempt

I took that off and used a blanket stitch. that worked much better.

yarn bowl finnished

I don’t like the way the jay effects the shape or the way it hangs open. Not bad for a first design. I will make some changes in the next one. I will make the handle longer so I have a bigger flap. I will make a smaller slit for the yarn to come out of the bag.  I realised with the bag having a flap over the top to stop the ball bouncing out I don’t need to make a J at all. I did see a bag with a grommet in the back near the bottom that looked very neat and tidy but if you use a hole you can’t take the yarn out of the bag without breaking the yarn. Ideally a little U shaped metal frame that could be squeezed shut around the felt (similar to when you put snaps onto a bag) would be best but I haven’t found anything like that. Purse frames work like that; you slide the felt into the channel of the frame and squeeze it shut and it grabs the felt or in some cases you sew the frame on. The problem is I just want a small U shaped piece. I always seem to be looking for things that don’t exist

 

 

 

 

 

Advice Wanted and Some New Items

Advice Wanted and Some New Items

Comments 53 comments

I did my 2nd proper craft fair on Sunday, and I don’t know if my expectations have been too high, but this one didn’t go very well either. I was lucky enough to cover the cost of the stall by selling quite a few greetings cards and felted soap, but apart from some nice comments and a lot of people stroking my felt pieces, there wasn’t much real interest.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAfter the last fair I talked it over with my girlfriend and with others on the forum, and came to the conclusion that my stuff isn’t instantly recognisable as handmade felt or even made from wool to the average person, and also that people need encouragement to see the versatility of items. In preparation, I made some felt using lots of natural wools with locks and texture to make into Diary covers, and lots of display cards with info about all the items and ideas for uses.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’m kind of stuck now knowing what to do. I’ve spent the last few years trying to find a way to possibly eke out a living  and establish a business from felting/fibre art. I do have limited opportunities because of health problems; I don’t have the time or energy to promote/market myself on Facebook or other social media and do all the ‘networking’ needed, either online or in real life, and can’t get out and about. Even all the work involved in listing for etsy and having to go out to post any potential sales (not that experience has shown there would be many) seems like a lot of wasted time and effort for little return. Also, because of not being financially secure, I can’t just take risks and keep wasting time, energy and money on trying new things which ultimately fail. It’s really quite demoralising too.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOne thing I have learnt is that when people are looking to treat themselves or others, they don’t want ‘practical’, they want silly, frivolous or a bit of luxury. So, novelty items, gimmicks, things that are trendy at the moment (moustaches, owls, 50’s whimsy) or at a push, felt scarves, seem to win over well made and affordable.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASo, now I’m stuck with a load of diaries which will soon be out of date – I could always put notebooks in, but notebooks are even more practical; lots of camera cases, which are useless because everyone has a smartphone with a camera on; and lots of pieces of felt which everyone agrees ‘would look great on the wall’ but can’t think of anyone whose wall they could buy it for 🙂

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASo, does anyone have any suggestions where to go from here? Is anyone the owner of a gift shop selling artisan gifts who wants to pay me a living wage for well made items? Or maybe I should cut up my phone cases and make lots of greetings cards or just start felting cosies and covers for everything I own and stop inflicting my tat on the world? 🙂

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAll suggestions gratefully welcome, especially humorous ones!

One Week to the Show

One Week to the Show

Comments 11 comments

With one week to my guild show (October 31, November 1 and 2) it must be  time to get ready. Time to put things together and make a few more hats. Last weekend my daughter painted spindles and here they are waiting to get put into kits.

spindles

The kits should be done already but when I started I discovered I was out of white wool. I have no idea how that happened. I had to order some quick. I put my wool order in with my friend Maureen at  Dreamspin Fibres. She got my order out asap and it arrived yesterday.

wool box wool box inside

The white wool is the bottom half but you can’t just order white. Now I can put the kits together. she also sent me a colour cards for her wool. this is great because every computer shows the colours differently.

wool samples

I was working on a hat as well. I will finish it today. I put decoration on the inside and outside. I will show you the finished hat next time.

hat inside layout hat outside decoration

 

Around the Web Spinning Felting and Dyeing

Around the Web Spinning Felting and Dyeing

Comments 7 comments

Good morning Folks I am afraid I am still  tired form the week end at Fibrefest in Almonte so I will give you some interesting things to go  have a look at.

spinning around the web

http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/zebisisdesigns?section_id=5560028

http://www.woolmakers.com/shop-2/

http://rosemaryknits.blogspot.ca/2009/02/pseudo-rolags.html

http://gourmetstash.com/what-are-punis

felting around the web 4

http://feltmakersnorth.blogspot.ca/2014/04/felting-fever.html

http://livingfelt.com/blog/?p=6171

http://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/115335761/glow-in-the-dark-spinning-fiber-blending?ref=shop_home_active

http://www.soulfibrestudio.blogspot.ca/

dyeing around the web

The other link was no longer working so here is a different one that looks good

http://blog.freepeople.com/2014/05/shibori-dyeing-indigo/

 

 

Making a Felt Hat with T-pins

Making a Felt Hat with T-pins

Comments 25 comments

A little while ago I received some T-pins. I had never used them before. I haven’t mad and hats with folds for some time as they are difficult to get the folds where you want them. As you try to put the second fold in the first one can easily get pulled out and so on. with the T-pins it was much easier. I could put a fold in and then pin it and then work on the next one.

hat with pins

 

The hat block is a hard foam raffia hat block. the only place I know that sells them is Franks, http://www.franksupply.com/raffia/hatmaking-supplies.html  I left all the pins in while it dried. Here it is after is is dry. It is merino wool with silk lap on accents

hat1 hat 2 hat 4 hat 3

 

I am quite pleased with it. I haven’t yet decided if I want to leave the organic edge or if I want to trim it smooth and even.

Some Felt Pictures for Summer

Some Felt Pictures for Summer

Comments 15 comments

A while ago I saw some fused glass pictures and was inspired to make some summer beach pictures. I like the simple style of this type if picture. I spent a few evenings drawing and colouring pictures. I always forget how relaxing and fun colouring is.

coloured picture 1 coloured picture 2 coloured picture 3 coloured picture 4 coloured picture 5

I decided to do a seaside picture first as summer has just started. I used

seaside 1 before

I used all prefelt except for a little silk for the waves. I split the prefelt and cut it so it wouldn’t be too thick where they overlap. I tacked everything down lightly with a felting needle.

spliting prefelt

This is how it looked after felting once.

seaside 1 after firs felting

I forgot to take one after it was finished but I all became flat and slightly blurred. I decided to add some stitching

seaside 1 after sewing

It gives it much more definition. you can see how flat and blurred the house and boat edges are. I was thinking of going around the house pieces and the boats. Maybe add some little grass tuffs. and underline the waves in white. What do you think, should I add more stitching?

 

 

 

 

Evaluate Your Marketing Plan

Evaluate Your Marketing Plan

Comments 16 comments

In our last marketing blog, I used the Felt and Fiber Studio Forum as an example for determining marketing goals towards developing a marketing plan.  We discovered the who, what, why, where, how, and when for the plan creating a road map for our plan.

photo 3Now it is time to evaluate our plan and see if it meets our needs in terms of our goals. However, before we do that we need to take a look at what is working and what is not.

If your business is humming along just fine, you may wonder if this is really necessary.  There is no one right answer.  If you are satisfied with how much you’re selling and the way you are marketing and selling, it’s probably not necessary.  But what if you want to expand your market?  Make more money?  Diversify your offerings?

woman shopping

If you were running a restaurant and sales were down, customer complaints up, low tips for staff and few return customers, you’d have a good idea something wasn’t working.

However, in the internet world of marketing for arts and crafts, you don’t have the luxury of easy or obvious measurements of what is working.  At a craft or art fair, you can see your competition, compare pricing and quality first hand.  It’s easier to see how your products differ on the spot and ask customers what they think.

survey_clipartIn our Marketing Strategy for the Felt and Fiber Studio Forum the Driving Action for the goals of the Forum is participation.  So, in order to determine how we are doing since we can’t meet face to face, we are asking our members (and blog subscribers) to take a simple ten question Membership Survey so we can evaluate our plan.

What do we want to know?  We want to make sure we are serving the needs of our online community in a friendly, giving and nonjudgmental way.

Please use this link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RX2XM9W

There will also be a link on the Forum under the Business section.  Please only fill out one survey.  We will not collect any personal information.

keyboard

I realize some of the people that read the blog, may not be Forum members.  So, if you would like to take the survey, please answer the questions applicable and put in the comment section of question number 8 that you are are a blog subscriber.  If you read the blog on a reader, please mention that in the same section.

dog and computerThe survey will be available for a week.  I will publish the results after I have collected and analyzed the data.

Please feel free to leave any comments here or on the forum.  We’re always interested to know how we are doing and what more we can do to help you.

Thank you for taking a few minutes of your time to participate!

 

 

 

A Felt Beret

A Felt Beret

Comments 16 comments

The other week I decided to make a beret to see if I remembered how as I haven’t made one in years.  They seem to be making a bit of a comeback where I live.

I decided on a nice bright red

side one first side wet

I added some white throwsters waste for some interest

silk on beret silk on beret close up

After some rubbing and rolling I cut a small hole to get the resist out and to make a hole for my head.

cut out for head

The whole stretches easily to the correct size

fulling and stretching the head hole beret finnished

As it turns out a little bigger ( not much) would have been better it is a size small so tight on my head.  I stretched it as much as I could.   Just as well as I do not look good in a beret. I could make it bigger by cutting and adding sewn on brim but I am lazy.

finished beret 1 finished beret 2

I really like how the silk worked. It is quite big but I was thinking the you could put your hair inside it.

 

 

 

 

 

Ready, set… plan!

Ready, set… plan!

Comments 15 comments

Have you thought about what your goal is for your business?  To help you incorporate the marketing concepts we’ve previously discussed into a marketing strategy to understand your goal, I am going to use the Felt and Fiber Studio Forum as an example of a business.

goals

Here is a quick recap of our previous marketing concepts blogs:

  • The six P’s of marketing — Product, Price, Promotion, Placement, Positioning, PR/Publicity and People
  • The customer is key.
  • Identifying customer problems and product benefits (Ideal buyers — our strategic assets)
  • Communicating with customers for market research

With these concepts in mind, we’ll develop a marketing goal which will be the basis of a marketing plan for the Forum.

Marketing and PR Strategy Planning Template for:

Company —  Felt and Fiber Studio Forum

  • Who (members/customers)
    • Fiber enthusiasts from all over the world working/playing in a variety of art forms

    pile of batts

  • What (problems the forum solves for members) also the Forum Product
    • Information, sharing, techniques, resources, engaging experts, experience, problem solving
    • What actions does the Forum want members to take
      • Participation
  • Why (How is the forum remarkable?) (Positioning)
    • It is self supported, membership of experienced to novice fiber enthusiasts around the world, full of resources for a variety of fiber arts, free to the user (Price)

internet

  • How
    • Personality — friendly, giving, nonjudgmental  (Positioning)
    • Creative/Design (Look and feel) — fiber graphic, easy to navigate  (Positioning)
    • Tone of Voice — casual  (Positioning)
    • Keyword Phrases — Fiber, Nuno Felting, Weaving, Knitting, Dyeing, Needle Felting, Wet Felting, Spinning, Crocheting, Surface Design, Business, Fiber Festivals, Studio Challenges, Wool and Other Fibers, Hand Stitching, Machine Stitching, Fiber Marketplace, General Discussion, Shows and Classes, Take a Stitch Tuesday, Beads/Beading  (PR/Publicity and Promotion) — This is how members find us with search words in addition to word of mouth.
    • Marketing Tactics and Content Strategy –Blog, Facebook, free tutorials, quarterly challenges, quarterly newsletter, welcome email, occasional giveaways, holiday exchange, resources for information, supplies, tools, links to other blogs, resources (Network of People and Promotion)
  • notepadWhen — Things to do today, next week (Actions to take)
    • Blog posts every other day by Moderators or guests (Promotion)
    • Monitor posts daily, encourage members to post new projects, questions, resources, events

 

Generally, the goal of the Felt and Fiber Studio Forum is to build a community of fiber enthusiasts who can share their work, ideas, techniques, resources and get information and questions answered in a friendly, caring environment.

The Driving Action for the goals of the Forum are primarily:

  • Participation
    • Registering to be a member
    • Like on Facebook
    • Subscribe to the Studio blog
    • Participate in conversations and/or challenges on the Forum
  • Download free tutorials
  • Ask questions, submit projects, tutorials, resources (share)
  • Refer the Forum to friends (word of mouth)

road mapThis is a road map of the thought process of planning our marketing strategy and understanding our business goals.  You can use this as a general guideline to ask yourselves the same questions about your business.

Ready, set….plan!  What does your road map look like?

Look for more discussion on the Forum http://feltandfiberstudio.proboards.com

 

 

 

 

Cheese cloth Nuno Felt Experiment.

Cheese cloth Nuno Felt Experiment.

Comments 13 comments

A while back Ruth got some free samples of some cheese cloth  or cotton gauze from Cheese Cloth Fabric.com. She dyed some and sent me some samples. I also had a more open weave cheese cloth that I will use so you can see the difference. I thought if I am going to use my time I should make something that will be salable in the end so decided to make bracelets or cuffs so I could easily compare the cottons.

gauze on black
gauze on black
gauze on white
gauze on white

The pink on the left is the sample sent to Ruth and the purple on the right is the gauze I got at a place called Lens Mill  http://www.lensmill.com/ in Guelph Ontario. You can see the purple is a much more open weave.

first two samples first two samples wool on

Ruth sent to colour samples. Here is before and after adding the wool.

purple gauze ready to felt purple gauze 2 ready to felt

I did one sample of the purple flat and one scrunched up. You can see my template marks behind the right one.

purple gauze finished purple gauze 2 finnished close

I like the way both these tuned out. they are very different than the tighter weave cotton.

green gause finished close orange finnished orange 2 finnished

I did a scrunched up pink one for comparison. I think I like the scrunched up ones the best. I may add some beads in to folds.  They will be for sale later in the summer once I get some buttons and button holes done.