Mrs. Mer – Felting and Fiber Studio

Mrs Mer lounging on her back on a table showing her new top and butterfly koi fins.

Keeping Mrs. Mer from getting chilly

April 25, 2023 Jan Comments 10 comments

Mrs. Mer has been having a difficult time since I started working on her hand a couple of weeks ago. It has been hard to stay warm with only one hand to keep herself covered!

1) Mrs. Mer at the gaming/felting convention. Felting needles working on SCM muscle in her neck, as she covers herself with one hand and I am about to start working on the other.

This only got worse when I started to add her eyes and she could see the people around her! I had sculpted her skull so that I would add eyes and then add lids over the eyes. (I had then used one of my longish thumbnails to create the curve for her brow, which had worked quite well. I was sure I had snuck a picture of her, pre-eye lids (it was truly unfaltering) but when I went back through the camera memory cards I could not locate it. I am starting to suspect small hands with the help of lidless eyes may have deleted the truly shocking shot of Mrs. Mer.

I had been invited to a small spin-in with some friends. I was looking forward to seeing them especially after 3 long days in the guild library working on donations and the book count (checking that each book was on the shelf where it should be.) I have the circulating books done and am partway through the magazines. That leaves the reference books left to do.

I know it was a spin-in that I was going to but, my friends are very patient with me when I bring fibre but don’t have a wheel or spindle. Instead, I arrive with little barbed pieces of mettle, a garden kneeling foam and possibly a Naked mer-woman.) Seeing that she now had eyes (that sounds like a pun) I felt I should really help her keep her modesty or keep her warmer at least. I decided she needed a top.

Eventually, she will need a top that suits her fish parts and hair but for now, a quick top in white should suit the purpose. I found some white in the project bag she and her hubby have been…ummm ……hanging out in. (who knows what they’re getting up to when I am not watching!! They may need an open plastic project bag soon!!!)

At a recent sale of one of our local guild members, I was able to buy an actual clover tool and clover brush. I have wanted to try one for quite a while now. I have a large collection of Fake Clover Tools, this is the first time I have tried a real one. I found they are a bit quieter than the blue fake version, the green clover handle is comfortable and the movement is a bit smoother than the blue one is too. If you spot one second-hand and in working order I would suggest trying it. The blue is quite a bit less expensive and is still a good alternative if you are trying to stay frugal (saving your money for more fibre).

2) Green Clover tool (multi-needle holder) and the first layer of wool, both sitting on an old green foam felting base.

Under the Mer’s in their project bag, I found some white, which I started to lay out In a bra-like shape. I started with the traditional double triangle and would add more fibre for an upper strap and a longer lower tie. I had considered a ribbon but I only had blue at hand. Which I did not think would work with her eventual highlight colours. I started with the clover multi-needle tool to get the basic shape firmed up.

3) the basic flat shape of the halter top

As I am sure you can see, the flat shape would not be very comfortable and there is the likelihood of gapping, which could cause drafts or wardrobe malfunctions.

4) the beginning of curvature in the top I have yet to add the halter strap or the under-bust tie. Fibre is sitting on the green foam with the clover tool in the background.

To bring the flat shape into a more fitted full-figured shape, I switched to single needles (a T-36 & T-38). I started by making a dent to fit under the underarm. Then I focused along the bottom edge of the braw to create the same effect as a dart or gathers. I put arrows on the diagram below, to show you the direction of needle insertion (Poking) to get the fibres to contract allowing the cup to start to form. Another way to have made it would be to use a small rounded support like a foam ball or curved support shape. If you were making a more rubenessque mer-woman you might want to consider some wire support (under the wire) for a mer-woman with greater endowments or substantial cleavage.

5) Arrows show the direction of fibre movement to create the cups and fitting under the arm.

I had her try on her top a few times adjusting a bit at a time. (She is very patent but I did promise to add her eyelids as soon as I could make her a somewhat respectable top.)

As you will see below I had laid in her eyelids before it was time to head off to see friends.

6) Mrs. Mer shows off her new top and eyelids.

7) You can see how well fitting her new top is from this angle. On the table behind where I am working are some of the snacks we were nibbling on.

8) If you missed the tempting tasty snacks hiding behind Mrs. Mer here is a close-up of a couple of them! The paper napkin has Udderly Delicious with a cow picture on it.

9) Mrs. Mer and felting tools sitting on the table, snacks a pop and Mr. Mer to one side of the table with Bernadette and Ann in the background.

Mr. Mer also attended, he stood on a chair at the table and was holding a Mountain Dew (highly caffeinated carbonated lime/grapefruit flavoured beverage). I think that Mrs. Mer having eyes and a stylish top has captivated his attention since he did not flirt with anyone else that was there.

10) close up o Mr. Mer sitting at the table with his bottle of pop, some wool and a pair of scissors. Behind him is a window with a hanging plant.

He may like this beverage since it goes well with his hair.

It was a fun day and great to see a few of my friends especially when I am not working on the library but just being social.

I Dropped off Ann on the way home and then stopped to take pictures of the early spring colour changes. There are the reds, ambers and light greens of new buds.

11) Scrub brush in the colours of spring. Redwood branches, bits of green budding, amber and green grass. Small trees, and old fence posts leaning aesthetically.

Lastly, I have a question for you about an upcoming post. I have 3 hand carders which need covers, which fabric pattern would you choose?

12) fabric squares, Patterns from the top Right; Mice and yarn balls, Black white and gray sheep on clouds, Alpaca and long-necked cat faces, blue paisley, Black White and Grey sheep with numbers, Cute fluffy white sheep on gray background. In the plastic bag, a second paisley and a light grey graph check.

One final shot of Mrs. Mer’s progress (starting to work on her left hand and arm.

13) Mrs Mer with Needle in her Left wrist as she lounges on her back on the studio table at a guild social.

2 Dollarama carders one in its packaging one lose.

the local Gaming/Felting Convention is back – blending skin tones for Mrs. Mer

April 15, 2023 Jan Comments 13 comments

A break from all the felting machines!

We had a great day on Easter Monday testing out the felting machines. We added Ann’s new purple one from Georgia to the mix. But since we have had non-stop machine chatting I think we need a break from the sound of needles impaling wool at high velocities. So why don’t you join me for a day trip out to the Kanata Games Club one day spring Gaming (and felting) convention? Mr. and Mrs. Mer came with me, in hope of adding more detail and some skin tone to Mrs. Mer.

The Kanata Games Club used the same Church as before. It’s built on a hill and has two large halls one on the lower level with big windows. This time they were only in the upper hall since this is the first big gaming event since the pandemic restrictions. We all wore masks (the church is still masking) except the Mer’s who didn’t have masks of the correct size. I may have to make them some. Or maybe their fishy-er parts keep them immune. Can fish get covid? (better not think about that or I will never get to tell you about the day.)

We arrived and as soon as I was settled, he quickly wandered off to one of the big tables. The big round tables were full of people with brightly coloured games with many interesting little pieces. I found one of the smaller unoccupied tables by one of the windows.

1) Shortly after 9 am, I was happily left at a rectangular table with a Tim Hortons bagel and my felting supplies in a small clear plastic box. Mrs. Mer is reclining with bits hand blended skin tone.

I got comfortable for a nice long day of felting!

2) Mr. Mer was there to supervise and cheer on the gaming. Mr. Mer leans ageist a blue bag on the table in front are the small wool pad, the wrong beige, my phone and audiobook, and my small clear plastic box of tools.

It quickly became apparent that while I had packed almost everything I needed, there were two small problems. I realized I had brought a slightly different shade of base tone for her skin tone. Well, That can be fixed with a bit of extra blending. The second problem resulted from the ongoing rebuilding of my office into a fibre studio, which is messing with my ability to know where everything is (specifically my mini carders AKA small pet brushes have disappeared)!!! Oh well, I can blend a bit of this nice yellowy-ness with this tiny bit of raspberry red to the new base tone and that should be just about right. Without carders, I was blending tiny bits by hand which is slow when you are both sculpting more detail and putting on a colour layer. I am not a fast felter, I like to putter, consider, add a bit more wool, and eventually decide whatever I am making is complete. But hand-carding all that I wanted to work on today would be a bit slow even for me!

3) Skin tone base colour from blending white (re-carded world of wool core wool), beige and amber Coriodale, and a bit of red I think maybe merino.

4) Not fully homogenous blends one with a stronger white and one with a stronger beige undertone.

I spent a long time hand-blending bits of skin tone for Mrs. Mer. I used white, beige, amber and raspberry tones. The world is not made up of flat uniform colours, so not blending to a uniform colour will provide a more natural looking tone. Today I wanted to improve Mrs. Mer’s head shape and extend her skin tone.

Hubby came to check on me at the end of his first game and I explained the lack of carders. Luckily the Dollarama was just a bit farther up the hill at the closest mall, a bit far to walk, (there was still snow) but a very fast drive. He returned with a set of carders (pet brushes), a plug to charge my phone (it was dead again….) a couple of drinks and some candy(that will keep me felting!!).

5) Dollarama $4.00 carders (pet brush) with safety tips.

Recently at one of the local guilds socials, one of the pet brushes was being used to tease out the ends of locks. This is sometimes called flick carding. (Bernadette can show you how to properly flick card some time if you are at a social). The locks were not very long and there seemed to be a lot of poking of fingers as well as combing of fibre. The Carders/pet brushes, that I had just been given, have little white plastic tips on each wire, safety tips!!! The packaging says the covered tips are to protect the delicate skin of your pet, while it also makes it much safer for your fingers if you are flick carding locks.

Like full-size wool carders, these pet brushes have little wires embedded into a backing. some carders have wires that are quite stiff and some are more flexible. The same applies to pet brushes. For comparison Cotton carders (like the name implies are used with cotton which has a very short staple length compared to wool) have shorter more closely spaced wires and tend to be longer rectangular shapes than wool carders.

If you buy two of the little pet brushes you can use them exactly like you would a set of wool carders. It takes a bit of practice to get the movement of the carders to blend and mix the fibres but it’s worth the practice.

6-7) Close-up of teeth on the comb. note the bend about 2/3rds up the wire

You can see that one wire has lost its safety tip. it may have been missing when I took it out of the package and I just didn’t notice. I did not seem to lose any others while carding. I have heard of small pet brushes that had longer wires and larger safety tips that can come loose and disappear into the wool. So far this brand seems to not have that problem. (it will be worth keeping an eye on these to see if the tips stay attached over time.)

8-11) Examples of blending fibre to create skin colours

It’s nice to have a pallet of blended colours pre-made to pick from when you’re adding the top layer of colour. I am also doing a bit more detailed sculpture of her head and neck so a general mid-tone is also helpful.

12) MRS Mer laying on her back, double needles working along angle of the jaw (Mandible)

13) New muscle development below the occiput and above upper traps.

As with Mr. Mer, I was concerned with her ability to see where she was going when swimming. Unlike a full fish whose eyes would be looking forward and to the sides, her eyes in anatomical position would be looking at whatever is below her as she swam. This could allow for painfully swimming into things or being attacked by a bigger fish that she didn’t see coming. To alleviate this anatomical problem of blending fish and human anatomy I added an extra muscle on top of the upper traps to help her hold up her head for prolonged swimming. I will also beef up her erector spini in the back so she can also tip her torso up to reduce potential neck stain. The things you have to consider when felting are just amazing!!!

I worked along the underjaw and corrected some of the asymmetries in her skull.

14) attachment of SCM (Sternocleidomastoid) muscle, sculpting along the jaw and adding skin colour.

The gaming continued around us, with players switching tables as one game ended and a new one began. A few came over to see what I was working on, but most have seen me at previous felting/gaming events. Someday I am sure I will get to share my table with another felter!!

I took a break from her head and neck and worked a bit down her arms and started adding a bit of skin tone on one of her hands.

16) Mrs. Mer through her arm into the air while trying to stay modest and warm with the other arm/hand (I need to make her a shirt soon)

17) Mrs. Mer waves goodbye as it’s time to pack up.

I was in the middle of working on Mrs. Mer’s hand when Glenn’s last game ended. So it was time to pack up after about 9 hours of fun felting. We both had lots of fun and hope there will be another Felting ….errr …. Gaming convention soon!

If you do a lot of 2D or 3D needle felting and enjoy working with blended colour you may find one of the types of carders handy. Depending on how much fibre you need to blend at a time will give you an idea of which type of carder may be best for you. (carders give you a woollen preparation for spinning while combs give you a worsted preparation)

Here is a quick reference chart showing the amount of fibre needed and tool options to achieve that amount.

Amount of fibre	Tools to consider	Notes, Pros/Cons
Smaller than a handful	Hand blending	-(if the staple length is longer than you want you can tare it or use scissors to shorten it) Pros: free!, quick and easy to do for small amounts Cons: can stress wrists and fingers pulling fibre apart as you blend it.
A Handful or a couple of handfuls	Pet brushes used like wool mini-carders	-like mini carders quality varies by manufacture. Some teeth are very stiff some are very flexible. Pros: cost $2.50 to 10.00 each (cheap) Cons: some are not well made and don’t hold up to stronger wools or heavy use.
A double handful	Wool carders	-designed to work with wool. Comes in various teeth counts (fine/Medium/course). Pros: You can sometimes find a set secondhand from spinners. Cons: new hand cards can be pricey but not as pricey as a drum carder.New Around $100.00 Canadian with shipping.
A larger amount (a batt)	Drum carder	-designed to work with wool. Comes in various teeth counts (fine/Medium/course). Pros: can create larger amounts of blended fibre than a hand carder.reasonably easy to use, Cons: a bit harder to clean for some. Even second-hand 150.00 to 350.00, new; high 200s to much more for larger or electric versions. The smaller ones are moveable/ sort of portable. The bigger ones are better left in a work area)

18) 3 full-size hand carders, pet brush carders (my real mini carders will turn up as I keep shuffling things) and small combs; a set of Rodger Hockins and one bee de-capping comb in the interim location in my office/studio

Mrs Mer Joins in the Adventures, Gaming (& Felting) Convention!

October 11, 2022 Jan Comments 16 comments

It has been a longer break than usual between posts but it’s also been a busy time. I am partway through writing about the carp fair (yes, I will tell you if you can felt with gloves on shortly but not today.) Today I want to tell you of the continuing adventures of the Mer’s.

Was it just a week ago that Mr. and Mrs. Mer and I followed Glenn off to the Kanata Games (and Felting) Convention? I have gone before and happily, spent the weekend felting, listening to my audiobook and watching the convention goers gaming. After a 2-year break, they were finally getting back to the fall tradition.

While Glenn wandered off to play train games (the older trains rust out part way through the game and there is a lot of math, doesn’t really sound fun to me.) the Mer’s and I settled into an empty table in the corner with a view of most of the gaming.

We are a little out of sequence since I had been working on Mrs. Mer at the Carp fair (which you haven’t seen yet!) I had built up her fishy parts to the point I was ready to add the wires for the fins.

1-Mrs. Mer, lying on a felting pad, with fin wires for lower fins added to her fish body, the needle is adding wool to the lower abdomen of the fish section.

2- Close up of fish part of Mrs. Mer, adding folded wire that will be anal fin, the other fin wires are in place for lower fins and are wrapped in wool.

3-Mrs. Mer viewed from the back showing understructure of wool and adding the back fin wires. She is lying on a wool pad on top of a handwoven cotton blanket of various colours of blue and bits of purple.

Since we cot Mr. Mer flirting again at the fair I was determined to get Mrs. Mer closer to completion over the convention weekend.

4-Mr Mer, as his arms resting over the handle of my willow basket, is showing off his chest and smiling.

One of the tables designated for overflow games was suggested as a good spot so I was out of the way and it was large enough to work comfortably.

5-Table at the back of the gaming convention, gaming going on at tables in the background, Mrs. Mer lies on the table showing her back. She has her fin wires wrapped in wool and has a felting needle stuck in her sacrum.

I finished wrapping the last of the fin wires and was ready to start sculpting more detail into the fish bits and then add the actual fins. I still have work to do on her human parts but am focusing on her fishy bits at the moment.

I am interested in the intersection between human and fish again, this time playing with the echoes of lines that would have been gills.

6- Close up of Mrs, Mer’s gluteal muscles and the transition to fish, 2 ridges are developing reminiscent of gills.

As I thought about the transition, I decided to move to the tail for a bit as I considered her options.

7- Mrs. Mer on a wool pad on the table. Showing the tail fin being built up with white wool over the Alpaca underlayer.

8- Showing Mrs. Mer on the pad on the table, with very thin felt being built up between the upper and lower tail wire, there is gaming going on in the background.

9- Mrs. Mer, lying on a felt pad on the table, with the clutter of mini Chocolate bars, Ice crackers, glasses and extra needles spread around her. I am adding more fibre to expand the thin felted tail fin.

I added a lateral line on both her fishiness as well as her hips sort of where her IT band should be.

10- It band integrated with the Dorsal line on the fish body anal fin over a felt pad with a felting needle adding a thin wisp of fibre to the wire fin armature. Glasses and tiny pliers and cutters are lying on the felting mat.

11- Close up of anal fin and tale (Caudal) fin both with very thin wisps of felt for the fins. They are lying on the felt pad with a needle sticking out of it.

12 – Starting the Ventral fin one on each side of the lower body of Mrs. Mer’s fishy body

13- Mrs. Mer is lying on her side on the table with her Ventral fin on the felting pad with a needle stuck in it. There is a bottle of mountain due (pop with a lot of caffeine), reference photos and my audiobook player also sitting beside the pad.

14- Mrs. Mer is now leaning on her elbows on the felting pad. I have all the lower fins added as well as the tail, I have started to add a bit of light skin tone to her lower back and glutes.

The gaming will go on until 11 pm on Friday night, there are still quite a few people that I can see and more in the other half of the hall. Since I have a bit more time I started the Dorsal fin.

15- Mrs. Mer Lies on the table with her Dorsal fin spread out across the felt mat. There are wisps of wool being added to the space between the spines.

16- Mrs. Mer props herself up on the table with a bottle of the mountain due behind her.

It is the end of day 1 at the Friday gaming and felting convention and time to send Mrs. Mer back to her project bag,

Day 2 (Saturday) unfortunately I had a previous shopping commitment when I learned about the gaming and felting convention planned for Saturday morning. Therefore, the Mer’s and I jumped in the car very early and headed north not just out of town but also out of province to Wakefield Quebec. They were having a wool day at the market.

17- Photo of the community center and the corner of some of the Market stalls with white tents.

We arrived in time as they were still setting up some of the booths.

18 -bin of wool and 5 small bags of tiny locks sitting on the small chest freezer, more of the market in the background

19- Feme sol Fiber yarn and batting for sail in pretty baskets.

I found Femme Sol and sorted through some of their fibre, selecting bags with small curls in white and dark brown. The next booth over was Rocks end farm with Icelandic sheepskins and yarn but no fibre this time.

20- Rocks end farms yarn displayed on a table with driftwood support

I also spotted some colourful wool mitts, shooting mitts (have a finger for the trigger), fingerless mitts and toques.

21- table covered in boutique cloth with colourful mittens on top

22- 2 ladies looking at mitts one lady selling the mitts

Ginger had asked about Mr. Mer so I went back to the car to let them visit.

23- Mr. Mer and Ginger Chatting.

24- Mrs. Mer interrupts Mr. Mer’s Flirting.

There was a dyer of yarn there, Riverside Studio, who had a great selection of hand died yarn.

25- Grid racks of hand-dyed yarn, a woman with a large pink handbag admires yarn

I admired the last of the fall flowers in front of the Wakefield community center before heading back to Ottawa.

26- Ornamental grass and brown-eyed-Susan flowers with dark rose colours flower I don’t recognize and general greenery behind.

The trees are just starting to turn colour at the higher elevation around Wakefield.

27- fall colour along the highway is green, orange, red and yellow leaves on trees.

Did I mention the main highway in Ottawa is getting one of its overpasses replaced this weekend….. that would explain the odd extra traffic. I eventually made it back into Ottawa and then west to Kanata where the convention was underway.

Mr. Mer was very attentive to his wife. It may be she was annoyed with his flirting of earlier this morning.

28- Mrs. Mer on a felt pad on the table with Mr. Mer leaning over the back of the walker supervising her felting. In the background, gaming is going on.