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I’ve got rainbows on my mind

I’ve got rainbows on my mind

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First of all, happy Thanksgiving to everyone reading this in the US! I hope you had a nice celebration.

Today I’m sharing some rainbow-y fibre I created, plus a “throwback” item that I hope you’ll like.

Being an indie dyer means I get to play with dyes fairly regularly, but it had been some time since I adventured into the world of saturated rainbows. I think it was the grey London Autumn that got me inspired, I just needed to get a colour fix. Off to the dye pot I went.

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One of the things I’ve been a little obsessed with lately is how yarns look when they’re in skein format – I love it when colours look cohesive and have a certain progression to them when displayed, so I went for a red “bottom” that would change as the eyes look up. Hopefully you’ll see that this was done consciously.

I knit this into a hat (complete with a pompom) that I think looks very cheery. It’s going to be a Christmas present so I hope the recipient likes it.

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I hope you’re not fed up with bright colours yet…

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Although not technically a rainbow, this wool top came out super bright and happy (to my eyes at least). If you’ve ever dyed wool top or roving you’ll know it can be an adventure to control where the colours go. This is superwash wool (it doesn’t felt) so it wasn’t as difficult to get “right” as non-superwash fibres, but I’m still perfecting my methods. Suggestions are welcome!

This being the Felting and Fiber Studio, there should be some felting, so here is a little Piglet I made a couple of years ago and gifted to a friend. I really loved creating this little guy and think he came out really well. I got to see the sculpture again a few days ago at a friend’s house.

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Have you done any hand dyeing or needle felting lately? Share your experiences with me in the comment sections.

A show and Picture Progress

A show and Picture Progress

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I had a show on the weekend. It was quite good. We put a big push on advertising on Facebook and Instagram and it looks like it paid off. There were more customers this year. It’s nice that everyone’s efforts paid off.

This is what my booth looked like.

I sat in the back near the mirror and worked on my Moy MacKay class picture. You can see it on the left of the table.  People were very interested and it helped to start conversations.

On the second day, I changed the table around a little to see if the little bags would go better.  It might have been a little better. people look at them a lot but they are not selling. Maybe the price is a bit high. I need to get my webpage set up to sell or get my Etsy page up and working.

This is what it looked like at the beginning of the day.

I added some more to the fences and some shadows for the ones on the left as the sun is on that side. added some purple to the left backfield to tone it down as it farther away.  The big thing I worked on mountains. The wool colours were running across, So they really didn’t look like trees. I added a thin layer of wool going the other way to make it look more like it is covered in trees. I used a greyer green so they will reseed more.

 

Now I need to add some shading to give the mountains some definition and mountainy shape. It’s coming along. At the moment I am working on the holiday card exchange. What are you working on?

 

Finished Needle Felting

Finished Needle Felting

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I finished the needle felted piece I showed in my last blog post, and with some nice, bright weather I managed to get a good photos of it too!

I also finished another piece that I made using the same wools from Cathy which I showed in a wet felted piece previously:

The natural dyed fibres look far less ‘harsh’ than the acid dyed ones, I think. This is the same Turmeric dyed locks I used on the wet felted piece:

And, I don’t know what this was dyed with, but I think it’s Alpaca:

And one last needlefelted piece, I had forgotten all about this one! I was looking for a box to use and found one on top of a bookcase, it didn’t seem to have much in when I shook it, I was surprised when I opened it and saw this! I’m not sure if I’d considered it finished or just forgot all about it. I made it using scraps I’d saved, I think I got concerned about some of the threads which had got mixed up in the ‘wool for birds’ tub, after reading about how threads and long hair are responsible for pigeons losing their feet. It’s really soft and lightly needled:

I think I’ll be making felted soaps this week, we made one at the well being centre on Monday and I didn’t hate it! What are your plans for this week?

Some Needle Felting

Some Needle Felting

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We’ve been needlefelting at the Well-Being Centre. We started last week when there were just a few of us. One of the members liked this painting of ducks that is on the wall:

This was how far she’d got at the start of this week after doing a little of work after taking it home last week:

I think I’ve mentioned it’s a basement room with strange lights and 2 tiny windows, so the light isn’t great. I started an abstract piece using some of the dyed locks we have:

Some of them are commercial dyed BFL from World of Wool. This is a green one:

And, I think this is some dyed locks Lyn donated to us when we were first starting out:

These weren’t done at the centre, but one of the members brought them in. She was a really good sport about us laughing at her first attempt. And we weren’t being mean, we know it’s just at a stage where it looks comical:

She started on a different one, and liked how that progressed so did a little bit more:

I’m looking forward to seeing them finished! She also brought in a nuno sample she made a few weeks ago, at the same time I made mine, this is the blended 18.5 mic Merino side:

This is the front:

And this is a close up of the texture:

I’ll have updates of the needle felting next time 🙂

Making Felted Sheep

Making Felted Sheep

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Another flash back post. some needle felted sheep. I hope you like them.

With the start of show season gets closer I realise I only had a few sheep left. Time to make sheep parts.

sheep body 1 sheep head 1

I have to make bodies and heads. I roll them up and give them a few pokes. I use 2 needles held together with a hair elastic. It makes them comfortable to hold.

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There will be white sheep too

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Once they are rolled and poked they get put in to the legs of some nylons.

sheep parts ready fo the wash

These will go into the washer and dryer with a regular load of laundry.

I also make wet felted snakes to be cut for legs and a flat sheet of felt to cut ears out of.

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I can’t find my bag of black spare parts.  may need to make more.

This is what the finished sheep will look like.

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They all get a safety pin on one side so you can wear them.

Chico the needle felted dog

Chico the needle felted dog

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Hello, Leonor here. My guest post for today is going to be a simple “show and tell” as the weather here in London is too warm for complicated thoughts!

Some of you might be aware that I am a fibre artist by trade. Anything wool and I love it. I got into this business a little by accident, and making custom needle felted dogs was even more unexpected – basically, a friend asked me for a mini of his whippet, I took the challenge, and the rest is history!

I’ve now been playing with wool professionally for around 5 years, and I must confess there was one hurdle I was yet to conquer in my work – creating an open mouth. I’d tried once and it didn’t come out right, so I more or less gave up on it. That is, until I made Chico!

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At first I was going to make his tongue out of polymer clay (the idea of finishing it off with a nice layer of glossy varnish to mimic moisture was very attractive to me) but then I decided not to. I liked the idea of a 100% fibre sculpture better.

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I made the lower jaw separately, making sure the upper section was thin enough to accommodate both parts without looking weird. I added a layer of black around the edge to make it more realistic, and then a little white on the back for teeth. The tongue was made using two shades of purplish pink blended together. I made two mini tongues and chose the one that fit best.

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I received a few reference photos to make this little guy, my favourite was one where he was sitting with his leg to the side and smiling. I just had to make him this way.

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I love the detail of paw pads, the feet immediately look real. You can’t really tell from this picture, but Chico is er… anatomically correct. I like a realistic sculpture!

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Below is a picture of the original Chico. The mini version is off to a Spanish island as a surprise for the whole human family. I hope they like it!

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Have you ever created a needle felted animal? What wool did you use and how did you like your experience? Let me know in the comments section.
Questions? Happy to help, just leave a comment!

Jan’s 3rd Quarter 2017 Challenge Part 3

Jan’s 3rd Quarter 2017 Challenge Part 3

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Now the final installment of Jan’s 3rd quarter challenge.

Part 3 finishing

I had been working on pieces of the waves while waiting for my mom at various doctor appointments. So I was able to try out the parasol to see if the concept would work. I was pleased but most of the crowd looked confused.

The demo display of felting included Miaka’s Cat Cave Coelacanth fish and the sheep head I had made at a workshop with Wendo (a local felter who felts very quickly) everyone seemed very interested in the little balls of wool top. I think it was the bright colours.

I continued refining the colour on the octopus and adding more sections of wave pieces at the weekly Monday social at the guild. I also showed off the progress at Show and tell during the guild meeting.

It was getting close to Christmas and I knew I would have 2 days to finish the polar bear I was also working on and come to a decision about the boats and fishermen. I did decide to add the fishing boats but let the octopus play with…Er, “rescuing” them. I made the 3 long skinny canoe like boats underneath there is a keel and you may be able to see the upturned prow. Other than shape and general colour I did not do as much detail with them. I was pleased overall with the final look.

So let’s review the original inspiration and what has happened to it!

Into the box to be wrapped as my nieces Christmas present. She is good at swimming and likes the water so I hoped she might enjoy the octopus.


I hope you have enjoyed reading about how I finally got the 3rd quarter challenge finished if just a bit late. But I hope it was worth the wait. I do have a polar bear that I could show you if you are not too overwhelmed with pictures! Maybe I should save that in case Ann ever asked me to write you a note again!
All for now, Jan.

I hope you all enjoyed Jan’s story. I will share her other posts later in the winter.

Pandagirl’s Year End Round Up 2017

Pandagirl’s Year End Round Up 2017

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I’m always amazed at what I accomplished at the end of year. This year I took a few classes in order to expand my creativity in addition to experimenting on  my own. I also tried to use up more materials and finish some UFOs.

Here is a bedside case for odds and ends made with some merino inside and unknown fiber batt with silk embellishment.

Experimenting with different types of yarn to make a table runner.

Our First Quarter Challenge – Fauvism.

Weaving then felting.

A Valentine gift for granddaughter Lisa.

 

Teri Berry’s Snail hat class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finishing and hanging an eco print.                                                  Crochet around wire bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Framing the felted weaving.

I did a lot of experimenting with crochet stitches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practicing for Ruth’s Free Motion Embroidery class.

Crochet hats for my granddaughter and her new premature brother Ken.

A dimensional potholder.

Learning more crochet stitches.

Making a crochet hook case from a crochet sample.

A bowl for the Second quarter Challenge – Celtic

Using yarn on a resist for a vase cover.

Adding dimension to the hummingbird/tiger lily picture.

Crocheting scrubbies.

Felt and crochet earrings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crochet beaded bowl with stiffener.

A Pumpkin for Ken.

The Third Quarter Challenge – Edo Period; felt and hand embroidery Sakura.

Ribbon embroidery and framing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing with thickened dye for Ruth’s class on felt.

 

Finishing  a case from UFO pile and FME Butterfly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maneki-Neko for Third Quarter Challenge Edo Period.

Framing the Rooster.

More stencil play with acrylic and thickened dye.

The Fourth Quarter Challenge — Suprematist

Penguin’s Poinsettia Holiday card.

A couple of scarves for my daughter in laws parents in Japan where it’s as cold as Chicago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to let everyone know I am taking a leave of absence to focus on my health and family.  I will be around just not posting weekly.  We have a lot of talented artists that will be filling in starting with Tracey Thompson next week.

I want to thank everyone for helping out to give me this time.   If you or someone you know has something to share — it doesn’t have to be felt but anything fiber related including paper, please contact me or one of the other moderators on the forum and we’ll get you on the schedule.

I hope everyone has a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!  Happy Creating in 2018!

I’ve Been Framed

I’ve Been Framed

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A few years ago I wet and needle felted a Rooster portrait.  Of course, its been sitting in my UFO pile.  I wrote about it here:

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2014/11/22/a-colorful-rooster/

I had a canvas frame I had used for something else and decided to use the rooster pic to cover it.

Then I tried it on several colored walls.

But I wasn’t really thrilled.  I felt something was missing. Then  I found a frame I thought would be perfect.

So, I removed all the staples, steamed out the bumps and mounted it in the frame.

Here’s a  closeup of the distressed frame which just happens to have a turquoise/teal color accent.

It’s found its home in the teal kitchen.

I think it all ties together nicely.  I feel like I’m looking out a farmhouse window at the rooster. What do you think?

Maneki-Neko for 2017 3rd Quarter Challenge Part 2

Maneki-Neko for 2017 3rd Quarter Challenge Part 2

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I never dreamed this project would take me almost two weeks to complete.  But it is finished.

If you missed part one, you can read about it here:

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2017/09/25/pandagirls-maneki-neko-for-2017-3rd-quarter-challenge-part-1/

It would seem adding the details to finish would be easy.  Not!

I needle felted blue roving around the eyes.  The gems underneath are actually blue, but because they were put over black it wasn’t obvious what color they were.

Then I spent time looking for a gold bell, but decided on using a wool ball instead.  When I added the ribbon I made a slit on both sides of the arm to pull it thru.

The nose and mouth are also needle felted.  But at one point, the nose fell off and had to be reattached.

I curled over the raised paw and secured it in order to show the paw and nails.

The nails proved to be a real challenge and after ripping them out at least a half dozen times, trying needle felting, then using floss and finally rayon thread.

I tried needle felting the arm in front and the tail in back to show the dimension, but it was negligible partly because of it being black. So, I stitched around them which helped.

Another challenge was the writing on the coin.  I made a gold prefelt and copied the characters I had translated from an app for Good Health and confirmed with my daughter in law, Mari. I transferred the characters to a stabilizer.

I thought using the satin stitch on my Pfaff machine would work, but its not a straight satin stitch, but the stitches varied.  So I decided to use a triple stitch which was fine until I reached curves.  I ended up finishing by hand. I’m hoping I haven’t butchered the characters too much.  After finishing the coin, I slip stitched it to the kitty.

The final addition were the whiskers.  They are a little funky and I had to use a little GAC to give them a little stiffness.

Now its time to find her place facing East in hopes of bringing Good Heath to my household.

What challenges have you had lately?