This week I have been working on some short ruffle scarves. They go just around your neck. I need to build my inventory for the fall shows.
I lay them out in the usual ruffle configuration. I have a template under my plastic so they are all the same and one end isn’t smaller than the other. This is the class I will be teaching at Almonte fibrefest this September. http://almontefibrefest.ca/workshop/ruffle-scarf/
I do not have many in prosses pictures. I got into a groove and forgot to take them. This is what thy look like finished but wet. These ones are nuno felt as well. The purple and turquoise one is an upcycled scarf someone gave me. I wasn’t sure how it would work but it felted right in.
and dry,
I think they look like dumbbells when you roll them up for storage. I hope people like them. They are nice inside your coat. You can leave them up like a tall collar to keep the wind out or fold them down over you coat. Either way the are warm and fashionable. I almost forgot to tell you I will put a button on each one.
Today our guest artist/writer is Carole Gascoigne aka Craftywoman. She also maintains a Facebook page just for fun — Bagsalicious. Here is Carole’s contribution for the Third Quarter Challenge.
I have to say this is a first all round – first time attempting nuno felting and first time writing a blog for this felting site.
It was a treat to be asked, then came the big challenge: what to write about.
We have a quarterly challenge and this one is to take a photo, take it into a colour palette site and find the colours for a project.
I half completed this challenge, in that I found myself trying to capture the image into a nuno scarf or shawl, rather than, as I had originally envisaged, creating something more abstract.
Armed with my 3mm silk chiffon and pre-dyed coloured fibres, I started to develop my scarf.
Top and bottom I used merino and silk in greens and blues. To the blue part I added white viscose fibres for sheen, and turquoise locks. The poppies (sorry about the blurred pic) were first a layer of raw silk fabric cut up into random poppy shapes in salmony pinks, with pink locks and fine red merino over laid.
All of this, the silk fabric and the fibre design was laid out on bubble wrap – bubble side up.
Then came the hard work. I hadn’t appreciated how difficult nuno was going to be. Initially, I covered my design with net and wet felted the design into place. I then rolled it all up onto a foam roller, tied it together and started rolling. I think I rolled about 400 times, 200 each way – then I removed the net.
I re-rolled about another 600 times, changing the end I started with to ensure all the fibres had a chance to be on the inside and the outside of the rolling.
When I was happy that the fibres had migrated through the silk chiffon I added more hot water and threw the piece on to a towel. I continued doing this until I felt it had been felted enough.
Here is my ‘Poppies by the Sea’ inspired nuno felted scarf.
Carole, thanks for completing the Third Quarter Challenge and sharing your first nuno felting journey with us! It was worth the effort the scarf is beautiful!
Just before the end of last year, I made a few scarves that I didn’t get chance to post about. The first one was a present for my sister’s birthday. I took the inspiration for the colours from a previous scarf I made, which was blue and purple. I blended up equal amounts of blue, purple and green 18.5 mic Merino on my drum carder. I can’t remember now how many times I put the batts through, I think it was only once because I wanted random variegation. This is the back of the scarf:
I added some silk top to the front:
And I just like the way this photo looks 🙂
I used what was left of the batts and added some more blue, purple and green, with a lot more green so I could make a scarf for my dad. You might remember the batt. I used some to make a nuno sample (which is now my nuno collar which I wear when I go out, though it looks more like a foppish cravat!) When I weighed it, there wasn’t enough for a scarf, so I had to blend up some more Merino. Even though I only needed about 10 grams to be on the safe side, I had to recreate the stages of the other one to get a similar blend. I think it’s my favourite one so far:
Here’s a close up
One thing I noticed while carding the batts, was that the more the wool/batts were carded, or re-carded, the more I got soft little nepps appearing. I did pick a few out, but it wasn’t easy so I left them, hoping they wouldn’t be a problem since they were so soft. It might be my imagination because I certainly can’t feel them, but there definitely seems to be more texture on this scarf. I think the light here caught it just right:
I liked the way this photos looks too, I’d just casually dropped the scarf on the table and it folded like this:
I have not been nearly as productive as Ruth but I did finally get an afternoon to do some felting. I did 2 scarves the first is a purple and pink one. First I put the purple wool on but when I wet it the wool completely disappeared in to the silk so I added some pink curls to perk it up. Not a very exiting scarf but I like the way the wool pulled in. I doesn’t show well on the mannequin but it was to windy to take pictures outside.
wool on scarfadd pink curlsfinished
The next one is brass? cream? gold? and green. I put green leave all over then thought it look pretty boring so added the purple highlight, still I don’t like it so I added the greenish gray leaves with the orange highlight.
close upfull length
It wasn’t very thrilling but I didn’t know what to add so went ahead and felted it. It turned out all right but nothing to get very exited about.
finished
So do you like the colour choices I made? What colours would you have picked for this silk? What would you have added after the leaves?
