silk habatoi – Felting and Fiber Studio

Mini Weaving

November 19, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 23 comments

It seems lately everyone is into weaving. This past summer I was shopping with my daughter in law at Joann’s and this mini loom caught my eye. I actually thought it might be something to do with the grandsons.

The last time I wove anything was on one of those metal looms using loops to make pot holders. Yeah, I’m showing my age.

I forgot about the loom when I got home then when I was gathering all my scraps for the 4th Quarter challenge I found it under a pile. Ok, let’s see how this works and what all the hoopla is about. Looks easy enough.

I have a tubful of yarn so that’s where I started. I thought an autumn theme would be nice. The black acrylic/wool combo also has a little silver bling, the pink ball is mohair and the multi colored yarn is thick and thin with a little blue and white thin threads. I also added some polyester and silk scraps and hand dyed boucle. The ball of yarn under the string is the alpaca I used to make my Ginkgo leaves a while back. Not pictured is hand dyed green pencil roving.

They don’t sell the warp so I decided to just use string. Besides I didn’t want to invest in anything if it was something that I wasn’t going to do a lot of.

I didn’t like using the shuttle, so I just used my fingers. Here it is on the loom:

Here’s a closeup:

The instructions were not helpful so I ended up finding a video online. I used the alpaca as fringe. I wasn’t following a particular pattern just kind of winging it.

Of course, I had to hide the ends which was a lot more fiddly than I like. But I like the overall look. I decided to make it a wall hanging and cut a piece of bamboo to tie it to. You can’t tell from the picture, but it’s hanging on a light gold wall. Sorry about the shadow .

It took me a lot longer than anticipated. But I’m happy with the results. I may try another to felt. But I don’t see myself investing any larger looms. I admire those of you who have the patience to dress a loom and weave away.

More Natural Dyeing with Cochineal

October 10, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 26 comments

This is the last of my summer experiments with natural dyeing. Cochineal are those little scale insects that are picked off of cacti.

I’ve seen some really nice results using cochineal such as Nada’s experience she posted on the forum this summer.

As with my previous experiments, I used small amounts of silk habatoi, silk gauze, silk mulberry, wool yarn, and merino and corriedale rovings. They were pre-mordanted.

The cochineal had to be ground. I used a wooden mortar and pestle, then put them in a blender, then made it into a paste before adding boiling water.

The mixture was then left overnight before adding to the pot. (This was divided into three parts first to use with different modifiers.)

The first pot I used only cochineal.

The second I modified with cream of tartar.

The last I added iron.

After each batch was removed from the pot, I left it “cure” for two days. Since I didn’t have both the a lot of room to spread them out I left them bunched up hence the lines. They also dried much lighter as you’ll see.

This was cochineal with cream of tartar. You can see the little bits of bugs on them.Once they were cured, I rinsed them out and hung them to dry.

Cochineal only.

With cream of tartar modifier. A nice bright pink.

With the iron modifier.

While the results were not exactly what I expected, I believe because the bugs weren’t finely ground I got lighter colors. I may over dye the first batch when I find an electric grinder. If I had to order cochineal again, I’d look for powder.

Have you done any natural dyeing lately?

The Final Projects for the Paper Lamination Class

July 22, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 10 comments

I wasn’t able to finish the coursework for Ruth’s Paper Lamination Class within the class time, but have since completed the last two assignments. We had a choice of several different options for the last two weeks. I chose to use one of the lamination pieces on a pillow. It was a piece of silk habatoi that I used a stencil with acrylic paint on a piece of copy paper.

I made a couple of batts with gray, a little green and purple accents over a resist. Then wet felted. Of course, I had to cut a side to get the resist out and the pillow stuffing in. While it was drying, it was a nice square shape. Now its a funky shape. But that’s ok, the colors go perfectly in my bedroom.

It seemed a little plain so I tried adding prefelt leaves, but I felt they overwhelmed the design. I was very pleased with the texture and dimension of the flowers and decided not to do any stitching like I had on the bird project.

So, I decided to stitch around the silk using a cretan stitch. It was an exercise in patience and practice. I used a silver sharpie to put a few dots in the center of the flowers as stamens.

Here’s the back with a subtle marbled effect:

Next I made a wall hanging. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the organza I painted. I call it “paintbrush.” In the closeups you can see the brush strokes if you look hard.

I also got some great dimension:

Here is the back:

Now it is hanging in my kitchen. Yes, the wall is teal.

I’m very pleased with both projects.

Thanks Ruth for offering the class. I really enjoyed it.

Scarflette with Locks

February 21, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 30 comments

I was inspired by Nada’s scarflette a while back and thought it would be a perfect way to use some of the locks I received from Zara.

I dyed some Merino, Corriedale, Romney and Cheviot wool along with some silk habatoi and silk mulberry using Silver Gray acid dye. Then made some batts with the wool and silk.

I pre-washed some of the locks using Zara’s method posted on the forum using netting and soaking. I wasn’t sure what color I would use, but chose dark gray Gotland locks.

It was a simple scarf layout, but not a simple process. I had never used locks, so I wasn’t sure how to space the locks. I anticipated a 30% shrinkage. I needle felted the locks between two layers of batts using similar sizes and shapes. I also wanted a silk nuno close to the skin. I wet down the batts then added the silk on the back then proceeded with felting being very careful not to let the locks migrate or felt. I worked slow and was attentive to the locks.

What I didn’t expect was that not all the silk would get nuno felted. I even added some fiber at the beginning of the process to those areas. No deal. I worked diligently on those areas, but no change.

I was ready to throw it in the lost pile. The locks were fuzzy, some of the silk wasn’t felted. I left it for a couple of days and decided I’d make it work. I knew it was fruitless to try to continue to felt. The felt was solid. I originally had the design drape to one side and was going to cut the ends at an angle, but I folded over the nuno side to create a collar and liked that better. The silk was a bit larger so I just let it ruffle over the edges.

I had to do some stitching to hold the silk on in places. But its pretty much invisible.

Originally, I envisioned a cool button on the front, but ended up with a snap on the inside. The button I had purchased would be hidden by the overlap.

I wetted the wild locks and used a little leave in conditioner on them. Not perfect, but my husband walked by while it was sitting on the counter and remarked on how beautiful it was. (I never mentioned what I was working on or my disappointment. So, I guess it wasn’t a failure.)

I need to work on my locks skills. I have no idea what happened to the nuno especially since my ginkgo piece turned out so well. Or why the locks turned fuzzy.

Any ideas?

Dyeing with Avocado Skins Part 2

February 13, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 36 comments

My next step was to use the avocado skins for dyeing. Again, the instructions varied. Some said to tear the skins, others use whole. I went with using the whole skins.

I used approximately the same amount of wool, thick and thin yarn, silk habatoi, silk gauze and cotton voile. What I did differently this time was to put everything in before it was heated. I felt this would save some time waiting to put in the wool after cooling. I’m not sure this changed the outcome.

I let the pot come to a boil, left it to simmer for almost an hour. Then let it sit overnight to cool.

The results were interesting and different from the pits. The color was like a latte for the wool and silk. The cotton was a very pale pink.

But I couldn’t stop there. I had saved the dye pot from the pits and used half and half with the skins and pits. I also presoaked the wool, silk and cotton in an alum mordant for several hours.

Again, I added the fabrics and wool before heating, heated to boiling then simmered for almost an hour and left it all sit overnight. I wondered if the colors would be brighter and more intense with the addition of the alum.

Here are the results:

The result a little more coppery except for the cotton.

Now here they are next to each other. From left to right – pits, skins, pits and skins with alum.

I thought it was interesting that the silk gauze was the deepest color in the mixed batch.

They are all lovely colors. Now to figure what to do with them. And yes, I’ll continue to save my avocados.

Dyeing with Avocado Pits Part 1

February 5, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 28 comments

I don’t know where I ran across the blog on dyeing with avocado, but I eat a good amount of it and always feel guilty throwing it out. My Son Brad and his wife Mari compost, but we don’t maintain a big enough garden to justify a compost heap. So, when I read the blog and did some further research, I started freezing the pits and skins.

When I had about ten or eleven of them, I started my dyeing project. There were several posts on how to dye with the pits. One said to use the whole pit, another said to cut them. I had started cutting them so I went with that.

I prepared some merino (76 gm, thick and thin yarn 4-8 gm, silk habatoi -1/4 yard, silk gauze 1/4 yd and cotton voile 1/8 yd) by washing with synthropol and rinsing then soaking.

I put the pits in about 2 gallons of water and brought it to a boil, added the fabrics, then simmered for an hour. I let it cool down then added the wool and let it sit overnight.