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I’ve got rainbows on my mind

I’ve got rainbows on my mind

Comments 13 comments

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.

The Wild Table Runner

The Wild Table Runner

Comments 12 comments

I have a bin full of yarn.  A lot of it I’ve either dyed or picked up at garage sales or thrift stores.  A majority of it isn’t wool based.  So I thought it would be fun to make something using a variety of these yarns and see how they felted.

It started out to be a pillow cover, but later when I started to lay it out I changed my mind.  Originally, I had a swerving design in mind.  But thought there was too much empty space and the design would probably distort the whole thing. I used two batts of merino and a prefelt over that as a base.

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I added more yarns and moved them apart so they’d have room to create their own design.

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Here are the yarns I used, not necessarily in this order.  Some I used more than once.

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From left to right:

  1. Synthetic ladder yarn
  2.  Synthetic ladder yarn  second color
  3. Decorative synthetic flag yarn
  4. Mohair/metallic
  5. Bamboo
  6. Acrylic yarn
  7. Wool Boucle
  8. Merino slub yarn
  9. Hand dyed thick and thin yarn
  10. Worsted wool
  11. Novelty yarn with nylon, tactel, cotton and lame
  12. Merino slub yarn
  13. Wool roving sold as yarn
  14. Wool/metallic
  15. Peruvian wool
  16. Thick and thin wool yarn commercial
  17. Mohair/metallic novelty yarn

I had some “Riot Eyelash Yarn” I decided to use as an edging.  Which I sewed on using a zigzag stitch after it was felted.  It is aptly named.

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Here it is laid on a white background to show the eyelash edging.

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A few closeups:

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Strangely enough the only one I had to fix after felting was the multicolored acrylic yarn which I’ve used before without a problem.  I had to needle felt it down.  The Peruvian wool also had a few places to tack down, but I think it was because it was so tightly wound the merino prefelt couldn’t grab it as well.  Even the ladder yarn and synthetics seemed to be fairly firm in place.

Here it is on it’s new home a glass coffee table.

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Its fairly dark here and it seems I got a bit of glare from the flash.  What are you working on in the New Year?

 

Hat Classwork

Hat Classwork

Comments 24 comments

In September, I took Teri Berry’s first Concertina Hat Class online.  Unfortunately, I didn’t finish on time due to taking another class and travel.  But I’ve completed the first two hats.

Here is the Concertina hat with some silk embellishment:

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I probably could have added a couple more folds, but I kind of like it the way it is.  Of course, my favorite colors.

The next hat was the Snail Hat which was a bit more complicated, but fun to make.

Drying on the hat block:

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Finally dry and shaved.

20161014_115005 20161012_151814 20161012_151800 20161012_151736 20161012_151728 20161014_115150-1 I haven’t started the third hat, but will show it here when I do.

Teri is offering the class again November 4.  I highly recommend it.  There was a lot of creativity, sharing of ideas and fun.  For more information or to register:

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/felted-concertina-hat-with-teri-berry/

Here are some of the other hats made by the students:

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/felted-concertina-hat-with-teri-berry/felted-concertina-hat-gallery/

As you can see no two hats were alike.  Sign up and have some fun!

More Natural Dyeing with Cochineal

More Natural Dyeing with Cochineal

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.

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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.

20160625_155500The second I modified with cream of tartar.

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The last I added iron.

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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.

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This was cochineal with cream of tartar.  You can see the little bits of bugs on them.20160628_112634Once they were cured, I rinsed them out and hung them to dry.

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Cochineal only.

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With cream of tartar modifier. A nice bright pink.

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With the iron modifier.

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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?

 

 

 

Felting in Florida

Felting in Florida

Comments 16 comments

My husband I recently went to Florida to visit our son and his family.  I usually try to bring some wool for my grandsons to play with.  We also babysat while our son and daughter-in-law took a weekend away for their anniversary.  It’s always good to keep the boys occupied indoors since it was unbearably hot and humid outside.

This time I thought it would be fun to do pictures.  So, I had them each draw a picture.

Here they are busy creating.  Luke, the six year old, drew dinosaurs.  Josh, the four year old, is into a game or video called Stickman, so Stickmen it was along with an emoji.

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I had brought some white prefelt for the background and colored prefelts for cutouts and a variety of colored roving for them to chose from.

Luke was able to cut most of the big shapes himself, but I helped on the smaller details.  As we worked, we discussed the best way to add each part of the picture. He had very definite ideas.  Since he had done felting before, he was able to do most of the rubbing and rolling himself.

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Josh also had very definite ideas on colors and shapes.  In his picture, we used mostly roving.  The eyes were too hard for him, so I did that.  He’s a very good supervisor giving detailed instructions on what colors and were to put everything.  He started the felting process, then lost interest. So, Grandma had to finish. By the way, those are bananas on the tree.  Evidently, Stickmen like bananas.

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Unfortunately, the vinyl tablecloth I used to protect the wood table began to leach color into the felt even though we used bubble wrap.  So, there are a few pink spots in the corners.  The boys didn’t seem to mind though.

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If they ever get a trampoline, I can see them using Zara’s method to felt a rug.  I know they’d enjoy that!

 

Trying to Get Organized

Trying to Get Organized

Comments 26 comments

The first two years I was felting I used the shoe storage method to store my fiber.  But as a fiber enthusiast and one to try new things my inventory and tool collection kept growing.   So, it became quite unruly. The picture doesn’t show the overflow and piles in bins I couldn’t fit in.

2014-03-03 11.30.52I had piles of things everywhere.

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For the past year I’ve been trying to find a system to keep my fiber and tools organized. I tried a wire cube system next.  This was a real test of my patience.

2015-04-07 12.03.072015-04-08 13.42.07 2015-04-08 13.42.19I liked the openness of this system, but didn’t like it was so deep and I’d have to juggle the fibers to see all the colors I had.  I did put my batts in bins on the floor.

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So, I continued to look for another system.  I wanted an open bookcase, but because of the dimensions I was limited to, I couldn’t find something that worked.

Then we had a big discussion on the forum about fiber and bugs, so I decided to try plastic drawers.

20150907_162939Now I have drawers organized by color.  Here’s just a few.  I also have one for alpaca, one for merino and silk mixes.

20150907_162808 20150907_162852 20150907_162842 20150907_162835 20150907_162824But I wasn’t finished.  I organized my embellishments in two separate units.

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This one is under my table.

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I also used the furnace room door for coarser fibers and to hang my scarves and hand dyed yarns.

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Here is my table with my tool drawer and a bin full of WOW fibers, some foam for needle felting and other useful tools all close at hand.

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More fiber and bubble wrap marked.

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Behind my table is my felting machine with more tools close at hand.

20150907_165005And my drum carder set off to the side next to another table.

20150907_164853The cube system is temporarily holding some folders until I figure out what to do with it.

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Then there is the daybed covered with samples, bins of yarn, ribbon, scraps, etc.  This still needs a bit of work.  And my “paper” room which is now my dyeing room.  That will also have to wait.

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This system works for me right now.  Its by no means perfect.  I’m fortunate to have two water sources close at hand and extra space.  I don’t think we intended it to be a studio but that’s what it is for me right now.

What works for you?

This and That

This and That

Comments 22 comments

While I haven’t been very active on the forum, I have been busy with small felt projects and traveling.

Everyone had been interested in what I would do with my “denim paper.”  Well, I tore some of it up in pieces and placed them on a piece of black prefelt.  I put wisps of fiber over the larger pieces, just in case.  It felted beautifully.  I doubt I needed the fibers.  I added sides from some black felt and stitched it together to make a glass case.  I added a snap as a closure.

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Rummaging thru my UFOs I found a couple of spikes I had made in Fiona Duthie’s class last year.  I decided to make a ring holder with one attaching the fluffy end of the spike to a felt circle, covering with additional fiber, felting then forming a star shape while wet and adding beads when dry.

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I also made another clutch for my Florida daughter in law.  Yes, the Nelson women love all things teal. This has three layers using batts of merino Corriedale blend and decorated with yarn, silk hankies, silk roving and silk gauze.  The last pic is the inside lined with silk habatoi.

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What little projects have you completed lately?

 

The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair, August 1-3, 2014

The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair, August 1-3, 2014

Comments 19 comments

by Guest Artist/Author Cathy Wycliff (Luvswool)

We, Marilyn (Pandagirl) and I (Luvswool),  had never attended a “fiber fair,” so there were expectations and then the reality of the Fair.  We had planned for many months to attend the annual Fair and met there early Friday morning with great anticipation. The advance program showed photos of sheep, fiber, workshops, art exhibits, bags of fleece, etc., and the Fair delivered all of that except for the sheep. One of the organizers explained to me that August is too hot for sheep, and I guess that makes sense. So, the only live animals were a lonely llama and a couple of angora rabbits. Still, it was an enjoyable experience.

The Fair has been held for 8 years in Grayslake, IL, a far northwestern town in the extended Chicago metro area, and it’s a Fair that celebrates the work of many hands. We saw spinners, felters, and knitters demonstrating their crafts, and there were many workshops offered during the 3-day fair. There were a couple of folk singers and a few food vendors outdoors, but everything else was contained in an air-conditioned building. The majority of the indoor vendors were geared towards knitters, with many beautiful displays of hand-dyed, hand-spun yarns and goods. Neither Marilyn nor I are knitters, so we headed first for a walk around to scope out the lot.

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First stop was the Art Exhibit, which displayed fine fiber art–among them, my own display of five fiber wall-hangings. There were other fiber wall hangings, sculptures and “vintage” handbags (crafted from vintage patterns but otherwise entirely new).

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Cathy Wycliff’s Exhibit

(Cathy had a very prominent display!  It was the first thing to see on our way in.  Very exciting! — Marilyn)

Next up were the vendors, which included some crazy rag rugs, lots of beautiful yarn and bags of alpaca fleece. There were also felted hats  and you’ll notice I didn’t snap pics of the roving, since I was busy buying it. Marilyn and I purchased some fibers we have not previously felted with–including Navajo churro, 100% Organic Polwarth, white Falkland and I bought some black Blue Faced Leicester with silk. Since there was so much yarn, I did pick up some white wool boucle for embellishment, as well as silk hankies, which I have never used.

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As we neared the end, we were able to view the judging of alpaca and llama fleece. Two judges followed a quality control checklist and had to concur on all points.

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Then it was goodbye to Princess Athena, the lonely llama,  and our day at the Fair came to an end. We would love to attend another fair, but next time would like to see sheep–sheep-shearing, sheep-judging, sheep fleeces, border collies herding sheep, etc.  Maybe there’s a trip to New Zealand in our future!

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Bye! Thanks for stopping by.
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