Stepping Back

     Yes, I know I've been very tardy with the blog but I really have been rather busy. We just wrapped up the In Hants Christmas Craft Show this weekend. We both pulled a shift in the canteen and had to just generally be around in case there was a need for more staff. The show itself was a great success. The revenue was flowing again this year. That's such a good sign as last year was pretty much a dismal bust for some sellers. My husband didn't do very well with selling his woodworking, and another gentleman was practically giving away his intarsia pieces but they weren't moving either.  All my small needle felted sculptures sold. I have a bunch more that need to be made right away too, as I have an order for Colorado, and I need some on hand for next week in Dartmouth, so I'm thinking of getting started on some of them this evening. I have to make a bunch of small birds and a couple of Woolfins. I'm up to G with the names of the Woolfins, so I'm thinking of a fishing outport kinda guy named Garge and a female named Hilda. I haven't dreamed up a persona for her as yet. 


     The spinning has been going very well and I have a great stash of wool yarns for my felting projects, as well as some for knitting mittens. I just love to knit mittens. My next plan with the wheel is to make some laceweight beaded yarn for a drapey triangle scarf/shawl. I using grey Corridale roving and size 8 white opalescent seed beads. There will also be a generous smattering of 4mm Bermuda Blue crystals throughout. I'm hoping the project will turn out a very elegant piece. 


     On the wet felting scene, I've taken a step back to catch up with some bookwork. I purchased Uniquely Felt and I'm not making anything else until I read it all, cover to cover. It's an amazing book and I'm now going to be able to correct bad habits, do things the correct way and have all the methods and reasoning right at my fingertips. I can't believe I was muddling through the process so awkwardly. I'm hoping all this knowledge will be making the felting process more enjoyable. A couple of projects are stewing away on the back burner of my brain just waiting for a chance to emerge and evolve into 3-D tactile objects. Stay tuned for more creations. 

Journal Covers

     It's been awhile since I've written here. Been busy with social events, most notably the Dutch Mason Blues Festival in Truro, Nova Scotia last weekend. I've finally recovered from sleep deprivation, dehydration and sunburn and back to my normal self. I just finished up a series of journal covers for the craft show in the fall. I was able to find the journals at a very small cost so can keep the price low in hopes they all sell. This week has been very hot so working with wool has been put aside until it cools down a bit. In the meantime, I'm catching up on housework. My husband is returning next week from six months working in the Arctic so I have to give the place a good cleaning while the clutter is at an all time low. 
I've been looking at more work from various fiber artists and have decided to attempt something new. Not sure how it's going to work out as there are some technical issues that I don't know how to do, but I'm going to wing it and hope for something great to evolve. Stay tuned for progress on that. Here's a couple more pics of the journals. 

Last Evening's Sunset

     This is a picture of the sunset last evening. I wish I could get felt to look like that .. those colors are so beautiful. I really must work more on that though. I saw a felted landscape recently that had the most beautiful stormy sky, so I know it is possible.




     I have begun working on a new bag idea. I'm still not convinced that the design isn't a bit too complicated for the medium, but I'm about to find out. I'll be wetting it out today, after I run a couple of small errands, then applying the design which I have cut out of red prefelt. 

     Here's a look at the bits a pieces that will be going into this. The bag will be black outside and red inside and have a lobster on the outside. The lobster has a lot of parts so we'll see what happens. I'm still going to have to needle felt some of the details at the end. 

How I Make a Wet Felted Bag

     I was sitting here this morning thinking I should be catching up on emails, when it hit me! I had a brainstorm of an idea for a new bag which excited me to no end and really got my creative juices flowing. I don't need a sketch to work from this time as the idea is very vivid in my mind. I can see all the details clearly, but it's not going to be an easy or quick project. I want the bag to be large, over shoulder straps ... likely a double rope with knots here and there. I want it to be black and white and look like Holstein hide. I want the rope ends to have real Holstein tail hair. (A request has been made to a farmer I know quite well.) I want it free form, organic and fluid. I want it to be very very special.


      It wasn't long before I had a pattern cut from craft paper. It's actually under the wool in this pic, so you can't see it. This is only four layers of roving so I'm already halfway there with this layer. 

     As soon as I had eight layers laid out for the back of the bag and the flap, I placed the resist on top. I used corrugated box board. Once it's wet, it becomes pliable and serves to separate the layers. In this pic you can see how I have folded up the overlap over the resist. Wetting the resist helps the wool to stick. Now I need to add eight layers to the top of the resist so the thickness will be even on the front and back. 

     Time to get wet. After I have applied eight layers of roving to the top of the resist, I fold up the mesh over the project and using a hairbrush, sprinkle hot soapy water all over the piece. Using the flat of my hands I press firmly all over to remove all the air pockets. This picture shows that there are lots of air pockets left to be dealt with. 

     When the front is completely flat, and I've taken care of the opening so that no fibers from the front connect with the inside of the flap, I flip the work over and wet down the back through the mesh in the same way. Then I fold up all the overhanging roving, watching that the white and black join in a way that looks realistic, then adjust the shape of the flap and the bottom edge, as I want that to thin out. I make sure the wool is tight to the edges of the resist on both sides. Then I cover the work with the mesh and begin rubbing by hand until I have a nice skin on both sides. 

     Once I have a nice surface on all sides, and paying particular attention to the edges, I roll the whole thing up in bubble wrap and roll in all four directions at least 20 times. Each time you must turn the work and readjust the mesh to make sure the wool isn't sticking to it. When this is completed, the resist will be visibly buckled. 




Stay tuned for next installment of this project. 

Wet Felted Handbag

 

     Well, here it is. No, I couldn't wait for my new supplies to come. It was calling to me and I had to answer. Actually, it wasn't a trial at all .. it went very smoothly ... only took a couple hours to make and all day to dry. I had already made the strap before as a rope project so that was ready to roll. The only thing I don't care for is the shape of my fringes .. looks like I cut them out of solid felt ... actually, I almost did .. the red solidifies very quickly and I should have teased them apart earlier than cutting them later. All in all, I rather pleased with this. The surface texture is really nice. 


     I had an email from Louet yesterday too. My order has been shipped but one of the colors is on back order and to follow in another couple of weeks. Hopefully the most of it will be here by next weekend, as well as the Angelina fiber from the states. I'm having my friend Lu out for part of the long weekend and she is interested in seeing how this is done.  That gives us something to do, besides our trip to Masstown in search of Dragon's Breath Blue Cheese.  We have both declared this to be the absolute bomb of blue cheeses. 

     It was quite late last evening but I still wasn't ready to retire for the night so I made this pretty piece of prefelt from some of my needle felting wool and the long stapled yellow which I have no idea what kind of wool it is. That turned out well and was a quick process as it's only half felted. It will be used to make cutouts for embellishments for future bags, etc.  I'm kind of thinking about making a pair of slippers too. I saw a couple of different ways to make the seamless ones, but I don't think I have any leather here for making the soles, so that might be a project for much later on. 


     So, I'm not sure what my projects will be this weekend. I think I'm going to make another bag. Can't decide on the color or style just yet. That decision is going to take another cup of coffee. Have a great weekend everyone ... the sun just came out here and it was supposed to be raining, so all is great in my world. 

Wet Felting Process

     Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I hope you have a wonderful day. That goes to my mom too, who I know will be reading this. Love you Mom. 


    I'm still playing with the wet felting ... holding off on the handbag project because I just am not yet skilled enough and I really want to make it nice. I'm learning quite a bit about the art just from making these bangles. I've already learned that not all wools like each other and have had a couple of disasters. The black and red number shown fell apart on me early in the wetting process, so after fighting with it for a little while, it wouldn't go the way I wanted it to, so I discarded it. 

     I've learned that the hotter the water is, the better this works. I'm starting to develop a feel for  the process, beginning to understand when to add water and when to add soap. I'm completely amazed by the process and how hard and smooth it becomes. I've been flaming the fuzzy hairs off the damp finished bracelets, before beading them because I love the look. The smell of burned wool disappears once they're dry. I can't find any instructions where this step is mentioned .... so it's not likely recommended. Remember, I don't have the luxury of an instructor. I'm trying to learn all this from internet resources. I can't afford to buy the books either. I've also been sharing this with my talented artist cousin, Deb, on the South Shore. She has made some very pretty unbeaded bangles and has also become obsessed with the process. 

     The ones shown in this pic have just been flamed and I took them outside to brush the burned bits off. Notice how smooth they look. The more I make, the more I realize I need to learn. This is especially true when something doesn't work out and I then have a need to find out why. So many questions ... so much to learn .. but it wouldn't interest me if there was no challenge. 
I'm looking for a list or chart or something to tell me which types of wool work best for needle felting vs. wet felting vs. spinning. So far, I have found no such chart, but lots of info. It looks like I will have to make the list myself based on many different resources. Any helpful hints from my readers are gratefully appreciated. 

     There are volumes of things I want to know. Like all about wet felting with resists, and how to stick on pieces of prefelt and how to attach ropes for bag handles and the like. I now realize a beret with a resist was a silly thing to do for a beginner project and the fact I was able to save it with so little experience was a pure miracle. This is so much fun and at the same time so difficult. The learning curve will surely take years to master. I now understand so much more about the accomplished artists in this field, and have so much more respect for the time they invested to get to where they are.