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| Ukpik |
Well, these days my husband, Don, is hard at work in his woodshop making some scroll sawn products for the craft show next month. Therefore, he's tracking all sorts of debris up through the house, which is keeping me busy with Mr. Vaccum. I've got most of my products packed up for the show, and that leaves me to make some sort of thing to display some of the smaller jewelery items. I have to go for a little walk out back later, as I'm thinking of cutting a small hardwood and trimming back all the branches, then spray bomb it some Christmas color and secure it in an attractive and simple base. That ought to solve the problem rather nicely and after all, it is a pre-Christmas show.
Since we had several days of wet and cold weather, I've been playing with some little critter designs, trying to capture the cute factor. Who's old enough to remember the Ookpik rage? I was a kid but I remember everyone had to have one. I got one at some point and it was really cute .. all furry and big eyes. Of course, ookpik is simply the Inuit word for snowy owl and it's more correctly spelled Ukpik in the Canadian north these days. However, they were to die for cute so here is the rendition I came up with. These are needle felted and around three inches in height. The feet and tail form a tripod allowing them to stand alone.
Here is the finished Fiberfish. He's actually very handsome and has lots of bling thanks to the many, many beads and crystals adorning his fins and gills. This is my first project of this kind and he was, admittedly, a challenge. I first had to figure out how to make his fins and gills, which I ended up doing separately, then needle felting them to the body. The rest was done in one seamless piece using resists ... note the plural ... as there were separate ones for the dorsal fins and the tail, then a space before the body resist. Yes, he was an engineering challenge to begin with. The material is an art batt I received as a trade from Linda Koch. It was amazing as it contained tons of different fibers, a great deal of which were synthetic, so felting was going to be difficult. I underlayered it with the bright blue as I wanted a contrast. That was Corridale roving. After the wet felting process was taken as far as it would go, I blocked it out and stuffed it with plastic bags, added the fins and gill and worked on the beading while it dried. It hangs in my front window now, and Don came up with the idea that since there are five panels to that window, I should do an installment of five sea creatures hanging there to simulate an fantasy aquarium. I think he's on to something there as I've been giving it some serious thought and I really want to take this a bit farther anyway. I've been thinking about a jellyfish which would give me practice in making thin coiled ropes. Perhaps later on, some aquatic plants or other undersea life. I find it an inspiring concept, so I think after the craft show next month, I'll be delving into this project if I'm not too swamped with Christmas commissions.
And speaking of the craft show:
Having lost a small bet with my hubby, today was totally devoted to housework so I didn't get too much done in the studio other than some clerical junk. Managed to file some documents and pictures so I'll be able to access them again, and worked on labels and business cards for the November show. I have to pop out this evening for a bit, and I have a meeting tomorrow night as well as more housework chores for during the day tomorrow. It's turned out to be a rather busy week so far.
Since I haven't had a chance to complete the embellishments on my latest project, I wanted to take this time to comment on this wonderful fiber. Shown above is the pitiful remains of what was a gorgeous art batt, carded by Linda Kotch in Ohio. It's a mixture of pretty well everything you could think of and it's so beautiful! I couldn't wait to begin something with it, and I came up with an idea for a wet felted 3-D hanging sculpture, which will be the subject of my next blog.
Oh, and I also had some time to play with my little sweetie pictured here. She's such a good girl!
I really enjoyed making this little guy. He too was done while I was recovering from the flu, as needle felting requires far less energy than wet felting. He's done really really tightly too, as I wanted him to be able to stand on his own without putting wires or sticks up inside his body. Once again ... he was an experimental piece, but he turned out so well. If he doesn't sell in the November show, he'll probably find a good home as a Christmas gift.
This little meerkat's eyes are Miracle beads and have a reflective glow all of their own in certain lighting conditions. It's really kind of eerie until you get used to it. There were a lot of hours that went into him due to the density of the felting. Since I've never seen a meekat, I relied on pictures from the internet and the pattern on his back came out ok. Perhaps next time will be a bit better. I was starting to get the hang of it toward the end of the pattern.
You can see here how his rear feet and his tail, also very tightly felted, form a tripod to support him.
Finally, in this last picture, you can see that he's just darn cute!
I've been down with the flu for over a week. It's nasty and lingering. It makes you wish you were dead. However, I did manage to catch up on some needle felting that had to be done. It's been awhile since I've made anything needle felted and I find my style has changed a bit. I seem to be much more into detail than before. Well that's a good thing. Since I was pretty much confined for several days, I used the time to get started on my list of things to be done by Christmas. I finished the little beaded ring in no time, and then made the sea horse brooch. These are both orders to go to the city.
That left a couple of larger sculptures to be done. I tackled the trout commission and it turned out rather well, but took a couple of days. I'm sure it will find a nice home.
The next project was a pair of earrings I had started. When I realized the pattern was a bit more time consuming than I had thought when I started them, I had put them aside for an occasion such as being laid up for a few days.
That nearly caught me up and I only have one more commission lined up right now, which I will begin working on today. I've taken on the chore of cooking something nice for supper as well, since I'm feeling better now. I have a project ready to start with the wet felting too, but that will have to wait until this awful cough subsides and I have the energy to work the wool.
It really feels good to be all caught up this early in the process.
This is the second pair of slippers made in the wet felted technique using a resist. I love the way the colors worked out. I made the inside with violet and mulberry, then put two light layers of yellow over top. Lots of ultraviolet Angelina and a wisp of yellow to lock it in. A bit of embroidery, a suede sole and presto ... my new slippers. They're nice and warm too.
Using this technique, you can make several different styles. It's just adjusting the length between the feet. You could make boots if you wanted to, but would have to enlarge the instep so you could get your feet inside. After separating the feet, you can change the style by how you shape the opening.
It's been ages since I wrote here. Much time has passed and really, very little has happened. My husband has come home from the wilds of the Yukon, so my routine has been totally disrupted, and I'm just now trying to get back to work. We endured a solid week of extreme heat and humidity, which was followed by hurricane Earl. There was a small amount of cleanup to be done after that. It's been an exercise in self discipline, but I'm semi back into the swing of creativity now.
The first project is this pair of rather large slippers. They're all Corridale roving. I made them for my husband, so he had some input. The inside is beige and the outside is olive green, with a couple strips of prefelt across the instep and some white and grey curly locks hanging from under the folded over flaps. Hubby loves them. The fit worked out well and they're both the same! That's quite a feat for the first pair, I think. For soles, I cut up an old heavy suede vest and cemented two layers together, then punched holes around the outsides with and awl, so that I could sew them to the slippers with ease. I contact cemented the soles on before the sewing, taking care to keep the glue away from the sewing area. They stuck on good and solid. I was rather surprised at how well the cement worked. The picture above shows them drying outside. They look a bit wooly but I've since given them a haircut and installed the soles. I haven't been able to get them off hubby's feet long enough to take another photo.
The next project is a pair of these for myself. They will be a lot wilder in design and color and I plan on making the soles only one layer of leather. I'm pleased with my first effort so I'll strive to make mine even better.
