Lucky Legs

I married into a family with lucky legs . So the family joke goes, lucky they don't break as they are so thin. I do not share this physical attribute, my legs are more sturdy , good walking legs with robust ankles and calves - I'd like to think.

So faced with the challenge of making a pair of felted slipper boots, as a Christmas present I knew I had to make the ankles roomy - I just didn't realized how roomy. So I did all my calculations, made wide looking ankles,and set off.

What a mistake.!

There is quite a lot of work in a pair of felted slipper boots and I was about halfway though  when I split them into two , and realized that it was looking unlikely that I could get my feet into them. I tried stretching and felting simultaneously, in the bath with my feet in as far as they would go , but it was no good.  If I couldn't get my feet in would the recipient be able too. Did she have lucky legs?   I did not think so. Though related the lucky legs genes did not transfer to her.

It was so impossible that the only solution was the slash the boot down the foot not once but twice.  I could get my feet into them now , but they did not look so good. In fact I was not happy with them at all so unhappy I am not going to show you a photo.

I have today tried again with ankles that are significantly bigger than at my first attempt. It has worked. My feet slip in easily. Suitable I think for all ankles styles and shapes. 

Only task now to deliver next weekend as a very late Christmas present. Hope it's appreciated.

The Printing Press

The printing press was invented in 1440 in the Holy Roman Empire by the German - Johannes Guttenburg, according to Wikepia. That is a very long time ago.  I wonder if Johannes had the same problems with printing that I am having? Interestingly print and stress are the same word in Dutch -- Druk-- . Very perceptive of the Dutch.  

 This is the problem. I need to using mono prints , in Black , white and brown, to make A4 prints onto A2 Paper inspired by the Deluge from Leonardo de Vinci. Well, there is a very fine line , between no paint at all transferring from my A4 sheet and a big blob transferring . Timing, amount of paint, pressure are some many factors that determine if it is a sucessul print , that Johannes was a clever man I think.

 Timing and the amount of paint seem probably the two most important factors of determining  between a dot and a blob, and I can't control either. I put my paint on using an old ice-cream plastic spoon. Scrap it up and down , and print.  Quick Quick or its dry before I try. I quickly learned, one colour at a time , or it just looks like sludge.    With this technique and your eyes half closed the print  does kind of look like rain. 

 Swirling is even more difficult , as it closely resembles a blob in the first place. So I am using a cork to spread , as it is a least round to begin with ,and thinking to creep up on beautiful swirls , by a gradual build up . This of course requires , lots of drying time , and it hard to know when to stop, another print here or there , might just make it a master piece or a total runination. 

Why am I doing this. I am not sure exactly but I am at module 13  of by ArtyBird course, I am sure all will be revealed by the time I reach the end module17.   I think it all to do with control of design processes, or in my case lack of control and I have to say I am enjoying it loads.

Here it is.

The question is , is it finished or does it needs a another blob or line?

The perfect storm

January is here.  Gone are the bright orange and blue sunsets, and the warm sultry skies. Bad weather has taken its place and not just ordinary bad weather but a deluge.  I am now trying to draw very bad weather using Leonardo de Vinci Deluge as inspiration. What a good match for the grey January skies, and the current  lashing rain and the gale force winds.                                                       


Options for drawing are extensive as long as they are black . Felt pens, charcoal, ink, pencils , paint . I can ever add water and smudge it all.     

I would have never thought I could draw anything , but I found I can make black marks on a piece of paper. I can draw straight lines , swirly lines, and make shade and dark. I can use candle wax to keep part of it white.  Then the only snag here is  I can't see what part.  I add water and turn it all grey and then I can imagine the rain lashing down outside and the rough sea beating on the shore. Grey on grey, and black on black- all a bit of a scribble really.

Perhaps I can imagine the perfect storm 

Mekong Memories

Well I am coming to the end of 4 months of sunsets which has been really enjoyable. Now it's crunch time I must bring  together the dying , the painting , the felting, and the monsters.  In one big picture.

I have at least one limiting factor that's the size of my table. It's actually pretty small , but the biggest I can fit into my little attic felting room. Ikea best. So my big picture is limited to the height of the wide of my table , because I cannot look at it sideways and make sense of it. And even with this size I have had to gaffer tape two sheets of bubble wrap together. Big enough I think !

I want to incorporate every fabric and stitch I know. Over kill ! I know  Less is more maybe....

Planning is required. I am an bit of a planner at work , but a hopeless planner at home . I get carried away and ignore whatever little plan I ever had. 

I forget I am supposed to photograph every stage

I forget which fabrics and colours I had planned 

I forget where things were suppose to go

and I use what comes into my head. 

 

This piece requires discipline ! so I make a plan and a picture of the final idea. . Do I stick with it ? Mostly , just a few elements of artistic license, small developments and enhancements.  Is this allowed - I hope so.

So here is the final piece

 Did all the planning work -  I think so. 

To me its very evocative of the Mekong , where of course  it all started.  Of the colours in the sky , the swirling heat and insects, water everywhere in sight, the bright coloured temples  and the smells.  It makes me want to get the incense out.

Making monsters

That's what I have been doing all week, making felted monsters!

                       

I have lived in the Netherlands for more than 3 years and I have a long way to go before I am a fluent speaker.  Some Dutch words  just don't stay in

 my head, and other I can't forget.

MONSTER is unforgettable, it's translation is simply - sample. 

It's far more dramatic a word to me than samples, far more exciting, and definitely the right word in this case, for my monstrous felted monsters. 

I have been incorporated threads fibres and fabrics, ranging from silk to linen into small felt monsters . Some are from my dying and some yarns from my extensive knitting yarn stash. I have been trying out the impact of lying the fibres in different direction to find it really makes a massive different.  To both the final size of the felt monster and to the threads and fabric , which are either pulled in two directions or just one.  Both directions gives a more compact and effective monster.

Thread on the surface are my favorite effect. You can see here the way the silk threads concertina up , the wool sinks into the felt and becomes blurry and the cotton thread looks great like waves on the sea.

So now having finished testing, there nothing for it I have to make a final sunset piece how scary!

Choosing a sewing machine

Well thats a bit of a joke in my house, as there is so many to chose between.

The youngest of my family of machines is like all the rest is a hand me down.   In this case from my quilting mother , who moved into the electronic sewing machine age with a really sophisticated machine.  Its a Bernina!

My own well used far less auspicious make, an Alfa, which I used many years ago to make my wedding dress, is handed down to my youngest daughter.   I don't think it will be making many more wedding dresses - but maybe some curtains. 

I am the proud owner of many other rather older sewing machines. 

It all started with Frister Rossmann treadle- no Singers for this European citzen only German engineering is good enough. A beautiful piece of machinery and a present from my husband. Always reminding me of the one the stood in my Grandmother house. 

It was closely followed by some hand machines.  The engineer in me loves the mechanisms ,and the artist the lacquer work.

The collection got a little out of hand when a friend, who claimed to have 60 machines, moved to live abroad and had a clear out. That's when the babies arrived, wonderfully pieces of simple basic design .

 I find it so amazing that these were once so common, time saving devices, what every women wanted, and today all are virtually worthless. 

A hard choice for today's task ,but it has to be the handed down modern Bernina. 

It's a little neglected and needs some new needles, bobbins, and probably oiling.   

The purpose of all this frenetic sewing and machine revival ,sewing on my felting and fabric samples. 

But for now I am just remembering how to to thread the machine and sew
a trial sample,,,,!!!!

Sheep to Sheep

This week I have been flying around too much to think.

I saw this wonderful sheep in Belgium enjoying the sunshine like me on the banks of the river       Leie, after a walking tour of the city. 

Nearby was a shop ,found out on Ravelry , that wonderful knitting site , that sold fabrics and knitting yarn . The mother and daughter were very friendly and helpful and I chose some wool to make a shrug. I also managed to buy some more fibre in my three hues.

I few hours later, after a quick drive through the Netherlands and a plane trip,  I was back at the site of if my return to knitting after a 20year layoff, the heart of student territory in Liverpool's Smithdown road. The knitting cafe is long gone. But returning to knitting started me on a fantastic journey of discovery and has made me many friends.

I was in Liverpool as my daughters house needed a clean and clear out prior to selling and I had the short straw. 

After a few hours of frantic work, I returned tired but happy to my bolt hole. Glorious cold but sunny weather and a saw this other wonderful sheep enjoying some frosty morning grass.

Back to reality now and time to get back to normal.