Testing

One of the things I think the Artybird city guilds course tries to teach is the important of planning ahead and testing things out This makes good sense, especially with felt as there are no opportunities to frog it, to use the knitting expression, when you don't like and turn it into something else.
The final Assignment of the 1st year of the intermediate course, states make a complex bag , with integral handles, flaps and pockets.

So I am testing ideas for this bag. I want this to be a beautiful , but at the same time a serious and practical bag . No frills and flounces or curls but a bag with clean lines , pockets, that could really be used, that will stand up by its self and with sturdy handles. I also want to incorporate some fabric and some stitching and some piping for effect and stability.
I am inspired by the work of two felters who I think achieve this but with very different results Lisa Klakulak and Atsuko Susaki.

I tried three ways of incorporating both scrim and pongee. I want it to stay put, and potentially have complex shapes. My options are just lying it on the surface , prefelt it , both with and without scrunching with cling film , and what I call in my head the MvB technique , after Miriam van Beek , who introduced me to it. Here it's is also possible to scrunch for added texture.

With these small samples it is possible to test out a lot of things at once , so I have also stitched , with cotton and silk , and at various position relative to the fabric. I tested out options for a piping type effect , where it is obvious to me , piping without any piping as it the last grey sample is the best solution.

So that's the testing done , just a bag design to work out now!

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Hats with a smile

My youngest daughter is a hat wearer.

I took the opportunity last weekend during a short visit to her new house, to get her to try on all my felted hats . We had fun trying them all on as you can see.

 

 

 

 

I have alrady started making some new hats and think I will have to try get them modeled. Thet look so much more livelier and smilier than the photos of the glass heads.

 

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Replacement Slipper Boots

Last year I made two felted pairs of slippers one for myself and one for my daughter. They both wore out unbelievably quickly. I wondered how this was possible.

Maybe I learn it from Artybird , I used the wrong fibre. Merino cannot be used for slippers I read. Well it can because I have done it but maybe that's why they worn out. They did look nice though.

So I decided to try harder wearing fibre. I used Icelandic, grey with BFL insides, in a bright blue from world of wool. First slipper task replace the worn out slipper boots.

Well I knew from a previous slipper boot disaster that making sure the legs of the boots were wide enough is important. Boots that you can't get your feet into are useless. I think Ugg have this sorted, but personally I am still nervous about this issue.

I bought slipper lasts , trying to be professional. Strange I thought they have very thin ankles , certainly not wide enough for boots , but they have very roomy feet

So here are my slipper boots ready for felting .

 

Much rubbing, rolling ,soap and water later, I try to get the lasts in to them. It was almost impossible. I think the lasts need a flexible ankle. I managed eventually but I feared that the slippers probably were not felted enough for this stage of the process. It was a doubled edged sword really felt more and not get them on lasts or put them on the lasts and hope for the best.

So I rubbed and soaped and shrunk to the last before a wrapping in tights, stuffing the legs with tea towels and washing in the washing machine. Easy enough and luckily I did follow the instruction to put the lasts in a carrier bag. Without I would have had to cut the slippers to get the lasts out,

Eventually I ended up with these finished items.

It seems hardly possible for something so light but they are incredibly clumpy. They feel like moon boots. I am not sure they are quite elegant enough for the intended recipient.

Late tip from Arybird Kate was not to have used the lasts but to have felted them around my feet. Well possibly this needs to happen but I am just a bit out of energy for these slippers just now and I am not sure an improved appearance will be the result. It will have to wait for another day.

 

 

 

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Inspiration

Inspiration is a funny thing, a transient passing idea that can grab you or you can miss it entirely. I try to grab it but not always with a forward view in mind.

I was inspired by this seed pod , whilst walking in Ireland. I liked it's placement surviving within the fishing ropes.

I loved the shape it had and its delicate veins. Could I make a felted vessel that captured the essence of its shape translucence and beauty?

This inspiration lead me to looking more closely at the seeds I could find all around me . In this way it was true inspiration as it made me look for new ideas.

Look at these beautiful spheres with their feather like spikes.

Just a weed !

I started collecting just a few to look at more closely , and I have to admit using a magnifying glass in order to see the details. I even bought a magnifying glass from a market whilst on holiday as I was so intrigued.

This is a real beauty. It is herb Robert. Just a common weed that we walk past every day , but so beautiful. My research to check I had the name right says it is plant that can lower blood sugar levels so has a potential for treating diabetics. Just growing in our hedges, there to see every day.

I have also discovered while picking a few wild flower seed pods that some of them have amazing explosive properties. Designed of course to distribute their seeds and help ensure the species survival. These are often very tiny and I cannot make a good photograph , a have made a small pianting sketch with the aid of my magnifying glass just before the explosion.

 

So from the tiny explosive seed pods to the architectural beauty of rosebay willow herb. Photographed here on a misty morning with just a few pink flowers remaining.

I am totally inspired following my one small discovery by seeds and seed pods and hope I can find a way in the near future to convert their beauty into felt,

 

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White revisited

Almost two years ago on 15th September 2011, I wrote my first blog. I was Very apprehensive. I am not sure what I was frightened of. I have found that as a blogger I can be totally anonymous . I would like a few more readers and comments but mostly I am happy to remain anonymous. Fame has yet to come my way.

My first blog was about a flat piece of white piece of felt, I made to prove , to Artybird , that I could make felt. . Two years later I think thats well proven. I am as hooked as ever on felting with all of its possibilities . Probably more so, with my head brimming with felting ideas , and a small studio in active use, full of fibre, drawings and pieces of fabric.

 

I reflect on my first white piece today , not specially as it is near its two year anniversary, but because I have made a white sculpture that am especially pleased with. I have made many felts during my two years that I am proud of, but not usually just it white. Don't ask me what it is , its just a felting exploration into vessels and sculpture.

So here is my sculpture . She is trying to find somewhere comfortable to live.

After my first tentative white felting piece almost two years ago , I am still an Artybird felter still learning, still blogging about it and still loving it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Milliner ?

I like the word milliner far better than hatter. How did this word come about? According to Wikipedia, it originates from the 1600s and refers to some coming from Milan , a city which was famous for fancy goods, now meaning someone who make and sells ladies hats.

Picture of a millinery shop in Bruges folk museum. Look at all the different hat blocks!
I have been attempting a little millinery over the last few weeks and I love it. There are so many options I have barely scratched the surface . I like the two dimension into three dimensional aspects and I know I have a lot to learn. I have been rescuing old unfinished hats and making new.
My rescues were both previous attempts to make a hat with a sculptured surface and in neither case had I really got a grip with the amount of felt surface needed to do this successfully.
My first attempt has been turned into a beanie style with a slight military flavor.

My second sculpted into some hills and valleys with addition of beads.

Starting from scratch and a like bit wiser I made the beauty below, merino with silk threads incorporated . This is more like it in terms of sculpture , but there could still be more!

I do like the little stalk and the spiral

And for a complete contrast I made a bowler, not black of course but still bowler shape. When it came to making the brim I was not sure a first how to do it . Eventually I thought about pinning it round the cable piping you can buy here in the Netherlands. A bit of a brainwave.

Now I just need to find someone to model them for me, as this white lady does not smile.

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A tale of two bags

I have been trying out felting the same bag design in Shetland fibre and merino fibre.

From these photographs can you tell which is which?

I expected a difference but was surprised at quite how marked it is.

Shetland fibre, is about 30 microns with a staple of 50- 120mm

Merino about 23 microns and has a 30-90mm staple.

Both the fibres I used had been bought from World of Wool. The Shetland was natural grey and the merino I carded white and black to make grey as it did not have enough predyed grey.

I used exactly the same resist and the only modification I made for the merino was to shorten the cord which i used in the design to strengthen the handle.

In terms of weight they weigh.

Shetland 100g. Merino 75g.

The Shetland was really hard to felt even with loads of water and soap, I never got It to shrink as much as I wanted, The decorations disappeared into the bag itself which is very soft and springy to the feel and visually I think quite flat. The merino was a lot easier to felt , has shrunk more and was more easy to shrink and because of the carder fibres I think looks more interesting. The declaration is more obvious as well.

A good bag experiment. Maybe I'll try it again. What shall I try it with?

 

 

 

 

 

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