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Archive for the ‘Felting’ Category

Just One of Those Days

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

I was planning a nice long day of studio work today. I painted some new aspen bark fabric because I was not happy with what I have. I am not sure if I will find a use for the other bark, but it is only fabric.

I needed to clear off my work tables so that I could fuse the large whole cloth background and backing. I got a good start on that before I realized I needed to pick raspberries. With Scooter at my side, we picked almost 2 quarts today. Then, it was off for our morning walk.

After lunch, I had my latest minor medical emergency (LOL)! I had a spontaneous nasty nose bleed. It took the wind out of my sails, to say the least. My Dr. suggested that I go back on a baby aspirin a day when I saw her last week. Well, that was not a good idea. I mentioned this on Facebook and one of my friends told me that many foods are high in salicylates. They include blueberries, cherries, wine, almonds, omega 3 fish oils, vinegar, tea and many other common foods. I consume these almost every day (especially now – peak cherry season!) I am thinking that I eat a diet that does not require me to have a baby aspirin – or maybe only one a week.

After I recovered from that, I went back to the studio and finished felting a little piece for my sketchbook project. It is rather naive — I think maybe I should stick to abstract, but it is helping me learn how to manipulate the roving under the needles.

Here is the back of the piece.

I managed to get the front and back of the new aspen quilt Mistyfused. I rather like the paint on this. It was the undercloth for the other aspen piece. Here are a couple of detail shots.

I also received my autographed copy of Jane Dunnewold’s new book, Art Cloth. That required some of my time, too. Her book, Complex Cloth, literally changed my life.

It is filled with beautiful art cloth and great how tos. You can order it from Jane’s website: Complex Cloth.

Old Growth Forest Progress

Monday, May 24th, 2010

I have felted 11 trees for my old growth forest project. I am going to cut the background fabric and insert the trees. This piece needs to be at least 100 inches in diameter. The shibori piece is 30 X 20 so I need to stretch it out a bit!!

I have steamed the trees since I took this photo and they look a little more finished. My studio is in a state of disarray so I could not set up the studio lighting for a better photo. I hope to get some work done on them tomorrow. I also need to stitch the final facings for the Aspen quilt and the sleeve for the Beneath the Surface quilt. I want to take lots oh hand stitching when I go on a little retreat with the STASH group on Wednesday.

I am so happy that I stayed home over the week-end. I got so much done and had some good times with Mr C. It was fun working in my studio while he finished painting it. I can put things back in order (when I have time). I was also able to have the family over for Sunday supper. I always love some time with them. Mia loves my Aspen quilt. Says she wants it. LOL

This Could Get Expensive

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

These are a work in progress — the felted tree trunks. I am having lots of fun. I went to the sewing machine shop this morning to look at embellishing machines or to buy needles. After talking to the guy, I decided that if I get one, I want the 7 needle Babylock embellisher so I think I will try to fin one that is used. I bought a ten pack of needles — $30!! I broke two this morning. Argh! I hope that as I get more proficient, I will not be breaking as many.

I was given a bag of natural fleece by one of the guild members.

I have used some of this for shading on the trunks.

Mr C has been painting my studio while I have been needle felting while Scooter keeps an eye on things. The good news is that the painting is almost finished. The bad news is that my studio looks like this.

The center posts still need to be painted. We are not sure if they should be green or the color of the woodwork, which is an off white. I am thrilled with how the studio looks. Way back there on my design wall, you can see that I am starting another aspen piece.

I think I need to do some touch up on the background.

I am happy that I stayed home with Mr C. I have accomplished quite a bit and even got a hair cut this afternoon. Now, we are going out to dinner. Life is good.

This and That

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

I can’t show what I am working on now so I decided to show you some other things that are percolating here in my studio. This is a photoshop drawing that I made of a photo I took on Kauai. I am thinking of making a thermofax screen from it.

I have had a basket of roving for 3 or 4 years. I keep buying books on felting, with plans to do some projects. I finally bought some supplies. I can not just sit and watch tv, so I decided to try my hand at needle felted beads tonight. Apologies for the blurry photos.

turquoise and peach roving

tie a knot

use a foam base (i used styrofoam)

felted bead

Final felting with soapy water. I am thrilled with my perfectly round bead. I got a few pokes in my fingers – oops and ouch.

This is why I have to keep buying Elmer’s glue sticks. I forget to put the cap on.

Under the glue stick is my finished 12 X 12 quilt. I thought I had finished it yesterday, but I was not happy with it and did a lot of unquilting last night and this morning. This afternoon, I finished it again. I am happy that I redid it.

It Felt Good

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

This morning, I got to have change my routine and try something new. One of my Trinity friends has fallen in love with felting and taken some classes. She taught a workshop at the cathedral this morning. We did wet felting, known as nuno. We used a silk chiffon as a base and felted wool fibers to it. I took a scarf that I had dyed with citron and black.

Here is it with black, yellow and green fibers and spritzed with water on bubble wrap.

The first step is to lay a synthetic fabric over it and start massaging it to meld the fibers.

Once the fibers are attached…

and coming through the back…

the next step is to wrap the whole thing around  section of swim noodle and rock and roll it several times.

(By now, I want to take of my long sleeved shirt and take a cold shower. This is a very aerobic activity.)

The final torture for the scarf is to fold it and place it in a plastic bag and start whacking it on the table or floor. Then, take it out, refold it and whack it again!!

After rinsing in hot and cold water. It gets wrapped in a thirsty towel to remove the moisture.

Here is a detail of mine:

I really like the possibilities of this type of felting, but my hands and wrists really hurt tonight. I am not sure that I could do very much of this.

This afternoon, I finished the fusing of my shibori circle piece. I hope to get the back on and start quilting tomorrow. I spent a lot of time this evening stitching on the silk circles.

I had some good news. I noticed that my Panasonic iron was slightly unplugged which was the reason it was not working!!