Sewing and Experimenting

I've been trying to continue with the things I learned during Ruth's challenge for getting 5 minutes of fibre time into each day. I don't always manage that and often end up with one or two days where I have a couple of hours fibre time, and 3 or 4 days without, but I'm organising my time better and having projects at different stages, ready to work on when I do have the time. On my desk I have a box of  felt pieces that have been measured and cut and are waiting to be sewn. I also have a box of part made up items; things like purses, glasses cases and coin pouches which have been sewn on the machine and are waiting for me to finish off with blanket stitch. These are a few of the purses at various stages, the blue ones just have the back pocket mahchine stitched into place, the white piece on the left has some stitching around the pocket edges, and the one at the front is just in need of a button and buttonhole.

This is one of the camera cases I've been working on. The gray fibre is carded silk carrier rods. I blended some of the silk 'fluff' with merino and used some for surface texture.

I mentioned on a previous post that I had one more felted piece using the pink synthetic fabric. It isn't really meant to be anything but an experimental piece, combining nuno techniques and using a resist. This is a compilation of images.

Another experimental piece I did was one using some crimped acrylic fibre that looks like a synthetic version of laps.

It produced a really nice effect.

I have managed to finish off a few pieces and must get them photographed for listing on etsy. This ring pouch is one piece I finished. I first made some heart ring pouches a few years ago so I had somewhere safe to put my rings and bracelets when I take them off for felting. I've made a few more for gifts. They're only small, about 2 inches high and 2.5 inches wide, this photo makes this one look huge!

My new e-book

It seems like it's been forever in the making, and months since it was actually completed, but the e-book I have been working on is finally available to buy!

Beyond Nuno explores the use of fabrics in the art of making wool felt by the traditional wet-felting method. It features the fabrics most commonly used in felting--silk, organza and the open-weave cottons scrim, cheesecloth and muslin. There are also additional sections on synthetic fabrics and other lightweight cottons.
The book shows how these fabrics work with wool to create certain effects and how they can be used effectively and manipulated with different techniques.

Unlike project based books, the content focuses on how and why these fabrics work the way they do to provide the info you need for more control over the outcome of your nuno felting; how to achieve the effects you desire, and provide a basis for continued experimentation instead of feeling that felting is all just ‘guess-work’.
There are 190 full-colour, high quality photos in the book. Every photo is taken carefully to clearly demonstrate the information in the text. There are also many supermacro shots to show high definition examples of wool fibres and fabric weave to further illustrate the information, and because this is an e-book, all the photos can be enlarged up to 300% for even more detail without losing any quality.

Although nuno felting is seen as an ‘advanced skill’ in felting, I think anyone who has tried felting will find this book very easy to understand and follow. In the introduction, there’s a small step by step demonstration of how I felt, and I’ve included a small glossary at the end to help make things clear.

Hopefully before too long it'll be available to buy straight from my blog, but for now it is available from Craftsy.  http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/felting/beyond-nuno/45714

I really enjoyed making the book and it was hard to stop, there was always something else that was 'vital' and just had to be included!

 I had lots of help and must say some thank-yous. Thank you to my girlfriend for putting up with many mini-meltdowns and for giving me a unique perspective which I think has really helped to make this book different to anything else around. A massive Thank You to Lyn from rosiepink. Lyn has published an excellent e-book, a step by step guide to Creating Felt Artwork, and as well as reading and re-reading endless drafts of my book, gave me lots of invaluable advice about the whole publishing and selling side of things. Thanks, Lyn :)
I must also thank Karen and Ruth. Sorry for all the ranting and moaning, Kaz, and thanks so much for reading through and making sure it was clear and simple. Thank you so much for your thorough proof reading, Ruth, all your suggestions and invaluable insight. Ruth is the author of the fantastic Complete Photo Guide To Felting. Thanks to Pam from the forum for all your help with the Introduction, getting that right really helped make the rest of the book clear. And Thank You to everyone who reads my blog, leaves such nice comments here, on flickr on The Felting and Fiber Studio site and everyone at the Felting and Fiber Forum :)

*** It's now available to download straight from the blog, just click the photo on the top right which says 'Instant Download' underneath, or go to the e-books page.

Catch Up

Sorry for not posting anything for a while. I think I've just had too many things going on at once, and I don't know about you, but when I've got so many things I need to do that I don't know where to start, I usually end up putting them off longer! One of the main things I've been working on is getting through my huge pile of WIPs.

As part of my other fabrics and fibres project, I had lots of unfinished pieces waiting to be made into things...unfinished camera pouches, pencil cases, iPod cases, mirror cases, purses, glasses cases... not to mention lots of pieces of felt waiting to be cut and pinned and sewn to add to the pile :)

They are mostly finished now, and one of the biggest tasks was photographing them all. For a while I just had 2 cloths for photographing-a black piece and some natural calico, but after struggling to get a few photos right, my girlfriend suggested using neutral colours like a brown or grey, so it ended up being a mammoth task taking photographs of about 30 felt pieces on 4 different backgrounds, not to mention the fun of going through and deleting all but the best. At least now that Summer is over, the light is better and getting good shots is far easier :)

I even had time to make some felt just for fun recently, which was really nice. I probably went a bit over the top with all the different fibres I blended with the wool and all the different fabric and fibre embellishments I piled on the top, but it was nice to make something that wasn't controlled or being made with anything in mind for a change :)

Have you been working on anything just for fun lately?