Scarves Part Two

Do you remember the scarf samples I posted about in October? One of them was an irregular shape with lots of different pieces and sizes of cotton scrim for a base, I wanted to make a full sized scarf based on that idea. I didn't want to make the overall shape of the scarf quite as irregular as the sample though, just more 'uneven'. I got out lots of pieces of hand dyed scrim in variegated shades of blues, greens and greys,  and ironed them-apparently those big plastic craft tables bend from heat more easily than I thought! I laid the pieces out on the template, and overlapped them in places for a bit more texture. Then I chose some 18.5 mic Merino in similar colours and matched the wool layout to the scrim.

It was interesting to just follow the colours of the scrim instead of planning the colour layout, it was a lot more random:

I really like the scrim side, it is so texturey and reminds me of lots of different landscapes:

This next one is a grey marl Merino on hand dyed cotton gauze. I blended up 4 shades of 18.5 mic Merino, 2 greys, a duck egg and black. It wasn't very easy to get photos, they kept turning out blue!:

Those were the last of the scarves, but I did make a few samples to test out some other fabrics. I used some scraps of stranded scarves with a couple of offcuts and some 18.5 mic Merino:

I laid the wool out very finely, cobweb thin really:

The fabric offcut rippled into a nice texture:

I used just two fabrics for this one, strips from a green viscose scarf and strips from a very pale green/beige/ blue charity shop dress which I was convinced was silk until I did a burn test, very realistic imitation!

I laid the 18.5 mic Merino wool tops thicker on this piece, though they were still quite fine. I also didn't go right upto the edges of the fabric:

The ripple textures were interesting, the viscose seemed to ripple more vertically, and the imitation silk more horizontally:

This sample is a fabric which might look familiar as I bought 3 scarves with the same design in different colours.  I think this is the first time I tried it with 18.5 mic Merino:

Well, that's it for this year! I hope you've all had a great year, and enjoyed reading the posts. And if you've got a bit of spare time over the holidays, don't forget I have lots of free tutorials which are all  felt, fibre and fabric related: https://feltbyzed.blogspot.co.uk/p/free-tutorials.html

Handmade Felt Book Covers

I tried so many times to get photos of the felt I made for these, but it was either too dark and they didn't come out, or they were weirdly orangey. So, I have no good photos until the pieces were made into covers, even Photoshop couldn't help! This is a cover I made for an A6 address book, I used an old gardening notebook I made for my girlfriend as inspiration. This is the front:

And this is the back, with silk carrier rods:

This is a cover for an A6 address book too, I used some stripey tops I got from wollknoll and some rainbow trilobal nylon:

This is a bigger one, a cover for an A5 diary or notebook. It is Merino and lots of different silk pieces. I can't decide which side I like best, so this is side one:

And this is side two:

Felt Rainbow and Yak Sample

In my last post, I had a photo of a  rainbow piece I'd laid out for felting, I reworked the green and yellow part a little bit then felted it.

I'd used a top layer of drum carded batts I'd made from texturey wool, so the surface has an interesting texture:

Supermacro showing one of the wool locks:

I got a World of Wool order last week. One of the things I ordered was de-haired Yak fibre. A while ago, Marilyn sent me some Yak fibre to try and I loved it before I even felted it, it was so soft! After felting it, I knew I had to get enough to make a scarf, so ordered some. That was before I spent three hours on my knees making a scarf and vowing never again! :)  I realised a few days ago though, I have an old door I can put over my table, which should do for scarf making until I find something better. So, I thought I should make a sample to work out shrinkage and see if my Yak feels as good as Marilyns. I laid out two fine layers, which is not as easy as laying out Merino. I added some of Marilyn's fibre as surface decoration:

Sorry the pictures aren't great again, but this is it after felting. I haven't worked out the shrinkage rate yet (I had accounts to do this week and have had enough of maths!) but there wasn't much, it started out 20cm x 66cm and ended up 18.5 x 61.5cm. This is after felting:

And this is a slightly better photo of it close up.

My girlfriend (who has never felted in her life, but has no idea how much useless felting info she has absorbed) said the way it felted in soft ripples reminded her of Karakul. (just the felt, not the slaughtered/skinned lambskin hats/coats) In case you've missed it, The Felting and Fiber Studio site is having 3rd birthday celebration posts all week, with all 4 of us hosting giveaways.

Ruth's post was 1st, you have until the 24th if you'd like to win a copy of her book 'The Complete Photo Guide to Felting' . Just leave a comment on her post via this link: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2014/11/17/happy-birthday-give-away-1/

Ann is giving away one of her Workshops in a bag - full instructions and everything you need to make a nuno felt bracelet. You have until the 25th to enter by leaving a comment on the post: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2014/11/19/happy-birthday-giveaway-2/

I'll be doing my giveaway tomorrow, and Marilyn will be doing hers two days later :)

Advice Wanted and Some New Items

I did my 2nd proper craft fair on Sunday, and I don't know if my expectations have been too high, but this one didn't go very well either. I was lucky enough to cover the cost of the stall by selling quite a few greetings cards and felted soap, but apart from some nice comments and a lot of people stroking my felt pieces, there wasn't much real interest.

After the last fair I talked it over with my girlfriend and with others on the forum, and came to the conclusion that my stuff isn't instantly recognisable as handmade felt or even made from wool to the average person, and also that people need encouragement to see the versatility of items. In preparation, I made some felt using lots of natural wools with locks and texture to make into Diary covers, and lots of display cards with info about all the items and ideas for uses.

I'm kind of stuck now knowing what to do. I've spent the last few years trying to find a way to possibly eke out a living  and establish a business from felting/fibre art. I do have limited opportunities because of health problems; I don't have the time or energy to promote/market myself on Facebook or other social media and do all the 'networking' needed either online or in real life, and can't get out and about. Even all the work involved in listing for etsy and having to go out to post any potential sales (not that experience has shown there would be many) seems like a lot of wasted time and effort for little return. Also, because of not being financially secure, I can't just take risks and keep wasting time, energy and money on trying new things which ultimately fail. It's really quite demoralising too.

One thing I have learnt is that when people are looking to treat themselves, they don't want 'practical', they want silly, frivolous or a bit of luxury. So, novelty items, gimicks, things that are trendy at the moment (moustaches, owls, 50's whimsy) seem to win over well made and affordable.

So, now I'm stuck with a load of diaries which will soon be out of date - I could always put notebooks in, but notebooks are even more practical; lots of camera cases, which are useless because everyone has a smartphone with a camera on, and lots of pieces of felt which everyone agrees 'would look great on the wall' but can't think of anyone whose wall they could buy it for :)

So, does anyone have any suggestions where to go from here? Is anyone the owner of a gift shop selling artisan gifts who wants to pay me a living wage for well made items? Or maybe I should cut up my phone cases and make lots of greetings cards or just start felting cosies and covers for everything I own and stop inflicting my tat on the world? :)

All suggestions gratefully welcome, especially humorous ones!

Corriedale and Ingeo

I like Ingeo, it's different to many of the other embellishment fibres, it isn't particularly shiny, but does have a sheen. There's a nice soft, almost 'fluffy' look and feel to it too, but it isn't fluffy or hairy, if that makes sense? :)

 Here's a closer view:

This is a supermacro:

And this is a supermacro of an area where the fibres were laid out more thickly:

I liked the way it worked with the dark brown Corriedale tops.

Natural Wools and Embellishment Fibre Panels 2

A couple more natural wool felt and embellishment fibre panels. This first one is Brown Finnish again, this time with a band of hemp fibre:

A close up:

This next felt panel is made from Humbug (stripes of black and white) Jacob top and white and black viscose tops:

Straight on shot:

Close up:

Do you like to try different breeds of wool for felting? Do you have a favourite or ones you think are better suited to particular projects? How about embellishment fibres, do you have any favourites?

Natural Wools and Embellishment Fibre Panels

I think I might have to change my plans a little bit, and make some different sized templates for my panels. Quite a few of the wools I've got have a very long staple length, much bigger than my current template. And the varying shrinkage rates make the panels similar but not quite the same, so I think a variety of squares and rectangles might work out better to piece together in the end. This is Black Jacob wool tops and Soy bean staple fibre.

This is a close up of the soy fibre:

The colours of Brown Finnish wool tops and flax work together nicely:

A close up showing more detail of the flax:

Stewart Stephenson Challenge

At the beginning of last month, Ann posted her 2nd Quarter Studio Challenge on The Felting and Fiber Studio site, the work of artist Stewart Stephenson. His work is very diverse, and I must admit I prefer his more abstract works, maybe because they are similar in style to my own oils and acrylics. I played it 'safe' with the first piece I made for this challenge, using one of his 'sass' flower paintings, Sassy Wildflowers:

I drew myself a little sketch, marked down which colours to use where, then laid out the wool. I did a similar thing for both pieces and the colours were quite a bit off! This is before felting:

And this is what it looked like after felting:

The other Stewart Stephenson pieces I quite like are his mixed media 'line' pieces. I'm not sure which mediums are used, some look to be just paint, some seem to be digital images or at least digitally altered. They all seem to be based on the idea of having a centre and working out from there. The one I mostly used for reference was 'Line Up Now'.

Again, my colours were a bit off, and also his works don't appear to be mirror images, but I liked the idea of that, so that's how I did mine. This is a close up of one part before felting:

My girlfriend suggested I use some very dark blues and black on it, to give it more depth, so just before felting, I added those colours. This is what it looked like after felting.

I really like the way both pieces came out. I made them of a size big enough to make notebook covers, but I think they'll stay as they are :) We'll be adding the entries to the Challenge Galleries, so if you'd like to be included just let us know. We also have a post on the forum where you can see other entries too.

If you regularly look at The Felting and Fiber Studio blog posts, subscribe by email, follow the blog or are a member/visitor to the forum, would you be kind enough to have a look at Marilyn's post or thread on the forum, she has written some questions for a survey, so we can evaluate what people are getting from the forum and if there any areas or features people would like to see more of. It'll only take a couple of minutes and would be really helpful. And please be honest, we really do want your input :)