Flower Shaped Vessel from a Flat Resist.

I didn't realise it has been a month since my last blog post! I always feel bad when I leave it so long, but I try to post on the same days I post on The Felting and Fiber Studio site, and sometimes I'm so tired and my eyes ache so much after that I just don't have the energy or the will. If it wasn't such a faff to sign in and out of different gmail accounts to do it too, I'd be more inclined. And, I'm fairly certain there's only one person (Hi Ali! ) who ever reads it who doesn't read the studio site blogs.

Anyway! ... In case you missed it, Ruth posted the First Quarter Challenge on the Felting and Fiber Studio Site about flat resists, I've used flat resists before, mostly for surface design, simple cases, and a few bags. I have made a few 3D items with flat resists: some bird pods, a few hats, and even a supposed seed pod which looked like the rib cage of a dead animal, but I think I've only tried a vessel once and it was a bit flimsy. So, I thought I'd try a vessel again. I decided on a flower shape, I can't find the actual resist, but it was basically a flower shape:

I used some 27 mic coloured Merino batt I bought from wollknoll and used some silk hankies over the top. This is how it looked from above:

How the underneath looks:

And a kind of side view:

This is where the silk hankie was fine:

And this is where the silk hankie was thicker:

And this is a close up of the batt texture:

If I did it again, I would make the shape more curvy, where the petal shapes met, it was a sharp V shape and the vessel is too thin there, and in some places little holes. This is looking through the vessel opening at a thin patch:

In case you missed it on the studio site, I gave a heads up for my 4th Quarter Challenge which I'll post about around October. Basically, all the challenges this year are on felting techniques, and the theme of mine is 'threads and yarns', so start collecting (all those things you probably never throw away if you're like 95% of fibre artists!) the little snippings of sewing thread:

The annoying frayings and unravellings you get after tearing fabric, like these organza threads:

Any odd or short bits of yarn, handmade, bought or even unpicked knitting:

Plus embroidery thread, string, twine, tassels off the end of scarves and any other bits of thread or yarn you have left over after constructing or deconstructing anything fibre related :)

Sewing and Bargains

I'm doing another Craft Fair at the beginning of November so I wanted to make a few diary covers. This usually involves my desk getting covered with embroidery threads, and the only exception this time was that I decided to tidy them up too. I made cardboard 'bobbins' for some of them and spent ages untangling and winding and then putting duplicate spares in a bag. Then a couple of days later I decided to clear some more drawers and spread the threads out a bit, make them even tideier and easy to choose. These are all the drawers:

One of the pieces I'm using for a book cover is a piece I made years ago. I wanted to see if I could make a subtle plaid design by laying out bold stripes of colours on my two layers, it was more subtle than I thought, but I like it. I've cut to size and sewn the inside pocket edges so far:

You might remember this next piece from when I tried some commercial pre-felt from Heidi Feathers. The silk hadn't attached in a couple of places so I added blanket stitch, then decided to add some more simple stitching in the blocks of colour. I'm still working on this, and have added a bit more since I took the photo:

I went in to Manchester city centre this week, which I don't often do, so made the most of it looking for bargains. I found a couple of elasticated summer dresses for £1 each so got them because I liked the pattern, they were only tiny though, so once I cut the top off, the bottom was a bit bigger than a pillow case, but well worth £1!

In the same shop (Primark) I treated myself to a 'scarf' because I liked the pattern, it's actually the size of a door!

I saw this scarf in a bargain shop and thought I'd see if it nuno felts well:

And, I couldn't go to town without a trip to Abakhan fabric shop, where I got some more braiding:

And probably the best bargain of the day, I found a roll of silk fabric, down from £10 a metre to £3, so I had to get some :)