Petroglyph inspired #2

Oh my, the weather has been absolutely glorious this week!  Spring really is letting us know that she is here.. the irises, daffodils and crocuses that Rachael planted last year are flowering for the first time (they are lovely and she is thrilled with them :)  And we have a pair of blue-tits seriously considering nesting in the bird house Gary made just before Christmas.. its lovely watching them popping in and out and looking at each other as if to say.. "what do you think...?"  Another week has absolutely FLOWN by.. I hope you will forgive me dribbling out these posts.. I am so behind!  I really could use more hours per day.. or days per week (or a time-turner!)  Ok here goes..

My 2nd and 3rd Petroglyph projects this year were dainty little Ancient Sheep ROUND shoulder bags..

 

I wanted integral handles on these bags, and my lovely friend Heather at Woollove makes fabulous bags using a peanut shaped resist to make round bags with integral handles.. so I decided to ‘have a go’.  I stuck with the same colour schemes as with my previous petroglyph bags.. for the first I used 6 layers of merino in cherry red and turquoise, with my fave red slubby yarn swirled on the surface and ancient sheep drawn on in bitter chocolate merino .. then felted as HARD as I could get it.

I cut the handles at the same time as I cut the felt to remove the resist, healed all the edges with soapy fingers, stretching the handles out a little as I worked it.

After drying I turned the edges of the handles over and machine stitched them.. then machine stitched along the top opening.

 

This bag found a new home the day it went into my shop :) and I was absolutely thrilled to bits to hear that another family are planning to hang it on the wall for display when its not being used.. what a compliment!!

The second bag was a little different..  Made over a pear shaped resist again, I decided this one would have a closure flap and single handle.

 

adding interest to the inner pocket
 - this was laid down first and the fibre went ontop

Then the pocket resist goes down. 
Now the layers go down to cover the whole pear shaped resist... 6 layers of golden pumpkin.. yum

The red spot was to remind me which was the front of the bag (didn't have the inner pocket)
so I cut the flap from the correct side

 I laid down a design using LOADS of hand dyed silk caps in terracotta and brown, slubby red yarn and merino for the sheep.  I put one sheep low down on the front and two sheep low down on the back, so these are on the body of the bag.. but I wanted one on the flap too, so he was laid out on the BACK of the bag and upside down, so he would be the right way up when it flapped over.

Cutting the handle and flap

I healed the cut edges and carried on fulling... and fulling.. and fulling some more, I rolled it, threw it, pummelled it, you name it I did it (well not quite I didn't stamp on it :) .  The only thing I had trouble with was the flap!  I had drawn the sheep too low down on the flap, and I couldn't get it to shrink enough for it to sit in the right place when the bag was closed - it partially covered the sheep on the front.  In the end I cut it off!  Trimmed an inch or so from the straight edge and then machine stitched it back on.. I used several parallel rows of stitching for strength and to make a bit of a feature of the join.

 

I hand stitched the edges of the handle together with strong thread to form a tube..

I used sew-on magnetic snap fastners for this bag

 I was really chuffed to find the sew-on magnetic snaps.. they are really pretty, they have four 'flower petals' sticking out which you sew into to attach them and they're a lovely antique brass finish.  I don't like the normal magnetic snaps - the ones that have the metal prongs which go though the felt and a metal plate on the back.  I have found that they can damage felt.. the ones I used had too strong a magnet, and continued pulling on the felt to pop the opening caused the metal parts to cut through the felt.. That may of been a one off (and thank goodness it was on my own bag!) but I would not use them again.

The sew-on magnet snaps are nowhere near as magnetic - they are just right.  I stitched mine onto a small felt pad and then stitched the patch into the bag..

Inner pocket detail and the front of the snap

Next time:  Even more Petroglyph inspired work :)  hope you aren't getting bored

 

Have  a WONDERFUL weekend.. whatever you have planned!

xx

p.s. I am GLAD this post is finished blogger is being a real pain in the a*** - hope it is displayed right..

The 4th and final (for now) Hundertwasser inspired bag

The shape is the same.. but this was inspired by Hundertwasser’s Antipode Island painting.. I can’t believe HOW long this one took to make..  I started building up the picture from the 4^th layers of fibre out.. the picture wraps around the bag. 

Darker than the painting this is my midnight  island

As you will see from the photos a lot more detail went into the fibre layout than is visible in the finished piece.. I didn’t take into account just how much detail can be lost with shrinkage and fulling. I spent a whole day just laying it out.. a day felting it THEN another couple of days faffing about embroidering and sewing appliqués!

I used layers of different colour building up the picture.   The sky had bands of colour and dark blue yarn making lines between the bands.. this has blended in and gotten lost, as has the yarn loops that marked the tree line.

I used coloured yarns to define the tower and rounds.. and navy and charcoal yarn for the bands in the sky and water.

 

It was a little challenging wraping the picture around the bag.. getting both sides to work (the wrap side was easy enough it was the edges that took some figuring out).

 

I liked the way it looked before embroidering etc.. my hubby thought it could be left as it was.. but all long I had planned to add embroidery and appliqué  to the surface for some of the trees.   SO, I used hand embroidery straight onto the bag and on some of the patches, other patches are freemotion machine embroidered and then hand stitched on.

This is the back - it has 2 integral pockets on the inside



Simple embroidery stitches; French knots, button hole and stem stitch

I had a few ideas for how to represent the trees but didn’t want to use them all on the same bag in case it looked messy, so I have stored some ideas away for next time:)

The handle cord has the same bands of colour as the sky had, with the dark yarn between each band.

And thats it for the Hundertwasser inspired stuff at the moment :)

Hundertwasser inspired bag #3 and purses

This is my third bag inspired by Hundertwassers spirals..  a round one this time :)

Made in pretty much the same way as the others; white Falkland base layers and coloured merino outer layers.  Pockets and hanging loops made in the same way as last time.  I added a twist to the cord handle, just to be a little different.

Pocket spirals

Layers of white falkland

Showing the hanging loop during layout, pegged to keep it bent.
I dont overwork the hanging loop cords before attaching them, I work them really well as I full the bag



I love using these pegs for felting.. they open up pretty wide and have soft rubber covering the wide gripping area – they don’t mark the felt like my old pegs wanted to.

Starting the outer spirals

Wetted and rubbed

Now came LOTS of rolling, followed by plenty of throwing and thumping :)



I love the rounded shape of this bag, and how solid it is, its almost basket-like.. 

Once I had felted the handle cord (apart from the fluffy ends)  and threaded it through the hanging loops, I crossed the cord over a couple of times before joining the cord and finishing felting it.. resulting in a gently twisted strap.

I made some co-ordinating purses too..  didn’t take process pics as I  was sewing these (the light was really bad anyway)  but this is the piece of felt I am making them from (part way through felting).. I used white Falkland, dark duck-egg & bilberry merino.  AND guess what?  I forgot to take a photo after Id finished felting it!

I have only made 2 so far.. they are lined with pretty cotton fabrics with a zip closure across the top.. and one of Sharry's gorgeous ceramic buttons on the front.  The felt is big enough to make 4 purses from and they will all be different; now I just have to find out some interesting lining fabrics for the next 2 :)

Next time: Hundertwasser bag #4  - this is one I am JUST finishing and it's a different again..  Its going to be the last Hundertwasser inspired project that I post about for a while.. I have some other projects to show you :)

xx

Hundertwasser inspired bag #2

This is my second Hundertwasser inspired bag..  I love the coloures of this one - dark duck egg and bilberry. The white coming through makes ALL of the colours nice and heathery.

After finishing the first bag there were a couple of adjustments that I wanted to make next time:

1. Inner pockets thicker and firmer
2. Handle loops to be thicker/chunkie
3. Handle a little shorter

So this time I made the handle loops about twice as thick..

Handle loops with fluffy roots for attaching to bag body..
I wrap the fluffy ends in cling film to keep them dry while I felt the centre part

I decided to make the pockets prettier as well as thicker;  first I laid a couple of basic spirals where the 2 pockets would be, these spirals would be uppermost on the inside of the bag when its finished.  Then I laid a layer of Falkland, and 1 layer of the duck egg coloured merino (I did it this way so the colouring would be subtle and blend more with the rest of the inside of the bag), followed by 2 more layers of Falkland.  Wetted the fibre and positioned the resists, then went on with laying the fibre layers to enclose the main resist.

Same as with the first bag I used 6 fibre layers; 3 of white Falkland then 3 coloured merino.. and then the spirals.

The handle loops were added in to layers 3 and 4.  I did come across one unexpected hurdle with the thicker loops.. don;t know why it hadn't occured to me, but as they were so much thicker they were also stiffer and didnt want to stay bent.  I had laid the first side with no problems.. when I bent them over to do the second side though they wouldn't stay down.  I used a couple of clothes pegs to hold them bent while I finished the laying out and rubbing.  I paid a lot of attention to the areas where the roots were (which I do anyway) when I was sure they were well attatched I took the pegs off.  I had gotten so caught up in doing this that I forgot to take a photo of the peg positioning.. I've got one for the next bag though :)

Starting to build up a spiral..
it takes a suprising amount of time to make a big one with lots of colours!
I use thin strips of merino first and then the yarns, tucking the yarn ends under
the merino

I drew a big spiral to both front and back.

Here again I forgot to take photos of the stages as I cut the resists out!  And I really should take one of the bags on top of the resists to show the shrinkage involved too.. I want all of these bags to be very tough - felted as hard as I can get them.. so there is a LOT of rolling, throwing and thumping involved.. I like all of my bags to be HARD anyway, they have a tough job to do, so I always work, work, work them.  I think (and hope) the Falkland is making these hardier than just merino does, but I'm finding Falkland seems to take a lot more working than merino to full it to its max..  I like the slightly hairy character they have, its quite subtle 'cos its just coming through the merino, it makes them very tactile.

The handle was made in exactly the same way as last time.. just a few inches shorter.

I think this hangs at a better height..



Inner pockets with their spirals..
The photo doesnt show it too well but the duck egg fibres come through the white
just the same as it does on the rest of the bag



close-up

I am REALLY happy with this one :)  I absolutely love the duck egg and bilberry combo - must remember to order more bilberry!  Its one of my new favourite shades

Next time: Hundertwasser inspired bag #3 - different again

xx

Finally a finished Dragon Bag :)

I have been a baaaad blogger lately! With the run-up to Christmas I haven’t had time to post or keep up with the blogs I follow.. Its time to catch-up, and the first thing that I want to do is show you the finished Dragon Bag :)

There are 2 integral pockets, just right for keeping track of little bits like a mobile phone and make-up. I put the mustard coloured fibre down as a guide for when I cut the pocket resists out.. I’m glad I did – its a nice splash of colour in a very dark interior!

I used leather inside the bag to strengthen the places where the handle cord passes through the felt, and for the fastner loop.

This took me a while to finish, as I mentioned last time I changed my mind about using the felt & leather button I had made (it really wasn’t very good) – luckily for me the lovely Sharry of Buttonalia is much better at making moons than I am :)  . She has created two big fat full moons for me.. along with quite a few other lovelies, these are the ones I haven’t used yet

I also changed my mind a couple of times about how the handle should be. Firstly the 2 cord ends were joined on top and hidden beneath a leather cuff – after a couple of days I took that apart, thinking to knot it leaving the 2 ends hanging down on one side, and to create a felt dragon to wrap around holding the cords together at the shoulder. When I actually knotted the handle in place I like it as it is.. I think the shoulder dragon would be TOO much.

I’ve used felt, leather and ceramic for this bag.. its nice using different materials, makes it very tactile. I’m very happy with how it turned out, and have plans for a few other bags in the same vein.

I have a few other things to share with you over the next couple of weeks.. some before and some after Christmas. For now I am off to try and figure out how to crochet a newborn baby cardigan. I have been searching and searching for a knit and a crochet pattern for a SIMPLE newborn cardi – round neck and 2 or 3 buttons to fasten.. can I find what I want? NO. So, Im going to try and work out my own crochet pattern today (I’m much more confident with crochet) and tomorrow I shall try my luck at the local library.. see if they have anything in their baby knit books.

xx