September.. getting back to 'normal'

The children have been back at school for just over a week now.. and things are slowly getting back to normal.  I'm still struggling to figure out how I fit in everything before the holidays.. there really just are NOT enough hours in the day!

After a few weeks without making any felt (yes I was getting very twitchy!) I think I went a little felt-mad!  There has been a flurry of scarf, bag, purse, hat and boot making .. with a fun picture panel thrown in too.  Here's a quick catch-up  :)

Turquoise & Chocolate brown Icelandic wool with navy leather soles

A little while back I thought that I had found a solution to save having to wear my hats for photos (I'm quite self concious).. A nice canvas head shaped hat / wig block found on ebay.  Unfortunately I had a 'mad one' when placing a last minute bid and bid on the wrong one!  I brought a mans sized block for ladies hats DUH.  Thats likely to be going back on ebay.  So I'm stuck having to photograph them on me head

Nice rich autumn colours.. won't be long till the leaves are these colours

This one was inspired by one of my lovely ceramic
buttons handmade by Sharry at Buttonalia

The next bag was inspired by a piece of driftwood brought back from Cornwall last summer.. it was a piece of bark which had been bleached by the sea and sun, lots of barky texture but smooth and lovely, cracks where it had dried out and tiny old barnacles in and around the cracks.  I used BFL in white and oatmeal for the body of the bag, with linen fibre, boucle yarn and tussah fibre for the lines and cracks.. and wool nepps for the barnacles.  Its fully lined with a remnant of wool-blend fabric that I've had for quite a few years now (left over from kids Dark-Age clothing sewn for a local museum :) I stitched the handle and fastener loop from the same material.

Lovely chunky ceramic button handmade in Scotland by Julia Smith
in perfect sea colours.. been hanging onto this waiting for the 'right' project

Nuno scarf in blue, green and orange

Burnout silk chiffon and satin fabric -
quite a lot of work needed to get the fibres to work through the satin pattern areas

And apart from all of this I have been totally engrossed in my new book!  Second Skin by India Flint.

India Flint actually commented on my last post, the one about my eco print shawl, pointing me toward her blog and this book.  Within a week I had my copy from Amazon :)  and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I don't get time to sit and read for long, but I'm taking every opportunity to pick this up and read another page or two.  Its full of useful and interesting tips and info on so many aspects of clothing textiles, with lots of lovely anecdotes from the authors life, family and travels.  The photography is enough to get me drooling!  Very, very inspirational.

I havent actually read the section on eco printing yet, its toward the end of the book and I'm only about a third through.  The fact that I haven't read it yet shows how spellbinding it is.. usually I'd read the relavent section first :)  (I'm a bugger with books.. I excitedly flick through from front to back having a quick look.. then hungrily from back to front stopping and reading the bits that catch my eye.. THEN I start reading properly from the front).  I think I will be adding India's other eco dye book to my collection at some point too.. her ethos is right up my street!

Eco print experiment shawl

Over the last few months I've been really inspired by the work of my blog friends Terrie and Heather  and Nicola..  They have been ECO dyeing, using leaves and rusty objects to naturally dye silk fabrics and felt, with no nasty chemicals just vinegar and heat.. and creating really gorgeous prints!  

Last month I FINALLY got round to having a go myself :)  For my first experiment I collected leaves from trees and plants in the wood at the bottom of my garden.. and nabbed a rose leaf off a neighbours bush.  The  results of the first experiment took 'subtlety' to the exptreme lol.  I had a lovely golden glow to the previously white silk.. and a hint of a print.. but nothing distinct. 

Terrie has written some very helpful posts covering her eco dyeing method.. and I think my problem might of been that I didn't soak the fabric in vinegar/water before bundling and boiling.. though I'm sure that many of the leaves I'd collected are just not so good for dyeing with.

As the rose leaf worked best for me.. and Terrie has had fab results from rose leaves I decided my 2nd experiment would be rose leaves and a scattering of olive leaves (from my parents garden).

The rose leaves came from my Nan's favourite rose bush.. but I didnt want to take too many. SO I decided to use one to print rose leaves onto the silk fabric using my silk paints.. 

then nuno felt a shawl using the tumble drier to speed things up..

Great tip from Heather to use the body part of a pair
of tights (pantyhose) to tie the bundle up ready for the tumble drier!

I laid the leaves out on the wool side of the shawl for eco dyeing... remembering to soak it in vinegar water first this time :)

After simmering for a good hour in vinegar water I took the covered pan out into the garage and left it there for TWO days - I could not believe my own patience!  Usually it'd be opened up as soon as I can do so without burning myself :)

opening the bundle up

My rose leaves show up quite nicely.. but there is no sign at all of the olive leaves.  It is still very subtle.. but actually I like that in THIS piece.  I definitely need to find some leaves which will give stronger prints though for futureprojects!

Eco print rose leaves after drying

This is the silk side (with my paint/printed rose leaves) after nuno felting and boiling etc..
I'm impressed at the colour fastness of the Jacquard paints!

Big, soft and snuggly shawl

I am planning to give this to my Nan for her birthday in November.. I think that she will like it..  I hope she does anyway :)

I did find that there was some mottling of darker colour on the part that had been on the bottom of the pan.  Not sure if that was due to heat, or because I let it sit for so long.. maybe the colour settled at the bottom.  I don't know, but I like the effect on this piece so I'm not complaining :)

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with.... S

Signs.. 

Sea Shells...

Silvery Seas..

Sun Sparkley Seas...

 

                                                                                                               

Small, Secret windows..

Still pools...

Small pool with Silvery fish hiding in the Sea weed..

Shipwrecks...

Rust can be so pretty!

Stripey rocks..

Smiley family :)

Sleepy dog..

Sneaky dog...

And of course..

 Sand.

Then NOT beginning with S, but shared 'cos I like them :)

My lovely Jesse

So pretty!
This might be translated into felt one day

A few photos from our recent camping trip to Cornwall.

We have had very odd weather here in the UK this summer.. I think there have only been about 3 weeks of summery weather all year.  We have recently returned from a camping holiday in Cornwall, where it was (thank goodness) very warm, so even when it was raining we were happily playing in the sea.  Didn't get quite as much walking done as usual (slippery mud and high winds were taken into account there) but we got LOTS of time in the sea!  When it was calm, and all the surfers were getting fed up with the lack of waves, WE were having a whale of a time on our kayak.  When the waves picked up too much for safe family kayaking we wave jumped and body surfed (Note to self: next time remember the body-boards!)  And the weather just did its thing.. Some days were lovely and sunny.. some not, we had a lovely time anyway :)

The main impact that the weather had on us over the last few days was turning the campsite into MUD!  Not good!!   I have never a) spent so much time in mud.. and b) seen so many people camping in wellington boots (I had never suffered from welly envy before either :)   I am not complaining - at least our tent didn't flood!  

And now we are home.. the kit is cleaned, dried and packed away... laundry has been caught up.. and there is just a week of the children's summer holidays left.  Time does fly!

Hope you are all having a lovely summer..

xoxo

When making one pair of slippers just wouldn't go right..

I've made quite a lot of pairs of slippers over the past few weeks..  

I've made boot slippers..

 

Low backed summery coloured slippers..

His n Hers slippers..

And THEN the troublesome slippers :)

UK size 2 
So tiny they looked like they should be for a child.

I'd had a request for a pair of UK size 5s.. I ordered in a new batch of luuuurvly coloured Icelandic wool and set to making them - using the same resist, fibre layout and system of working the felt as I ALWAYS do.  I could not believe it when I couldn't shrink the darned things any smaller than a UK 7!  I even gave them a quick go in the washing machine to try and bring them down a bit - no dice.  They were stubbornly staying 7s.  So I finished them up and listed them as 7s.

Process of elimination.  I'd either layed the fibre thicker than usual (didn't think so though) or the shrinkage rate was different from all the other Icelandic I have used.  Next step was to make a pair using the same resists, but laying the fibre down very thinly.  I ended up with a lovely lightweight pair of size 5s from this..  not what the customer had ordered - but just what I needed for a gift for my mom!  

Next I did the thing that I absolutely hate and detest doing..  I sat down and did maths YUCK!!  And then I gave my lovely hubby the task of doing it too just to check I'd worked everything out right :)  see how generous I am to my man?! ;D

My Icelandic had always shrunk by around 35%.. but the new fibre was only going about 23%.  SO I worked out my new resists, laid out the fibre to the normal thickness on the next pair and voilà they came up just right.. phew!  

Mind you I'd been working to make size 5s all this time and then the lady they were for decided she wanted them for a different person who needed a UK size 2.. so the next challenge was to make the tiniest pair of slippers I've ever made!  

The purple & green boots at the top of the post were felted from fibre that was in the same batch as the colour which gave me trouble.. and they shrunk to the usual rate!  I'm thinking that is must be something odd and specific to that particular batch of fibre.  

I so enjoyed felting the boots.. its been a while since I made any.  These are new colours and I used some gorgeous hand dyed Teeswater curly locks that I brought from Sara.. I love these colours :)  You can't really see the locks on the main photo, so heres a close up..

Tourmaline Teeswater Locks
from Saras Texture Crafts

Right I'm off to feed the fish

xoxo

Where to begin...?

My goodness its been a long while since I blogged!  I got took to task over my lack of posts by my lovely aunty last week lol (in a nice way) - sorry Aunty M :)

SO.. what have I been upto?  Lots of felting..  I have been making cobweb & featherweight wraps:

Looks solid on the model.. but against the light you can see its  quite fine

I've felted a nice bright mat.. could be either a table runner or hearth rug really.  This was meant as a sample piece - trying out fibres for a rug.  The planned rug was to be so HUGE and thick though it would take me forever and a day just to prepare the fibre.. let alone lay it out and felt it!  I'm very happy with the little mat though :)

I'm not going to do a great big monster post as my first one back, so I shall show you some other makes next time.

This week I have been experimenting with an eco dye project.. in between watching the Olympics on TV (did anyone else find the beginning of the opening ceremony weird?!)  and COOKING!  I recently added 3 new cookbooks to my bookshelf; Soups, a Mediterranean cookbook and Rivercottage Veg Everyday.. so many mouthwatering recipes to try out!  This evening we shall be having vegetable tagine with summer couscous :)  Followed by banana and blueberry (from the garden) muffins baked this morning.  An odd mixture maybe - but I think we shall enjoy it :)

We have also FINALLY got some summer weather - which is so lovely it's not been as nice this week as it was over the last couple weeks though.. hope that's not all we are getting!  I had a few lovely days gardening in the lovely sunshine.. mind you the blisteringly hot day that I decided to set up an irrigation system for my fruit and veg pots ended up being hard work!  And I still haven't got the whole lot dripping nicely! :( oh well.. it'll be better than nothing when we go away.

Anyway.. promise to be back soon

xx

Birdies and books

As promised :)

This is the teacosy I made which was inspired by one of my new felting books..

Blue bird in a blossom tree

3 layers of English wool & 3 layers of coloured merino..  The tree was drawn with thin strips of wetted tussah silk.. the blossoms are small chunks of chopped mulberry silk fibre scattered on.  The birdie is merino laid on top of silk chiffon & outlined in merino.  After felting I hand embroidered his beak, eye, wing and feet.

and the back..

Quite simple, but I do love the bright summery colours.  The lovely thing about using silk to 'draw' the tree is the crispness of the finished lines.. you dont get the same 'bleed' or fuzziness that you get with wool fibres migrating outward from the line (wool fibre movement is all one way - IN to the silk).

Latest bookshelf treasures

I recently brought 2 new felting books.. they are both fairly newly published, and both focus on felt as ART.  They are written by 2 amazing felt artists, and I thoroughly enjoyed them both... I keep dipping into them just browsing through the loveliness..  My little birdie project was made after being particulary inspired after first leafing through Moy Mackays book, the section on birds was the first that I actually read in this book.  My little birdie picture is made rather differently (but I hate following instructions anyway - things have to be done MY way :)  but it was definitely the inspiration.

So, here are my little reviews.. :)

Moy Mackay - Felt and Stitch

ISBN: 978-84448-563-5

Soft cover - 128 pages.  

There are a LOT of wonderful colour photos in this book.. finished pieces to inspire experienced felters or beginners.  The first 36 pages cover the basics; materials, equipment,colour, texture, blending, and basic felting.  I'm going to be honest here - I havent read these properly.. just skimmed them, but they look like they are thorough enough for someone to pick this book up and get felting without any trouble.  The 'how to make felt' section is actually the first decorative project - a little landscape with sheep on it and includes using silks and angelina, so much more interesting than many 'how to's'.  She then moves on to a step-by-step guide to adding freemotion machine embroidery and hand embroidery to finish.  

The following sections cover: landscapes, flowers, birds and still life.  Each section has an overview, lots of amazing photos of Moys work, then finished with a step by step photo filled project.

I think most felters will LOVE this book.. its a visual treat!  Also Moy suggests inclusions I would never of thought of using (like tiny flakes of real gold leaf).  If you fancy felting pictures.. or using machine embroidery to define your work this is well worth it.  I think it would be a lovely gift to a new feltmaker too.. 

Andrea Hunter - Creating Felt Pictures

ISBN: 978-1-84797-317-7

Soft cover - 89 pages

I had hoped to go to one of Andreas workshops this year, but by the time I spotted them they were full up.  I was over the moon when I saw that she had a newly published book and brought it immediately.  I was not disappointed! 

Again LOTS of lovely photos here!  And drawings, sharing the early planning stages.  Andreas work gives a sense of wild beauty and freedom which she manages to convey SO well.  I found this book immensely helpful learning about drawing with wool and silk fibres.. and the Inspiration section served as a refresher art lesson covering perspective.. reminding me of things I learned in Art classes 25 years ago.  Things that I mostly do now without thinking.. but sitting down and reading, and thinking it out has I think really helped.  Its made me more mindful of what I am doing.

There are no step by step projects in this book, and would possibly not be the book to buy for a new felter. But newISH; already knowing the basics, feeling confident and enthusiastic to learn how to 'draw' pictures in felt..  yes I think this felter would learn a lot.  As an experienced felter I can say it is a pleasure to see Andreas art and to get an insight into how she goes about her creative process, and I certainly learned a lot from it too!  I would say this is book would be good for all felters with an interest in art felt / pictorial felt.  

...........

The majority of my work is intended for USE.  Either household or to be worn.. as such it has to be felted an awful lot more than a purely decorative piece, and I was unsure how much of the knowledge gained from either of these books would actually benefit my own work.  Certainly there are some things that  I have to do differently, but I think we all do that anyway... find our own way of working that gives us the results we want. Both of these books got my creative juices flowing, the cogs in my brain whirring and inspiration firing!  I highly recommend them both!

Penguin teacosies

I had a request for a penguin themed teacosy, from someone who liked my owls.. but wanted a penguin cosy.  I wracked my brains over this for a week or 2.  I think the main feature with my owls is the bright un-owlish colours and use of patterned fabrics.. but I couldn't see this working for a PENGUIN!  

I got to work on it this week.. coming up with a couple of designs to try; first of all I made a baby penguin:

I like him.. but I REALLY liked the idea of the other design I came up with, so next day I made this one:

2 penguins on each side.. and each penguin is a little different from the others :)

The white in between the penguins has white silk caps stretched over.. the sheen represents sun on ice and snow.  The yellow/orange of the throats is tussah silk.

3 layers of white English wool inside, followed by 3 layers of merino then the design...
 this is lovely and thick, it should keep a teapot very cosy

As I usually do with pictures I started the final layer by laying down silk chiffon, then worked the design on top of the chiffon.  The chiffon seems to reduce the amount of blurring caused by fibres from the back migrating through, and allows me to really work the felt without losing all the detail.

I 'drew' the design on with thin strips of black merino dipped in soapy water

Then filled in the colours

I must admit it took a long time to lay out!  Longer than I expected considering how few colours are there.. but I had to be very careful to keep the black and white areas as clean edged as possible.  

Blanket stitching round the bottom with back embroidery silk finished it off a treat :)

Next time:  A pictorial teacosy inspired by new felting book.. and mini review of said book :)

Jubilee Weekend

This weekend is an extra long Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK to celebrate the Queens diamond jubilee..

Treated myself to this lovely hand hooked heart from WoollyLakes
made with all upcycled materials

There are Union Jack flags, bunting and red, white and blue everywhere.. its quite lovely actually.  LOTS of people arranged street parties and garden parties - and in light of our recent change in the weather (it had been BEAutiful for the past two week) it looked like it would be fine for them.. in true British weather style though it turned!  We have had rain and winds for the last couple of days.. 'sods law'!  

This is my 3rd jubilee.. I remember the silver jubilee when I was 3 years old.. wearing a red, white and blue dress and waving my little flag as the Queen passed by in her golden carriage, I thought she was just like a queen in a fairy tale :) I can remember being very excited.  For the golden jubilee we went to a BBQ at a friends house.. but what to do this time?  

We planned a modest celebration.. and indoors luckily!  Yesterday my lovely nan came for dinner; free range beef & Yorkshire pudding.. very traditional fare.  Followed by jubilee cake :)  So the day of preparation and cooking was pleasantly passed in between watching the pageantry on TV, the Queen and a flotilla of more than 1000 boats travelling down the Thames in procession. Followed by an absolutely lovely evening :)  Nan says she remembers the weather on coronation day being much the same.

She'll tell me off for posting a photo with a napkin tucked in her top :)

Today is a chill out day.. and tomorrow we have Gary's family coming for an Italian meal (with a choice of either tiramisu or Eaton Mess for pudding - got to have something Brit in a jubilee celebration!)

Orange drizzle cake with fresh cream, strawberries and blueberries

I got this recipe from Tesco's free magazine..

Ingredients:

Cake

175g baking fat

175g self raising flour

175g caster sugar

3 medium eggs (I think you could poss. get away with 2 eggs)

1 level tsp baking powder

2tbsp milk

zest of 2 citrus fruits (I just used 1 big orange)

Drizzle

115g caster sugar

Juice of citrus fruit you used

Topping

300ml double or whipping cream

fresh berries

prep time 30 min

cooking time 45 min

1. Mix together; cooking fat, flour, eggs, sugar, milk, zest and baking powder.

2. Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin - pour in mixture.

3. Bake in preheated oven at 180'C / gas mark 4 for 45 minutes until cooked.

4. For the syrup.  Dissolve sugar in juice over a low heat.

5. While cake is still warm, drizzle over the top.

6. When cooled, halve the cake and sandwich together with half the cream.

7. Decorate with remaining cream and fresh berries.

This was a not-too-sweet cake with a subtle orangey flavour (poss 'cos I only used one orange?!)  

For anybody here in the UK still to have a street party - hope it stays dry for you!

xoxo