felt fun 2

this is a bag made as a result of improvisation. I wanted to see how the "native" wool would combine with fabric, so I laid it out on a sheet of cotton. It is quite coarse(the wool), and I was happy to see that the hairs were passing through the fabric- happy because they were visible, also because lots of them had passed through, it was quite stable without being at all fulled. when I started to throw it and drop it I decided to make something out of it, and not have just another flat sample of felt. I sewed two sides together, one short and one long, making a cylinder, closed on one side. I threw it around some more. I love this part, spraying soapy water all around, massaging my woolly fabric and stroking it so the hairs felt into the others and not rising up. It was just beginning to get crinkly when I thought it might be a good idea to strengthen the seams. I cut merino commercial prefelt into strips and laid it over the seams, rubbing a little bit. after throwing and squishing some more it dawned on me that it would be uneven, with more wool on the seams, so i started "collaging" more prefelt on to the fabric, until it was covered. It is good that this wool doesnt felt quickly, so I had time to wait for inspiration while squishing. I get my best ideas when working with my hands- it would be easier to cut a strip of prefelt as large as the fabric and lay it out on the other side from the beginning, but now I know eh?
After rolling and squishing and wetting and soaping and then hitting and really rubbing hard and dancing with the felt I had a cylinder, closed on one end. And it stayed on the kitchen table all night long with no identity, just possibilities. I wasn't making a bag, just a nuno sample. Next day, the boys were asking what it is. I told them it is a hat and wore it on my head. they laughed. but it did look good, and I saw it could take many shapes with blocking. As I was playing around with form, I saw that it would make a nice pouch. so I made cords, using the black wool and some merino roving dyed the same as the prefelt I had used for the inside, and because it was looking good and I was enjoying the rolling, I made a second one, long, soft and coarse at the same time. I cut holes near the top of the bag, rubbed them well, the felt hardened more there- I think with manual felting there is always the possibility to felt some more-, I passed one of the cords through the holes. Now I had to attach it to the lower corner. I made a small palm-felt, hard and strong, and opened holes - two widely spaced and two closer together. passing the cords through that, I saw that it is good for pushing against the rim of the bag to keep the cords tight to close the opening- like the pieces of wood with two holes that keep the tent strings taut- so I kept that for a closing mechanism and made another one for the bottom end. I passed the cords through the second one, made a nice flattish knot. Then I put some wool behind it, stitched a few holding stitches with wool yarn and rubbed it until it was fused with the body of the bag. I liked the second cord too much not to use it, so I wove it around the first one around the rim of the bag. It is now my handbag.

My mother when she saw it said that she especially likes the combination of sugar white and caramel beige........so now I am going to make one for her. But she doesn't like sac-like bags, she wants compartments, so I have to practice using resists. Then I'm going to start selling them for a lot of money and be mythically rich so that I can play around with sheep hair and soapy water all I want without worrying about the bills :-)))))))))))))))

these are my future experiments soaking in various indescribable liquids. I will have many metres of different light weaves of cotton to play with. when I am rich, there will be silk also.
this one began as an exploration of karagouniko (my native fleecewool)on linen. I did measure it to make a wallet for the packet of rolling tobacco, the measuring worked- I allowed for it to be half the size when finished. it is harder than I would want for wearing, but fine for a bag or slippers.the breakthrough on this one is how much I enjoyed stitching. I couldn't stop- it still needs a bobble or something to keep it closed, but I like it. the yarn is wool from the same kind of sheep, sold as rug yarn - i bought it some time ago.

and, a whatif- another one! A piece of fabric died with seedpods from a bush that is prolific on our land, acacia leaves and the remnants of a eucalyptus bark dyebath. so whatif I made a bag with this inside? which side would be nicer? would the dyes keep? this hasn't had time to cure- but the colouring is so bold I think something will stay. here it is stiched on two sides- should I say basted?i decided to use the gray fleece, to see how it felts. it has very long hairs and is very coarse.I made a resist out of cereal box cardboard, taped an opened plastic bag and bubblewrap around it.I put it inside and sewed the top closed. that is more sewing than I have done in the past thirty years, and there's more to come.fibres laid out on one side. they took a lot of water. both sides wetted out and tucked in. I rolled it up and rolled away bouncing it a little bit, the bubblewrap on the inside helped the bouncing. I hated not being able to look inside to see whether the fibres are passing through the fabric. so I decided to trust it. and roll softly and a lot, to make sure.I opened it when it began to get crinkly, you can see where I made the cuts. the colours on the cloth were lighter, but they look good with the greythis is the inside of the finished purse, interesting markings on the cloth, but not as bold as before. So I got bold with the stitching-


backside

frontside open

closed



I'm enjoying the embellishment, stitching, sewing sooooooo much I don't believe it. I was the worst pupil in "home economics" when it came to stitching I managed to nearly fail this unfailable course in high school

the teacher didn't like it that my hands were always inky from writing with a fountain pen

she didn't like it that I made stitching drawings instead of straight lines

now revenge is mine

I will stitch and embroider rough wooly felt in a rough wooly way to my hearts content.

It is a pity that I refused to touch a needle for more than 30 years

maybe I will enjoy it more for that

for this new joy of stitching I want to thank jude hill of spiritcloth I read every post, visit her favourite sites, and admire her work

the idea of whatifs is from her site too

I think everything I do is a whatif, much of my everyday life is a whatif now that I am growing older and can appreciate the fun

when I found myself looking at needles in the shop I knew new worlds were opening for me

since I started searching the internet to learn about dyes from plants last spring I feel that I have opened the door to a great place to be

I'm so grateful

wool, silk, felt

merino extravganza. at last I found my battery-loader refiller plug. you see lots of eucalyptus, some madder, no reds yet but beautiful warm browns and pinkish oranges, the yellow and green are hypericum from the mountains of arkadia, smaller leaves and flowers than what I found here, but sort of perforatum. upper left are fleeces, unwashed, uncarded, just rinsed. the blue is from the incredibly smelly vat made from the first water when you rinse a fleece. top right are prefelts for experiments. the brown in the back is my woolen blanket, commercial. lower left is some purple basil- the purplish blue and the light green, and the orange is coreopsis, just a few flowers. there are quite a few nondescript tans there in the middle that are going back to be enriched, either before or after felting. acloser look at the basil and coreopsis. the basil is extremely sensitive to atmospheric conditions, it keeps on changing colour. I have not tried wetting it and soaping, maybe needlefelt on the inside of a bookcover would preserve it for a little while ;-)

madder in the middle, hypericum to the right, the yellowy in the middle is eucalyptus, a really beautiful colour. I'm really happy with these colours, all of them have survived felting, (except for the purple basil..)some were just thrown in pots and jars haphazardly, the deepest ones were made carefully. Carefully means with heat and time. some have began felting, but of course they were the ones that I kept squeezing to see how the colours are catching.

onion leaves bundled at prefelt stage, felted after. there will be more in the future. Next I'm going to try felting first and dyeing after. It does change the process, it means that you think more in terms of structure of the work, instead of painterly colouring.

Silks- bundled with plant matter. silk is so expensive- cant really experiment all I like. It is so beautiful, whatever you do to it.

eucalyptus bark and ironwater

fig leaves and various

and felt

its all experiments and samples, I really enjoy this.

so this is part of what I've done this summer, B. F. I also have lots of cotton and linen dyesperiments drying on the line. Going to make photos...

small update

looking good! the purple basil is growing and there are lots of seedlings thrown in randomly and sprouting. they might just give something before winter. there is coreopsis, there are rudbeckia of some kind, the daisy like ones with the black centre, and the purple ones, I do not know their names- I liked their colours. there are dahlias and zinnias, I got them very cheap because it was so late in the season. the little trunk you see is our peach tree, it grew from a pit thrown randomly- we chuck all pits, pips, seeds from fuit onto the dirt, I cheat because I aim towards the watering drips...the dogs think it is a wonderful game so I do my throwing when they are not looking

these are my latest felt creations, made while waiting for my brother to wake so that we could rehearse for a gig. we were in rhodes, and of course I had carried fleece and carders with me for a two day stay with work! they were made in the palm of my hand, they could be eyes or leaves, or even fried eggs, if you are hungry. the model is my favourite red rose bush, the one of the colourful leaves. the snake rope is for protection and blessing
more colours. solar dyed, no mordant, uncarded rinsed wool. no detergent. I let the fleece dry without rinsing, these have been washed with olive soap, to see what will happen when I felt them. the colours did not change. I think that this method of dyeing is good for felt because of the lack of ph modifiers

I knew it!

this is where I go when I sleep

do you see anyone washing the wool??

I knew it!

and then we bless it

links

I enjoy watching Luciano Ghersi weaving or just playing around. I like the way he seems to be having a wonderful time.. he blogs here and there are asects of work in the community in what he does that I respect

this film I watch repeatedly for the felting, but ultimately for the beauty of the felting dance...

felt! homemade

this is what came from the wool I dog carded. I tried to make 3 designs-shapes: a spiral, a worm and an enclosed circle. the spiral disappeared! the light is harsh, the colours are lovely, the wool felted very easily tightly, fast and evenly- I am very very happy with my wool. it is good for rugs maybe cushions and maybe a waiscoat....one day this is the backside and the poll at my home says it is the better side. I like it too. I really have to get proper tools, all day fluffing the wool out and this is sample sized!
old old eucalyptus

dye pots