Filed under: Felting, printmaking | Tags: book, craft, felt, Fiber Arts, sewing, Shopping, Supplies, textile
So, I finished the lino prints last night. I added the third color. You can see it below:
I think that it turned out pretty well. I did manage to jab my thumb with the tool used to cut the linoleum. I know…cut AWAY from yourself. My thumb didn’t seem to be anywhere near where I was working, but my hand slipped. I need to get some of those oyster shucking gloves. Or, I just need to pay more attention.
I also worked on a fabric composition:
and a detail:
This is a bunch of different fabrics/yarns, etc merged into one fabric through needle felting. You basically use a barbed needle to poke through the layers, and fuse them together. It’s pretty interesting how different fabrics behave when felted like this. I have no idea what I’m doing with this thing, but I’m just going to keep adding to it.
I also made two tiny little books! Here they are:
Aren’t they so cute? There are only twelve pages in each book. I got this little kit from the local art store to make them. I’ve never made/bound a book before, but it was surprisingly fun! Somehow, it never seemed very interesting to me. Okay…a blank book…yawn. But, when you make it yourself, It’s so fascinating how it all comes together in such an intelligent manner. This wasn’t even any type of fancy binding, but they still turned out well. Hmm… I may make more of these. I have no idea why I would need a collection of tiny books with only twelve blank pages, but I’ll find some purpose. Grocery lists? Profound thoughts? (hmm…no, I want to USE these books) Maybe I’ll just keep them as mini sketchbooks, to draw tiny things in. Any other suggestions? 🙂
Thanks to my mother’s cousin (I believe), Ruth, in Australia, my felting today went MUCH better than yesterday. I mean MUUUUCH better. It’s smooth…the colors are nice…so, I haven’t lost faith in felting as a result. It might be the only way that I get some exercise, so maybe I should keep it up! Ruth provided me with some very helpful tips. I have seen her felting, which is lovely, so it was great to get her help.
Now that I’m doing printmaking…working with dyes…(more on that later), my hands are looking kind of gross. I mean, the edges of some of my fingernails are an odd bluish color. How gross is that? It’s so hard to get off. I always wonder if people think that I don’t bathe, or something, because my hands look so…colorful. Also, I always manage to cut myself in some way. Who knows. I know…that’s impossible to do from felting, so I must have done it when making dinner.
Filed under: Felting | Tags: craft, felt, Needlepunch and Pressed Felts, Textiles and Nonwovens, Wool
My first experiement with wet felting! The two small “squares” are the result. It was fun, but tiring. It requires some serious elbow grease to work the fibers into submission. I kept thinking, “felt! damn it!”. The results are…okay. Why are they so lumpy? Can anyone tell me? Maybe I needed to felt more. I’m going to have arms like Rambo by the time I figure this all out. It’s a very messy process, but can have lovely results. Because it shrinks down so much, I can see that I need to get an enormous blob of it to start with, in order to have a useful size in the end! The colors of these samples are a bit blech. I just got roving at Joann fabrics…so what do you expect, right? There are all sorts of AMAZING stores out there selling decadent roving (the stuff that this is made from) in stunning colors. Sigh…kind of pricey. I’ll start small, and see how it goes before I invest in tons of it.
The pink purse was needle felted. Sort of cute, right? Maybe if you’re twelve. Hey, I like it anyway. I even put snaps on it! Should I bother trimming the yarn sticking of the ends? Nah…it’s like purse dreadlocks.
Filed under: Felting | Tags: craft, embroidery, felt, free motion stitching
My first felting experiment…hmmm…needs work. I can see how this might become addictive, though. You can just keep throwing stuff on it and see what happens. I don’t think that you can take something off if you change your mind, though. Not a big deal, as I don’t expect this to be on the cover of any magazine…ever.
slightly wonky 
