Thursday, September 24, 2009

The rumpus can now begin and experiments in nuno felting

Well, I think he is done, though I can't rule out that I might go back and add some fangs or claws at some point . Once finished, he reminded me a bit of the creatures from "Where The Wild Things Are"...one of my favorite books and soon to be a released movie . I think the art closely reflects my own love of Chimra and fuzzy critters in general .
I think he looks both wise and regal in a nuno felt scarf which s something I considered making for some of my other large critters .
This small scarf is made with yellow patterned silk chiffon which just peaks out of the merino/tencel felt . I'm still getting a feel for how long it takes to get the felt to start migrating through the chiffon and I think the tencel really slows this down...(though worth it for the extra softness and shine it adds .)
Here is a close up of the fiber...(click on it for better close-up), and you can see that some of the fiber does not look as firmly connected as my first scarf . Although there were no actual loose fibers, it does make me nervous and I think I will add several hundred more "rolls" the next time I use tencel . I think I may have also laid down thicker layer of fiber...multiple thin layers work much better .

This is the top of the capelet which is a merino/alpaca/silk blend with some blue silk fibers scattered on top . I wanted to have a thicker top section to wrap around the neck and have the nuno just hanging down from the shoulders . I was thinking ..."butterfly wing effect" but did not have a large enough space to wet felt a large cape .

Problems...? Although I love the softness of the alpaca, I didn't realize that it would need to be felted longer and this came out a bit fuzzier then I intended . Reminded me of an angora sweater I used to love but whose loose fibers always ended up in my eyes . I think the alpaca will be perfect for vessels and other items where you don't have to worry about any shedding on your black dress or in your eyes . Perhaps this can be remedied by just another hour of felting ?
It's hard to get a size perspective with out a model but it basically just covers the shoulders .
If you click the picture, you can see the texture a bit better .

I hope to make some more "butterfly wing capes" for some of my re-purposed dolls and felted critters . Also considering trying some nuno felt cuffs with just bits of chiffon poking out of the fiber like jewels which I can then add beading to . (So many ideas, so little time .)

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