Needle Felt Monster From The Blue Lagoon, wet felt wrist warmers

Guarding my own sweet cat Baloo is the....." less scary then disgruntled"....Monster From the Blue Lagoon . Not to be confused with his more cranky uncle.....Creature from the Black Lagoon . 

This is the first needle felt I've done in several weeks as I have been exploring wool dying and wet felting . I did him in honor of Halloween . I hope you all had a happy one !

Below are my first experiments in wet felted wrist warmer cuffs . In the past I have only made these by needle felting.....taking about 4 hours to make just one cuff . That would be a bit cost prohibitive to try and sell so I decided to go "industrial" and create my own mass production by laying out many cuffs at once....all with different mix of roving colors and silk bell accents .

I was a bit surprised to find that it actually took longer to get these to felt then the scarves . There were two that actually need to be needle felted to continue firming them up . The other problem I had was that I waited to long to fold over the edges.....at first I was going to leave thinner jagged edges but decided after a few rollings I didn't like the look and tried to fold up the edges to be more symmetrical rectangles . A few of the pieces had already felted to much (created a skin) so the edges would not totally bind and will also need to be needle felted . I plan on adding some beading and small bits of  "exotic fabric" that I bought on Etsy as accents and probably some re-purposed suede on a few of these .

slide show of nuno felting ruffles and silk bell caps

Silk Bells in Nuno felting and ruffles with out using resists

 The above are three new nuno felt scarves using silk gauze "inserts" and turquoise dyed silk bell caps . I am in love with the weird texture of the silk bells as they give so much softness and shine to the wool . They are a bit tricky to work with as separating the thin layers of silk from the bell caps and laying them down on the whisps of wool fiber ......well, lets just say that silk does not always cooperate .

 I think the end result makes it worth the effort though as the shine and texture makes a contrast on the wool .

 Apologies for the pictures as some were taken with a flash. If you click on them you can get a better idea of the detail . I still have not found a good way to photograph in my dimly lit apartment when the Minnesota weather is over cast .

 I have been working with my own dyed silk and wool and am still not over spring colors but I did dye some new fibers last night that are a bit deeper and richer for winter wear . Unfortuantley I don't have any matching silk dyed up so will have to mix lighter silk and dark wool colors and just see what happens . Hopefully will find a nice counter balance .

I found a better way to do the double ruffle with out using a resist so will try and do a tutorial of that tonight ....if I remember to bring the camera .

Nuno felting ruffles...who knew resists could be this fun

 Lots of pictures of some new nuno felting but I'm to tired to blog much . I think the most exciting part for me is that I used my first resist to create the double ruffle on one of the scarves . I'm going to try to remember to bring my camera tonight so I can do a tutorial on how I made it . It's not difficult but I have never seen it done before and really like the effect .

 

Needle felt Dr. Seusse Key chain "widgits" and more fiber dying

These are slightly larger version of the abstract needle felt sculptures that I have been making for decorative pins . I think they have a Dr. Seusse feel to them . I have been experimenting with the different colors the I dyed to see how they look together when felted . I think needle felting them is a good way to make a sort of "sampler" for when you begin to do your wet felting....which I hope to do tonight .

Below are some more items I recently bought from Dettas Spindle . There is some beautiful mohair and Merino roving blend as well as a couple silk bells . I also dyed a bit of silk gauze for nuno felting that I bought from Dharma .

 

As you can see, I'm refusing to give into the impending winter colors .

Alien "adult toys" and dying wool

Another sculpture with an alien twist . You can decide for yourself if it is a plant, animal or sex toy for aliens . It can be a piece of art to put on a shelf or a functional object (to hang bracelets on or other uses should you happen to be intimately involved with an alien .) For me, I just like the colors, shapes and texture .

This is one of the first large pieces I have done with my own dyed fiber and there is some satisfaction in having dyed it myself . I was pretty interested to see all the different hues that came out of a few colors as they blended together in the dye pot .

I found out that the name of the type of dying I am doing is called Immersion dying . I think that adding the vinegar directly to the fiber as well as the dye solution helps the dye "stick" to the fiber as I pour it on and then the liquid dyes mix in the pot and over dye the white and colored areas .

The result is almost a tye dyed effect which has been really fun to work with although I have yet to use it for wet felting . There are a few small white spots and some color contrasts that I don't like but they are easy to pull out as I'm felting and just use as core fiber .

Some of the fibers were dyed in a rice cooker (immersion) and others were wrapped in plastic and paper and steamed in a large vintage roast pan . As far as I can tell, they both worked equally well though the rice cooker was easier .

You can see the basic process in my other post about dying and the only difference is that I used the new dyes from Dharma and I really do like them...they go along way . I dyed about 6 pds this week so have a lot of fiber to play with in the coming weeks .

We are what we eat ?

Just some food for thought .