A very productive week

Inspite of the high failure rate that goes along with "experimenting" , I felt like this week was pretty positive . I found out that I like the dyes I was using and they are very colorfast and easy to use . It was my first time needle felting Shetland and I love it. Even if I would never wear anything made with this fiber, as it's to itchy to me, it needle felts as well as Romney but is a bit softer to work with .
This is my newest friend and there is just something about him that I am in love with . Perhaps it is his plaintive look , or his professor like stance with his hands behind his back ? I also think that the Shetland that I used to needle felt was great to work with and the batt I used sure makes him blend well in this silk wonderland .
He is my new aspie mascot .
The nuno felting did not go as well as I had hoped . The smaller micron merino (18) did felt better then the slightly larger one I tried last time, but there still is not enough migration for me to feel comfortable selling these as anything but a decoration not as something that I would risk standing up to daily wear as the lose fibers could easily t caught on something and ripped out .
I am working on a large vase/center piece that I am considering sewing these on as an accent .
So, if I am going to keep trying to use the softer Paj/China silk instead of the chiffon, I am going to have to figure out what I am doing wrong . Then again, most people probably don't mind chiffon and it sure is less of a struggle to nuno felt .

sleepy bear and China/Paj silk dyed scarves

Fuzzy_wuzzy was a bear....seems to be a bit lethargic from waking up from his winter nap and it's obvious he wont be pawing/hugging anybody for awhile .

I thought I had read some where that you could only nuno felt to natural fibers...silk, cotten being the things I had seen . Not that there is a big demand for felted polyester, but I had an old skirt that I bought to use the fabric for doll clothes and thought I would see if it felts .

Above is the reverse side and you can see how much it crimped up with not that much fiber migration . The areas that I laid only a thin layer on one side did not felt as well as the areas that I sandwhiched the polyester between two thin layers of wool .
Most of the scard feels securely felted but after nuno felting, I had to needle felt the edges where the fabric wouldn't attach all the way . I'm not sure if this was because of the fabric content or simply because the end wool felted to itself before it could migrate through . After needle felting, I nuno felted again and through it in the drier for awhile .

Above and below are the China silk scarves I dyed this weekend . I love the vibrant colors and had a great time folding the fiber in different ways to create some basic patterns and a few I just painted flat ith simple shapes . I also used some eucalyptus tea in some of the folds and some Frankincense , just to see if they would do anything . I wrapped one scarf around some copper wire . The result is...I have no idea what effect those additions had because I didn't use a "control" as I can't stand to do something the same more then once . I did learn that leaving it for 24 hours made it much more vibrant then the 8 hours I had the first time I dyed a scarf for my nuno class . I left the second batch for an additional 24 hours and didn't notice any difference .
Now, the question is...it the new 18 to 19 micron merino going to felt any better to the China silk then the last time I tried (with 22 micron) . That did migrate through but not well enough and could still be puled off while wet . Wish me luck .

Happy felting !

Knuckle dragger, alien, elf lord "cat" , rock inset with gold rimmed turquoise

As usual, I didn't know what I wanted to make when I began this little "monkey" but just had a picture in my mind of something with long dragging arms . Guess that pretty much describes a monkey ?
The face isn't very monkyish, so I guess this one qualifies as another Chimera .

I don't think there are any animals that look like this, so I assume he is an alien ? (those red things are arms not ears...that's how aliens roll ) .
I don't know why I don't just give up on making human faces, especially eyes . They always turn out so scary . This is my Elf king cat/bear ? I did him as one whole oval loosely felted and then shaped and "carved" into shape with the needle . This is quite different then the usual...making individual body parts and felting the all together . This is almost as hard as a rock in firmness but soft from the outer alpaca and mohair curls . I like the contrast in textures .
I didn't use the prefelt for skin this time, but a batt of merino with pinkish orange . It looks a bit like clay pottery color .
This is one of my large felt rocks with "turquoise" inserts . I'v been in love with rocks since I can remember and it's fun to make them out of wool .

Happy felting .

Check out this Amazing felt artist.

I tired to insert a link to this felters gallery on my side bar but I can't seem to do it, so please check out her gallery, it's just mind expanding and makes me love wool even more .

http://www.feltmaking.com/

big needle felt cat with foam core

My BF says this is my creepiest sculpture to date...really ? Spookier then the zombie ? Well, I started out with the face to see if prefelt would make better skin and it did, except it takes several layers or it gets lost in the fiber beneath...lesson learned ... .but only after several hours spent putting on layer after layer .
Once the head was done...I realized that it was going to take a pretty large cat body to keep it in proportion . I decided to take the advice of .....The Felted Chicken............http://feltedchicken.blogspot.com/and used a foam core for the body . I don't have her skill in planning and carving shapes, so I just wrapped a 8"by 6" square of preused felting pad with several layers of roving and felted that into a basic rectangle . Not any faster then wool but wool is expensive and I have been trying to cut back on my purchasing until I get up the nerve to start listing on Etsy . I wont bore you with the step by step, but it did take me about 25 hours total since I ended up changing my mind about the original roving and topped all but the feet with another layer of merino and silk in black and white .
He turned out bigger( though not as chunky) as my own cats , and a wee bit cross-eyed , but I still like him . I think I feel about my felt critters the way some folks feel about their kids...we love them even with their flaws...(or at least that is how it should be .)
This is another little alien and I hope to make a few more of these as they are really fun to make and don't take more then 3-4 hours ......(those pink things are ears, wings, or fins . )
I did take a break from the cat yesterday to finish adding the centers to my flowers . I'm still not certain how to add a pin-back to make them wearable . That is just the kind of busy work that I don't like and so procrastinate on .
Of course, had to make one with an eye just to see what it would look like .
I ran out of table space and have resorted to keeping the latest critters and bags in a box until I get them labeled and listed....(if ever?)
scarves that need buttons and bags and doll's clothing that need sewing...wondering if I can stop felting long enough to finish these before the world ends in 2012 .
The original jungle crew have still not managed to get listed on Etsy and may end up traveling with me to Shepherds Harvest in May .

Happy Felting !

Alien Needle felt critters

Another needle felt alien using the batts I bought from A Touch of Alaska . These are a blend of many different fibers and felt really well and pretty fast compared to the merino . I did use some scraps of prefelt Romney for the "wings" and may still do a bit more detailing on them at some point .


This little alien is a flightless "bird" (which I may still add wings to), but I kind of like the simplicity of him and I certainly like that he only took a few hours to make . I tried something new for the eyes . I first cut a 1" by 3" piece of foam from one of my old felting foams and embedded the eyes into two small holes . I then added white roving around the foam section . It took several thick layers to completely cover the foam but it was interesting to experiment with felting into the foam and it does stay nicely . This is a technique that I picked up from another felter....The felted Chicken , (you can find her blog on my sidebar of blogs) . She has some really amazing items and great tutorials and loves to experiment with new techniques .

I then felted a very simple ball shape from the A Touch of Alaska batt and once fairly firm, laid the foam piece on top in the eye area and felted that to the ball . I added several more layers of roving ontop of the eye area to hold it into place . I think the experiment worked pretty well but I don't know if it was any easier then using roving but I plan on experimenting more with foam as it is a great way to use my old felting pads so they don't go to waste .
I love the look of the wisps of fiber sticking out of the head, tail feathers and ear area but this makes this little guy a bit more for gently handling . Although I try to root the hairs as deeply as possible, they can be pulled out if tugged or become felted if rubbed to much .

The greenish background is some wet felt that I made for the leaves for my new flowers but I made the mistake of over felting . I put it into the drier to get out some of the moisture and left it in there for to long . Some areas still might work and the rest I can use as "parts" for my aliens and green critters .

Happy felting .

needle felt , wet felt and needle felted to wet felt

This is the first stage of some flowers that I am experimenting in making . Before I learned wet felting, I had seen felt flowers for sale but never knew how they were made . It didn't seem logical that someone could needle felt something that thin with out having at least some lose fibers . So, I am going on the premise that those felt flowers must actually be wet felted .

Now that I have practiced make wet felt scarves, I thought I would see if I could make some flowers . (One of these days I will have to gooogle how these are done but I thought I would start with what they look like and try and work backwards to "How" ...maybe I would find a new way of doing them that I would never find if I just read how someone else does it <----this is sort of my theory in avoiding art classes in general even if it does waste time by "reinventing the wheel" most of the time it can also lead to new techniques and surprising results .

SO...I started these by needle felting saucer to dinner plate size circles with only two layers of different types of fiber.....merino, tencel, silk, Shetland, alpaca . I wanted to see how they felted so used a large variety . I lightly needled them on one side then gently pulled them away from my felting mat and needled the other side, repeating this twice until it felt almost "prefelt" but with more lose fibers .

I laid out these different size circles on my bubble wrap and then started experiment two .
I wanted to see how different it would be to do these with nuno felting and had a bit more room on the bubble wrap, so I cut out a smaller dinner plate size circle of silk chiffon as well as a rectangle shape to make a nuno cuff . I laid down a very thin wisp layer of merino tencel slightly larger then the chiffon, then placed the chiffon on top of this and added another thin layer of roving on top, mostly covering but leaving a few bare spots on both .


I wet felted and nuno felted as usual ...wet down and rolling for about an hour . I tried to keep turning everything to keep shrinkage even but some of the flowers were uneven perhaps mixing fibers in random way is not helpful as they all shrink a bit differently . The shetland was more reluctant to wet felt then the merino . (The above is the rist cuff with merino/tencel snadwhiched around the silk chiffon . )
I'm not exactly sure how I will finish these but the options are unlimited....needle felting, cutting, sewing, beading ....I want to wait until I have some good pictures of flower shapes before I begin
sculpting these . I added my little spiral buttons as possible centers that could be needle felted into place with the flwer petals coming up their sides .......writing it here so I don't forget : )
This was originally going to be my handmade prefelt but I lost my nerve . I wasn't sure when to stop and afraid that I would not do it enought and end up wasing all this lovely roving so I just full felted this and plan on cutting it up into individual flower shapes that I can needle or sew onto backgrounds for decorative accents . I think I will stick to buying my prefelt .

I'm almost done with my 80 hour work week and hope to work on these flowers next week off .
Happy felting to all .

needle felting in Merino and Romney

Two more........ Critters...... Origin Unknown or "COU"s....Well, I may need to work on a better acronym but I can't say I could classify them if I saw them runnung through my yard so I think of them as "fuzzy unidentified critters"...that acronym is even worse...hummmm any suggestions?

I did these back to back to get a better feel for the differences of felting with merino and Romney . Besides the Merino feeling softer but felting slower, it just feels different under the needle . I can't say I actually have a preference at this point as both have characteristics that I like better then the other and they sort of balance out in the plus/minuses . I think I will just keep alternating back and forth as I do like the diversity of how each fiber responds .

It was fun to get to use my mohair curls as I have been hoarding them as to pretty to use but I relalized that they are really to pretty to sit in a bag in my fiber bag and I can buy more .

Have a great weekend .

Fiber Addiction...it could be worse, (the rent is paid)

These clutch and free form bags are both needle felted with a core of white merino batt that was lightly needled together and then over-laid with merino/Tencel . They are both washed out from having a white backing but hopefully some people will like the more pastel colors .

After these were fairly firmly needle felted , I decided to try and boiling bath with just a bit of dish soap, then I alternated with giving them hot and cold baths, soaping and slamming them in the kitchen sink...fun stuff except for the globs of soap bubbles bouncing into my face . It did felt pretty well after only about 15 min of this and was then rinsed and given a nice vinegar bath .
The above are the 4 batts I bought from Touch of Alaska . I'm used to working with roving/top but this will be interesting to experiment with and see if I can keep the fibers evenly distributed so I don't end up with thin/thick spots in my bags and scarves .
The above are several pounds of multi-colored merino roving that I bought from Outback Fibers in Texas . (The egg is there for size reference .) The whole order was about $100 but this is about the softest merino I have ever worked with and the colors are really beautiful . I really want to play around with making some of my own pre-felt for making scarves an will let you know how that goes .

needle felt Dragon rider

Well, I did get my batts from Alaska and made this Dragon rider with a batt called..."Batt from Hell" it's a blend of black, red and white with a mix of fibers ...Alpaca, merino, silk and angora .
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=23488251

When blended it made a really interesting color that had very natural "animal fur" like high lights, which don't really show in the photo but will be fun for making more critters . I added some merino/tencel for the face, feet and hands and merino and glitz for around the eyes . I don't know what he "is" but he fits wonderfully atop the dragon and though his legs are wobbley they are very pose-able and he does stand with some back support .

The mix of fibers did take longer to felt, about 12 hours, but I'm happy with the over all effect and look forward to using the other batts I bought from Touch of Alaska . I have to say that there was more vegi-matter in these batts then I am used to from machine processed wool but they are a great price if you don't mind doing a bit of picking while you felt or spin . The quality of the fiber and colors were worth the extra picking for me .

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TouchOfAlaska

One aspie brain disected......

I've always been a lover of quoting percentages...all based on my impression , not on any scientific research . As an example, I say that approx. 90% of my brain is occupied with thoughts of fiber . Not only actually doing the felting but reading about felt, sheep breeds, looking for new sources of fiber to buy, reading other felters blogs and of course writing my felting experiments down here .

I do have 10% reserved for things like personal hygene, shopping/cooking/eating, petting the cats, talking to people about nonfelt related things, my job, cleaning...all in about that basic hierarchy of needs . I'm selfish, I am the center of my universe and felt is the current center around which I revolve . The center has changed many times over the years....Yoga, herbal cures, fossils/geology, literature, even occasionally a person . For a while, it was even Aspergers, the very reason that my brain appears to function this way .

My observation of humans, limited as it is, is that humans do not have to be Asperger to have obsessions but you can not be a happy aspie with out them . That empty aching feeling, the abyss you are not supposed to look into is the gap between one interest dying and another being formed or a situational inability to pursue an interest . The latter can be caused by parents or psych professionals deciding your interest is not "healthy" or leading to an unbalanced life . For me, it was also limitations in my cognitive abilities . I never went into the Science field because I have problems spelling or recalling large Latin words .

Reading words was not a problem, only trying to write them and recall names and dates . Evidently that is a very important thing in most intelligence tests so I am intellectually "average" inspite of a constant hunger to learn by reading or doing/experimenting .

So, what is the point of this rambling ?

A new year is a human ritual in introspection and reflection . Obsessions are not new to me, learning about Aspergers and how it may influence me is still leading me to understanding myself better . The understanding is not about "curing" myself but trying to appreciate the advantages and challenges that come with a neurology that has been around forever and is still so misunderstood . I know I can't rely on the current experts who do not share my neurology because the majority are blinded and biased by their own neurology to be able to clearly understand mine . Most of the misinformation they spout is not done so maliciously but because they wear colored shades whose red lenses make them see blue as purple . Until they realize they are wearing red shades....I don't have a lot of trust in their judgment on what shade I am .

So, what others experience as normal daily functioning....fleeting thoughts of what to cook, when to do the laundry, who needs to be written, when to pick the kids up from the mall...are experienced by me as a maniac screaming at me...ranging from painful to just annoying and intrusive . I want to tell the voices to shut up so I can continue felting . one side of the spectrum is an autistics who must wear briefs because they can't stand to quite what they are doing long enough to use the bathroom or do not even recieve the message that they need to be case their focus is so intense on what they are doing . They may need someone to help them remember and help them eat . My situation is one of delayed daily functions to the point of getting a headache because I forgot to eat .

Further along the spectrum is someone who just remembers to eat but just grabs a quick bite instead of making a meal to someone eating a meal but spending the whole time thinking about the "interest" they can't wait to return to and not really tasting the meal . This was less of a problem when my "interest" was reading...I would walk, eat, bath, bus, and use the bathroom with a book in my hand . Felting is not quit as hospitable to daily living skills .

I know their are NT's who will say that they get like this at times....uhm, yeah, Autistic s are not complete aliens...the difference is not one of having or not having X but the duration and intensity of X . The fact that two people have eyes doesn't mean that one of them being blind is not going to experience the world a bit differently . My opinion is that AS obsessions are not the same as most NT obsessions .

Another group of NT's, the ones who seem to experience "different=bad" , maybe shocked at these AS obsessions and see no alternative but curing this obvious(to them) disease of hyper focus . To them I ask... who will cure you of your flighty focus ? Your inability to go past step one in an experiment to find out what happens if you add one pinch of yeast to the batter ? I admit to being inconvenienced at times by my inability to change focus quickly . Yet human invention and evolution itself relies on differences to fill needed gaps in the functioning of the whole . Humans are a "whole" . We are more then the sum of our parts and both NT's and AS are needed for society to function .

...and here is a completely unrelated but intriguing link as a reward for anyone who read this far.....

http://learningnerd.wordpress.com/2006/08/27/english-etymology/

Felted "box" purses

Boxs became bags and where easy to sew and only took a few hours . I like the way the seams look but I suppose they are a bit over the top in sensory overload....color,texture,shape . I still need to tweek the handles a bit but not sure about how yet . Perhaps just stay with a plan leather or suede handle .

http://www.outbackfibers.com/info/feltinginst.htm


Above is another link with some lessons for those who want to learn wet felting . I think their supply prices for mixed bags of fine Merino are also a good place to start if your interested in trying some wet felting .

I am starting the new year exhausted and may take a week sabbatical from felting to tie up some of the lose ends around the apartment...pesky things like cleaning, sorting paper work piles, writing up training sheets for work and organizing felted items . .........that is, unless my new fiber from Alaska arrives, then all bets are off .

Another New Years Eve passes without my spending it throwing up, slurring, or falling down and that brings the total to almost 20 years of sobriety...so celebrate with me in ringing in the new year with some good friends and a movie or a good book and fuzzy cat or a plate of sushi and a computer .