Needle felting until the dreaded stomach bug bit me

This is the base of the needle felt alien tree/mushroom that I am making to hang my alien pod necklaces from . It's about 20 inches tall and the core is some of my re-purposed felting mat . I have three layers of Romney and merino laid on this and it is taking much longer then I had anticipated . Since it is "Alien" , I am using my artistic license to make it as weird as I want , which is always fun . It's really firmly felted right now, but I'm still considering wet felting it to make the colors blend together a bit more organically . I still need to add a mushroom top which I hope to do in wet felting and a needle felt base to make it more stable .

Above and below are just a few more of my critters . Not much new except I don't usually felt on clothing (my critters feel no shame), but the brown "bear" came from some roving called Chocolate raspberry truffle , so I wanted to use a bit of the raspberry on him .

....As far as the stomach bug....(I read up on it and it is not a real flu but is a virus) and it has been 3 days developing a very close relationship with my bathroom.....less said about that the better, but there is something "going around", so be forewarned . I have been doing everything that the experts recommend....no solid food while you feel nausias then only easily digested foods......For me that is those little bullion cubes and small amounts of Romen noddles . I've started feeling a little better after 3 days but still having symptoms while others have had it and it cleared up in a day....I'm not use to be sicking, so am being a big baby about it but probably have to go to work tonight anyway...(that is where I got it. so no risk of infecting anyone who hasn't already had it .

Happy crafting and hope the bug doesn't fly your way .

Wild things from "Strange Land" for Shepherds Harvest

For more detail, just click on the pictures.....


Here are my two last sculptures for Strange Land . My long term plan is to make a felt tree with some fiber I am waiting for and hang my "alien pods" from it and surround it with the Strange Land "wild things" for a group shot . I would like to make that into postcards with my shop name on it but still don't HAVE a shop....ooops . I seem to do well in thinking about the details and vaguely seeing long term, but have a lot of trouble with all the stuff in the middle .
I started this with the idea of making a dragon and used really thick copper-wire to make the legs pose-able , but as I laid the silk and alpaca fiber over the shape it started reminding me of a mallard duck , so I went with a chimera...duck feet -shark fin-dragon face .....(sort of) . Well, what ever he is...I think the colors turned out pretty . I may still add some nuno felt wings .
This big guy, started life as a gerbil or guinea pig........then there was a nuclear meltdown in my brain and he became one of the wild things....but not before going through a brief metamorphoses as a spookie Homer Simpson until I added more fur . I really should get the camera out during the different stages because what I start out making seldom reflects what I end up with.....I often feel like the wool is controlling me more then that I am taming the wool .
Handsome, he is not, but I think he would give you a very gentle hug and the alpaca fur is very soft .
I made this little guy for my dentists' new baby . I hope she likes it enough to come to Shepherds Harvest in May and check out the alpaca and sheep that went into making it . I can hardly wait !

And so ends two more weeks of finger poking good fun in preparation for Shepherds Harvest .

Dont Play with Your Food Mr Yeti

Just kidding, he is really friends with these sweet little sheep and mostly eats power bars he steals from hikers backpacks .

This grumpy bear is actually a "do-over" . I didn't like the original bear so covered him with several more layers and puffed him up a bit to get a better shape .



The "Wookie" does look a bit more like a werefolf then I intended . He is also a re-cover of an old partially completed sculpture that I was never happy with . He still needs an ammo belt and a few more layers of hair that I am waiting for.....(goes to check mail box again ). Waiting for fiber can be so frustrating .

computer problems continue

I have gotten over my virus but my computer is still suffering . After spending several 12 hour days trying to fix it, I am afraid I will have to take it in for possible repair but am still considering buying a new one as this one has had problems for years .

I do manage to get on but have not found a work around for getting pictures to up load from my computer but will try using Picasso "blog this" . Wish me luck and any computer suggestions....what to buy, would be welcome .

Speaking of inspiration....I have always loved bugs

I have been felting and this is a felting blog, but my other passion is reading blogs and interent surfing looking for inspiration . I found a cool artist tonight that I wanted to share for others who might like to find their inspiration in less traditional places...


http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/micropolitan/index.html

This artist uses uses two of my favorite images.....microscopic details of protozoa and insects as the base of his art . I have been fascinating with the color and symetry of such natural art since I saw my first images in biology class . I hope to use them in my own felting some day...it's on a very long list of "To Try" list .

Hopefully tomorrow , I wont be to tired to take some pictures of what I have been working on myself this week . Sometimes those 10 hour overnights get reallllly long and I am just to tired to do anything when I get home .

Happy creating to all .

Need Inspiration ? or...Why can we appreciate beauty ?

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/carnivorous-plants/schmitz-photography?source=email_photo

Above is a quick link to some color, texture and evolutionary inspiration . As awed as I am by human creation, I personally find nothing quite as amazing as natures creations . Since childhood, I have been transfixed by the texture, color and design found in the smallest details in the woods . I can spend hours picking up bits of rock or bark with tiny "moss art" attached .

When contemplating the existence of a "spiritual creator" , My question was not just how awe inspiring such a creator must be to have such a wealth of diversity in their craft bag, but that "it" would also create something in me that could feel the power of their creations beauty . Why, when I showed an amazing rock to someone else would they dismiss it with a shrug....(as I would shrug when they showed me their new shoes ?)

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....who gave us the eye/soul to experience beauty and what purpose does that ability have for humans ?

Scientist will tell you that humans experience symmetry as beautiful, wither in the human face or a plant leaf.....because it shows a healthy gene . Psychologist might tell you that only a healthy brain can experience beauty as many with depression/anxiety wear glasses that make everything around them dark and muddy .

Why is it that one human can pass a pitcher plant with little more then a glance but feel excited when seeing a purse by a famous designer ? What makes the mosses beauty speak to some but not to others ?

Some of us "create" as a way of getting closer to the spirit of the original creator . The intention is to shout or whisper......"Thank you for giving us these eyes, hands, ears and mostly the soul that allows us to feel beauty where ever we find it . " Playing with color, design and texture is our primitive attempt to say....."I see you, feel you and thank you . "

Sid the sloth ? and thrift store purse liners ...(if I get them sewn )

This giant sloth is inspired by "sid" from Ice Age, and does not look much like an actually sloth...A bit scary looking, but if you remember Sid from the movie , he was harmless with a big heart .
Sid took me most of the past two days and nights because of the detailing

When I started needle felting sculptures I only used wool in roving form but have found that I actually prefer using batts if I can get them at a descent price . The only problem with this is trying to make sure that each arm, leg ect, is the same size as it's mate . With roving, you can measure it by how long each strip of roving is but with a big batt, you just have to tear of sections and try and "feel" each for size..(.unless you have a very sensitive scale and can weigh grams ?) . Anyway, the batts are worth the extra effort as they felt much smoother and don't leave the hard lines you can get with strips of roving .


90% of my sculptures are very felted very hard because I am so paranoid that they will fall apart if left loose. The exception are bits of hair that I root into the base sculpture . I love the look and feel of the "fuzzy" wool hairs and it is fine to "pet" it, but to much "love" will either loosen or matt the lose hairs .
I like the glass beads for the sloth claws but they are also fragile.....sewn in and not glued . I guess, over all, this is one of my more fragile pieces, not meant for a lot of handling but an occasional hug would be appreciated by Sid .
Here is my cat Baloo, pretending there is not a Sloth lurking near by . (Cats are really good at denial .)
Last but not least , the thrift store finds from yesterdays Presidents day sale . I have been trying to find some nice fabric to line my felted bags . I thought this was a nice variety of colors and the fabrics are very thick cotton that are some kinds of window treatments .....valances ? Pardon my ignorance..... but I have never "treated" my windows....(they are lucky if they get washed . ) Whatever their original function, I think These can be repuposed and will sew up nicely to make sturdy purse liners . This weeks goal is to wash the fabrics and try and sew in the lining . All my bags are different sizes and shapes, so I can't just use a pattern but will have to do some measuring and estimating, then sew that basic shape on the machine and hand sew the top edge to the felt bag .
Anyone who has ever seen me.....(rare as as a polar bear sighting in Mexico as I am basically agoraphobic).....would know that I do not wear "girly" things . Mostly, I live in flannel PJ's and Tshirts but even I could not pass up this silk peach outfit for $3.25 !!! I don't know (or care?) if it fits, because I will probably cut it up and use it in crafting ......(gasp). I think the scarf is silk chiffon but haven't done a burn test on the thread yet, either way, it will be used in some nuno felting .
Another storage container for either finished needle felting OR craft supplies.....the irony is that it will probably sit empty, under the craft table, because I can not decide which function it is best suited for ....(sigh).
Just a little french guy that I will use for displaying bracelets at craft shows . The arms do bend up for placing the bracelets on .
I think I like vintage image on these buttons more then the buttons themselves but they should find some use in my bags .

Happy felting and thrift store shopping to all .

Happy Valintines Day IHOP..come hungry....leave hungry and disgusted

http://www.my3cents.com/search.cgi?criteria=IHOP&min=50


Above is a fun link for a place to "vent" when you are frustrated by poor service or products .

I found it while googeling IHOP + food poisoning .

My "googeling" such a combination was provoked by last nights trip to IHOP for our valentines day dinner . I had told my BF that I would take him out to eat, but becaue we hadn't made reservations, we would need to pick something that didn't have a huge wait time . I had never eaten at IHOP before but the commercials looked good, so I was willing to try a "new place"...something I am usually a bit afraid to do .

When we arrived, it was obvious that they were under staffed....one waitress, one busser and one "assistant" who looked like a deer caught in the head-lights . It didn't take long for them to seat us, but the coffee carafe only had 2 cups in it, gone long before the food arrived . We ordered an onion ring appetizer that was thrown on the table with out plates or ketchup, but the assistant eventually brought us some after we "tripped" her and asked for them . We should have been warned by the couple in the booth behind us, who sent back a plate of "something" that was not cooked correctly, but we had already ordered our steak...his with breakfast food and mine as a dinner .

The waitress, obviously over worked, and who admitted that the other waitress had called in sick for the night, took our order in a rush . She seemed confused from the get-go, saying that they were out of hash-browns....(at a breakfast food place?) but I could substitute my hash-browns for the cubed potatoes.....Mine said it came with cubed potatoes not hash-browns, (which I knew from 5 min looking at the menu)...but I asked if I could get mashed potatoes instead and she said "no problem" that is what the dinner plates come with????? Well, evidently it was a problem, because I got cubed potatoes and instead of the broccoli listed on the menu, I was given corn .

My BFs breakfast had runny egg whites but he ate them anyway...."no fear" in that guy . He took 2 bites of his steak before I got done examining the cadaver that had been put on my plate . It honestly looked more like something that I had seen on CSI crime autopsy slab then anything that has ever been on a plate....(Was Jeffry Dommer in the kitchen cooking ?)...was I expected to eat this or figure out the cause of death ? I had asked for Medium rare but had never had one served to me that had so many raw areas . There was a bit of it that looked like it "might" be cooked, but it was hard to tell if the "brown" was actually from cooking or just the look old meat gets when it is starting to go bad .

One sniff of this oddly colored steak was a dead give away that the meat had gone "bad"...anyone who has walked in the woods and stumbled upon a half rotted carcass will never forget that smell ....the smell of rotting flesh is pretty strongly encoded in our DNA , and screams....... "don't eat this " ! There was a particularly nauseating area that was completely raw and black . I was wondering how a cook could let this corpse make it out of the kitchen .

When the waitress "assistant" wandered back over with more coffee, I told her I couldn't eat this and she said...."I don't blame you " ????? The honesty as refreshing....perhaps she was an aspie ? The manager came over and I explained that it was more then obvious to me that this meat was food poisoning law suit waiting to happen. He assured me that it came form a reputable dealer and had been properly thawed in cold water ? (I'm clueless, is that how they thaw frozen meat ?) I thought it had to thaw in the fridge ?

Anyway, he said that I could send both plates back and they would only charge me for the coffee and onion rings . No problem . The waitress apologized and it certainly wasn't her fault but that plate had to go through at least to hands before it made it to me and it is hard to believe no one noticed the smell or the"odd" color of the bleeding carcass ....I sure would hate to see what rare looked like but I'm pretty sure it would involve the cow coming to the table and asking me what slice I would like....(concept stolen from the great book......."The Restaurant at the end of the Universe").

So, this was a Valentines day I will probably remember . My BF didn't get food poisoning as his steak was cooked very well done and only two small bites passed his lips, so who knows, if it was contaminated or not . What I do know, is that I wont be going back to IHOP and after reading other reviews, doesn't appear like many others will either .

Tune in tomorrow for Thriftstore "scores" and Felted Sloth .

Fuzzy bear ? and nuno felt chiffon

Lost my words for now , explanation to follow

A week of viruses and mutants

Not only have I felt sick all week, but my computer appears to have picked up some sort of bug . I'm thinking it may have come in through an email that was supposedly from Facebook...(which I rarely visit), that had a suspicious attachment that I did not open . Perhaps just reading the email was enough to infect me ? I have also had an increase in spam in both my email and Blog comments section from some Asian porn sites....yuck . I will try and deleate them, now that I am at least temporarily back on-line .

Inspite of this.....(why doesn't spell check recognise "inspite" of as a word ?)...I did manage to do a little felting . Above is another bunny that is very solid Shetland wool blended batt with just about every fiber you can think of....Alpaca, firestar, silk, ect . I had hoped to finish it today before losing the light but, the ears took about 4 hours .

This is the whole crew for the week and doesn't include one of my few....just can't save him.....sculptures . I worked on a small rodent for several nights and could just not get the face right . The rodent here, turned out more bat faced then mouse faced, so I may have to add some leather wings .
The hands, feet and eyes are all an experiment with Femo and 6000 glue that I don't know if I ever want to try again . Perhaps they would have looked better if I had some Femo that wasn't black ? but it was the glueing that I hated...toxic and a pain to use . The fiber feet may not look as detailed but they sure smell better .
I'm not sure what type of reptile I was trying to make here....as usual, I just started felting and let the wool take me where it wanted to go . Maybe some day I will be able to tame it , but for now, it seems that I just have to follow where the fiber takes me .
I also managed to nuno felt two new Chiffon fabrics but there was not enough light to show the detail on them, so hope to get better pics. tomorrow.....if I can get on-line again . If not.....might have to go do some laptop shopping and put off fixing my car and teeth for another few months .

Happy felting !

Cute Puppies

I just have to put a link to these gorgeous puppies .

http://www.dailypuppy.com/puppies/?date=2010-02-04


Just click on that link if you haven't smiled enough today .

A bit lazy but finished a few needle felt projects this week .

Nothing I make will ever be this cute and fuzzy......(keeps me humble .)
I still haven't given up on minatures and this tiny guy was a real challenge . I still need to figure out how to add bead eyes as the techniques I have tried really don't look very natural and I think I need some rounder beads .

The larger critter I call...."Slouching towards Bethlehem".....just because I like the phrase and he is slouching....(he really isn't evil ). I used some of the blended merino I bought from yarnahoy and I love the natural blend of colors . I'm trying to save most of it for making a tree but it does work great for animal fur .
This is a blend of blended merino from Yarnahoy and merino/tencel from Sheepish Creations .
It's a bit hard to visualize, but I plan on making them into the front part of necklaces with the back being suede, leather or braided handspun yarns . I do plan on adding beads so thesse will go into my ever growing. ....."to do" pile .
I wasn't happy with the vessel after wet felting so I tamed the fuzz with an additional 4 hours of needle felting . A lot of work for something that I am still not thrilled with but I am nothing if not stubborn about admitting defeat .

Sheep info for felting

Not sure what fiber to use for different types of felting ? I am constantly frustrated by my confusion of different names for different sheep and what will work for what . The following link is a good reference point for us none 4H type who don't know our sheep from a goat in the ground .

So far, I prefer merino for wet feltng, smallest micron count possible for nuno...18-21 . I love alpaca but have problems with it shedding in wet felting and takes much longer to needle felt . The medium fibers have worked best for me for needle felting...Romney, colonial and Shetland have all felted very fast under the needle but I still like merino on the outside for it's softness . I still have many fibers to try but I think the micron count is a pretty good indicator of what fiber to use for which technique . Smaller for wet felting and larger for needle felting is a simple rule of thumb but can be broken like all rules .

http://www.ncwga.org/breeds.html

Sheepish Creations and Fiber Ahoy

Yummmy ! These are some more wonderful merino and merino/Tencel blends from Sheepish Creations.....You can find her on Etsy here.....

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

I really think that having such beautiful fiber to work with is part of what encourages me to keep felting even when I'm a bit tired . I just can't wait to get me needle into the fiber and she has some of the best I've found. Always great color and texture and never half felted, which I have had the misfortune of buying on Etsy from people who don't really know how to dye wool with out felting it ...those packages are a real bummer and end up being the core to some of my larger sculptures . If you want to check it out for yourself, she has some great "samplers" for a good price for both Merino(wet) and Romney(needle) felting .



In my original post, I said that I didn' think Yarn Ahoy did not card her own fiber blends....Mea Cupla (My bad in Latin???)....She DOES blend her own fiber and the selections are so perfectly blended I just assumed that it was machine made . They are as professionally done as any of the big name fiber sellers I have ordered from . She lives in London but shipping and pricing are affordable and her color selection is great . You can find her shop on Artfire or Etsy .......
http://www.etsy.com/shop/yarnahoy


The fiber wont disappoint and is gorgeous in color blending and texture .

Below is something else I purchased fro her shop, quite decadent and high priced (for me), that I bought on an impulse . It is bits of fabric scraps that are "exotic" and have some beautiful embroidered detailing . I had hoped to use them for detailing on some of my felted items as well as some doll clothing I plan on making . The scraps are smaller then I realized but I think they will work OK for what I have in mind and will be a nice addition to some beadwork .


Below are some needle felt bracelets I have been working on using her fiber . These are nice little projects that only take a few hours each and can be done while watching TV .

What is it....???looks like I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to make a purse, hat or vessel . This was actually needle felted and took way to many hours and is much to thick to be anything but a vessel . About an inch thick and to large for my head , the bottom is still open and I plan on adding a thick leather bottom . I did try to finish it with wet felting , but it just made it fuzzy and lost a lot of the detailing...bummer . Maybe it's because the fiber is mostly Shetland or maybe because I was just tired when I started , but wet felting didn't seem to tighten the fiber at all . Looks like I need to keep practicing if I want to learn how to make a vessel and perhaps stick to wet felting them of merino ?