Shepherds Harvest 2011...yes, no, yes , no, maybe, Yes!

Above are just a few of the things I will be bringing to sell at Shepherds Harvest this year . After last years show, in spite of meeting many supportive and interesting people.....I decided that driving alone to the show was just to stressful and I was not going to be able to do it again .

Then, a wonderful person who does not mind my aspie "quirks" offered to share a booth with me and I thought....maybe I could do it . Unfortunately, she encountered personal issues that made the show impossible, then possible, then impossible, so until yesterday, I was unsure if I was going or not . Looks like things have been worked out and we will be sharing a booth so...come look for Knot All That in building D.......(and she really IS "all that", knots and all ). You can find the spining wheels she sells on her Etsy shop....knotallthat .


On another note , a  glitch on blogger.....(another one), seems that if you batch  post pictures from your picasso album, you can't write below each one, so let me explain here about the first photo . I attended a charity craft fair last weekend and meet some really cool handmadeMN team members . Sales weren't great for me, but I really had fun giving away a new toy for kids and cats...(no cats attended but if the kids decide to share, I'm sure there cats at home will be wanting these as well ). I made them by securely felting some re-purposed silk strips inside wool roving and felting a very firm ball with a tail . When you throw them straight up in the air, the silk makes little fluttery movements that "I" think looks cool . Kids under 5 and cats agree . I think other aspies will as well .

If your in MN this Mothersday weekend, come see me and mention this blog for your own free flutter toy or 10% off your total purchases . Here's a link to all the fun you can have at Shepherds Harvest......(it's not just for knitters, lots of cool animals, food , music, people and it's free !)

I think the weather is supposed to be over 40 this year....what a treat . I Hope to see you there .

Craft fair and blogger being uncooperative : (

I keep trying to post a link to the craft fair I will be at next week AND the poster for the show but the blog is not cooperating..... so please view this and following post as one post . (Dang technologies !)


Here is the facebook page if you would like to find out more about the organizations sponsoring this show and what they are raising money for . ......

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137477752987391

I've been working hard to get some of my items ready and am terrified about participating...mostly due to my social and driving phobias but am determined to follow through as I think it is a good cause and I did make the commitment .

Besides this sale, I will  hopefully be selling at Shepherds Harvest Mothers-day Weekend....I enrolled to late to get a booth, so am sharing one with my friend Eileen of "Knot all That"...she is a spinner and will have spinning wheels and supplies as well as a bit of her own handspun yarn...always yummy stuff . 

It is painful to have to take a felting break to try and organize my things to attend these events but unless I want to end up buried in my own wool creations....(which doesn't sounds that bad to me), I need to start sharing a bit of it .

Wish me luck and I hope to be back to playing with wool and sharing some tutorials about making "marketing items", like labels and tags, starting the middle of May . Wish me luck and if your in the area, come visit me at the shows .

I will be at this craft fair on Saturday ! Come support2 good orginizations and buy Mothersday gifts .

Bunnies and friends needle felted to celibrate Spring

 Happy Easter , Passover or spring solstice, which ever is your proclivity .

I most often make critters that  could not be identified in nature... cat body with gopher face and bunny feet, etc . This time I actually tried my best to make a couple bunnies ....perhaps you can find 2 in this picture . Granted, they are still no totally anatomically correct and more cartoonish then natural but I think they are more bunny-ish then not .

 The other two animals..(each sitting next to their bunny friends)... are just my traditional "critters", fitting no specific classification but doing there best to look lovable . All animals are a mix of merino, alpaca with just a touch of white angora cat hair on both bunny tummies .

 Above and below is my latest table topper with yellow and blue silk fibers, blue mohair curls and black, teal and red merino . I actually made an attempt at creating a "pattern" which is pretty rare for me but I do like the result . No size reference in the picture but they are about 4' by 3'(just guessing).

 Above close-up and I'm Loving the mohair and plan on using much more of that in the near future .

 I took two sets of photos to see the different lighting in mid-afternoon light and shade to see which was more "true' color . Any suggestions on which you prefer?

 This is the reverse side with out silk or mohair  embellishments .

 Above and below are pictures of my "failed" attempt to felt in some nylon meshing which seemed like a cool idea but resulted in poor felting and all the fibers being hidden by the tan and blue netting , so it had to be removed . At least not a complete loss as the nylon pulled off with some effort and I finished felting for a table runner or bag to sew up later .

 I saved the netting and will be using it for something not involving felting .

Below is the sans-netting result with lots of silk and thick layers of merino  which should be a good cushioning for a computer bag.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend with family, friends or wool . We are headed to The Old Country Buffet to enjoy an Easter dinner .

The Official Simon's Cat Website

The Official Simon's Cat Website: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Earth day video (to cloudy for pictures of new felt)

I had hoped to share some new felt animals but the sun did not show today to take pictures and so hope you find the above video as inspiring as I do . Hopefully , sun will be back tomorrow so I can get some descent pictures of my new bunny felts in time to celebrate Easter .

Hot pink nuno felt for spring

 Click on the pictures for better detail . I don't know if you can tell but this is actually doubled and I laid wool in-between and on top of silk edge so the draped part is actually two layers and no hemming .

 This is the back side of the same shawl .

 Two smaller light weight scarves with layers of silk, wool, silk and colour !

 Above and below is another doubled chiffon wrap....I cut fringe along the edges after it was half felted .

 Above is sans chiffon but light layers of silk and wool fibers and below is another hand dyed chiffon with wool and silk edging . The white is bits of silk fiber "smoke" .

 Below is a mistake but I think it's redeemable . I was actually trying to make a computer bag and used some netting on top of the wool,( instead of silk), but only the edges, ( where it was sandwiched between the wool), actually felted ..... which turned out to be a good thing as it just covered all the silk, wool and mohair fibers . Fortunately, it wasn't to hard to remove it and keep felting . I'm not thrilled with the color or lack of design but the silk and mohair turned out OK so I will probably still sew it into a bag .

 Below is a lay out using some of the silk chiffon I dyed this week . You can see how much they shrink in the following picture .

 I also made a larger , double layer cape using a top layer of the turquoise chiffon and bottom layer of the red chiffon . You can sort of see a W in a peach color that is actually sandwiched between the two chiffons and give it sort of a butterfly look when worn over the shoulders .

 

 Below is a picture of another project (and one step closer to actually trying to sell some of my things....I bought to stamps from Vista print...one black with the shop logo and smaller red stamp with my Etsy and blog addresses . I cut the circles out of some of leather and deer hide that I found at my local thrift store .I  glued a non-fraying backing to give them more stiffness and coated the leather with pearlized sealer . It's been a lot of mindless busy work but sometimes "mindless" can also be very Zen . I also made some silk labels for my scarves but I'll show that later .

 ....and as if that wasn't enough......I also bought some stuff to make dog collars....plastic clips, D rings and cotton webbing . I thought it would be a great way to make use of all my scraps of felt  and vintage material I have been collecting for years . It's "easy" sewing, so these are kind of fun .

 You would think after all that work, I was the one who deserved a nap, but looks like 2 of my 3 favorite guys beat me to the bed again .Happy felting !

Nuno felting with peacock silk

 I really thought I had already blogged my experiments with my new silk but can't seem to find the post, so here is a shorter version . Above and below is some of the fabric I bough recently on Ebay . (I checked Etsy first but didn't find much selection . )


This material came from Asia, so the wait time was longer but the price wasn't bad for the quality of the material . The first is a very sheer material, I think synthetic with some lovely peacock feathers embellished on it . Very glittery and fun to work with . I cut around the felather on the edge and laid my roving over them and was suprised how well the wool felted in . The edges were thick enough to create a smooth wool and the finer bits I placed between the embellishments gave the fabric a nice crinkled look .

 Below are the spring silks that I will be working with in the next few weeks before SH .

 Some of the material is chiffon but there is also a bit of "china silk" which has a tighter weave, a real challenge for me to felt .

 Above is the "china silk" Habatoi ? (spell check doesn't know ) This layout show how I do my edging on cut edges....I fold it back a few inches and lay down a thin bottom layer, then cover that with the edges and lay another thin layer on top .( Sure beats hand sewing rolled hems when it takes you 5 min to thread the needle )

 Above is the synthetic fiber with the embellished feathers . (Sorry for the bad pictures but it's been a cloudy winter in MN . ) Below is the "china silk" with peacock feather print .

 This is my third piece....the china silk with merino/silk collar .

I have several new projects to share this coming week....making labels for your items, dog collars from vintage sari fabric and wool and a few up-coming selling events<-----scary !

Happy felting !

I love Onion news even when peeling the layers of sarcasim makes me cry

Just thought I might share a smile until the sun returns so I can take pictures of some new felt and label making tutorials .

A weird new fabric for nuno felting...and stuff

TMI ALERT.......I apologize in advance for any more then my usual typo's and weirder then usual sentence structure . An interesting thing happened on the way to my brain today . I evidently forgot to take my Effexor yesterday and took them late today and am getting to experience the wonderful side effect of detoxing off "short half life" meds. . I had been warned that it could cause headaches and brain shocks, but I am experiencing something else entirely . It feels as if I just finished off a 12 pack of some kind of alcoholic elixir . Having been sober over 20 years, amazing I still recall what that feels like, but I guess some things we never forget . Anyway, my brain is buzzing and foggy but in a sort of pleasant way . Makes me wonder what kind of brain damage these chemicals maybe actually be doing to my neural pathways but I will try and not dwell on it as it allows me to function enough to work . On a side note...I have often wondered if that is how some anti-anxiety/depressants do work....after all, if ignorance is bliss....a little brain damage may help some of function happier in an often frustratingly absurd world .



...and back to felt we go.....

 So, this is the newest experiment using this weird fabric I found thrifting . I have no idea what it is actually made of but it is semi-stiff and metallic but light weight and open pored . I think this is intended for curtains but I thought the metal look would be a cool effect beneath some light chiffon . Well, I like the results even though I usually avoid synthetics because I can't tolerate the texture .

 I covered the top of the fabric (seen as light blue and tangerine with white patterning),  with merino wool on both sides and then laid some silk caps on as decoration . The bottom part has the same merino but looks like a lighter orange and green because the yellow/metallic fabric blends and alters the dyed roving colors . You really need to double click the picture to see the detail of the texture created . Being someone who loves texture and dimension . I'm really happy with the lightly rippled effect of the felted stiff fabric .

 The above side shows the merino only side with the sewn bottom edge of the fabric peaking out . As to what it is, well you know I don't actually make clothing so I'm not sure what to do with it . As is, you could use it as a skirt over leggings or a cape . I;m much better at starting projects then finishing them but I'm sure I'll find something to do with it .

 (A better close up of texture .) It does make me curious to see if I can find something similar in a silk that has a more pleasant next to the skin feel but if you wear the merino side next to the skin, it should work OK .

 Above photo was the first experiment with this fabric . The layout was only on top edge and layered as follows....thin layer of merino, some hand dyed silk chiffon, merino, weird fabric, merino and a bit of silk caps and loose silk fibers . Below, I lifted the silk chiffon so you could see the weird fabric beneath . Because this was intended as the underneath side....you might need to wear some kind of leggings beneath unless synthetics don't bother you .

 It's hard to get a good picture of shiny material but this looks like spun gold to me and has a cool effect beneath the thin chiffon .

 Above is a bit of a close up of the edge to see how well the 6 thin layers felted together . I was actually surprised how firmly it all melded together yet stayed light and pliable .

 Above and below are two very different sides to the same table topper . I still think it's cool that you can make wet felt "reversible fabric" for 2 different looks from the same piece of "fabric" . It also keeps me from getting bored when I'm laying out my wool fibers . Considering the layout takes me almost as long as the rolling and felting...I like to play with different fibers, textures and colors . If I could only work in white or black wool, I wouldn't be felting . The fun for me is in playing with color and texture .

 Lots of silk, mohair and merino....yummy shine . The bottom shows the two sides over lapping . They sort of "go together" if you wanted to lay it on the table like that .

That's it for last month . I did spend the last few days deconstructing some thrift"score" fur and leather clothes/coats, so expect to see that incorporated into some felted experiments....(sewn, not felted in) . I know that other animal lovers are apposed to using these materials but I can't stand the idea that some animal died and then it's going to end up in some garbage pile . I would much prefer to think it will "live on" as a piece of art and anyone who cares to recycle bits of me after I'm dead , your welcome to me . I certainly prefer that to the idea of rotting in grave, taking up land and ....oh, pardon, is my hippy showing ?

Happy spring....(it's 19 degree here but I'm feeling very optimistic ) .