a joining of two lands

portland and shetland that is!

(oh i crack myself up sometimes. no, really, i do).

this is my first project using the portland that i washed the other week and it was a joy to work with!  the fibres have a lovely springy quality to them (not sure what the technical term is, possibly crimp?), a beautiful sheen and they are so soft.

i always forget to take photos of the process but here are a few i remembered to take along the way.

first, carding the portland

the resist, covered with grey shetland and white portland

after felting, now ready to remove the resist

and after a bit of rolling, and manipulating, the finished piece ... a vase wrapper

i think the sheltand and the portland have worked quite well together. they've felted in well, the portland was a little slower to felt and had a slightly smaller shrink rate than the shetland but not enough that it was a problem.  the surface of the portland is as 'fuzzy' (again lack of technical terms is letting me down!) as the shetland but much softer, in fact i can't help touching it every time i walk past!

perfect for displaying some dried grasses

a feltmaker creates ...

... a bit of a mess!

can you tell what it is yet ... ?

yep, finally, the long-awaited, much-anticipated part 2 of 2!

components for pieces one, two and three

piece three of four

piece three of four

piece four of four

piece four of four

piece four of four

 and as a wee reminder, here's the first two pieces ...

piece one of four

piece two of four

all will be revealed soon :)

can you tell what it is yet ... ?

part 1 of 2
(in honour of my lovely friend heather here is a two-part teaser)

piece one of four

piece two of four

me neither - hee hee!

answers on the back of a postcard please :)

just back but about to go away again!

well ... this past weekend was just amazing! wonderful company, great food, fantastic horst couture garments, such creative feltmaking ... i feel like i have just had the most amazing dream!!!

so, i'm just back but my feet still haven't yet touched the ground - i promise to blog and share pics really soon, and also catch up with you all too, but i was straight back to work and then i'm away again this weekend. then on hols for a week ... and i wonder where the time goes?!

look forward to catching up with you all soon and in the meantime, happy mid 'summer'!

colourful fluff

i had been cutting the rainbow felts i blogged about a little while ago, and noticed that even the wee bits of fluff made for some interesting colour combinations on my table ...
... i find it so hard to throw scraps away, and these were so colourful, but i don't think i could really do anything with these other than appreciate them in a photo!

the wonderful world of blogging

yes, i know, it can be a huge time vampire if you're not careful, but then there are so many wonderful things about blogging such as meeting lovely, inspiring, creative folk from around the world that you otherwise wouldn't have had the chance to get to know. folk such as the wonderful heather who writes the wool love - functional fiberart blog.

a little while ago, heather and i agreed to make a swap for each other. we had been lamenting the fact that, while we both enjoyed making gifts for other people we never seemed to have the time to make anything for ourselves. so a swap was duly suggested and agreed to be the best solution as we both love making for other people and this way we would both have a lovely gift to exchange/receive.

this was the first time i had taken part in a swap like this and i really enjoyed finding out a little more about each other to make sure we made the perfect gift. it was such good fun to plan the goodies i would send. in fact, i got so much out of the planning and gifting part of the swap that it was a double bonus to receive this wonderfully gorgeous bag as my gift from heather.
the photos really don't do it justice, the handle and front flap are made from the most gorgeous mix of blues/greens with a silky sheen and there's an internal pocket in the same lovely mix of colours.

i just adore the texture created by these locks on the back of the purse.

heather blogged about the creation of my lovely bag here: silk wool and dyed blue locks bag part 1 and here: silk wool and dyed blue locks bag part 2

my package also contained a lovely hand lotion, scented with an orange and ginger energy-giving zingy scent and perfect for feltmaker's hands! i don't have it here to take a pic as i took it to my day job, to cheer myself up through the day.

thanks so much heather, every time i use my bag and enjoy my handcream i think of you and the care and love you put into creating the perfect gift.

i am so unbelievably excited

horst, yes horst, the horst is coming to ireland in june!

the lovely nicola has organised a workshop with horst.
and guess what, i really can't quite believe it, no really i can't, m is talking about tranquilising me before my head actually explodes, because i don't know how i can wait so long, but I'M GOING TO IRELAND IN JUNE FOR A WORKSHOP WITH HORST!!!

you can find out more about horst here ... horst couture

apart from the opportunity to work alongside horst, i'm so excited for loads of reasons: i had put aside this year to develop my feltmaking skills and start having fun with feltmaking again - what perfect timing! it will be great to meet nicola as i've been following her blog for a long time now, and she's such an inspirational feltmaker; i'm going to stay at a really lovely campsite; i've never been to ireland before, my nan's dad came from cork so i'm hoping i'll have a few hours spare before i have to catch my ferry home to do a wee bit of family history searching.

although i have to admit, it does feel a little daunting to be travelling all that way on my own! but i know it will be so worth it, roll on june :)

my new toy

woo-hoo for power tools!

this lovely piece of kit used to lurk in the cupboard under the stairs with the other tools, amongst the cobwebs, for when m needed to do something manly with them.

that is until i discovered that i love drilling holes in things, any thing, many things! it is surprisingly satisfying to drill holes, who knew?!

so far i've drilled holes in bits of wood to make hanging decorations and looking around for other things to drill holes in (that wouldn't make m scream!) i decided to try felt, and guess what - now i can drill holes in felt!

i predict a lot more holes being drilled in many things :)

a woolly appeal

i enjoyed my first experience of working with raw wool at a recent workshop so much that i'd like to try some more and i'd also love to learn the techniques needed to hand process raw fleece to spin my own yarn and also to felt with.

but ... i'm having trouble locating larger amounts of raw fleece.

i would love to be able to try out fleece from local sheep as i think it would tie in nicely with my plan to be able to dye hand processed fleece with dye plants from our garden.

so, i guess my question is ... do you have, or know anyone who has, any fleece from (ideally) perthshire sheep they wish to get off their hands over the spring and summer?

i'd be willing to pay or swap some feltmaking workshops or handmade felt goodies by way of exchange.

the bead fairy has visited

and left a fantastic amount of broken jewellery for me to upcycle (as they call it these days!)

m has been slightly bemused by my total joy as i rake through the bag, every now and then he has to feign excitement as i show him a new discovery!

i predict a new phase of beaded feltmaking :)

the felt bead fairy has left the building

a few weeks ago i finally got the knack of making lovely felt beads (i'm know this is probably a really basic technique but until then, i'd really struggled with it) and so chuffed was i that i made them until i practically wore a hole in my hands.

imagine my dismay on discovering that the felt bead fairy must be on holiday today as i've now made three mis-shapen, lumpy beads in a row!

time for a break perhaps :)

and some time to figure out where i'm going wrong!

jewellery makes, part ii

glass pendant with felt, can't decide which of these i prefer ...

green glass bead necklace ...

felt flowers

i made these as part of my mum's mother's day present. i was really chuffed with them and my mum thought they were great. must find a solution to the photography difficulties though - the pictures don't really do them justice!

shibori and dye test pieces

inspired by the shibori workshop, we took another trip out to twist fibres to buy some dyes. these are my first attempts at mixing dyes.

just playing around with shapes and colours really, mixing different dyes and finding colours i like. i think these worked fairly well and i am quite pleased with the results, i can't wait to get started on a bigger project which will incorporate this technique.

the first piece is shibori on silk chiffon and the rest are shibori on merino wool

nuno felt test

worked fairly well, i used bright colours so that i could clearly see the contrast between the wool and the cotton but when i use this technique again, i'll either dye the muslin first or use colours which tone in with the background.

another twist fibres workshop

this time for a shibori workshop with janette. this is adapted from the japanese method of shibori and translates really well into felt as a means of creating structures, and many other materials as a dyeing technique. i was so taken with shibori, i love the shapes and patterns that it leaves behind, that i have made many, many more practise pieces and am drawing up ideas for a wall hanging - pics to follow! this was also my first attempt at dyeing.

shibori scarf
shibori scarf, with the 'bobbles' ironed out

shibori on silk georgette, again with the 'bobbles' ironed out

a miscellany of scarves

my first attempt at cobweb felt. i quite like the colours and design but used perhaps just too much fibre and it’s not quite cob-webby enough.

made this for my o-h’s sister, felt and silk chiffon.

a few different styles of wool woven through a textile mesh.

same mesh but with pink wool knotted through each square. i love this scarf but it took me so long to make that i missed the winter! i’m hoping for one more cold snap this year before spring so that i can get some wear from it, otherwise it’s back into the cupboard until next year.

nostalgic felt workshop

another trip to twist fibres, this time for the nostalgic felt workshop. we had to take along an item that had a happy memory associated with it which would inspire a piece of felt that would then have pockets incorporated into it, to hold our memories as it were.

we had such a great summer last year so i took along some photos of our trips.

this piece of felt represents our summer – the countryside, the forest, scottish hills, changing seas, enormous skies, purple heather on the hills and the rather incongruous sun in the top right corner. if i was to make this again, i would make the representation of the sun a little more abstract, perhaps just orange curls streaking along the top. the pockets are to hold the little momentos of our trips, all the little bits and pieces that i pick up and fill my pockets with – the beach glass; stones; grasses; leaves; moss; twigs and the general detritus that makes it way into my pockets.

felt vessel

this was the next piece i made, a felt vessel for my o-h to use as a paint brush holder. the colour and design were inspired by the callanish standing stones on the isle of lewis, stunning grey lewisian gneiss with veins of pink, silver and black running through them – when the sun shines on them they sparkle!