Felt With Kisses

Onwards and Upwards.

2009-07-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well, an update on what I have been up to. Finished the mermaid. Then a dear friend of mine, Carole and my mum, Suzanne decided to organise our own little exhibition. We called it Eclectic Collections and held it in the beautiful Botanical Gardens in Coffs Harbour, over the long weekend in June. It went very well. Much better than we had expected. We had about 200 visitors a day.
We all worked very hard creating new pieces and we had quite a bit in the end. We wanted to be
like a gallery exhibition and think we managed to achieve that.

I've done and please don't let me do it again

2009-04-18T14:02:00.001-07:00

Okay, at last I am free again. This is Derketa, the Babylonian mermaid I have been working on flat out and to the exclusion of all else. She lived in my dreams and sometimes my nightmares for months. She is DONE. And remind me if I ever have another insane moment like that, never to go there again. My arms and hands will never be the same. It took a long time. I have learnt a lot. But she is beautiful, her facial expression is so serene and calm.
I measured my youngest daugher's dimensions for the arms, legs, head and height, she is about 5ft tall. I made a wire skeleton, or armature, I think it 's called. Then wrapped that in torn up wool jumpers and strips of left over thin quilt batting.
Then I needlefelted the whole thing, she is mainly corriedale with a small amount of tussah silk.
The head was made on a balloon and stuffed with alpaca, this was before I realised what a waste of alpaca that was. Oops.
THINGS I HAVE LEARNT
Never to make something that big with one felting needle again. I couldn't use one of those tools with a few needles in it because of the wire.
Plan ahead better. I had no idea how I was going to display her when I finished. Thanks, John (Grandpa) for the help with that.
Use slightly finer wire as what I used was hard to manipulate.
Projects like this metamophorsis by themselves as you work on them. That was weird.
Talk to someone who knows about creating life like faces. Thanks Mum your advice about the face and the armature was invaluable.
I also learnt how patient my husband and children are, as she lingered in the lounge room for months, even though I have a studio. Thanks all.
I entered this creature in the Lilly Pilly Art Show in Coffs Harbour, in the fibre section and was very excited, to win second prize. Yay, me.
Love to know what you all think.

Spinning myself to sleep

2009-03-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

As you can see my spinning has improved quite markedly. The first sample I must have done 12 months ago, when I first got my second hand traditional Ashford wheel, (thanks Leeanne). If you look in the earlier posts there is a photo of my wheel and other early spinning samples.
Since then I have tried to spin on a regular basis. It is a very peaceful and calming activity.
I enjoy the rhythm of the wheel and treadling a great deal. It does tend to send me to sleep. I find myself nodding off over the wheel, if I am spinning in the evening.
But then I am a bit the same when I knit. I have sometimes jerked myself awake with the needles still resting in my hands. Which is fraught with danger!
The second sample is spun from Romney roving, naturally coloured. Love it. I don't usually name yarns I produce. But the name for this one popped straight into my head, Wild Rice. I am thinking about putting it on Etsy to sell. I am very happy with the consistency of the spinning and the plying. Let me know what you think.

She spins, She knits

2009-03-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

I have knitted for as long as I can remember. Now I can spin, thanks to the ladies at the Coffs Harbour Spinners and Weavers group. So, I dyed some 22 micron merino, Landscape dye, Jade. Then I spun the wool as best I could, I plied 2 strands together and achieved a bulky yarn. Using a free pattern from the Garn studio range, I made this for my 12 year old daughter. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out and she loves it.
I really have the spinning bug now. I have now started spinning some beautiful, dark grey romney marsh roving and a lighter tan colour romney and I will ply that together. I think if I make enough I will sell some of the finished product.

BALL FELTING, or felted balls

2009-03-02T01:42:00.001-08:00

Sometimes getting used to using the blogger tools can get complicated. I have lost posts in the past and now I have realised they have been saved in a place called "Drafts", how cool is that?
This is a little tutorial in balls, felted balls. These are great fun and real easy for kids to make.

I like to use corriedale, but merino will certainly work well. The first photo shows how you need to spread the wool out and then you start to roll in the edges. I roll it in the palms of my hands, as though I was making a pastry/playdoh ball. Squeezing it firmly at the same time. When you have a basic ball shape, takes strips of the roving and wrap it around the ball in various directions using whatever colour takes your fancy. I pull them firmly around and then rub the ends into the ball where I want it to finish. This helps hold the wool in place. Continue to do this until you are happy with what you have and the ball is a third larger than you want. Felting tends to shrink things by about a third.
Then using old tights, pantyhose or stockings push the ball into the toe and make a knot tightly behind the ball to keep it in place. A few balls can fit in the leg of a stocking, just remember to tie knots to keep them in place. Then place the lot in the washing machine and add dishwashing detergent, a few squirts . Wash on a hot cycle only using the washing cycle, check the felting after 10 minutes. This can be done by undoing one of the knots and peeling back the stocking to reveal the ball. The ball should have some fibres meshed into the stocking and the ball should be firm.
After they are felted enough, take the stocking with the balls in it outside and slap it firmly on a solid surface. I use the house wall, and do it about 50 times. Then rinse in cold water and take the balls out of the stocking, shape with your hands and leave to dry. TAH DAH. Great for juggling and if shaped flatter, they make excellent pin cushions.

Dear Little Dog Gone

2009-02-03T23:11:00.001-08:00

Here is a very small needlefelted West Highland Terrier. I made him from corriedale, in memory of my dear Aunty Kay's little companion. He has turned out quite cute, which of course, he was in real life. The other photo is of a mermaid I made for an order a while ago. I prefer corriedale for needlefelting as it goes together quicker. She has mohair for tresses and beautiful Japanese seed beads for her embellished tail. Not a great photo I know. Maybe I should have some photography lessons. Then again, if I just read a few photography lessons then I am sure I could improve.
Feel free to ask any questions you wish about needlefelting. It is a very restful way to felt, not as physically demanding as wet felting that is for sure.

Dye another day

2009-02-03T23:05:00.001-08:00

I love dyeing wool. I buy the wool, fine merino and use landscape dyes to make up whatever colours I like. It is great fun. I try to have a dyeing day, so I can get everything out and spend the whole day making a huge colourful mess. The photo on the left is the landscape dyes, obviously, the one in the middle is my Mum, she likes to dye too. The one on the far right is only some of the colours you can create.
The landscape dyes are very easy to use. You don't require mordants or any other chemicals, and they will also dye silk. So I use them to dye the silk chiffon I use in the nuno felt shawls I like to make.
I find I get the best colours when I don't think too hard about what I am doing. I like a sprinkle of this and a teaspoon of that, putting together green, yellow and a pinky red is one of my best.
I attended the local spinners and weavers group the other day and one of the girls had recently attended a natural dyeing workshop in Sydney. I was sooo jealous. The colours she had produced were lovely. I didn't realise you can get such variety. Of course it is a lot of work. But I am tempted. I have a lovely garden with heaps of plants, I would love to see what they turn out like.
You also need to use something as a mordant, so I think I will look into it a bit more first.

Butterfly Award

2009-01-29T02:04:00.000-08:00

Thankyou so much to the lovely lady who awarded me with the Butterfly Award. Darlene, who has a great blog, Artticulation I have not received any blog awards. So I am very honoured.

Here are the rules for receiving this award

1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award
4. Add links to those blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

These are the 10 others that I would definitely like to give this award to as well.

Journalistic Creations

2009-01-24T02:57:00.001-08:00

As you can see I have started Sue B's fantastic journal making classes, this is an online class.
I have completed my first journal and gave it to a friend for her birthday at her party tonight.
I was very pleased, I have made other journals but Sue's instructions enabled me to finish it off with a more professional look. Love it and the instructions were so easy to understand.
I have started another one, more photos soon.
The one above was made using patchwork fabrics, of which I have heaps. To make the discs I used the same material as the outer cover of the journal and embroidered gold coloured organza on to it,and then just cut it out using a template. The paper inside is computer paper, I didn't have time to do much else. But I think I will make some paper for the next journals, because I so have time to do that. Laugh.

Felted Serendipity

2009-01-14T16:50:00.001-08:00

Another photo of the mermaid, on display for a few days at a fibre exhibition held by the Coffs Harbour spinners and weavers, at the botanical gardens in Coffs Harbour.
The middle photo is a nuno shawl I made using hand dyed silk chiffon and hand dyed merino roving. The last photo is a piece of silk chiffon that I dyed. When I went to lay it out for felting I noticed the middle section looked like Australia, minus Tasmania. Sorry about that, Taswegians. But it was completely serendipitous.

Rebirth, or how we changed directions

2009-01-11T11:19:00.000-08:00

If anyone remembers, or cares to search previous posts they will find a large felted mermaid I started making a few years ago. Now I did quite a lot of work on her and she was progressing quite nicely, but then I had a bit of a crisis of creative faith and life got in the way. So she was on the back burner for a long time.
Well, I have rescued her from the stagnant pool of lost interest and she has been reborn. I have fixed her face up and am now working on her hands. So far I have remade her hands twice. When I first started her I didn't have much of any idea of how I actually wanted her to look, so she was all blue eyes and pink cheeks. Now I feel more confident in my vision of what she needs to be, so she has green eyes and at the moment her lips have no colour because I have not been able to find the right colour. I may have to dye some wool for that.

The first photo is how I think her hair may look but she still has blue eyes. The middle photo is how she originally looked, not quite right. The last photo is on track. The hair is not done I am leaving that until last so it doesn't get tangled. I have been spinning various things together to get the right effect. It is coming along nicely.

Birdwatching and Sue Bleiweiss

2009-01-04T18:36:00.000-08:00

On our trip to Victoria over Christmas we were also fortunate enough to visit the Melbourne Zoo. What a fantastic place!! We had a great day, the weather was kind, not too hot. I love the birds, these were taken in the enormous, walk through, bird aviary. The left photo is a pied heron, the middle picture is a wounded gannet, and the last is a blue billed duck. I am hoping to draw a couple of these in pastels. Or maybe watercolour, who knows.
Now the other thing I have done recently is signed up for one of Sue Bleiweiss' online classes. It starts January 23rd, I am hoping this will help inspire my creative will, which has slipped a bit lately. It is a class in making journals, I love paper, journals etc. They will make great presents.
I have been making some anyway, but I don't get the professional finish that Sue does.

These are three of the padfolios I have made. I was not unhappy with them, actually I quite liked them, but I need to learn more. Don't we all!! Then of course, I can make better ones. I am really looking forward to doing Sue's class. I am a subscriber to her Fibre & Stitch magazine, which I absolutely love. Her work is outstanding.
The above journals are made from hand dyed and handmade silk paper. I am keen to learn different surface techniques. Especially the brown paper bag surface.

Faraway in Yass

2009-01-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

We travelled to Melbourne for Xmas, it was a long, hot drive. We drove from Sawtell to Yass, and stayed overnight. There were some beautiful buildings, the town hall with the clock. We went into an building that was a gift store and you could go upstairs for a look, the walls were missing plaster in some areas. In the days these buildings were erected the walls were plaster and lathe, as you can see this is what they looked like under the plaster. It was a wonder they were as smooth as they were. Lovely tiled patio, can't remember which building this was. It was a bit of a sad place. Many buildings were closed and boarded up. I can imagine in it's heyday it would have been a bustling, country town. But not anymore. Built on the sheep's back, I would imagine.

Another Year

2009-01-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

Isn't it amazing how quickly time flies. My New Year's resolution, is to never make one again. No, that's not true. It is to keep up with this Blog. I love reading everyone else's and I do get easily distracted.
Have been doing some creative work. Mainly drawing and exploring different mediums, can't make up my mind if I like pastels or pencils the best. Haven't tried acrylic or oil paints yet, don't know that I should. The above is a partially completed pencil drawing of my youngest daughter. I have only recently started drawing, after developing an repetitive felting injury to my elbow and having to rest. Just hate that.
Made a nuno shawl this morning, in dark blue, with some brown and orange, it turned out quite well. Will make another one in the morning. The local spinners and weavers are having an exhibition next week. I have a table to fill. It is being held at the Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens. Great venue, if you are in the area, do pop in and say hello. I will be there some days, but as it is the school holidays not too much.
The photo in the middle is just a bouquet I liked and the far right is a patch of yellow Kangaroo Paw. The red and green versions are the floral emblem for Western Australia.

Sunrise

2008-09-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Now this is an early sunrise at the Jetty in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. I took these photos in winter and it's about 6 am and freezing. But the sunrises at the beach are absolutely magnificent. Love the orange colour, I have tried to reproduce this in pastels without much success. But I was thinking of hand dyeing a piece of chiffon using the colours, or making a piece of silk fusion. I think that might just work.

Wow! Time has flown

2008-09-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I have posted. I didn't realise how long. Life has been busy as I am sure fellow crafters and artistes understand. I have been working in the real world more than usual after realising I really can't afford to make a living from craft. I haven't completely given up. I tried markets, made a little bit of money. But I did not like the pressure of having to make certain things and trying to work at the same time. At the moment I am finishing things and resting a "golfer's elbow". Do take care of yourself when creating, an injury is very frustrating.
This is a knitted shawl I designed. It is made from all my scraps and left over yarns that I couldn't bear to throw out. It is quite large and very dramatic. It was also the last thing I made before I went into convalescence mode. It's a bit gorgeous. I am itching to get back to creating.
I have also made 2 more of these shawls, one was creams and browns, the other was greens and blues with a bit of burgundy.
They both sold but were hard work as they do become quite heavy when knitting. But it was great to get rid of all the small amounts of yarn I had stashed.

I felt there was no time

2008-02-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

Morning, as you can see didn't keep up again. I was going to post a photo of the completed laminated scarf, but I sold the thing, and then, Whoops! I'd forgotten the final photo. But I have made numerous others since then. I am now making them longer and wider, as it is getting cooler and the women that seem to buy them are voluptuous goddesses and they like to wrap them right around and half over again. So I have finally taken some photos, of other shawls I have laminated. They are all merino laminated on to silk chiffon, the blue one has silk tussah to add a bit of sheen. Difficult to see on the photos. The black, yellow and red is a remembrance of Australia's apology to the stolen generation.

The below material is some silk chiffon that I rainbow dyed using the electric frypan and just sprinkling the different coloured dyes over. It turned out beautifully and I was going to keep it for myself but someone really liked it and after it was laminated I sold it.

The other type of felting I like to do is needlefelting. This is a great way to make 3 dimensional sculptures. The needles are barbed and mesh the wool together. This is one of series of mermaids I am making. I needlefelted her using corriedale wool for the body, silk chiffon for the tail, and gold seed beads for embellishing. She also has glass eyes. The tail which is difficult to see is like a Japanese fighting fish. Her name is Ebony. Now that's original isn't it?
The next mermaid is gorgeous, she is similar, made out of the same materials, oh, and the hair is mohair curls. They are fantastic for hair. She sold very quickly at my market stall. Not the greatest photography. Sorry. These mermaids were inspired by a series of books my daughter (11 years) was reading. They were written by Helen Dunmore and the first one is Ingo, the second is The Deep and the third is The Tide Knot, she really enjoyed them and so did I. I have also made a beautiful dark purple mermaid with silver metallic thread hand embroidered up the sides of her body. Will post a picture soon.

This below is a wet felted seamless bag, it is great for A4 size documents and art books. I have a bright pink one that I carry all my drawing materials around in. They are so sturdy and make great conversation pieces. ALL THESE ITEMS ARE FOR SALE. JUST EMAIL FOR PRICES AND POSTAGE ETC. I accept paypal.

This one below is "soap in a coat", I have wrapped the soap in merino wool and needlefelted the flower. It is supposed to be a frangipani flower as the soap is frangipani. This one sold quickly too. Even though none of the other soaps have. People don't seem to know what to do with them. Doh!!! Wash!!! I have made others, one a lemon myrtle fragrance has a lemon needlefelted on it and another is mango scented. Yes, you guessed it. It has a mango needlefelted on the front.

LAMINATED FELTING WORKSHOP (NUNO)

2008-01-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

Still trying to catch up, but one thing I promised myself was a tutorial demonstrating laminated felting (also known as Nuno felting). This is a technique created by Polly Stirling for a type of felt that can be made and worn in warmer climes, such as Northern New South Wales, Australia. I love it, so lightweight, so different and practical. It is also such a surprise when it dries and you can see what has happened.
Firstly, gather supplies, silk chiffon, merino wool roving, plastic bag, plastic container of warm water with soap dissolved in it, (I use olive oil soap and an old plastic milk carton), large old towel, bamboo blind, bubble wrap, old nylon curtaining, 2 large elastic bands and masking tape.
Work outside or in a wet area, as this can get messy. Lay the old towel on a table, then lay out the bamboo blind, and on top of this the bubble wrap. The towel helps reduce the mess, the bamboo blind and the bubble wrap provide the friction to help the felting process. The bubble wrap also helps contain the warm water and keeps the felt damp. Lay the silk chiffon on the bubble wrap, use masking tape on the corners to keep chiffon flat. Remember to remove the masking tape before wetting the wool and chiffon.

Then take the merino roving and separate roving into long, narrow pieces. Hold your hands fairly wide apart to draft merino into pieces, this makes it easier to separate. Lay the merino onto the chiffon in a pattern, as you wish. I used prefelts ( next tutorial will be prefelts) to make

gumnut blossoms. Take care to make sure the prefelts are different colours to the background or they will disappear into the background. Cover the entire project with the nylon material, being careful not to disturb the merino wool on the chiffon material. Then take the bottle of warm, soapy water and pour carefully all over the nylon material, in a grid pattern. Taking the plastic bag, put your hand inside and press firmly in the centre of the nylon. Then move your hand in small, firm everwidening circles, smoothing and wetting the entire project surface. This meshes the wool, and removes any air bubbles as well as helping to make the wool permeable to the water.

Continue meshing the wool using the plastic bag firmly, until all the material through to the bubble wrap is wet, not dripping, just wet. Add more soapy water as necessary.
Carefully lift the nylon to check the felting progress. Gently pinch up the merino wool if the fibres come loose then more felting is required. When felting is complete no fibres will come loose.
Once this happens then it is time for the next stage. Roll up the bamboo blind, without the towel, place elastic bands around the each end of the roll to hold it together. Then put both hands firmly on the roll and roll back and forward 400 times. Unroll the blind then roll from the opposite end and roll another 400 times.

Check the felting process, carefully unroll the blind, gently lift the nylon material with one hand and hold down the felt with the other hand, it may need separating from the nylon. If it is felted then the fibres will not be lifted when the material is pinched up. Look at the underneath of the chiffon some of the wool fibres should have migrated through to the underneath of the chiffon. If this hasn't happened then continue rolling and checking regularly, until it does. See the above photo of my felted gumnut. The prefelt has felted nicely to the background. Once you have finished felting the project needs to be "fulled". Carefully remove the felt material from the blind and nylon, fold it into a square pad. Put this in a plastic bag and tie closed. Then "throw" this on the bench, table or sink, approximately 50 times. This forces the fibres firmly into each other and strengthens the felt, it also closes the fibres around each other and the felt will shrink. It generally shrinks about a third. Then rinse the scarf in cool water and a tablespoon of white vinegar, to neutralise the soap. Once the soap is rinsed out, dry flat in the shade, do not wring or put in a washing machine. Gently reshape the scarf, pulling into shape.

There you are I think that is ok, I am too tired to proof read at this time. Mum, you read it and tell me what you think, if it needs fixing. I will post a photo soon of my completed scarf, it is just drying at the moment.

THE ROAD TO XMAS IS PAVED WITH UFOS

2007-11-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

Don't you find this time of the year you have made all these plans to do this and that for Xmas and you are fast running out of time? Yeh, me too. Normally I have finished the Xmas shopping by now, nowhere near. Not to mention all the lovely hand made presents I was going to create. My lounge room floor and desk is littered with magazines full of Xmassy ideas that I was going to use. Going nowhere fast at the moment.
This top photo is an unusual felted gemstone. I didn't like the colour
of the stones so I felted them. I quite like them.

And I have made some needlefelted Xmas decorations, they
turned out quite well and are a bit cute. I enjoy needlefelting it is very tactile and it amazes me how firm they become. I don't use a foam shape for the centre. The entire article is made from hand dyed corriedale which is the best wool for needlefelting. Merino is too slippery. As you can see I did some beading as well

OWL LOGO

2007-11-19T14:13:00.001-08:00

Haven't posted much lately. Life gets in the way. Here is a little picture I have drawn, I am going to use this as my business logo. I think he is a
bit cute. I am going to make a 3 dimensional needlefelted version.
And I have ordered a rubber stamp, so I can stamp him on bags and
labels etc.
I have also been making some padfolios, thanks to Sue B. from Fibre & Stitch. She has the best ideas. The outer layer is a made using a technique that I changed. It is originally for making silk fusion fabric, but instead of using silk, I used merino, and added a lot more inclusions. It worked out really well and came up fantastically with some machine embroidery.
I will have my e-store up and running on the 28th November.
I will be stocking all felting requirements, needlefelting kits, and
kits to make this merino fabric paper, including the instructions.

I have also made a polymer clay tool that is fantastic for helping
to full felting. It fits nicely in your hand and has a point at one end for getting into all those fiddly corners on hats and three dimensional sculptures. It also has ridges on one side for extra friction. This will also be available on the e-store.

How I sometimes felt

2007-10-23T00:44:00.001-07:00

This is the head of a mermaid I am needle sculpting. I started this sculpture by measuring my 9 year old daughter. I measured her head diameter, her arms, and the distance from her shoulders to her waist etc.
To make the head I stuffed a pair of woollen tights ( with the legs cut off) with scraps of jumpers and pieces of left over felt. Whilst I was doing this I had a piece of dowel pushed into the head through the bottom to make a space to attach the head to the body.
I then covered the rounded creation with corriedale rolags ( best for needlefelting) and began needlefelting. The lips are a bit much and the eyebrows are extreme. I am not too unhappy with the rest. The hair is temporary until I find something more suitable. As you can see she is still a work in progress. For her body I constructed a wire frame and wrapped that with left over quilt wadding. I always use 100% cotton so that was not an issue.
Wool likes to be felted into natural fibres.
Then, as with the head I wrapped the whole thing with corriedale
wool. The boobs are made from the feet of the same woollen stockings
I used for the head and then stuffed with wool. One is larger than the
other. I will have to fix that, but I suppose it's normal, but a little bit
obvious. She will not have hands as such, I think that will be just a bit too hard. I will put something in her hands so you can't see them. She may be made into a bridal mermaid yet, I am not sure. I am planning on getting a little more extreme, beading, embroidery, etc. Especially the tail.
If anyone has a great idea for a name it would be much appreciated.

Life before Felting

2007-10-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

Before I learnt to felt, I quilted amongst other things. When I first started quilting I would look at all the lovely pastel quilts and think I would love to make quilts in those colours. But every quilt I have made has been in vibrant colours. This large quilt was no exception. I started making this without checking the measurements of the finished piece. As you can see it is "HUGE". It's hanging in front of a single car garage door. The quilt pattern was designed by Ami Hillege and Michelle Steele. It was very easy to follow and is machine pieced, machine quilted, I stipple quilted most of it, and hand appliqued the animals using blanket stitch. It's great for using lots of scraps. There is an emu at the top of the tree that you can't see very well, and the borders are filled with smaller animals, along the top there are wombats, down the right side there are geckos, and along the bottom there are numbats.
I have added some better photos as the first one is not very good.
This one is 2 pink galahs and 3 jabirus ( a type of Australian stork).
Oh, the pattern also includes an Aussie version of the song, 12 days of Christmas. The applique templates were great. Not difficult at all. I hadn't done much hand applique when I started this, of course by the time I had finished I never wanted to do anymore. Joking... ....I think.
This quilt has all the most recognisable iconic Australian animals, and some that will not be easily identified by overseas friends.

I love the kookaburras they seriously sit around like this in real life.
They are up in the branches, laughing away, looking for all
the world like they are having a chat and a joke. They like to eat snakes amongst other things.
I once went out to breakfast with some friends on the deck of a resort. We had the amusing company of a large kookaburra, that we all duly admired, whilst he sat on the back of a vacant chair at our table. Let me tell you that up close and personal those beaks are quite intimidating.
We were having a lovely breakfast of eggs, sausages, bacon etc. When the kookaburra must have decided the sausages looked a lot like worms or snakes. He did a little hop into the air and landed square in the middle of my friend's breakfast, expertly speared a sausage and flew off. Needless to say drinks, condiments and plates went everywhere. The moral of this story is don't eat breakfast with kookaburras.

Below are platypuses
(or platypi, whatever takes your fancy)
Very unusual Australian creatures.
The poem is by Australian legend,
A.B Paterson.
This really describes what they are like.

OLD MAN PLATYPUS

Far from the trouble and toil of town,
Where the reed beds sweep and shiver,
Look at a fragment of velvet brown --
Old Man Platypus drifting down,
Drifting along the river.

And he plays and dives in the river bends
In a style that is most elusive;
With few relations and fewer friends,
For Old Man Platypus descends
From a family most exclusive.

He shares his burrow beneath the bank
With his wife and his son and daughter
At the roots of the reeds and the grasses rank;
And the bubbles show where our hero sank
To its entrance under water.

Safe in their burrow below the falls
They live in a world of wonder,
Where no one visits and no one calls,
They sleep like little brown billiard balls
With their beaks tucked neatly under.

And he talks in a deep unfriendly growl
As he goes on his journey lonely;
For he's no relation to fish nor fowl,
Nor to bird nor beast, nor to horned owl;
In fact, he's the one and only!

A.B.Paterson

Spinning Samples

2007-10-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

I have had some advice from experienced spinners, who have told me that once I become better I will find it quite difficult to make the lumpy yarn that I have now created. I do like the lumpy yarn, not sure how fantastic it would be to knit or crochet.
It will be great for adding to my felting or embellishing on to other creations.

An excerpt from "Another Time (a pastoral)"

A walking wheel was stored in the dry room
under the stairs behind the kitchen stove,
the drive wheel had spokes and a bronze bushing

That rotated smoothly on a steel shaft,
a multiplying wheel turned the spindle
at high speed as grandmother pushed the spokes

She stood by the chaise, back to the window,
twisting and spinning the heavy coarse wool
into finely wrought yarn for mitts and socks

Over her shoulder green water glittered
but I was held by the whir of spindle
and eyes that glowed behind the spinning wheel

Red ochre was replaced with rich teak oil
Yet, the old wheel yearns for soft hands to toil.

Joseph Dunphy

Round, Round wheels,goin' round

2007-10-15T00:03:00.000-07:00

Well, the spinning wheel is great fun. It took me a little while to work out what to do with it, but I produced something that actually looks like yarn. It is a lovely Ashford traditional single drive wheel. So far I have produced a lumpy and very uneven blue merino yarn. I also tried spinning a bit of bamboo fibre, not terribly successful, but I made a small amount of bamboo yarn. Then I tried again with a rainbow coloured merino wool I have had for a while. Still uneven, I think I need some lessons, and it has a tendency to spiral into curls when it is unrolled. HHHMMM not sure what to do about that. My dear step father (a woodworker) made me something called a Niddy Noddy, which is used to wind the wool from the bobbin and is a measure. Cool thing that is. See the pictures of the yarn I created above.

Chinese folder.

2007-10-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

After having so much making the first folder I had to make another one. This one will have an Asian style cover. I think it might take a while as it is turning out quite intricate, didn't mean for that to happen. Never mind.
I bonded some lovely gold satin to an iron on vilene, similar to peltex. Then I printed a line drawing on to some paper backed organza, called "Extravorganza" (sic). Peeled off the paper and vslieofixed it to the satin. Be careful with the iron, as you can see I scorched it slightly down the bottom. Never mind, I will hide that with embroidery or paint or something.
Then started machine embroidery in gold and red threads. Will continue with the machine embroidery until it becomes too intricate, then will have to hand embroider, or something else. See how adventurous I am becoming.

CHALLENGE # 2

2007-10-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

I am really enjoying the new Fibre & Stitch group. The second challenge was to use a fabric that had been altered using a technique from the first e-zine. I chose to paint some calico I had laying around. First, I bonded it to some stiff vilene, then I painted it using some acrylic paints I had. I love gold and a bit of glitz, so I used gold, purple and blue paints. Then sprinkled it with gold powder, while it was still wet. When it dried I added some silk fusion squares, ( thankyou, for that technique too Sue B.) I machine embroidered the material using purple, blue and gold rayon threads, using various machine patterns. I am still checking out all the patterns my machine has, so that was great fun. Then a bit of raised hand embroidery using some heavy silk thread and a raised cup stitch, and another stitch using a gold thread. I sort of made that stitch up, because what I wanted to do didn't work. Then finished the sewing using the free pattern from Fibre & Stitch, made a large padfolio. It looked pretty good. For the inside I used some curtain material I have had left over from years ago. The best thing about some of these projects is you can use the little left over pieces of various other projects. Then I satin stitched around
the outside as directed in the pattern. I think the next one will have a theme. I am thinking Asian, maybe Chinese, or Australian.
Then maybe a music themed one, as a present for the children's
fabulous piano teacher. You could go on forever. I am looking forward to seeing what the other group members create.

This last photo is a close up of the silk fusion, I added mohair curls when I made this piece of silk fusion. I also rubbed some places with a gold shiva stik. When I completed the book I painted the entire outside surface with a diluted solution of textile medium, just to make sure the mohair didn't lift, and that the gold shiva stayed in place. I love the colours in this piece. But the next one will be golds and browns.

FELTING THE UNUSUAL

2007-10-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

Made an interesting nuno shawl the other day. Most of the time I use silk chiffon, cotton gauze or other natural type fabrics to make nuno shawls, because it is easier to felt. I found this interesting fabric, it is net with solid fabric spots. It is soft, not like tulle and has a loose weave. I figured the wool should be able to move through the net and mesh together.
I made a grid pattern with the white merino on the net and felted for quite a while. It worked quite well. It is an unusual shawl.

Another request. I was asked if I could make a belly dancer's skirt!! Goodness gracious!!. A bit of a challenge. Anyway these belly dancer girls want me to teach them how to make the skirts. So I went home and thought for a while. Once I had an idea in my head of how to proceed, I thought this will be ok. I can do this. So I measured up my waist and laid out the wool accordingly.I prefelted six ties to add at either end, so it would do up at the side. Then I add strips of silk chiffon, for the skirt, and laid more wool over the chiffon, as in nuno felting.
It worked out quite well, the only problem was it shrunk a bit more than I expected.

Detachment

2007-10-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

Don't know about the rest of the creative world, but I am having a hard time separating myself from the computer lately. If anyone has any ideas on how to avoid getting caught at the computer for hours at a time, please feel free to let me know. I love reading other's crafty blogs. People have the most brilliant ideas.
Check this cute little bird, it's some type of South American parrot, with health issues, she is called Tinkerbell. Every time her owner put her on her hand for a photo, she quickly ran straight back up her arm and nibbled her ear. She was so tame and cute.

Felt til you drop

2007-09-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a close up of one of the silk flowers. The photo is a bit dark, but you get the idea. I have gone around the edge of the flower with a bit more silk, using the embellisher to attach the silk. I just love the colours. Some of you may recognise the silk, it is the same as what I used below to make the sik fusion. I still have a bit more left from the original silk cap. It goes quite a long way. But I must say it can be annoying to work with as filaments of it end up everywhere.

Felt til you drop.

2007-09-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I have spent all week making felted things. Which sounds very productive, but isn't really as it takes a bit of time and a lot of physical effort to make felt. I have been mainly wet felting. I made a gorgeous fuschia coloured scarf with rainbow coloured silk flowers, from a silk cap I had. I have put up some photos that show how I laid it out and added the flowers. I love it, but will anyone else? Felt is such a tactile material. People always have to touch when I am at markets, not me, the felt.

Too busy, to think

2007-09-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

Having achieved a small goal, I seem to have fallen behind in other efforts, such as blogging. I have recently managed to get a permanent stall at a new market in Coffs Harbour, ( Australia). This market is only for local produce and local handcraft, no commercial imports. I am very excited about this, it is as close to a craft shop as I will ever get! This market is being held every week, which as you can imagine is a big commitment. Lots of creating every week and I have a real job and family. So I have been madly felting and trying to come up with quick and easy felty things to make.
I have also made up some needlefelt kits for beginners to make a pincushion heart, if anyone is interested they are $15.00 plus postage. They contain a dense, foam block, 2 felting needles, corriedale wool and free instructions.
Only 2 colours are included, the others are just to show other colours available. Oh, and the completed heart isn't included either.

Inspirational Circles

2007-09-10T00:16:00.001-07:00

After an email from another blogger and crafty person, Gail. I thought I should put down some thoughts while they were still fresh. Gail, ( check her blog in my links, expression studio) mentioned that she has a thing about vertical lines, and I realised that I have a thing about circles and roundness. I always remember something I read I don't know who wrote it, "there are no straight lines in nature." When I felt, a lot of the designs I put in contain circles, curving swirls and other rounded elements. For a while I thought I should try more straight lines, but they always wanted circles in them. I have done some research on circles on Google, (oxymoron, I know, but) so this theme may continue for a while. Oh, and I don't think I will bother trying to put in straight lines, because I think I should. "Stick to the roundness," I say.
The photo above instantly recognisable to most of us, I am sure. Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plains. Sacred circles, most religions have them, mandalas, Chinese I Ching, medicine wheels, the circle of life, bagua, pagan circles, and lots more.

Why does the snowflake melt?
To enliven spring flowers.
Why does summer sun blaze?
To ripen the garden.
Why does the leaf fall?
To bring forth beautiful snow…
Why do the seasons dance so?
To embrace us in the sacred circle.
- Sacred Circle, "Mystical Poetry," Deborah Morrison

How to meet a challenge

2007-09-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

Belonging to the new online fibre & stitch group has been a huge motivation and inspiration. Or it will be if I can ever get away from the computer and looking at all the fantastic blogs. Blogging has become very cool, everyone is doing it. But I have done the lutrador and lace challenge. This is gold RainbowSpun, I bonded vliesofix to it and then fussy cut the lace and ironed it to the surface of the RainbowSpun, I rubbed a little bit of gold shiva stik on to lace. And that was it, done. I have made another one using solvy, lace and RainbowSpun. Not quite finished yet.
If anyone has any ideas on how to use this sample please feel free to let me know. I have added RainbowSpun to my Etsy shop, if anyone is having trouble locating any and would like to have some. See my links, for the Etsy address

Silk Fusion per Sue from Fibre & Stitch

2007-09-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Had a great day yesterday, my idea of heaven is not to leave the house, and spend the day crafting. Doing well with that goal, had a few of those days. Love it.
Spent yesterday following the free project instructions from Fibre & Stitch on how to make silk fusion. I changed the process slightly, as I am a felter, and I used a silk cap, which I have had for ages and have wondered what to do with it. Fantastic colours, difficult to separate the fibre and lay out finely. Check out the photo, let me know what you think.

Feltique shop

2007-09-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

I have created an online shop, called Feltique. Above is a photo of by budding shop assistant, dear daughter, and the woman who taught me everything I know, dear Mum. We had a trading table at the Coffs Harbour Doll and Bear show. It was fantastic fun.
See the list of items for sale on the left. For retail prices check my Etsy shop. At the moment it is still a work in progress, we all know about those don't we.
I would also like to add my congratulations to the girls at Fibre & Stitch, what a fabulous e-zine. Who would have thought that technology would go so far. Now we can talk worldwide about our crazy crafty world and thoroughly enjoy the mag and the challenges.

So Many Ideas, So Little Time

2007-08-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

I hope the creative creatures amongst us keep a notebook handy at all times to note down the lightning flashes of creative brilliance that occur, at the most inopportune moments. I find at night I will wake up with the best ideas, (according to myself, of course) by morning they have gone. I now try and remember to keep an ideas book handy.
I thought today I will try and make myself an interesting one. Like one of those altered art books, in the hope it will help me to remember and to enjoy writing in it.
Yesterday ran my first felting workshop, we made felted, seamless bags, it went very well. I think it helped the first students were friends and acquaintances. We had a great day and they loved the bags they went home with. The photo is of one of the students, Margaret. One thing I did wrong was miscalculate the time it would take for the class. I must have been insane thinking it would only take 3 hours, DOH! try 5-6 hours.
Off to get everyone out of the house so I can make this little ideas journal.

Prehistoric times

2007-08-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Possibly felting was discovered in prehistoric times, when man sat with his sweaty feet on a piece of fur in his dark, damp cave. Over time the fur became felt.
I am sure there are other stories to explain the discovery of felt.
There are also different types of felt.
Commercial felt, which is type we buy in shops. It is made by large machines that have thousands of barbed needles in them. The fibre is fed into these machines and meshed together by the needles and at the end commercial felt comes out.
Some clever person has realised that if you take some of those barbed needles you can use them individually. Needlefelting is a fabulous technique for meshing wool together using one or a few felting needles. This technique is great for making three dimensional sculptures, and for placing fibre exactly as you want it before wet felting.
I love needlefelting. I like to take my children's little figurines and recreate them in felt. I have made, Nemo, SpongeBob, a koala and a panda. Oh, and mermaids. Love mermaids.
Corriedale is the best wool for needlefelting. It is slightly coarser than merino and meshes together faster. You must watch, carefully, what you are doing as it can be quite unpleasant to stab yourself with those barbed needles.
If anyone wants to try needlefelting, I have all the supplies, please check my Etsy shop,

Another Tale of Felt

2007-08-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

Another story is about a pilgrim, traipsing along a hard, dusty road on his pilgrimage. His feet are sore and tired. He sees bits of wool from the sheep being shepherded near the road. "Cool," says he, and picks some up to put in his sandals. His feet instantly feel better (of course), and when he arrives at his destination, he has felt.
I tried this, I put bits of wool in the bottom of my kids shoes before they went to school. They weren't hugely impressed. But when they came home they had small, foot shaped pieces of flat felt. It was a bit smelly. But I put it in the washing machine, and now I have a couple of labour free, prefelts.

Felt History, what a story

2007-08-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

We have all seen felt, or think we have. The commercial felt that can be bought in the shops, nice,flat, all even thickness and in any color you like. Not very exciting, but useful for lots of different projects. Well, that is the end of that felting discussion. Lets get on with discussing real felting.
There are a few stories I have researched that discuss how felt was initially invented (discovered). The first I found was about Noah and the Ark.When Noah put all those animals in the hold of the Ark, bits of their wool, fleece, hair etc, shed. Of course, there was no cleaning out the pens at the time. So the animals just kept stomping on and weeing on the fibres, it also would have been pretty warm down there. When the Ark finally came to rest, and the animals disembarked, there was a large layer of smelly felt in the bottom of their pens.