Charcoal Boxes

I went on a wild tear today, following the rabbit down the hole of inspiration, feeling the joy of creativity for the first time since…how many days ago did I make the feltilocks? Two weeks ago. The dry spells are hard on me, but probably worse for those that have to live with me. It is amazing how fluid I feel on days like this. There is an endorphine rush that comes from imagining something, making it and then seeing it just the way you imagined it.

The idea started with three large pieces of heathered charcoal felt, I set aside yesterday. After working all day to create the felt, I  decided to back out of  a custom order for some extremely large felt boxes. Working on these three pieces of grey felt wore me down, physically and emotionally. I love the wool from Harrisville Designs for the beautiful texture and interesting color blends, but there is no doubt that it is a tough wool to felt. By the time I finished the third piece, my elbows and forearms ached. The order was for three boxes, requiring fifteen identical squares. In this busy season, I didn’t have the mental fortitude or the hours to commit.

The dried pieces of felt jumped at me this morning as soon as I came downstairs. I can’t even trace the source of the inspiration, probably seeing the bowl of felt leaves as I sewed the pinbacks on a batch of completed felt flower brooches.

After finishing the first two, I wasn’t sure where to go next. Rather than making a rash decision, I walked away from the sewing machine to document the finished pieces. Suddenly, it occured to me, as I was stuffing the rectangles just what I wanted to do. Bright circles were the perfect counterpoint to the more subdued colors I chose for the rectangles.

Sometimes when the weather is grey and the days blend into each other, you just have to grab the tail of inspiration and follow it, even if it means setting aside the schedule. There will be plenty of time for jumping back on the wagon tomorrow.

Feltilocks

I spent hours and hours yesterday working on an idea that had been buzzing around in my head for several months. When it started to appear in my dreams, I knew it was time to start working it out in the studio.

I first saw feltmaker Tash Wesp wearing a bracelet she made of felt dreads at a workshop we took together in May. While I didn’t want to knock off her idea, I couldn’t stop thinking about how to make my own version.

My felt workshops always generate lots of scrap bits of roving, and often when I create a work, there is just a tail end of a handpainted colorway too precious to throw away. The pile of ends was spilling out of its plastic bag, so it was time to put them to use.

When they are spread flat, the locks remind me of strange seastars washed up on the beach.

The best part was pulling the colors together to make different combinations. I spent two hours working on the color pairing for fourteen pieces. These are now available in my etsy shop and will also be for sale at the upcoming holiday fairs (watch here for a save the date announcement coming soon).

My daughter wore one in a ponytail to school this morning; the best I could do was pull together two tiny ponytails on top of my head. Walking down the sidewalk this morning, I couldn’t help skipping.

Felt Pebble Soaps

Back in stock at long last, the limited edition felt pebble soaps that were so popular at last year’s Phinney Winter Festival are in my shop again.

Made with pure olive oil soap, these unscented bars weigh just over 2oz each. Each bar is  unique, varying slightly in color and shape, just like your favorite beach rocks.

Flowers in Focus

Two experiments have given me great delight in the last two days (I sound like Jacob Two-Two). Working with a four ounce hank of handpainted merino roving from KnittyAndColor, I made six felt flowers, varying the petal shape and layers with each one.

Generally, I’m much too scattered to work an entire collection from one hank of roving. As I pull out the boxes and look at my choices, my mind is filled with the possibilities. This time I needed to create a portfolio for a group of artists meeting to discuss an upcoming holiday show, so I forced myself to work within the limitation of a single colorway.

It was astonishing to see how each flower developed on its own. As the roving played across my hands, I decided in that moment if the flower would have one, two, three or four layers of petals; which color would be in the center and how the colors would work together.

The second experiment began with a short exchange between Maya of Springtree Road regarding her beautiful product photography. As soon as I started to follow her on Twitter, her work stuck out head and shoulders above the fray for its striking shots. While the yarn is gorgeous, it is really her camera that makes the work sing.

When I brought the purple flowers to the meeting last night, they were greeted with a universal exclamation: “These are so much more beautiful than on your website”. Ugh. Okay, let’s try a little harder.

While picking up my camera from the repair shop today and returning their loaner, I decided to rent a lens for the weekend to see if it was worth the pricetag. Normally, I have a hard time plunking down hard-earned money. I listen to an iPod shuffle, drive a ’91 Volvo and my wardrobe is all thrifted. Can a photo add enough value to a product to justify the expense?

I don’t know the answer, but this lens makes me happy. Crazy happy. I was in love after the first shot. Oh, so this is what I’ve been missing, I thought to myself as I snapped, adjusted, reviewed, snapped some more etc… Come Monday, I think I’ll buy myself another birthday present.

A Third Year in Photos

The applications for the Phinney Winter Festival were due today. Once again, I spent several hours combing through my photos, trying to decide how to best represent my work for the juried application.

The Winter Festival was a great event last year. With one year behind me, I will concentrate my production on kits, soaps, felt flowers and pebbles as most people are looking for a small gift for a friend, teacher or co-worker.

Comparing last year’s mosaic to this year’s compilation, I was amazed to see just how many new items I had to contribute to the application. With the exception of the felt soap, every other picture was new to this spread. September will be SpiderFelt’s the third anniversary. Feels like some celebrations are in order. I think I’ll buy myself something handmade on Etsy.

Composed Mondrian Felt Boxes

A friend presented me with an interesting design challenge. She wanted some sturdy felt boxes for storing her daughter’s toys. While she had seen something workable in a container store, she preferred to spend her money on a live person, so I got the job.

The boxes I’d made previously were sewn from a single piece of flat felt, with finished dimensions around 6″ square; the new boxes were meant to fit into cubby holes 13″ square. Taking into account shrinkage rates, I didn’t have a work space large enough to create a single piece of felt that large.

The design that worked in terms of structure and size was sewing many smaller pieces of felt together with reinforced side seams. The box in the top left is sitting with the seams on the inside; I preferred them inside out as the corners were more defined.

Visiting my friend a few months later, I was delighted to see the boxes in action, filled with blocks, puppets and balls.

Learning Curves & Ruffled Scarves

My camera was out for repairs, so I haven’t been able to document the latest batch of scarves as they dried. This gave me some distance from each piece and allowed me to look at the series as an evolving process. Figuring out how to make the multi-petaled ruffled flowers was fun, so I decided to see if I could apply some of the same ideas to scarves.

I started with a pure felt scarf made with merino roving. It is hard to detect in these bright photos, but the roving is composed of several shades of white, grey, brown and navy with a definite orientation. The base of the scarf is laid out vertically, while the ruffles are laid out horizontally. I love the effect, though this piece is quite heavy since I wanted to make sure there were no gaps in the felt.

Wanting something more fluid, I worked with a piece of irridescent silk next, bunching it up in the middle to create a center ruffle. There wasn’t nearly enough extra fabric to create a real ruffle, but it was still a neat effect.

By the third piece, I knew I had to use a lot more silk and really bunch it up to get full ruffle effect. Unfortunately, it didn’t adhere in all of the right places so some of it is a bit pouchier than the rest. But this was an experiment, so I was both thrilled and excited with the results.

The fourth variation was an attempt to use some pieces of recycled silk hacked out of a friend’s dress; the pieces were asymetrical and not uniform in length. I wanted to create horizontal pleats, which worked in part of the scarf. Some of it is great, but as a whole piece it doesn’t work.

I don’t know how many people blog about their failures, but it seems important for me in this case. These four scarves were a real challenge because I have a hard time accepting process and the idea that we need to work through an idea to get versions we like. Time seems to be in such short supply that I don’t allow myself the freedom to experiment with something that might not work out. I did all sorts of things other than getting started because I was afraid. Now I’m excited to try them all over again, to make them better and continue with variations that occurred to me as I was working.

Ruffled Again

Still can’t get off the ruffled flower kick. I brought a bunch of them to a bbq with the plan to sew the pinbacks on so I could sent out a consignment. A woman following her curious toddler asked me if I had ever sewn the flowers to barrettes. Her sister was a dancer she said, with very thick hair, and she was always looking for bold flowers to pull back her hair.

I told her confidently that yes, I did have barrettes on my flowers; and then as soon as the kids were in bed, I ordered some large and extra-large barrettes on Etsy.

This one I gave as a birthday present to a dear friend whose youngest daughter was celebrating her fifth. I’ve always thought that mothers deserve more acknowledgment at a child’s birthday party since we did all the hard work so many years ago. Shouldn’t a birthday be recognized as a birth-day?

An alligator clip was plenty for this felt lily with its pointed base. More flowers with barrettes and even elastics are on their way into my shop. My camera has been out for repair, but a little bird told me it is ready for pick up. Now all I need to do is find that dancer with luscious hair to model for me.

Ruffled Felt Flowers

For the past few days, I’ve been refining a couple of flower variations, whittling down my process with each attempt.

The first two were mock-ups as I hashed out my working ideas in felt. The stamens were added after the fact and the center layer of the pink flower was sewn in place with a needle and thread. Still, they worked well enough that I knew where to take the next versions. I sewed pin backs on them, satisfied with them as they were.

The next flower was felted with three layers of merino roving and handpainted silk cap; the stamens were placed in the center early in the process so they felted in position.

Then I tried a five layer version using merino roving and tussah silk. This took considerably more time, but mostly because I didn’t lay down enough roving with the first layers.

Each flower ended up a little different as I experimented with varying the amounts of roving for each layer, the amount of silk on the top layer and the formation of the stamens. The possibilities at this point seem almost endless. With every new batch of handpainted roving, there will be another flower shape.

This set thrills me to no end, mostly because I worked them through from the germ of an idea, tried it out, refined the process and continued to work on it until I had something that was just what I wanted. Perseverance isn’t exactly my middle name, so this feels like a particular triumph.

This set is destined for the Columbia City Gallery, but they have been so fun to make there will be another crop in my shop shortly.

Drop Spindle Cases Finished

Phew! I can’t believe six weeks have gone by since I first started working on this consignment. At long last, with plenty of interruptions, working in fits and starts, I’ve finished ten cases.

Much to my surprise, I learned that I enjoy working in production on the right product. There was enormous satisfaction in laying out yet another square of roving shingles, working the piece of felt until it was firm and then adding to the stack of finished pieces. Then trimming and sewing each of the bags consecutively gave me even deeper satisfaction as each one walked through my machine with little difficulty.

While I had hoped to make a set of fifteen bags to send to Maia at Tactile Fibers, the reality is that each piece took over two hours to make. I just don’t think there will be much market for a drop-spindle bag with that sort of handmade pricetag. Since I wanted a very durable felt, I chose blue faced leicester roving, a fairly slow felting fiber compared to merino. I worked each piece of flat felt hard on my glass washboard until they were really stiff. These two factors resulted in a piece of felt that took much longer to finish than I initially projected. Still, I’m really happy with the finished project and glad to send them on their way.