HomeWork

Enough people commented on the shame of hiding the colorful parts of the pincushion on the bottom, that I worked to alter the design.

I started with a small snake of felt, needled it a little to hold the edges together, then added successive layers, needling a little as I went along. With each layer, I varied the colors along the length, which accounts for the variations between each pincushion. When it was large enough to draw snide remarks from my sidekick on the sofa, I put it aside.

The next day I wetfelted it as best I could, an unwieldy process considering the size of the roll. Next came rinsing and then slicing. Finally, each piece was finished off with ten minutes of needling to trap the fibers and firm up each individual piece.

These are now listed in my etsy shop, either with or without felting needles.

These pincushions were a suggestion from Diane at Venue in Ballard. She bought something similar at Bumbershoot several years ago, but doesn’t know who made them or where to get more. My apologies to that artist, whoever you are. Please identify yourself if you read this post.

I started the first pincushion with the red center at swimming lessons on Saturday; first I needlefelted a solid ball, and then needlefelted subsequent layers until I ran out of colors. This ball was fairly solid when I was done, which accounts for the smooth outlines of each color layer.

The second and third balls were made by rolling roving into rough a ball shape, needlefelting just a little to hold the roving in place and then adding additional layers. The navel orange was melon-sized by the time I stopped adding roving.

All three balls were wetfelted to varying degress. Some friends suggested I finish them in the washing machine, but that really didn’t squeeze them hard enough. So after going around with a load of towels, I wetfelted them by hand. The red pincushion needed very little work, and is still the most dense of the three pincushions. The green and orange pincushions required a lot of felting because they had to compress so much to create a solid felted core, which resulted in the swirls.

For the sake of scale, the smaller two pincushions measure 2″ in diameter, about the size of a clementine orange. The largest pincushion is about the size of a navel orange. This would be a great kid project, especially if you had a Clover needlefelting tool to keep inattentive fingers safe.

These are now available in my etsy shop.

A student recently asked if I had ever made a felt journal cover. Though I’ve seen several versions in various felt books, I’d never tried one. When I picked up Warm Fuzzies last week and saw the journal project, I knew the time had come to make one for myself.

This illustration by Jane Dyer in Sophie’s Masterpiece was the inspiration for the design needlefelted on the cover. After the design was finished, I threw the flat felt into the wash with some sweaters I was fulling.

The journal is lined with a piece of woven wool fabric upcycled from a shirt picked up at a clothing swap. The journal slides into two large buttonholes on either side of the spine.

The next time I make this cover, I’ll modify the lining as it bunches a little when the cover is closed. I love the way this seller on etsy finished the inside and created the cover pocket. Unfortunately, I didn’t do any market research before beginning my project, so this first iteration is truly my own as I’m not really sure how Betz finished hers (my library copy of Warm Fuzzies has been returned, and my purchased copy has not arrived in the mail).

The journal cover is listed in my etsy shop with a blank spiral-bound journal I bought at an art store. However, I have big plans to make my own journals using recycled hardcover children’s books and signatures sewn by hand. We’ll see. There are other projects with priority in the crafty queue, but it is on my mental list and all the materials have been purchased. Perhaps by putting it on record in my blog, I’ll be motivated to make them sooner than later.

Incidentally, Sophie’s Masterpiece has been one of my favorite books since my daughter Sophie received it as a birthday present in her first year (thank you Aunt Michelle!). I still have a hard time reading the whole thing without crying. The character Sophie was the inspiration behind my business name and the spider I asked Geninne to draw for my mascot. There was something about the spunky spider wearing mismatched tights that captured my imagination.

My new favorite book: Warm Fuzzies by Betz White. I loved my library copy so much, I bought my own from her etsy shop.

This ranks at the top of my list for felting books, and maybe at the top for all craft books. Great ideas. Clear instructions. After reading it cover to cover, I immediately raced downstairs to start sewing.

Luckily, I have a decent stash of recycled felt, so I could get started right away. However, if you find yourself without any source of holey sweaters, or the local thrift store has been pillaged by faster crafters, try LassotheMoon’s etsy shop where she has listings for wool sweater scraps. Betz White also offers similar scrap bags, but her recent popularity means they are snapped up pretty quickly.

This fish was inspired by her bird ornament pattern. While I created my own shape, I followed her directions for creating the fins, which have a piece of fusible interfacing ironed between the two layers of felt to act as a stiffener.  Fashioning the eyes took a couple of tries, and some searching in google images for inspiration; in the end, I needlefelted on a piece of blue felt and then sewed the eye patch to the body.

In addition to teaching classes at Venue in Ballard, I’ll also be teaching at Space to Create for the next few months. As always, class registration is by phone with the studio.

Picture That in Felt!
Wednesday, April 16, 7:00-9:00 pm
Space to Create, 1414 NW 70th St, Seattle WA 98117 ~ 206.784.0401
Cost: $30 plus $10 materials fee
Class size is limited to 10 students.

Learn how to create pictures, write words and add surface embellishment to wool felt using a combination of wetfelting and needle felting techniques. All materials will be provided, including 3 oz of merino wool, bits of silk and plant fibers. Students should bring a sketch, painting, collage or photo they would like to recreate in felt.

Felting 101 - Beads, Ropes and Flat Felt
Monday, April 21st, 11:00 am 1:00 pm
Venue - Ballard, 5408 22nd Ave NW, Seattle WA 98107 ~ 206.789.3335
Cost: $30 plus $10 materials fee
Class size is limited to 10 students.

A hands-on introduction to basic wetfelting techniques. Topics covered include creating felt beads, ropes and flat felt. Each of these building blocks will be used in subsequent classes to create more complex constructions. Students will complete two projects during the class time such as a three-tier flower brooch, a felt box or a neck cozy. Materials provided include 3 oz. of merino wool roving, bubble wrap, and a square nylon fabric screen.

Felt Resists: Purses, Slippers and Bags
Tuesday, April 22, 7:00-9:00 pm
Space to Create, 1414 NW 70th St, Seattle WA 98117 ~ 206.784.0401
Cost: $30 plus $10 materials fee
Class size is limited to 10 students.

Resists are used to create an air pocket in certain wet felted items such as vessels, purses, slippers and pouches. This is an intermediate technique that requires some understanding of how felt is created. All materials will be provided, including 3 oz of merino wool, bits of silk and plant fibers. Students will complete one project during class time, and have enough materials to create a second project at a later date.

Since I started writing this blog nine months ago, I’ve tried to make it more about what I do and less about me. However, life has become so busy in the last month that the two have overlapped to the degree that I can’t make a distinction. I’m doing something I love as a business now, and not because I have a little spare time.

Last month, I opened my etsy shop, signed up for my first craft show and launched a series of felting workshops. I didn’t anticipate that all three ideas would be successful so soon, nor was I prepared for how it was going to turn my house upside down.

While I’m thrilled to be doing so much felting, sewing and teaching, several things have had to take a back seat. First to go was blogging, second was reading other blogs, third was the laundry, fourth was cooking for my family. I’m still documenting all the art that is happening around here, but I haven’t been able to carve out the time to sit and write.

This morning, my friends Linda and Rima came to learn about needle felting. I made a seahorse, which turned into a checkbook cover after everyone left; Rima did a beautiful illustration of three ladyslippers, and Linda experimented with texture by twisting the roving into spirals before applying it to her felt. Now that I sit down to write, I realize I forgot to take pictures of their projects which were both worth sharing.

Tonight I’m teaching a class to eight women at our community center. I’m full of excitement and nerves, partly because I know the more excited I become, the less coherent my instructions are. Speak slowly. Calm down. Take it one step at a time. There is so much I want to show and share; I hope I can convey some actual instruction instead of running around like a headless chicken.

In case you are wondering, the craft show was a dud; the booth cost more than I made in sales. I sold four items, and two were to people who knew me and came to the show just for me (thanks Carrie!). My aunt bought my checkbook cover right out of my hand, hence the new seashorse. The silver lining was that it forced me to finish a bunch of items which had been languishing around my house. A friend gave me super advice for improving my products, help me set up my booth, kept me company throughout the rainy afternoon, chatted up passersby who might have been tempted to just pass by, and boosted my flagging spirits; she is the BASF for crafters. Now I have a shop with new items, and many more to photograph and post (if you are interested in a felt bead necklace, I have three hanging from the curtain rod in my office waiting for pictures).

As part of my new fiber arts business, SpiderFelt, I’m going to offer a series of five how-to workshops in my home on Wednesday mornings from 10-12pm, starting October 3rd.

Topics include: Felting Basics, Felt Packages (sweater soaps and treasure boxes), Needle Felting (embellishments and 3D finger puppets), Art Felt, Felt Resists and Nuno Felting.

If you would like more details, or know someone in the Seattle area who might be interested, please leave a comment with your email address and I will forward a pdf with the workshop details.

Edit: I’ve received responses from two people interested in an evening class. There is a classroom available for rent in the evenings near my home that would work; if we had six people in a workshop, the workshop would be an extra $4/person. Let me know if this interests you.

What is sweeter than a favorite cake baked just for you on your birthday?

The answer is a custom needle felting tool made by your children and husband. I call the big one the über-tool. This baby wields ten dangerous needles. The inattentive artist will quickly draw blood. Trust me on this. I would recommend raptor handling gloves, or a really large pad.

The mini über-tool has four needles. Unfortunately, the knob obscures Sophie’s artistry. I can just picture her brow furrowed in concentration, trying to make sure the edges of the stars and fish stayed neat. Lance stood on the sidelines directing, while Owen operated the drill press.

If you are interested in making your own, they bought the pieces at a national mega-craft mart chain store (I hope it wasn’t the one where my son relieved himself in the outdoor stairwell because they refused to let him use the employee restroom).

If you’ve never seen needle felting in action, watch this step by step flickr collection: fiber to finger puppet. I can’t wait to try this with some of my single needles. The biggest problem with the über-tool is that I have to wait my turn to use it; my children love to needle as much as I do. We’ll have to make them their own set.

While I love my handknit socks, I really don’t want to spend a lot of time reknitting a heel, nor can I bring myself to embrace Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s method of darning: standing over the garbage can shouting “Darn, darn, darn” while dropping them into the wastbasket.

Exhibit A: a pair of socks knit with Koigu 100% merino yarn in 2004, worn once a week for three years straight. I’m surprised they held up as long as they did. I took them out of rotation before the heel blew away completely, intending to darn them, but they sat in my project basket for six months, untouched.

The good folks at Arbutus Farm on Lopez Island displayed this brilliant solution to fixing thinning heels. Needlefelt them!

Stuff your felting pad, foam or brush inside the sock. Then place a little roving over the thin spot and start poking.

Turn them inside out to poke the roving back through, and then turn them over one more time. There will be fuzzy bits left on the inside of the sock, and this section will feel a little stiffer than the rest of your sock, but to my mind this is a better solution than throwing them away, or reknitting a new heel.

Voila! A perfectly wearable, if inelegant, handknit sock repaired.

My favorite flower is Centaurea Montana, common name Mountain Bluet. When I first started gardening, we had a raised bed filled with it in our back yard.

Unfortunately, this sweet flower is prone to farmer ants tending flocks of aphids. Very ugly.

There is something about the delicate petals and the color combination that enchants me.

Creating a 2D representation was a little harder than I imagined. Getting the depth of color was really hard, and I couldn’t get the perspective right.

Several more layers of color brought me to this version, which still isn’t right.

A nursery catalogue arrived in the mail this week featuring my subject on the cover. I decided to try a different version of the flower.

This looks more like Eeyore’s thistle than my beloved centaurea montana, but it is time to move on to another project.