Feather-weight Wool.

Felted aqua-blue feather wrap.

Wow, I haven't posted since March last year! That's no good, and I've sure been busy, so I have plenty to tell you. Probably too much for this time so I'll give it to you in small bites.

First up is the gorgeous wrap I finished this week, I am very happy with it indeed.
It is made with 2 layers of fine merino wool and layers of delicate silk tissue fabric, with embroidered feathers.

Finishing the felting process.

Nuno-felting details with silk tissue.

It took 2 trestle tables to lay out the wool, and a day to finish laying it. It was felted really well, and I adore the nuno wrinkled effect of the fabric fused into the wool. But I left an edge loose to provide movement with the slightest breath of air.

Hollow bubbles

I also felted air-bubbles into one of the ends of the wrap, again to play with the idea of lightness. It is a technique I have been practising since I went to the Wellington Area Felting retreat in February, where I tried it for the first time. It was wonderful to be able to go there again, now that my right shoulder is so much better. Still a few niggles at times, so I have to remain careful.

Draped in a different way off the shoulder.

You can wear the Wrap or Stole in many different ways, depending on how you drape and fold it.

It will be going up for sale in my "felt-shop" on the web.

This last year has seen me very frustrated with my inability to felt due to the injury, but out of that have come other projects. I was commissioned to produce 4 Hobbit Cloaks for the Wellington Rover tour company my brother works for, and it was a bit of a mission (, quest, thing....) to find the right fabric. It had to fall right, and show the weave. But I think I succeeded. 

Here are my hobbits to show them off. The cloaks were accepted, and tourists will wear them with a special elvish leaf brooch when they have photo shoots at the film locations.

Awesome!

3 of the 4 Hobbit cloaks completed.

In the last 1 and a half year I have also changed jobs, and am now working in a smaller rural school, still with special needs kids, but better hours, less travel time, interesting work and higher pay! Woohoo...! It took some courage though to change, but the more I looked at what, and how many my skills were the better I felt about looking around. And I was snapped up by another school within a day of handing around my C.V.s.

I am very happy there, great supportive team.

And there have also been some super exciting travels with my hubbie! We only just came back 2 weeks ago.

But that's for another time... Nice to be here again.

A Bali turtle dove taking care of the street offerings.

SaveSave

Hearts, Unicorns and Fairywings, but not as you know them.

3D felting technique, no stitching.

Small feltings were made by me last autumn. I wanted to perfect this particular multiple resists technique, which in the last stages involves cutting carefully through the individually separated layers, to reveal the shiny surprise waiting deep within the work.

I liked the spiral attached to the point of the heart, it has a rather tentacle feeling about it. It was all felted in one go, no stitching at all, except for the brooch clasp at the back.

Hand felted layered heart brooch.

The whole thing shrunk by about a third of its' original lay-out size. The shiny surprise is a piece of Indian sari embroidered with metal threads. It felted right in, with the embroidery popping up out of the wool. (merino)

Do you like my background by the way , of swirly hand marbled paper?

Shaggy felted shoulder bag.

In Spring I needed a new shoulder bag, large enough for all my stuff, and with a long enough strap, so it would fit across my body. That way I can walk hands free down the hill to town, and have nothing hanging off that sore shoulder. I made the body out of Merino wool, and the wild looking curls are Leicester wool, which is a long-wool sheep, strong wool. Those sheep are not very common in New Zealand.
It felts in nicely, especially when you secure the ends with an extra thin layer of merino over the top. The long curls remain separate, which is the effect I was after.

Channeling my inner unicorn...

 I made the strap separately, and sewed it on with plenty of reinforcing stitching. The closure is a wool spike that fits through the loop. 

The spike together with the shaggy manes made my bag look like it was made from a unicorn skin. Someone suggested I should add a blue glass eye looking through the curls. But I thought it was a bit too creepy...

Felted bag has inner pocket and divider, all felted in one go. 

The inside of the bag has a pocket and a divider panel added with a resist method.

The bag is soft, light and tactile to wear, my hand is forever touching the manes, as if to pet my unicorn. It is also easy to wash on the wool wash cycle in my washing machine.

This was the last biggish piece I have made, since my shoulder definitely did not like that felting day at all.(Yes it only took 1 day to make this!)

 Early January after my caring masseur lady had already stopped touching my arm for weeks, and told me to see my doctor, I had an ultrasound , and I found out that there was a small tear in the ligament of my a.c.shoulder joint. No wonder there were shooting pains in to my arm. 

Verdict: rest, no lifting, pulling, carrying. 

And that included felting. And vacuuming too.

How that may have happened I don't know exactly, but I suspect strongly that the last 2 years of lifting a child in and out of a wheelchair, and pushing the darn thing at school camp for 3 days over and up and down rough terrain would be the likely culprit. 

Sometimes you just put up with discomfort, until it gets too much, I guess.

The last 2 months have been frustratingly slow on the Art and Craft front. I noticed I could not even keep a book up for too long, but have had to rest the book on a cushion on my lap. Slowly it is starting to get better, and I can sleep for short times on my right side again too.

Found some things I could do though. 

I can't just do nothing!

Do you like to keep your hands busy all the time too?

Moss green moth. A tiny jewelled fairy in emerald wings.

Exhibition Success!

Hastings Community Art Centre.

I belong to a local Fibre-arts Club, which in turn belongs to a group of clubs under the Hawkes' Bay Fibrecraft umbrella, which are all affiliated to the national body under the Creative Fibre umbrella. This way all fibre artisans; spinners, weavers, felters, machine-knitters and even basket weavers and others in our country are all connected with each other. Which keeps quality and information up to date. It is a good system, I believe. Our H.B. umbrella group holds a bi-annual sale and exhibition for all the local clubs in our province. So if you belong to a club you can put items in, unless of course they are shoddily made. The ladies will tell you so...

Nuno-felted wrap.

 I put in lots of hand-spun yarns for sale, and sold some too. I also put in a few items into the exhibition. And my red reversible wrap sold as well! Total bonus!

My Favourite; the Hobbit House!

Reversible silk and merino nuno-felted  wrap.

But the best thing about entering items into the exhibition part was getting the comments from the judges. These are people that know what they are looking at and usually experienced fibre artisans themselves. To get good comments from them is very supporting of your own skills.
Success!

School colours blankie.

At the beginning of the winter now passed,( judging by our glorious blue skies, and the daffodils and freesias all finished blooming) I made a felt lap-blanket for one of my special needs children at school. In playtime when it wasn't raining, she goes outside of course, but the icy southerly winds make her very cold just sitting in a wheelchair. The other kids run around like lunatics, getting hot cheeks, but her legs and fingers feel like ice cubes. Most of the time here in Hawkes' Bay children don't wear coats, and even when the snow lies on the ranges in the distance, and there was a frost in the morning, the day will have lovely sunshine and children just kick their shoes off and run around bare feet. Most boys wear shorts all year round.

Personally I wear layers of soft merino in the cold seasons, I swear by it. I hate being cold.

So I made a blankie for her to go out in to the playground with. Something she can pop her hands under. In the school colours of course, that way she won't stand out too much.

She likes it, thank goodness...

A Pondering Post of Success.

Winter Blossoms.

 I have been pondering lately. On and off like, not every day. 

But I am on school holiday at the moment with a lovely heavy bout of bronchitis, with a by-product of laryngitis, and unable to speak to anyone except thinking to myself, and I was therefore pondering the meaning of success. 

 What does success mean to me? And ought I not get some more of it?

Ruffled felt.

I know when I was growing up, in my family it meant earning lots of money, and getting a job that would allow you to do so, and probably also owning a big flash house in the end. Success seemed to be something very measurable in financial figures.
And of course it would entail a great deal of comparing your financial figures to other peoples' little numbers, and feelings of envy, because there are always people with bigger wealth, bigger houses etc.
For some people this works, and it makes them happy. It might even spur them on to get bigger figures.
So I married an apprentice gardener, because I loved him. And I became a stay at home mum, because we really wanted to have children and be a family.
The financial figures stayed very small, and I became extremely successful at budgeting, op-shopping, sewing children's clothes and preserving produce. It kept me very busy, and I never had time for envy. I took pride in the challenges.
My husband was home for family dinners around the table every night, and was never called away on the weekends. Our children learned the value of a dollar and knew when a treat was a treat and were thankful for presents. Our family was a success!

White merino and green silk scarf for a bride.

For a while there I pondered that maybe I should become very well known for what I do, maybe even famous. But seriously, fame isn't all that it is cracked up to be. It is basically having to live up to other peoples' expectations and getting pulled into directions you had not thought you wanted to go in. And then you have to please the audience, or you'll lose the fame. While you are famous, others will experience envy of you. Somehow that is not success in my book either.

Reds and Pinks, merino and silk scarf.

I experience success these days in my morning life as a teacher-aide (or our new name: learning assistants ), when the special-needs child answers a maths question correctly, without counting on his fingers, or when the meek child suddenly speaks up and asks for help. Or when I get a Thank-you-card from the parents who suddenly realise that they have never done so, after I've been working with their wheel-chair bound child for more then 2 years.
Small successes, but a success nevertheless. However immeasurable, as there are no figures possible.

River blues for a blond girl.

I experience success these days in my other life as a textile artist, when I dream up a new idea, scribble it down, perhaps sketch the picture in my head as well. Then I let my hands make it and it turns out just like the picture, sometimes even better! Awesome Success!

My idea of a successful day is one where I have been able to make something, or do just a stage of it, or figured out a new idea and how to get there. Maybe just a little crochet, a bit of stitching, a layer of paper and paint, or worked on a new technique.

 If I have been able in a day to go into that Magical, all Enveloping, (and for me) Mystical and Spiritual state of mind, known as Creative Flow;  then that was a Good day.
That is what success means to me.
And hopefully I'll get the chance again the next day. I'll strive for it over and over.

Forest shades in merino and bronze silk.

So I am pondering that I will simply keep going this way with success and what it means to me.
And see where it will take me.
Because it makes me so darn happy...without measure!
What is your meaning of success?

Christmas Children and Wise Men.

Needle-felted Wizard by Elmtree.

Just before Christmas I finished and delivered my last orders. Amongst them my very first handpuppet, that you have seen before, but now with hands. He went to a good home, and will be used by a drama teacher for story telling. Awesome!

The Wily Wizard of the Woods.

A new Trike for Christmas.

The child I look after at school, who has special needs, had a wonderful last assembly. She was presented with a new trike; the money was partly raised by school with a sausage sizzle, and the rest came from the Halberg Sports Trust . Absolutely Fantastic Day!

I found this little Xmas childrens story made by the Auckland St.Pauls church. Very cleverly done.

Summer Christmas dinner with lobster!

Christmas day for our family was a nice low-key affair, our youngest divided her time between her house, with boyfriend and son and all her "-in-laws" and us and her work residents. Our eldest came up from Wellington and it was so nice to see her. We spent the afternoon at my brothers' household, and were truly spoilt with a sumptious summer feast.

Cooking scallops to perfection.

These men knew just what to do in the kitchen and everything was delicious.
I like a man in a floral shirt!
Christmas hats are compulsory in this house hold, and we all miraculously pulled one out of our crackers that went with our outfits!

The first spoon breaking into the 6-layered jelly.

And of course the desert table was a triumph, as only my sister-in-law can do. It was served after a nice walk and some strenuous games of badminton. The weather was mild and the forecasted rain stayed away after all.

We got that rain today in stead. Never mind!Hope you had a relaxed Christmas yourselves!

Needle-felted Lady, and a lunch at a lake.

Deer-Princess eye.

Recently a new puppet was started. I wanted it to be a Princess character. I also wanted her to have a long shaped face with a tiny chin. But she had to be kind. Not cold.

After I found a book on good and bad fairies by Brian Froud, I got lots of visual ideas for face shapes.

 Her mouth became quite small, but with a hint of large front teeth. The space between mouth and nose puffed out like a grazing animal.

Not quite human.

Her eyes turned out just as I wanted: large, expressive and alert.

Then I knew who she was, my Princess was a deer princess! A kind doe. She only speaks quietly and thoughtfully.

Some Brian Froud inspiration.

I'll show more of her, when she is properly finished. She needs some ears now you see. And hair.

Lake Rotorua.

A little road-trip was called for when we bought a new coffee table. Which was in Rotorua.

Lunch at the Lake.

So we went for a day trip, 5 and a half hours there and back. With lovely stops in Taupo for great coffee and morning tea. The weather was lovely and spring like. Lake Rotorua smooth and even the usual sulphur smell there, was not too over whelming. 

Sometimes you just have to get out of the house!

Black swan and signets. 

Retro Childhood Drawings and a New Nuno Felted Wrap.

Eden girl with mandoline.

So here a flashback to when I was a little girl. I recently found these pictures on the amazing interweb by an artist called Eden. This artist made quite a few paintings like it, but these 2 I had hanging in my bedroom. I love the pigtails.

Eden girl in harlequin diamonds.

 I wore pigtails myself through most of the late sixties and seventies. With super cool, brightly coloured plastic baubles on elastic hair-ties. I had a small box full of them. And little clips with cute things on the ends.

G.M-M.1971

Every morning my Mum would tie up my hair, and we would both dread the terrible knots in my hair. Here she is with pigtails as well. 

I remember that handbag well, cream linen with brown leather straps. She is wearing a black velvet ribbon around her neck with a pendant hanging off it.

I like to remember her like this, happy being a busy mum of 3, enjoying outings. Showing us a bird nest, or pointing out running horses in the distance. 

Not how she went, so ill. I woke up with that image first thing every morning for a year afterwards.

I don't want the word cancer and mum to be linked in my head. 

It wasn't her, and she wasn't the disease.

I rather remember how we argued together, or delighted in finding a treasure in an opshop.

Nuno felted wrap in reds.

I've recently made another wrap. I used a large piece of tie-dyed silk fabric, in soft pink and a simple dark red pattern. On the other side I laid down fine merino in bright reds, and feathery white plucks of silk fibre.

Same nuno-felted wrap, but the other side.

 So it has become a reversible wrap, light and draping, perfect for summer evenings.

Nuno felt just holding together.

Above you can see the un-felted piece, wet and just stuck onto the silk fabric with soapy water.

Nuno felt after felting process.

An hour or so later it has shrunk to this size, with much rolling, rubbing and throwing.

The edges are now uneven, something which I love the look of.

Deliciously crinkled nuno felt surface.

 The silk fabric is grabbed by the wool fibre, which shrinks. The fabric does not shrink, and starts to crinkle up, causing the wonderfully tactile surface which typifies nuno-felt.

Merino wool and white silk fibres.

The shiny white flashes of silk fibre add a luxurious touch to the other side. The whole thing only weighs 155 grams.

I am very happy with this wrap!

Making Felt Handpuppets.

50 cent soft toys, ready for making into fingerpuppets.

Lately I have been buying little soft toys, cutting open the bottoms, and sewing in a finger of a winter glove, to create finger puppets for the kids at school. I have made the class a little theatre out of a large cardboard box, and gave them my first 20 minute performance of "the 3 little pigs and the wolf". I actually wrote a script for it. 

Most of the children had never seen a puppet performance, and were speechless when the puppets asked them questions. The children (7 yr olds) looked at each other, and then a few answered the puppets' question. ( yes, thats' a lovely house build of straw...) But by the end of the story they were happily helping the wolf blow down the the piglets house, and shouting at the pigs that the wolf was coming down the chimney! (you can't do that with t.v.!)
Now they can use the puppets on rainy lunch days, and make up their own stories. It is excellent for the shy kids and those with language problems, because they have to follow sentence and story structure, and their speech has to make sense. It also takes planning and cooperation with the other kids. And of course if you are introverted, well, it isn't you who is speaking, it is another character altogether, so you can make it say whatever you want.

The teacher was very pleased with me!

When I was a child in The Netherlands, I remember many happy rainy afternoons at friends' places, playing with puppets and a little wooden theatre with curtains, and sometimes we used a small lamp covered with a scarf for special effects. We'd spent hours to get our story together, and then we would perform it for our friends in our group, while someones' nice mum would get us lemonade and biscuits.
Those puppets were the plastic head variety.
I remember that after a while, your fingers would hurt from the rough opening, and the cloth bodies were always too big for little childrens' hands, the fabric would have to be folded in your palm so that your opposite fingers could reach the puppets' hands.
And I never understood why there was a priest or pastor character. What could you do with him in a story with princesses and bad wizards and treasures and suchlike?

The kind of hand-puppets I used to play with.

Primary school children in The Netherlands didn't go to school on Wednesday afternoons. I don't know if they still do now. You got to play with your friends in your neighbourhood all afternoon, and on rainy days you were allowed to watch a little t.v. , when they would show childrens' shows. One of the shows in the very early 70's was a puppet show called "Rikki en Slingertje". It was about the magical adventures of a boy and his very cheeky monkey. The theatre itself was in the city of Haarlem, very close to where my great-aunt and great-uncle lived. They were childless and my brothers and I stayed with them very often in the school holidays to be spoiled. One day my younger brother and I were allowed to be at 1 of the performances in theatre "Merlijn".
 Very exciting when you are 6! It seemed fantastical and colourful in my memory, since our t.v. was black and white. No doubt it was all simple puppets and cardboard props.

Stage 1 basic shape

So of course this post leads up to something, and that is my own felted puppets. Above the wet-felted basic shapes, they are slightly smaller than my own hands, which are petit, but I can get in them . Two fingers fit in the "neck".

Stage 2 profile

The rest of the puppet is build up with uncarded coloured wool, needle-felted around the neck. The facial features are added on and needled into shape.

Stage 2 face on

Stage 3 profile

I added more colour, wrinkles, got the nose down to size, then the eyes, very important for a puppet. Eyes connect the audience to the character. Eyelids were added, then facial hair with angora curls, including eyebrows, moustache and (real) goatie beard.
 I tried to keep the face in neutral emotion.

A large turban was twisted and needle-felted into place. I added lichens that had fallen out of the tree outside, by covering them with very thin wisps of wool, and needle-felting them into place.

stage 3 face on.

My Wily Wizard from the Woods, still needs some hands. But I love him already!