The 'DAY JOB'...

I have been promising to write more about the job that has taken me away from my felting in recent months, so here we are at last! But first a bit of background...

In a past life I studied Illustration at Harrow Art School and worked in publishing for over 30 years, free-lancing as a writer, illustrator & designer and ending up specialising in children's craft books. I have always considered this to be my job - it's on my passport - that is up until a few years ago when the recession, new technologies, cutbacks in schools and library services all contributed to a general downturn in the publishing world and work dried up, almost overnight...

But it did give more time for my felt making which quickly developed into an exciting new way of life as is well-documented here at Felting Matters...

And then life changed again, as often happens, and last year I was contacted by a children's publisher and asked to develop ideas for a craft series - I was back at the drawing board...

The first two books in the series were to feature 'Jungle' & 'Safari' animals, showing children how they could make models following simple step-by-step instructions. I was asked for samples and first made a lion from a margarine tub, card tubes and scrunched-up newspaper, with chunky pipe cleaner mane & whiskers. He was used for this cover mock-up, although he's been through some colour changes since then....

Each book features 15+ projects and these were designed using basic materials found around the house - recycled packaging, cartons, tubes, plastic bottles & containers, newspaper, kitchen towels, etc.

The projects also had to have a function where possible - so there's a Giraffe CD box, Lizard fridge magnets, puppets, pop-up cards, mobiles, spider badges and a Warthog money box made from a plastic drinks bottle (my personal favourite!)

 

You can see in these model making pictures I followed reference photos closely to match the animals colouring and markings - click on the photos to enlarge. An information poster is included with the books, with facts about all the animals, which I researched as part of the brief.

All the models have step-by-step instructions which were written as the projects were designed and all the steps are illustrated. There are also pages of template shapes to follow and eye sticker sheets, which is a really useful extra as they are the most difficult things to cut out.

It was quite an undertaking, which has taken many months to put together and wouldn't have been possible without KC's involvement. He made some of the models, putting my instructions to the test and ironing out many 'technical' problems. He also photographed the whole process so we had good reference for the artwork, which consisted of 6-8 steps per project and took six weeks to complete. He took shots of the models just before they were all packed up and sent off, just in case... Work in transit is always nerve-wracking! 

Here's just a selection of some of the projects...

And now it's all gone to production and books should be available later on in the year - hopefully in plenty of time for Christmas. I will post up the publication dates as soon as I hear... 

Will there be more titles in the series? 

I do hope so as it's been a great job to work on - so everything's crossed!

3-D FORMS & TEXTURES…

May the first already! It's seems unbelievable - Summer has arrived and we've completely missed Spring! I'm afraid I have rather neglected things here with a terrible two month gap between posts. It's been a hectic time as I've been managing workshops alongside 'the day job' - a really exciting publishing project - more about that very soon...

Meantime recent workshops have had a distinctly 3-D theme - lots of bags & bowls, slippers and an advanced 'textured vessels' day, so I'd like to try and include as many photos as possible... 

For me the most satisfying aspect in explaining how to create a seamless 3-D form by felting around a resist, is that once the method is understood it can be used to make ANY form - it's only the shape of the resist that determines the end result. So bags, slippers, hats & gloves can all be made using the identical process with maybe a few adjustments.

Laying out fibres around the resist can be tricky at first. It's good to watch bewildered faces at the beginning of the class slowly gain confidence as the day progresses. I can see them thinking "I'm never going to get this" - yet they do - and everyone goes home smiling, with a piece of felted work, and a great sense of achievement!

  

I must just mention Soosun who took up the 'gauntlet' challenge laid down in the last post and actually made this wonderful pair of matching grey gloves and slippers (called 'Winter Weather') in one workshop.

The 'Textured Vessels' workshop was another step forward and gave some experienced felters the chance to experiment with shapes and textures. The results were spectacular! One of my students Greta has gone on to study textiles and is incorporating her felting skills into her course work - here is some of her amazing work...

This all shows that once you have felted a shape or vessel it's just the foundation for so much more experimentation, stitch and embellishment - you just have to be brave and take the next step!

These are just some of the results at the end of the days - some still wet and soggy, and some still in need of finishing but all tremendous, individual pieces of work!

For details and dates of all the new felt making workshops at Oliven in Newport and the Alpaca Farm in Wellow click on the names.

Just to finish by saying that I'm getting ready for my first craft show of the year. I'll be exhibiting with a group of friends on the 11th & 12th May in the newly refurbished Village Hall in Shalfleet. It's such a perfect venue, just behind the church. There'll be tea & homemade cakes on offer, as well as some very nice craft work... 

Hope the weather continues to stay dry and sunny for us!    

WORKSHOPS update...

February maybe the shortest month of the year but it's certainly been one of the busiest yet! Lots of workshops - including some with distinctly winter warming themes - scarves, gloves and hats! Perfect for this exceptionally bitter weather. Not only can we keep warm by making felt but the end results are very heart warming too. 

The first felt glove workshop at Oliven booked up fast and was a great success. We are holding another one on March 27th and combining it with another popular class - felt slippers - so it could be possible for any fast workers to get both matching pairs (almost) finished in the day? I'm throwing down the 'felted' gauntlet here and opening up the challenge...

Here are just a few of the February workshop photos...

Everyone had great fun during half term at West Wight Alpacas making felt jewellery

and here are more felt hats, flower cushions, scarves 

and some wonderful felt pictures...

As I've said before it's difficult to photograph the wet felt at the end of the workshop, especially this time of year when the light is so bad. But finished work does come back - dry, sometimes embellished and often worn - which completes the whole process and makes it so worth while.

On Monday I spent a lovely evening with the Cowes WI ladies, talking about how felt making has taken over my life in recent times and showing them how to make felt flowers. They were all keen to have a go, but I hadn't anticipated quite such a large group (40 +) ! We had to limit the numbers but hopefully I'll be invited back and will be able to include more in the practical session next time.

It has been a very hectic month - I find it amazing that the workshops continue to be so popular and all the time new people are interested in learning to make felt. We have a new programme of dates for March & April at Oliven in Newport and you can find more details here...

And I shall be starting off the new month with a 'Felt Jewellery' workshop at Brading Roman Villa this Sunday. This is a lovely relaxing class - great for all ages & abilities and I think we have some visitors coming across from the mainland for the day to join us...

So it should be fun!

PS. And so it was! As can be seen here - lots of wonderful felt flowers, beads and bracelets and a couple of 'pea pod' brooches... 

FELT GLOVES, mitts and more…

I just love knitting & wearing finger-less gloves, and have done so for years - so imagine the thrill of felting gloves! As soon as I suggested it as a possible workshop I had lots of interest and had to take things further...

The experimenting & planning has been fun! I've learnt that shaping & fitting is important, but probably not as critical as with felt slippers. Through trial & error I've discovered a number of tips and ways of avoiding potential sizing disasters! Felt is such a friendly medium, and so forgiving...

My favoured approach is to make one large 'double glove' resist. It saves time laying out and you can be sure of matching your pair, but it isn't always practical as you do need plenty of room to work. However laying out a single glove is relatively quick as I've been using just two layers of fibre (plus decoration on top) to avoid ending up with some extremely thick 'oven' gloves!

To size the resist you must take into account the thickness of your hand, as well as it's overall shape. The slender part of the finger area doesn't need as much shrinkage allowance as the round, thicker wrist and lower arm where you will need more fullness. Also felt gloves don't have the same stretch as knitted ones, so you have to leave a certain allowance to be able to get them on and off without a struggle!

Begin laying the first layer out lengthways, with the second across the width as it seems more logical to place any final decoration along the length too. Fibres will shrink more along their length and so will the gloves. Once they have shrunk on the resist you can divide the pair and continue rolling them together side-by-side, checking frequently that the insides aren't matting(!) 

After some final trimming put them on your hands and rub them together with warm soapy water until they are the right size... 

  

The 'Felt Gloves' workshop will actually cover many styles & variations - from finger-less mitts, hand-warmers and cuffs to full-length gloves, both practical and elegant. I will show you the basic process with the idea that you take things further and create your own individual design.

We may have January behind us but I'm sure there's still some bitter cold weather to come! Felt gloves and mitts are so wonderfully warm & very practical - they can be worn as over gloves with a thinner pair underneath. Great fun to wear, can be really quirky, completely unique and offer much scope for embellishment with buttons, beads and embroidery.

My first 'Felt Glove' workshop will take place next week and I'm delighted to say that it is fully booked. We've had so many enquiries that we will be holding more and you can find more information on my workshop listings and on the Oliven website.

I'm expecting some great results from my first glove makers so hopefully I'll be posting up some photos soon... 

EMBELLISHING & BEADING : some hard lessons...

Those of you who know me well know I'm an extremely un-fussy individual. Felt making appeals : you layout wonderful fibres, you felt and you've finished! Anything extra, any embellishing, sewing or beading is an unnecessary step too far in my opinion...

If you have been following my last post you will know I've been working on a felt panel for the Brading project. I'd hoped to have completed it long ago BUT in my haste to finish I made a terrible mistake. Rather than thread a needle I (super) glued all the little beads & bits in place thinking it would be a quick fix! FIX certainly - quick NO! As soon as I flexed the felt backing all those little beads popped off, leaving behind some very hard lumps of glue that would not budge. DISASTER! Very many days later I've ended up re-felting and needle felting patches over areas to cover up the mess. 

It's been a very hard time-consuming lesson, but an important one! I'm always the optimist!

Coming out the other side I thought I'd exorcise those beady demons and work on some beading samples. Never throwing any felt away I found some bag handle cut-outs which made perfect shapes for experimenting, plus a stash of wooden beads and lots of wonderful threads...  

I've had some FUN! 

And discovered that actually there is a place for embellishment...

My first love has always been knitting - I can chart my life in knitting patterns - I've knitted, worn and worn out so many Patricia Roberts & Kaffe Fassett jumpers. Felting became a natural progression. Sewing never figured much in my life apart from stitching up and attaching buttons and it's only in recent times that I've owned my own sewing machine. Last year I bought a second-hand Embellisher, which until last weekend I'd only switched on to check it still worked. Sad, I know! Working around patchworkers & quilters has influenced me - but only slightly...  

Again I exorcised a few more demons when I took advantage of a one-day Embellishing Workshop held by Su Douglas at Oliven. I started tentatively, was shown how to change needles and remove fluff, but in  a couple of hours I was flying... Lots of experimenting with fibres & fabrics resulted in some rather mashed up samples, but no broken needles! Again it was FUN! It has certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities of incorporating embellishing with the wet felting.  Another revelation and I shall no doubt be experimenting and posting up some results very soon...

By the way here is the revised felt fish panel...

Spot the difference! NB. the tidy sewing and neat beading... 

I shall be very glad to see the back of it / deliver it to Brading on Sunday. We have a 'Bowls & Bags' workshop scheduled, but as the Island is knee-deep in snow I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a thaw...

"UNDERWATER MOSAIC" Part 2...

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

These precious few days between Christmas and New Year give everyone an opportunity to relax and take stock, count blessings and look forward to what the New Year promises! It gave me a chance to catch up on a particular project I'd begun several weeks ago (see Part 1)...

  

"Underwater Mosaic" the Brading community project set a challenge for each participant to take a section of Pat Clarke's fantasy picture and reproduce it in any craft or medium. The finished panels will be reassembled into three completed pictures which will be on permanent display at the Brading Roman Villa.

I'd been given a lovely central panel with some great colour & detail and set out by making an enlarged B&W pattern to work from, bearing in mind that the felt will shrink and the finished felted piece had to be stretched around a wooden base.

  

I made a series of coloured pre-felts, using paper templates to cut out the main shapes and felted these onto a black felt backing. 

It was important to keep all the main shapes and colours as close to the original picture as possible as they would need to match up with the surrounding panels when placed back together.

The "Underwater Mosaic" is perfect for this project - but there's a lot going on!  The painting is linked with coloured swirls which overlap and weave under and over, so there is an order in placing the layers. I made paper templates for the swirls and cut these shapes from commercial felt. 

Before attaching them I needle felted the details on the fish and couldn't resist playing around with some decoration. I was so pleased to find the perfect fish button eye! 

Then I had fun machine stitching all the swirling layers in place and used more stitching to enhance the movement and texture…

Finally, adding the beads and textures! Not being much of a hand-sewer or beader I must admit to gluing most of this decoration in place...

But it's not all secure as the felt panel now needs to be attached to its base. I'm going to wait to see how it fits together with the other panels before completely finishing it, especially around the edges where the joins need to match, and I may add some hand stitching too...

  

When we all meet up in a few weeks time there will be a total of 27 panels. No one knows what the other finished panels look like yet and it’s going to be really interesting to see how the new "mosaic" all fits back together again!

It's all very exciting...

AND... from the other side of the world!

I've been following Elizabeth Armstrong's Studiofelter blog for a while now, attracted by her style and her fantastic way with colour! Elizabeth is a textile artist, felt maker and teacher based in Melbourne Australia and recently she generously offered one of her wonderful felt birds as a prize in a give away draw - open to all her many blog followers (which are considerable!)

Imagine my amazement, shock and frank disbelief when on December 1st she announced that the winner was…. well ME!!! I had to read the name several times for it to register. I've never ever won anything quite like this before, let alone anything quite so "international"...  I hope that explains why I've had a permanent smile for the past few days!

This little bird is winging it's way half way across the world to the Island as I write and will come to rest on my Christmas tree one day soon.

What with the other exciting news that my Shibori cushion design is featured on the cover of the Australian FELT magazine this month - suddenly Australia doesn't seem so far away and our world (of felt) is that much smaller, cosier and a very friendly place to be in…

Thank you very much Elizabeth...

And FELT magazine too!

And you can see more of Elizabeth's work by following this link...