Monday 31 May 2010

Bank holiday felting (traditional post title)

This time last year I had been doing some felting, and plans had been going round my head for a while, so I decided to make it a tradition. So yesterday, as well as doing my little commission, I took all these little blended batts of left over roving (I sat in front of the telly and did them some weeks ago):
and I made all these little pieces of pre-felt (this is partial felting, just rolling for a couple of minutes and then rinsing, so they are just holding together but not firm and you can cut them into pieces and use them for decoration). Some of them are a bit flimsy and could probably have been rolled a bit more but it was my first attempt and not vitally important:
Here they are again all in a pile (just because I was enjoying looking at all the colours heaped up together):
I had rather grander plans but since it was a first attempt at using the pre-felt I thought I should start small so I made this purple bag decorated with simple cut out shapes. It all worked beautifully and I think the pre-felts look great. It gives a much sharper edge when adding a pattern compared to using roving. I guess it depends on the effect you want to achieve. The handle is made as a long dreadlock with just some little scraps in the same colours added on.
Then I had promised my sister a pair of slippers (you can see my first attempt, with 'work in progress' photos here) as she tried to pinch mine when she visited. They are made with lovely soft merino and decorated with some pieces of pre-felt. I hope they fit, they are nicely snug on me so they should be okay, but the sun has gone in so they may take a couple of days to dry.

5 comments:

  1. How nice to just look at the colours. I did a bit of digging and planting at the allotment, so for once I don't feel inadequate in the face of your productivity. :-) Just don't anybody wear that lovely bag with a white T shirt!

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  2. hey martine take a look at brisbane daily photo blogspot today - it might be up your street!!

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  3. Thanks for that, excellent photo:-) I have some plans in that direction myself. We did what we called 'fairy bombing' last year:
    http://silencingthebell.blogspot.com/2009/08/fairy-bombing.html
    we left them for people to find rather than as decoration though.
    much love
    martine

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  4. what nice fairies - how great to be lucky enough to find one! And what a magical place to leave them - Brimham Rocks - my family lived in Harrogate from when I was 11 so I used to love going there to collect bilberries.....a fairy would have been a real treat!

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