Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas Gift







His and Her's Slippers

I  have been busy with the holidays like most of you. I did make a pair of slippers for our dear friends for a Christmas gift. I made a tracing of their feet and made a pattern from that for the resist. I was a little concerned about making the slippers to fit without their foot to actually mold around. But they worked out ok by just fulling slowly and constantly measuring the length and width to match the tracing of their feet.



The next pair I make will be a high top booty style slipper.









Sunday, December 8, 2013

Felting Slippers







First Pair of felted slippers

This is my first pair of felted slippers. I traced my feet on to paper then made a felting resist by tracing the pattern onto heavy plastic adding about 1 inch extra all around my tracing to allow for shrinkage in the felting process. I laid out the wool roving on both sides of the resist in 3 layers. Then continued to wet felt as normal. I used my sander to do the felting in stead of the rolling.   It shortens the felting time by about half. For those of you that are not experienced felters yet you can go this Youtube video.

For sanding instructions check out this site  




After felting and slippers are dry you can put on some nonslip soles. You can purchase soles but it is much less expensive to make your own and it is pretty easy. You can use your original tracing without the extra inch added to trace onto some leather scraps. I went to a leather shop and bought a pound of leather scraps for $10. That is enough to make about 5 pairs of soles. Not a bad price. Use the back side of the leather which is the suede side. It will be nonslip. Cut out the soles and punch holes around the edges about 1/8" from edge and about 3/8 inch apart. I used a leather punch I inherited from my dad to make the holes but you can use a nail and hammer if you don't have a punch. Pin sole with safety pins to bottom of slippers with 6 pins. I used leather stitching thread doubled and a curved needle to overhand stitch soles to the slippers. You could use any heavy synthetic thread for sewing.







These slippers can be embellished however you would like. Different colors, add felted flowers or other embellishments to the top. You can cut the top edge into different shapes and or make them into boot hightop style. Have fun with them. 
Get the Flipboard app and look for my felting magazine. I have flipped lots of great felting articles.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Felted Scarf Ring

Building a Felted Scarf Ring


To build a felted scarf ring I used surgical tubing 8" long. Then I taped it into a circle placing a small piece of duct tape around the area where the ends meet. Then I took 18 gauge green floral stem wire cut into 5" lengths. Then I ran the wire across the diameter of the circles and wrapped the ends of the wire around the surgical tubing. Next I wrapped wool roving around it all. Then I wet it down with warm soapy water and rubbed and worked the fibers until they felted. This scarf ring could be embellished with beading or variation of colored wool.



Thursday, October 24, 2013

How to Wet Felt a Square Bowl

How to wet felt a square bowl

Awhile back I showed a sketch from my digital sketchbook showing an idea I had for felting a square bowl. Well here it is and this is how I made it.


These instruction are for experienced felters who know basic felting techniques.

Step 1.  Cut a square of fine sculpting wire what ever size you want to make your bowl including the sides that will be folded up after felting.

Step 2.  Place wire on bubble wrap then lay out your wool fibers in two or 3 layers on each side of the wire as if you were making a vessel and the wire was your resist.

Step 3.  Place netting over wool and wet down with warm soapy water. Rub with your hands until fibers begin to felt. Flip whole thing over and rub the second side.

Step 4.  Remove netting and cover with bubble wrap top and bottom. I use my electric sander to complete the felting process. Sand for 5 to 8 minutes each side.

Step 5.  Remove from bubble wrap and take to sink rinse with very hot water. Drop it in the sink flat on each side several times. Then rinse in cold water. Repeat this step a couple more times to finish fulling.

Step 6.  Drain off excess water and pat dry with a towel. Set aside to dry.

Step 7.  While Square is drying make 4 - 1 1/2 inch felted balls for the feet. Check Internet for instructions on how to make felted beads or balls if you don't know how.

Step 8.  Needle felt design (flower) onto inside center of square. I used my multi needle felting tool and the needles go through the metal mesh nicely.

Step 9.  Take a metal ruler and fold up sides and crease to form bowl. Pinch corners to form square walls that meet in the corners.

Step 10.  Hot glue gun the felted ball feet to the bottom of each corner.

enjoy!

My studio will be open both Saturday and Sunday , Nov. 9 and 10th.  I will be showing and selling Fiber Art and Paintings. Look for information about the tour at www.Placerarts.org.




















Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Placer Arts Autumn Art Studio Tour

Getting Ready For The AUTUMN ART STUDIO TOUR

The Placer Arts Autumn Art Studio Tour is coming up soon on November 9th and 10th in Placer county in California. Where has the time gone. I am working frantically on more felted flowers and other felted projects for the event. I guess I should make some red flowers for the holidays. Better get busy with that.

My studio will be open both Saturday and Sunday and I will be showing and selling Fiber Art and Paintings. Look for information about the tour at www.Placerarts.org.



















Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Mini Square Felted Dish

Mini Felted Square Bowl

This is a sample square felted bowl. I just received some new sculpting wire in the mail yesterday. I had to try it out and see how it works in my felting project. It is much better then window screen in that it curves easier and does not ravel at the edges with little wires sticking out. I made this little square dish by wet felting 2 layers of wool over the wire. I also used a sander to do the felting. When it was done felting I bent the small square of 6"x6" into many different shapes. What fun. You can repurpose that little square into several uses at any time. This photo shows a small dish with rolled sides useful for earrings and jewelry on your night stand etc. To roll the corners I gently rolled them over a pencil until they formed a mitered corner. I am going to try making a larger sized one next time.



















Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Wet Felted Purse

Now finished......What started out to be a square bowl but is now a purse.

My square bowl project almost finished except for putting a magnetic closure on it. 



I made a rope strap by laying out a length of wool top a little longer then I needed. I tried something new by placing a length of cotton cording about 1/4 in thick on top of the wool. I lightly folded the wool over the cording and lightly tacked it with a needle felting needle. Then I wet it down with hot soapy water and lightly rolled it back and forth with the palms of my hands. Just very lightly at first then increase pressure a little at a time until it starts firming up. I left 3 or 4 inches of felted dry wool at each end. When the rope was very firm I finished the ends by wrapping some wool around the rope where the dry felt met the wet rope. Then wet that down and folded the dry felt in half meeting the bottom of the felt I just wrapped around. Now I wet that down and rubbed with finger to start felting. Then I used my sander to finish felting and flatten those ends to make a strong flat surface to stitch the handled onto the purse. Seams to make a nice strong handle attaching method. And using the cord in the rope uses less wool and is easier to roll without getting creases.


I forgot I also sewed a green lining and put that in before attaching the handle.

















Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Not a Square Bowl

Not Exactly a Square Bowl

Well I was working on a square bowl using my wire mesh method of felting. Sometimes things don't go as planned. I used a coarser longer fiber wool and some batt wool and it was to thick and too long and it didn't felt through the wire. The first time I used the wire I used just Merino wool and it worked great.

After I felted the project I cut one edge open and removed the wire mesh. Now it can either be a bag or a pillow cover. I needle felted some dyed silk scraps and yarn onto the bag to make a floral embellishment. Latter I will make a felted strap to attach to it and make it a bag.  If your projects don't turn out as planned you can usually use the felted wool for another project. So don't give up....be creative!

I may add a little more detail in the way of more stem yarn needle felting. Then it needs a fabric lining. I will show a photo when it is completely finished.

I'm not giving up on the square bowl. Look forward to seeing it in the near future.


































Wet felting Idea

Sketch Book Felting Idea For Next Project

I usually think of ideas for felting laying in bed before falling asleep. I have started using Bamboo sketch book on the ipad to jot down my rough ideas so I don't forget them by morning.

This is last nights thoughts. Make a square piece of felt with wire mesh encased in it. Create a nice design in the bottom either wet felted or needle felted after felting. Then fold and mold into a box and make some felted ball feet for it. Make it about 10x10. Look for the finished project in my next post.
































Sunday, September 22, 2013

Felted Angelfish

Switched to 2d felting....Angelfish Wool Painting

To keep things fresh I switched to 2d felting. Working from a reference photo I layed out the background and wet felted it to make a prefelt (partially felted).  I let it dry then needle felted more details. Then I finished the felting and fulling process. I let it dry again and then free motion stitched even finer details.































Friday, September 20, 2013

Felted Vessel


Wet Felted Vessel With Craters

Today I thought I would try making craters on the sides of a vessel. I cut out a resist of plastic the shape I wanted and placed two layers of wool on each side. I then placed some gold wool in the areas I wanted to make the craters. Then I put plastic circles on top of that for a resist. Then I added the last two layer of wool covering the circles. The last layer was more decorative and I used a finer wool. I wet felted as usual and at the point where the big resist was removed I also located the circles by feel and cut a slit to remove them. I used my fingers to enlarge the hole and worked the edges of the hole to smooth and felt them. I then finished the felting process by fulling as usual. Then I shaped it and put a glass in it to help shape a flat bottom. Then set it aside to dry.




























Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Today's Wet Felting Adventure


Todays Wet Felting Adventure

Today was a great day to experiment and try wet felting an idea I had sketched in my sketchbook on the iPad. I drew the shape and cut out a template for the resist. I intuitively chose colors as I went along. The first two layers I used off white wool batt. The next two layers were a striated wool roving made up of many colors that from a distance looks gray. The last layer I used some lime green roving, some off white from the batt, and some yellow pencil roving.
After all was said and done the finished vessel reminded me of the moss on the damp cliffs of the Oregon coast that I visited last summer.





This is the template I made with the first layer of wool layed on one side.























Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Summer Felting


Wet Felted Vessels 

This week has been great for working on my felting. Although the weather has been warmer than I would like it it to be I had a lot of free time while our Bathroom is being remodeled. I did the next two vessels using a flat resist. The red one has silk waste and white Angelina fiber that gives a hint of sparkle that may not show up in the photo. The black and green vessel has silk hankies and glass stones embedded.

To





The next two vessels are wet felted with aluminum window screen encased between the layers. As far as I can find no one is doing this technique. I am still working on perfecting the process. It makes it possible to felt a flat surface and then be able to bend and sculpt it in to many varied shapes including square boxes etc. I'm still working on the wire cut edges to eliminate the thin wires from popping through the felted edges. The main thing is to leave some felted edge beyond the wire. Don't trim felting close to wire edge.








Back Side
e



Saturday, July 6, 2013

More Felted Jewelry




More Felted Jewelry

Contact me at lpcolor@sbcglobal.net for prices and other infomation.
Also check out my website at www.h2ocolorpainter.com  


Sunset Necklace and Earrings



Earrings






Bracelet
Brooch
          

Friday, July 5, 2013

Butterfly Necklace




Butterfly Necklace


With a little inspiration from the Internet and a class online by 
Jeanne Harlan-Marriott, I designed my own butterfly felted and beaded
Necklace. I hand needle felted the butterfly and the 4 large black beads
and hand beaded the butterfly. Then I constructed the necklace
with beading wire and a magnetic closure.

I never thought I would get into jewelry makeing but here I am getting
Hooked on it. It's a great way to use up small bits of leftover wool fiber 
From larger felting projects.














          

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Fun and Funky Felting




Fun and Funky Felting at the Felt Fest 2013

On Sunday the workshop was Fun and Funky felting. We worked on Making felted cords to be used as purse handles, Bolos, and for slicing up to make beads and jewelry.

We also made a felted flower ring that can be worn as a ring or used as a scarf ring or hair embellishment. By making the ring a bit larger it could be used as napkin rings


Bolo with flower scarf ring and felted earrings with a bead embellishment.
Beads sliced from a felted cord strung with other beads as a necklace.
Felted ring with glass embedded center and beading.
Side view showing the finger ring loop.
 
Thank you to Nicola Brown and Everyone at the Tin Thimble for putting on the wonderful 2013 Felt Fest.

          

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Felt Fest 2013 Saturday Class

     

 

 3d Workshop at Tin Thimble Felt Fest 2013


Saturday class with Nicola Brown an international instructor from  Ireland.

The first workshop was three dimensional wet felting using the open resist method. We also learned how to embed glass stones into our work. Also we learned how to make spikes and dreadlocks.

The first thing I did was make spikes leaving loose fiber at the bottom to attach to the vessel.




Next I began working on a vessel which turned out to be more of a bowl shape.




This photo shows the vessel at the stage where all the wool has been layed out on a plastic circular resist on both sides. The other side not shown has an opening left in the center for the top of the bowl and for removing the resist. The photo shows what will be the inside of the bowl. The spikes are being added to the bowl by spreading out the dry fibers left on the spikes and wetting them down and felting them into the bowl fibers.



 This is the bowl as it is being felted more after adding on the spikes. At this point it is inside out. It still need to be fulled and shrunk more in hot water.




This is the completed vessel. Not quite a masterpiece but not bad for working in a workshop situation. This spike technique can be used in many different forms such as on hats, in the center of flowers, on wrist cuffs etc. When felted well the spikes will stand up quite stiffly and can be formed when wet in to spirals or curves.


Adding a wire stem to felted flowers


Adding a wire floral stem to a felted flower

This is one method I came up with to add a wire floral stem to a wet felted flower. First I use an ice pick to punch two holes in the center of the flower about 3/8 to 1/2 inch apart. Insert the wire from the back into one of the holes and bend over and insert back down into the other hole. Leave yourself enough wire to twist around the stem tightly. Then starting at the top of the wire next to the flower back tightly wrap floral tape around twisted wire and all the way down the stem. You can also attach leaves to the stem in the same way.




Close-up of center of flower after wire is inserted.

Wire can be hidden with more wool needle felted on or some other 
embellishment.  Now you can easily arrange a bouquet with your felted flowers by bending and posing them as you like.




  








Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Felted Rose


Wet felted rose 

Here is the rose I promised to do today. I used a layer of dyed silk hankies on top of the white roving. That gave the petals a nice variety of color and texture. 





These are so fun and spectacular to look at. The next one I do will have stems attached. That's a little more involved process.



  








Monday, May 6, 2013

Wet felted flower Ii


Wet felted flower II

Another flower today while I was doing the laundry.  Tomorrow I'm going to try a rose. 









  








Sunday, May 5, 2013

Felted Flower


Wet felted flower

I've been painting and getting ready for an art studio tour that was last weekend.
Haven't had much time to do any felting so I sat down last night a made this
Wet felted flower. It is much more turquoise then the picture looks.


This flower is 7 inches across and about 3 inches deep. It's hard to see in this photo but the black center has gold metallic fibers running through it. They make nice brooches and scarf pins and stems can be added for floral arrangements.

By the way I did make the Mandalas into a large wall hanging and I entered it into the Blue Line Gallery show called Layered & Stitched. I got an email the other day saying that the piece was accepted into the show. Sometimes unplanned ideas turn out good. Here is the final piece below



  








Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Rambling Rose


Experiment gone wild

I had a piece of wool felt that I wanted to experiment with. I tried to felt on to the felt fabric by wet felting method.It actually worked pretty good using a thin layer of roving but where I had a second thick layer of roving I Had to go back and needle felt those areas by hand to fully attach them. I got that far and had a big piece of fiber so decided to try and make something out of it. It became a challenge to make it work somehow. I Felted on some sheer organza roses I fussy cut from a piece of stash fabric. I Needle felted on some white yarn swirls trying to tie all the areas together and add some contrast. They over powered the flowers so I free motion stitched on top of the yarn with green and brown thread. That helped tone them down. The flowers did not show up enough so I thread painted on them with the sewing machine. Still didn't pop enough so I thread painted a white edge around them. That sort of helped. I added more free motion stitching and added the thorns on the swirly stems.

I'm not saying it was a successful piece but it was not intended to be anything more then an experiment. It kept me busy for a couple days and was a learning experience. I call it Rambling Rose....Experiment gone wild.




Close up Photo
  








Thursday, March 21, 2013

More Mandala


Wet felted mandala 2 & 3

Just completed two more wet felted mandalas.  Thinking about combining them all into a wall hanging. I will post photos if that comes to be.


Each mandala is about 15" across. The two new lower ones have dyed cotton
gauze and yarn embellishments.