In Print!!!!!!!!!!!

I posted a picture of a fabric post card a couple of months ago.
I submitted it to Cloth Paper Scissors "Readers Challenge" and on Saturday, I found out that it got published on page 85 in the May/June 2012 issue. I knew it was cute when I mailed it in, for some reason it looks even better when it's published in a magazine!

I'm waiting for my feet to get back on the ground. Woo Hoo!!

Ahhh yes. They sun is shining, the birds are singing happily the weather is getting sooooo balmy and nice...so what's a girl to do when the hubby is away and it’s above seventy degrees??? That’s right! Get out into the garage and create!!!
I decided to try Nuno felting again.

The first step was to outline the silk chiffon scarf I was using with painters tape on to the table. Then I laid a layer of bubble wrap (bubbles facing up) and then a layer of plastic wrap on top of the bubble wrap. (This keeps the fibers from getting “into” the bubble wrap).

Once I had my layers in place I started to spread small pieces of wool roving along the borders of the blue tape.

Once I had my layers in place I started to spread small pieces of wool roving along the borders of the blue tape.

As soon as I got the border complete I started to add more wool to the center. I experimented and made small flowers with gold and black wool. I also added some fibers I from a vendor at the vendor show in Sanford in January. Not really sure what fiber they were but since they felted I’m pretty sure they were natural.

After I got the wool arranged, I carefully (and slowly) arranged the silk chiffon scarf on top of the wool roving

Then I started to add the wool to the other side of the scarf in the same way, the borders and I made more cute little flowers  

I pulled the flowers out for last since I was having problems the wool mixing in with them.

Once all the wool was laid I out the flowers back on…perfect!

I then carefully laid tulle over the top of the scarf.

Then carefully poured warm (not hot) soapy water over the tulle what’s not shown is I poured it over my hand so the wool was not pushed out of place.

Once it was all wet, I took a swimming noodle and rolled it up and secured with knee high panty hose.

Then I started to roll the noodle. It’s kind of like rolling with your forearms down the center out and then moving your arms to the outside with your elbows and pulling in. Sometime if I can get someone to take pictures while I’m doing it I’ll share it.

Anyway,

After about 50 rolls, I undid the panty hose and carefully unrolled the scarf and then went to the opposite side and rolled it up again, secured it and did another 50 rolls.

After that 50, I again unrolled the scarf and carefully peeled back the tulle before it totally meshed into the wool fibers. Then I flipped the scarf and took away the plastic wrap and re-rolled the scarf with the noodle and went to town….I probably rolled this for 8 songs on my IPod. When I was done I unrolled the scarf and checked to make sure the fibers were enmeshed into the scarf. (they were!)

After being rolled for 8 songs

Then I took HOT soapy water (heated in the tea kettle) and poured it over the wool to help shrink it.  After a few minutes I folded up the scarf and took it to the sink. Under hot tap water I rubbed the fibers together even more.

Then comes the fun part…still folded together, I threw the scarf into the sink to “shock” the scarf into submission. I did this 4-5 times.

After that I soaked the scarf in 1 quart of cold water with 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar for 15 minutes, then rinsed well and hung outside to dry.

It turned out sooooo pretty!! I think I’m going to get some yardage of silk chiffon and see if I can’t do larger pieces and make a vest or jacket

My first comission!!

I am still dancing around my studio! I was approached by Jane Hall (Yes, THE Jane Hall!!) at the December guild meeting and she asked if I could make her a wall hanging like the one I donated to the Heritage Day Auction. Of course I kept my cool and said " Of Course!!". I floated back to my seat and managed to maintain my cool until I went to the ladies and did a major happy dance!! I felt so validated!! I finished Jane's Wall Hanging in January and I want to share the below picture of it.

Jane really liked it and the best part was I received some wonderful advice on how to price my work.

thank you Jane for your confidence!!!

I entered the Cloth Paper Scissors Challange again

OK, I'm a sucker for a competitoin. I can't help it....so CPS announced that they wanted post cards sent to them I had to go for it...I made 2.

and

I ended up sending in the top one and I'm hoping when I get the next CPS I'll see the image in the magazine.

A Christmas Present for my Mother

We took my Mother and my MIL camping with us in July last year. We went up to Upper Michigan and had a blast. I printed out some of the pictures on fabric and made the below wall hanging for my Mom.

I used some of my hand dyed fabric as  the back ground and used a dark green tulle to cover the pictures. It turned out very nice and Mom just loved it!!

Feltng class with Sharron Parker

Woo Hoo a new technique has been learned!!

I took an incredible felting class with fabulous Felt artist, Sharron Parker, who has been in Artspace for the last 25 years.

Sharron’s work studio is located on the Neuse River in Wakeforest. There was a small group of us, 4 from Raleigh (Moi, Donna, Lucy, and Elaine) and 3 from Virginia (Deb, Karen, and Rebecca)

To make our geodes, our first task was to choose 7 colors from a large pile of wool roving. (Holy cow that was harder than what it sounds)

We had to layer then perpendicular to each layer (|-|-) then we had to roll them up into a tight ball, then wrap 2 more colors around it as an outer layer.

It all got stuffed into a stock and we then plunged the sock into hot soapy water and “worked” the wool into a ball. This took about 7 minutes depending on the size of the geode we were making.

After we were done working the wool, we took them out of the sock and then cut them in half. All of us were amazed how the pile of roving we put together came out to look like they did.



We then took our geodes and then cut them into ½” slices and arranged them layered wool batts that were arranged in sheeting, again perpendicular

Once we arranged the geode slices we then arranged more wool roving around the geodes to fill in over the white. We also added curly wool locks and pieces of wool yarn.

Once we were done we covered the wool with more sheeting and used large safety pins to secure the geode slices and the other wool. After we completed the edges, we laid the pinned up sheeting in a tub and poured hot soapy water over it and “worked” it by pushing down on the sheeted wool. My thoughts is that a potato masher would work wonderful for this process…we had to do 10 minutes on each side and then check to make sure the wool was “felting”. Once it was firm enough we unpinned our creations.   

When I got home I had to try and make some..below are the results.







Western Wake County Farmers Market and Craft Show Saturday November 5, 2011

What a GREAT adventure!
The wind and the cold had to be experienced.  As you can see by the below pictures we had a steady blast and some wild gusts!

You can see the table cloths and the scarves blowing in the wind 

Luckily I grabbed some rocks I picked up in Lake Superior to put on the coners to keep the table cloths from blowing off.

When we had started our dying thing, we started on cotton fabrics and stiched Shibori panels before we found the scarf niche. We decided to add some of these projects to the offerings. Below are some pictures.



Fat Quarters and squares



As the day wore on the wind got stronger and stronger. It became a challange that the dragonflies took on....

The other vendors had issues as well, lucky for us there are two of us, one on each side. However a nice man named Travis came over and helped us shore of the sides of the tent to keep it more stable so we were at least able to conduct business. Thank you Travis!!!!

It was a nice market and here are a couple of shots of the marketplace.

We made a new friend, his name is Dewey! Dosen't he look adorable in one of our bandana's?