Felted jacket workshop

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to go to a two day  felting workshop at Strathpeffer organised by Highland Feltmakers Group. The tutor was Jenny Mackay who showed us how to make a cobweb felted jacket. She brought along some of her designs to show and inspire us and then gave us a demonstration of the cobweb felting technique. We used a mixture of Merino and linen fibres round a bubblewrap resist. This is the first time I have made anything as ambitious as a jacket and although the result is not perhaps as fine as I would have liked, I am pleased with how it turned out. I still have to tidy up the cuffs and edges.

felted jacket

I must admit, I was a bit dubious about how the jacket would fit and what shape it would turn out. I sort of invisaged something like the huge sack-like luminous green jumpers that Tom and Barbara created for Margo and Jerry in the Good Life! However, in the end the jacket does seem to fit and I like the flared sleeves which was a happy accident! I decided to use a fossil as a fastening, which I think suits it quite well. I like the colours and the white linen fibres work very well I think.

fossil fastening

It was a great weekend and Jenny Mackay is such a patient and encouraging tutor. It was nice to meet up with friends and also meet some new faces who came from a variety of textile backgrounds. Great fun!

I bought Poppy Treffry’s new book “Stitch style”  lately and am starting to think about making a few Christmas things in a folk art style. But first I had better finish off all the bits and pieces that I never quite got round to finishing!

We have been on some lovely Autumn walks this week and I took one or two pictures along at Reelig Glen which is quite near us.

Autumn hedgerow

nibbled fungi

lichen

winding road

I really enjoyed “Talking threads” last night as it featured the work of Kim Thittichai. I love experimental textiles and love all the amazing textures she creates with her iron and heat gun. I did quite a lot of that kind of thing on my course and the programme reminded me what fun it was. I like her “no boundaries, just go for it” kind of thinking.

Fun with fossils

We are lucky to have the Eathie fossil beds quite close to where we live. Quite a long steep walk down to the beach, so we don’t get there often, but it is  an interesting place to go as there is always the prospect of finding something amazing. Eathie is an SSSI, so no hammers allowed, but you can still pick up the occasional piece if you look carefully. We have a little collection of fossils  at home which we have bought/found on our travels. I love the textures and patterns they have on them. I  like the smooth polished ones which show the patterns so well.

 

fossils

I am quite keen on working in black and white at the moment and I wanted to try trapping some fibres and fabrics into a piece of felt. I started with 2 layers of black merino  and laid out some undyed silk carrier rods, some  strips of silk hanky, a few silk cocoons and some curly wool fibres. I then laid out some more black merino very finely, just enough to trap in the fibres and then felted as usual. I really like the result and will do lots more now I know it works.quite a few  possibilities I think. 

fossil sample

fossil detail

 I had a bit of a tidy up in my wee room this week and found a bag with  very early felting experiments that hadn’t worked out. There were bits of a bag that hadn’t felted, the start of a beret and various other odds and ends.  I never throw anything like that  away and everything eventually seems to be recycled or used up in some other way. I decided to make a big fabric container out of these pieces.

felt for recycling

I think I will use the circular green piece, which I think started out as a beret in the making, and use that as a base. I needlefelted the other pieces onto some prefelt and am now adding fibres, snippets of fabrics and lots of stitching. It is great to be using the bits and pieces up and I am enjoying adding things as I go along. Might take a while to finish it though! Not sure how to stiffen the sides as it will be quite a big vessel.  I could maybe use some garden wire, inserted between the lining or something.

vessel in the making

 The countryside round Beauly looks stunning this week as the leaves on the trees have their true Autumn colours now. Walking in the woods there are so many little treasures waiting to be found. I love finding horse chestnuts with their shiny little conkers hidden inside.

 

hidden treasure

There are some amazing spiders webs in the garden at the moment. They look great on those damp misty mornings with the sun shining through them.

First frost

We have had the first proper frost of the Autumn in Beauly. The garden looked magical with the morning sun glistening on the frosty petals and leaves. Time to look out the Winter woolies I think!

Frosty euphorbia

Frozen raindrops

Chilly sunflower

Frost frilled heuchera

This heuchera looks so pretty with its frosty frills. Time to put the garden to bed for the Winter and give all the tender plants some protection. We have had so many happy times in the garden this year and it is beginning to look quite established now. Just the tulip bulbs still to plant next month and the final tidy up before Winter.

I found a piece of driftwood to hang this little wallhanging from. I think it still needs a bit more stitching to finish it off, but I enjoyed making it using my embellisher.

Autumn

I also found time this weekend to dig out the silk paints. I had a little practice at gutta outlining first.

Gutta outlines

Next I used some salt to make patterns.

Salt patterns

 

Blues and greens

 Finally, I just played about, enjoying the colours flowing over the silk up to the gutta.

I like the way that you can control the silk paints to a certain extent, but with some techniques they do their own thing and you end up with some lovely surprises. It would be lovely to combine some silkpainted pieces into a felted work sometime soon. Don’t forget to watch the second part of Talking Threads on Wednesday. (Sky 171 Country Channel, 7pm) Or you can also watch it online.

Beach walk

I was watching the new  10 part textile series “Talking Threads”, which Fiona at Lovefibre kindly pointed out on her blog, and the first programme was about silk painting with Jill Kennedy. I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy working on silk. I especially love the way the paint creeps over the wet silk and spreads up to the gutta. It always fascinates me. I like the surprising results you get when using salt as a resist as well. Must make an effort to dig out the paints and frame and give it a go again! See Lovefibre’s blog for the programme details which you can also watch free online.

Needed a blue and green bag to go with an outfit, so I rustled up a quick felted one and used some green velvet for the front flap. I lined it with some green silky material and used a press stud fastening.

felt and velvet bag

The weather was so nice yesterday, we decided to head for a beach walk up at Dornoch. Whenever I get to the beach, as soon as I smell the sea and hear the waves, I still feel as excited as when I was a wee girl. I always find it exhilarating. I think the seaside awakens all of the senses and catapults you back to childhood memories. Yesterday was one of those beautiful warm calm Autumn days and the sea was very still.

I like to beachcomb and Dornoch is quite a good place for shells out towards the Point, but not so good for pebbles and driftwood.  I did find a good bit for my Autumn wallhanging though. Lots of seals singing on the sandbanks which was lovely to hear. Despite the nice weather, we had the whole beach to ourselves.

Machair at Dornoch

We returned from the Point by the Machair which still had some wildflowers blooming and lots of birdlife to see. We decided to go along to nearby Littleferry which is now a nature reserve. There is very little left of the old ferry remains or of the old pier, but there are gorgeous textures in the old stanchions and barnacle covered posts. Lots of ideas for textile work!

Littleferry

 

And finally a big old friend. This great old stanchion with its big rusty bolts has provided inspiration both for part of my final project of the OCA course and also for a black and white photography course I did a while back. I love it!

Playing with colours

Since I had some fabrics and fibres that I dyed recently in fairly vivid Autumn colours, I decided to start an Autumn inspired collage using my embellisher. I used a piece of prefelt as the backing . I might also have used a piece of calico as a backing.  I will cut away the excess backing, as I quite like the organic shape.The collage includes scraps of various fabrics, merino fibres, silk fibres, silk carrier rods, scrim and some yarn. Next I plan to add a bit of hand stitching  to blend in the silk rods etc and  I could hang it from a piece of driftwood. I had a brilliant time playing with all these textures and colours. What a terrific invention the embellisher is!

Autumn wallhanging

 

This weekend, we had the Highland Hospice Art Exhibition in the village. There were over 400 pictures displayed and it was very well attended with lots of sales which is great news for the Hospice. I was lucky enough to sell  a  few of my pictures and hoped to have  a bit to spend on more fibres, but we were tempted by a lovely Jenny Hepburn abstract which we brought home.

We have gradually been putting the garden to bed for the Winter. Lots of weeding and cutting back etc. Not so many flowers now, but the foliage is really wonderful at the moment. The hostas and euphorbias are very vibrant. I love this one with its lovely red stems.

Euphorbia

We have had some of those lovely calm misty Autumn mornings lately when the mist rolls over the fields. Very atmospheric. Never seem to have the camera with me when the best opportunities appear, but took this shot near Marybank.

Season of mists

On a very happy note, this is the start of National Chocolate Week! I feel obliged to give this event my full support and so we scampered along to our favourite chocolate shop, Maya, in Strathpeffer. They serve THE best ever hot chocolate. It has been scientifically proven that chocolate makes you happy and is full of phenylephylamine (big word!) so I will probably be beaming for the rest of the week! Happy chocolate week everybody.

International Day of Felt

Did you know that 2009 is United Nations International Year of Natural Fibres?  I only discovered that yesterday! Feltmakers from around the world are celebrating by joining together today and displaying their felt for the world to enjoy. Organised by Feltunited, 3rd October is the first Annual International Day of Felt. The theme for this year is a slice of the colour wheel, yellows, oranges and reds. I made a little orange/yellow scarflette to celebrate. We are invited to submit photos of our felt to Feltunited for an online display. See www.feltunited.com for more information.The scarf is actually a lovely vibrant yellow, but looks sort of washed out in the photo. Think my next job will be to adjust the camera settings! Happy Felt Day.

yellow/orange scarflette

International Day of Felt

Bits and pieces

In between weeding and tidying up in the garden, I have been busy finishing bits and pieces that have been lying around my workroom unfinished for ages. One of the things I had lying about was this felted bag which needed some lining  and some handles. I lined it with green cotton and felted some handles. I used a plastic resist to make the bag.

blue felted bag

 I also did some more work on the River Beauly picture.

River Beauly

Had a lovely day on Saturday at Highland Feltmakers Group. This time we invited some people who were new to feltmaking and we taught them the basic technique starting with a piece of flat felt. Some people also made bowls and bags and it was lovely to see them going away with some felt work and lots of enthusiasm. One of the ladies I was teaching made some  flatfelted samples to take home.

newcomers felted sample

I decided to make a little  spec case so that my specs will no longer go walkabout form their parking place  (Sweetie pink so that certain persons won’t walk off with them by mistake!) I used one of the lovely buttons I got from McAnaraks.

pink spec case

 

Yesterday, as Hubby was enjoying the Grand Prix on the telly, I decided to go for a walk with the camera. I was looking for fungi and seedheads to photograph. We are lucky enough to have several great  walking groups locally which is lovely, but I like to get out on my own sometimes as I find I notice much more on my own. My walk took me along country lanes and through fields and farmyards. Here are a few pictures.

seed head

Brambles and rosehips

golden fern

 I usually find this scene at this time of year and always wonder what makes that one fern frond decide its time to turn so golden before all the others. It always fascinates me.

fungi

I like the nice composition of these fungi. The only ones I could find yesterday. Walking through an old farmyard, I noticed this lovely old shed door. I am interested in the idea of “looking  through” things like doors into walled gardens, windows to the outside, holes in walls and suchlike. I am planning a textile piece with a  wooden door opening into a garden. I suppose the children’s book Secret Garden is what I have in mind. One of my favourites as a wee girl.

old shed door

And I also like the textures and shapes on this lovely mossy pantiled roof.

mossy pantiled roof

At this time of year, you sometimes get great effects with stubble fields under bright sun and dark storm clouds overhead. Great combination. This was the nearest I could find yesterday.

stormy sky

I saw these seed heads blowing in the wind. Bit out of focus, but a nice  wispy effect.

floaty seedheads

When I got back home there was a rainbow over the garden. Sadly, no bag of gold though!

rainbow

No more dyeing

Well, I was right about dyeing. I did find it a bit messy and time consuming . I used some crocosmia and nasturtiums from the garden and at first the colour looked quite promising. I left the fibres to soak in the tub for a few days and then rinsed it out. Result? An interesting sort of sludge shade which  is actually useful enough to incorporate into things, but not as exiting as I had hoped for. So to brighten things up I returned to my trusty old Arty’s Quick Colour. Fibres in tub, squirt on colour, shove in microwave for 3 mins et voila, sorted!  I admire all those textile artists who spend so long dyeing and making beautiful colours, but I’m afraid its not for me at the moment.

Shades of sludge

 

Autumn shades

I think this might well  become an Autumn collage. I have been out snapping away with my camera this week. One of the pictures I took was of the River Beauly in the village. I really enjoy photography and there are so many lovely walks around here, but life tends to get in the way a bit and not enough time to fit everything in at the moment. Maybe this weekend…

River Beauly

I have started laying out fibres for my next picture based on the river. Thought it would be nice to do a few local scenes.

Laying out fibres

Dyes from the garden

Crocosmia

While I was tidying up the garden this week, I was looking at all the gorgeous orange and red coloured petals there and I decided to have a go at dyeing with some of them. I have never been especially interested in dyeing in the past, thinking it would be a messy and time consuming affair.  I don’t see myself going into it a big way, but I like the idea of using natural things from the garden.I picked a few nasturtium and crocosmia petals and boiled them on the hob in an old pot for about 15mins. with a little vinegar. The colour looks quite interesting  at the moment and  more red than I had expected.I will leave the fibres and snippets of fabric to soak for a few days and see what the results are like then.

Nasturtium and crocosmia petals

Dye bath

I have gradually come to the conclusion that I will never be a great felter because I am far too impatient. I always start a felting project with good intentions, telling myself that I will go through each stage of the process thoroughly,  but usually half way through I get a bit impatient to see the finished article and start to cut corners which is always a mistake in the long run. For this reason, I normally stick to making my felted pictures and the occasional scarf, bag or bowl. However, it is ages since I did any cobweb felting and I decided to make a cobweb wrap. I like the way it is such a delicate see through fabric and yet it is also quite a strong fabric.  I used Merino  and decorated it with silk tops.

laying out the fibres

cobweb wrap

The week ahead looks like its going to be full of lovely textile pursuits. One of my friends has asked me to do a commission which is very nice. I know what sort of  colours she would like me to use  and have been given a free hand to come up with something to hang in her lounge.I have several ideas to try out this week. There is a local Art Fair coming up in October and I plan to make a few pictures to put  into that, and on Saturday the Highland Felters have a Newcomers Meeting and we are going to show basic feltmaking techniques which should be good fun. I would also like to carry on a bit more with exploring bigger abstract pieces time permitting.

Just want to share this nice sunflower with you. It has the most lovely velvet like petals and is such a gorgeous colour. It makes me smile every time I look at it!

sunflower

Birthday girl

Today is our wee old Airedale Dileas’ birthday.  Dileas, (pronounced Jeelis) is Gaelic and means faithful.She is now 14 years old and still scampers about like a puppy.  She has a great sense of humour and loves to “help” in the garden.She celebrated her day with a special doggie birthday cake and other goodies and cards from her friends.

Dileas' birthday

I finished off the little Autumn fruits sample today with a little bit of stitching. It has given me lots of ideas I would like to try which is useful. I would also like to get back to some more free machining as I had forgotten what a joy it is.

Autumn fruits with stitching

I spent a lovely afternoon in the garden (helped by Dileas!) and enjoyed seeing a big flock of geese arriving in the field just over the fence.The garden is past its best for this year, but there are still some treasures there. A lovely crocosmia “Venus”, and the rudbeckias, coreopsis and sunflowers are colourful just now. The little pond is looking quite established and the fish seem to have settled happily.

little pond

We had one of those glorious Autumn sunsets to round off the day.

sunset