Sunday 25 January 2009

Felting fun!



Well, here we go - this is my very first attempt at felting! I'm so excited that I've photographed both pieces before they are dry even...

I used the simplest wet felting method I could find - laying out the fibres cross ways in three layers on bubble wrap on a bamboo mat, sprinkling with soapy water and placing more bubble wrap on top which I then rubbed and pounded with soapy hands. Having done that a while, I rolled up the mat and gave that a good rolling back and forth. Then I took the piece of felt - amazing how much it shrinks, up to 20%! - squeezed it into a ball and threw it repeatedly at the table. These processes I repeated a couple of times for each piece. Then I rinsed the felt and laid it to dry.

The smaller, less colourful piece has turned out stronger and less textural because I teased out the fibres more finely. For the larger piece I used slightly bulkier strips of fibre. I'm very pleased with both for a first attempt, though I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. While the finer texture of the smaller piece would lend itself to being made into a bag, for example, I don't think I've made it thick enough. On balance, I think they are both going to end up being embellished with embroidery and framed.

I was worried the soap and water would wreck my hands but of course it hasn't, my hands feel incredibly soft now.

In my usual unprepared fashion I haven't yet copied the links either to the lovely seller on Folksy who I bought the beautiful Bluefaced Leicester roving from or to the website where I found the method. I will rectify this!

Sunday 18 January 2009

The First Post - Not The Last!





I've been promising myself for months now that I will start a blog and the day has finally arrived! What will I be blogging about? Well, crafting will be the main topic, sharing the creations for sale in my Folksy shop - see My Favourite Links. You'll also see "how to" posts and posts about the work of other talented crafters on Folksy.

And as well as crafting I'll be posting about cats, gardening, history, holidays and - oh, well, how will I know until it arrives?!

I'm very new to Folksy and am still working hard to fill my shop and get it looking how I want it. All this on top of a full time job! Last weekend we worked solidly on the photographs and I'm pretty pleased with the results.
I'm especially happy with the two you can see here! There will be more tweaking, of course - I'm an OCD Virgo, after all. And there'll also soon be something other than jewellery in the shop as I have recently got the felting bug and am planning a series of felted and embroidered bags.

Why Under The Lindens? Just two reasons, really. One: we have a stunning lime tree in the corner of our garden. Two: in the garden of my junior school there was a beautiful avenue of lime trees that I loved to walk in.