10 grams (un-perfect)

February is nearly at an end and last Wednesday
we had our zoom-meeting with the
UN-PERFECT 10 GRAMS group.

It was a very special challenge this time
because we sent a flat piece of pre-felt
to another member of the group
and she had to use that for the "Carnival" theme.
I had to send mine to Germany,
and I got one from Switzerland.
(that last bit wasn't without silly troubles about import duties !!!)

You were allowed to add some fibers of your own
so in the end my piece weighed 12+ grams
(but : I used ALL of the pre-felt I got !)

This is the pre-felt Kelly sent me
(with also some dots on the other side)

Carnival is for me most of all the Summer-carnival parade
in Rotterdam, with lots of swinging and dancing brightly
dressed people.
Especially the big headdresses are impressive,
so that's where my inspiration came from.

The finished piece.

The process.
I cut strips and turned some around, the off cuts of the points
were later used for small balls at the end of the tying strips

(hmmmm "wearable")

And this is what I got back already from Silke

For her carnival means clowns with their red noses,
their funny trousers and their
BIG SHOES !

I divided all colours in two
for two perpendicular layers in the pre-felt
(I forgot to take a picture of the finished pre-felt
but the spacing of the colours was more or less the same in both layers)

So, not an easy task this time but all worked out well !
The sad thing was though, that during the "zoom" I heard NO sound
though all the others could hear me . . .
(grrrrr)

felting : "water" and "fire"

For the upcoming Art Market in ZEIST
on the 24th of August
I started with a hew
fish

To make sharp colour edges
is it easiest to work with pre-felt
and the industrial pre-felt is nice and even . . .
BUT, I don't have that many colours of it.

That left me with the problem to lay out my wool tops
in a way that the edges were still sharp,
but where I could, I used the pre-felt

The problem with this is that laying out tops isn't
the same thickness as the pre-felt
So : a bit fiddly !

second side . . .

and making the cut for the mouth
to remove the resist.

The final result was the little video
when my fish was drying in the garden !
(still a bit of stitching to do
to give the final touch for the eyes)

And after "water" came "fire"

A new belt pouch !
Brown for the colour of wood
and on the flap : 
FIRE !

First the inside colour, then,
the second layer, the colours on the flap
and a sleeve at the back for the belt.

Securing the edge after the cut to remove the resist
and I like to secure things with some (non-felting) stitches

(and I still have a belt to make !)

*
And again . . . we have sweet house guests

felting exchange again

Oh my, where did January go ?

This last of January I finally made the little felt piece

for the exchange

The theme of this one was the story of Vasalisa

(I didn't know that so had to look it up first)

Not easy to make something 

that has to exactly fit in a story ...

though it's better that most of the participants

chose a bigger size : 20 x 20 cm

(on the other hand : I really liked

the postcard size we had in previous years)

In the end I decided on Baba Yaga's house

I started with a bit of ready-made pre-felt and the background

Then the house and trees were made of little pieces of my own pre-felt

(against the light)

A lot of stitching along the edges, 

because the first bit of white pre-felt made it all quite fuzzy.

It was sent and received well.

*

A little over a week ago we had a birthday boy :

yes : 12 already ... time flies 

*

There were also some felted presents to be made

with which I had some helping hands

he was busy with number one,

so I could start on number two !

hmmmm ...

he "helped" with my sudoku too ...

Both presents are at their destination :

the red one in Rotterdam, the white one in England

(with a bit of "Liberty" that she can use well) 

*

And ...

more little owls !

(it's addictive)

tiny and tinier

These two have little feet too.

Ready for take-off ...

to the next month !

some more black and white

As I showed some days ago

I immediately started stitching

on another black and white piece of felt.

This felt is not as even as the first piece,

because of the extra black pre-felt circles

I laid on top of the white wool tops.

(but that hasn't any influence on the stitching)

I didn't put any white pre-felt on the black wool :

the black fibres would migrate up through the white !

I now have a new tool for the patterns on the wool :

a pen with  white  acrylic ink.

It works very good 

it is just visible and it rubs off easily.

For the white parts I still use the paper templates.

The name :

"Wheels of time"