Who Speaks Russian??

Alright, I probably know a couple of people who could understand this (talking about you Vera if you read this), for the rest of us, lucking actions speak louder than words.  Have a look at the green and yellow bag video.  But go back through all the others and have a look, there are some nice things to look at.

http://www.livemaster.ru/masterclasses/valyanie/mokroe-valyanie?status=&msec=14&from=0

What do you felt with?

 The one thing felters get asked on a very regular basis, is "What do you felt with?"  A question, which could be answered by a very long essay, or a very short answer.  The short answer is anything you can lay your hands on.  The long answer, begins with.......what am I creating.

This is some of my felting gear on my favourite felting surface.....the breakfast bar.  I use a large variety of materials, purpose chosen for the felting activity.  I will always finish off all my felt, by rolling in a strong cotton fabric, I use some cheap old denim I picked up.  I will only use olive oil to felt with.......my hands demand it and so does the quality of the felt I produce.

Love my water ball or felting pear, so glad that I found a supplier years ago in Germany.  Love my Wolfgang!  I always use a nice ceramic bowl for my water, keeps the heat, great size and looks pretty to boot.

But what do you roll on??  I have used bamboo blinds, bubble wrap, non slip mat, thin plastic and  synthetic fabric.  I can use a couple of these in one session, we all have our favourites and sometimes want to speed up or slow down the process.

The two things I am currently in love with are pictured below.

 These are both types of flooring, which are fabulous in the fulling process.  The above pic is not the best, as the ridges are fairly close together and hard to photograph.  The pic below is a lot clearer.  Both are super at speeding up the process, but you need to be ready to full!  I like to wet my surfaces down with a bit of soapy water before I start.

The one downfall with these two mats, are the fact that they stank really badly of rubber when I bought them and they kept the smell for quite a while.  They did loose it, but it took a bit.  They can be purchased from hardware stores by the metre, but aren't the cheapest.  Probably about $35+ per metre, but well worth the investment.  I only bought a half metre of each one.

When you have a sick child............sew!

 I love it when this.........turns into..........

 This!

 My sick little helper, who has to remove every pin as I sew......I'm so not kidding.  It was cute for a while, but then became a little painful.

 Taj tried to steal the owly pouches, but seeing he had already stolen...............

 the special pirate pouch I made for him and my forest friends one........but for a good reason.......

He needed somewhere to hide his loot!

Easter Play

Some necklace templates I have been playing with.  Shrinkage rate is between 40 and 50%.  Clearly the left is unfinished.  Fairly happy with the first trial, already know what I want to change and keep the same. I have played with similar designs in the past, but used a different technique, so they were solid, where these will be hollow forms.  Trying to decide what I prefer.

These are the previous designs that are solid!  Time to play!!!!

Stage of life

The stages of ones life is very interesting.  This morning I was thinking about those and this is what I have come up with:

• Getting a good education
• Partying
• Becoming a slightly responsible adult
• Going to university 
• Establishing a career
• Travelling the world
• Becoming a good educator
• Settling down with a partner
• Creating a home
• Being a good mother and wife
• Raising children
• Building a house
• Designing gardens
• Discovering art
• Becoming an awesome felter
• Re-entering the workforce
• Balancing everything in my life
• Being a calm and centred person

This is simply a list and one item does not over ride the previous.  

How would your stages of life look?

New..........hat!

This is the hat, that started out its life as a vessel!

How gorgeous is my niece Sam!  And I didn't quite put the hat on straight either.....oooops....you get that!

Mistakes are Portals..............

Today I was inspired to felt and decided to reuse a template, apply different colours, cut in a different position, see what happens.  Well I wasn't happy with the outcome.  Went and had a 10 min break, came back in and cut the top of the vessel off.  I stretched and pulled and played a bit........now I got myself one rather funky hat!

I promise to take some pics when it is totally dry!  I have found myself very amusing today!