Crewel Intentions

After last weeks post complaining about the dullness of November, today has been a lovely day. The sun was golden and so were the leaves, the house felt warm (could it be because I've switched on 'The Dragon', our little oil filled radiator in the kitchen at heaven knows what cost) and we were a bit tidy! 

Thats because I had a visitor last night, an old friend who had commissioned me to do some pieces.

 But I can't show you those until after the weekend so I'm going to show these instead.

I had a piece of felt in the 'awful swirly carpet' shades.  I started making brooches but then I got a bit carried away stitching something that wouldn't really work as a brooch. 

 And then another.

 They remind me of Crewel work motifs, and rather than put them in the 'not quite a brooch' pile I mounted them on small card covered with calico and I shall put them in my etsy shop. 

 I followed the contours of the coloured areas in the felt and added some deep jewel coloured velvets and stitched with two lovely shaded Natesh threads.

 I put them on this magazine for scale but then realised you might not know its a small half A4 magazine.

 Well I've told you now so you know. 

 But just in case, I've stood them up against my sewing box in all the muddle on the table.

They make a lovely pair.

I keep looking at them wondering where they came from.

My head does surprise me sometimes.

Prettiness

 When confronted with a bag full of delicious colours I wouldn't normally use, I get all excited. 

Thats what happened last week when I went into college to teach felt making to two groups of A level students.

 We opened the new  consignment of wool. Oohh...delicious colours fell out. 

I was in paroxyms of delight, they not so thrilled. 

I looked at their lovely little faces looking up at me from around the table and it reminded me of this.

After they'd all made their first piece of felt, I showed them how to build up a design using pre-felts.

Mine was all delicate and feminine..like sugared almonds.

(The background is not meant to harmonise so well...my white balance is all to pot but I don't know how to alter it)

 It didn't look much before I stitched it. But I like it now.

 I repeated the exercise with the second group in the afternoon and made another. 

So I still have that one to stitch. 

 Isn't it funny though, the difference between me and a class of students? (Apart from their lack of wobble when felt rolling) They made their own pieces of pre-felt and cut bits off them and made their main piece, and when they went, they just left the prefelts behind! 

So obviously, though they gave a good impression of enjoying the lesson,  they had no intention of repeating the exercise.

I think I have come to the end of the line with young students now. I shall retire from the classroom graciously.

And now I have a while lot of prefelts ready made. 

Corsages and two ladies

Well, the last post had a single corsage but now I have a grand total of five.

 They are a bit experimental, having a centre in my usual technique..velvet appliqued to felt, and the spiky bits are stitched on a separate piee of felt and cut out, along with a few extras, and then its all assembled and glued in place onto a very lovely antique bronzed suersize pin.

 They are perfect for adding to woollen things such as shrugs or shawls or cardigans. I have a felt coat which fastens with a pin, so I'll be using one of these from now on.

This one is more oval in outline which I thought someone might like.

 I have also started the smaller brooch trail with this red heart...

 I thought I'd show the difference in size, and I love photographing piles of things!

Here's something I started ages ago. I have wanted to make a mirror in felt for a long time but wasn't quite sure where to start. 

I did start with this piece of felt quite a while ago. The little blobs were added pre-felts and were just placed roughly in a 'growy' sort of way.....you see I don't really know what I'm doing?

So I just started stitching and chopping until I had this.

 I like the colours and they remind me of pre-Raphaelite paintings. From there I leapt to The Lady of Shalott. She viewed the world through a mirror from a tower and wove her tapestry until Sir Lancelot came trotting by and she was smitten, and....

Well you'll have to read it for yourself. Its quite mesmeric so I added a few scene-setting words that I liked.

You may guess the word River would be in the next lines.

'Thro the wave that runs forever

By the island in the river

Flowing down to Camelot'

Perhaps I should make a companion piece with the rest of the verse!

 Here it is standing on a rather grubby island in the river of untidiness that is my workroom.

And here is not...the Lady of Shalott.

But here is my little Lady in relaxed mode after her op.

I'm happy to say she is much better now. The collar is off but we have to keep our eyes on her for stitch biting.

Influences

A long long time ago I walked into the library and searched for something new.

I'd read my way through The Chronicles of Narnia over and over again. 

I'd read almost all of the Patricia Lynch books I loved so much. I'd devoured all the 'Fairy Tales' books..the big thick serious fairy tales from China, or Russia or wherever the book took me.

I pulled out a narrow navy blue book I hadn't noticed before, and opened it.

 I was intrigued straight away. I loved that I was being addressed by the author. I'd never heard of him ..or her...I didn't know. It was someone called 'Tove' so it could have been either. On the next page was a map of Moomin Valley. 

It was the beginning of a lifelong love of the Moomin Stories by Tove Janssen. 

No one else I knew had read them. 

They were mysterious, fascinating, sad, and sweet. The creatures who appeared in them had names like 'Too Ticky' ''Snufkin, 'Sniff' and the 'Snork Maiden'.

 They lived in a beautiful place and were very influenced by the weather and the seasons.

My favourite characters were The Hattifattners. Silent enigmatic and still. They met in the night forest and bowed to a barometer on a pole.

Later, as a Primary School teacher I introduced my classes to them and then my own children, and then the Moomins became TV stars and were no longer my own discovery.

I believe there is now a Moomin theme park.

To my mind, the line drawings of the author are far superior to any multicoloured models.

 When I was making these I was strangely reminded of the Hattifattners.

 I made one, two, three, more.

Then there were six. 

 Six in a square set, then six in a row

 Then there were eight

 Nine

 and now....ten.

Not brooches.

Gathered on my sewing table, no doubt swaying and dancing while I'm asleep.

Hmm....

What next?

Why.....

....did I spend my summer like the Grasshopper...flitting between blogs and generally spending most of the day enjoying myself playing?

Now the harsh reality of Christmas and Craft gallery commitments, and credit card repayments before interest comes into it have hit and I am an ant.
Too Late!
I am trying to do everything at once.

However I feel renewed after my hospital experience on Monday which yielded fascinating results.
I wish I could share.
I wish I'd had my camera.
It would definitely have made Explore front page on flickr.
Give your imagination free reign here.

Despite the fact that I began my life in blogland with some posts in which I made 200 pieces of silk paper, I find I still need more. For some reason I only have pink and blue left.


At the same time I am trying out some 'quick' things for etsy.
Fabric Gift tags.
Maybe 5 for three pounds, or six dollars.
I'm putting 'To' and 'From' and 'With Love' on the paper part. This is a prototype.
What do you think?


I am also working on these green knobs with the aid of an anglepoise lamp I am hoping they will become sufficiently open to arrange in church for a wedding on saturday.

There's a glimmer of hope.

Day 2:The Making of the Paper

Pull out the silk fibres and lay them on a suitable mesh Use a spray bottle (old antibacterial cleaner for example) to spray with adhesive. You can use cellulose paste for a soft water soluble finish, or dilute pva for a more enduring finish.

Fold mesh over on top of the fibres

Rub with spoon to push the glue into the fibres. It must be wet right through. Of course I used my best soupspoon for blog purposes ..couldn't be bothered going upstairs to find bag of old spoons.You might need to turn it over and add more glue.

Finished piece can be lifted off the mesh and left to dry. If you want a straight edge fold the wispy bits in while its wet.

Use different types of silk and soya fibres for different textures.

All the pale greens..looks a bit like cabbage in the photo but its very nice..honestly and makes a lovely base for machine embroidery.