July 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

Needlefelt Demo by Kerry Bertucci

Kerry set up a beautiful display of samples of work that she had made which demonstrated the the process of needlefelting . Some items were made  combining  needlefelting together with wetfelting. Many of the 3D forms were started by making the base from foam or an armature for support and form. Other shapes were made using a resist  which was then stuffed with wadding or wool or a combination of both.

Natural wool (with lanolin) could be used if you want a hard base shape. Combed and cut wool was then applied to the base shape for building up the surface detail. Kerry had various small embellishments , tools and tips to achieve the detail of the finished items including ways to display them. She also had a selection of reference books on the subject. Judith Shaw complimented Kerry on her most informative demonstration.

Toss + Tell

Alison attended the workshop at the Fibreswest where she learned various techniques of folding felt. She showed us her blue ribbed nautilus shell.

Sue Eslick showed the delightful  and practical oven mits and gloves that she made at the Muresk Retreat. Her little granddaughter was the lucky recipient of a charming hat. She stitched a band inside to make the hat smaller to fit properly. The felted jacket that she wore was also much admired.

Vimon  brought some unique needlefelted  pieces that she has made. Her attention to detail and form are most impressive with a sense of fun as well. 1. Female warrior     2. Dog  3.Acrobatic doll ( wire armature), Love Doll with gold thread embroidery and wet felted dress.

Liz Odd  made a man’s scarf in tones of midnight blue. Lesson: Because she had laid her wool so finely it shrank to half the starting length, but the end result was a very fine product. She also made a black frill scarf using black silk, textured fabric and black wool.

Pat attended Sue’s Bag Workshop and made a charming wine/red bag with black embellishments and handle.

Karen Wood made an elegant shaded brown/lilac scarf with silk wool felby scraps.

Vera brought photographs of various lamps and lampshades that she has made recently. The lamp bases are custom carved by her husband. She also made an orange mohair and silk knitted scarf. She then tied numerous balls at each end, after which it was washed twice in the washing machine to create a shibori effect.

Stacey attended Sue’s Bag Workshop and brought her bag made in shades of natural wool, finished with an artistic embellishment of contrasting natural wool and cord handle. She also showed us samples, creating undulations, that she had made during an online course run by Pam de Groot  including a shibori experiment.

Kerry attended the Fibreswest felt folding workshop where she made samples of various techniques incl. bracelet and “waterbomb” using different thicknesses. She also showed us 2 of her curved wool felted scarves in shades of blue denim into which she incorporated silkmesh and cotton fabric.    4 layers of wool were finely laid and the end product was light and draped well. Tip: she applied masking tape to the tassels that she did not want to felt in.

Jill made a beautiful nuno felted orange structured jacket . She first made the fabric of cotton voile and wool  and then cut it to her pattern and tailored and stitched the garment.

Juliette showed us her “Grass teapot” that she had made at Pam Mc Gregor’s workshop. She used Finnish wool  and silk lap Unfortunately the silk lap got lost in the wool which was disappointing but a good lesson all the same.

Liz Owens attended Sue’s Bag Workshop and made a delightful bag with  gussets and  handle all felted in 1 piece.

Judith Shaw made her scarf  using  butter muslin and fine quality white Alpaca wool on both sides. She subtly incorporated  small coloured flower shapes which were embedded in the wool .

Sara Quail also attended the Fibreswest felt folding workshop  where she learned techniques and  made a “waterbomb”, a bracelet/ toggle , a “ kaleidocycle” and a scarf = 5 days of hard work !

   June 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

Demo: Sara Quail incorporating silk carrier rods into felt.

Sara gave us a very comprehensive and informative talk on silk carrier rods and how to use them in our felting projects. It is a by- product of the reeling of silk. The filaments that adhere randomly to the rod of the equipment is cut off and that is what we call “carrier rods”. To use them you have to either roll them in your hands to soften it or else iron the product to flatten it. Each rod has many layers that can be separated, then stretched to open up the fibres to make them suitable to incorporate as surface design on your pre-felt. Sara showed numerous samples of ways of applying the rods to the surface, including making of silk paper and silk thread.

Toss + Tell

Kerry Bertucci wore a fine red shawl that she made with merino wool and drafted silk. She also displayed a shawl/wrap in shades of red that she had designed by 1^st drawing her pattern on an old discarded blanket to ensure that she got the correct drape that she wanted. She then enlarged the pattern according to the expected shrinkage. The end result was a reversible garment made of wool and silk fabric.

Vimol showed us 2 beautiful framed pictures. “The gum tree” was done with needle felting on a wool blanket and machine embroidery.  “The Pom Pom tree” was done with wet felting and then hand embroidered. Her work was finely executed and most attractive.

Kerry Grove showed us all the items that she completed at our recent Retreat weekend. She made samples, a phone bag and cord, a sari silk runner and a beautiful shawl. She certainly was busy at the Retreat!

Sue Eslick showed 3 beautiful nuno hats – 2 were very elegant and beautifully shaped. The 3^rd hat is unstructured, can be worn in various ways and can fold up into your pocket. Sue also designed a silk scarf/shawl made from pieces of silk stitched together. She then attached felted cords to 2 opposing corners and made a felt toggle to complete it.

Marion Finneran showed her bed throw that she made at the Retreat. It was in shades of blue and green wool with silk fabric and stitched surface design.

Marie J showed her red and black bag that she had made in Sue Eslick’s Bag Workshop. She also had made pretty flowers that can be used either as embellishments or brooches. She had also made 2 silk and wool “ocean scenes” that had been made for a project and planned to incorporate them into another project.

Sue Harrington made a fluffy striped rug using a coarse Corriedale wool mixture.

Virginia  made 2 scarves at the Retreat. The white one was made using a silk slushie (50%wool/50%silk). The nuno felted blue scarf had a surface design of circles.

Liz Odd showed us 2 silk and wool scarves/collars that were made using masking tape as a resist in order to curve the fabric to fit correctly around the neck.

Pat made a delightful silk and wool scarf at the Retreat in soft delicate pastel shades.

Martien van Zuilen showed us nuno mosaic hats and a bag made from merino, silk fabric and prefelt. She likes to make them soft enough to be able to turn and shape them on your head or use them as a bag if necessary! See her project in the latest Felt Magazine # 17. She also made various vessels using coiled hand felted cords and fine copper wire.

Alison Gomes made a fine merino wool scarf in an autumn rust colour. She applied black wool prefelts to the one side and discovered that the edges were drawn through the rust and created a lovely black line on the reverse side.

Karen W made a quirky green cushion cover with spikes at the Retreat as well as 2 mats.

Marie M made a stunning Opal coloured wrap at the Retreat using silk lap and wool. Because she was concerned that the colours were too bright she used black wool which toned down the colours. The colours ran and stained her hands. Very helpful to have made a sample before. Luckily she was using black wool so disaster was averted!

Sara Quail showed us her delicate white scarf which she made using her method called Doubly Deconstructed Nuno which was published in the current Felt Magazine #17.