Dyed Wool Versus Undyed Wool

I've noticed something really interesting about dyed wool versus natural wool. It is just like going to the beauty salon and coloring you hair. The coloring treatment leaves your hair super shiny and smooth. Natural wool fibers smooth out when they are dyed. I have found it much easier to create a super fine cobweb felt using dyed fiber. The natural wool has more crimp left in each fiber and when felted it makes the finished textile bulkier.

The Purse That Should Have Been A Tote Bag

I laid out wool on a mold to make a flat bottomed tote bag...

And then I felted it with Dr. Bronner's organic soap and water. But after fulling it and shocking it it was too small for a 3 ring binder, so now with the addition of a repurposed belt it is a flat bottomed bucket purse.

Three Dimensional Objects

I'm getting more and more interested in three dimensional felted objects. The "birch tree" bag was felted around an oversized bleach bottle. Now I'm eyeing one of those big orange gatorade dispensers like sports teams use for a larger cylindrical bag. And the styrofoam container Omaha Steaks ships things in. Nothing is safe from becoming a mold!

Felted Purses

Here are three of the purses I made for the Denton Craft Show. They all are inspired by nature. Pebbles in a riverbed, the littoral area at the beach, and a birch tree. The birch tree is nuno felted on linen.

More Cobweb Felt Scarves

I love the sheen the bombyx adds to the matte merino wool on these cobweb felt scarves. Everything is getting polka dots these days. It must be polka dot season.

Normally I only make one of a kind items, but I just had to keep this scarf so I made another one like it to sell at the DHS craft fair in Denton, TX. The wool was dip dyed and ranges from a bright scarlet to a deep burgundy. The polka dots are prefelt laid on top of the red roving.

Unfelted Pebbled Purse

This is the start of a purse with gray prefelt pebbles. I want it to look like river stones when it is finished. It has a two resists, so it will have an interior pocket when it is felted.

Blue and Brown Cobweb Felt

These two cobweb felted scarves are in Salisbury, Maryland at Enza's Organics. Go by and check them out!

Peter Pan Slippers

These merino slippers are not as shiny as the flash makes them look. The diamond sewn on the front accents the blue silk fibers felted into the wool.

Night Sky Cobweb Felt

Mmmmm, I love these colors. All the thunderstorm-at-night colors felted together with shiny bombyx silk like bolts of lightning.

Other People's Work

Last night on flikr I found some amazing work by feltedpleasure. Check out her seamless hooded jacket with the amazing texture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltedpleasure/5122601081/in/set-72157623560029245/

Her work is inspirational. Check out her Etsy store, too: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FeltedPleasure

I love seeing other people's inspiring work. Check out some felted woolies in this Etsy treasury:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cd57b8510bd8eef90b22880/felted-woolies?index=0

Sample Bag from Class

Recently my sister wanted to learn how to felt a purse using a resist. I made this small bag in the process. It has a small felted pocket inside for a driver's license or something else small. It is made from merino wool.

Natural Colors

Undyed natural merino fiber with tussah silk.

Autumn Colors

Fall colors on upcycled silk.

Here are some of the Tangled Fibers for sale at Parker Place. I need to make fewer blue and green scarves and add more earth tones. I have several ideas running around my mind that I'll start laying out tomorrow.

Here are my tables at the Beauty & Wellness Fall Festival in Fort Worth, Texas. Thanks to Sharon from Parker Place Skincare for putting on such a nice event.

Even though we had heavy rain and threats of hail and tornados people came out. I sold quite a few scarves. My two favorites sold first thing in the morning.

Shirtfront Bag

I wanted to use the placket front of a shirt with the buttons on in a project. The curly locks are needle felted on. I might do another one of these in different colors.

Silk Hankies

This cobweb felt is blue silk with blue and brown merino. The brown looks almost black. Using silk hankies laid out in squares gives one side of the scarf a geometric pattern and a strength to the matrix of fiber.

Cobweb Felt

I've been making cobweb felt. This green one is silk & merino. It is so fine I pulled it through my wedding band.

Aqua Poppies

Aqua poppies on camel background with dark brown spots. Merino nuno felted on silk organza.

Beaded Cashgora

The silk organza in this scarf is from an upcycled skirt. The white roving is cashgora, which is exceptionally soft. It was a bit like working with alpaca, but it felted better.

Slippers! The blue roving is sandwiched between layers of natural grey and then exposed by carefully cutting away the top layer of grey. I did the cutting after the slippers were fulled.

Art Yarn Spirals

Here is a detail of the spirals.

Multi colored art yarn in a spiral pattern sandwiched within pale green roving on pale green silk.

Upcycled Sari

I upcycled a sari and wet felted red merino and various gold fibers into it.

Endless Scarf

This nuno felted scarf is a gigantic, continuous loop. It's made from the bottom edge of an upcycled skirt. The wool side reminds me of a subtle Pucci print.

Pink Ombre

Pink and white polka dots with wool and silk ombre effect. The silk is dip dyed and the wool is three shades of pink blended to a nice fade.

Nuno Felting on Upcycled Fabric

This is an upcycled skirt with embroidery and beads nuno felted with polka dots. Searching out interesting silk fabric to upcycle is a treasure hunt. This skirt with it's embroidery and beadwork was a real find.

Each polka dot is a small felt ball of merino wool. I added an ombre effect to the length of the scarf in the yellow.

Coming soon: scarves at Parker Place Skin Care! Check out Sharon's site for more info on making yourself more beautiful: http://www.parkerplace1.com/

I've been busy busy getting ready for two craft fairs and an open house. The DHS fair in Denton, Texas is the last one of the year and looks to be the biggest. I need lots of inventory on hand to make sure I still have things for the sale there.

The open house in two weeks is a beauty and wellness fall festival hosted by Parker Place Skin Care in Fort Worth, TX. What better way to look more beautiful than to draw the eye up toward your face with a lovely nuno felted scarf!

My work is also available at Enza's in Salisbury, Maryland. http://enzasorganics.com/ Check out her salon for scrumptious organic hair care products.

All of this means lots of felting going on.

Pick and Choose

A friend down the road raises goats and keeps two llamas to keep the coyotes away. He sheared his llamas last week and gave me the fleeces to use for felting. I started picking out the vegetative matter and feces, which took forever. Then I pulled out the guard hairs and washed what was left. I'm not sure the juice is worth the squeeze!

When I lay out roving for a project I usually wait at least a day before felting the wool. Sometimes what looked good yesterday doesn't do a thing for me today. In this case, Coco Chanel's timeless advice made me remove the daisies.