Felting Picspam

[apollinav]

~feels accomplished~

Today I looked at my last picspam post and I realized how much progress I've made since April.  I can now identify my wool breeds by touch.  I'm dyeing my own raw wool, raw silk, and raw bamboo fibers.  I'm slowly mastering three techniques - wet felting, nuno felting, and needle felting.  And I'm able to look at wool roving and know roughly what my finished piece will look like - sometimes I'm able to make that happen. 

I've progressed a fair bit since my erm... 'lump o' wool' disaster, so I figured I'd share a handful of pics with you.

Picspam cut.

 

The first is undyed alpaca with curled locks of unprocessed wool for texture.
The second nubbly falklands wool. It was a really slow felter, but it's very nice.

Here's another alpaca bag, and you can see the lining I put into it.  The bottom is decorated with a hodgepodge of wools, silk and glitz.
*grins*  I SOLD this bag.  *dances*

Elf booties.  I can't help myself.  I think the next pair needs a really big curl and a bell.

Both scarves are felted in the spiderweb technique, but using different wool breeds.  I think you can see how the blue/green one drapes much softer - it's primarily merino, bamboo, and silk.  The rainbow is lusterous and a combination of wensleydale and dorset sheep.

The first pic is of habotai silk I dyed this morning - I haven't decided if I'm going to nuno felt it or leave as-is.  The second scarf is really long, so I've doubled it up, but it is amazingly gorgeous blue faced leicester wool.

Both of these were done in the nuno felt technique of laminating wool to silk.  The first is silk habotai and the second is silk chiffon.  I have a lot of nuno felted pieces in the works right now, but it takes sooo long to complete a project.  They're done in stages.  This is really one area where I want to concentrate my efforts to learn new tricks.  Nuno felting is very versatile.

Well, I think that's all the picspam I'll unload on you today.  I'm about to crate off a mess of handbags and scarves to the museum and I hope they sell well.  *crosses fingers*  The more bags I sell... the more wool I can purchase... it's a vicious cycle.

And this is where it all starts:


 

 

Comments

[clairvoyant12.livejournal.com]

Your pieces are all so beautiful. I'm so impressed. This makes me want to learn a new craft. Which one in particular, I don't know, but you are very imspirational, AV. :D

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Thank you babe! Any in particular strike your fancy? I have a small something-something I want to send you, to say a very (ugly belated) thank you for Crooksy, but sending you a felt piece would also be my pleasure.

[beffeysue.livejournal.com]

Those pieces are lovely. I know nothing about felting so I'm talking through my proverbial hat, but I think shaping the booties is the most amazing thing! Do you use a form or some such?

You iz one talented woman!

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

They're done with a resist method. You take the shape of the foot, add a half inch to all sides, then cut it out of a material that won't felt. I use craft foam. From there you build up the felt like one would normally do - it's the same process as the purses. But when you snip it open and remove the resist, you want to concentrate your fulling on smoothing and shaping it. There are some great videos on youtube if you're interested.

[shefa.livejournal.com]

These are just gorgeous. Wow.

I honestly don't even know which I like most. The scarves are amazing... the shoes... the bags. *admires

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Why thank you!

[morethansirius.livejournal.com]

Wow! I'm having major scarf lust right now. They are gorgeous! Love the bags and booties, too. I could definitely see those in a jester's style with curled toes and bells!

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Thank you MTS. I think I've got how to do the curl figured out in my head. If I'm successful, I'll post pics. If I'm not successful, I'll hide all the evidence...

[karelia.livejournal.com]

Wow, such beauties! I absolutely adore the elf boots! <3

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Awe, thank you Lady_K!

The elf booties are so much fun too - not really to sell, I'd have to have one in every size, but they're so much fun to make. I haven't yet, but they'll be coated with natual rubber on the feet so I can piddle around the house in them without busting my keister.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

I am amazed and I never even knew tis craft existed.

Meanwhile- I am learning reverse taxidermy. LOL

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Thank you! LOL - about that reverse taxidermy - I was looking at the pics of your laid out feathers and I just knew how many hours you have left to go. I'll be very disappointed if you don't document this for some kind of costume-con contest later on.

Oh, and it hit me.

Vultures. Birds of Carrion. The ORIGINAL Death Eaters.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

I havent been documenting it. Most contests I am are for "pride". I tried entering patternreview.com contests. No luck. I am competing in day wear for one, and more experienced seamstresses.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

I was thinking more along the lines of a con event competition - I'm sure there's something more appropriate for you than patternreview. I don't know how appreciative they are of 'fantasy themed' submissions, but your work definitely merits recognition.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

HP cons have no costume contests. If there is going to be one, I'd probably have to organize it. If I organize it, I'd probably be stuck judging it, which means I can't enter it. HP cons never have had an offical costume contest.

At prophecy there was a sort of one, but the DJ wasn't supposed to do it.

Dragon con is different, but that's 40,000 people. I am a rank AMATURE compared to those people. But Snape won one year at the yule ball. I won second place as dumbledore, even though my hubby as the dark lord was MUCH better.

Bottom line, fan appreciation is what matters. Contests and competions can be political or "stacked". Example Dragon con has fair rules, but a novice contest entry could be someone who has made costumes professionally for 10 years. I am self taught and been at it for 3, and work a day job. I've seen that level work, I don't even bother entering those. But I did once for the experience of it. I am glad I did. I don't envy the judges and the winners really deserved to win. =)

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point. *sigh* You're just putting so much work/effort into it. The natural teacher in me is screaming 'document it for posterity' 'document it to teach it' 'document it for credit.' And everytime I hear you mention, 'it only has to survive one event,' I cringe. To think it might not survive - that's tragic.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

Parts will survive, but hats are fussy things. It's the feathers and all...I am not sure how this thing is going to play out.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

If it doesn't survive, we will have to plan a proper buriel.

I'll bring the wine.

[mollyssister.livejournal.com]

Well done you! I am impressed with your fabric arts. Also I think curly toed elf slippers are essential.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you!

Curly toed elf slippers are definitely high on the priority list.

[m-mcgonagall-65.livejournal.com]

The scarves seem especially beautiful to me. I know nothing about this craft, so I think you must be especially talented to pick it up and learn it.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

LOL - well, since you know nothing of the craft, I'll tell you that I'm a Master at it and everything you see is perfect.

But since I'm a terrible liar, I'll let you know that I haven't been doing this very long, and I hope that if I keep plugging at it and learning more, I'll eventually get there.

It's not difficult to learn. You're layering wisps of felt perpendicular and using water, soap, and friction to mesh the fibers. It's technique, technique, technique that matters.

[christev.livejournal.com]

Wow - yes, I can see how your felted projects are getting a lot more sophisticated. Those slippers are adorable, but the scarves are to die for!

Well done, babe! :D

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Thanks V. I just keep plugging at it. Those slippers were made using the resist method I was wailing about a couple of months ago when I had a major felting failure.

[mischievous-t.livejournal.com]

I must have a pair of the booties! And the long, doubled over scarf is MINE! M.I.N.E.

Let me know what I owe you.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

K. Easily done. I still have some of that blue faced leicster wool from the scarf left over. Enough to use on booties. Email me sweetie.

[junewilliams7.livejournal.com]

Whoa, those scarves are to die for! I didn't know you were a silk artist as well as a makeup, hat, mask, costume artist. I expect the museum to sell all of these!

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Oh, well, that would be because I have a low attention span - so I craft-hop. But I'm concentrating efforts in wool now, because I'd like to get really really good at it instead of just proficient. Wool is a broad enough medium to satisfy my 'ooh shiny' tendencies.

[junewilliams7.livejournal.com]

Just the dyed silk without felting is gorgeous. 'ooh shiny' indeed!

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Ah, well dyeing the silk has turned out to be the easiest part of the process. The habotai comes from Dharma trading and the dyes are from Jacquard. Add some water and white vinegar in a non-food crockpot, set it to low - and presto!

[orange-crush42.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are lovely! Do you have an Etsy shop where those can be bought?

Also: I've been knitting for years, and have recently started getting into the yarn-making process, so I have ever so much respect for you for doing this so well.

Right now, I have a huge garbage bag full of raw alpaca fur. And when I say "raw", I mean it has like sticks and leaves in it. But putting your hand in that bag is like petting a cloud (albeit a brown cloud that smells like alfalfa).

I took a big chunk of it to my friend's house last month to use her drum carding machine, and the alpaca turned out so nice and fluffy. After I get it all carded, I'm going to try my hand at spinning. Just got a drop spindle, and a friend of mine showed me how to use it to make two-ply yarn. So wish me luck! Hopefully it'll turn out a quarter as gorgeous as your yarn. :D

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

I've been selling locally and have been behind in orders, so I haven't put anything on Etsy, though I might some day. Spinning, especially on a drop spindle is a really intensive process, but it uses the same wool roving as felting. There are places that you can send the raw wool to be processed. You want to wash it first and get all the VM out before carding it, but at least she has a drum carder. Check out Zeillingers website, their processing prices aren't bad.

But if there's nothing else that you do, take the alpaca out of the garbage bag and put it into a breathable cotton pillow case. The raw wool can sweat in a plastic bag and before you know it, you could wind up with an unusable smelly lump.

Good luck on your spinning!

OT: The SSHG Quiz

[morethansirius.livejournal.com]

Valentine's Day is coming and that means a special SSHG Quiz! The fangirls voted to have Hermione propose to Severus and in your story, The Gilded Cage, she does just that. No doubt you will recognize quote #5. Please accept our Valentine's Day banner as our thank you for your story.

Your Featured Author banner

Come play the SSHG Valentine Quiz!

Re: OT: The SSHG Quiz

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Weee! Adores you.

*hufflehugs*