White on white, not the result I was looking for

On Friday afternoon I felted a little white on white bag incorporating some lovely vintage lace which I got at The Tim Thimble last year. The lace incorporated really well into the merino roving I used, I didn’t however like the finished result anything like as much as I had been hoping, the ruffles (created with resists) worked well but visually the lace disappeared too much into the main body of the bag. Thanks to a comment from Andrea via Facebook I decided to dye it in the microwave using some Neon food colouring, success! More anon …..

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Join Horst in Ireland and design, felt and dye your own unique duster or jacket!!!!! We should get time to make a sleeveless top, matching bag or funky wrap too!!!!!!!

Well, at last I have the details ready for Horst’s amazing workshop here in Ireland!  I am so lucky to have had the experience with Dawn last year when we spent time with him at his home in Ohio, I just know that it is going to be amazing for all of us in Ireland that we are the first stop on Horst’s first trip to Europe!!!!!

Horst Couture

I had been wracking my brain trying to cover all eventualities and look at the pricing structure to keep the costs as affordable as possible for all potential participants.  We need space (which I have to hire) if a lot of us are going to be laying out large pieces all at the same time, we need countless kilos of white wool in order for everyone to make a duster or jacket (in addition to a second item!!!), we need good food to keep us all going, we need many metres of resist material, we need washing machines and dryers, we need electricity for the many sanders and we need a simple dying station where Horst will show us how he creates his beautiful colours!

I am thrilled to say that I finally think everything is sorted out and the price for the three day workshop including ALL materials will be 370 Euros, participants also have the option of a wonderful Spanish lunch each day and that will be an extra 10 Euros per person per day if chosen.  Considering that one of Horst’s amazing dusters may cost between $1800 and $2200 if purchased I think 370 Euros is a steal for the opportunity to work with him to create your very own wearable masterpiece!!!  Not only will participants design and felt their own duster (or short jacket if they prefer), using Horst’s methods everyone should also have time to felt either a sleeveless vest or possibly a funky bag or wrap too!!!!! 

The workshops will take place from Friday 17th June to Sunday 19th June and times will be from 10 am until approx 5 pm each day.  We may decide to start earlier for the second and third days but that will be a decision taken collectively once the workshop starts, I don’t want anyone to feel under pressure but I do want everyone to be able to complete at least one absolutely stunning garment!!! 

Vest

Obviously it is an advantage to have felting experience but because of the way Horst works if anyone is just starting out as a felter please don’t hesitate to join us, you will be amazed at what you can create under Horst’s watchful eye!  I now need to email everyone individually who has already expressed an interest in attending, for everyone else spaces are strictly limited so please email me asap if you would like the chance to join us at Clasheen.  One last note, the workshop venue will be near my studio but not actually here at my house.  We need SPACE for this workshop so I have a provisional venue booked close at hand, next week I will be making sure that everything is up to speed, the details will all go on the workshop page then but for now, BOOKING IS UNDERWAY!!!!!

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Announcing felt bag workshop at Clasheen and some pictures from Borris Active Retirement!

Not so simple, not so complex, I am delighted to announce that I will be facilitating a ‘felt bag workshop’ here at Clasheen on Saturday 19th March!  This is the perfect opportunity for improving felters to explore the possibilities of designing bags with integrated handles, pockets, flaps and interesting closures.  We will discuss and examine some of my own work and then each participant will design and felt a small or medium sized bag of their own!  Please check out the workshop page for further details and email me asap if you would like to attend this workshop, I have only 3 places left!!!

Mena having a laugh with Dorothy and Mary while working on her first felt beret!

I am a little tired today both mentally and physically, all morning I have been fine tuning several proposals and still haven’t unloaded the truck from yesterday’s session with the Borris Active Retirement Group!  Before I head off to do that now I am going to leave you with a fun picture and if you head over to Flickr you will see some more images of the beautiful work all these ladies are creating!!!

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Lovely felt flowers and beginners day long felting workshop at Clasheen next Saturday!

Yesterday afternoon first time felter and expert chef Aine McAteer popped over with her sister Helena (Helena and I both started felting with Carmen at the same time!!!) to join Cristina and I in an afternoon of felting magic.  Helena worked on a hat, Cristina plotted and designed a dress/skirt while I showed Aine how to make felt flowers and I must say she was an excellent student!  Because Aine is organising and hosting a week of raw food classes with Marie Pavillard from 14th – 18th in Wicklow she won’t be able to join us next weekend but we are planning a couple of intensive workshops prior to her departure home to Malibu at the end of the month, (contact her directly if you are interested in more info re. the raw food classes).

Aine's wonderful flowers

For those of you who might be free next Saturday I am hosting a beginners day long felting workshop here at Clasheen so if you would like to explore this fascinating craft in a fun and friendly environment why not come along and join me?  The day will start with a quick chat about the basics over a cup of coffee/tea and then we will roll up our sleeves and get stuck in and create a beautiful colourful piece of flat felt.  It is always amazing to watch the reactions of beginners/improvers as a loose and fluffy wad of fibres changes to become a beautiful and strong piece of fabric.  In the afternoon we will work on a second piece which can either be framed, stitched into a clutch bag, used as an insulated pot stand or maybe wrapped around a diary or notebook to create a colourful cover.  Please let me know asap if you would like to reserve a spot, the cost for the full day (felting from 10am until approx 4pm) is E75 including all materials, tea/coffee and cold drinks are freely available all day but participants are asked to bring their own packed lunch.  If you are interested in more information just email me for extra details and directions.

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Pictures of a little felt clutch

Yesterday Alan and I spent a wonderful afternoon and evening enjoying a Christmas get together with friends.  I wanted to make our hostess a little felt gift and decided on a clutch with raised detail in a beautiful plum and cerise two sided felt. 

Clutch purse with raised detail

I  have to stress that I don’t actually like stitching yet and seriously doubt that I will ever but working using the method Vanda taught the result for me is definitely worth a sore neck and a lot of curses!  Although the end result looks deceptively simple there is a lot of work involved in making a piece even one so small as this clutch.  Aside from the fact that the two sided felt is worked from up to 10 layers of wool a lot of attention needs to be paid when stitching the raised areas, the seams have two different stitches and the bound edges a kind of woven topped blanket style (my words, not Vanda’s!).  For this piece I wanted to experiment with forming the purse from the one piece of felt and not stitching seperate pieces together as I have previously done for my other bags.  The flap is also integrated into the purse and I had wondered if it would be possible to get a good shape where it folds over due to the thickness and rigidity of the felt.  This didn’t prove to be a problem however as once I washed the area where detail was raised (to remove the pencil guidelines) it was not difficult to fold the flap while wet and dry the purse slowly to achieve the top edge.  Anyway, I definitely will make some more styles of this clutch as I feel they have a miriad of uses, camera, phone, money or make up! 

Stitching still not perfect but I can live in hope!

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Stocking up and (almost) a couple of pictures as promised!

Although the last lot of snow has almost melted everywhere forecasts predict heavy falls here again from tomorrow afternoon starting in the West of Ireland today.  I have spent this morning stocking up on meat for my freezer, going to the bank, posting some parcels for across the water, carrying in kindling and in a nutshell getting essential duties out of the way in case I get totally snowed in once more!  The temperature has dropped by at least several degrees since I got up, the sky has darkened dramatically and the wind is now blowing strongly making it difficult to take any successful pictures of felt created to post to Flickr or here on the blog. 

I JUST DON’T BELIEVE IT!!!!!  Heavy hail/sleet is now assaulting the house so I am very glad I made the effort to drive to Borris this morning!

Anyway, enough talking.  Here are two pictures (or maybe not!!!) taken in the gloomy outdoors, my latest Vanda Robert inspired bag and a gorgeous light weight nuno felt wrap.  For the bag I used some 50% gotland 50% merino blended wool batts from Denmark and another similar quality wool (think it might also be the same combo although I bought it on a different trip from a different supplier) in wonderful shades of Autumn.  I added some leather leaves and a horn button (all gathered from various trips to US!) and finished it with a cord handle which I made using some wonderful hand dyed silk yarn by Jamie of Urban Fauna Studio in San Fransisco.    The wrap is felted from some of my Cloverleaf Farms hand dyed merino and silk hankies, the cotton cheesecloth I dyed with Rite under the supervision of Sharon at The Tin Thimble in Loomis, CA.  Pretty cosmopolitan bag and wrap don’t you think?  OK, you are going to have to look at my Flickr photos to see the bag and wrap because for some reason WordPress has lost the run of itself and my whole visuals jumped all over the place when I uploaded the photos.  First time of trying they wern’t visable at all and then the second time previous posts went into the sidebars but the images still weren’t where I wanted them.  Sorry!

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Felt bags, slippers, order arrives and snow melting after 17 days!

Spent a happy day felting and stitching with Carmen today, bags and more bags, photos tomorrow. Yesterday I managed to drive down my road for the first time in 17 days, snow currently melting but loads forecast for weekend and into next week again. Oil arrived yesterday, my wool has arrived, I stocked up with fuel for my stove and had the last session with Borris Active Retirement. Check out the wonderful booties Dorothy made for her little grandaughter’s Christmas presents by clicking on my Flickr link to the right! Will write a proper post tomorrow on the computer, sending this via my phone!

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Felt and frustration!!!

Another felt bag with relief stitching

UUGH,  I am SO frustrated!!!  I wrote a post yesterday afternoon in the freezing cold but for some reason the internet connection went down and I couldn’t add images or get it online.  Just now I have rewritten the whole thing, added some pictures and then lost everything in the publication, how annoying is that.  Unfortunately I am going to have to head downstairs again in a few minutes because it is absolutely freezing upstairs and I am trying to eek out my oil and just heat the lower level.  I am now snowed in for a total of 12 days and counting, amazing for Ireland in late November early December although probably just as well that I lagged my water filter with some felt otherwise things could be a lot worse than they already are!

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of another felt bag a la Vanda Robert completed during my enforced incarceration and if you pop on over to Flickr you will find some more as well as a few pictures of the beautiful landscape at Clasheen in the snow. 

Detail showing stitching at the top and how the leather handles are attached

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Sewn felt bag

Internet connectivity difficulties persist so hopefully this quick post will beat the rot, it is also FREEZING upstairs where the computer is and I am trying to save my oil for keeping the downstairs warm incl. my studio!

Sewn felt bag with red leather handles

 

I am trying to felt as much as possible during the day, 1 to utilise the fibres in my stash, 2 to continue making Christmas presents, 3 to experiment with different designs and 4 just for the hell of it because I love to!  Part of the benefit of limiting myself to the materials at hand and being confined to base is that I find I am trying to make sure every piece of felt ends up in a finished product and not just the pieces that I am happiest with.  The bag on the left was felted on Tuesday afternoon and started as yardage for felt slippers (tutorial and kit in the making).  When I assessed the design yesterday morning I actually thought that it would be a pity to cut it up too much and decided it would make a much nicer bag for carrying files, books etc.  if only I could get my sewing machine out and bite the bullet on the stitching side of things.  At the time I thought that I had one set of black leather handles left but imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had no black left but instead the most perfect red imaginable to finish this project!  One bag later and not too much stress with the sewing machine I now am planning some Icelandic wool cushion covers and some more bags with both felt and leather handles.  As you know I usually only felt bags using a resist but there is something soothing and mindless about creating felt yardage and for some reason the mood I am in with all this snow this activity seems to suit me perfectly and I think that stretching myself with a bit of sewing in no bad thing either!

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Vanda’s bag making workshop concluded

It was very interesting to see everyones stitching starting to take shape and by the end of the second day I had my relief work finished and was ready to start assembling and stitching my bag first thing on Sunday morning. 

Vanda's red bag and Chris's blue/grey bag in progress

I really liked the way we learnt how to use a type of herringbone stitch to join the back edges of the seams together (remember the seams are very thick, ten layers of wool!) and then used a different stitch to join the front edges, this should have been almost invisible but I think that I need a little more practice if not a lot!  Surprisingly I enjoyed this part of the sewing quite a bit, probably because I could really see my bag coming together and I have to say I was liking the result!!!  Once all the pieces were stitched together it was time to sew a fancy border around the top edge before making/attaching a cord or in my case leather handles.  I found the stitch for the top edge really impossible to get even and it was not doing anything for the bag so Vanda suggested making a cord instead (twisting threads together and allowing them to wrap back on themselves) which I did in a silvery grey and black wool.  Once this was in place all that remained was to add my leather handles, these were a GREAT find in Rhinebeck, more about my favourite suppliers from there in the next post!  All that remains now is to say a big thank you to Carmen for organising such a wonderful workshop, I will be back!!!

The finished bag!

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