Thanks Dawn, Nancy, Elizabeth, Lois, Annie and Lyn for responding to my last post! I like the idea of making my own lables so I am going to look into designing one clearly giving the message I want to portray but in the interim I have ordered some iron/sew on lables just printed with my name and blog address. They are already on their way from local business MyStuff (great service, posted on the day I ordered them!), a company which I had never heard of before but Carmen discovered the other day. The only problem I had on the website was that while I wanted to order the large lables with 3 lines of print (name, blog address and tag line) and this should have been possible there was no form to do so. Obviously I could have rung the company but to be honest I am so short of time I just opted for the 2 lines of text and I can send them an email or ring another time if I haven’t got it together at that stage to make some myself.
Beautiful texture in the felted silk velvet
The weather improved yesterday and it is also dry at Clasheen today although for how long I ask myself considering the rain and wind we have been having for the last few days. I managed to take a couple of bad pictures of some framed pieces this morning so many apologies about the quality. The light is difficult to shoot accurate colours in and as I don’t have a light box or any professional equipment please bear with me. This piece is an abstract landscape, I absolutely adore the highly textured effect of the felted silk velvet! Interestingly Kim Winter posted about felting with silk velvet the other day on her great blog Flextiles and I read the post in the evening after I had spent the day finishing and framing my pieces. Great minds think alike??? I won’t say fools seldom differ! Anyway, like Kim I had previous experience or rather lack of successful experience when I experimented with felting velvet before. I know that it is possible to trap it by laying fibres over the top but wanting a clean surface I decided to try once more using silk velvet, I thought that this was what I used the last time but maybe it wasn’t, I had got the fabric as a present so didn’t know the exact fibre content. Initially I felted a few landscapes with only selected pieces of fabric but for this one used two larger pieces of velvet in a lighter and darker shade of hand dyed green.
Green Fields
I love the simplicity of the design and now am looking forward to stocking up on more fabric, probably from Jean Oliver of Oliver Twists when she brings her luscious supplies to the Dublin Knit and Stitch Show in November.
I also finished one more raw wool bag yesterday and felted another, busy huh? Below is a picture of the second bag (more in a little album on Facebook), this time with inside pocket, fabulous large vintage button closure and felt handle stitched in. The third bag that I felted this week used the same resist as the second. The finished size is a little smaller however because when I removed the resist I cut into the felt in such a way as to include an integrated handle, pictures of this bag when it is dry and has a closure fitted.
Jacob's sheep bag with flap and large vintage button closure
Today I have been procrastinating but unfortunately I can’t for much longer, I’m supposed to be doing my accounts for the year up to December 2010 but I HATE paperwork! I also need to go and vote in our Presidential election, we have 2 referenda to vote on too so I better get my finger out and log off this computer pdq!!!
Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles 
Hey Nicola – great minds do indeed think alike! Must be something to do with the cold rainy weather (hope it clears up there soon)!
Your velvet pieces are gorgeous – just the textured effect I was after. What kind of wool did you lay it on? Did you full it with a washboard or bubble wrap on the velvet side or on the other side?
Sorry about all the questions, but I’m determined to get there eventually! Maybe bigger pieces of velvet work better, as there’s more surface area to attach?
Kim
x
That was a quick comment Kim! I felted the velvet between bubble wrap as usual with 2 layers of merino on the reverse. Initially I rubbed both sides gently but firmly for quite a while between the plastic making sure to keep the package moist and soapy. Probably I rubbed on the reverse for longer that the pile side and then I didn’t roll for too long, just enough to get the texture I wanted and I didn’t throw at all, the rubbing did most of the work! Hope this helps.
Thanks Nicola! Will have another go, perhaps on flat felt rather than a pot.
One of these days I will learn to walk before I can run! 😉
Cool bag Nicola – LOVE it! Jacob fleeces are so pretty 🙂
I love your abstract landscape too.. It could be that your previous ‘silk’ velvet that didnt felt so easily was a silk blend.. maybe silk/viscose. Pure silk velvet melts in so much easier.. but can be harder to get hold of. I know I had a hell of a game finding some last year, it was easy enough to find silk blend but pure silk was like hens teeth.
x
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Good morning Nicola,
Hope that by now your paperwork is all taken care of…Enough to give a person a headache, isn’t it? I go through the same thing at tax time….ugggghhhh…don’t even want to think about it!
I love your beautiful “Green Fields” creation…It’s gorgeous!!!!!! As well as your fantastic Jacob’s fleece bag. Glad that you’re finding time to be creative in the midst of the paperwork chaos…Helps with the sanity, doesn’t it?
Hugs,
Dawn
I put labels in my work and I think it makes a big difference to the customer. I love that textural element of the velvet and the bag looks like so much fun. Would love to be over there chatting with you all about felt again.
Hi Nicola
i llike the green fields pic it looks cool maybe you might need a better backround but a part from that it is good