Friends, Felting, and Fun.

The Felt-Together with friends was just what I needed; I think it was for some of the others as well. I always have this weird thought before hand whenever I invite someone that they really don't want to come here but that they feel obligated because I invited them. I know it is not true but I still felt so good when everyone was thanking me for organizing this get together. It was a really good time! For these Felt-Together's there is a core group of five friends and we invite other friends to join us for the weekend of fun and felting. Since I have a small space for working in I only invite two additional friends. This time there were only five of us but it was just right. The alternate friend who came this time was Robin's sister Susan who was the spitfire of the group. It was so much fun to have these two sisters interacting with the typical big sister vs little sister banter and hear the family stories. I love the Blakney family!

Most of us worked on small jewelry-ish projects. My friend Joei worked on one of her nuno collage images. Unfortunately I only took one photo the entire time.

I did some experimenting. I had several yarns that I had never tried, one of which was a so called eyelash yarn. My beautiful (inside AND out) friend Cher wore a lovely felt garment that had some of that type of yarn. I loved the effect when it is covered with a layer of wool. Some of the fringe ends come through the wool layers and some form loops.

I also experimented more with some wire mesh I bought on clearance a while ago. I really did not know then if it would felt in but it was shiny and on clearance so how could I resist? It works amazingly well. 

I used some to encase a glass gem that was another long ago shiny MUST purchase.

I also experimented with felting the pieces of silk that I painted and silk screened a bit ago. I really like that the inks act as a kind of resist so where there is more paint fewer of the fibers come through. This means that the piece can have several different textures even though it is one piece of cloth and one kind of wool. This will definitely get played with some more.

My bestest friend Joei spent an extra night here and when she asked me what I wanted to do next I told her I needed to start a bigger project. If the studio stayed too clean I would not be inclined to do anything since I would not want to make a mess. I seem to need a certain amount of mess to be able to create. Too much and I can't find anything...too little and I don't want to get anything out. I got out all my white stuff to make some lampshades. This had been on my to-do list for a long time...ever since taking the Illuminated Felt class with Sharon Costello. I love the light that comes through the felt, and we had some pretty ratty looking shades here that would be good to practice with. I finished two. I am happy with the felt but need to work on my proportions and shaping. Looking around at other lampshades here I realized that they all look odd if you are looking at the lamp and shade as separate pieces. These were stiffened with  Golden GAC 400 medium made for stiffening textiles.

I will end this post with photos of those growing chicks. I am really hoping that they are hens but I am starting to see signs that that may not be. But I won't really know unless they crow! They sure are interesting looking with a mix of Silkie feathers with Ameraucana feathers. 

This photo looks like they are getting a talking to from one of the moms.