More Dyed Gotland Fibre

I'm lovin dyeing this fibre, its so easy to work with, takes the dye really well and spins up lovely. Still using my drop spindle i dont know if i'll ever use a wheel.


This first one i dyed 2 different lots. One in pink and green and the other in purple and pink and then plyed them both together. I really like the way it turned out.


This one was a dark grey natural Gotland that i over dyed in a blue-green and light-green and this is how is came out. A bit darker than i thought but it was pretty dark to begin with so it still took the dye really well.

Romney Fibre

This is Romney Fibre that i spun up on my drop spindle, in its natural white color and then Dyed in my favorite colors after. That is the first time dying and spinning this way i usually dye first and then spin. Not sure why but i love this romney fleece, its so easy to work with and i love those colors.

Bit of a Yarn

Its been a while again since the last post, why does life have to get in the way of craft/art lol

I was inspired the other day to do some more spindle spinning by Jude (judelicious) on flickr. She's just learning to and her yarn is gorgeous.

I had to spin some myself to and this is hand washed ,dyed ,carded and spun on a spindle merino x borderleicester multi-colored and plyed with pink merino. I really love the colors and my favorite at the moment is all greens mixed with all pinks. Very old world and gorgeous.

Finally some Needle Felting

Well its taken a while but i think i'm finally out of my blues. OOOOOOO that was bad lol
Now this week i've been so into needle felting again and its so good, this girl is what came out and i really like her.
She has a core of Merino and her outlayer is Romney, her clothes are my dyed Gotland and her hair is one of the first yarns i spun on my hand spindle. She stand 18inch tall.
I think SKY is a nice name for her, what do you think.

Gotland Fleece

I just had my order of Gotland Fleece and Romny arrive so had to dye a bit of the Gotland to see how it came out. I'm pretty happy with it although i'm not sure what to do with yet. I might try to spin some up on the spindle and see how it comes out.

FELT AROUND THE WORLD

Felt - intertwined, bound together, forever as one - United

2009 is the United Nation's International Year of Natural Fibres. On October 3rd, 2009 - feltmakers from around the globe will celebrate by joining together and displaying their felt. It will be the first annual International Felt Day.

Please follow this link to find out more and join in on the day, either with a group or by yourself

Lets get felting out there

http://www.feltunited.com/

Thankyou
http://www.elisv.nl/

Using a Diz

I've been trying to learn how to use a Diz to make rovings from my Drum Carder, i was having a bit of trouble so Ann from Shepherds Spring Farm sent me a small video to help out. Thankyou so much Ann you make it look so easy and now maybe my Bi-ceps wont get some much of a workout. lol
I've added it here so i hope it works

Ann gives a brief explaination here. Thankyou Ann
If it gets to hard to pull through the hole you have too much wool. Pull the diz up the wool and split the wool on the underside. You were probably moving across the drum to fast. The thicker the wool on the drum the slower you have to move across. The staple length will determine how far you can pull before you have go move your hand back down to grab the wool next to the diz. If you can manage to give it a twist while you are pulling you can pull longer, twist gives strength.

Dying Wool

I started out today trying to make rovings from my Drum Carder with a Diz, its a lot harder than it looks so if anyone has any suggestions for me i would be greatly appreciative.
After trying that i wanted to give my steamer a work out and see if i could produce some yummy colors steaming the wool for the first time. I have to say i'm super happy with the results, i love the colors, there hanging to dry and now because my rovings didnt turn out so good should i now go ahead and just run them back through the carder to smooth them out in their lengths, or should i just leave them alone and go a try again.



The Steamer in Action


I just love all the colors


Drying outside and they look as bright as they are.

This is one of our Demonstrations that Jude taught us at the fundraiser, I love making these flowers . My favorite is the green and white one, unfortunately though its not mine it was the one that Jude taught my daughter Shayna (13) how to make. She had a ball playing with Jude learning to Wet Felt. We'll definetely be making more and other flowers to. Love them

AN AMAZING WEEKEND

Well we have had an amazing weekend with this fundraiser, Not all has been sold but thats ok as im now going to set myself up at a couple of good craft markets here and sell the rest and i wont stop until its all sold.
So far we have raised (drum roll please) lol $1558.50 i think that is awesome for a weekends worth of work and ive had the best time ever. Meeting new people and learning new things, i've learnt so much this weekend it's been Brilliant.
Everything looked Fantastic all set up in the hall and i have to Thank Jude (judelicious) on the forum for taking time out to come down and help me for the first day and sleeping over the night before so we could set everything up perfectly Thankyou so much Jude, also like to thank Glynis (feltpets) for braving all that traffic and driving down to meet us and she bought Cakes , which was just what we needed to Thankyou so much Glynis.
I will put some photo's on of everything all set up but i just wanted to say Thankyou so much to everyone that has been involved in this event, your generosity is very much appreciated and without you all this would not have happened. So Thankyou Very Very Much from the bottom of my heart. This is something that will stay with me forever as i have loved every minute of it.
I'll keep informing everyone of sales as we go.
Until then i know that we have helped in some way
thankyou again


http://karensfeltworks.blogspot.com/2009/02/arrivals-for-our-fundraiser.html
Karen

I just joined Ravelry yesterday and what an awesome site that is i love it(thanks Mandie for the invite) so much to do and learn and i found a link for making coils in your yarn, so i just had to have a go. First up i used the wrong base yarn, something i spun and not nearly strong enough to do the whole yarn in coils so i just did one every 6-10 inches or so. Its a bit loose in spots and a bit thick or thin in other spots but i really love the effect and i'll definetely be trying again, I only have a drop spindle at the moment but oooooo i really need a wheel. This took me hours and hours lol
I'm so sorry about my camera, its so old and doesnt show up no-where near as well as in real life. But this just gives an idea. This is the yarn from the post below. :))

Thought i would have a change this week from the fundraiser and work (although i still have to go there) but the rest of the time i've been getting some dyeing done. This is practically locking myself away for 2 days and washing, dyeing and carding wool. I think i really needed the change, i've had the most peaceful time and my family have just left me to it.





Im trying to spin some yarn again, there's a few thick and thin spots and some nubbly bits but i love it anyway.

I'll try to ply this when its finished and see what happens.

AUSTRALIAN BUSH FIRE FUNDRAISER

CALLING ALL ARTIST'S & CRAFTERS

UPDATED FOR FUNDRAISER - OFFICIAL

I know most of you have seen the news in Australia about the worst event in our Australian History, bushfires have wiped out whole towns and caused so much carneige and distruction, Its the saddest time in our lives with so many people perishing in these fires as they came so quickly there was absolutely no time for some area's to be evacuated. Now Over 1800 homes lost and so many lives !!!!! fires are still burning now after almost 2 weeks so there is still a lot of concern.

I didnt really want to put any photo's up as the survivors have been through so much already. But ??

So now what to do, most of us feel so helpless and unable to do a dam thing so i had a thought and after a few phone calls and the green light to go-ahead, i'm organising a fundraiser to help our survivors try to re-build there lives.

There were so many people on our FeltingForum that wanted to know what they could do to help , so this is what we've come up with.

As we live in a major tourist area we have organised (and registered in conjuction with the REDCROSS) an ARTIST OFFERING FUNDRAISER to be held in one of our busiest times of the year. Easter Weekend. were calling all Artist's to donate a piece of their art to be sold in this Fundraiser. As i am involved in the Forum but Live in Victoria Australia i am volunteering to be the collector and co-ordinator of all items. Anything that is sent will be LOGGED and registered and preciously looked after.

Would anyone wanting to donate items please put a small tag ( Link attached ) on everything , with your name and were your from, I think this should make it so much more special and buyers can see items donated from all around the world. The deadline will have to be Friday the 3rd of April to allow me those few days in the next week to set everything up. and it will start on Easter Good Friday the 10th of April, and will be run for 3 days. I have had a fantastic Venue Donated by our Masonic Lodge Committee and the Feedback and Support i have recieved from this so far as been amazing with so many people wanting and needing to help.

Please rest assured that any items you send will be extremely well looked after.

Thankyou so much for reading this, if you would like to contact me then please feel free , also if you could add this link to your blogs to spread the word, that would be AWESOME

To Send your Art Work the details are

Karen Erickson

C/O Artist's Offering Fundraiser

P.O.Box 308

Cowes , Victoria

Australia 3922

Pricing your item is optional as we will price to sell.

Please print out tags and add to your donated art work

http://feltalive.fileburst.com/Item%20Identification%20Tags.pdf

Thankyou so Much

Learning to Spin on a Drop Spindle

I was never really interested in spinning yarn but just thought i would give it a go and
now i'm learning to spin, i love it,
Go Figure lol

These ones are just drying out at the moment with weights.
The pink is merino and the only one so far that i've plied, purple merino, raw merino and then a mix of merino and alpaca. the bulk of my fleece is merino that i dye and card but i think i might have to acquire some different types of fibres to card together.


















Daz (hubby) made me a winder, its a pretty rough one but he calls it his prototype lol but hey it still works a treat and spins pretty fast.

















This is the first lot i did, the colored one is bought rovings and the other is raw carded merino which i'll dye later.



















Made myself a couple of drop spindles, first one broke as soon as i put the cup hook in (the one with the black tape), its still works though , i think i might need some smaller ones to.
Now i've seen some gorgeous ones out there and i know these are pretty plain and simple but there great for learning on.

Im having so much fun with this now
i find it very relaxing sitting there playing and making yarns. I'd love to make some Art yarns and really fun stuff.
Cheers all and Happy Felting, Spinning,Carding, Everything

CARDING,CARDING AND MORE CARDING

Happy New Year Everyone, I'm looking forward to a spectacular 2009 of Felting , Dying , Carding & Sharing.

I am having so much fun with my new carder, i was asked to make a kit up with small amounts of colors, so i've had 3 days of dying and carding and now i cant stop lol . At the moment i'm just using 3 primary colors in the landscape dyes and just about to order a whole range of dyes so will be able to dye up a storm.

Here come's Santa

As its getting to be that time of year again i thought i would make another Santa. He's checkin us out to see if we've been good i think. He's in a pot at my back door and then when i looked again he's gone to the tree in the front to see through our window. He's just head and arms attached with wire for the photo shoot, i think he's pretty special and a bit cheeky, he's 100% needle felted.

Funny Little Pumpkins

I enjoyed making my first pumpkin so much i thought i would make another one . He's a bit grumpier though ,especially with the sun in his eye's. He really didnt want to be disturbed. Both are 100% Needle Felted.

I made this cute little pumpkin for the october challenge on the forum. For some reason i cant seem to do creepy or spooky and it was a holloween theme this month.

He is 100% Needle Felted using my dyed wool,

Looks who's arrived early

I love santa, he's 100% needle felted and i had so much fun making him, i couldnt reach my chimney so i had to just sit him on the roof, that is were he comes in anyway isnt it lol

He's 12in or 32cm tall and i just love his face, he looks so kind

Sour Grapes

This was my first attempt at using Alpaca for Needle Felting, I found it to be a bit squishy and to soft, (beautiful to touch) but a lot harder to needle with. I think thats why she might look a bit sour, and the fact that she had no time to fix her hair before her photo shoot. lol

This is my version of our Hilda challenge that our teacher Kay Petal (Feltalive) put to her students. Hilda is a voluptous Pin-Up Character of the 1950"s created by Artist Duanne Bryers. This was such a fun challenge and even though i could not for the life of me get her face anywhere near what she looked like, i still had a ball bringing her to life my way.

Whenever i look at Garf i have to laugh, I just absolutely love this guy, He came out of no-where really, i was just doing a practise head that i was going to leave alone but then i couldnt really do that now could i.. He still needs some butterflies and flowers cause i think he would just love them. Big ole dumb Garf. He's my biggest doll yet and he took me quite a while to make. But loads of fun to see him come to life. Wool really does have a life of its own and really does create a lot of giggles. lol He's all needle felted using a single barbed needle.

Hazel is another of my favorite Dolls. Originally she was a boy right up until i added the hair and then whala, lol she was a girl, i was wondering why i was having so much trouble getting him the way i wanted, its because he wanted to be a she . lol Hazel loves to read and she quite often sits outside under a tree and spends hours immersed in her favorite books. I really love the way she turned out even with her wonky teeth and face. She is just so happy all the time.

This is my man Bert lol He's a funny little fella, he was lucky enough to be there with Mya in the Art Show and they both received a Highly Commended award to. Thats pretty special especially as now fortunately or unfortunately (whichever mood im in) Bert has since been sold to a lovely lady that begged me for 5 days to own him. I'm sure he's very happy now with his new owner but i'll have to make Mya a new friend.

Introducing Mya She is my absolute Favorite Doll and my very first Feltalive Doll with Kay Petal, I love her to pieces, she has such a free spirit and so calming on me. Mya is 100% needle felted using a single barbed needle as is all my work. I think just the thought of taking that handful of raw fleece and washing and dying and then creating something ,that to me, is just awesome. I am so in love with the whole process and it really amazes me what or who can come to life with wool.

This is one of my favorites, a gorgeous lady by the name of Marti helped me create this tapestry, i really wanted to do a scene from our harsh australian outback and this was the end result. I actually entered this one in my very first Art Show and received a Highly Commended Award, i was so very Happy with that.

I wanted to try my hand at a needle felted tapestry and these are the first two that i accomplished, the little cabin is a bit wonky but i love them anyway