Friday, June 29, 2012

Catherine O'Leary - Nuno Felting Workshop RESULTS

Wow - what a great workshop - I made a vest/wrap, and learnt lots of what NOT to do!!
Of course I took too much - used a tiny fraction of my bits and the sari glitzy bits didn't work too well. The silver sari bits I used need to be hand stitched to anchor them properly [as do a few other bits as well] and I'd like to add some red and celadon or silver running stitches to some areas - can't go past a bit of hand stitching for added oomph, can we???
Here is the Process:
1. Drafted a 'pattern' from a simple wrap of Catherines,
laid it out on my needle felted length [25% extra allowed for shrinkage]
 and cut around.
2. Arranged 'nuno felted' bits, silk bits and sari bits onto the base.
3.Catherine showed me how to splice an extra bit of felt to the front to form a wrap.
4. Wetting down, and covering with thin plastic to stop bits shifting.
5. Rolled on bubble wrap around a pool 'noodle' for 15 mins each end.
6. Then rolled around a broom handle for 15 mins each end, and peeking and gently stretching to shape between each series of rolling.
7. A bit of selective rubbing and rolling to create pointy ends and strengthen the felting [and accidently thin some bits too much].
8. Dry and on the manekin, ready for fine tuning and shaping, a bit of stitching, maybe some buttons.
9. I like the back more than the front.
10. It is surprisingly light and should be nice to wear even in our warm Qld weather.

I have found a new passion!!! Great fun except for the tedious couple of hours of rolling - need to be watching a movie, methinks.
HINT - using the prefelted 'needle felted' length made it SOOOOO easy.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Catherine O'Leary - Nuno felting Workshop

Woo hoo - I am off to Brissie tomorow to do a 2 day Felting workshop with the wonderful Catherine O'Leary.
I am happy to be playing with fabrics again - silks and luscious dyed bits, felts and found bits.
Catherine starts with 'needle felted' wool by the metre - my choice, 2 - 3 metres of grey - I want to make a wrap/vest.
In preparation, I dyed some rotton sari silk and old bandage cotton muslin [rust and green tea, and commercial 'mastic' colour],

...the green tea and rust furthered the rotting of the sari silk- hmmmmm...
...and after washing and ironing, I am left with the most delightful little blobs of silver embroidered sari snippets,
...then I stitched some snippets onto a piece of silk,
...just LOVE it - hope I can use these bits.
This is about half of the stash or silks, felt bits and sheer bits that I am taking. Do you think I'll have enough???
Wish me luck - I am a felting newbie.


Saturday, June 16, 2012

'Treeline' - Major Creative Event

Our local council is admirably showcasing the Arts in the region with a month long suite of exhibitions, workshops, talks, kids' events and interactive 'happenings'. All of the Council owned venues are participating. The whole project is called 'Treeline'. Many of our wonderful locals are involved.
Fiona ans Barry have posted on the 'Tread Lightly' exhibition, a beautiful showing of works using recycled materials [mainly paper] - held in the new and amazing Arts and Ecology Centre at the Maroochy Regional Bushland Gardens in Tanawah. Such a treat - the show, the building and the gardens.
Here are a few more pics of the opening to add to Fiona's.
...recycled, cut book forms by Rosie Miller
...Kim Schoenberger's works,
...artists unknown,
.....Fiona's 'Rainbow Stack'
and 'Lotus Books',
...and 'Weedly', a collaborative workshop project.

I will post on some of  the other components of 'Treeline' over the next week.
 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Give Away Winners - Hooray

Congrats to Eric at Cerulean for winning the first give away - the black and white book, and to Terrie at Purkey Pages for winning the red book.
As soon as I get your home addresses, the little books will be on their way.
I like Don's idea of the computerised random generator, but I am really OVER technology at the moment. I have no home phone, my FB went missing [yes, I was given a shove in the right direction by the universe with this one], and the wind, rain, cold and the lunar eclipse and Venus crossing the sun is disrupting signals and my life in general.

Thanks for all the comments regarding blogging versus FB - I am taking your advice and staying with blogging for creative, personal, mature and fulfilling communication, and will post the odd family stuff to FB.

Sorry to all those disappointed folk out there who didn't win a book, - hope to have another give away soon XX

Sunday, June 3, 2012

2 Give aways - Double Celebration

I have reached 201 posts now!!
To celebrate the milestone, and the culmintion of 6 months work with 'Culture 2 Culture', I am giving away 2 of my little books.
Just write a short comment on how you feel about facebook versus blogging, and tell me which book you fancy. If you have already commented, feel free to comment again - 2 chances to win.
I will draw the winners at 6pm, EST next Wednesday.
Thanks to everyone for fabulous feedback and support over the past 200 posts.

...details...