Felting fun 4

Friday was the last day of the Felting fun course at The Learning Place. We were able to pick our own project, so we all decided to make scarfs. This is what I accomplished during the session (this is just the top section and I planned on adding lots more felt!), the fabric that I felted on had lots of holes in and the merino wool tops did felt well, though it took a very long time. We thought that this might have been down to what the fabric was made up of. It was a cotton and synthetic mix. We were allowed to take home some merino tops so that we could finish this project at home. And another bit a fabric to make new scarfs from if we so wish, that we know we can felt on to.

These are the sample fabrics I did last week, it really shows the difference between fabrics. This is on muslin.

And this one is on net.

Crunchies!

It's been a stressful week at work, so on Friday I decided I needed a treat. Guess what my favorite chocolate bar is, yep Chrunchie bar (which ironically is advertised to give you that Friday feeling). However the homemade stuff tastes so much better. So I made some my self.
I have never done this before, but I recommend doing this if you also love Cinder toffee, the reaction between the sugar and the bicarb is fun, plus its really easy and quick. I used Nigella Lawson's recipe from How to be a domestic goddess.

Textile Tasters

This Wednesday I went back to Making Space to do a Textile Tasters course. This course was as the title suggests, made up of shorter sessions involving textiles. We did loom weaving,
which was fun, this is defiantly something I could happily do for hours.


And seems to be a great way of relaxing to.
After weaving we moved on to printing techniques.
Firstly printing with polystyrene blocks,

On paper,

and on fabric.

on paper,

and on fabric,





And then we move on to using masking fluid,
which was fun to peel off though I found that if the layer was to thin it was very hard to remove.  

on paper,

and on fabric.

 This one is done by dipping templates in bleach, I think the phrase little is more, has a reference here. The problem was I wanted instant results and there wasn't it develops and shouting stop at it doesn't work!

This one worked a little better though I would like to play around more with this technique, I think it has great potential.








The last thing that we did was a flower brooch which I cannot show here as I plan on giving it to a friend as a birthday gift. 



I liked everything that I did here and could see potential in all of it, I look forward to learning more and being more creative in the longer course Introduction to Textiles. I will be thinking of ideas for fabric designs and what I can do with them.

Mum's Birthday

It is my mothers birthday today. Happy Birthday Mum! Hope you are having fun.
I have had a running theme for years now of making my own cards. This started as a hobby that I could fit into my life in between work, university and other forms of living. It was my bite sized crafting experience. Here I decided to use some of the felt sample I made in Felting Fun.

Hope you liked it Mum.

Felting Fun 3

Yesterday was the third session of Felting Fun. We learnt how to make stripy felt, not just a pattern felted onto the felt, this is proper strips, all the way through the felt. We also used different fabrics and compared the end felt, the merino tops we are use to is nice and soft and felts smoothly. The tops used here were coarser and had different textures within them producing lumps and defined thread within the felt.

I will be experimenting with this technique to see what other pattern I can felt, hmmm maybe spots?

The second thing we did was buttons, at least that is what they could be. Maybe a decoration, necklace, bracelet hmmm. I will be pondering.

I also had chance to try felting on to fabrics, though we ran out of time so this will be coming on a later post.

Felted Bottle

At the end of my post Felt bowl I mentioned using my new found skills of 3D felting (or felting around objects) and I had found a beer bottle to experiment with.

Here's how it turned out.

Ok, so I mentioned how stupid we looked on the course felting around a balloon, this looked even dodgier.

Baking day

Yesterday was a day off, and I had nothing planned so I decides to cook. It has been a very long time since I last made bread, I think it might have been whilst at school. Everyone else seems to make bread these days, so I quizzed my Dad for tips and he recommended a recipe. Apparently it's easy to make!, the tips included kneading for the specified time, not to decided that it was long enough and give up, and to not add all the fluid at once, as you can't take it out once it has been added. The recipe is from a Women's Institute cookbook.

Here's how it turned out.

As I work so close to a Tesco, for a while now I have had this cunning plan of being slightly more environmental aware, and so decided that I would only go food shopping in my car after work. To get to Tesco I do not even have to go a different route, I drive straight past it, all the time. You see after work you just want to go home, or at least I do. So this plan has not been working, but I am stubborn, so I have been getting my groceries from the Tesco express I live opposite, or the market in Portsmouth which my sister kindly drove me to (there was three of us in the car so it's ok, it didn't break the rules). But to make bread I needed yeast and strong white bread flour, of which the Tesco express does not stock (I know, shocking isn't it). So I had to cycle to the Co-op, which in combination with beating violently bread dough for 10 minutes was very tiring, and I hadn't even started making my planned tea of Asparagus flan with ricotta.  My bread is yummy though, and it was easy to make Dad you were right. Though when I told my work colleague about my bread (yes the same one I spoke to about the peanut butter bread) she asked where it was, and said she loved homemade bread. Humm can't seem to win (half of it has already gone though, I had some whilst it was still warm and today I made cheese savory sandwiches with it).

My second endeavor on my baking day was Asparagus Flan with Ricotta from the book Complete Vegetarian by Nicola Graimes. Pastry is another thing that I have made very little of in the past and I have never made a flan before. But I was up for the challenge and needed to use up my asparagus I brought from the Market. The recipe requested white plain flour, but I had loads of wholemeal, so the pastry does look darker. But over all it was a great success, I made little ones to take to work for my dinner and to snack on.

Felt bowl

My bowl defiantly looks better than I thought it was going to. Well, in the sense that it looks like a bowl made of felt.

What do you think?
One thing I have notice since I took the bowl off the balloon is that the base has flattened. But it still looks funky. Hmmm what should I put in it?
I have searched my flat for other objects to felt round like I did with the balloon, I don't have a big flat or lots of pots, so, a beer bottle it is. I set to work on felting around the bottle but had to rush of to Body Combat, so we shell see what happens....

Peanut Butter Bread

This is a recipe from a fellow blogger, I spotted this one as I follow her on twitter. It was the saying 'like eating a gigantic peanut butter cookie' that inspired me. This switched on my taste buds, took me back to my childhood and making peanut butter cookies. Ok I know that this is cake and is probably not going to have quite the same crunch but I made it anyway.

Well, it is not crunchy but it is delicious. I did tell my work colleges about this cake, but apparently nuts are bad for asthma (I know I though it was an odd comment to!). So I'm gonna eat it all myself.

Felting fun 2

One of the things that I have noticed in shops, ever since I started felting, is felted bowls. I did also notice that there are a lot of flower broaches out there to, but the whole felting in 3D was something that I had not been able to figure out, just by looking at it. As that is how I tend to do things, look, theorize and then play, it normally works!.

Felting a bowl looks funny, at least the way that we did it looked funny, it started out looking like a wig, then a balloon with tights over it, and then a funky 1950's style hat. The comment 'it's like washing someone else's hair' cropped a few times. I am still waiting to see the bowl resemblance though. As it is taking a while to dry. It remains on the balloon until this time, so that it might look like a bowl and not some odd miss shaped scrap of felt! I will be crossing my fingers while I sleep.

Ok you have to admit even this picture looks a bit funny.

The second thing we learnt today is how to trap cord on felted balls.

These balls have given me an idea, though my idea mean felting lots of these. I have to admit they are fun to make but, the amount I will need to pull this one off might lead me to never wanting to see a felted ball again. We shell see.

Silver band ring.

Yesterday I started the first of four day courses at Making Space on silver jewellery making. I have to admit I loved it, the hammering, designing, burning and I got to use my obsession for perfection when it came to filing and polishing.  I think I'm gonna enjoy the next three sessions.

 

Felting Fun!

I have been experimenting with wet and dry felting since December last year, The Learning Place opened in Portsmouth and was offering cheep courses. Funky Festive Felts was the name of the course I enrold on. I enjoyed it so much I enrold on Felting Fun in March this year after checking with the instructor, that I would be able to develop my current knowledge. She said yes, today was the first day of the course, and I have. Roll on the next three sessions. Heres what I did.

Trapping thread.

Using net to trap sequins.

Or feathers,

And everything all mixed up together

Hmmm what can I do whith all of these bits of felt?

The excitment begins!

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