Chelsea 2016 and Woolfest 2016

It's the first time I've been to Chelsea - virtually all the gardens were fantastic but this one struck a chord :

It's the AkzoNobel Honeysuckle Blue (s) Garden by Claudy Jongstra in collaboration with Stefan Jaspers. How great to grow beautiful plants that you can also use for dyeing! Must get some of these  for my garden - as well as all the nettles I have!

Woolfest this year was a great show - as it always is!

 I had some lovely neighbours!

 And I think these are just the cutest sheep ever ( Herdwicks).

I've been trying Herwick out for needle felting and like the effect it gives but just have to add a bit of colour as well!

Would a seal wear a jumper? Perhaps not!

Giveaway!!!

I've just posted a giveaway over on my Facebook Page if anyone would like to enter.

Here are the details if you're not on Facebook yourself:

"(:XX!!!GIVEAWAY!!!XX:)
I've been on Facebook a year now so thought I'd have a giveaway. Three winners can choose from either 1. A selection of recycled silk fibres; 2.Two handmade felt cards; 3. Five small pieces of recycled sari material or; 4. One of my feltmaking kits.
To enter either like my page, post, photo or leave a comment or message. Or if you prefer email me at feltcreative@gmail.com. I'll select three winners on the 25th May."

These are the recycled sari silk fibres.

Two handmade felt cards.

Five small pieces of recycled sari silk (they're 30cm x 30cm approx).

The feltmaking kits are shown in the first photo. The one on the left is a needle felt kit and the one on the right is a basic wet felting kit. 

It would be great if you could like or comment on Facebook but you can also leave a comment below or email me.

Thanks 

Carol x

Handmade Felt Cards

I haven't posted for a while due to trying to get to grips with Facebook which I'm sure should be easier than I find it. I've now realised that I should just post the same photos on here as well as there (not everyone is on Facebook!).

I haven't been making much felt in the past few months but I'm determined to make something at least every other day. So here's some felt I've made for cutting up into smaller pieces for cards.

The prefects were hand dyed with acid dyes. Having made cards in the past with flower shapes I find cutting out circles easier!

This piece made it to cards!

These pieces haven't at the moment but I'll definitely make the blue one into cards but quite like the square one as a picture.

The green and the purple in this was dyed using acid dyes but the blue was dyed with Kool Aid - love  using this to dye!

Of course Pippin had to get in the action!

A Few New Makes and Shows and tickets for The Knitting and Stitching Show

 In preparation for a two day residential workshop for 12 lovely members of various guilds of Spinners, Dyers and Weavers I made some sari nuno felt berets, snoods, vases and bags :

I was hoping everyone would be able to make at least three things over the weekend but many made more! Some even worked until ten o'clock at night!

Here's some of their wonderful creations:

And here's my stuff at Fibre East....

and Festival of Quilts.

I hadn't been to either show before - but both were amazing and thank you to everyone who visited me!

I'm often asked how the sari silks work on an embellisher so thanks to the advice of some of my customers at the Festival of Quilts I decided to buy one.

Here's my first attempt using scraps of sari silk as well as some recycled silk sliver on white prefelt.

After using the embellisher I washed it on a 30 degree/ 30 minute wash which seemed to smooth it out - or it might be that I just can't bring myself to not wet felt it!

I've just started a Facebook page under my Feltcreative.co.uk name and am giving away four tickets for The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace - 7th to 11th October.

Let me know here if you'd like to enter a draw for 1 or 2 tickets. The odds may be good- everyone was a winner last time!

If you don't have a Facebook account leave a comment below or email me at feltcreative@gmail.com

Thanks!

Felting with Sari Silks and Robbin Firth Workshop

This is a great way to test pieces of sari silks.

Covered with two thinnish layers of merino.

  These I did in the washing machine - to be made into bunting and flower brooches.

Lastly had a great workshop experience with Robbin Firth who developed the palm wash board. I've had one for a while but haven't used it much - I'll be using it all the time now though! We made a hat  and cowl in a one day workshop! Robbin shared lots of great tips and techniques. I think most of her workshops are now full but there may be a few spaces left - if not I'd highly recommend the palm washboard which you can purchase through Adelaide Walker

We used fibres to embellish at the workshop but I was eager to try the techniques learnt with sari silk and made a small cowl.

Made in half the time I usually take - the edges are not quite so neat but I was going for speed!