Just As I Promised!!

So I know it's been a long time coming, so as I promised I am now showing my Spikes in action....





Ok, so this is my Little Puffer Fish!! He has a surly attitude to match his wicked spikes!! He took alot of time & hard work to finish!!

His spikes are stiffened with some fabric glue. They took the most time!! I saturated each spike with clear-drying fabric glue, then had to trim all the fly-away fibers, then in order to stiffen the base enough so that he would stand on the spikes, I reinforced the base of the spike with some super-glue. Boy did it do a good job!! (along with giving me a horrible head-ache & a sore throat... learned my lesson there!)


He was also dyed with coffee!! That's right, I used a 2 step dye process using coffee to dye him the rich brownish-ochre color!


Here is the little Puffer Fish after I had needle-felted his basic shape out of white wool. Then I dyed him in a diluted coffee mixture of water, coffee, and a little white vinegar.

First I soaked the fish in a warm water/vinegar bath to help open the wool fibers up to take the dye.








Then I placed him in a bowl with water & coffee. I wanted a light, antique white color for the base of his body, so I didn't use much coffee. The color will be deeper the more coffee you use. If you use straight coffee, then you will get a bright light yellowish brown. (think about the color a coffee stains leaves when you spill it down the front of your shirt!)



Then you could just let the wool sit in the coffee for a while, but I'm too impatient for that so I nuked him in the microwave for a couple minutes. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap, nuked for 2 minutes, sit 2 minutes, nuke 2 minutes, etc. You only have to cook him for about 4-6 minutes. Coffee is naturally acidic so it dyes fabric really well (hence the reason you can never get that stain out of the front of your shirt!)


I also did a second dye of more concentrated coffee on the top of the Puffer fish. Here I just filled the bowl up with a couple cups of coffee, set the top side of the fish down into the coffee, & nuked him again! Super simple!!!

Now onto the next Project!!!