Yummy, Yummy Angora...

I made my first non-sheep wool purchase over the holiday.  I've been thinking about experimenting with more advanced wet-felting techniques.  Basically I know soooo many people that are either pregnant or have newborn babies right now, that I kinda want to try my hand at felting some baby booties.

With that in mind, I have been ogling some Angora Wool on some of my favorite wool websites, but didn't buy any because it's so expensive.  We were at a craft show right before Christmas & I saw this beautiful wool and just couldn't pass it up.  It's not pure Angora, but has some cashmere & merino mixed with it.

It's hand-dyed, beautiful, called "Sour Apple".  It's white with painted red & green highlights.

I'd like to try wet-felting the slippers with this wool on the inside & maybe white, red or green merino on the outside.

Ahhh... Put it on the list of projects that I want to do when I have time...

Lights... Camera... Fish!

LIGHTS...

So I finally invested in a Photo Studio Kit.  It came with a HUGE light-tent & lights.  I've been thinking about it for a while, but was hesitant about spending the money.  BOY, am I glad I did it!!  Still learning how to use it to it's full capabilities, but I'll figure it out.  I'm already happy with how my first photos have turned out.

CAMERA...

We also invested in a new fancy DSLR camera!!  It's actually more for my husband & his photography, but takes AMAZING picts of my sculptures.  I never thought that camera quality made that much of a difference, but it does.  This is a Pentax K-r, an entry level camera, but still a huge upgrade to my previous point & shoot.  


*I took this photo with my iPhone in my Studio!  Looks like a stock photo, but it's totally our camera!

FISH!!!

So this was my first attempt at taking photos with my new set-up.  I think they came out WAY better than before, but still am learning how to use the camera & lighting.  I love the colors & detail the camera picks up.  That is one thing I've always been frustrated with, how do you show the real texture of a needle felted piece?  Most of the time it just looks fuzzy.

This Felt Koi I made a while ago, but he always seemed unfinished.  One the project before this one, I experimented with some Clear Casting Resin.  That inspired this "pond" base.  I colored the resin & left some texture with the aluminum foil I poured it into for the "water" texture.  I then made a few Felt Cherry Blossoms (the ones from my previous post!)

Usually I like to finish sculptures right away, but I'm learning that if something seems unfinished, don't push it.  Let it sit & stew for a while (a year with this one).  Then maybe you'll come up with the perfect solution!



***This weird picture layout is kinda a "happy mistake".  The layout for my blog has changed & I'm still figuring out how to use it, but I kinda like how the photos created a nice collage look.  Don't know how or why it happened, but I'm okay with it....

Almost Done!!

Here is the completed picts for the felting part of the Sparrow Sculpture. Just finished all the sculpting, and just need to finish the wood base so it can hang. Should finish it tomorrow... and have finished picts!!!






All the felting done!! Line work is fun, but takes a little time.












Detail of finished felting.









Time to put it all together! Just cut a small hole to allow the armature wire to slip through the felt to the back.












Felting the wings on!










All done & ready for it's wood base. Just laid it on the wood....









And traced around the outside. I like this look cause it will be like a bold black outline around the whole thing. And gives me a way to hang it!





Outline ready to cut out. It was too late tonight to jigsaw the wood (little kids living next door) but will cut it out first thing in the morning!






Have a Great Memorial Day Weekend!!
Be safe & eat lots of BBQ!!!! Yea Summer!!

A Long Day of Felting!

I worked most of today, it felt good to get some work done cause I've been kinda lazy recently. So I shared the first process picts for my newest piece yesterday, so I thought I'd continue! Here was today's progress picts for the Tattoo Sparrow Felted Sculpture!




I started by sketching a pattern for the wings. I wanted both to be the same, so I made a drawing to cut the wool-felt from.








I traced the pattern of the wings on some pre-felted white wool. This is my new favorite material to make things go faster. Instead of felting wool from scratch into a thin shape, I just use the pre-felt & needle on top!!






I want one of the wings to come off the base into 3d, so I felted the armature wire into the wing. This helps with support & posing.







Both wings all cut & ready for color!








I used my handy new PhotoShop Elements to scale the original concept drawing up to the size of the wings. I like the shape of the body that I drew before, so I just printed it out to be able to use as a pattern.







This is another great reason to have the pattern. I cut it up to insure the shape & placements of the different colors.








I wanted the blue color on the body of the bird to be slightly thicker than the rest, so I just added a layer of white wool to add a little bulk.









Time to start the color!!!










I'm a sucker for some nice clean lines & graphic elements in my pieces, so I took the time to sculpt in the colored highlights. I wanted to have some white at the bottom of the wings.






After much needling, I finished all the blue! It was alot of needling!!








I then used the body pattern to sketch in the placement for the red under-belly color.








Fun color on the body is done!










All the color is done! Looking good!








Time for the line detail! Just using my handy black wool yarn to felt in the bold black lines around the shapes...

It was a long day & I'm done working, but he is coming along nicely!!

I dye with iDYE!!

So here is a short tutorial on how to dye some wool using Jacquard's iDye. I wanted to start another series of process picts for my newest sculpture. So in the coming days (or weeks depending on how fast I get this piece done) I will be showing the complete process of creating my newest Felted Sculpture A Tattoo-Inspired Sparrow. Sh here is the first step....

I dye with iDye...


Start by pre-soaking your wool in a warm bath of water with a splash of vinegar. Pre-soaking your wool helps the fibers open up & gets them ready to receive the dye. It also helps with getting a nice even overall dyed color.







While your wool is soaking, get you pot of hot water started on the stove. I have a specific pot that I use for dying so that I don't make stew or something that ends up slightly blueish in color.








I wanted to dye my wool a nice blue color. Be sure to check out these iDyes cause they have so many yummy colors made for natural dyes. They are technically made to be thrown into you washing-machine, but I've found it's super easy to use them on the stove top!








You will be adding some white vinegar to the pot of hot water. This is used as the dye's MORDANT, which is to help set the dye in the fibers. I'm not quite sure of all the science-type stuff on it, but it has to do with attracting the dye molecules and affixing them to the individual wool fibers. You can use this method with cotton fibers, the only difference is that you will use Salt as the Mordant!






Now add your dye to the pot. Since you are controlling the amount of dye for the wool, you can add as little or as much depending on how saturated you want the color to be. I wanted a medium (not too light, not too dark) so I added a little bit, then added more about 1/2 way through.






So add the dye, add the vinegar, then add you wool! Be sure to gently stir the wool through the time of dying. You don't want to aggressively stir the wool cause it will start to felt (which I have done) but you want to be sure to move the fibers around. This will help with getting even color coverage.









Now let the wool sit & cook for about 1/2 hour.






All dyed! You will be able to see if the dye has been completely soaked up by looking at the left-over water. It should be fairly clear. If your water is still dark or opaque, then you either added too much dye & your fiber can't take anymore, or you need to leave it in the water for longer. I've also just pulled wool out after a short time cause I wanted a lighter color *This may cause bleeding because the dye has not had time to set.


All done & just hanging up to dry. Should be ready for me to use tomorrow. I have a home-made clothes line hanging outside my window with some twine & clothes pins. Not that pretty or strong, but just perfect to hang tufts of wool!!

I love dyeing wool because I get to control what colors I make, but also get surprised & inspired by anything that I wasn't expecting!

Koi is Finished!!

So he's all finished!! It was a dash to the finish, but I got him all done & photo'd yesterday, then went and hung him at my work today! Feels great to be done & I'm really happy with how it turned out. Here are the final picts of the Koi & what he looks like in his new home....





























And I think it's funny cause when I finally hung it, it looks kinda small. When you are working on a piece (in hand) and up close, it seems HUGE... but... when hung next to giant paintings, he looks less than impressive. But he still looks cool!! Come by the Blick Art Supply Store on Beverly if you are hanging out in the Hollywood area!! He will also be listed in my shop this morning!!

More Koi Picts!!

Almost done... Got all the main parts done, just gotta finish the details & paint his wood base & mount him on!! I'm super excited & want to be done!!! Ready to move on to the next piece!!

I also am excited about my new toy!! I bought myself a Fancy-Shmancy Jigsaw. I've needed one for a while, and this project gave the best excuse to buy one. Went with the middle-grade one (rather than the super cheap or super expensive). I think it'll come in handy cause I'm dig'n making wall-hanging pieces. I think there might me more of a market to sell sculptures that hang on the wall. At least people might not ask me "What is it for?" anymore. These piece have a purpose... hanging on the wall... and now maybe I can open my buyers into people that buy paintings & prints to decorate their houses.

I used the jigsaw to cut out the wooden base for the Koi. I just laid it down on the wood & drew a nice outline around it. It will be painted black, have some armature wire to hold the tail up, & have the hanging hardware on the back.



And here are the Picts of the Koi!!

These are of the Koi before his last round of paint & after I attached the fins. You can see how he will be sculptural - going from his flat head to full 3D tail. To give you a bit of scale, the piece of wood that it is sitting on is 2' x 4'. I like how it is turning out!!









These are the picts of Koi after his final paint job! Now he just need a bit more detail.