Just Ducky - April Challenge of the EtsyFast Street Team

This yellow dream patches felt art top is my April challenge “just ducky” for the etsyfast team (etsy fibre arts street team). This is one of the many teams on etsy.

Patches of this and patches of that, and never the same.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8413150

This is what it is: knitting, felting, crochet, sewing and needlework, all in one. I love mixing up different textile techniques and materials and combining them in one piece.

It takes a lot of time to find the right place for each piece, making sure that it matches all the surrounding pieces.

It is gorgeous, worn over a singlet and with your favourite skirt.

I used certified organic merino wool, silk, cotton and some wool yarn and everything is dyed with mango leaves, except the yarn.

If you like to find more items in the challenge search for etsyfast team april challenge on etsy.com.

Artist Focus - Botanical Jewelry from Tabmade

This week I have chosen to feature Lori from TabMade, an etsy artist who has found her inspiration in nature and translates this in her own way into beautiful botanical jewelry.

Lori explains the story about the name TabMade:

My name is Lori Phillips. Tab has become a nickname for me from a shortened user name I used to use, ThrowABomb. (from a super old extinct email, throwabomb [!at] mystupidschool(dot)com. yeah, I said it was old, haha) Good online friends started calling me Tab and it just stuck, hence TabMade.

I spotted her some time ago on etsy and, being a lover of form and texture myself, I am blown away about her work.

Waxing Botanicals

Primarily a ceramist, she is passionate about working in a variety of media other than just clay such as silver, copper, polymer clay, and fibers. She is most stimulated artistically while finding ways for these materials to work together in one piece, and she does this mainly by making jewelry. She recently obtained her BFA in ceramics from Eastern Kentucky University.

Lori says:

Closely observing the direction I have taken in my artwork over the past couple of years has made me more aware of my interest in the natural world, such as organics and botany. This in turn has made me more aware of the direction I want to continue in with my work in all mediums.

I am mostly inspired by plant and fungal life, especially of the exotic variety. I like to make objects that directly reference nature, but are not necessarily found in nature, although I wish they did. I love growing things and have begun an interesting variety of house plants, and the process of nurturing them and watching them grow and change I find visually exciting and inspiring. I enjoy discovering new textures and inspecting unusual things growing in nature, or inspecting things seemingly ordinary up close until they appear unusual.

Necklace of Flora and Botany

She has been delving into a new medium recently, polymer clay, because she loves it and there is no need for kilns or torches to work with it.

Her future plans are to acquire a kiln to continue her ceramics, and torches to continue metalsmithing and lampwork,

She hopes to earn enough money from her Etsy shop to save for these things and expand the variety in her shop. Her ceramics work, which ranges from hand built pottery to sculptural pieces, still remains her first love.

Missing Autumn felted and ceramic necklace

Check out her shop: http://tabmade.etsy.com

and keep track of what new work she is coming up with on her blog: http://tabmade.blogspot.com

RAIN for april

I am part of the Schooling At Home Etsy Team and in April we decided to have a rain challenge. Have a look at what members of the team came up with. There are some wonderful items in amazing blue shades. If you'd like to see more items that were entered in the april challenge, search on etsy for sheteam april challenge or go to the spotlight I created on byhandme:
Rain, sheteam april challenge.

April Shower Bring May Flower by emptynestegg



Blues - Wool Roving by HuggyBearKnits

Funkyware Pendant - Rainy Day by farmgirldesigns



Saving For A Rainy Day Deluxe Money or Coupon Organizer by MinnieMaes

Puddles - Felt art shawl by Lizet Frijters

Butterfly Flight - Felt Art Shawl

Butterfly flight in my etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23480730

This felt art shawl in purples is my latest addition to my etsy shop.
I have carefully pieced different nuno felt fabrics together. This made me think of a graceful butterfly in flight.
All the wool is organic merino wool and the wool and the fabrics are dyed with natural dyes.

Want to stay in touch?

If you like my work, I welcome you to sign up for my newsletter, so that you can stay in touch with what I am doing, my creations in progress, sales that are happening in my shop, craft tutorials or other information that I'd like to share. I might also let you know when I update my blog, so that you can come back here and read my posts.

I will not send you emails every day, only when I think you could be interested in what I have to offer.
I hope to see you on my email list soon.

To sign up fill in the form on the top left corner.

Etsy front page feature.

I was featured on the front page in a treasury made by annarubyking with my Feathery White and Grey scarf.

I am also very grateful to enuwbe for letting me know.

To see all the other items that were on the front page at the same time watch the slideshow in the sidebar.

Reverse Circles-Felt Art Shawl

For this shawl I attached pieces of handmade felt by crocheting them together. The crochet is very open.

This wonderful shawl would give you an interesting addition to your outfit.

Have a look in my etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23332694

Snow Crystals- Felt art shawl is gone

I sold this beautiful Snow Crystals shawl yesterday in my etsy shop.
This shawl is made from hand felted organic merino wool pieces and knitted pieces, sewn together with recycled fluffy cotton ribbon.

To see more of my shawls go to my etsy shop

Eco Fashion in the spotlight

Eco fashion is becoming a trend these days. The constant increasing demand for eco fashion, from organic textiles to recycled wearables, is part of a growing global environmental awareness.

I have seen many different reasons why people label their garments as eco fashion. Here is an overview:

Clothing out of organic fabrics.

Organic fabrics are produced and manufactured according to the international certification standard for organic agriculture.

This certification takes in account the use of only natural products for growing the fibres. When processing the fibres into fabrics or yarn, all the conventional chemicals used, such as bleaches, dyes, anti-statics, anti-creases, fire retardants and so on, are replaced by natural and non toxic products.

Organic cotton starts to be readily available, organic wool and hemp are following. The image shows a felt shawl/poncho in organic merino wool, dyed with natural dyes.

Use of natural materials.

Some natural fibres can be used in eco fashion even if they are not organic. Cotton is definitely excluded because the huge pollution created by the culture of conventional cotton, as well as the social work conditions of the employees.

Natural fibres are renewable and thus sustainable. Some of them are wool, silk, hemp,linen and bamboo . Most of them can be produced easily without the use of chemicals, however it is always best to check each situation.

-Clean wool could be easily produced, however many big farmers use toxic pesticides for treating their animals. Wool can be processed naturally, however this is often not the case.

-Silk can be grown organically as the silk worms are fed exclusively on mulberry leaves. The harvest can create some opposition because the silk worms are killed to collect the silk. Chemicals are used for degumming the silk cocoons and further manufacturing of the fabric.

-Hemp is a very eco friendly crop, it doesn't attract many diseases and on top of that improves the soil tremendously. Again we need to look at how the processing is done.

-The same applies for linen as for hemp.

-A new material has been introduced to the market and is rapidly gaining popularity. It is the soft bamboo fibre. The bamboo production is certainly very sustainable, it regrows fast and can be grown totally without chemicals. Unfortunately, now comes the tricky part. To process the bamboo fiber and make it into the soft fabric that everyone likes, a lot of chemicals need to be used.

Bamboo clothes are mostly considered eco friendly and it all depends where you draw the line.

Recycled materials.

Turning used clothes into new ones has become very fashionable. Not only do we reduce waste, less energy is needed to produce new fabrics. This is something I grew up with. My mother transformed her own clothes into new outfits for us.

When the recycled fabrics are dyed, it is important to choose for eco friendly dyes.

Again it is up to everyone's own choice whether wearables out of synthetic fabrics can be considered to be eco fashion.

The social environment.

Eco fashion is manufactured in socially responsible work places, where the employees are respected and paid fair wages.

Here is an overview of the benefits of eco fashion:

-less pollution because of absence of chemicals.

-soil improvement through responsible agriculture methods.

-organic clothing is stronger because it hasn't been treated with harsh chemicals that destroy the fibres.

-recycled clothing also reduces the energy needed for new production and reduces land fill.

-workers have the opportunity to work in a socially responsible environment.-natural fibres let the body breathe naturally.

What does eco fashion mean to you? What questions do you ask before buying clothing?Feel free to comment and add your suggestion or experiences.

Blue green coral scarf

A stunning scarf, in felted crochet work. It is produced in fine Australian organic merino wool, dyed with natural dyes.
It can be worn in different ways, depending on your mood and temperature.

Decorating, as well as giving warmth, this scarf is a nice addition to your outfit.

check out this scarf in my etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17834115

Recycled artworkbyKD

It is almost certain to be up for a new surprise when browsing through the shops on etsy. If you haven't come across the wonderful recycled jewelry of artworkbykd yet, it is worth a visit.

She makes super funky jewelry out of recycled plastic bottles/containers/lids and aluminum cans.

Coming in contact with these items on a daily basis herself, as well as the generous donations from friends and family, she transforms it into useful creations, making use of the amazing colors of the disposable items.

Very proud of her work she says: “Whenever someone hands me a bag of bottles I feel like a kid on Christmas morning!”

In addition to earrings she also makes bracelets, necklaces, brooches, pendants and soon to be key chains!

Her work is not just jewelry, it is wearable art.

Her eco-friendly package materials create a fun eye-opening experience for her customers.

Check out her shop: www.artworkbykd.etsy.com

and her blog: http://artworkbykd.blogspot.com

she has her own site as well: www.kevinandkathy.com

Coral, a textile mixture,

In this wall hanging “coral” I experimented with different textile techniques, ( as usual) to express the feel and the look of the coral.

I started with dyeing the wool with fiber reactive dyes and than felted the main image, fishes, starfish and some of the coral included. I did use a bit of needle felting to secure some of the pieces in place and the rest was done with wet felting.

I wanted to add some more coral, so I tried some crochet until I was satisfied with the texture.

Quilting was a good way to give the whole piece a bit of relief. When I was happy with the result, I did sew the crochet pieces onto the rest.

I than hang up the whole panel onto a beautiful piece drift wood.

This wall hanging would look lovely in your beach home.

See more detailed pictures of coral, a felt wall hanging in my etsy shop.

How to make a piece of felt.

Are you familiar with how to make felt? If not, following is a very basic felt making tutorial for beginners and suitable for adults and children, exited about learning a new technique.

Felt making requires a few tools, already available in most households:

-a table

-plastic to protect your table

-an old towel

-a piece of bubble wrap, at least 40cm x 50cm or a beach mat or bamboo stick window blind

-50g wool slivers merino wool or other good felting wool

-a piece of fly screen at least 40cm x 40cm

-a spray bottle with hot soapy water

-tape measure

-some rags

Put the plastic on the table for protection and put the towel on top of the plastic. Now put the bamboo window blind or the bubble wrap on top of the towel, the nobs facing upwards.

Mark off an area of 30cm x 30cm.

Take the wool sliver and divide into 4 equal parts.

We are now ready to lay down the wool for our piece.

Take the wool sliver into your left hand (left handed people in right hand).

With your right hand, gently pull a piece of wool and put it in a corner of your square, the side that you hold in your hand goes on the edge, except if you want very irregular edges.

Repeat this with a second piece of wool and put it next to the first one, just overlapping a bit. Repeat until the row is finished.

We are now ready to start a new row. This time we let the loose bits overlap the first row. Every piece we lay down is now overlapping the wool of the first row and the previous piece.

When we have covered the total surface with wool, we spray water over it.

We repeat this whole process in the second layer, which is placed at an angle of 90 degrees on top of the first. We keep going with 2 other layers, each time changing direction and wetting with the spray bottle after each layer.

After wetting the fourth layer, we put the fly screen on top of the wool. Push down the fly screen and make circular movements with your hands over the fly screen until the piece is flat. If you can't get the air out completely, means that the wool isn't wet enough. You can spray on some more water on top of the screen until the wool is wet enough.

If there is water coming through the screen, when you push down the wool means that it is too wet. Now the rags will come in handy, use them to soak up the water.

When the wool is flattened, carefully take off the fly screen and roll the wool in the bubble wrap.

Roll up and down for approx. 5 minutes for a start and than check. If the wool is still very loose, keep rolling. You can test that by carefully lifting the fibers.

Roll again for 5 minutes and do the previous test again. If the wool is still a bit loose, keep rolling. Turn the piece on an angle of 90 degrees and roll again for another 5 minutes.

When the wool has felted enough, this means the whole piece holds well together, we can go over to the next stage, called the filling. This can be done as long or as short as you want. The longer you do it the harder and stronger the felt becomes.

The filling can be done by more rolling in the bubble wrap or the bamboo roll. Another method is by rubbing it over the sink, which goes faster and makes it harder as well.

When you are satisfied with the felt piece, rinse it and dry it flat on a towel.

Happy felting!

What is Felt - an overview

Maybe you have already asked yourself the question “what is felt” after seeing my work and work from other felt artists. Felt is the oldest fabric known in history, before weaving and knitting was initiated. Felt is non-woven.

The felting technique originates from Central Asia, where nomads felted wool and other animal hair into tents (yurts), clothing, rugs... It is still practiced in these areas.

Felt and felt making are gaining popularity all over the world now and the possibilities are endless, the results often a surprise.

I would like to give a short overview of the different felting techniques and I will post some tutorials soon, so that you can give it a try if you haven't already.

There are different techniques in feltmaking.

Wet Felting:

To make wet felt, layers of wool are spread out onto a plastic piece of bubble wrap, wet with hot soapy water and agitated until they hold together as a fabric. What happens here is that the wool fibers have scales, opening up with hot water and soap and through friction they will hook into each other. This is called felting.

I used wet felting to make this kangooroo rug

.

Dry Felting or Needle Felting

Another form of felt making is the dry felting, also called needle felting, where special felting needles are used to felt the wool together. The needles, which have hooks, are moved up and down into the wool. This created the friction and the fibers hook into one another, which makes them felt together. Needle felting creates a much more softer and fluffier felt than wet felting. You can however make harder items by using courser wool and felt it really long.

In this wall panels "clefts" I used both wet felting and needle felting.

Nuno Felting

Nuno felt is made using one of the 2 techniques above and instead of using only wool, a sheer fabric is used in between the wool layers. With nuno felting it is possible to make a much more thinner felt, because the fabric holds the wool together. You can cover the fabric everywhere so that you don't see the fabric anymore, or you can add bits of wool here and there and it is possible to create wonderful textures with this. It is a big favorite of mine.

Check out this purple nuno felted scarf in my etsy shop.

Come and check out soon for tutorials about feltmaking or follow my blog.

Highland Fairy chooses organic shopping

Highland Fairy is the blog of Heidimoon, a fellow etsian. She reclaims and recycles fabrics to create one-off garments and accessories.. jewellery out of clay, gemstones, and found objects..
Her shop http://heidimoon.etsy.com is definately worth a visit.

I was featured on her blog in her favorite shopping list for organic and natural items, along with two other etsian artists whos work is quite amazing.


Go to http://highlandfairy.blogspot.com/2009/03/organic-shopping.html and check it out for yourself.