This piece is made from hand felted organic merino wool pieces and nuno felted pieces embellished with fluffy cotton ribbon. Everything is dyed with natural dyes.
Awesome and it lends itself to many different occasions.
For more images and to buy this item go to my etsy shop.
I just love natural fibres and also love working with them. In this modern times were man-made fibres are more and more taking over, I was very happy to see that 2009 is the year of natural fibres.
We can distinguish 2 groups of natural fibres:
- plant fibres such as cotton, hemp, flax, ramie, nettle, sisal...
- animal fibres such as wool, silk, alpaca, angora, mohair...
You can find very detailed information on the website of the International Year of Natural Fibres: http://www.naturalfibres2009.org/
I will post a monthly feature on the use of a natural fibre for the rest of this year with some easy projects that you can do at home.
Follow my blog or subsribe to my RSS blogfeed to be kept up to date.
I am just blown away by the beauty of the little case that the moth build itself, all with materials found in nature. I am even wondering whether it borrowed some of my wool for the soft fluffy collar!
Case moths spend most of their life as a caterpillar and camouflage themselves by building a little case which is made of leaves and twigs. They take their little shelter everywhere and sometimes you see the head pop out and the caterpillar starts moving.
The ones we had seen up to now where maximum 9cm long, so I was quite impressed.
I thought I was talking about art. Well this case moth is a great inspiration for my creativity, especially when working with wool. We'll see what I come up with.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
