Festive Napkin Ring Tutorial

I had so many plans for the last week of term, I was going to be super organised and make some last minute Christmas presents as well as work on my C&G and update the blog with that tutorial I promised. Unfortunately my youngest was ill all week so I am far from organised. In desperation I had to drag the poor fella around town on Friday, although I did keep him happy by popping into a cafe for a giant chocolate muffin and hot chocolate.

The tutorial was for some festive napkin rings I made last year, I haven't had time to take step by step photos but it's a fairly easy project so I'll just explain how they are made.

1. Make some flat felt in green (or use commercial felt if like me you find yourself short of time).
2. Using a bright red wool make a some little felt beads. For those of you who haven't made felt beads before Liz from Mill Girl has a great tutorial here.
3. Take a small length of brown roving (I'm using natural merino), and wrap it around your fingers.
4. Dip it in warm soapy water (make sure you're not too heavy handed on the soap as too many suds is a disaster with this technique), and start to roll the felt on some bubble warp. (There is no soap in the picture below because this is a fake step by step photo).
   
5. Keep moving the roving around your fingers and rubbing it on the bubble wrap.
6. Once it has started to felt you can take it off your 4 fingers and just use 2, either continuing to rub it on the bubble wrap or rubbing it on the palm of your hand.
7. When felted rinse in cold water and leave to dry.
8. Cut out your holly shaped leaves and when everything is dry sew the leaves and berries onto the ring and hey presto, you have a festive napkin ring!

So, a rather brief version of the tutorial has been delivered and I can cross it off my list, now to spend the afternoon sewing some last minute gifts and a couple of cushion covers. Then maybe tonight I'll find the energy to start the mammoth wrapping that lies ahead.

catch up

We've had a week of relatively heavy snow here in North Yorkshire which has meant a day and a half of felting time lost due to school closures and a Christmas fair I was taking part in being cancelled at the last minute. I have also taken the decision to postpone my felted bag workshop which was due to take place on Saturday. The new date for the workshop is Saturday the 19th of February. There are still 3 places left so if you are interested please get in touch.

I have two wholesale orders outstanding, which I'm trying to get finished by the weekend so I can spend the next two weeks working on my city and guilds coursework. It's been a while since I've had time to play in the studio and I'm keen to experiment with some ideas I've had buzzing around my head for a while. I'd like to get back into blogging as well and plan to share a festive felting tutorial. There, I've said it, so now I have to deliver the goods........watch this space.

Workshops

I have three new workshops coming up. The first is 'Making a Felt Bag' on Saturday the 4th of December, then on Saturday the 29th of January there's 'Felted Flowers' and finally we have 'Free Choice' on Saturday the 5th of March.

The 'Free Choice' workshop is aimed at people who have felted before but would like help and guidance with certain techniques or a specific project. For example, you may want to have a go at nuno felting or making a more complicated bag with internal pockets or try your hand at slipper making. This workshop is limited to 8 people.

All the workshops run from 10.30 - 3.30 at Calcutt and Forest Moor Village Hall near Knaresborough. The workshops are £30 and include all materials, however there is an additional charge of £5 if you choose to do nuno felting at the 'Free Choice' to cover the cost of the silk. I provide all the equipment so you just need to bring a packed lunch along on the day.

You can book your place through the shop at www.fibrespace.bigcartel.com or contact me at fibrespace@gmail.com if you prefer to send a cheque.

I'm still here...

Just popping back to clear away the cobwebs! Summer flew by this year, we enjoyed a couple of camping trips and took our kids to their first music festival. The Greenman fetival was fantastic, very family friendly, and I was so chuffed that the children really embraced the experience and enjoyed watching the live bands, despite having 48 hours of continuous rain! Well it was in Wales so what did we accept.

We got a new addition to our family over the holidays, which inspired the kids to make these lovely felted pictures. Can you guess what it is?


Actually, not long after the kids created these, Hammy managed to escape from his cage and disappeared without a trace. Having spent 4 days looking in every nook and cranny, removing the bath pannel and lifting the odd floor board, we came to the conclusion that he'd gone to meet his maker. The kids were upset so we popped off to the pet shop and chose another hamster. A few hours later and Rosalena was settling nicely into her new home, the kids went off to bed happy and I popped into the kitchen to make a cup of tea, only to be confronted by a hideous smell. Some where up above there was a funny noise and when I investigated who should I spy but Hammy in a glass vase on a very high shelf in the kitchen. I think he had been under the floor boards all along and popped out through an air vent straight into the vase. So we now have two hamsters, a male and a female, the kids are under strict instructions not to let them out at the same time, two is definately enough!

Holiday!!

I'm going to be away from home for the next 2 weeks. In a moment I'm heading off to our city and guilds summer school for a week of felting and good company :-) Then the following week we're off camping, so any orders placed in the shop won't be sent out until after the 10th of August. Hope you are all enjoying your summer,

Beth

Another butterfly

This is a new brooch I designed recently that proved popular at the BCTF. I'm hoping to get some more made and in the shop soon. They are made from superfine merino felt and this one has been dyed teal.

Nuno Felted Vest

Last week I had a stall at Woolfest. The previous year I had worn my dress that I made at Charity Musoma Van der Meer's workshop, and it attracted a lot of attention. With a week to go to Woolfest, and a lot of stock still to make I decided I needed another felted item of clothing to wear so I whipped up this nuno top. I made it in a rush and it was really a bit of an experiment, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It's felted with superfine merino wool and silk pongee (I think) and over dyed with Brazilwood. I'm already designing some more tops so watch this space....

Birds and Butterflies

It's been a while hasn't it. I have been so busy with wholesale orders and getting ready for woolfest that I really haven't had any spare time to spend on the computer. However, today I have allowed myself a little (which means the housework didn't get done). Can you see, I have been tweaking the blog and playing around with the new blogger templates. Not sure I'm 100% happy with it so it may change over the coming weeks. I've also managed to list my range of kits in the shop as well as a few on Folksy.

Anyway, here are a few things I have been up to during my blogger absence:

Camping in the Lake District at half term.


Raising and releasing Painted Lady butterflies.


Producing flocks of Little Birds,


and designing a new kit.

WIP

I'm still busy working on orders, here's a little peak.

any ideas?

I'm still really busy working on orders from the BCTF, but I thought I'd quickly write a post and share one of my latest bags with you (whilst on my lunch break). This is a simple design which I made for myself it's made from natural brown merino and blue faced leicester. I jazzed it up with one of my little bird brooches.

As the title suggests I need your help, does anyone have any advice on photographing bags. I always struggle, they're too big to fit in the light box and until my daughter enters her teens I don't have a model to hand. To take this picture I hung it on a nail which is not very artistic.

Also, while I'm here I'm going to plug my workshops. The felted bag workshop is sold out, but there are 4 places left on the felted flowers and 7 places left on the nuno felted shawl workshops. For information on dates, times and venue just visit my shop and click on the relevant workshop listing.

School Project

A few weeks ago I taught felt making at my daughters school during art week. I was there for 2 and a half days working with years 3 and 4. The children loved it and they made this fantastic wall hanging.

Making prefelts for leaves.

Laying out the tree trunk.


A little spider dangling from the tree.


A cute little hedgehog.


Laying the prefelt leaves on.

Felting Workshops

I've been working on a new blog which I'm using as website until my old website has been updated, I've just posted details on there for my latest felt making workshops, so if you're interested please take a peek.

www.fibrespace.co.uk

Awards....

Over the past few weeks I have been nominated for the sunshine award by Creative Bumble Bee and NarkeyMarkey. Creative Bumble Bee also nominated me for the Kreative Award :)
Thanks guys, it's always nice to know that people are reading and appreciating my blog. Many of the people I would nominate already seemed to have received the award and I find it so difficult to choose just a few from my ever expanding list of blogs I subscribe to, so I'm just going to list 5 random blogs I read that contain the word felt. Go take a peek there's lots of inspiring work to get you in the mood for felting.

Studio Felter
The Felted Garden
Wool, Felt and Textiles
Daily Felt
Deeply Felt Studios

I have also had my Little Birdies featured on Following the Wind, thank you Brigitte.

Talking of Birdies, I have just listed the first of my new Little Bird Brooch Kits on Etsy. The kit makes two brooches in co-ordinating colours and they come in a smart little tin. I'm hoping to get some more colours listed soon, but probably not until after half term as I need to make and dye some more felt.

and the winners are....

Just a quick post to announce the winners before I get ready for a Mum's night out. Thank you to all those who entered and all the lovely comments about my work, I really appreciate it. With the help of Afra, my daughter has picked the two lucky winners,


Number 2 which was Anna Bee and number 27 which was Sarah.

Giveaway!!

Oh dear, I really seem to be neglecting my blog at the moment, can you see the cobwebs and dust gathering in the corners. I'm happy to say it's becasue I have been very busy in the studio working on some new lines of work. Here are a few:

Afra is my latest monster bag. I've tried to improve the shape and style of my bags and I think Afra is an improvement on her predecessors, she has a nice chunky handle and a magnetic clasp, and is made from natural grey merino. I've listed Afra in my Etsy shop. The price of my monster bags has gone up quite a bit as they really do take a long time to make and I'm going to have them available for wholesale at the BCTF in April.

I've also been working on these little heart brooches (as it's February). They are needle felted from Norwegian wool, I just love the colours.

And finally, I have re designed my felted flower brooch kits. Last week I supplied some to the York Quilt Museum and Gallery, they have some beautiful felted tunics exhibited at the moment which are well worth a visit. I've also listed some on folksy and etsy. As promised I'm going to give two kits to two lucky blog readers, just leave a comment and I'll draw two winners at random on Friday the 12th of February.

Hi,

Just a quick note to say I have donated a couple of felted flowers to craft hope, which have just been listed. Craft Hope is an etsy shop run by volunteers to raise money for Doctors without borders, all the items have been donated and all the money (except etsy fees) will go to the charity. Here's a little bit more information taken from their website www.crafthope.com

"Our Etsy shop will benefit Doctors Without Borders, with 100% of the proceeds going to them. The medical need in Haiti right now is acute. The Doctors Without Borders existing facilities are so badly damaged, they are no longer functional. Post-earthquake medical care will be from tents. So far they have treated 1,500 people – 500 of them need immediate major surgery. There are no facilities to do this in Haiti currently. An inflatable hospital should be arriving in Haiti today."

Please take a little time to browse through the shop as there are lots of lovely items.

Snow, snow,snow....

Happy New Year everyone (sorry it's a bit late), I hope you all had a good Christmas.

We had a fantastic Christmas, but I was looking forward to the kids going back to school so I could get back into my studio. Unfortunately on Monday morning J's school had no heating so he stayed at home, then on Tuesday we woke up to 8 inches of snow (I measured it), and J and E's schools were both closed! As the sledge has a big crack in it from hitting a bump just a little too fast a few weeks back we opted for snowman building instead. If you look closely you'll see he's sporting a nuno felt scarf.

The kids are back at school now but my studio is a little bit cold even with the heating on so I'm only managing about two hours a day. I also need to get my tax return done ASAP so I'm afraid it might be a while before I have anything creative to share with you. However, I have been working on a re vamped version of my felt flower kit, when it's finished I'm going to have a little giveaway through the blog, so please come back soon.