Dyed, Spun and Woven

I've been getting back into spinning over the last year. Trouble is I am not very fast at knitting or crochet. Then someone lent me a small rigid heddle loom. I was hooked from the first piece.
So this is a little visual storyline on how it all happens...

I start by dyeing the fibre. In this instance I have chosen a merino roving and some mulberry silk tops. They start out white but after I have chosen and applied the colourway it looks like this.

Next I card and blend the merino and silk together into gradients of colour.

I then spin the singles

Which look like this when wound on a ball winder ready to ply

I take one ball and using the thread from the centre and the thread from the outside, ply them together. This is the pink to purple gradient plied

And this is both balls plied, skeined and washed

They are then woven into a grey warp. I have used a dark grey 2ply merino for the warp. And viola! I have a lovely pure wool, hand dyed, hand spun, hand woven shawl.

I still have a bit of finishing to do but I am excited by this process.

Felt Scarves for the cooler days

A couple of recent pieces.

These scarves are made from merino wool, felted into sheer black tissue silk and maybe some silk threads here and there to give the colours lustre. A special little feature at the centre are the little felted beads. Your scarf can be worn so that it looks like a scarf with a matching necklace.  I will have a couple of these in my etsy shop from time to time so pop over and take a look.

A Few Of My Favourite Felt Things

Here are a few of the things I have been making lately.

ABOVE: Felt flowers. 

These are bigger than my hand and make beautiful brooches, hair accessories or decor items.

ABOVE: Fairy LED lights.

Pods and Hanging Flowers with LED lights that change colours.

ABOVE: Shawl/Vest

These are a nunofelt item that works like a cross between a shawl and a vest.

They are made from hand dyed tissue silk with hand dyed merino wool felted in like leaves.

I am happy to custom make these to fit and in your choice of colours. Contact me via my etsy shop, 

Beljays Felt n Art

 if you want to know more.

Nuno Felting Kits: Make your own scarf

I have been busy with a few projects of late.

The first has been cleaning up downstairs to make a studio where I can teach felting and fabric dyeing workshops. I'm nearly there, but still need to do a bit more work.

In the meantime I have put together  a great little kit for people who want to try their hand at nuno felting.

 

 

 

 

The kits include all the fabric wool and embellishments as well as detailed instructions with lots of pictures. You need to get some bubble wrap and painters plastic dropsheets, and a few other easily acquired bits and pieces, and you are on your way.

I have started with kits using cotton gauze as the base fabric. This is a really good fabric for beginners because the weave is very open and this makes it easier to felt into.

The step by step instructions lead you through the process from laying down your bubble wrap, to different ways to lay out your wool and embellish it with silk threads, to rolling and fulling, to rinsing the finished item out and drying it.

There are lots of ways you can choose to decorate your scarf. A few examples here give you some ideas

 

 

 

Wear your creation with pride and when someone asks where you got it, you can say "I made it".

These are available through my etsy shop, BeljaysFeltnArt  or click on the etsy pictures on the right.

The Gallery Ensemble

I went to a friends exhibition opening last week and had a great time. But the lead-up posed a problem. As the weather here is chill at the moment, I wanted to wear one of my berets and scarves. Not an issue in itself but that morning, I realised I had no bag to match. Eeeek! Luckily, I did have time to quickly make something that suited. And while the bag itself is quite simple in its design, the addition of one of my flower pins certainly jazzed it up a bit. Speaking of jazz, the opening had a lovely jazz duo playing. It is a great gallery space in Nundah just to the north side of Brisbane (that's Queensland, Australia, for those international readers). It was a group exhibition, with 14 artists, presenting a wide variety of subjects and styles. My friend, Michele Knightley, creates wonderful, bright landscapes. They are influenced by the brilliant colours in the landscape up here in Southeast Queensland. Have a look at the address below, it's Micheles work at Martin Galleries http://www.martingalleries.com.au/exhibition/97/5 Take some time to have a look. Bag goes okay with the scarf and hat, I think.