A walk in the bush

I gain a lot of inspiration from my little bush walks. I find a never ending treasury of colours and textures.

The sun finally came out today. So a couple of friends and I went for an amble in the bush. As you move deeper into the forest, away from roads and homes, it takes on a lovely hush. You foucus more intently on everything: smells, sounds, sights.

This little area is where a tiny creek crosses the path. It gurgles only slightly, as the water progresses on it's lazy journey to the lake beyond. The water is still enough to brightly reflect its surroundings. Where shadows fall, the russetty colours of the tannin rich water glows.

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.

From the Verandah

So I've been sitting on my verandah today, enjoying the beautiful sunshine, listening to the birds, lawnmowers and other critters. A heady mix, I know.

It would have been very easy to just sit and relax, but, instead I listed some new items in my online store.

Here's a bit of a sneak peak.

These are my felt drink bottle coolers. I have never been really fond of the usual ones you get made of neoprene or polystyrene, but when it's hot you don't want your hot hands warming up a cool drink, nor when it's cold do you want to freeze your hands holding a cold drink. These feel lovely to touch and are very easy to keep clean. I just pop one on an empty bottle and soak the lot in room temperature water. Then it goes in the sun and when it's dry I slide it off the empty and it's ready for use again.

The second pic is of my latest 2 flower pins.

They cover the palm of my hand, so are a fair size. The brooch clasp at the back enables you to attach the flower to all kinds of things, from dresses, to coats and hats.

If you like something, visit my store at

http://www.beljaysfelt.com/

My new online shop

So one of the other things I've been doing over the last few months is building up my stock of felted works with the intention of opening an online shop.

Now I have now done this and am adding items to it regularly.

It's called Beljays Felt and you can find it here

http://www.beljaysfelt.com/

As I am in Australia, the items are listed in Australian Dollars. Which is easier for those living here. But if you don't live in Oz, don't despair, you can still purchase through Paypal.

I still have many new items at my Etsy store as well, so if you don't find what you're after in one store, you might find it in another.

Please check out both sites.

A lovely little dress

Okay. I know it's been a while since I posted, but life gets crowded sometimes.

So here is the first of my little updates on what I've been up to...

I made two entries for this years' Sydney Royal Easter Show Arts Section.

This dress was for the wearable felt category. It is a nuno-felt construction using hand-dyed cotton gauze and tissue silk as the base fabrics. I have used a resist template and so i is made without seams. Which means it is fully reversable.

I solved the problem of how to make the flowers around the neck work on both sides by putting them on a few beads. By doing this the flowers can be flipped to one side of the fabric or the other.

I love the idea of getting two dresses for the prices of one. Someone else did too. It sold at the show which is great, but I don't have any idea who bought it. I'm sure they will love wearing it as much as I did making it. I also managed a Highly Commended for this piece.

Raising a raucous laughter on a rainy day

It has been grey for what seems like an eternity. In reality it has probably been only 2 weeks. Even so, that is a long time to be grey. And drizzly, and absolutely dumping down with rain. Yes, after months of wishing for rain because the tanks are dry, we got our wish. It has been raining overtime. The tanks are full. The gardens are sloshy. The damp is rising into the house. Yik! As usual, the weather here in Queensland seems to be overdoing it. Although I am fine, high and dry here in my highest wooden house, others aren’t so lucky. After years of drought in some regions here, the residents are now dealing with floods. But, not to be despondent, I have been working with loads of colour on cheery things. At the end of the felting frenzy I have created a very cheerful and happy cat. It’s a teacosy. No, really. It is. If you pull the tail off and shove your hand between the front legs to grab the handle you can pour. My brother nearly fell off his chair laughing when I showed him. I won’t tell you what he said. In hindsight this may not have been the best design element, however, in its defense: it certainly brought some joy into the room on this miserable rainy day.

A Chooks Tail or How to make felt

It occurred to me that you may not know what handmade felt is all about. This is not meant to be a tutorial on how to make felt… just a brief description for you. There are many different ways to make it but this was the first technique I learnt. My felt begins with unspun sheep wool. This is just a small part of my stash. I have wool straight from the sheeps back, as well as wool that has been washed and combed. Some is commercially dyed, some I dye myself. Generally, I use merino. It is soft and easy to work with. Occasionally, for special projects, I use a courser type, like corriedale. It is much more difficult to felt but is harder wearing and hold its shape well. Felt created using a wet technique begins with pulling out tufts of wool and laying them down in the same direction. The next layer goes down across the first. And so on, until you have a thick, soft batt. To make the wool really interesting you can vary the colours. In this way the finished fabric has wonderful changes and blends that commercial felt rarely has. This is where the work starts. The wool batt is sprinkled with soapy water. A layer of gauze is placed over this and the water is gently worked into it. Working it further with small circular hand rubs starts to intertwine and tangle the fibres. This is the beginning of the felting process. If the wool doesn’t pull apart when it is pinched and gently tugged, we are ready for the next step. The batt is rolled up in bubble wrap and rolled back and forth for 50 – 100 rolls. Unwrap it, turn it, roll, repeat. This goes on for a while. Definitely a good way to give your upper body a workout. Occasionally the piece can be thrown onto the table; it can squished in your hands; and rolled a bit more. It can take a fair amount of time and effort to work the wool.

Eventually the surface texture of the piece changes. The sheet of fabric, which had become very thin when wetted down, has thickened a bit and shrunk markedly. Voila! It is done and ready to use in whatever way you like. Maybe a tail?