Felt, Nuno Felt, Capes and Awards

I could almost start every post with, "Gosh I've been busy..."  but really I have. Here's some pics to prove it. My entries into this years Royal Brisbane Show - EKKA - and the sections they were in.

Felt Garment 

Accessory

Wall Hanging

Nuno Felt 

Then there are all the gossamer shawls I have been making to order.

And this very special full length one

and these are only the nuno-felts.

There are also the shibori silks

Eventually I'll get some of these listed in my Etsy shop.

Oh, and how did I go at the Show?

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 Felt Shawls and Cobweb Felt Scarves

These are a few of my most recent Nuno felt shawls and cobweb felt scarves.

The pics have been taken at the lovely market stall I have on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Nuno felt shawls: merino wool felted into hand dyed cotton gauze

Cobweb felt scarves

A nuno felt shawl: superfine merino wool felted into a combination of hand dyed paj silk and tissue silk. The lacy edging is hand dyed rayon.

 If you want to buy any of these, contact me via email  beljaysfelt@gmail.com  I'll let you know if the one you are interested in is still available or we can create a custom order.

New Season Felt Scarves

We'll, the summer here in Queensland is cooling down and I can finally start making again.

I wanted to show you some pics of them here and wouldn't ya know it, I have a technical hitch. So if you would like to see a few pics of what I've been up to pop over here to my Facebook page

www.facebook.com/beljaysfelt
To see  some colourful, lightweight nuno felt shawls and  a few super soft cobweb felt scarves.

I haven't listed these on Etsy yet but if you like them, contact me via email
beljaysfelt@gmail.com

Hopefully I'll get some pics up here later today.

Kiteepee: Lifestyle solutions for your pussycat

Kiteepee. Pronounced Kitty pea.
A fabulous new home decore product for your cat.

Kiteepee in action

I first started making something like this when my aging kittycat decided she would no longer use the garden for her business. Even if she was in the garden, she would run up the stairs to use her litter box. Weird huh?! Anyway this meant that I had to live with a litter box next to the back door (if I put it anywhere else she would still leave her business by the back door - consistent if a little inconvenient).

Litter box by the back door

Two problems arose. The first was that I wasn't thrilled at the site of the litter box. The second was that she was a little shy and if anyone was in the room with her, she'd mooch around the box, but not go until her audience left.

This is a very pretty pink Kiteepee Royale
with hand dyed silk trim.

That was until I made her a kiteepee. She got the privacy she needed when going about her business and I got a much better looking corner.

I had more than one kiteepee and it turned out that when I had them set up in a different room and not on the litter box, especially in winter, she quite liked to curl up inside them for a bit of a nap. This is when I started to make more upmarket ones to go with my decore. Which led to matching cushion covers and so on. I never did like those synthetic, nylon fluffy pet beds and, lets face it, they look pretty awful in the corner of a lovely lounge room. Whereas these can be designed to suit any theme.

Kiteepee Deluxe with matching cushion cover.

If you are interested in a kiteepee for your pussycat, pop over to my new shop on Etsy

www.kiteepee.etsy.com

Kiteepee: Lifestyle solutions for your pussycat

Felt Challenges

So I have set quite a few challenges for myself over the last few months. None of them have to do with being more frequent here unfortunately.

The first challenge was a little nuno felt bolero with little ruffles on the front.

The piece incorporates some beautiful silk that I dyed using shibori techniques. The main challenge, apart from designing the pattern of the bolero, was to keep the edges of the silk at the front from felting into the rest of the item. It is these free strips that have created the ruffles.

I was really pleased with the result and entered it into the Queensland Royal Show, known as the Ekka. I was awarded a first prize in felt garments for it.

My second major challenge had been creating a number of felted 2D wall hangings for an art exhibition in Sydney. I had to draw on my long background in painting and combine it with my technical knowledge of felting to make four works (3 here).

 

 

I have to say that they looked pretty good up on the walls of the gallery. They were in good company with paintings, sculptures, quilts and tapestries by other wonderful artists.

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.