Peace Felt

Well, the season of summer has come and gone, and here I am enjoying another Autumn. The weather has been perfect. Cloudy overcast days where the the yellows of the Norway Maple are eerily luminescent in the backdrop of greys skies and mists....then a bright blue ceiling to the world, crisp leaves, the smell of burning leaves. Yes, that is illegal in our town, but not on the farms that surround us. I am reminded of a school reader where there was the story of Zeke, the local handyman, who would put potatoes under his pile of burning leaves, and would eat them, cooked with crispy skins after the bonfire died out in the evening.The joy of reading is an Autumnal delight.


 Here is my peacefelt project for this year. My exchange partner became ill, and asked me to send it to HER exchange partner. SO!  It is a little nerve wracking sending it to someone whom I know nothing about!  I try to get to know my partners a little and make something that fits my impression. My first partner lives in New England, and has a cabin retreat... So, This is what I designed for her.....

To Every Season...A Time for Peace....

Now, my new partner, Karol, lives in California!  Hummm.... well, I hope she likes it! It is sent with all my best wishes of Peace for in her world and around the world.

It is needle felted with tussar silk and merino wool. Felting from both sides to create various textures and shades. I used my Babylock machine and my Clover hand held needlefelt punch.  It was so fun to make.The part I dont like is doing the framing.. I am not an expert to begin with, and framing felt with its various thickness and stretching (or not) was a challenge!  but, it should stay put!

Well, enough for today! Happy Autumn everyone!

Tis the season for expanding my skills in preserving the flavors of summer.  I have followed  "Living in Season" by Waverly Fitzgerald for years.  She never ceases to amaze me. You must read her latest creative explorations! www.livinginseason.com/

  What is so rare as a day in June?  Warm, bright, billowy clouds make for a perfect day to felt!  I am still working on my French 75.  It is always amazing to me to see the work unfold.  It is never quite as I imagine. I think this is due to many factors, including my skill, the combinations of materials, and the ever shifting personality of the piece!

 

Above is a picture of part of the felting process. The table is covered with plastic, then the rubber grip grid (I used a part of left overcarpet grabber from a rug in the kitchen)  Then the wool piece and its silk cover.

 Then the entire wool is covered by a fine jersey... the kind that you find in sports shirts.... polyester allows the agitation needed for the felting process without becoming part of the piece!   You pour your hot soap and water mix on it and begin to felt.  I actually used a sander to help felt this project after I did the first layer by hand and scrunchy. You can see the scrunchy in the upper left hand of the picture.

After being satisfied that the felting was acceptable, I began the fulling process.  I use a big pool noodle to wrap and roll in all four directions.

The process complete, I soak the fabric in a vinegar solution. This helps change the fibers back to their original state after being altered by soap in the process.

Then another rinse in hot water to remove the vinegar and out on the line to dry!  This lovely weather is perfect drying weather.....

Once dry, it will be ironed. Some hand work will finish it. That may include trimming the edges, or some bead work.... I shall post when completed~ 

Summer has begun!

Felt what you know...

Have you ever been stalled on a project, but cannot let it go?  I have! And often, I do not know how to get past it.  I feel like a failure if I do not continue on it, but find mistakes are made if I continue..... Other times I get a break through and cannot imagine what would have happened if I had not pushed on.... The question is how to tell which path to take.  

With this project, I have been stalled for about 5 weeks.  I have invested a lot of money into the project, but had a loss of design focus when I started to set up the actual garment. 

My design was based on holiday celebrations.  I love champagne and thought about white truffles...Some how I was not able to come to a conclusion on the project.  I knew I had to get more than surface treatments in the shawl, so I cut bubbles in the merino...(thanks Gitta for the confirmation on that!) Then I was stopped again....
















I had the wonderful spirit of the sparkling libation.  Later on, I opted to eliminate the white truffles... I think this was the stalling factor.  I have never tasted a pure white truffle, so I was not able to translate the spirit of the truffle into art.  HA!  another creative breakthrough for me. 



















I thought long and hard about holidays and festive drinks.  


 A French 75!  How perfect!  I had forgotten about this fairy like creation!  It had all my favorite ingredients and BAM!  My muse has returned! 

 So, now I am off and running again....all my colors are perfect, all my silks and woolens are fluid and light as bubbles.

 I still have all the actual felting and fulling to do!  The felting life is busy!

Many artists can do wonderful things in and with the unknown.  Alas, I cannot. But, I know what I know!!! And, am learning what makes me tick.  I hope some day to develop into the unknown!  In the mean time, Cheers!

Here is my favorite recipe for the French 75!
1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz St. Germain
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
Champagne or Sparkling Wine
Combine the Gin, St. Germain, lemon juice and syrup, shake with ice, and pour into a chilled cocktail glass or champagne coupe.  Top with the champagne – pour it slowly over the back of a spoon to get a great layered effect.
 Credits: ohsobeautifulpaper.com

French baguettes

I love to cook...I am the type of cook that buys andouille sausage from New Orleans if I am making red beans and rice. It takes time, thought and effort to create a culinary experience worthy of yourself and your loved ones. Let me add experiences and mistakes as well to the list of creating a worthy anything!

So, armed with real  French flour ( a lower protein flour) and a new recipe, and a new set of baguette pans, I began my journey into baguette land! 



My recipe began with the making of a "poolish."  That is a starter mix of flour, water and yeast. It sits over night and develops a more complex and rich flavor to the bread. You must stir the poolish clockwise only. The idea is to develop strong, long fibers, no that's not the right word... that's a felting term....but you get the idea....

 

 The next step is to add the rest of the flour water and yeast into the poolish.Once it gets tacky, you kneed the dough.......

Then it has to rest and rise.  You must periodically  stretch the gluten fibers by lifting the dough up and then allow it to drop back into the bowl. This also insures the holes in the bread will be distributed evenly.

Finally, it is time to form the baguette shape and slash it across the top. (I did not do such a great job here..I was afraid of beating up the dough!  )

Time to preset the oven to a high temp with a pan of boiling water in on the lowest shelf. The oven steams up to insure a crisp crust.  You remove the water bath after a bit and let it brown.  Then it is time to take it out of the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes at least to cool.....

Time to cut into the loaf to evaluate the crust and the holes. 

Not to bad!  It was very tasty.  Next time, I shall add more yeast and shape the loaves more attractively~

It is a lovely April morning. (Does anyone remember the book entitled April Morning?  It was a fictional account of a colonial battle in New England.  Such a wonderful book.) 
Seems as though it is going to rain today. The air is soft and still. It has a damp quality to it. The wisteria has blooms on it already.  There are two different kinds about my little place.  I think the one on the porch is "Chinese" and I do not remember the type of the other one!  They have different looks to their leaves, their blossoms and their scent.  Can anyone tell me which is which?

daffodil cake

felted this cloth ,then cut and sewed it into a jacket. It reminded me of a cake an old friend used to make.. it was an angel food type of cake called a "Daffodil Cake"

The fabric was made of marino prefelt 19 micron, silk hankies, bombyx silk threads and merino roving. I cut the pattern so that the edges of the fabric would be featured. Living Felt approved!