Hallowe'en! One of my favorite times of year. I love the colors, the early darkness, spook-a-lanterns and ghosties.I can remember going house to house for treats, and having to stop at home to drop off my pillowcase to get another one, as the first was too heavy! My dad always made popcorn, (this was pre-micro days..1960) and the kids wold always want to hit Luttrell's early, as to not miss that treat. The rectory would always give out chocolate, and one old couple Mr. and Mrs. Hess would always give out an apple and two spiced wafers. No need to check for razors or pins in those sub-urb Philadelphia days.... we knew everyone in that big Catholic parish!

Peace Felt

my finished basket....Can't wait til next year! But until then, Christmas is coming and I have a few projects that need to be done! There is always something brewing when you are a felter!

The rains have come through, and it looks as though a dramatically hysterical actress has cycloned her way through the countryside, leaving in her wake all the debris of a rant! Leaves ripped from their perch lie as discarded hankies. Flower beds are flattened in the areas where she stomped her feet. Twigs and small branches are strewn all over as she threw things in her tantrum. She is both, Beauty and the Beast!

black ball

after the ball is wrapped with the wool roving, it all gets covered by this netting. It was a bit of a pain to put on, but after everything got placed and adjusted, the actual felting process began. Using soap and boiling hot water, you gently spritz the ball and begin. You rub and roll the ball against a ribbed surface. I use a woven bamboo mat. This step takes quite a lot of arm work and back muscle!

finally! after 20 years....

Well, finally after 20 years, i have found a use for the basket ball! It has been in my basement and the rubber is all dried out. It was just one of those things the girls got as a gift from someone who had no clue that they were SO not into sports. Kirsten did ballet and later XC, Gitta did cheer leading and bellydancing. Anyway, today it has fulfilled its destiny!

It is the bases for my peace felt project... Brenda! STOP HERE! unless you want to watch the step by step process!


Anyway, the first act involves layering the thin tufts of roving all over the sphere. It was a bit slippery until the first layer was down... then you apply subsequent layers in the opposite directions until you reach your desired thickness.

I begin..the idea and gathering in of supplies

well, I have my design for my peace felt partner. Now, I begin to get the ingredients assembled to see what is going to work and what is not making the grade! Then, once all things are assembled the fun begins.....









Here are a few pictures of Gitta's painting.... She must have been thinking of "The Tailor of Gloucester!"

Peace Felt Partner

We received our Peace Felt partners. I have Brenda from Florida. I do not think I know of a more busy woman! She is educating her children, does tons of hand work and is very involved in many things.....She has a very sunny personality... maybe that is why she and her husband left Maine and now live in the Sunshine State! AND!! she loves Edward Gorey... how wicked cool is that!

Now my mind is spinning about her project.....I love to explore new ways of working with wool and learning another technique..... I am very excited about the project.... Little mistletoe will have to wait, but it is 75% finished....so it will be easy to return to....

Mistletoe

I am working on my mistle toe felting project. I chose mistletoe not for it's "Christmas" feel, but rather giving a nod to it's historical past for being a plant of blessings.

The druids held it in reverence, feeling it brought peace and protection on the house and healing. The Norse tales are more dire.

I opt for the druid concept! In the end this will be a natural table runner with pearls, wet felted cream strips and white felted fabric. It is about three feet by 1 1/2 feet. I am not sure what I shall back it with or how to finish the ends.....

You'll be the second to know ... I'll be the first!

a way cool child.

http://brigittaelisejewelry.blogspot.com/

freedom to explore

As a young art student, I was taught by the nuns to stick very closely to purist. There was anything as mixed media. If you were working batik, it was not to look like parts of it were tie-dyed. The least amount of crackling in the color was awarded better grades. Water colors were NOT to be penciled sketched then "filled in." Clay and pottery were functional and recognizable objects. Never should a metal object be sewn onto a banner. A banner was all cloth. Period.

I suppose it was to gain a firm stance in the fundamentals, but all it did for me was take the creativity out of the process. I worked like a trained copycat. Stroke for stroke, sticking to the prescribed outcomes. That idea stuck with me and made it so very difficult to transition into being my self and having my own style.

It wasn't till my daughter, Gitta, was into her jewelry and metalwork major at university, did I feel ok with the concept of mixed media, creating your own style and feel free to do things my way, even if no one else liked it or understood it!

What a thought! She is graduated now. I still struggle at times and ask her, "Is it ok to do it this way?" She always affirms me and gives me the most constructive advise. I have posted her college blog as one I follow.

In that free spirit, I share a few pictures of some things in the works. This is a Ren Faire coif of hand felted wool, pointed cap with needle felted worst into a thistle design. It will have thistle blossoms of purple in the opening between the two curls of thistles. For some odd reason, I love to make hats! So strange, but so fun~

Operation Bunny Drop

living felt

For quite a while I have been involved with the people of Living Felt. Marie, the owner, runs a shoppe on line but is so much more. She organizes felters across the world and sets up opportunities to help others with our felting. Who would have thought it!

One such opportunity was "Operation Bunny Drop." It was designed to send little bunnies to the children of Japan who lost everything in the earthquake and Tsunami last spring. There were safety requirements etc, and I sent my little bunny to her contact in Japan. They were distributed by the end of May.

Now, I am waiting for my partner's name if Marie's project "Peace Felt." Each felt artist is given the name of someone somewhere who has also signed up for the project. We design and send an original felt piece of work to the person. It is to encourage peace and understanding with persons all over the world.

Art speaks to the soul, and sometimes rather loudly!

Happy New Year in July???

So many changes with the New Year. I am finished with a nursing job that was corrosive to me. I have been working with fibers for years now, and have made that a major player in my life. It is more than fab. I was reading a blog yesterday from a woman in Norway. ("daily felt") It made me realize that crafters are sunny people. And, I have been redeemed from a nursing job that was making me so very ugly and am having a very happy New Year.