Kate Ramsey Felt

A few snippets from the studio, work made in preparation to National Crafts Fair 2011

2011-11-25T02:49:00.000-08:00

Over past few weeks I have been very very busy making this and that but most importantly making scarves and flowers for the fair.
In fact Loads of them... I did not manage to fulfill my target in making but I made what I could.

Here are some snippets from my so called studio (for us it is ordinary messy kitchen) but you know...
If any of the images are upside down its my IPhone I can blame....

I hang merino wool so it expands and relaxes a bit before the roughness begins...
and here 50 scarves piled up in a heap..

nice pattern, but why on earth it all smells of wet dogs hair???

National Craft Fair in RDS Dublin starts on the 30 th of November

2011-11-22T02:05:00.000-08:00

I will be selling at National Craft Fair in Dublin from the 30 th of November, please visit my stand number 200!

Here is a gorgeous gift guide issued by the organisers and in conjunction with Craft Council of Ireland.

Please note the gorgeous Picture of my scarf by best Irish photographer Trevor Hart, Dublin.

Nationwide filmed a bit of FabulousFelt by Kate Ramsey at Knitting and Stitching Show in Dublin 2011

2011-11-20T00:17:00.000-08:00

I was not aware of this but yesterday my customer pointed out that my shop was shown for approx 1 min at nationwide. It was a background for Nationwide presented Mary Kennedy on the 14/11/2011.

Such a surprise! I suppose the display was so nice that they thought that it would be a nice background! Thank you Nationwide.

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2011

2011-11-16T02:25:00.000-08:00

So the Knitting and Stitching show has ended on Sunday! It was my second show, but this time I was based on on the ground floor. So the position and sales were way better than ever before!

I had a 2 by 2 stand and planned to keep it nice and clean and stylish. So here is how the set up was like:
brought loads of boxes with ironed felt, and had hand made wooden display stands. I really can recommed the tree shape stand great for hats and great for scarves.

Here is the finished stand:

During the show I found that many customers prefer when there is a lot of product displayed, so the instinct to search and did in is very common, I found that my sales were higher. /so for the national craft fair I will be having a bigger stand and I will be displaying way more items for sale. The bigger stand would accoumodate more people at the stall and it would encourage greater sales.

I stayed with my friend in Dublin and was walking every day 5 km to Rds along the South Circular Road in Dublin. The city is absolutely stunning so I felt in love with it.

Every saturday at Milk Market in Limerick

2011-11-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

My journey towards professional feltmaking has started at the Milk Market in LImerick,
basically I asked one day a women who was selling handmade knitwear, her name is Theresa, whether I can join her at her stall at the market. I remember that day I sold for 50 eu and this is how the bug started.
After all those years I finally had time to photograph myself at the stall, well the stall that is:

here is the one I had last year at famous Artisans Craft Fair, long gone though sniff sniff.

You can see how my work and display has changed!

Photographs by Barbara Zonzin with my work got published in Duch Fashion Magazine.

2011-11-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

The magazine is called Advance Fashion Magazine
visit it at www.advancefashionmagazine.com

Here are some screens from this publication:

Now Tomorrow is the day to set up the Stand at Knitting and Stitching show in Dublin

2011-11-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

I will be travelling to the RDS to set up my stand at Knitting and Stitching show in Dublin.
Loads of preparation involved especially since I was very late to start. All those days have left a serious marks on my hands:

It is especially the dyeing process that makes it very difficult. It will dissapear once I start making felt again, wool works better than the most sophisticated peel off scrub.

My RDS award got mentioned in the Newsletter distributed by Feltmakers Ireland. Many thanks Sheila Ahern and the team who does such a fantastic job!

Here is the screen: I got awarded by Feltmakers Ireland for the innovation of my felt Lace dress:

Finally I got my leaflets and posters designed. For their invaluable imput I wanted to thank
talented graphic designer Ewa Rybka, from Cork, Ireland, http://craftobssesion.blogspot.com/
please contact her at 00353 87 697 9313 if you are interested in comissioning logo or graphic design for your business.

Also big thanks to Barbara Zonzin who photographed a model wearing my lace scarf below (www.barbarazonzin.com)

Here is the leaflet itself:

Let me know what ya think!

New/Old Photographs of my felt pieces by BArbara Zonzin

2011-09-22T03:57:00.000-07:00

Photo: Barbara Zonzin – Model and MUA: Manuela Mariani

http://www.barbarazonzin.com

Fabulous Work Barbara

My work is on sale at Glasson Craft Gallery, Westmeath, Ireland.

2011-09-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

I am proudly presenting some gorgeous photographs taken by Corin Bishop (2011) in this newly open shop located near Athlone.

Gorgeous selection of goods and amazing display, all done by fantastic woodturner, Stephen Mitchell.

and my items off course!

Jewellery making workshop in a fantastic Greek countryside in Peloponez by Doretta Tondi

2011-09-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

I am just back from my holidays in Greece, well this was my working holidays in fact!
Doretta Tondi is a very talented self taught jeweller, I admire her works and in fact there is something being made specially for me!
Here is Doretta's Ring that is particularly popular and my favourite:

A link to her shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DorettaTondi?ref=seller_info

I spend 8 days making silver jewellery from a scratch, starting from melting silver granules with copper, making flat sheet of silver, silver wire to use this elements for making beautiful brooch:

a ring

a set of earrings and a couple more things.

I was based in a lovely village, with quiet streets lovely caffees.

Every afternoon we spent 2 hours in the village in the cafe sipping lovely orange and lemon granitas. This is the main street of the village in the morning hours, streets are cleaned, and people get organised for the next big trading day.

Same street at night, equally busy. I enjoyed this life out on the outdoors.

Knowing myself I knew that I will not bathe in the sea, let alone have a proper beach style tan, since bikinis in Ireland are not an essential article I did not bring one at all!
So my tan consists of unsatisfactory streaks of sun here and there, my Irish friends were unimpressed.

Here some photographs from Dorettas studio:
Soldering a bracelet I was fixing

there is this special thing about this bracelet, my mother had bought it 40 years ago and spend one of her very first earnings as a local teacher. Now, well worn loops were broken. NObody from the local jewellers were keen to fix this bracelet as the time spent would cost more then the value of the bracelet they think. So I brought it to Greece, and work for 2 days to make new links and solder them together. The sense of achievement is enormous since I saved something of an emotional value and did all the work myself. CErtainly I am good at soldering now after all that practice!

The Greek countryside is beautiful and this photograph is my favourite!

Winner of The Royal Dublin Society National Craft Competition in three cathegories

2011-07-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

I am just back from Dublin where in the RDS a prize giving award has taken place today on the 27th of July. I have won a 2nd Prize in Feltmaking Category, A prize for RDS New Entrant and a special prize founded by Feltmakers Ireland! The ladies from feltmakers association were joking that now I will have to give back to the association in a form of editing of the newsletter and free workshops! I am gonna be busy then!

My application to RDS National Craft Competition, consisted of lace dress made from cut out felt, and Weaver's Wrap, a scarf that was inspired by my dress bought from Casch, by Gro Abrahammson. Here is the dress that ispired

here is the wrap

The second entry gave me the most awards, it was a tightly fitting lace dress. Here on the side, shame I have no proper official photograph of it!

With the prizes came a sum of money which was very generous and nice of the organizers!
There is more photographs here:

Feltmaking in Primary School - Educate Together National School

2011-07-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

Here is some info about a project held in Educate Together National School in June 2011.

I was working around the idea of a feltmaking workshop that would incorporate and emphasize a multicultural and multi-ethnic character of Irish society.

So, what first came up to my mind, although very cliche it may be, was the idea of a patchwork style felt wall hanging, that would be made up from flags created in felt by the pupils.

I was just not entirely sure whether placing one flag next to another would create a necessary impact so I got inspired by the school logo:

I came up with the idea of hands. These shapes would be cut out from flags pre-felted by children, to be subsequently felted by myself into a large pre-felt backing.
Here piles of cut out flags:

It took a while to felt the whole piece together, since some hands were quite thick and I had to tear some of the wool from the back of the cut outs. Please excuse my messy kitchen.

A big celebration took place in front of the school. Each class worked on a different art project. The 5th and 6th class that I was working with showed the wall hanging as the last ones. People seemed to love it!

I must say I felt very humble having to stand next to what we did together over those 4 busy weeks.

The group I had for the project was large, up to 27 students at once. But they were such a bunch of lovely people and so well organised and we worked together so well. Enough to say that I will be returning in September, with a specially designed masterclass course for a selected, small group of super gifted pupils from the school! Looking forward to it!

I dyed the wool myself and brought it to the classroom together with some sushi mats, sprinklers and plastic resists. Next time I should have more oil cloth to cover the tables cause everything was leaking and we had great fun/trouble in cleaning the classroom afterward.

And the last image is just a simple farewell to the wall hanging as it gets dry and straightened. Magic.

A visit in a workshop where hat forms are made!

2011-04-01T05:02:00.000-07:00

I travelled 300 km across the country to visit an unusual place. It is a workshop where wooden, aluminum and electric hat forms are produced.

The basic oval discs made from various types of wood are glued together using G clamps. The last element is partially carved using the digital machine that copies the original form.

Some of the hats have to be finished by hand and these cost 300 zlotys (Polish money) (approx 70 eu) , I was there for 2.5 hours and the hat that has been carved at that time has not been finished! The tools used were very sharp, the shaping looked like a piece of cake, but believe me, it was not easy at all!

please note the lovely old bench used as a clamp when shaping the hat

To be continued....

Visiting Poland, family and friends.. and some feltmaking tools

2011-03-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

I finally got to visit my country,
Having visited my auntie and my mother I decided to show them how to bake a traditional sourdouchg bread. These types of bread are created using a starter and a rye bread. It is necessary to use special baskets for these, such as the following one

this is the bread as it has been baking in the oven, and the result had a very crispy crust and moist inside.

Recently I have been making some more scarves, and I loved the fluffiness of the wool, the delicacy of silk and the weather outside.

The whole job lot of the felting sushi mats were used during the worksops in Primary Schools.

Today I received my latest feltmaking tools, the wooden heads and the rolling pin, it is slightly large this one!

These were organised by my dear friend Ola who is a feltmaker in Clonakilty, Ireland.

And this is my newest collaboration with Galway based basketmaker.

All the best from slightly cool Poland!

Feltmaking in Primary School

2011-03-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

I was delighted to be able to teach a basic feltmaking workshop to lovely class from St. Brigid's National School in Limerick.

Each class was run for four weeks, two hours each week. This was my first, experience in teaching a large group of children in different ages (there were 17 pupils in each). Before that I run some volunatry workshops for adults and kids in Limerick community centre and some individual workshops in my studio.

In preparation for the workshop I went to buy loads of sushi mats, and got a very surprised glance in Tesco as I was buying 20 sushi mats at once! I also had to order special Bonsai tree sprinklers, to be shipped from Germany cause these are nowhere to be seen in Limerick.

We were lucky to be able to work on tiled floor, but despite that the kids were usually soaked by the time we finished. Firstly because of the easiness with which you can sprinkle the water from the sprinklers, and the fact that the kids had to sit, as the floor got wet and increasingly slippery. There are no easy solutions there but to explain that one has to use as little water as possible! The other solution is to use sponges. So I can recommend sponges for younger children whilst sprinklers could be used with the older ones and preferably for a large project. Finally one can use loads of old towels to remove the excess of water.

Based on this experience I have got some interesting conclusions to share:

- In my opinion it is possible to teach kids how to make good quality felt, finished to a specific standard
- that if a child had a previous artistic experience, such as playing instruments or painting, he or she may find it easier to deal with fluffy wool
- that it is important to show that feltmaking could result in making something useful and potentially sealable
- that it is important to teach step by step, making sure that each person has arrived to the same stage in the process, otherwise everything falls apart and some children would end up over-felting their projects.

I taught my class, how to make simple key-rings, a mobile phone pouch, some wool painting and simple flowers. At the end of the course I have gathered the pre-felted paintings to make a large wall hanging in my studio.

Here is the photo before the felting started. Laying on the floor is the prefelt, with the intividual paintings. Its messy!

Finished hanging drying in the sun

Next day I met up with the class to reveal the wall hanging. I was emotional. I saw their faces and I knew they liked it!

The school has got the permission to build an extension so the wall hanging will be placed in the hall of the new building!

Here is myself explaining the process:

Many thanks to Betty, the principal of St. Bridgit's School for facilitating this workshop!

Felt session II

2011-03-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

I think this session was the last one I modeled. I did not realize how hard it is to keep yourself responsive to the person behind the camera. I find it hard to pose in a feminine way, I do not control my mimics and I feel very weird without my glasses on!

Please enjoy the outcome of our collaboration.

Feltmaking books that do not dissapoint - Veltinis

2011-03-03T01:30:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I happen to buy a book on feltmaking that is a great source of inspiration, a joy to read! Based on my own experience I stay clear from any books that consist of such titles as:
25 marvellous felt project, .... (insert appropriate number) felt ideas

- so far on my list of the best Feltmaking books are
Feltmaking Wool Magic by Jorie Johnson
And a series of Felt Experiment books by Anette Quentin Stoll
These two have influenced my understanding of feltmaking. Today I am looking at another interesting book written by Vilte Kazlauskaite, with an interesting title Veltinis. (I have used Vilte's own photographs)

the book is available directly from Vilte's own Etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/shop/vilte?ref=pr_shop_more and sold book could be seen here
http://www.etsy.com/transaction/44721072

I suspect that this book is a well written book although I do not understand the language at all :)
You are getting 110 pages full of description, explanation and lovely photographs of good quality felt!

Some of you who have befriended many feltmakers on Facebook may notice that you have seen some pictures already. This book represents the best quality felt made in Central Europe and we from the West can learn from it in terms of the finish and consistency.

So run to your Etsy account to purchase this beauty,

All those events I did not report...

2011-03-02T00:42:00.000-08:00

During that time when I was not posting I had participated in various felt related events.
Firstly I was invited to prepare a "painting" in felt. Since I am not a painter myself and I hate painting I used silk fabric to create a rather simple and naive art. But it sold and I am very glad for anybody who is the owner, because it is my first piece ever made.

It was displayed during Polish Art Exhibition in Georgian House in Limerick. Apparently I have been praised by some of the visitors for this piece. I humbly will say that I was at least surprised by such kindness.
Since I started selling at the market, I was positioned very close to the fish stand :) so I decided to sample all these beauties on display. I became addicted to mussles. Here they are steamed in tomato/garlic/ white vine sauce (the recipe can be found here http://www.jamieoliver.com/foodwise/article-view.php?id=1506 ). I would like to recommend this recipe!

I also started using dried kelp, native to Irish coast. I added Kombu to vegetable stews and pastas and I must say it is fabulous. The owner of the business harvests the seaweed in Clare, so very locally to Limerick. http://www.spanishpointseaveg.ie/index.html

I am still alive and well! Plus repairing and patching holes!

2011-02-25T06:07:00.000-08:00

You may have wondered why I was gone for so long.
There is one thing that happens when you start a business, whereby suddenly a lot of people think that there is a lot of money to be made from feltmaking.

Therefore, you would see these people coming to the markets where I sell and trying to sell their fares. It is frustrating, especially when you have been teaching those people for free just for the fun of it and suddenly, they are happy to use your own techniques, are prepared to copy your own designs and are prepared to travel long distances just to sell at the same place where you sell.

Copycating is annoying, as well as it damages your self confidence I believe. It happens to everyone, myself included, and it is a result of laziness, but also lack of ideas what to make and what to do next with the "business". No more ranting then.

Today I have been working for the first time with my Pfaff machine, I used it to repair my customer's jacket. She had it ripped in front.

Here are the photos from the process.

- I used 1 needle to secure the design lightly

- outcome: the thing is that the fibers move when needle felted in Pfaff, next time have to figure out something different
- the flower shrinks and the design slightly desintegrates, next time I should use more wool on the top of the denim

here is the hole, I patched it up with a square taken from my old jeans, the idea is that there should be the same material underneath the wool so the needlefelted design is of the same consistency and sturdiness
- felt-o-matic, that is the 100 needle felting machine is useless here, because it creates wholes and disturbs the fabric. Better use your old fashioned needle felt tool.

When finishing the flower in Pfaff, I have broken 1 needle only (make sure that you follow the rythm of the machine and do not push your fabric too quickly). To make sure that fiber does not move when you needlefelt the rest of the flower, start from the centre of the flower, and then outline the edges.

The finished flower looked a bit bland so I added some decorative stitching here and there.

Finished jacket.

the idea of fixing and patching is not new, for instance in netherlands artist Heleen Klopper, http://www.woolfiller.com/ is creating fabulous patches for damaged and ripped woolen jumpers using the technique of needlefelt. more to be found here
design klub

the effect brings moss and lichen patches so often to be found on the west coast of ireland.

Artisans Craft Fair tomorrow

2010-08-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have got some nice and simple designs in preparation for the Artisans craft Fair in Limerick
First of all I made the lacy scarves:

fairly normal stuff there (nothing unusuall about it) . Used 18 mic merino wool, dyed afterwards.

Also I have been making some silk scarves with wool inlays.

finally some hats (dyed afterwards)

this one is an experiment (with cut out flaps of felt)

I know some of the stuff is not very artistic but this is what sells :). I think I am not going to be dyeing the lacy scarves into two colours because it takes too much time and it distorts the design :)

More could be seen at my stall.

Another Sunday ..

2010-08-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

I am slightly tired these days and somehow very much focused on my design ideas.
This morning I was actually making a scarf sample. What has come up looked like a butterfly. So I was so interested in the idea of a butterfly that when making my brew (tea) I poured the water to tea container instead of my tea cup. Now I am offering very concentrated tea essence to anyone willing to take it :)
The outcome

On Saturday I went to sell at Farmers Market in LImerick (and because the customer profile is different there I have mostly sold little things like flower brooches). I was standing next to a lady who sold jams. She was soo nice to let me hide behind her gazebo during short torrential downpour.

It is really good to get some interesting feedback from people. So apart from earning little money from selling your products I would recommend this to everyone. You might get very positively charged for the rest of the week!

I went mushrooming today:) with Ania. Here her dog has sniffed a little mushroom (at the very bottom of the pic). Not joking! it seems to know where these things grow.

Look at all of these beauties! Mushroom picking is one of these primeval instincts, which I link to hunting gathering needs of human life.

we have also found a fantastic photographic spot which I will be supplying with the article about feltmaking to my local newspaper. Here investigating :)

Some ideas for a cheap display

2010-08-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

Since I have started my hat making (and there is a lot of them to finish now but I am waiting to get the KateHuset hat forms from WinghamWoolwork), I was thinking about some cheap ideas for a stylish display.

So I have purchased a styrofoam head whilst in Vancouver (there they cost 6.20 $). The problem with these is that they get easily scratched and dirty. So I have covered these with bits of newspaper (I have used a PVA glue).

Although the coating looks nice enough I think I have to coat it with an additional layer of polish. Has anybody got an idea which one is suitable for this job?

To complement the head (and to stabilize it a bit) my friend has bought a kitchen towel holder for me (3 euro).

I have also bought a mug holder to use for displaying the bracelets (cost 5.99 eu).

Have you got any nice, cheap and nifty ways of displaying your work?

just a preview...

2010-08-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

I have been working a lot to make scarves for christmas sale. Here they are stored in plastic ikea container.

But more importantly I have continued experimenting with my hat making. And with this one I am particularly proud of myself. I came out as an accident but it is the most favourite of mine so far.

not finished and needs some more pinching and vaporising and dyeing.
I have used Wingham woolwork hat block here and merino 18 mic.

The case against and for olive oil soap and Fairy washing up liquid.

2010-08-03T23:53:00.000-07:00

I have been having a break for the last few days, I cycled in preparation for my visit to Clonakilty. I am going to be teaching but also exchanging some feltmaking tips there.

But throughout those days I have been thinking here and there about the uses of good old olive oil soap versus all available Fairy washing up liquid.

First the price:
- Fairy costs 1.18 eu in local shop whilst a bar of Oliva is 1.50 (it is way smaller than the one pictured wchich is 600g).
- I need a one 125 g bar of soap for a day of intensive feltmaking. A Fairy bottle would last for over a month.

There is a general question of ecology when using lubricants in feltmaking, so probably the best idea is to use Ecover, the so callled ecological washing up liquid. However just like olive oil soap it washes out very quickly (What I mean is that it is soaked up by wool pretty quickly and needs frequent top ups of the solution).

So if anybody is practicing something more ecological i would welcome any suggestions!

The case of lathering:
- oliva is gentle for hands and lathers well but this is very quickly soaked up by the wool (loads of top ups)
- ecover lathers less well and requires frequent top ups (it is difficult to wash the residue from the product)
- fairy lathers too well but does not require too many top ups, hence it is easier to wash the residue from the final products.

The question of the amount of lather:
- if there is too much lather,
when felting with ecover it results in less felted spongy surface of felt
when felting with olive oil soap the product shrinks far less than it would normally, and felts a bit slowly
with fairy it is very difficult to felt with overdosed solution.

Summary,
although I would like to use more ecological solution, Fairy is the most cost effective liquid to be used in my opinion.

Any other suggestions welcome!

Artisans Craft Market in Limerick and late night workshop.

2010-07-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say that I had a wonderful day selling at the market.

We started at 12.00 and finished at 19.00 and I rarely had time to spare, at the end almost lost my voice! This is my stall minded by my next stall neighbor.

The dotted scarves sold very well today. Has anybody noticed yesterdays hat? It was still slightly damp...

I have taken the three little wonderful mice to the stall and they worked very well to attract the yummy mums!

A happy customer wearing my scarf!

Other stalls offered hand made postcards: (Sadie Cramer) (visit www.smartstudios.ie)

felted wool (but knitted) (Hanora -K - Designs)

Lovely button jewelery and bits and bobs (Ruth from Nice Day Designs! http://www.facebook.com/nicedaydesigns)

After all that selling I gave a little 2 hour workshop to Ania.

She has been using Icelandic wool to make a lovely sculpted vessel.
There is some more pics I have taken during the process.

At the end of the day she was really pleased with the outcome. The vessel is going to be used to hold pens in the office at work. She also tried to make a fridge magnet but this time we tried to make a shape of a tree. I think that hands are the biggest gift of all, that we feltmakers have.

New hat and I am participating at Artisans Craft Fair in Limerick tomorrow!

2010-07-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

So as promised I have been trying to learn how to make hat my own way.

I have made a tubular structure which has not at all resembled the hat structure I have ended up with.
In fact I have had not a clue what final shape it is going to be!
So after initial felting stage I have packed the hat form from wollknoll and the felt in tightly closed pantyhose and off in to the washing machine.

The hat form has not been broken at all and the hat has emerged somehow felted from the machine.
then I have tried to play with the form and shape so at the very beginning the hat has looked as if it had a lot of ruffled pleats or indeed it looked as if it was a scrunched up piece of paper.

I have put the hat block and the felt to steam for a few minutes and this is where the disaster struck. My newly purchased block form has changed its shape slightly. Now a lesson use a boiling kettle instead to soften your piece.

So one thing for making pleated hats is to full the hat to a stage when it is pretty much closer to be done and then repeatedly steam it and pinch and shape in between.

This is what I have learned throughout this experiment.

finally the final image:
I love the outcome and there is more to come!

Publish Post

Hat forms and hatmaking part 1

2010-07-22T00:46:00.001-07:00

Hats and forms. My journey with hatmaking has just started. So if anybody has a comment or sugestion or indeed a correction to what I have been saying please comment freely!

First of all the hat form I have purchased from Wollknoll (price 32 euro)

- bit pricey for the material used (it is a thick form of plastic similar to the one used in plastic fuzzy drinks bottles.

- the stand that comes with a hat is poorly made from playwood, but also screws can come out (in wet environment I assume that plywood coud soak up all water, but note I have not checked that)

The form could be prone to cracking if it is pushed on the wooden stand. When I have ordered my hat I had received a cracked form and apparently it happened in transport. So I assume that this hat form is not right great if one wants to finish their hat or creases in washing machine. So at the moment the hat form is out.

WinghamWoolwork hat (price 13 pounds)

- sturdy enforced styrofoam finish. If you have purchased your shoe lasts from Wingham this styrofoam is even sturdier.

- very handy handle, useful if you are dipping your hat in hot water or dye (sturdy)

- interesting surface design! These little dots are designed to hold the the hat in place. Very useful as there is no need to use hat pins or rubber bands to secure the hat in place.
At the moment I could recommend Wingham's hat forms. I have no clue whether you can put it in the washing machine etc but the price is very encouraging and I will be definitely buying more. Note. this review is independent from the influence of the owner of Wingham, in fact some of you may have noticed a few incidents and dissapointments I have had with Wingham. However this time the hat is a winner!

Yesterday night I was finishing the brooches for the craft fair, the candles were burning in the kitchen and my friend was finishing her essay (while I was helping out in terms of translation).

I have made this hat using clamp resist and leftower dyes. I have dipped it repeatedly in hot and cold water to secure the design. Then i have added yellow overtones to it and left to dry. I am thinking about using shellac to secure and strengthen it. Have you got any particular good brands in mind?

2010-07-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

Today has been a manic day:

I have returned from Cork and earlier have been in Galway where we have been brainstoriming about the ways of expanding the business in the internet using social networking tools!
Check out Jagienka's blog to get the details of that meeting!

http://2knitornot2knit.blogspot.com/2010/07/it-is-her-fault.html

I love one sentence : she said that it is my fault that she can't stop making felted flowers, especially tripple deckers! The truth is that I am very passionate about felt and I cant stop myself from telling people about it and teaching them about it!

BTw. I am going to be heading to a seminar about marketing using social networking sites - I will share any new info here.

I have updated my shop and have been photographing my recent work. Here is one of the scarves;
I have sold quite a few silk laps so check out my shop for newest batch arriving on Thursday!

I have made some lovely fridge magnets. What do you think? (Btw this is the correct way of displaying them!)

:)

Micro feltmaking and spinning gathering in Galway

2010-07-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

Myself, Ewa (http://craftobssesion.blogspot.com/) and Jagienka (http://2knitornot2knit.blogspot.com/) have gathered together to do some feltmaking and spinning.

Yesterday I have had another batch of 5 scarves which are to be sold at Limerick's Milk Market the following Sunday. I have dyed hand rolled silks and have felted some dots onto it. This is a photo of the process:

Today I have been finishing felted pod brooches:

I love the balls, the colours came out very well. These brooches have a very organic shape and could have some sexual connotations :). So hopefully they would sell. It takes time to attach the pin to it.

In limerick though there was another meeting of the Irish Etsy craft team. Good luck girls and have a lovely night out!

Silk laps in use and processing

2010-07-17T04:08:00.000-07:00

Working with silk laps:

first time I have bought my silk laps I cried, because I couldnt separate the sheets of silk! My skin was too rough and it pulled little strands of silk every time I wanted my hands to be free of silks! To separate the silk laps you should:

- peel off any dead skin from your hands or do a little feltmaking session using olive oil soap!

- rub a side of the silk lap to reveal the layers of silk

- separate delicately a thin layer and consistently pull it from main lap.

To dye silk laps:

you should pre soak the laps in water and vinegar acid, squeeze the excess of water well and lay it on plastic cling film. Apply your dyes and wrap up well. Steam for 15 minutes. Rinse and stretch to dry.

please note that when pulling the silk from the lap it becomes very fluffy, so when laying the silk lap on your felting table you should spray the surface with soapy water.

Silk laps can be shaped and pulled so they present various possibilites for making lovely silk inlays. They are way faster to lay and produce interesting yet even results in the products. Finally silk laps support wool so the use of silk laps in feltmaking allows for faster bonding and fulling of the piece (approx 20 min for the whole process without using the sander)!

The result?

and

BTW: I supply a range of silk laps both undyed and dyed. My silk laps are made from the best silk (grade A Mulberry) for best shine and quality.

Ashford wash board versus plastic rugged mat

2010-07-16T04:41:00.000-07:00

At the early stages of my feltmaking quest I was using a corrugated part of my kitchen sink to full my pieces. It was useful however the size of the ridges was too large for rolling felted dreads or shaping felted slippers. I have used it mostly for rolling scarf bundles. At that stage the bundle was not wrapped in plastic and it was rolled directly on the sink.

In Ireland, and LImerick in particular I have been unable to purchase a wash board second hand, neither in the antique shop or online. So I have got an Ashford wash board.

note that grooves are well finished and do not disturb the fibers at early stages

The board consists of two wooden panels joined seamlessly in the middle. The ridges are not too deep, and are shaped so the water is drained during the process. The size of the grooves is approx:6 millimeters, the size of the board: (46 by 23 cm).

What I consider as a plus in terms of Ashford:

- well finished (sanded) grooves

- the quality of wood, while it soaks up the water, the water itself does does not affect the structure of the board

- the wood seems to be pre treated with something so there is no need for oiling it

- at the back of the panel there is a narrow wooden board which acts as a hinge. So it blocks the board from moving.

Negative: the price, at 35 pounds it is rather dear, however when buying standard wash board one might purchase something that does not fit the purpose so well (for instance the rigdes are risen in some boards which does not allow to evenly full the larger pieces). I suppose glass ridges and grooves might be little bitt too slippery as well (btw. has anybody got any experiences with regards to use of old wash boards in feltmaking?).

I have also purchased a plastic mat for the same purpose. It is used for rolling scarf bundles (at early and later fulling stages). The grooves are rather small: (1-2 millimeters). The overall size is 50 by 80 cm. On this one I prefer to make my felted dreads and I tend to use it for rolling scarf bundles.

In the case of flower or slippers - I prefer ashford. I suppose the serrated rubber mat is less likely to disturb surface of felt when it is rubbed.

What is interesting here is that sanding on this surface results in permanent transfer of the shape of the grooves onto a felted piece.

Have you got any favorite fulling tools yourselves?

My new Feltmaking Tools

2010-07-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

For some time I was intending to buy a smaller version of felting board. But it was never a necessity rather an additional gadget, so I have never acted upon the issue of what I call a 'mini felter'. Up untill, I flicked through a book by Anette Quentin-Stoll, called Filz-Play, or Filz Spiel. This is what I saw there:

Annette was basically using this nifty tool to finish hat brim. This has inspired me to start my journey into hatmaking (about which I will write soon!). The tool is nicely finished, very well polished and the ridges are smooth. The only downside is the lack of a hole to hang the tool in the workshop. The surface with the ridges is eliptical which enormously has increased the comfort of use. Despite a hefty price (consider felting board from Ashford for 39 pounds) is is a lovely thing to have, nicely balanced and well designed.

Anette herself is a very talented feltmaker. Her first book, Filz - Spiel, in a precise and clean way (very nice photography) presents a set of very simple ideas that allow to built a woolen world of tactile wonders. For instance her tactile play mat (see wonderful post by Nicola Brown, http://clasheen.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/the-completed-tactile-felt-play-mat/ contained various pleated shapes, just like this one:

I loved the idea of felted finger puppets which she has presented in the book: here is my recreation of it. Her puppets are standing straight, whilst mine are sligtly bent because I have kept the resist up to the last minute of fulling stage.

This book offered wonderful inspiration but limited explanation how to!

So it has very much driven me to try to figure out the ways in which such pleated shapes can be inserted into felted hats for example. The next book released last year, called Filz Experiment (available in German only) provides all answers I was looking for.

Consider this hat:

the basic shape is semi felted and then tied in as in shibori dyeing. A very nifty technique, which allows getting lasting results without too much hassle. Such tied, prefelted hat can be easilly thrown into the washing machine for 1 or 2 minutes to speed up the process. The newest book presents these techniques, and much much more. Again, a masterpiece in terms of editing and quality of the images. Unlike other books on feltmaking, usually called 34 craft project in felt (etc,.. I am referring here to a specific type of genre in general) - and which reproduce one image up to 4 times in the same book; which relentlessly describe what is obvious and which present underfelted accessories, this book is proper and certainly worth the price. Shame it is not translated into English but you can figure out the stuff for yourself from pictures. If you are going to ask me which ones to buy I would say both, but otherwise buy the second one.