Just Popping in to Say HI!

Spring has finally sprung which means cleaning, planting and getting out of the house!

But, I have managed to get a couple felting projects done as well.

I finished up Tucker's purse.....not that he would have ever carried a purse lol

It is about 5.5" x 5.5". It looks a little wider than tall because it is lying flat so the sides collapsed. I never carry a purse......ever.....but wanted something cute to carry my camera in. I think this fits the bill perfectly. Plus I can also fit a package of tissues. Allergy season ya know!  :-)

 

Also, this past Saturday, my friend Veronica came over to learn needle felting. We had a blast chatting and felting!

 

I forgot to get a pic of her finished project but here is mine. We made little doggie face charms. He is about 2" tall including the ears. I have no idea what I am going to do with him but I am sure eventually he will find a good home. :-) 

 



That's all for now. I am on vacation next week so hopefully I will get a chance to have some quality art time and have lots of goodies to share!

Stab Stab Stab!

Felting is a very addictive thing! It is also very therapeutic!!!  Stabbing away at the wool, you can take out any repressed aggressions or you can just let your mind go and be free!

I get lots of ideas on Pinterest and saw a wonderful felted pendant that I decided I wanted to emulate.  I am still debating whether I need to add something to the heart itself.

And as I thought about what I wanted to create next, I had the desire to try my hand at flat needle felting (as opposed to the 3D stuff I have been doing)

I was sort of cleaning and found a couple old pairs of jeans that I had saved for a future project. Well the future finally arrived and I decided I needed a purse with something felted on the front.

It is has been a long time since I have used my beloved Tucker as a subject but I felt (no pun intended) that it was time.

I first drew an outlined of his little face.

I then traced that onto some muslin. I had some friends tell me that they use water soluble interfacing or some such thing but I didn't have any and didn't want to go buy any....I wanted to do this project with only things I had on hand. Thus the muslin.

I pinned the muslin to the denim and began blocking in colors. I forgot to take a picture of my muslin piece so here it is with his eyes almost done and the white totally complete (notice his chubby cheeks).

 

 

As I neared the edge with my felting, I removed the pin and cut away the muslin, I then felted past the muslin to hold it down and hide it completely. See the inner ear is done below but the edges are still plain muslin.

 

 

Tucker, although he looked like just white with striped areas, actually had quite a few colors in his dark spots! I blocked in the basic tan that seemed to be the underlying color of his coat.

 

 

I then pulled out 4 more browns from my wool stash to create the stripes on his head.  BTW I had to blend colors to create his eyes and inner ears as what I had was just too bright and needed to be toned down.

Here is a photo of Tucker's face. I still miss this little guy every day!

And here he is felted onto the denim.

Not quite perfect, I see too many flaws, but I am still happy with this first attempt.  :-)

I plan on sewing the purse together tomorrow so hopefully I can get some pictures posted very soon.



Ribbit Ribbit

When I said I wanted to felt a frog I know every single one of you thought.....Yeah right! She hates frogs and all other slimy, icky things!

Well, HA!  I felted a frog!  And I still have no idea why I so desperately wanted to do so! lol

Maybe it is the hope that Spring will soon be here....or that I just really wanted to use my bright green wool.  :-)

So here is your first look at the little guy.  He is about an inch tall and 2 inches long.  As I sit here typing I am thinking I should have taken a picture of his little bright yellow belly lol (maybe later)

Trust me, he is not as blatently fuzzy as he looks......he is just blown  up much bigger than real life! But no, I still have not perfected the completely smooth look. I think my dragon came closest but he is also the largest thing I have felted which I think makes it easier to get the smooth surface.

I seemed to have caught him right in the middle of poofing out his throat. Why do they do that?

Here's hoping that Spring has almost sprung!  :-)

TaaaaDaaaaa!!!!!!

What can I say, sometimes I like to make an entrance! lol

 

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything. I apologize. Between work and health issues I just haven't been in the mood. Not serious health issues....the normal back, neck and I added almost total lack of use of my right shoulder issues. But, I am back and my shoulder is almost pain free....Yay!

 

So, although I have been gone, I have not been a total bum. I struggled to find ideas and my creativity seemed to have totally flown the coop.

That is until I found this adorable book....Collage Couture Techniques for Creating Fashionable Art by Julie Nutting. It totally jumpstarted my creative juices! I have been scribbling in my sketchbook and jotting ideas for many areas I like to play in.

 

But I did actually apply some of her techniques and created a couple works.

 

Here is a page in my art journal. My first attempt at "fashion" design. I just love a day at the beach!

 

I did a watercolor wash over the entire page. Then, using colored pencils, I added the lighthouse and rocks. Next came white acrylic waves. I needed some balance on the left so out came the rubber stamps!  And finally, the techiques from the book, creating the model and her wardrobe.

I had a blast with this and really want to create more! But, just as in real life, I am finding I have no fashion sense on paper either lol

Here is my second fashion model.

I created this one on a canvas that had been taking up shelf space. Using various paints and papers, I collaged the background.
I created my model and her clothing using some of my favorite colors. And finally stamped the Hans Christian Anderson quote down the right side.

But, as I said, this got my creativity back on track and I was able (once my shoulder stopped hurting) to get back to some needle felting.

 

Say hello to St Nick.



 

 
He is made entirely of wool other than his alpaca sack and wood staff.  He only stands about 6 inches high.

 

I am very happy with how his face turned out. I really did not want to use glass or plastic beads or eyes and so I felted his eyes in a lovely shade of blue. They are even more intense in person. Like he knows if you have been naughty or nice!  ;-)

 

 
Well, that is all I have done for now but there is a small green frog begging to be released from my brain so hopefully he will begin to make an appearance this weekend. :-)