Tuesday 11 August 2009

Nuno Felting, Bushwalking and Frogging (sigh)

I've been to a nuno felting course at Fremantle Arts Centre. (Nuno's a technique which involves felting fibre into fabric with water, soap and agitation.) It was so much fun!
My tutor, Louise Snook, was lovely ~
enthusiastic, incredibly knowledgeable and generous with her skills,
the materials I got to use were glorious ~ richly coloured wool tops and hand~dyed silk tissue (from Treetops Colours),
I loved that there was an element of surprise to the process,
the method was very fast (I made a silk poncho in two hours flat),
and it can easily be done at home in the kitchen.
There's going to be more!!

Here's one of my samples:






The sample is made out of wool tops, scraps from an old nylon scarf and ribbon yarn. It didn't adhere together as well as it might (I should have put another fine layer of wool over the ribbon) but I like the colours and I love the possibilities!

And here's the silk poncho:
(It's the size of a scarf and, when I get the chance, I'll take some photos of what it looks like on.)




It's made out of silk georgette and fine merino tops.
I was really happy with how this turned out,
especially the colours:



its delicacy:






and the linear textures created by the felting process:






It was fun to photograph too!

And now on to my Monroe Lacy Stole.
Not such a happy story.
Here it is...





...just before I discovered that I'd made mistakes on some of the shells at the sides and had to frog it back to a fifth of its size...and I was going to wear it out to lunch this Saturday. Ho hum.

But I'm on holidays
so I haven't been staying down for long,
especially when I've been able to do things like go out bushwalking
through the beautiful Darling Ranges
with an old school friend (who didn't mind how many photos I took, bless her)
in sparkling Winter sunshine:




Nyaania Creek, Darlington



The Bee Tree. (Named so because it has a hive of native bees living in one of its branches.)


The Bee Tree close up.




Bark detail.



As well as glorious trees, my friend and I came across tiny blue wrens and a bubbling spring and jonquils...and we had a yummy vegetarian lunch at a little cafe in Glen Forest.
Days like that one make me feel glad to be alive.

And,
to close,
I wanted to share a few life affirming websites that I've found ~
the wishstudio
and, especially,
kind over matter and gratefulness.org

Wishing you all moments of glad~to~be~aliveness.
Have a wonderful week.
x






15 comments:

Judy Merrill-Smith said...

Such gorgeous photos! Your silk poncho is amazing -- I totally adore those colors, too. (I think you can use a needlefelting needle, too, if things aren't staying together as well as you would like.)

Kathleen said...

Hi! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I appreciate more than you know!

I love reading yours. You have such a creative flair with texture and color.

Aren't cats great to have around while we do our crafty stuff? I wouldn't know how to do what I do without mine. I've had cats around approving and disapproving of my projects for years now!

Happy Days!
Kathleen

BeyondStitches said...

Your silk poncho is so beautiful! I love your nature photos!

magnusmog said...

Beautiful, beautiful colours.

adrienne *+*(^_^) +*+ said...

wow your poncho is gorgeous and your lace shawl is looking equally as beautiful.!!

Katie said...

Beautiful photos, and the colors on the silk project are lovely!

PeacefulKnitter said...

LOVE that silk scarf! Your photos are lovely; I enjoy a blog with lots of photos!

Indigo Blue said...

This post is full of total loveliness!!! The mere thought of evening attempting to crochet anything to wear let alone lunch on Saturday would have me breaking out in a cold sweat!! Lovely. I think you are going to have a brilliant 6 months, yes?

Brandi Reynolds said...

the bee tree is beautiful. And I love that scarf!

kkhymn said...

OMG those photos are beautiful! And, I am so glad your cat found home again ... also a purrfect photo!

lizzzknits said...

Very creative photos. The top ones look like felted pizza!

Anonymous said...

what beautiful photos...and that poncho is absolutely stunning! Fantastic!

Rima said...

The poncho and lace shawl are beautiful! Great colors!

Rima
www.yarnydays.com

Rachel said...

I love all of your outdoor photos! Such gorgeous scenery!

Anonymous said...

Some seriously gorgeous stuff in this post! I really love the colours in the sample and the poncho is beautiful. Really vibrant!