And now for something completely different...Alpaca Felting

For something a bit different in the felting world, try felting with alpaca fleece. It's very different to felting with trusty Merino wool - much harder work for a start, as it takes longer to get the fibres to start melding together and then to shrink, and it's difficult to get up a good soapy lather to help the process (which I believe may be due to the fact that Alpaca fleece does not contain lanolin like sheep's wool). However, if you are a fan of beautiful natural colours (ranging from creamy white through browns and greys to black) and the extra silky feel of the finished fabric, then alpaca may be for you!

Back in December I had a day felting with Jane, who has an alpaca farm with husband Peter: Quarter House Alpacas on the Kent/Sussex border (check out the qhalpacas website). She is keen to properly utilise all the fleece which results from the annual shearing (can you believe, for some alpaca owners it's easier/cheaper to burn the fleece than have it turned into knitting yarn or felting fleece?). So she brought along some of her own alpaca fleece, cleaned and carded (combed) and ready for felting. We spent a day making her a wonderful big bag from a mainly dark brown fleece, with a tie design for the strap that we were both particularly pleased with. Of course by the end I was totally jealous that I didn't have one - yet another thing for my 'to do' list I think!

Anyway, Jane sells her fleece and still has some knitting yarn available (which is lovely and silky) - so do get in touch via her website for futher details. I've also included here some alpaca felt bead jewellery I've made using Jane's fleece, which gives a good idea of the different natural colours.

Afghanistan Inspiration 2010-2011

Well the year to date hasn't been all bad. Last autumn I got involved in a textile-related initiative to support women in Afghanistan. The idea was for artists across Europe to each choose a small embroidered square created by an Afghan stitcher and create a new textile piece with it (to a set size). These new artpieces from across Europe would then combine to be exhibited at European venues, and hopefully be sold with any money raised (also from the sale of the embroidered squares) going back to support the women in Afghanistan.

This sounded interesting (always up for a challenge), with the UK's theme being teapots/vessels. I chose an embroidery by a lady called Hatefa, perhaps (with hindsight) a bit ambitiously with its vivid orange and green colour scheme! I combined it with a Nuno-felted piece (with a landscape feel), incorporating extra hand embroidery and needle felting on top. Of course I missed the deadline and the piece didn't quite turned out as I'd hoped. Anyway, this year after a short exhibition of the UK entries at the Greenstede Gallery in East Grinstead in February, I was pleased to hear my piece had been picked to join the European touring exhibition throughout 2010-11. Starting at the Fashion Embroidery and Stitch Show at the NEC in March, then visiting Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and France. Do have a look at the one earth textiles link for more details. I'm just hoping the initiative will continue to run and I get another go at this!

Studio Diary: January Flooding!

Well what have I been doing all this time since my last posting? I think the photos here give you a clue - the January snow brought a burst pipe in my studio due to the cold. I was very lucky that the water didn't get too high so nothing was ruined apart from the internal decoration (skirting board, flooring, lots of cracks). Unfortunately the garage below didn't fare quite so well, with water soaking the walls as well as lots of items we were storing in there. I'd just had an operation and was out of action so my very kind neighbour helped mop the studio, as you can see here. After a lot of drying out and sorting out damaged stuff, and the studio lino being ripped up, we're finally at the point of getting things sorted again. However, my entire studio has been in storage now for a couple of months so I've had hardly anything to work with (apart from what I salvaged to store in the house). So not my best creative period! Still, the studio's being redecorated next week, then we're getting new flooring laid and all my stuff will come back - can't wait to get back to normal (with hopefully a new and revamped version - watch this space!).

And I wish it could be Christmas...

My first Christmas sparkle felt workshop this year with 2 talented ladies new to felting. The idea was to make flat felt (for them to turn into tree hanging ornaments later) as well as some felt beads with a ribbon attached ready to hang. We did lots of experimenting with adding yarns and silk fibres to the felt, as well as adding angelina sparkly fibres with an embellisher machine after the felt was made and dry, which gave a lovely sheen. I'm loooking forward to seeing their finished decorations (if they've been able to cut the felt - often once it's made people find they don't actually want to cut it up!). Some lovely work here with added Christmas sparkle!

Autumn Leaves

My final bag workshop for autumn, so quite fitting that the end result resembled the colours of leaves on the ground on a wet autumn day. Beautiful bag, and again shows the diversity of what you can achieve with felt in terms of colour and texture. As usual, I was tempted to make an identical bag for myself straight away - why is it that every time I see someone's elses colour and design choices (and we all think so differently in this respect) that I'm instantly inspired?!

Back to School!

Well we all like to get kitted-out for the new school term, don't we, so for my first September workshop we created an embellished journal for all those important notes! OK, not really for school, as I suspect these creative ladies will actually be using them as art journals for their ideas, designs and samples - but where better to store them all than in a notebook you're created yourself?

We made long rectangles of Nuno felt (felting into dyed cotton muslin) for the covers, with added surface embellishment in the form of yarns, ribbons and silk fibres. We stitched in some handmade paper pages, and topped it all off with a felted cord to secure the book. Another enjoyable day, and I was really impressed with the results.

More Summer Nuno Bags

Another enjoyable August workshop with creative felters making nuno bags - even matching their new bags to their outfits (have a look at the black and green one which perfectly matches her hand-made skirt)!