Almost met my Funky Postcard Quota

I've converted some of my past experiments into postcards.

Hey, I'm all about recycling and "Working smarter not harder"

Here's a nuno felted pelt on cheesecloth from way back in January that I've reinvented into a fabric postcard. The added beadwork idea is one I totally lifted from SuZ's incredible flower card last week. Beading takes me a looong time but doesn't it add that extra Umphh and twinkle!
I swear this card really is square. No really! But the dang thing is warped after my wonky satin stitchting and doesn't lie flat for picture day. Maybe if I sandwiched within a big book for a couple days?

And this happy little card has been selected (and begged for) as a special gift for the Easter Bunny himself, along with brownies, iced tea, and an originial E Bunny portrait all gift-wrapped in a Texas Tamale drawstring sack. (BTW: Mr. E Bunny is also an adhoc member of Fiber Art Friends).

This card was made from my recent past layering fabric experiments. I especially like this one below since it includes my painted lavender velvet. The "beads" on these are not beads at all but drips of bead-like paint.Mr E Bunny on a good day. Check out those UPS driver calves!
In her 7th year, our child is dedicated to giving back to the Easter Bunny, to Santa and to the extravagantly generous Toothfairy for all of their dedicated years of selfless giving to her. "They've given so much and have asked so little of me" she says dramatically tonight. Every holiday is now a full day of creations, gift wrapping and special presentations to these wondeful characters. That bunny mobile better make it happen through our unseasonably frigid flooded weekend.

Happy Easter Dolls!

Nuno Felting Fun

Getting ready to nuno felt onto pieces of dyed cheese cloth. I'll also over-felt the pre-nuno'd long piece across top of photo. Cheesecloth pieces are laid out on pool-supply bubble wrap with tufts of combed wool, mohair and silk rovings arranged however you want. I have to remember to lay bits of wool on top of each piece of yarn, silk or mohair embellishment to felt it down to the base.
I've got a pitcher of warm ivory soaped water and use a plastic baggy glove to drip and rub with water. Then I roll them up rather tightly in the bubble wrap a few hundred times. Drop the wet bundle 10 times opening it up so I don't felt the edges together. Then, I chunk them down hard on the table about 10000 times for an hour until they shrink about 1/3 of the original size. ** Update - my arms are sore! Nuno-felting should be the new arm workout trend! (Click on the photo to see a close up.)

A couple of wet pieces after I've rolled and chunked them a few thousand times. They've started to shrink and the wool is coming through the wholes in back of the cheesecloth. It's finished when it's shrunk to about 1/3 of the size I started with

A few finished and dried Nuno pelts. (Click on Picture)

They remind me of fabric animal hides but without the killin and skinnin.

So far, I've only made doll clothes from nuno felt but I'm thinking of a small wall quilt or whatever else comes up. A few close ups:





eeew! I bought a bunch more felt, silk roving and a few yards of silk gauze from Wild Turkey Feltmakers and Polly Stirling. Polly is a magnificent fiber artist who developed the whole nuno felting process in Australia!

Nuno Felting with Gika Rector

We had a GREAT time tonight at Part II of Felt Play at Jung Center. Gika showed us how to go "Nuno" on cotton which means to felt on a fabric base. I've found another medium to obsess about! The results are just incredible.

All of the pieces pictured are wet and are they ever beautiful! We rolled the wet felt on cotton about 100 times in those big blue bubble things. Then, we wadded them up and gently dropped the wet cloth...check it...hmm...not quite, needs more kneading. Drop it lightly a few times, say 456 times (I'm so exaggerating) and by the end of it, once the felt starts to be real good friends with the cotton, we chunk it hard on the table. When it's done, it looks like a piece of imported altered fabric you could not afford to buy from a screamingly famous artist. This stuff is so cool that I almost want to keep it a secret!

You can make scarves, garments, art fabric or whatever you want with this stuff. Mine happens to match my shirt so I look like Miss Nuno Pageant winner. Gika Rector is a fiber artist worth stalking so look for her October workshop at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
and make felt slippers like no other slippers on earth...not even in Marshall's.

Felt Play with Gika Rector

I spent last night at Houston's Jung Center playing with fuzzy raw felt and silk roving in Gika Rector's class. She taught us how to mold felt into shapes and pouches using only our hands, water, and ivory soap. Thursday is Neno Felting and I can hardly wait! My Houston friend from Art & Soul Dallas, Linda Hughes, took the class also. We both agreed, "we love this!!!" Pictured is the pouch, felt balls, spiral cord and bracelets with sliding felt beads. Tonight I made a cool sunglasses case (top photo)! This craft is not supply-heavy or technical. You just need a BUNCH of colors of wool and silk rovings and even yarns for embellishment. Gika is just a wonderful teacher and a very cool artsy chick: Check out her work http://www.gikatextiles.com/ and Jung Houston: http://www.cgjunghouston.org/