Saturday, November 22, 2008

Nuno Felting

For quite some time I have been fascinated by felted scarves and bags. Somehow, I didn't even dare to think I could do something like that. When I did some "research" with Mr. Google's help, I learned how to do it. It was quite a short, but also a messy, bubbly and wet way from learning visually to making my first nuno felt piece.

In short, nuno felting is a way of wet felting where wool roving is felted into silk or some other sheer fabric. In wet felting, soapy water is used to bind the wool fibers together - you put down layers of wool, dump them with soapy water and then roll and/or rub until wool fibers lock together and make a soft cloth. Nuno felting is the same thing, except that you use a silk or some other sheer fabric as a base on which you put wool. After fiber are locked together, you start throwing your piece (to the floor, sink is even better), which causes wool fibers to shrink for about 1/3, while the size of your base fabric remains the same - hence the wrinkles on the silk parts.

I bought merino wool and used silk... since it was just a try, I didn't buy whole rainbow of colors (yet!), just a few. Here are the results (on the last pic are needle felted embelishments):
























































Thursday, November 20, 2008

My little Studio












































1. The balcony after we put laminate flooring.
2. Tables and some shelves done, some of the stuff already moved to a new place.
3. No more balcony, it's a Studio now! :) Already messy and I like it much better this way. :)
4. Nina's table. She started to use it by now, making her own girlie painting.

At first, it was just an open balcony. In the first few years when we moved here we grew plants there, we had a small table and chairs... and then The cat came. We mostly kept balcony door closed and for years it was just a place where I kept some useless things and a place for clothes drying rack.

If you are like me and have a creative soul, then you know how the craft supplies start to pile... and if you don't have a room or a place for doing your crafts, it's really hard to start doing anything if you have to put everything away daily (I was not doing that, my computer table was always full of different materials, depending on what I was doing, and there was at least half of the kitchen table full of clay almost all of the time).

I got tired of that. Last year I bought windows for my balcony and got them built in. My uncle and my dad made walls and wall isolation this spring and i did rough coating. After our vacation, my dad put laminate on the floor. I did molding, tables and shelves. I loved that part, maybe I should have been a joiner! The whole project took quite some time, but now it's finally done.

Now I have my own Studio! Hooray! I'm really happy I have a place where I can keep all my craft materials and where I have enough working space for everything I want to do. And the best thing is - I don't have to put anything away until I finish what I am working on. That is the best part.

There is a place for everything now: papers, pencils, books, clay, color pencils, brushes, acrylic colors, wood panes to work on, sketch books, heat gun, glues, embelishments, rulers, pasta machine, molds, stamps, powders, ribbons,... and all the other things. I still have to move some of the stuff from my computer desk drawers, but I have enough empty boxes under the tables lef. There was even enough space for placing a smaller table for Nina.

The other day I found this video clip on Suzi Blu You Tube - it is a great idea how to make an art closet. The best thing is that you can just cover your workspace with a curtain when you stop working and all the mess on your table is hidden. But my Studio is great as well. I'm really pleased with it!