Piles of blue, green and beige batts with various colors of synthetic and silk yarn.
Laying out roving and adding stripes of silk yarn.
Adding bunchy circles of synthetic yarn for texture...like a tic-tac-toe!
Covering the piece with a layer of spongy Hog Island wool roving.
Covering the piece with a layer of spongy Hog Island wool roving.
During felting...
...and here, as well. (I made a second piece of felt just like this one.)
...and here, as well. (I made a second piece of felt just like this one.)
The finished felt 'tube' (not really as blue as the photograph shows)...
...made from two large pieces of felt, machine-stitched into a cylinder.
...made from two large pieces of felt, machine-stitched into a cylinder.
As Spring approached this year, I was bitten by the 'organizing bug'...
...and I looked around with dismay at my studio full of cast-off fibers. :)
Assembling a large pile of blue, green, and beige wool...
...I vowed to make a small dent, at least...
...and carded up a bunch of fluffy, blended batts on my drum carder.
At the same time, I was having to take down my 4-year old, open-air, chicken wire compost bin...
...because of a (insert expletive of choice here) bureaucratic edict. :(
Told that I could continue to compost in an enclosed bin...
...it didn't take me long to consider the enviable properties of felt dwellings (yurt, anyone?)...
...and resolve to make an enclosed compost bin out of felt!
To make the felt 'skin', I layered sections of batts with lengths of silk yarn...
...and added thick, messy circles of variegated yarn for textural interest.
I covered the entire layout with a thick layer of Hog Island wool roving...
...which has a lovely spongy texture and is wonderful for more 'heavy-duty' projects.
After felting and drying each of the two large felt squares...
...I machine-stitched them together to form a cylinder.
Next time: the creation of the chicken wire 'skeleton'...
...and my boyfriend pretends that he's Nick Cave! :)
...and I looked around with dismay at my studio full of cast-off fibers. :)
Assembling a large pile of blue, green, and beige wool...
...I vowed to make a small dent, at least...
...and carded up a bunch of fluffy, blended batts on my drum carder.
At the same time, I was having to take down my 4-year old, open-air, chicken wire compost bin...
...because of a (insert expletive of choice here) bureaucratic edict. :(
Told that I could continue to compost in an enclosed bin...
...it didn't take me long to consider the enviable properties of felt dwellings (yurt, anyone?)...
...and resolve to make an enclosed compost bin out of felt!
To make the felt 'skin', I layered sections of batts with lengths of silk yarn...
...and added thick, messy circles of variegated yarn for textural interest.
I covered the entire layout with a thick layer of Hog Island wool roving...
...which has a lovely spongy texture and is wonderful for more 'heavy-duty' projects.
After felting and drying each of the two large felt squares...
...I machine-stitched them together to form a cylinder.
Next time: the creation of the chicken wire 'skeleton'...
...and my boyfriend pretends that he's Nick Cave! :)
10 comments:
:) I thought you meant a 'compost' bin for felt scraps lol! You are inventive, I'd never of thought of doing this :)
x
Deborah--This is where having dimensions would have probably helped!! Giggle
Er.. won't your felted cover rot down and leave the chickenwire bare again?
Rachel--No...well, not for years, anyway.
When I made a banner a few years ago for Felt United (here: http://woollove-functional-fiberart.blogspot.com/2010/09/felt-united-project-banner.html ), it wasn't as thick as the felt I used for the bin, and even after more than a year outside in all kinds of weather, it's still perfect...
no decomposition at all! Pretty kewl, huh? :)
yay for my engineer mother....
I am stumped as to why anyone would have complained about your "open air" compost bin in the first place. Especially with all the hue and cry about "ORGANIC FOOD" nowdays. I would expect everyone to be following in your footsteps, not putting up road blocks. Oh well, I'm glad you have outsmarted them. But it seems such a shame to use that lovely felt just to enclose a compost bin. :) Up here, open air compost is the thing. Kind of hard to cover up all the cow flops even if they wanted to. LOL
Lydia--Hahaha!
Sandie--I know...it's completely ridiculous, isn't it?!?
When I saw the title I thought, wow, that's going to take A LOT of wool! and you are using silk yarn in it. It's going to be one classy compost bin!
I can't wait to see Kathryn's comment on this, maybe she'll even make one herself.
Vivian--I hope you like the finished look. I wanted it to sort of blend-in, actually...so I don't get any more unwanted visits from our township code enforcer. :(
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