Fused Glass...and A Winner!

One of the fused glass 'nuggets' that I made this summer at the Creative Felt Gathering...

...and another.

The finished shawl...

...outdoors on an unseasonably sunny day yesterday...

...and here I think you can finally see its true colors. :)

The fused glass nugget photos have been lying around for some time...

...and I thought it was finally a good time to share them.

I was able to take the shawl outdoors yesterday in the sun...

...and I think you'll have a better idea, now, of the color green it actually is. :)

From a random number generator site...

...I drew the number of the winner.

Grazyna, you have won this shawl...

...please send your full name and mailing address to...

...heather(dot)woollove(at)gmail(dot)com

Thanks to all who commented and entered the drawing.

"We Felt United" 2011

Needle-felting layers of prefelt together...

 

...in order to sequester a piece of fused glass!

 

Making a loop and toggle closure.

 

The finished cuff...

 

...with glass 'cabochon' partially exposed...

 

...held in place by a hardened ring of felt.

 

Garnet beads (stitched on in the pre-felt stage)...finish the cuff.

 

I'd like to wish each of you a very happy 3rd International Day of Felt!

For this project, I combined Pam MacGregor's wonderful felt cuff class at the Creative Felt Gathering...

...with this year's Felt United colors: red, purple and blue!

I stitched garnet beads to the pre-felt surface prior to wet felting...

...and trimmed it into its finished shape after it was partially felted.

If you get the opportunity...

...I highly recommend taking a class with Pam!

She provides many examples of unique and beautiful cuffs...

...and teaches all of the necessary techniques in a fun and informative way!

Negative/Positive Bags- Part 2 of 5

A close-up of the ruched synthetic fabric after felting.

 

A handmade glass button from last summer's Creative Felt Gathering.

 

The purse back.

 

The front of the purse.

 

Because I didn't realize that I had to pile the colored fiber on...

...the green roving is the only one that really showed beneath the floral fabric after felting.

I was happy that the black and white color scheme of the bag allowed me to use one of my glass buttons from last summer...

...but, you're right...the bubble should not be present (it was my first time working with fused glass.)

I used a cute, modern, black and white fabric for the pockets this time...

...making two shallow 'cell phone sized' ones on the inner flap.

As usual with messenger bags...

...I made the strap long enough to wear cross-body, or to tie in a knot, if desired.

Next time...Version 2...the negative copy of this bag!

Negative/Positive Bags- Part 1 of 5

Laying out wool roving and synthetic floral fabric.

 

Adding blue, white, green and grey roving.

 

Adding a layer of cotton gauze.

 

After trimming out and stitching the handle.

 

While my friend Linda was visiting recently...

...we decided to work on a couple of bags together.

She made one with black roving and bright, neon-dyed locks...

...and I decided to see how well a certain piece of synthetic fabric would felt.

I used my newest messenger bag resist...

...and 'built' the bag from the outside-in, as I often do.

Because I wanted to tint the flowers and leaves in the finished felt...

...(like hand-coloring an old black and white photograph)...

...I laid out areas of white, blue and grey...and green roving for the leaves.

I covered this design and the entire resist with layers of black roving...

...plus a layer of cotton gauze on the bottom half of the bag.

Next time: the finished bag with its handmade, fused-glass button.

Wrapped Feltbook and Fused Glass Buttons

 

Some of the bookmaking tools used to make Chad Alice Hagen's 'feltbook with limp binding'.

 

The spine of my feltbook---sewn with waxed linen thread.

 

Glass that I'd cut and glued...awaiting firing in Jone Rakoski's glass kiln.

 

Finished feltbook with bone clasp and leather thong closure.

Fused glass buttons (some with drilled holes and some with button-backs).
***********************************************************

You may recognize the cover of my book...

...from my earlier 'woven flat felt' project!

I used a template to cut the felt to size...

...then covered it with a thin layer of matte medium.

A leather spine strip was glued to the felt...

...and sewing stations were poked through the leather and felt.

A text block was made with 36 sheets of paper...

...by dividing the paper into 6 signatures.

After stitching the paper into the felt cover...

...I glued a leather thong to the cover and wrapped it.

A bone clasp keeps its contents secure.
******************************************

For the fused glass buttons, we first learned to cut glass safely...

...then assembled three-layers of glass for each one.

The pieces were glued together with small amounts of white glue...

...and fired in a glass kiln.

Holes were drilled through some of them...

...and button backs were UV glued to the backs of others.

Neither project was one I could imagine doing on my own...

...but with step-by-step instruction and guidance, I ended up with quite respectable end products!! :)