"Wiggly Dreads" Bowl- Part 2 of 2

Mid-way through felting...

 

...lengths of roving are threaded through the bowl edge, making 'dreads'.

(Pliers are used to help to pull the thick, slippery needle through the wet felt.)

 

The piece is gathered into a bowl-like shape...

...by hand-basting with strong nylon thread...

...and then the final felting and fulling takes place.

 

The finished bowl.

 

A close-up of the felted-in wool nepps and dyed tussah silk.

 

The rather 'sedate' bowl bottom. :)

 

The finished bowl...

...with nylon basting stitches removed.

 

With this project...

...I took advantage to the propensity of felt...

...to hold a 'shape memory' once dry.

Basting the piece prior to final felting and drying...

...allowed me to remove the nylon thread...

...while retaining the desired shape.

"Wiggly Dreads" Bowl- Part 1 of 2

Laying out dyed wool nepps and tussah silk circles...

 

...in the warm company of our instructor, Nicola and my other lovely classmates.

 

Adding design elements to side two...

 

...and covering them with layers of bright roving.

 

Since this was an 'open resist' project...

...the wool rays were folded in during the layout...

...to create a finished looking open edge.

 

Covering the entire piece with dark grey roving.

 

Mid-way through felting...

 

...orange 'dreads' are added.

 

My intention was to create a wide, cylindrical bowl...

...using the 'open-resist' method.

Unfortunately, either the lay-out or the felting went a bit awry...

...and at the mid-way point, it was more of a pancake than any kind of bowl!

Next time: how a little judicious stitching with strong thread (thanks, Nicola!)...

...rescues the project from utter failure.

Tea Cozy BOWL-Part 2

 
 
 
 

Ok...

...so as my too-small 'tea cozy' was drying, I flipped it around...

...and fashioned a flat bottom for it, so that it would dry in that shape.

Wool is so cool this way-whichever way you place it to dry it, it 'stays'.

Too bad this doesn't work on children!! Grin.

I also folded down the top with a crease.

Good thing I didn't put any of my 'wigglies' too close to the edge.

The little 'X' handle that I had fashioned for 'ease of removal' when it was still a tea cozy...

...is now flattened at the bottom of the bowl.

It doesn't seem to make it sit funny, or anything.

So...there it is...

...another 're-purposed' felt item!! :)

I Can't Resist!

 

 

Yeesh!

Using a resist is difficult.

Remember my other hideous bowl?

This is even worse.

I cut a piece of thin craft foam into a 'U' shape and covered it with wool roving on both sides, then again on each side with the fiber running in a perpendicular direction to my first application.

I must have gotten it too thick at the bowl bottom, though, since no amount of vigorous rubbing could even out the bowl walls.

I also tried to include cut-work leaves for decoration, but I covered them with too much fiber (to hold them in place) and the end result was merely leaf-shaped 'bumps'.

...and what is that orange thing in the bottom of the bowl? No, not a goldfish, but a dyed curly lock. Ummmmm....better in theory than in practice!

My 'fixes' for this project were to needle-felt leaf designs onto the finished and dried bowl...very so-so.

What did I learn? Well...I need a lot more practice using a resist, and next time, I need to be a little more careful with the amount of fiber I use when going around the edges (esp. bottom!) of my resist.

...remember-Less is More!! :)

Horrible Bowl

 

 

 

 

Don't let anyone tell you that making a bowl using a Gertie Ball as a resist is an easy task! (Of course, I have since heard that felters use cut-off pantyhose tops to hold the fiber in place. Duh!)
Picture this...me wrapping a wet, soapy ball with fiber, covering it it netting and rubbing it-trying to keep everything intact, and hoping for the best.
As you can see in the bottom photo,at first, it was a mess. One entire section had peeled away, and it looked like an animal that was molting!
...but with a little creative piecing and machine sewing (I am not fond of 'embellishments' per se, but this was necessary!)...it's now not too bad. Kinda arty, in fact!