Felted purses

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have started doing a bit of wet felting in my spare time (what spare time???).   Anyway, I am really enjoying it - except for the part when I wake up next day and can hardly move because my back is so sore.  All the rolling of the pieces to get them to felt is taking it's toll on my already fragile back.  I think I will have to break it up into stages and not try to finish a piece in one day.  Maybe I should do 2 days torching, and 1 day felting, and only do a couple of hours felting at one time?

Here are a couple of pictures of the purses that passed muster.  Still too thin in some areas and thick in other spots, and lots to learn yet.  I have yet to put in a lining, add a strap and a button closure.  I think one of my lampwork buttons made to match will be just the ticket.

A grouping of simple sack style, wet felted purses before the lining, strap
and closure have been added.

This is my favourite so far - the decoration is made by adding silk "hankies"
to the base - I think it looks like sweet peas, especially with the addition of
the tendrils.

Kind of silly to make it on a white base (it will get dirty so quickly), but the colour of the decoration changes so much with the colour of the base.  I think next time I will try making the purse in a darker colour and then add a square of light coloured "pre-felt" to the face and then add the floral motif on top of that.  It's all a learning process, but that is half the fun.

Back to the torch tomorrow!

New Hearts

The challenge for our glass bead makers group for February was "of course", hearts.

These beads can be found  in my Etsy shop.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Arbutus Beach beads

I made these Arbutus Beach beads on special order for a couple of my customers.  They take a lot of preparation and a steady hand - so no coffee before I start!

I am sooo far behind with my orders - being sick for January and part of February has really put a dent in what I had planned for this year!  I think I am going to have to stop taking orders for a while.   At least until I am caught up.

Chicken Beads!

I made a few little chicken beads yesterday - these little guys are so much fun to make.  Each one ends up with it's own personality.  They are up in my Etsy shop now.

Folk Art Style Chickens

Well, I am off to town to purchase a Tassimo coffee machine.  Have a great day!

Branching out? - maybe??

While I was sick with the flu I couldn't do any torching, but I was very tired of just reading and sleeping. (I couldn't sleep lying down anyway, but had to sleep sitting up).  Anyway when I was starting to feel a little impatient to get on with something I decided to take up wet felting again.  I had tried it several years ago when I was making teddy bears, and used to make felt flowers to decorate the said bears.  I thought this would be something that I could do while sitting at a table and could also leave at any time and rest.  I already had all the supplies, so that was perfect.  The flowers below are the result - they were lots of fun to make.  I also made some very small purses, but will leave those photos until I have finished up the purses - ie. putting in a lining, a strap, and a button closure.

Wet felted plum coloured poppy.

Wet felted pink coloured poppy.

Wet felted rust coloured poppy.

More bead pics coming soon!

Crawling out from "under".

Wow - that was the "worst sick" I have been for a very long time (excuse the bad grammar).  I lost most of January and the first week of February - next October I am definitely getting the flu shot!

Anyway, I finally started torching again last week - just a few hours a week, because I am tiring very quickly, and am still coughing quite a bit.
These two new sets are going in my Etsy shop shortly.

Guardians

Meditation Pools

If you are one of my many customers that are patiently waiting for orders, please bear with me a little longer.  I am working on my orders along with making items for the Etsy shop.  I find that if I only work on orders, my  mojo, inspiration, enthusiasm, or whatever it is called, gets very stultified and I just don't want to go out to the studio.  I guess it makes it more work than play - and I am at the age where I want to play more than I want to work, lol.  So thanks for being so patient.

Hopefully I will be able to blog more too!