Artfire Fiber Artist of the Week ~~ Felt4Ewe

This week's featured artist has an amazing selection of wet felted functional works of art. This is a process that I admire, but have not attempted. I'll leave this one to the professionals! And Felt4Ewe is definately a professional!


If you want to learn more about the process visit her blog and you will see just how passionate she is about her art.

Check out these fantastic hats!




And wouldn't my set of bangles go well with the red one!?!

You can visit me at etsy, shophandmade and artfire.

Before and After ~ Felting a Wool Bowl

Today I wanted to show everyone the before and after of the felting (fulling) process. I find it amazing what happens and thought I would share with you.

Here is a photo of the crocheted bowl before the felting process. At this stage it measures 8 inches wide:


And here is the after, measuring 6 inches:



Amazing how the colors meld and the bowl takes shape! Another wonder of wool ♥

Don't forget to visit me on etsy, shophandmade and artfire!

It Pays to Experiment~~

Presenting my newest bowl titled "Poppies". It is made with a new found technique that gives stability and thickness.

For quite awhile I have been trying different ways to make my felted bowls stonger, thicker and overall sturdier. And I think I just found the easiest way. So easy, in fact, that I am hand slapping my forhead as if I should have had a V8. And there is an added bonus of terrific color enhancements with this method as well.

Normally I would use one strand of worsted weight wool yarn and work my magic. This does produce a great felted fiber in the end, but for vessels and bowls, I would prefer a thicker stronger fiber. I've made a few bowls in which I would crochet double length, fold them over and sew them together to form double thickness as in this bowl:


This method takes alot of calculating as one side needs to be a bit smaller than the other, but does have a great result.

I have also tried crocheting two strands of worsted weight together which works ok... but doesn't felt with that finished look that I like so much.

My amazingly simple discovery is that by crocheting one strand of worsted weight along with a strand of fingering weight will give that little bit extra to the product that gives the bowl added stability and helps keep their shape. The bonus is that I now feel like a painter mixing my paints because combining different color shades gives the bowl it's own unique colors!

I start with two strands of wool ~ one worsted weight and one fingering weight


I changed my hook from H to J


And then I go to town:


The colors will blend during the felting process so the individual stitches and colors will not be visable when completed. I used two different yellows in Poppies, and as you can see, the shades blend to form one color with a bit of heathered look.

So, now I have met one of my 2009 resolutions (finding ways to improve my products) and it is only January 3rd! Can you see my smile? I have a beautiful green one drying now that will be posted later this week.

Hoping you will come visit me on etsy, artfire and shophandmade to view my new work during 2009

Hooker Spotlight ~ My String Theory

This week's hooker spotlight is shinning on a fellow felter ~~ well, technically fuller, but we accept felting.



mystringtheory has an amazing eye for color combinations and designs when making her jewerly and accessories. I would call her work fabulous, fun and funky! She teaches the strings by day and hooks strings at night... Come read more about her from her profile:



"I am a violin teacher by day, and a crocheter by night. And morning. And afternoon. And sometimes my lunch break. I began playing with yarn as a reward for completing my first year of graduate school, and it has grown into a fullblown obsession. After buzzing around practicing and teaching all day, I can't wait to get home to my yarn! It's my favorite daily unwind and meditation activity.




And here is her discription of felting (or fulling):
A Note About "Felting"
"Felting" or "fulling" is a process that shrinks crocheted or knitted items that are made of 100% wool. If a description says that one of my items is "machine felted" that means that I threw the product in the washing machine to shrink it. If it is "hand felted," I scrubbed the item over the stove in hot soapy water (with gloves of course!). A purse that has been felted does not need a lining because the shrinkage and agitation makes it pretty hard for keys and pens to poke through the fabric. On the hand felted items, stitches are still visible, but the item will still be sturdy enough to hold all of your goodies.




Definately take some time to visit her entire shop as her work is incredible. Each item is very unique and keeps you looking around the corner to see the next one!

My Newest Bowl

One of the most exciting things about my work is that I never really know how the finished product will turn out after the wash cycle. Oh, I've come a long way since my humble beginnings and can closely predict the end result - most of the time. But occasionally, I will try something new and it still surprizes me!

I have learned that I can't make a vessel too big or it looses stability. But I set out to make a bowl that had a large base. I wanted to add a second layer of design all the way around as that extra thickness does make the bowl sturdier.







So I set out to work... prepared with an enormous amount of yarn and just kept crocheting and crocheting and crocheting (and a good movie on the TV). The end result was a huge brown blob with red dots measuring 20 inches wide. Based on the 40%shrinkage formula, I was expecting the final bowl to be about 12 inches.

Of course, my prediction was spot on when my husband said, "What is it?" when I showed him the bowl before the wash process. I said, "It will be my biggest bowl ever. Don't you see it?" His eyes just roll at that point.

After 4 wash cycles and shaping/drying process I ended up with a 7 inch bowl. Although it turned out smaller than I had hoped, I was very pleased with the end result and it is just as sturdy as all my other bowls. When I proudly showed my husband his reaction was, "Wow! That shrunk ALOT!"

Yes, it did shrink alot, but I think it is a keeper. I am calling it Cherries Jubilee and I will loving remember this bowl as yet another step in the learning and growing process of my work.

One thing, though. I think I will just give up worrying too much about the outcome as it seems the only thing I can acutally predict accurately is my husband's reaction!



You can purchase this bowl in my etsy shop or you can contact me if you would like something similar. I say similar because, well... I just never know how it will end up!