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Archive: Felting

February 8, 2010

Felt iPad

Jason Guest has created a version of the forthcoming Apple tablet, rendered in 100% wool felt. The details are too awesome and my favorite is the little gear he cut and stitched for the settings! I've posted more photos after the jump, and here's a link to Jason's skeleton etsy site, so you can bookmark it and stay in the loop on his future work.

"I stuffed it with 100% wool roving, the felt is 100% wool as well. It took 4 or 5 hours between two days, working on it here and there. I make little felt gnomes and needlefelted animals, but this week I wanted to make something that didn't fit into what I thought was marketable or conventional. Having grown up with Macs, I couldn't resist getting their new gadget a month or two early. Kids do stuff like that- pretend they have a cell phone with a block of wood. Draw a picture of a website and a keyboard on a piece of paper and glue it to a tin container or something. Suddenly, they have a computer. The apps were a lot of stitching, but well worth it."

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January 31, 2010

Strawberry Fields Forever Felt Scarf

This rendering of strawberries as a scarf is the perfect accessory to wear during the winter when you are pretending that it's already spring. I often find a ray of sunshine to sit in and imagine that the end of January is the beginning of March. This lovely example of fiber art is from the Magic Laboratory of Fashion by Titiana Agapcheva.

January 25, 2010

Felted Sweater Beads in Bulk

When I saw this lot of 150 felt beads for just $12, by woollyfabulous on etsy, my jaw dropped. I can think of a million things to make with these beauties. The possibilities are endless- necklaces, buttons, bracelets. I even want to set them out in a bowl on the coffee table to admire as art in themselves.

December 28, 2009

Ultra-Super-Cute Embroidered Mouse Clothing

This winter mouse is perhaps the cutest thing I've ever seen. I love the colors, I love the expression, I love the details. The mouse is needlefelted, and the clothes are handmade and hand embroidered by Barby, on the Felting Forum.

December 11, 2009

How-To: Recycled Sweater Pendant

CRAFT: Celebrate the Season

This weekend at Bazaar Bizarre in San Francisco, the CRAFT team will be in full force. On Saturday we will be making felt necklaces with everyone who stops by our booth, and on Sunday we will be crafting some really cute rings! I wanted to share the super simple felt necklace today. It's one of the easiest last-minute gifts that I can think of, and it makes great use of any felted sweater scraps, or commercial felt that you have lying around. If you are in the Bay Area, be sure to visit us at the San Francisco County Fair Building, at Golden Gate Park! And if not, you can just follow this easy tutorial to create your own recycled sweater pendant.

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November 19, 2009

Moxie's Schmancy Exclusive

CRAFT pal Moxie has a series of needlefelted monsters exclusively at Schmancy in Seattle. They squeak when you squeeze them, and I want them all. More pictures on Moxie's Flickr.

October 29, 2009

Tanis Alexis' Urban Felt Rug

This is a lovely detail from a felted rug, handmade by Tanis Alexis. Tanis is a fiber artist, mom, contributor to Feltique, and a spectacular artist. She creates classic pieces of felt, but with a multimedia twist! Each rug is wet felted from 100% wool, and then the city scene is added with a limited edition cut stencil. Tanis will make this piece custom, in about 3-6 weeks.

October 22, 2009

Colorbomb Fibers

At Maker Faire 2009 I had the pleasure of meeting Velma of COLORBOMB Creations. Velma is a colorful explosion of enthusiasm and fiber arts. She has a great etsy shop with amazing offerings, and yesterday on her blog VelmasWorld, she announced a new product, called SmorgasBombs. They will be launched at SOAR, the Spin-Off Autumn Retreat happening in Oregon next week. Not fair, cause I want to buy one right now!!!

Packaged in plastic bags re-claimed from the Sock Summit dumpster, each SmorgasBOMB contains 4 ounces/115 grams of animal fiber. This batch may contain any/all of the following breeds: Babydoll Southdown, Cheviot, Coopworth, Cormo, Corriedale, Cotswold, CVM, Dorset, Lincoln, Merino, Mohair, Rambouillet, Romney, Targhee, Wensleydale.

October 17, 2009

Stunning Needle Felted Dragon

This needle felted dragon is awfully life-like for being a mythical beast! The work is quite impressive! From the artist, tallydragon, on deviantart.com:

He is made out of natural wools from the Iron Horse Farm, a local fiber farm, and the Flying Ewe, a fiber arts website. He has a wire understructure through most of his body that makes his wings, legs, and tail moderately poseable--the tail is extra long so that it can curl around the finger its sitting on. He's got glass eyes held in by glue and wires, and his horns are made out of wire covered in apoxie sculpt, topped with acrylic paint and matte varnish.

[Thanks, Eric Russell!]

October 10, 2009

An Afternoon of Crafts and 'Staches in Petaluma

Today I've been at the Petaluma Whiskerino, an extraordinary contest of beards and mustaches. I made a few felt mustaches, and had to get my photo taken with the winner in the Full Beard category, Jack Passion. Jack is the author of the Facial Hair Handbook, and as his bear clearly shows, a true expert in the field. He is the first place national champion too! Besides growing beards and writing books, Jack has a website with everything facial hair, and some great silkscreened beard t-shirts.

October 8, 2009

The Petaluma Whiskerino

I think it's fairly clear that the craft world is in the midst of a trend. A trend almost as big as bird silhouettes, almost as big as the skull and crossbones, almost as big as the octopus. It's the mustache, and it seems to be, ahem, growing on everyone. From 'Nifer's amazing pieces of nose decor, to the laser cut 'stache necklaces on etsy, nose neighbors and soup strainers are here to stay. And the Petaluma Whiskerino is celebrating with an old school exhibition. I will be at the event on Saturday, starting at 3pm at the Petaluma Farmers Market. I plan to be sporting my own colorful facial hair, and will have my felting supplies so that anyone who likes can join in the fun.

The Annual Bill Soberanes Memorial Whiskerino Contest has been around for longer than anyone I talked to could reckon. I got the details from Fred Abercrombie, who has been competing for the last 5 years. Last year Fred, his wife Melissa, and some of their neighbors created a campaign and took up the task of promotions. Their efforts included some clever material, including handlebar mustache stickers for the mirror, and a postcard that can transform anyone from clean shaven to hirsute in an instant. They've even made chocolate mustache lollipops! As a bonus, this year Fred created a time traveling video, of his face sprouting what I consider to be true art.

Time Lapse: My Hairy Commute from :: Fred Abercrombie on Vimeo.

October 2, 2009

How-To: Make a Dreadlock Wig for Halloween

Halloween Crafts

Let's take a trip to way back in the day, October 2006. I had just begun experimenting with tutorials. I was making a Halloween costume for myself, and thought that I would just snap some quick pictures of the process and throw them up on Flickr. It was my first "self-published" project. The costume was a "Shadow Fairy" sort of thing. Meaning, dark green dreadlocks, a sparkly black dress, and some wings that I made out of coat hangers and black tights. I think most people thought I was a Rastafarian Tooth Fairy, but hey, I loved my outfit, and I took pride in knowing I made it all myself. For today's project, I am going to share my ultra simple tutorial in all it's blurry, old-school glory.

UPDATE:
This post has triggered negative feelings in people, and I want to apologize. I created this dreadlock wig in 2006 as hair for a type of gothic, dark, forest fairy. I realize that by not sharing the costume in it's entirety, I left it open for interpretation. And the way that it was interpreted was as an insensitive and racially charged project. I want it to be clear to everyone that I had no intention of mocking anyone, no intention of cruelty, and no intention of representing any group of people. It also very important for everyone to know that I do not condone using this project as a tool for perpetuating stereotypes.

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