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Archive: Fiber Art
September 13, 2009
Moxie's "Specimen 2"
Moxie's been feltin' up some new work! This "Specimen 2" from her Apoca-Galápagos Series is going to the Plush You! show at Schmancy in Seattle in October.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Sep 13, 2009 05:00 AM
Arts & Design, Felting, Fiber Art |
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September 12, 2009
Moxie's Re-Imagined Boutonnieres
Moxie recently posted some of her new work for the Plush You show in October. Her art is created with needle felting, and her technique is unparalleled. This plug is a boutonniere, part of her series on the subject. It's a great take on the traditional red rose! Her Apoca-Galapagos series of creatures having evolved or sought shelter in the discards of society is even more irreverent. I love Plush You, and this is a great contribution.
Posted by Brookelynn |
Sep 12, 2009 06:00 PM
Felting, Fiber Art |
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September 10, 2009
101: Natural Dyeing
101: Natural Dyeing
Everyday plants offer big color.
By Judith Lange
Imagine a world with no colored fabric. Look in your closet, at your furniture, at your towels and your curtains. Imagine everyone dressed only in white. Such a drab existence does not suit human beings. Long before Rit came in packets, color was everywhere. Beautiful colors were produced from plants, wood scraps, mud, shellfish, even bugs.
My friends and I once spent an entire summer experimenting with natural dyes. It was a fun way to bring more color into our lives; it's sure to be the same for you. Many natural sources of dye are still available today and are simple to use. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to dye wool using the ubiquitous onionskin. This is a grand project for adults and children, singly or in groups (supervise children!).
Read full story
Posted by Goli Mohammadi |
Sep 10, 2009 01:30 PM
Cozy Up to Yarn, Fiber Art |
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September 7, 2009
Refresh Wool Roving with a Flick Card
I am in love with a new tool. It's a simple Ashford Flick Card. I have had my eye on a pair of $60 hand carders for a while, but this flick card was less than $20, so I went for it. The card is basically a brush with thin, sharp, bent teeth. Interestingly enough, I found the tool at my local feed store, not the craft store.
I frequently travel all around with tons of wool roving. This year alone I've done almost 10 events to promote Feltique, taking all my supplies and letting people learn about felt. And while wool roving is relatively inexpensive and easy to store, some wool in my collection has been toted around with me for literally 3 years. The wool begins to naturally felt to itself, pick up lint and bits of debris, and in general become messy looking. And no one wants to make art with a cruddy looking tangled lock of fleece. That's where the flick card comes in.
While watching a movie last night, I sat on the couch and pawed thru my pile of roving, matching up colors and combing them out. I didn't really have a technique, I just stuck the locks onto the teeth of the comb, and brushed them. I picked the wool off, then brushed it again, repeating until all the tangles had been pulled out. The result is as if I went shopping and bought all new supplies. Having fresh fluffy piles of color is really inspiring. I can't believe I waited so long to get one of these tools!
Posted by Brookelynn |
Sep 7, 2009 06:00 PM
Felting, Fiber Art, Tools |
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August 25, 2009
Giant Felt Whale
Sean @ MAKE writes:
Tristin Lowe is the artist behind this 50-foot whale made of industrial felt over an inflatable form. No jokes about the name, please.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Aug 25, 2009 04:00 PM
Arts & Design, Fiber Art |
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August 10, 2009
Evelyn Roth's Video Trap
I love this video of Canadian textile artist Evelyn Roth's work crocheted from recycled video tape including a car cozy and several outfits. (Thanks, Erica!)
More:
Knitted Interfaces for Technology
Posted by Becky Stern |
Aug 10, 2009 02:00 PM
Arts & Design, Fiber Art, Recycle |
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August 7, 2009
Crafty Organs Galore
Your Friendly Neighborhood Organ Grinder is an Etsy shop filled with crafty organs of all sorts. Brains, eyeballs and more all mashed up with keychains, hair clips, in jars, on walls, you name it. Via Street Anatomy.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Aug 7, 2009 02:23 PM
Fiber Art, Needlearts |
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July 30, 2009
Ben Conrad's Anatomical Embroideries
Via Mr. X Stitch, I love Ben Conrad's anatomical embroideries!
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 30, 2009 04:00 PM
Fiber Art, Hand Embroidery |
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July 17, 2009
Jo Hamilton's Crochet Portraits
Jo Hamilton creates these stunning portraits in crochet, based on photographs. They remind me of pastel drawing, but using stitches instead of smudges. (Thanks, Andrew Salomone!)
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 17, 2009 09:00 AM
Arts & Design, Crochet, Fiber Art |
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July 16, 2009
Lunar Embroidery
Happy Apollo 11 lunar mission 40th anniversary, everybody! Beche-la-mer made this stunning embroidery piece using a topographical map of the moon as reference. Look at all those french knots! Via Mr. X Stitch.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 16, 2009 09:00 AM
Fiber Art, Hand Embroidery |
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July 11, 2009
Victor Dubrovsky's Felt Animals
Happy Caturday crafters, here's some super cute felt work by Victor Dubrovsky. (Thanks, Marc!)
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 11, 2009 12:15 PM
Felting, Fiber Art, Plush |
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July 6, 2009
Amy Winehouse Tattoo Sweater
Artist Andrew Salomone embroidered this sweater for Amy Winehouse with all her tattoos in all the right places. It'd keep her publicly recognizable, but warm at the same time:
About 9 months ago I heard something about Amy Winehouse having health issues. Then I noticed that Amy Winehouse never seemed to be wearing a lot of clothes in any of the pictures I saw of her. I also noticed that she changed her look very often and looked drastically different from picture to picture. It occurred to me that maybe she felt like she had to wear revealing clothing in order to be recognized by showing off her distinctive tattoos. I found several pictures where it appears that even when she did wear warmer clothing, she was still forced to expose her tattoos.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 6, 2009 09:00 AM
Arts & Design, Fiber Art, Hand Embroidery |
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July 1, 2009
Needle-Felted Jabba The Hut
Kit Lane created this fantastic needle-felted Jabba the Hut (The Early Years) for the Stitch Wars exhibit at Bear and Bird Boutique in Lauderhill, Florida. The show is a collection of handmade goods celebrating Star Wars.
Jabba is 100% wool with the exception of two beads, two glass eyes and quite tightly needle felted. He's not at all delicate and will only get better the more he's handled.
Jabba was the character that attracted me most from the Star Wars series. Even though he's quite a bad guy I imagined what he must have been like as a wee snot of a slug. You dont get to be a such a great naughty creature without some sort of trauma, his being a lover of his squeezly "bunnybear". The unmerciless taunting by his slime mates over his compulsion for plushies I suspect caused him to turn his back on a normal upbringing, turning instead to a life of crime.
You can see more pictures of the needle-felted Jabba the Hut in Kit's Flickr Stream.
Posted by Rachel Hobson |
Jul 1, 2009 03:00 PM
Felting, Fiber Art |
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June 23, 2009
Inflatables as Plush Starters
Artist Mindy Sue Meyers figured out a way to curb her excessive use of fiberfill when making plushies by starting with inflatable pool toys. For her purposes, a kids' tube was a perfect base for this giant doughnut.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jun 23, 2009 04:00 PM
Fiber Art, Plush |
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June 15, 2009
Ribcage Purse
Here's an amazing felt creation by Marisa Ranalli, this ribcage bag, via Street Anatomy.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jun 15, 2009 02:00 PM
Felting, Fiber Art |
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June 5, 2009
Columbine Cross Stitch
This piece is called "Nothing Much Happened Today (for Eric and Dylan)" and is by artist Noelle Mason. It's been lovingly carefully stitched by hand, and who knows how long it must have taken. My interpretation: those long hours pay homage to the community around the Columbine High School shooting. I'm sure each stitch was spent deeply considering the implications of the image. The piece measures 50 x 66 inches. Via Radical Cross Stitch.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jun 5, 2009 02:00 PM
Arts & Design, Fiber Art, Needlearts |
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June 3, 2009
Fluid Sculpture Dress at Maker Faire
Here's one of the pieces I was looking forward to seeing at Maker Faire this year. Rachel Hobson managed to snap a few photos, and I got to meet the creator of this fluid-pumping dress made from surgical tubing. From the Casual Profanity site:
There was one question I got frequently that is worth answering, and that is: “how did you think of this”?
Forgetting for a second that we’re talking about a dress made with tubes and a pump and not, for instance, something useful. I would like to propose that the origin of this, and most any idea, is a bit absurd and mostly irrelevant.
What is vital though, and of greater influence on any project, is how it perpetuates.
The Maker Faire is what motivated me. The receptive, forgiving, and care-full group of people represented there and on the internet is of much greater consequence to my project than whatever random elements fused at its conception.
More:
Knitted Plastic Tubing makes Fluid Sculpture
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jun 3, 2009 04:00 PM
Arts & Design, Fiber Art, Maker Faire |
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Handmade Textiles by Charlotte Alexandra
Textile artist Charlotte Alexandra has a wide selection of truly lovely handmade textile pieces, including wrist cuffs, brooches, necklaces, and hair clips, in her Etsy store Sew Lovely. Pictured above is a piece called Japanese Love Affair, featuring wet-felted wool, embroidery, blue paper-based flowers, and Swarovski crystals. Just add party dress and cocktail, and you're good to go!
Posted by Goli Mohammadi |
Jun 3, 2009 11:00 AM
Fiber Art |
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May 22, 2009
Meet the Feltique Contributors: Part Four
I'm finishing my guest blogging today with the final introduction to some of the contributors to Feltique. Keep in mind that these are not all of the wonderful artists who added their projects to this book, which is a complete guide to felting in all its forms. I hope that you liked getting a glimpse into the book, and I hope that you are inspired to embrace the versatile and natural medium that is wool felt. Cheers!
Vicky Lewis' fulled True Love Purse is a favorite project of mine in Feltique. The project combines a knitted and fulled handbag with needle felted kanji characters that translate into the words "true love." Her personal felting work includes an Etsy store with amigurumi, many of which have a woodland twist! She is also a member of quite the crafty family, and shared this about herself: "I don't know if you are aware but my family consist of two members of the Etsy administration: Anda (Amanda) Lewis Corrie and her husband Peter. Their daughter Sidonie is my only grandchild. I have another beautiful daughter, Laura, and I've been married to my husband Randall for 34 years. I live in a little town in the mountains of Virginia and I'm an avid gardener. Sometimes I think gardening and crafting go hand and hand." Please visit her two Etsy shops, click the birds and bees, and appalachia.
Ansley Bleu Davies is a prolific and successful artist and crafter. Her work for Feltique includes three really diverse projects: a clever Stacked Bead Necklace made from commercial felt, a creatively useful Knitting Needle Case, and a set of Felt Thirsty Coasters, which were a collaboration project between her and Moxie. Her work in general is just as interesting. Her most famous piece is likely her knitted Princess Leia Wig. She will be showing a version of it this summer in a Star Wars-themed fiber arts show called Stitch Wars. Ansley's current art includes very surreal, fun, and pretty doll dioramas. I love them almost more than her felt projects! Ansley's Etsy shop is a great place to find very interesting and well made knitted wearable art and ephemera. Check it out!
Tanya High Brooks' Felted Fortune Cookie is one of the more iconic projects in Feltique. The simplicity of the project makes it perfect for beginners, but the usefulness and beauty makes it something even the most experienced felters would love to create. Tanya also contributed the Floppy Flying Disc, a knitted disc that (almost) makes it OK for your kids to play frisbee in the house! Her knitted felt goes way beyond these toys and housewares. She has created several knitted character lines, including the Knitja Family of knitted ninjas. One thing I love about the contributors to the book is that their talents often go beyond felt making. Tanya mentioned learning about a whole new type of fiber arts, weaving: "Got bitten by the weaving bug while at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year and bought a 20" Schacht Flip Loom. After a few practice projects, I've just warped the loom for a "real" wrap. Keeping my fingers crossed." Tanya also hopes to add body butter, fiber, and more to her Etsy shop this summer.
Posted by Brookelynn |
May 22, 2009 04:00 PM
Books and Magazines, Felting, Fiber Art |
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Kit Giveaway And Winners of Feltique
Guest blogging on Craftzine this week has been great. I've loved it. Definitely the best part is giving away copies of Feltique. Congratulations to our winners, including: Jeni, Auckland, NZ; Greta, Dallas, TX; Ammi, Wilsonville, OR; and Laura, Charlotte, NC! But there is still one more giveaway! I have 10 kits, featuring the Bauble Earring project from the book, to give out. I've gotten a lot of love from the craft world in the short amount of time since I joined Twitter, so to win a kit, just follow CRAFT on Twitter and we will pick 10 winners from our followers. And to keep in the loop on more cool book giveaways and everything thats happening with my publisher, please follow Potter Craft too!
The Bauble Earrings featured in the kit are really fun and simple, and the kit comes with everything you need to make them, including eco foam, wool, and a felting needle from Made by Moxie, thread, French hooks, and even a needle for lacing them up.
To catch me and some of the contributors to Feltique live and in person, please visit the Maker Faire, coming up next weekend, May 30th and 31st. The Needle Felting Playground will be in full effect, and both Moxie and I will be doing demos, not to mention all the other amazing things happening there. And, in the fall, my co-author Nikola Davidson and I will be at the Urban Craft Uprising, August 1st and 2nd. Nikola is a founder of the famous Seatlle indpendent craft fair, and she and I will be meeting each other there for the first time. I can't wait, and I want to meet you there too!
Posted by Brookelynn |
May 22, 2009 11:00 AM
Books and Magazines, Felting, Fiber Art |
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