It’s an early spring and I got the flower to prove it

I got it from gnomead – now there’s a name after a Waldorf momma’s heart!!!

Apparently she’s been following my fibre blog and likes it!  That’s so great. Every time I receive a comment or a question I feel so honoured that anyone out there is actually interested in my scratchings!

I’m meant to pay this forward in the following way:

 

• Place this award on your blog or in a post
• Pass the award on to 12 bloggers
• Link the nominees within the post
• Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blog
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award

Now 12 bloggers is a lot.  Especially since my list includes many of the same bloggers on gnomead’s list – and on checking I see that some of my other favourite blogs have already got their own flower from another source - so here we go with 10………….

• Wool love – functional fiber art because every post looks like poetry …… and there’s felting too.
• Peace Felt which technically is not a blog.  It’s another amazingly thoughtful initiative brought to the world by Marie Spaulding. 

• Ikonium Studio the online presence of felting diva Theresa May-O’Brian
• Colettes vilt because my cursor becomes a sheep on her blog. And because while she writes in another language her felt is universal.
• Sheepless in Suburbia a knitter from my home town. Witty posts with wooly connections.
• Felting is Art because she give eclectic new meaning.
• Myosotis because …………….felted bras!

                                            

• Wolllmiese because…………………….pecs & wool!

                                      

• Chrissie Day because she shares so generously her process.
• Pat Spark because she is my hero. Aside from being one of the most talented felters there is she tirelessly maintains the North American Felters List which if you are at all interested in felting you should most definitely join. Here’s how.

So thanks to gnomead for that and I’m off to do some commenting!

NWS Slipper Progress

This term my friend Geraldine and I have been team teaching felting with Class 7 at the Nelson Waldorf School.  Above are just few of the shoe last made by each class member.

Some are still working on shrinking them.

Some are blocking them.

   

And a few are finished!

Wonder how these fleeces would felt?

Let me Point(er) you in the right direction!

Hi Hi!

I just logged onto your blog for the first time. Wow! what great information and photographs. Thanks for taking the time to record this stuff. I like it way better than looking at books....

Anyway, about my question: Do you have something in your archives about making a shoe last? I see you used duck tape, but I can't picture how you get that off someone’s leg?

I understand if this information is confidential...

Thank you,

Leaha

Welcome Leaha!  And thanks for the kind words.

Just to remind everyone my shoe lasts look like this:

And I was remiss in my earlier post – I should have credited Sally Pointer with teaching me how to make these.

Sally loves all things manyevil medieval – you really should brew a good cup of tea before sitting down to explore her site – you’ll be there for a while, there is much there to drool look over.

The shoe last tutorial itself is right here.  To Sally’s excellent instructions I would add these notes gleaned from making my own lasts and 12 pairs with Class 7 at the Nelson Waldorf School earlier this winter. (pictures of the kids’ completed slippers coming just as soon as they complete them)

Use a really thin knee high sock and as few layers of tape as you can get away with so that you don’t accidentally add a half a size to your last. 

I found that when I stuffed them the bottoms wanted to bow out which would have made slippers too narrow for my already hopelessly narrow feet! So I suggest you stand on cardboard and draw around each foot. Cut those out just inside the marked line so that when you stand on them you can’t see them.  Just don’t reduce them by too much so the finished lasts will still be your size.

Cut pieces of duck duct tape to apply to the bottom of these templates that overhang them by several inches.  Stand on the templates and fold the tape up onto your sock.  They will end up encased in the last and the cardboard will keep the bottom of the last flat making stuffing them much easier.  Alternatively you could pull the sock over the template and your foot and save an awkward moment in the taping.  (wish that had occurred to me before!)

Use a sock that is taller than the planned last.  Fold the top down over your first layer of tape but try not stretch it too much.  With your next layer of tape go over that extra layer of sock.  This stops the sock from pulling away from the tape and collapsing when you cut it off your foot.  The less the sock is stretched the less it will curl when you are cutting into it.

I used a pair of cast scissors to cut the lasts off.  Regular scissors will work too just be careful.  I cut down the inside of my calf, behind my ankle bone and all the way to the sole plate. Then I removed my foot as carefully as possible. For some of the kids with wider feet cutting down the outside of their calf worked better.  And for some we had to make a second small cut at the heel. Once your foot is out just tape over whatever cuts you had to make.

I’ve heard that Pixie and Moss stuff their lasts with popcorn so that they can open the top of the last after the boot is tightly felted and collapse it to remove it.  I haven’t tried that yet but it sounds like a good idea.  My whale slippers are actually slightly too large, perhaps because I took the lasts out while the booties were wet so they stretched a bit.  Make sure you visit their Etsy site to see the fabulous boots and needlefelted sculptures they make.

I don’t use a washer in the making of my slippers so I can’t speak to that but for hand felted slippers you can’t beat a good last.  Well……………….actually you can………….which is part of the point really.

Blessings & Good Cheer

Hi

whose son, Hair One, once declared that he was studying the Manyevil Period when knights were gallant and maidens fair.

Oh and all puns intended albeit not necessarily very good

Disaster Averted

When was the last time you made an error of grey whale proportions?  Here’s mine!

I read somewhere that steaming felt hats or slippers would create a ‘memory’ in the wool and so the form would hold better.

Accordingly I rigged up a rack precariously balanced on two ramekins to keep my slippers above the water in my roasting pan - eerily prophetic that was.

Then the phone rang…………….

 

While I was having a good old chin wag my poor whales had steamed on past toasted and arrived at burnt!

YIKES

By the time I was done scraping the burnt bits off there were places so thin you could see through them.

Fortunately my car needed servicing the next day.

And the connection there would be????????????

Why hours of waiting in a rural service station with no nearby shopping of course!

Instead I came armed with fibre and felting needles – and I can tell you I got some very funny looks from the staff and clients of my dealership! But it’s the results that matter right?

Tada!

I left with both car and slippers in perfect working order.

More From The Junk Mail Wilderness

Hi there~!
I somehow came across one of your posts while looking up felting.
I was looking for "natural toys" online for my kids, and on one website, there was a a "felting kit" and then some random balls of wool, pieces of wool for kids to felt.  I was curious and I am still trying to figure out what it is....
My daughter is very artistic, and I think it may be something fun for her to learn.  If you could provide me with some insight as to what it is, that would be great!
Thanks
Ulanda

Note to self:  try to teach email client that anything regarding felt or felting should not be consigned to the junkmail dungeon.

Well Ulanda, my favourite definition of felting was written by Willow Mullins.

“Felt harnesses the chaos of tangles”

To do that you can either wet felt or needlefelt.

In wet felting you carefully lay out unspun fleece, add water, soap and agitation to create a non-woven fabric. This can done to make a 2 dimensional object like a wall hanging or a 3 dimensional object like a purse. Several of the posts on my blog can help you to learn this process. Or you could watch the wonderful how-to videos posted by Terry Pike at http://www.feltinglessons.com/Home.html

In needlefelting, the same result is achieved using barbed needles. This process is more often used to embellish existing articles or to create sculpture though you certainly can use it for the items described above.

I don’t think any of my posts go into the process much.  Basically you just get a needle or needles and poke the wool, a lot.  But there are plenty of posts showing examples of my sculpture.

 
You couldn’t find finer instruction in the art of wool sculpture than the videos at Kay Petal’s youtube channel.

You don’t say how old your daughter is but I started my sons felting at the age of 5 & 3.  First with wet felting but that was only because I hadn’t yet heard of needlefelting! They are both accomplished feltmakers though now in their teens interest is waning.

I’d look for felting kits or supplies in your neck of the woods and find one that appeals to your daughter’s taste in both colour and object.  I’m sure she’ll love it.

And gentle reader if you sell just such a kit or pattern and you think Ulanda should have look at your wares then leave a link in the comments!

And speaking of Ilene……..

Ilene sent me her slipper pix at the beginning of November but I’ve been sooooo busy I haven’t been blogging.  Tonight I finally got around to posting those photos and then went off to party.

And what do I find in my inbox on my return?

Funny you should ask:

Hi Ilana, my felting group was inspired to take a compilation photo of
all our slippers for you. There are some beauties in there! Some used
merino, some used combinations of fibers. The front center pair by Judy
were felted in white merino, painted with dye, and steamed to set. Wish
you could join our club, we'd have fun. :) We in Maryland are enjoying 
almost two feet of powdery blustery beautiful snow today. A new
historical record for December in Maryland, apparently. Hope you had a
happy Hanukkah.
ilene

And here is her wonderful picture

Ilene’s fab slippers!

Ilene sent photos!  I love photos!

Here’s her layout:

And the cosy slippers she produced

 

Don’t they look great.  Ilene says she’s not quite done in these photos.  The potential for pixie toes was still under consideration.