Newest Pillows Finished and Going on Etsy

These pillows are fun and quirky, I am calling them Wheels and Sprockets.  They have funky lavender pompom trim and are backed with a woven linen, edged in a teeny squared off decorative stitching.  They sit upon my famous Mary Chair!

New Pillows from the Studio

If you haven't been following the fast and furious posts on the Festive Fibers Facebook Fanpage, I am putting up a small grouping of pillows onto my Etsy shop.  The three bottom pillows are currently in the shop and this funky lavender pair (shown half done) will soon follow.

 

Purchase pillows here!
Dark Teal RED FLOWER PILLOW
Dark Teal STARS PILLOW
Turquoise pillow with YELLOW buttons
Don't want to make a purchase on line?  E-mail me!

A Glimspe into On-Line Learning

I know there are quite a few of you out there who have been pondering this on-line way of learning, we've spoken, but for those of you just in the I wondering phase, I am putting up this post to share a fantastic class and project, and show the progression of 4 weeks!  PLEASE NOTE the designs shown here are the property of Deb K.

Deb chose to do the Upholstery Fabric class, and with the goal to do an ottoman at the end of it.
So the first week we did two sessions in one, Color (1 Hour Session 1) and Design (1 Hour Session 2) These two sessions are desktop sharing and slide shows while I speak.  And then we discussed the goal, and what to expect for the next session.  Deb left that day, with a couple of assignments, one was Color Theory and the other to design her project so I could look at her piece and guide her.  Here's what she sent me over that week:

playing with the color wheel

Examples of some of the Theory Color Schemes (one example of many pages of exercises she tried)

Inspiration for those designs

 The next class was a demo of laying out and a speedy wet felting demo for the making of the gauge, discussion of gauge, shrinkage and thickness, etc.  The next Monday morning I came to my computer to see the following photos of the sample.  Now this was not just a sample but would also turn into something...

 

The next 6 days I received more photos of the 5 total panels needed for Deb's Ottoman.

 

 

 

 

 These five panels show her pieces laid out and dry before felting.  I made suggestions about compressing and needling, Deb used a 5 needle punch and compressed by hand.  She needled all the detail by hand. we discussed the opacity of the fibers and areas of color, how the detail might look as it felts, did she want it to crinkle or stay straight?  these are all points for a felter to be away of how her felt will felt, and shrink and what might happen to the design and details in that process, decisions are made accordingly.

I made a mini wetting and rolling demo, before she began all five pieces to make sure she was comfortable with technique, etc.

 

 

 

 

 We analyzed, I looked at close-ups to see how hard the pieces were felted, especially the detail and line-work, we met again to show and tell how to cut sew and upholster Deb's ottoman.  (There were actually two she wanted to do, the first and smaller one, had to be made from her Gauge piece, because as she said she never does something that can't be turned into something she will love, I agree! 

We discussed tools, supplies, the best techniques to sew and turn in felt, as well as recognizing what felt will do as well as someone's upholstering tools and type of sewing machine, stapler, etc, so one can be prepared to make style calls like how to attach trims and other embellishments.  I use all low tech tools in the studio - no air compressor for staplers, or heavy upholstery sewing machines, we work with what we have!

the finished product is stunning, thank you Deb for letting me share your experience with others!

(The mini ottoman is her guage!  See why guages are so important?)

PS Her ottoman was one she bought at one of the big chain stores, the mini was a little one inside the bigger one!  They were covered in vinyl, and she simple upholstered OVER the vinyl.  Easy peasy!  She also just began using a new I-pad for the on-line class as well as using it to take her photos for me to see.  We used Skype for all 4 sessions.

I hope these photos show how easy and supportive on-line teaching can be, and you too will join the fun!
-Nicole

Spring already landed in SOWE NH?

Well, I cannot believe it is two months since my last post.  Yes, I guess I can, I have been going going going!
We took a vacation to San Diego and Los Angeles the end of February, and after we returned, the weather here in So Western New Hampshire has been threatening SPRING in full force!  We had over a week of over 80 degrees in March, and now it is the middle of April and I have rushed to turn my veggie bed, and put down grass fertilizer before it rains this weekend.  Folks here are already mowing grass!  I think I'll be mowing mine next week.

I am scheduled to give an hour presentation, titled "A Matter of Color" Friday May 4th to the New Hampshire Assoc. of Family and Consumer Sciences, that's NHAFCS for short.  I will be presenting at the new Marriott in Keene, NH.  It is my Color Theory Class put to slide show, in BRIEF.  I think it will work out very well, I spent quite a few hours converting my favorite magazine photos into jpegs and translating the progression of my full day class into a one hour slide show.  I am presenting to educators, this is a break out session for them to get CEs.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Also recently I taught a 4 day class at NEFS. (That's New England Felting Supply in Easthampton, Mass) We had a full class at 12 students!  The class was Felts for Upholstery Fabric, and while these shots of the final day and critique are great I cannot wait to see some of the finished chairs and pillows students promised to make their fabrics into!!

Last but certainly not least I am beginning to paint designs again.  I have cleared studio space, made the paper (Stonehenge from Utrecht Art Supplies, I love the guys in the Cambridge Mass store, they are sooo helpful) and paint purchases (Turner Design Gouache from Jerry's Artarama, thanks for turning me on to Jerry's both Gail Callahan and Jean Gauger - I did this order via internet, but yes ladies one day we should go to the "local" store in person!  But boy you should have seen all the FREE goodies I got along with my paints!  I thought I got someone else's order!), and am starting to get pumped!  Presently a gorgeous turquoise mottled blotch sits on my painting table...much more to come on this!   Can you guess what color those flowers are going to be?

 

About Tea and Tea Cups

I have just finished a couple of felted tea cups - one is an order, the other I will put on my Etsy site, but based on the comments I am getting on the Festive Fibers Facebook page, I better get busy and make many more of these!! What do you think?

 

The concept for the felted tea cup, I am sure is not a new one, years ago I was juried into SOFA and invited to participate in a gallery's Tea Pot exhibit.  This was an annual juried show by this gallery, and I was honored to participate.  The tea pot I made was very funny (I thought) and had a (nod to pop culture) pun embeded into the name and look of the vessel.  My entry was called Harry T Potter!  Harry Potter was just out, and I had just dyed some crazy mohair locks.  The vessel had a self hinged lid which I saw as a wizard's hat, and the handle reflected a dragon's tail.  It was further embellished with beading.

So the other tea-lish-ous aspect in my life is that I am a tea buff, well not a purist, but I first started by collecting tea pots.  We honeymooned in the UK and I was further enamored with tea, the process and accoutrements.   We came home with a Portmeirion Dishes Tea Service set, which at the time was not available in the states.  Some of the first tea accessories I made as Festive Fibers were tea pot cozies.  These also were made taller and more narrow for french press coffee pots, I should quite a number of these (some as hats!)

Tom and I have even enjoyed a tea tasting at a very famous place in San Francisco's China Town.  We so love finding a pearl on our travels, and this was one.  We were doing a show in San Francisco and had time to explore, when came across Red Blossom Tea Company, and had a tea tasting with the son of the owner, a very knowledgeable young man.  We were entranced by the art of the tea leaf, the country it comes from, how it is picked, the season, if it is aged, white teas, loose green teas, to black and brewing time and vessels, etc.  We brought home a souvenir of 4 or 5 gourmet teas;

our favorites being Tung Ting and Inner Blossom Jasmine.    

Tea continues in my life when, a couple of years ago I was teaching at a retreat course called Art IsYou...and that year's theme was Alice in Wonderland.  And of course the underlying theme of the Mad Hatter's tea party inspired me to create a class teaching how do do these cups and saucers.  (Isn't it a wicked coincidence that the Mad Hatter IE. "Mad as a Hatter" has its roots in felt making?  Thank goodness I don't use mercury in my felts!  I am wacky enough!)  That year Stampington was one of Art Is...sponsors, and at the end of the retreat the producers sent all sorts of entries to them for consideration in their publications.  My cup and saucer ended up on an editor's desk and about a year later, this past October, it was published in Stampington Somerset Home's 2011 Issue. 

Scarves On-Line (Flowered Yarn)

So a few weeks ago I posted on Facebook, a photo of an amazing skein of yarn I bought while exploring a near-by part of Vermont.  I was out with my husband and mother-in-law, she an advid knitter, visiting local craft shows and shops, where fiber definitely seemed to be a theme.  Well, I really have to admit the main reason for the visit to Proctorsville, VT was actually PIE.  We discovered a really great breakfast and pie place I had no idea exsisted and since I am a very big fan of pie, and I had also known about a yarn store, Six Looses Ladies, there but had not had the opportunity to visit it, our day's excursion was set - off we went!  We began the day with a late breakfast early lunch at the  VT Apple Pie and Cheesecake Bakery and Breakfast.  Here are some photos from their Facebook page.

After we finished lunch we stopped around the corner at Six Loose Ladies.  While shopping at this great little treasure, a very unique skein of hand spun yarn jumped off the shelf at me.  It is hand dyed and spun into the ply are little flowers!! I bought it right away and envisioned it going right into some wooly scarves!


I was determined to try it in a scarf, and since I was doing an on-line scarf class yesterday I used it for my demonstration.  Here are a a couple of photos from yesterday's session.  So MUCH FUN, I can't wait to make some scarves with this!

the table full of of fiber, some from NEFS, yarn from Six Loose Ladies, and fabrics from Delectable Mountain Cloth

  

The finished sample