New to Studio

November 17th and this was the temperature in the back garden this afternoon:

Amazing!!!!

A new 12 needle felting machine or embellisher, as they are called in industry, was added to my studio yesterday.  This one replaces my 5 needle felting machine. The 5 needle machine is in excellent condition but the 12 needle one is much faster for my needs. I will be selling the older one.

An added feature of the new machine is a holder for yarn and a place to thread the yarn so that it comes out by the needles for easy felting. I am making a few new needle felted Wearable Art Pins to replace the ones sold at the Christmas Craft Fair. There is also a place on the front of the embellisher foot to thread ribbon. I'm looking forward to 'playing' with this new machine!!

Here are a few felted projects / tutorials to check:

• How to Make Flat Wet Felting   
• Wool Felt Projects on Pinterest  
• Felt Goodies to Make 
• Felt Projects   
• Free Needle Felting Projects   

Enjoy!!

Book Review # 2

Art in Felt & Stitch - Creating Beautiful Works of Art using Fleece, Fibres and Threads by Moy Mackay, is another one of my Christmas gifts. This book is visually stunning! Moy Mackay (Scottish artist) illustrates how to create beautiful pictures using felt and stitches. She takes you on a journey from start to finish, including the materials and tools you need, in making felted pictorial art. You, too, will end up been inspired to make art!  One of my favorite pieces in the book shows how she makes her sheep - they are delightful!

Enjoy!

Needle Felting

This morning was spent packaging some of my card sets for retail. I also have a new set from the last four commissioned pieces I've done. Those still have to be printed. Now I'm 'playing' around with my needle felting machine. I need to get some felted sheets ready to make some art cards and wearable art pins. HERE's a video on machine needle felting. Tips for machine needle felting can be found on Linda Matthews blog HERE.

• I started out with a piece of dark gray felt which I covered with different colours of wool roving and decorative yarns. 
• Next, I let my felting machine / embellisher do the work! This machine takes the place of doing it the hard way - by hand! 
• Using Sulky Sliver thread, I free motion stitched over the entire sheet of embellished felt.
• The sheet was trimmed and cut into 2 1/2" x 2" pieces.
• Each piece was taped to a blank card, initialled and packaged.

It's difficult in a photo to see the glitz in the Sliver thread but the cards pop!