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Post by lyn on Jan 2, 2022 8:21:19 GMT
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Post by Shepherdess on Jan 2, 2022 13:51:20 GMT
HI all I will start us of with s super simple one. a couple of years ago I fulled a sweater in the washer and dryer and deconstructed it to try it out as a base for needle felted pictures. It works but not my favourite. Anyway, fast forward and I needed to make a lamb jacket for a lamb born on a cold day so I used the front of the sweater. sorry it's so big I don't seem to be able to shrink it to make it clear.
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Post by lyn on Jan 2, 2022 15:43:33 GMT
Super cute Ann! The sweater wasn't very suitable for your for needle felting, so what a good way to use it.
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Post by MTRuth on Jan 2, 2022 17:05:26 GMT
The lamb looks cozy
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Post by caterina on Jan 2, 2022 22:33:52 GMT
The lamb was lovely! Dandy lamb, ready for a party! What a nice way to repurpose your project!
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Post by lindsay on Jan 4, 2022 9:26:14 GMT
Lamb fashion. I love it.
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Post by lyn on Mar 5, 2022 10:33:39 GMT
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Post by MTRuth on Mar 5, 2022 21:32:19 GMT
I loved all of these Lyn! I forgot to post my photo of my sample. I also wanted to show how I had used crinkly yarn from pulling a sweater apart. The tree is couched crinkly yarn.
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Post by lyn on Mar 5, 2022 21:40:47 GMT
The crinkly yarn is extremely effective Ruth!
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Post by lindsay on Mar 7, 2022 14:21:15 GMT
Great sample, Ruth, and love the crinkly yarn tree.
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Post by caterina on Mar 13, 2022 10:26:55 GMT
Hello! Oh, boy, am I glad I tried this Quarter Challenge and made a sample before trying to use the upcyclable stuff in a real project! My tale is one of...let's say, learning experience! Lol! While I was walking home, I passed a house where there was a woolen hat out for passersby to take. It is quite common here in London, people put pre-loved stuff outside their home for anyone to take and use. Anyway, the colour was interestingly natural and the texture intrigued me, so I took it and washed it and it was soon ready to use in my projects. Here it is: www.dropbox.com/s/f84wlyrsvkfzter/img_20220312_154751.jpg?dl=0The label says that it is 75% acrylic, 17% nylon, 8% polyester, so I was expecting to have more rubbing to do, or use the sander, but that is fine. After washing and drying it, I almost used it straight away for a painting, but then thought "Let's make a sample for the Quarter Challenge, first!" and that was a brilliant idea that saved me. I cut a bit of the hat into strips...well I tried to, but the strips kept fraying and dissolving into smaller bits! Anyway,I wanted to work backwards, so I put some of them on the bubblewrap, trying out different shapes: www.dropbox.com/s/imfellebbe5asdw/img_20220312_155443.jpg?dl=0Then, I put 5 light layers of merino wool on it: 2 layers of lighter sandstone colours, 1 layer of mocha colour, 2 layers of pewter colour. Knowing that I wanted to use the sander, I was hoping for more fiber migration than usual, and I wanted the darker colours to seep into the lighter colours that were the ones in direct contact with the hat strips. After wetting and sanding it, the sample was 35 x 26.5 cm. The sanding seemed to make the hat strips attach well to the wool. Note the "seemed". www.dropbox.com/s/ej3hphd9n6ce6ni/img_20220312_162151.jpg?dl=0A lot of rolling ensued. The final sample measures 29 x 21 cm. www.dropbox.com/s/4tet37kab3mckm5/img_20220313_094651.jpg?dl=0After rolling for quite a long time, the wool had felted nicely, the migration of fibers was what I was hoping for but...once dry, the hat strips fray badly and you just have to rub them lightly to make them come away! I do not think that I can use it in other works like this! They just fall apart at the minimum touch! Lucky that I made a sample before using it anywhere! What I want to try now is: 1) sandwiching the strips and bits into wool layers, to entrap them into the wool or 2) instead of cutting strips from it, getting its yarn and trying using that...although it may be more prone to breakage, now that I think about it. More samples, for sure: I am learning my lesson :-D
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Post by lyn on Mar 13, 2022 12:28:02 GMT
Yes Caterina - you are so right - sampling can save a lot of frustration and materials! Your progress photos are interesting and explain things well, and they've helped you to decide what to try next. We'd love to see how things go with further sampling.
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Post by MTRuth on Mar 13, 2022 14:38:12 GMT
Your sample is very interesting Caterina. And yes, it saves time, effort and ultimately supplies to sample first. And it's good that you are thinking "what if" afterwards instead of being sad that it didn't work out as planned. I think the sandwiching the bits between wool should give an interesting effect. You could probably even cut up this sample and sandwich it between wool layers.
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Post by Shepherdess on Mar 13, 2022 22:48:17 GMT
An interesting sample. A good thing you tried it out first. I think if you put a fine layer of wool over the hat bits they should stick better. or maybe poke some wool through the middle of them too so it will stick to the underside.
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Post by Ann @ frabjous fabrica on Mar 15, 2022 10:43:41 GMT
Finally I've managed to post something in a Challenge. I thought I wouldn't get round to it as I still can't find space on my work table to make any felt (soon though), but while I was looking for something else I came across the samples which I had made several years ago now at a Surface Decoration workshop with our branch of the IFA. In this image www.dropbox.com/s/zpeswnm6gowal04/Entrapped%20pieces%201.jpg?dl=0 you will see 5 samples which I made to see how I could use Nuno felting to help entrap various items to decorate felt. I used orange prefelt which I had bought some time ago from Wingham Wool Work and I laid these pieces on the felt and covered them with pieces from old nylon chiffon scarves which I'd bought at some time from one of our charity shops. On the top row on the left are some pieces of ribbon and poly cotton lace overlaid with a green scarf piece. I think that the lace may have attached on its own in places, but obviously the ribbon would not. Top right there are various yarns under the green scarf, some of which felted in on their own, and others which have in places. On the second row, Left we have some gold sequins which definitely haven't stuck on their own, and in fact the orange scarf piece hasn't felted properly either. There is at least one gap where the sequins have escaped - there aren't half so many as there were when I first did the piece. In the middle is a piece of needle lace which I picked up at a charity shop. That is only partially covered by the orange chiffon and it is clear that with a bit of perseverance it would probably stick without being entrapped. Initially I could not make up my mind whether this doily was very fine crochet, but on closer inspection I am sure that it is needle lace. Finally on the right we have more ribbons, braids and fibres under the orange chiffon. In the second image www.dropbox.com/s/kli8uoex228l8bm/Entrapped%20pieces%202.jpg?dl=0 you can see both sides of a different sample. In this case I used some merino and other fibres which I had carded together, added some locks and silk fibres and then covered them with more of the orange nylon chiffon. I photographed the back before I realised that I'd got it upside down, but thought that you might like to see what the base fibres looked like without the orange scarf. I am quite pleased with the effect of the locks and the other added fibres although I'm not entirely sure whether the orange nylon enhances the colour of the base fibres. At any rate, I have managed (sort of) to complete a challenge and am looking forward to seeing what the next one will be.
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