Spice Drop Soup

Procrastination (sung to the "Anticipation" tune)

So, tomorrow I am hosting a meeting.  My project is a recipe book, with recipes compiled from our Banders members.  I have been collecting the recipes for months.  Now I need to get them all in a format that can be easily bound into a 5.5" x 8.5" booklet.  I should be doing that right now.  I should have been doing that all week.  Instead, I took a nuno felting class, AND made a Papier Mache bowl. 

    I'm thrilled with the outcome.  If anyone would like to learn how to make this bowl, please let me know - I'd be happy to teach you. 

Now, time to knuckle down and get these recipes typed and printed. 

Nuno Felt

Nuno Felting is a process using wool and natural fibers, wetted and agitated to enmesh a design into fabric.  Last Wednesday I took a class led by Suzanne Morgan to learn this technique.  We started by laying down a towel, a bamboo mat and a piece of tulle. 

On that we layered a thin pre-made felt and pulled strands of wool.  Small cut pieces of silk were placed on top to create a design and a final thin layer of wool strands covered all.  Another piece of tulle covered our felt sandwich. 

Soapy water saturated the composition.  By hand, this creation was rubbed using a balled up plastic grocery sack, for about 5 minutes.  Additional water was added to keep the felt wet, facilitating the agitation.  After this, all layers were rolled into the bamboo mat, sushi-style.  The entire thing was rolled back and forth about 100 times.  The mat was unfurled, the felt turned 1/4 turn, re-rolled and given another 100 turns.  This process was repeated two more times, for a total of 400 back-and-forth movements.  After this, the felt was removed, rinsed in very hot water, balled up and thrown hard into the sink a number of times.  Finally all excess water was squeezed out and the felt was pulled back into shape and allowed to dry.

 

My masterpiece!  Please, hold the applause. 

More examples:

 

Carol Regan - finished piece             Deborah Boschert - during the design process

Denise made a lovely composition with a leaf design, but my camera battery ran low, so no picture is available.  It is a fun and easy process, and quite a workout for the arms.  I worked up a sweat by the end of class.  I'll try this again soon.  Anyone ready for a PLAYDAY? 

Nuno Felt

Nuno Felting is a process using wool and natural fibers, wetted and agitated to enmesh a design into fabric.  Last Wednesday I took a class led by Suzanne Morgan to learn this technique.  We started by laying down a towel, a bamboo mat and a piece of tulle. 

On that we layered a thin pre-made felt and pulled strands of wool.  Small cut pieces of silk were placed on top to create a design and a final thin layer of wool strands covered all.  Another piece of tulle covered our felt sandwich. 

Soapy water saturated the composition.  By hand, this creation was rubbed using a balled up plastic grocery sack, for about 5 minutes.  Additional water was added to keep the felt wet, facilitating the agitation.  After this, all layers were rolled into the bamboo mat, sushi-style.  The entire thing was rolled back and forth about 100 times.  The mat was unfurled, the felt turned 1/4 turn, re-rolled and given another 100 turns.  This process was repeated two more times, for a total of 400 back-and-forth movements.  After this, the felt was removed, rinsed in very hot water, balled up and thrown hard into the sink a number of times.  Finally all excess water was squeezed out and the felt was pulled back into shape and allowed to dry.

 

My masterpiece!  Please, hold the applause. 

More examples:

 

Carol Regan - finished piece             Deborah Boschert - during the design process

Denise made a lovely composition with a leaf design, but my camera battery ran low, so no picture is available.  It is a fun and easy process, and quite a workout for the arms.  I worked up a sweat by the end of class.  I'll try this again soon.  Anyone ready for a PLAYDAY?