Je prends un demi,s'il vous plaît

the felt+stone story continues

as any experienced feltmaker will have surmised

felting on stone does not allow for much "shrinkage"

as there is a solid object at the core of operations

and therefore the felt will not have been fulled to completion

i was pondering this notion

and mentally labelled it "semi-felt"

which led to the French "demi-feutre"

[which would more properly be "demi-feutré"]

but then the German possibilities were not so snappy

..."halb-filz" lacks energy
and "halb-gefilzt" sounds positively insulting
[even though German is my first language]

but enough musing. the felted stone shown in the earlier post

which, incidentally

began with scoured, undyed white merino wool

came out of the dyepot richly cocoa-coloured

which is how i wanted it

curiously, the inside layer, close to the stone

was a rich silver grey. a cause de quoi? je ne sais pas.

but i'm thinking about it.

anyway i had a plan for this little sample

having an eye of seeing [small magnifying glass]

that was beginning to become a bit scratched through its residence in an apron pocket

and needing something soft that i could hang around my neck

to keep the glass within reach

+  +  +

demi-felt [a good bit sturdier than pre-felt]  

is delightful to stitch upon.

and stitching is a good means of securing the slightly fuzzy surface

however

in the course of stitching

the object began to resemble [in shape] the purse of a ram lamb

as the stitching had pulled it in somewhat

[in Australia the testicles and scrota of sheep are referred to obliquely as "stones" and "purses". go figure. and then think about what a sporran might originally have been made from]

not attractive

the great thing about felting with wool

is that it is a continuous and ongoing process

[also irreversible despite what people mumble about the use of Fuller's Earth and stretching]

so

i thought i would go back to basic principles and play with the notion of

"shocking" the wool

by dipping it first in very hot and then in very cold, water

which worked a treat 

as well as offering a happy reassurance about the substantivity [i made have just made that word up] of eucalyptus dyes

as you can see, no colour is leaching into that very hot water at all

before i began the re-felting 

i drew around the object on an old envelope

so i would be able to compare shrinkage [or not]

as it turned out, once it had been shocked

and then re-shaped [with the help of another, smaller stone]

it hadn't really lost much volume at all

although the stitching now sits nicely into the surface

rather than looking like the icing on a slightly strange cupcake

the next challenge was to bring the stitching [mostly glaring white, which i had initially thought would be rather nice] closer to the colour of the pouch itself

sometimes things are better when you have to discover them through investigation

rather than being glaringly obvious [both in actuality and as metaphor]

so i pootled down to the creek [sadly dry]

for a bit of windfall gathering

wrapped the pouch around another stone to help it keep its shape

[remember that wool has the memory of an elephant for what happens to it] 

and then nestled my little treasure

into a pot full of [windfall, gathered from a city carpark] citriodora leaves

which were once classified as eucalyptus but have now been renamed corymbia

by the white-coated botany-boffins

 
i poured in the water that had been used for felting

[no soap or wetting agents used, so no dramas]

tossed in the rind of a lemon that was lying on the sink

[extra acidity always makes for better eucalyptus colour - which is why the need for alum as mordant escapes me]

+   +   +

  why am i making small things?

firstly because i need a small pouch for that wee glass

and secondly,

because it's dawned on me that with the rises in airfares

and increase in the cost of accompanying bags

those of us travelling to workshops [whether as student or forest guide] are feeling the pain in our hip pockets

so

i'm playing* with ways of making small things

through which many techniques and tricks can be learned

small things are easier to finish in class

there are less materials to carry [for the student, at least]

and with the application of a little thought

all of the learning can be applied to larger objects in the student's own studio

part 3 of this series follows soon

+   +   +

*  remember the words of George Bernard Shaw...

"we don't cease to play because we grow old, we grow old because we cease to play"