Dabbling in mosaics

In November 2011 I had a garden full of filthy white pebbles and thought they might look a whole lot better with some mosaic pavers. I took some in-depth instruction from Professor YouTube and went shopping at Bunnings.

I drew some designs, then began smashing the coloured tiles. I held each one in a leather glove and tapped it firmly with a hammer, repeating the process with each of the pieces. OW! After the first ten tiles, I realised I had to get a lady hammer.
 

Breaking up the tiles using the glove and lady hammer

The next step was to arrange the tile pieces over each drawing. (I didn't take a photo of that, because I didn't want them to get knocked over or blown away.) I then glued a second sheet of paper over the top (using flour paste) and allowed it to dry.

Upside down designs glued to paper

The next step was to apply an even layer of tile adhesive over each (squeaky-clean) concrete paver, position the design and leave it to dry overnight.

The next day I used a wet cloth to wash away the white paper (using tweezers to remove lots of it that had become stuck in the gaps).

Finally, I mixed up the grout and used a kitchen spatula to spread it over the tiles. Unfortunately, it set in about 20 minutes, so it kept hardening before I'd finish applying and removing it properly.

Flower

Wonky sun

Evie's chameleon

Owl for Carolyn & Prue

Piranha

Orange

Blue Parrot

Flower for Maryrose & Brian

Escargot for Janet

Leaf

Autumn felties & mittlets

Felty brooches

Just thought I'd mention that the felt I use is not actually handmade, but it is 50 percent wool. (The acrylic fibre gives the felties extra strength – Eve's Rammy brooch has been accidentally put through the wash three times, and he still looks amazing.) I've also been using alpaca fleece to fill them, which makes them extra soft.

Here are some of the latest incarnations.

Buzz

Bluebirdy

Chimpy

Bunny

Cocky

Escargot

Jelly

Owly

Ladybird

Periwinkle

Ozzie Bear

Pouchy

Turty

Snoop

Wolfy

Mittlets

These are like fingerless mittens, with one hole for the thumb. You can still do lots of stuff with your hands, and they are soft and warm. Because they are made of natural fibres, they need to be washed by hand.

To make them, I first spin my own yarn. I prefer merino, alpaca and sometimes silk or bamboo.

I hand-card the alpaca, which takes a couple of hours for about 100g.

Carders loaded with fleece ready for brushing (carding)

Then I spin it, usually plying it with merino (I don't have any pics of spinning!). It takes about four or five hours for 100g skein.

The next step is to hand-dye the yarn. That takes about an hour (30 minutes in the pot and another half an hour preparation and clean-up).

Here's my latest alpaca/merino skeins ready to be knitted up:

And some of the latest mittlets I've made:

I've also experimented with spinning some bamboo, and it makes an incredibly soft yarn.
Here I've plied it with merino:

Are you asleep yet?

Fixing Stuff

Re-caning a chair

Back in March 2011, I found a beautiful handmade chair with a knackered cane seat, and thought I'd try to fix it. I figured re-caning couldn't be that hard.

I bought a repair kit from V.I. Reed & Cane in the US and surfed the internet to find a good instruction video. But I was buggered if I could find one, so I took a stack of photos and did sketches to try to work out how to do it myself.

 

 I soaked the cane and began pegging it out...

But it was so much harder than I thought. I had to rethread the cane several times as I'd either threaded the cane in the wrong holes, or I'd completed the layers in the wrong order.

TWO WEEKS later...

It ended up being a pretty wonky version of the original, but it looks okay from a distance I guess. 

Made 'n' Thornbury Christmas Market

Had a stall at a little artisan's market in the community hall at 99 Leinster Grove in Thornbury. It started at 4 pm and finished at 9 pm and there was live music and delicious tucker.

Looking a tad dorky. . .

Introducing the newest felty: Escargot

Ceres Kingfisher Festival 27 October 2012

Ceres is a lovely venue for a market stall, especially if you score a possie near the Permaculture and Bush Nursery like we did. Visits by dear friends Kath, Jane, Juliet and Wendy made this a very special day.

 Rearranging a few felties while Janet spins and Angus reads

The complete felty collection


 

Barrettes

Emotional Baggage

EB Birdy (32x28cm)

EB Birdy (lining view)

EB Big Birdy (32x39cm)

EB Cuteski (37x41cm)

 

 

EB Cuteski (flip side)

EB Big Veggie (38x36cm)

EB Dollski (31x33cm)

EB Dollski (lining view)

EB Fruity (26x30cm)