Felting again... spirals and cuffs

While I've been juggling sorting the studio and working at home I've found pieces of work "in progress", a few of which I've now taken a stage further. I created 2 felt panels a long time back with a view to making book covers in  gorgeous oranges and purples... but I changed my mind and shall make matching wall hangings instead. They were half felted as a first stage so ready for cutting.

This is what I did on Sunday- using a template I cut spirals simultaneously and reinserted them into the opposite piece.

I tacked them in place with orange thread which disappeared nicely once it had been felted... how nice it was to take it all outside and felt in the sunshine!

I had to adjust the semi-felted sizes to match and cut some off the purple one... this was fully felted too and I spent the evening decorating it with previously crocheted flowers, beads and embroidery silks... I love how it turned out and might have to make a few more for the studio shop...

and then on to the next layer of the hangings... collage and embroidery....

Zodiac rethink...

I've had 3 very unsuccessful attemps to do my blocks for the Bead Journal Project 2012. In January I drew out a design for an appliqued wall-hanging featuring zodiac, pagan and mystical symbols... I've detailed it further in my Bead Project section and promptly set about designing and beading the symbol blocks.
The first one was awful, Aquarius, so I did a second. For February I did the next, but in my frustration I beaded the wrong symbol... so now I have 3 beaded blocks- none of which I'm happy with... so this weekend I set about redesigning the blocks.
Having just completed a textile background for my spring cards and ATC's, in yellow, I felt that this would be a good base for my symbols. A little rethink was necessary- originally each section was to be completed in it's associated colours and crystals, so I would need to work them in a different way.

Aquarius- January's

Now they are split into their element groups Water, Air, Earth and Fire and I am using a collaged textile as the base. I already had Air, Water and Fire textiles so spent Saturday making Earth in sumptuous greens.

Pisces- February's

Aries- March's

 

I've just caught up with the first 3...fully beaded and complete so now I can at last post on the BJP 2012 blog and although they are not hugely, or intricately beaded, they now fit my project perfectly.

More pics can be seen in the BJP 2012 section.

Little faces....

Or should that be the small faces? Blast from the past there...

In preparation for my Bead Journal Project I've been playing with ideas...zodiac seems to be the recurring idea, but I rather fancy creating a hanging of  a zodiac wheel that also incorporates the pagan festivals and crystals etc associated with each sign/moon phase...  I quite liked the idea of little faces in the centre of the beadwork, which will be my uptake on each sign...so I've been playing with fimo- not had that out in a while. Luckily I had some stashed away....

So here are todays endeavours

heart faces, glass bead eyes

round face, glass bead eyes

round face, sleeping

Oval face, glass bead eyes

Not bad for first attempts...it's so difficult getting it smooth this small- the biggest is the oval, 1 3/4" high- I will have to give them a light sand later to buff the rough bits off. I don't like drawing or painting faces, I'm not that good at them, seems I have a similar issue with cabs too. These were all supposed to be femine, ethereal and serene, not jesters and Benny Hill. Still, I have time to improve, and decide if they will be centres or not- if I can't get them prettier I might have to rethink the plan.

The beginning of expression....