Shepherds' Spring Farm

I’ve been working on my picture a little.  I decided there was no definite direction for the sun. I added some lighter green to the trees on the far edge, which also defined them more. They look very yellow-green in the photos, but they are much more green in person. I rearranged and added some very light grey to the mountains.

Finding the sun.

For the mid-ground, I thought maybe some bushes. I added 3 to work with but didn’t get very far before I pulled them off.

Bushes

I thought maybe some flowers in the mid-ground would work. I tried out several colours of sari silk waste.

Softsilk is a brand name, I think. It is shreaded finer than the other sari silk waist I have seen.  The pink and the brown are from the same batch of silk waist. I decided the softsilk was the best colour.

Flowers in the mid-ground

Now, I need to figure out the foreground. I may needlfelt and stitch some flowers. I may need to do something to blur the straight line in the sky on the left. I don’t notice it until I take a picture.

Before talking about felt, I just wanted to share with our friends who have mild winters. It is March here in Central Canada, and there is very little snow left. But as I said, it’s March, and March is a fickle month.  This is what I woke up to last Saturday.

March 29 snowfall.

Followed by freezing rain overnight Sunday.

March 30, freezing rain on top of snow.

Do not be feeling sorry for me. This is fairly normal here. We expect it, but I am envious of you sitting out in your gardens enjoying the spring flowers.

Now some felt. I finished up the pink sample for the book-resist workshop. I finished the pages 2 different ways just to show them. I think it might look nice with a light inside.

I made a second sample using a football shape. It is smaller.

The resist was fiddley to get out because I didn’t want a hole in it. So, didn’t want to cut a hole in the end.

After removing the resist, I sewed up the hole.

Stitching up the hole

Stitching after fulling.

Here is how it looks finished. I am really pleased with it. The stitching was resistant to being pulled out, but I did get it out.

I may have to make another one.   I may just have to stitch on this one. I have the wool ready for the next sample. I hope to have it done for you to see next time.

When teaching my vessels workshop a few weeks ago, I was showing the class pictures and talking about some more advanced vessels. They expressed an interest in all of them but especially in the book resist vessels. It got me thinking and now I am planning to give an intermediate vessel workshop later in the year, or maybe the new year, depending on scheduling.

At this point, my plan is to make 3 samples. That will help me write down the order and figure out how to teach it. I need to work out the materials list and timing, as well as how to teach it. Making them will also help me think of where things might go wrong.

I know there will have to be a prerequisite of having made at least one item, and preferably 2 or more items over a resist.

I plan on 3 different vessels. The first is a simple 6-sided circle pot.

The second one is more oval shaped vessel, I cut down the paper template from the circle so they will be about the same height when done.

And the last has an “odd” shape, again I used the half circle from the circle to draw the new shape to keep them about the same size.

As with most best laid plans, I discovered all I had for tape was narrow painters tape. So I will have to head to the store for some wide, strong tape that will hopefully stay stuck through the wet process of making a vessel.  In the meantime, I think I will start writing the instruction so I can jot down additions as I go.  I am not sure how long it will take to do all that. If I want to teach it in the fall through my guild, I will need to get the proposal in when the call for workshops goes out in the spring.

Last time I was telling you about a spindle case I was working on. It is here if you missed it making-a-spindle-case-mark-1

last time I had added all the wool so now it was time for some decorations. I grabbed some of my handspun and covered the case in a random pattern all over, remembering to go under the flap and to leave some sticking out to wrap around so it is continuous on the other side.

The other side. I didn’t do the ends because they would be folded. I did cover all the yarn with a very very thin layer of the background wool as I wanted it to adhere without too much effort.

I gave everything a good rubbing until it was starting to shrink and the yarn was well stuck and then rolled it.  I got it back down to 12 inches in length but the other way didn’t want to shrink up.

I rolled it more and harder in that direction. I heated it and rolled it in my hand but it didn’t want to go where I wanted it. I thought I would try rinsing it, and throwing it in the sink and shocking it with hot and cold water. Fortunately, that did it. The next step would have been putting it aside for a few days and trying again. I do know from experience that letting something rest often works. But I didn’t want to wait.

Here it is finished. It looks ok. I am not sure I like the accordion folds on the ends. I have never been good at them, they never look sharp like I see others.  The next one may get different ends. Overall the look is good but it is not stiff enough.

Here it is with 3 different size spindles in it. I am using the clip to keep it open. the small one is very loose in it. The medium one is a fairly good fit and the large one will not fit at all.

spindle case with small spindle

spindle case with medium spindle

Medium spindle outside case for size.

Large spindle not fitting spindle case

Different wool might be better. I used Merino because it is what I have the most of. Coriedale might be enough but maybe Finnish or Bergshef.  I also think it needs to be thicker as well as stiffer. It doesn’t feel like it would be very protective against bumps and knocks. What are your thoughts on improvements?