Magpies at Sunrise

                 

They look like poppies

All 96 of them

A new twist (species) on an old design.

I do hope you like this "Beth" approach being the Crow lover that I am. This is another Corvid: Magpie

Just a breathtaking bird

Felted project completed

This is the finished piece. I love adding embroidery since stitching into wool is like stitching into air. SO EASY!. On the upper right is some ribbon that wasn't very successful or I would have taken a close-up.

On this one I couched the Sari yarn after breaking a needle trying to felt it.

This is the felted Sari yarn that broke my needle

This one has a Shisha mirror in the center

French knots

Curly roving

Stitched with wool thread

The technique

This is a Janome Needle Felting Machine. I bought this when they first came out and were much cheaper than they are now. Sometimes they are referred to as Embellishers.

It came with a brace of 5 needles. These are not replaceable if broken. I broke one of the five a while ago and just decided to use the four. While making this piece I broke a second needle so I'm down to three. You CAN buy another brace which has replaceable needle but it costs $50.00. I don't use this enough to warrant buying a new brace of needles. As you can see each needle has it's own hole. It looks like a sewing machine but there is no thread and no bobbin. Where a bobbin would normally be is a small catchment for fibers that are broken loose during the felting process.

The "finger guard" is in place. I can't imagine running 5 barbed needles through my finger. OUCH!

I placed a bit of roving on the wool batting and started to felt. You start the machine then move the wool backing (batting). You never stop the machine either with the needles in the down position or on the backing (batting). I run the backing (batting)  right out from under MOVING needles.

Here is the piece after needle felting. I also used ribbon. Friday I will show the piece finished.

Four techniques for four weeks

Hi! I am Beth Berman and I will be showing four different techniques during December. I tried to think of something interesting but if nothing else, it will be colorful.

I'd like to start with machine needle felting. Today I will show you the materials I will be using.

This is a small piece of 100% wool quilt batting. I dyed it with acid dyes

Now you will really hate me. I bought over 50 balls of roving plus a bag of silk roving from a woman in Florida for about $50.00. I know.

These are the bags that I will be using. The silk roving is in the lower left bag.

I used both the fuzzy fibers as well as the curly ones.

I felted with Sari yarn and ended up breaking a needle. I decided to couch it after that

This some really beautiful limey olive roving.

Tomorrow I will talk about the process.

What in the world do artists think of us

Judith just sent me a link to a fiber artist who shares her experience with the fire blog. The artist name is Emma and her post can easily be translated by Google translate.

Check out her post