EVEE'S FELT JOURNAL

FELTED JOURNALS

Beginning 3-D Art

dyed wool roving, hot soapy water, thread and yarn scraps, hardware findings

I recently found these old pictures that I think are anywhere 

from the 2012-2013 school year up to possibly the  2015-2016  school year.

I haven't shared these yet, 

and it's been so long since I did a post from my teaching years, 

that I thought I'd give it a try again.

I have to admit that remembering this old format is somewhat challenging,

but so good for this older brain.

Amazing how it comes back!

 One of my favorite projects to demonstrate was Feltmaking 

because the kids loved seeing me surrounded and covered in hot soapy water which was dripping all over me and the floor.

Can't remember why I chose this colorway,

but knowing me I wanted to use up some leftover pieces of dyed wool roving 

from previous year's scraps.

These next 3 shots are after I had wet felted the piece.

I wanted to show the kids they could embed other materials into their felt

before the wet felting begins.

Didn't get a shot of that, only after I wet felted it.

Like this saved ribbon tag from my son's best friend's wedding (above),

along with a small piece of felt I had demonstrated beading (below).

I also sprinkled on a variety of yarns and threads from other projects I'd saved.

I was fairly pleased with how this concoction turned out.

The next step was felting it down even more in the washing machine 

with hot soapy water and some serious agitation,

and then it was on to turning it into a Journal below to demo for the students.

A picture of the finished Journal closed up in a 3 way fold

Not sure why these next 4 photos of the finished Journal are looking so bright,

but it will mellow out in the last couple of pix.

A few things to point out in the finished piece

 is first of all the name embroidered with handspun yarn on the front cover,

Evee.

Evee is the first born daughter of the couple who the wedding tag belonged to.

But note how much different the ribbon tag looks from the photo way above.

That's the washing machine doing it's shrinking magic.

Sadly though the date on the fabric disappeared.

Perle cottons were used with a running stitch to meander around negative spaces and to highlight certain areas.

And knowing the father of Evee well,

 since Kindergarten actually,

and how much he and his wife love to travel,

a fun ribbon with text was found,

cut up, fringed and tacked down.

Because my brain is in right mode most of the time while I work, 

I didn't realize that I had designed the Journal to open backwards.

Oops and oh well.

I really enjoyed using the wire clamp I found on a dog walk for the closure

along with a spring I scavenged from my husbands  hardware findings,

below.

Then it was on to the interior.

If I remember correctly I gave the students a choice between fabric or leather

 to line the insides of Journal with.

Turning the edges under and sewing fabric on worked for me.

And then another fun part is teaching the kids how to do a Long Stitch Binding,

and I believe there was also another choice, 

a Coptic Binding.

And then the choice of  papers to use.

I did a combo so show you could do more then one kind;

construction & drawing paper, and a map of the big Island of Hawaii

because I knew it was Evee's first plane ride to my son's wedding.

I also gave the students a choice to cut or deckle the edges of their papers.

I chose deckling for a softer look.

I know it's hard to see the center page of the Journal below

but it is the part of the island we had the wedding at 

on the Kona Coast plus other areas we explored.

Close-ups of some of the details and shrinkage.

I think dear Evee is now at least 4-5 years old with a little sister

 who is probably around 2.

When did I finally get around to finishing this book and photos?

Well,

I'm embarrassed to say last year or maybe the year before.

I know,

I'm terrible about keeping track of these sorts of things.

And will I make one for little sister,

probably not knowing me.

Have I given the Journal to Evee and her parentals yet,

gulp,

nope.

My excuse,

Covid of course!

Haven't seen them in over two years.

But now that I've posted this it will force me to get it to them.

Do they live far away?

Sort of.

But I'll figure it out.

Her parents live up in our cabin community of Crestline.

So yeah.

To see my students journals go here then scroll down PAST this one

 to all the others below it.  

A WHOLE LOT OF FIBER ART GOING ON

HAND FELTED 3-D CONSTRUCTIONS - PART II

BEGINNING 3-D ART

hand dyed wool rovings, hot water, soap, washing machine, perle cottons,

buttons, feathers, beads, leather, & needle felting SUPPLIES

This assignment is always a massive undertaking,

 in the preparation of gathering and ordering materials,

but so worth the effort involved

It also creates a big soapy mess,

so not for the weak of heart.

Weeks before I begin this project

 I place an order at The Woolery for washed and carded wool batts in all their neutral colorways.

They come to me in huge pieces that I gently pull not cut apart

 to make student sized pieces for their foundation

(approximately 13" by 18").

I also order dyed wool roving from Gleason Ranch

and Capistrano Fiber Arts so I have a wonderful,

 colorful selection for the children. 

And then there are the leftover bags of wool scrap roving

and pre-felted wool cut-off pieces

 that I've saved from previous years that the kids can use as well.

Since they are pre-felted,

they can cut out specific shapes to place a top their foundations.

And believe it or not

 I have another bag of fiber goodies that I collect off the floor;

things like bits of laces, ribbons, yarns, old doilies

 that are also available for their use

 to add small bits of texture and bas-relief to their colored foundations.

So let's take a peek at their work.

These two pixs above and below are a take on Starry Night 

and were done by junior Jillian Morris.

The pix above was just after she had finished pre-felting it in my classroom 

with lots of hot soapy water and a lot of elbow grease.

Below is it's shrunken fulled self after I bullied it in my washing machine.

(too much lighting below, true color above)

Bullied refers to how hard I washed it in my machine.

Hot soapy water on wildest speed with old shoes and towels thrown in for good measure.

And here it is in it's finished 3-D form 

along with junior Britney Hong's gorgeous clutch above.

Jillian turned hers into a pillow with terrific embellishment

which really enhanced her Starry Night.

And Britney's clutch had the most glorious movement in color from light to dark.

These next two cuties were designed and made by junior Samantha Tan.

Adorable but difficult to pull off in this 3-dimensional state.

And not to be outdone by Sam is 8th grader James Lara.

He has truly remarkable critical thinking skills,

and designed his own pattern for this hat,

cut up his one slab of felt into all the necessary parts,

and needle felted it together.

And James being James,

the cherry on top is the cute little bear he needle felted below.

The older kids were awed by this remarkable construction,

as was I.

a

Front

Junior Rachel Kannampuzha pulled off an epic work with this purse.

Everyone loved her pre-felt and couldn't wait to see what she was going to create.

Again,

 the critical skills needed to pull this off are incredible because of it's dimensional form.

Back

These children have no experience with pattern making,

but they truly give me their all as they push themselves into scary terrain.

Side

And then were did she find the leather?

Too expensive for me to afford to give the kids.

Although now that I think about it,

perhaps I should thrift some old purses that the kids can break down for parts next year.

I'm really loving the use of feathers on the top piece above by senior Hannah Park.

My neighbor friend and I collect feathers all year long up on the mountain 

so I can share them with my students.

And what a beautifully crafted clutch senior Crystal Lai-Ton-Nu has made above.

Those 3 strands of boucle' yarn really add a nice linear element to the elongated form.

And then we have overachiever,

English teacher Donna Hall.

Only kidding Donna, 

we are all just so jealous of the time and effort you are able to give each of your pieces.

Above is her pre-felt,

before it went into the washing machine.

Amazing right?

Below is her 3-D opened journal cover she made her felt piece into.

Donna's attention to detail is remarkable,

veins embroidered into every leaf, 

as well as the layering of all the fall colorways into her landscape.

And do you see the sweet little bird she sewed on,

and it's nest with blue egg she needle felted on?

A brilliant art piece Donna!

We are so proud of you and this remarkable work!

Next we have super star junior Lynette Lee.

I have shown off her work for almost every assignment.

She truly has so much innate design skill going on inside her,

and it's always a treat to she what she will create next.

Above is the backside of her 3-D felted journal.

She needled felted the deer head onto her foundation after I ran her felt piece thru the washer.

Everyone was astounded by the amount of effort she put into this journal.

Then check out the front side below.

She cut up a pair of recycled jeans and lined her journal with the fabric,

then allowed a bit of it to peek out.

The first time I saw the finished piece,

 I was flabbergasted with the critical thinking used to pull this lining off.

The gorgeous color scheme used in this next one by junior Juliana Oliveira had us all swooning.

So very sensory.

The prefelt above and the washed fulled piece below. 

And what did she make with it?

This artful purse below.

Love how she used the cut off edge bits and pieces as bas relief elements.

It adds even more interest as she spirals them around the backside below.

This is her front with the blanketed perle cotton edging and the braided strap.

Wonderful Juliana!

Another super star,

8th grader Loren Kim,

 created this next clutch purse.

She needle felted all the edging and the leaf.

The contrast she achieved between the lighter marbled foundation and the leaf is breathtaking.

Senior SarahWoo thought of a clever way to pull extra color into her construction.  

She used up several different scrap pieces and did a bit of quilting with the felt.

Almost feels like she is log cabining around her foundation.

She turned her felt into a wallet that had several compartments.

I wish I had thought to take a pix of the inside.

Dang!

We end with senior Vicky Hur's pencil case she built.

The form was really cool.

She curved the side pieces so that the top rounded as she pulled the cover overtop.

And if you look closely she found some fun embellishments to either sew or pin on.

I am so proud to share all these amazing pieces.

Have I told you lately how much I love, love, love my job?

Probably,

ha ha

SCRUB-A-DUB-DUB

FELTED SOAP SCRUBS

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 4TH QUARTER - 2015-2016

bar soap, hot water and dyed roving

28 cuties in a tub,

or I mean classroom  :)

Man oh man

 do these young ones love this assignment.

They get to go outside and play with hot soapy water,

and get their hands really clean.

And the lunch tables get really spotless too.

Helena Ebalobor & Shukthi Senthilraj both chose purple & blue wool rovings.

They had an option to decorate or not.

Shukthi chose to wrap hers with white wool yarn.

Both are really well felted.

Truman Fung & Alex Ross both chose to work with neutrals.

If you look closely you will see that Truman also has a bit of blue green underneath.

Great job guys!

LIGHT AS A FEATHER

HANDFELTED LANTERNS

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

hand dyed wool rovings, children's bouncy balls, lamp sockets, hot soapy water & misc. embellishments

It all started with a bouncy ball from the grocery store 

and lots of hand dyed roving choices.

Round and round the students went splaying out their roving 

to build up 3-4 perpendicular layers round their balls.

Then lots of hot soapy water to felt it down it with.

Those tables got clean, clean ,clean!

Let it dry out and cut an opening to remove ball as senior Hazel Cruz in doing here.

And then figure it out to to turn this hollow felt ball into a lantern.

Senior William Kim was acting as a mannequin for Hazel's jellyfish.

Let me show off a few of them.

I wish I'd have gotten a more focused shot of senior Kristine Luong's sweet bunny lamp.

At least the side view is a bit better.

Notice the areas that are more lit up?

These are areas that had a bit less roving built up which allows the light to shine thru.

Below you can see a part of the light socket that my husband picked up for the kids at Home Depot.

About $8.00 each.

And the man made the cording extra long 

so we were able to reach all the light sockets for Open House.

Thank You Jimmy!

Junior Shreya Sheth went all out creating a fish lantern,

complete with felted eyeballs and fins.

I like that she cut out some areas and replaced it with a sheer fabric.

We can also see some of her beading.

And underneath it all is a wire structure she fashioned so that it would keep it's shape.

Brilliant!

Another class favorite was this one by senior Amber Wu.

She modeled it after a Chinese lantern,

and this one was really as light as a feather.

Super delicate and lovely when lit up.

And this last one was Will's.

He also based his on a Jellyfish and it was spectacular when lite up.