Added Some New Work to the Shop

Knit Felted Bags - Student Work - with Handspun, Hand Dyed Yarns

Yeap, all that above went into the making of these gorgeous bags.  They were made by my Advanced 3rd year 3-d girls, Nandi Best (above) and Kelsea Lee (below).  This was actually their second assignment of the year, and a whole heck of a lot went into the production.

The girls started off by making their own hand spindles in wood (see Drop Spindles on the right).  Then they dyed their wool roving with food colors, and spun them on their drop spindles as well as on my spinning wheels I keep in the classroom.  They picked out some complimentary wool yarns to go with their handspuns and then designed and knit their bags in the round.

They were also required to come up with handles as well as embellishments.  Then at the very end to felt their purses at home in their washing machines.  It was totally up to them to decide how felted they wanted their bag to be.  Nandi felted hers way more then Kelsea did, so the yarns have a completely different feel and look to them.  Because Nandi felted hers so much more she doesn't need to line hers, but Kelsea does, or else small items will slip thru.

Both pieces were amazing with a lot of effort put into them.  Sorry you guys that it took me so dang long to get them posted.

Hand Knit/Hand Felted Bags - Student Work

Here are my girls, spinning their hearts out on my spinning wheels. They are my 3rd year Advanced 3-d art students, and they just made these gorgeous bags from scratch (see below).

So much work was involved in the process, they had to hand dye wool roving and then spin it into yarn on the spinning wheels, then learn to knit on circular needles and plan out their bag design, complete with handles. They were required to stripe their hand spun yarns with some wool felting yarn from Brown Sheep. Handle treatments were up to them, store bought or handmade. Plus they had to add a special handmade accent. Then throw the whole thing into the washing machine for the felting process. They were allowed to control the felting, as much or as little as they preferred. Senior Angeline Tran did the beauty above.

Senior Olivia Hill did this glorious orange bag with brownish green hand spuns above, and senior Breeana Jhong did the breathtaking bag below.

Check out her entrelac design she knit into bag with her colorful hand spuns. And below, check out the tedious seed and bugle beading she incorporated. And then how cute is the sweet little felt ball she made to attach to the zipper of her lining. as you can see, all the girls came up with beautiful pieces.

I'm so proud of you 3 for learning to spin on the wheel. I know it was hard but all of you hung in there and conquered it! For EXTRA CREDIT: On a brown piece of paper, cut into the shape of a bag, write the name of student you feel designed the coolest bag from the 3 above. On the other side of the paper put your name and period. Hand to me when you walk in door tomorrow :)

Hand Felted Bags with Lining - Student Art

My 2nd year 3-D art students just recently finished up these gorgeous felt bags. As always they had to jump through several hoops in the creative process. First of all, they had to make their own felt from raw, hand dyed wool rovings (see Joanna Gleason on side bar for rovings). Then they were required to do some needle felted designs as well as sew on some decorative beads. The most tedious part of the bag was creating and invisible stitching in the inner lining. They had to make their own patterns for everything. These kids possess amazing critical thinking skills to be able to pull the lining off! And lastly they had to put some kind of a closure on the bag so it would stay closed. The bags above belong to from top to bottom, left to right: junior Angeline Tran, senior Christie Connors, senior Alma Gudino, senior Trisha Shah, Alma on the next two, and junior Olivia Hill. Several of these girls I have been working with since they were 7th graders.

The piece above is Trisha's and you can see her needle felted designs as well as her decorative seed beads. And what a great button she found for the closure. Below is her felt right after she had finished making the foundation piece.

Olivia's foundation was my personal favorite. Love the colors and and the movement within the design. And below is a close up of one of Alma's 2 extra credits bags that she was able to make from her one foundation piece. Plus she needle felted the flower and crocheted her strap. Am I a lucky woman to work with these amazing children or what? :)

Handmade Felt LIned Bags - Student Art

So excited to share these gorgeous bags off. They were made completely from scratch by my 2nd year 3-D art students. The students began by making their own felt from handdyed rovings from Joanna Gleason's sheep farm in Lyons, Colorado (http://www.gfwsheep.com/) Then they embellished them with needlefelting, beads, pearle cottons, free motion machine stitching, knit handles, gem stones and buttons. Then each designed their own pattern for their bags and learned the art of lining a bag (yuck!) and finally sewed on a closure. The results are spectacular. So much handwork involved but totally worth it. From top to bottom: senior Caroline Ma, sophmore Breeana Johng, and then from top to bottom, left to right: senior Julie Kim, 8th grader Jhonna Coronel, junior Audrey Pulido, and senior Joanna Han. Way to go ladies!

Hand Felted Bags

A little better visual of the two demo bags. The handmade beads on the bag on the right were a gift from Holland, Michigan mixed media artist Kelli Perkins (http://www.kelliperkins.blogspot.com/) after purchasing two of her art quilts. I sure lucked out. The remainder are going onto my demo. bag that I'm currently working on.

Felt Bags -Student/Teacher Work

These felt bags are examples of the assignment that my 2nd year 3-D art students are working on right now. The one on the left was made by senior Hannah Chung when I had her in the 9th grade, and the two on the right were made by me as demo. pieces. A close up will be in the next post. The students made their felt from scratch, from hand dyed wool rovings that came from Joanna Gleason's flock of Corriedale and Bond sheep in Lyons, Colorado (http://www.gfwsheep.com/) Then they needle felted additional design elements on top and embellished with beads. They were also required to line the insides with a fabric that would flow visually with the outside colors. And lastly they had to make a closure. These are very functional bags.