Saturday, November 04, 2006

Experimental Felting & Lampshade

Yesterday I did a little playing & some experimenting in the studio. I also just now found out, that in using Beta blogger I can post more than 7 pictures in one blog! I have 8 here. The 1st is just a few fabric beads I made, in prep for part of my lecture & demo next weekend at the Anchorage Museum.
The 2nd is a piece of cheese cloth right after I painted it with fabric paint.

Then I layered on bits of silk rovings & a little bit of Angelina Copper Flash (not heat bondable type). I've never done regular felting, & don't know if this is even how it's supposed to be done, but I was experimenting, & this is what I did.
I used some Orvis soap in a little warm water, drizzled it over the whole mess, rolled it up in a plastic bag, then kneaded & rolled it for about 15 minutes.
It was something of a matty mess when I finished, but I liked the texture & color. Note I had to repaint some of the cheese cloth, because I hadn't waited for the paint to dry, & it washed out!

I dried it out, formed it over some copper mesh, & stitched it around the edge on my sewing machine to keep it on the metal. Made a couple of little beads from some of my painted & burned dryer sheet, & stuck them in between the fibers.



& turned it into a lampshade for my little Fenton glass lamp, whose glass shade was broken in our last move!
The little bowl, next to the lamp is one of my threadplay bowls that I made a while ago.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a cool lampshade! I'm going to try this, thanks!!
Dianne

Anonymous said...

Hey Deb,....just love reading your blog.
So Hope is sitting here and oohing and ahhing your lampshades....she wants a lesson! :):):):):):):):)

I have sooo many ideas for plates using your snowflake pattern...I need your help!!!!

Christi is done fondling the fabric...let us know when you want us to meet....in the meantime...can i get a lesson in snowflake folding? I sure sound needy don't I??? Wish I hadn't left the cat one there. Arghhhh.

See ya soon.

Love,

Mindy

Anonymous said...

Wow great idea!

Françoise said...

Lovely!
I like the felted silk rovings on the cheesecloth. I'm not sure your method is very traditional... but I know I'm going to give it a try!

Leanne Hurren said...

Gorgeous lampshade - I will print this out and keep it in my pile of 'things to try!' Would love a closer picture of the beads as well

Michelle Auer said...

It looks like an ice cream scoop!

Terri Stegmiller said...

What a lovely lampshade. Great idea and thanks for the tutorial.

laura west kong said...

Really cute lampshade! It looks great. The beads look fun too.