felt ball ornaments

these are some felt ball ornaments that i made a few years ago. they were very easy to make, and turned out pretty much exactly the way i imagined them (which does not always happen!).
they are solid wool balls, made by hand with the finishing step of throwing them in the dryer, which makes them firm up and become very dense with a uniform surface. sadly, i have no dryer here in japan, so i haven't made these for the last few years. after the wool ball is made (and you can use any wool for the core, a cheaper wool or a color you want to get rid of), i used needle felting to apply the motif. which is super super easy--using a felting needle to needlefelt onto a solid felt ball is a very straightforward technique!
i don't have a tutoral for these, but there is a good basic video tutorial that i referred to when i first tried making large felt balls is here, from the crunchy parent on youtube.

felt ornaments with tutorials

here are a few of my handmade felt ornaments from years back, stockings...
and candy canes! the candy canes are an especially easy project for your very first time making felt. they are wrapped around a pipe cleaner and then felted by hand. super fast, great for kids.

tutorials for both of these project are in the archives, stockings here and candy canes here, and they are also linked to over there on the right in the tutorial list!

tuulikki titine and poppytalk 'oil spill response market'

i love textile jewelry like this piece from tuulikki titine. this is one of the many many wonderful things in the poppytalk handmade market, which is currently the "oil spill response market," with each participant donating one item's proceeds to benefit the gulf coast. check it out and support these folks!

wake robin, and the power of paper textiles

velma bolyard is textile artist and bookbinder. she spins paper, along side many other wonderful and creative projects.
i saw her work via an article in handeye magazine, which is in itself an amazing publication, dedicated to the empowering role of craft and the handmade as well as design as development.

in the article, velma explains how one of her works, a handmade book, is being used by a therapist, and how people connect with the book. it's an incredibly touching story about the power of a handmade object. also it makes me cry everytime i read it. velma's paper mill is called wake robin, which is also the name of her blog. good stuff.

march handmade market at chionji

these little guys are made of felt, and are sooo cute!
the same artist needle felted these animals on to fabric items.
they actually sell their works in a combination zakka/cafe/bonsai shop, it sounds awesome, i think i need to check it out.
and i love these pins made from reusing fabric with japanese traditional family crests, or komon.

fair trade felt from satch and sol

satch and sol partners with fair trade artisan cooperatives, including mongolian felt makers to create an absolutely gorgeous collection of handmade felt mittens, slippers, and more. you can see it all in their shop. via soulemama.

my second sashiko sampler, nowaki pattern

this was my second sashiko embroidery project.
again, i used a sampler, which is great because it has the pattern printed on the fabric, in wash-out ink.
these are a few of the available patterns for sashiko samplers for making a small cloth towel. they are all classic sashiko motifs, the one i did is on the right: nowaki, or wind-blown grasses.
another nice thing about the sampler is that it shows the order to stitch the different lines.

sashiko thread is a little thicker than regular embroidery floss. the sashiko needle is fairly long.
for sashiko, you use the needle to load as many stitches as possible, then pull the thread through.
this is the traditional sashiko thimble, it's worn like a ring and has a flat, round dish. i didn't use a thimble at all the first time i tried sashiko. this thimble was fun to wear, and maybe it made the sewing just a little faster, but i think you can do sashiko without a thimble.
in process
this is what it looks like on the back. the one important thing when doing sashiko is to make sure to leave a little extra tread so that the finished work will lay flat.
done!

win bookhou animals from bloesem kids

would you like a chance to win these lovely soft stuffed animals, made by bookhou? for the details and to enter, check out bkids.

renegade brooklyn this weekend

if you're crafty and near new york city, you probably already know that the renegade craft fair is this weekend in mccarren park. if you are somewhere else, check out their website, since they now have shows in 4 cities 5 times during the year!

if you want to check out the vendors who will be there (or find out about some talented designers), the direct link is here. poppytalk also did a lovely preview, part 1 and part 2.

i'll always have a special place in my heart for renegade, as an early inspiration to hand made crafters, and as i have had some great experiences as a vendor at renegade ny and chicago. (although last year's renegade chicago was definitely more of an survival endurance challenge, what with the heaviest rainfall on record. seriously. but even then, people were great!~)

my first renegade (and first craft show!) was brooklyn 2005. thanks to some great pals (anna, who put me up in brooklyn, and katie, who helped staff my table) it was a great experience. i also met the creative geniuses who would go on to become piano nobile.

one of the best things about that weekend (and for those of you who have done craft shows before i am sure you will understand), was having great neighbors. in my case, the lovely jeni from saltlick, and her adorable french bulldog, nardo(?).
good to see that saltlicknyc is still going strong and making cute shirts!

tamar mogendorff

tamar mogendorff is one of the artists i discovered in selvedge, a magazine i mentioned last week.
she made all of these soft designs pictured here, and some are for sale in the selvedge shop as well.

portland recap part 2: craft museum!

i got to see this exhibit that i missed last time. unfortunately the handmade nation screening was completely sold out before we could get tickets, but the crochet-a-thon with mandy was awesome!

mandy greer's new project is called mater matrix mother and medium. it will be installed in seattle's urban forest and will also include a performance by zoe scofield.
here's a photo from the project website. it's all about water, and so the work will incorporate shades of blue fabric and yarn. for the crochet-a-thon, everyone joined in to create some blue crocheted elements that will be incorporated into the final piece. it's a wonderful art creation process, that involves people coming together to create, and maybe to learn a new craft. beginning crochet lends itself especially well to this kind of free form art, as there are no 'mistakes.' i am a complete beginner at crochet, but now i am really curious to try more.

mandy greer 'dare alla luce' at the museum of contemporary craft

i've been a huge fan of mandy greer ever since i saw and was blown away by the silvering path last year. which by the way is on the cover of the new issue of fiber arts.
one of the things i was most excited about seeing in portland was mandy greer's installation at the museum of contemporary craft. entitled 'dare alla luce,' it was originally commissioned for the bellevue art museum last year, but i missed it then, and have been waiting to see the portland installation. i was also really looking forward to my first visit to the museum of contemporary craft, which is an amazing addition to the pacific northwest art and craft scene.

unfortunately, on sunday when i tried to go with a few crafty pals, we found out too late that they have seasonal hours (=closed on sunday as well as monday through may!) boo.

perhaps this is an excuse to make another trip to portland in april, when the museum will be holding a screening of faythe levine's new documentary 'handmade nation' , a panel discussion, and also a crochet-a-long with mandy. yup. that sounds awesome.

baba yaga houses by melissa sue

melissa sue made these wonderful houses inspired by baba yaga, a russian fairy tale i read when i was about 9 or 10 years old. i remember enjoying the story and being fascinated by baba yaga's house. via CRAFT.

these lovely objects are made by melissa sue, and you can buy them in her etsy shop, at http://melissasue.etsy.com.

girls' day in japan

march 3rd is girls' day in japan, celebrated with special food and doll displays. the photo above, with the full display on 7 stairs, is from ping magazine, which also has a great and in depth explanation about the dolls and the culture of the festival.and this bag was made by the super nice and talented seamstress jacqui of mee a bee. and she's giving it away! check out her blog for the details.

happy valentines day

My heart is yours!!!, originally uploaded by hine.

this overly literal cat, from flickr user hine, is one of my favorites from the CRAFT pool tagged for the valentine's craft challenge. so clever.

(updated to add: CRAFT picked this one as a winner too!)

and on a sad note, you've probably heard by now that CRAFT magazine will stop producing their print magazine after the current (#10) issue. thankfully, they will continue to exist online at http://craftzine.com.

CRAFT is dead, long live CRAFT!

needle felted conversation heart tutorial

a perfect easy felting project for valentines day, or modified for an inaugural craft!


materials: wool roving, felting needle, silicone heart ice cube tray (ikea).this is an easy beginning needlefelting project.
start by rolling up a bit of the wool roving in a ball. roll the wool tightly.

place the ball of wool in the ice cube tray.
gently poke the wool with the felting needle. the barbs on the needle lock the wool fibers together. usually needle felting is done over a mat or brush or sponge, and the needle passes all the way though the object. but in this case you can just make sure to stop when you hit the plastic.
the wool will felt in the direction that you stab it from. so poke it from all directions.
just make sure to stab straight in and out, to prevent the needle from breaking.

turn the wool over and continue to work it from both sides and all angles.
it won't be exactly heart shaped right away. wrap more wool around the ball, and continue to stab it.
to create a more defined heart, you can also stab it when it's not in the ice tray.

you can keep adding wool as you like, to get the thickness you want.


to add words, take a little bit of a contrasting color wool, and twist it with your fingers.
hold the twisted fibers where you want to start making letters.
stab through and next to the contrasting color, forming the letters you want to write. you can always add more wool to make larger stronger letters.
if you are having a hard time finding the supplies for this project, i put together a kit of supplies that is available in my etsy shop.