Beads! (aka "More Fun With Fabric Scraps")

Recently, a friend, who is also an all-things-fiber fanatic, came over and showed me a few things to do with those eeny weeny fabric scraps I can't part with.  Among her many clever ideas were how to make fabric beads.  Fast-forward to last week when I was making a prototype of my new Pocket Purse design (pattern is now in my Etsy shop) and I started fooling around with this idea.  Wanna have some fun?  It is so dang easy, I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it myself.  Here are the easy squeezy steps:

First, lay a piece of fabric, ribbon, whatever, vertically....

Next, lay lots of little bits horizontally...

Place a coffee stirrer-type straw at the bottom...

And start rolling.

Put a dab of glue at the end just before rolling it all up.

Et Voila!

For one of the beads in the top photo, I wrapped wire around it and spaced glass beads every so often. 

Soooo fun! 

(Also see "Fabric Leftovers" by D'Arcy-Jean Milne for more ideas.)

Felting is not for wimps!

This week is officially "Felting Week" for me. I finally figured out that, although I can multitask, I cannot multi-focus. So I set all fabric and sewing aside and set about learning a new technique with fiber. "Not too exciting", you say? Oh, I beg to differ! It's all a matter of perspective.
And lest you think this looks pretty easy to do, let me just say this was one of the tougher workouts I've had in a very long time. Hello Hamstrings! Yep, I used my hands, my arms, my back, AND my feet and legs to beat this jelly roll into submission. But I do like the results :).

How Nice!

What a nice way to start my day: a note from Emma letting me know that she has featured me on her blog, http://noogalcreations.blogspot.com/. Please check her Etsy shop out, too - what fun feathery and oragami-inspired accessories she's made...

Heeeeere's Kate!

That's Kate on the right. She is one of the first creative friends I made after moving near Chapel Hill. At the time, she was dying silk using a shibori technique. Wow, what beautiful silks she created! And, with those beautiful silks, she created beautiful scarves and garments. Then hand, wrist and arm injuries put the ol' kabosh on that artistic work. Below is just one example of a detail of her pieced scarves. She still has a few left at http://www.ktracton.etsy.com/.

I think it was while she was trying to give her hands a rest that she started beading. And she's jumped into that with both feet (well, actually, hands :)). Thank goodness this artistic endeavor doesn't seem to hurt her hands (or her feet!). Below are some of her more recent creations. A simple, but beautiful, necklace...

Or, a not so simple, and gorgeous necklace...

I love the charms on these earrings...

A bracelet sure to attract attention, this is loaded with color and interesting beads and so prettily done. Although I wish Kate never suffered the injuries she did, there is a silver lining in it for us all :). And if you ever want to help Kate at one of her shows, she lets you wear one of her creations. As she would say, "Sweet"! Check out her blog, http://www.shiborigirl.blogspot.com/ for more of her creations including those in her kitchen!

Meet Carol Cypher: Beader and Felter Extraordinaire!

Last week, my husband and I were in Brooklyn visiting my step-daughter and son-in-law (very fun trip :) ). We went to the Cooper-Hewitt museum to see their "Fashioning Felt" exhibit. (IYIYI - more on that in a future post.) While in the exhibit, I met Carol Cypher (left). Her hair had been..., well... felted! She had strawberry blonde dreadlocks that were...well...beaded!! How fun is that?! We started talking and I couldn't help noticing her wonderful necklace. It had big round 'beads' made out of colorful felted fibers mixed with equally colorful and textured glass beads. Oh, and she had felted a flower pin full of felted petals of beautifully blended colors. She mentioned that she does workshops both on beading and felting as well as being the author of books. But it wasn't until I got home and really looked at her card that I realized she is the author of a book I had requested (and got!) for Christmas, "How We Felt". It's a terrific book, very inspirational as well as instructional.

If you are interested in her books or workshops, visit her at http://www.carolcypher.com/ .