Sapphire Hat

Well, I am gradually finding my way around and ....Joei...I have attached the "Followers" gadget you suggested ...thanks.

I must confess the profile image is a "wee" bit younger than I really am. One day I'll find an image where I am in front of the camera lens instead of behind taking all the shots. But still it is me......


I have received an email from a very concerned friend letting me know that my images are vanishing. Yep! there seems to be about 4 missing...including the first image of the Sapphire hat.  I searched the Blogger and Google forums and it appears that this is common.  Not to worry I'll be uploading most of these wayward images when answering past questions from friends ......about how each was made and what I would do differently next time. 

I made the Sapphire hat a couple of years ago and sold it last year to fellow felter ....Georgie from Brisbane...who wore it to her Melbourne Cup lunch last year.  She then passed it on to her friend who... quote "wears it everywhere".  It was fun to make and I learnt a lot from the process. 

At the time that I made this I had not been to any workshops (still haven't) or had any felting books, so much was trial and error ....adapting the basic techniques picked up at our local Spinners and Weavers group.

 I started with 2 fine layers of  purple merino tops for the base then placed small round pieces of bubble wrap at various points along the felt strip.  The top layers of felt were placed at an angles to create a scalloped effect when felted...(as felt shrinks the way it is laid).  I used different tones ...some roughly blended by hand ...some plain.

Slits were cut at an angle to complement the scallop effect while the felt was wet...then rubbed to open up the lace.  Petals were extended by attaching the unfelted end to the petal flaps.

What I would do differently

When using this process in the future I would reinforce the the area under the small bubble wrap resist e.g merino tops, a scrap of felt or material for a nuno effect...as it was very thin.  The second change would be to use a firmer resist like lino to avoid the risk of cutting in the wrong place.  In the left image you will see how uneven and fragile the flowers were when opened.  Third, I would use another angled layer of wool before the final decorative layer to strengthen the petals when opened.   The image below shows some flowers that opened up a little better than the one above.

The work I do now is much more stable and I  have some wonderful books that allow my imagination fly.

...Happy felting