The Thicket

Beat the budget blues by entering blog giveaways to win some great holiday gifts (and maybe something for yourself!).

The Indie Fixx Autumn Cornucopia Giveaway is the BEST. Yes, Jen at IF does a wonderful monthly giveaway comprised of goods from many well known indie artisans but this one is really special. There are two prize packages loaded with truly terrific handmade lovelies.  To enter, simply leave a comment on the contest page with a link to this blog post.

Also, be sure to check Blog Giveaways regularly for a list of… well… blog giveaways to enter. ;)

So, I’m casually surfing the web.  Really surfing… That one-thing-leads-to-another kind of surfing.  I go from Cicada Daydream to Flickr where, in her photostream, Geninne mentions a site called Not Martha where she learned to make magnets from flattened glass marbles and her own pretty images.  The tutorial is really nice and written in plain language and a little humor - by a REAL human!  Definitely not Martha.

While you will find instructions for making everything from an organic cotton scarf to bath bombs, I was most intrigued by the pies baked in tiny jars.   If you don’t have tiny jars on hand, I’m sure you could use anything oven-proof that’s a similar size.  I can’t wait to try them, perhaps with a mix of berries… Yummy!

I know I’ve been remiss in posting lately.  The blog seems to get neglected before anything else!  This, unfortunately, is a post and run.

Tinyshinystudio sent me a message via Etsy informing me that both of our shops were mentioned by name in Tucson Weekly’s “Best of Tucson” staff picks. You can read the web version HERE.  (You’ll have to click “Best Handmade Stuff” in the left sidebar because the website uses frames. ) This was a complete surprise and I forgive them 100% for saying my things are “made of felt”. Technically, they are but that makes it sound like they’re made from craft felt like you used in kindergarten.

Of course, this isn’t the best timing for me to put my shop on vacation mode but this Saturday I’m off to Florida with my sweetheart.  This will be the first time in four years we’ve both been off work at the same time.  Usually, one of us visits the other and the other one doesn’t take time off so we can visit more often.  We’re meeting in Orlando where his brother and sis-in-law to be have rented a house for a couple of weeks.   I’m getting a little giddy.

I snagged an Etsy treasury-west this afternoon and put together this pretty collection of fiber arts items.  It’s amazing to me the variety of things we can make from fiber.

It expires Sunday at 3pm EST but here’s the link: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=25541  Visit quick! ;)   Expired but still pretty!

If you are planning to take up needle felting, please read these important safety tips. Needle felting is not for the faint of heart or the careless. Ok, I’m a little careless… Do as I say, not as I do!

• Keep needles away from young children. Obviously… Sharp objects and little people don’t mix.

• Always be watchful of your fingers. The needles are very sharp and slightly brittle. A couple of weeks after I got my first multi-needle tool, I landed myself in the ER with a piece of needle embedded in my thumb. You can see the x-rays here. I’m not trying to scare you, just don’t watch CSI while enthusiastically poking away at something very small with a 12=needle tool. Really… I mean it.

• Keep some rubbing alcohol handy. Even if you are being careful, odds are you will still give yourself the occasional non-ER-type poke. You may even want to clean the needle before you start. Then, if you poke yourself, just say a bad word or two, clean your finger and bravely continue felting.

• Another felter I know cautions her students: Don’t share needles. This is probably good advice, especially if you felt with strangers.

• Always place your needle in the foam block when you stop felting. Make it a habit! The last thing you want to do is misplace a needle only to locate it later with your right buttock. No, I have no personal experience with this but it doesn’t take much imagination.

• Be sure to bring the needle out of the felt AT THE SAME ANGLE it entered. Otherwise, you risk breaking your needle. It happens. I don’t break them often, but it still happens occasionally. If you do break a needle, find the broken piece and dispose of it. This is also something you don’t want to find later with the aforementioned right buttock.

General Felting Tips:

• Poke into but not through the wool. The goal is to compress the fibers, not push them out the other side.

• While shaping, don’t spend too much time poking one place. Instead, try to poke evenly all over. Once you’re happy with the general shape, concentrate on areas that should be indented. Otherwise, you may end up with a lopsided item.

• When working on foam, be sure to pull the piece up every few pokes or you may attach it so well that you take a chunk out of your foam and never ever, ever, EVER get it all out of your felting. Or so I’m told.

• If you decide you love felting, try lots of different types of wool and sizes of needle. You’ll be amazed at the differences. I’m a fan of merino wool and the medium star (38 gauge) needle.

• If your piece is overly fuzzy, you can trim the extreme flyaways off with scissors or try needling across the surface.
  

I would love to see your attempts at needle felting.  If you have photos, please post a link in the comments.