Zwierzyna...

My friend Kasia and I just opened up an Etsy shop!

We bring you... 'Zwierzyna' - where we will sell jewellery and perhaps pieces of artwork that we have collaborated on together, made from Kasia's illustrations and my fibre-y embellishments.

The first items to go into the shop are three brooches that we made a little while ago, featuring...

a dapper gentleman cat:

a proud fish-catcher:

and a playful fattycat:

we're looking forward to developing more brooches and other ideas!

Jewellery...

Since coming back from Japan I've been having a long, hard think about my jewellery making and my Etsy shop.

  At the moment particularly I have so little time, but I'm also focussing more on other projects.  Also, I've been trying to think more about what is really 'me', and to make pieces which more truly reflect that.

So, I've made the decision to slowly streamline my jewellery making.  At the moment and for the foreseeable future, the only pieces I will work on will be more 'wooden bezel' brooches.  All other items in my shop will not be renewed when their listings expire.

This feels like the right decision, and in celebration, yesterday I finished two new pieces:

Profond

Peregrine

I'm still in love with these beautifully smooth wooden settings :)

More brooches...

Today I finished the rest of the wooden bezel brooches - here are Topaz, Lavandel, Natsu, Nimbus, Baya, Melocoton and Agua.

I still can't get enough of these wooden bezels: I love the way the beautifully smooth wood contrasts with the texture of the felted pieces.

Brooches...

I'm working on some more brooches using the beautiful wooden bezels made by brightcolorart.  Hoping to have them all ready in time for the Magpie Market!

Here are the first few I've just finished: 

Moonshine, Islet, Guava, Pomme and Flamenco.

Affodell...

Today I finished the second of my two narcissus brooch experiments - I wanted to explore colour, petal/sepal shape and corona size, so here is an alternative to Jonquil: Affodell...

 Giving shape to the edges of the corona:

The felt for Affodell is made from silk throwsters waste, wool roving, silk lapps, wool locks, bamboo fibre, silk fabric and wool nepps, with glass beads, freshwater pearls and seed, colonial knot, bullion knot, detached chain and detached fly hand embroidery stitches.

Here they are together - my ode to spring!

Jonquil...

I managed to finish this today.

'Jonquil'

Another attempt at a more 3D beaded and embroidered felt brooch, this time inspired by the beautiful narcissi and daffodils that are blooming all over Edinburgh at the moment.

Here are my preliminary notes - I found out that 3 of what I thought of were petals are actually sepals!  The corona posed a particular challenge.

The felt is made from wool roving, silk velvet, cotton scrim, organza, soy silk, bamboo fibre, silk noil and silk tops, embellished with glass beads and colonial knot, seed, bullion knot, detached fly, detached chain and Algerian eye stitches.

Work in progress...

Trying to get this finished before all of the inspiration finishes flowering!

Auction for the Japan quake appeal

I just wanted to let you know that my sister will be running a series of auctions/raffles over the next wee while, with all proceeds going to the Japan quake appeal.  First up is my 'Sakura' brooch that I posted about here a few days ago.

You can find the auction, more details, and instructions on how to participate in the bidding for a chance to win the brooch here, at my sister's blog.  

Sakura...

I'm really ready for proper Spring now.  We woke up to snow this morning!  That just doesn't seem right.

The crocuses and snowdrops are out here at least, but I'm longing for narcissi... and cherry blossom!

This is a piece that has been in progress for some time.  She's my first experiment in slightly more 3D work (she's not hugely 3D but I needed to start somewhere).

'Sakura'

Sakura is made from 5 petals made from beaded and embroidered felt:

After making each petal, I gave them a little bit of extra shape:

and then joined them all together...

...into a brooch!

Phew...!

Finished! (and more besides)...

These amazing wooden settings are by brightcolorart on Etsy - I love them!

hat pins

...and now all packed and ready for tomorrow!

Colour, shapes... and a giveaway!

Over the last couple of days I have been revelling in the colour of beautiful new supplies - silk hankies from Sassalynne, Tussah silk roving from SilkAndShine, handdyed firestar from FeltStudioUK, and the most amazing 'wooly crumbs' from The Wool Peddler:

so much inspiration!

I'm also still trying to come up with new shape ideas for brooches and necklaces...  so I thought I would open it up to you!  Leave a comment on this post with your suggestions for new shapes for me to try - if I end up using any of your shape ideas, in return you get to pick an item of your choice from my Etsy shop that I will send to you as a thank you! 

I seem to prefer more abstract or organic shapes, and am limited to somewhat simpler forms (it's not possible to preserve detail in very complex shapes). Here are some shapes I have already tried, to get you going:

Thank you!

Dreamcloud...

My first new brooch of 2011 - and another experiment and attempt at working with colours I don't usually favour - this time, pink and lilac.

I had a brainstorming session trying to come up with new shapes for brooches and necklaces, and this shape was one I decided to try to see how it turned out.  While I was sewing around her edges I remembered about some labradorite droplets that had been languishing in my beady stash, and the idea developed from there.

'Dreamcloud'

Felted silk hankie fibre, cotton scrim, chiffon, organza, tencel nepps and silk throwsters waste, embellished with tiny 2mm sequins, glass beads and seed, colonial knot, detached fly and detached chain stitches.  The labradorite drops hang from assorted sterling silver chain.

I love labradorite.  It's my favourite mineral!

Etsy connections...

You've got to love Etsy. Really. And I'm not just talking about for the way it satifies my earring and ceramic habits.  Every so often it lets you make a great connection or forge an unexpected link with someone on the other side of the world - case in point:

This is a brooch called 'Bosket'.  I made her in October, and she ended up all the way over the Atlantic in Georgia, USA - which  is pretty amazing to begin with - and then I found out it had been bought to go with a fabulous handknitted bag that the buyer had made - check it out here. I never could have hoped or imagined that's how and where Bosket would end up - but I love it :D  

Unexpected...

I tend to work in a rather intuitive way (maybe that's just a nice way of saying completely unplanned and disorganised!) - I felt first with my embellisher in a sort of spontaneous mess, and then I bead and embroider along contours whispered to me by the felt.  I rarely, if ever, plan layout in advance, and although I usually have a rough idea of the finished overall shape even that sometimes takes me by surprise...

Two cases in point, finished today:

'Cephalopod' - somehow became reminiscent of an octopus!

'Meteor' - some sort of pomegranate asteroid fallen to earth?

Leaves...

It definitely feels like winter is well on her way here - so I've been trying to eke out the last drop of autumn inspiration before all the leaves are gone... .

An autumnal gust of wind must have swept through my flat to leave these on my desk!

New brooches - Ginkgo, Maple and Holly:

Brooch prototypes....

So here is the result of one of my recent projects: an experimental fibre brooch - this one is made from the raw materials in the first photo in my previous post.

My aim with these brooches was to explore making something less 'tidy' and more freestyle.  Fibres feel so good to touch I quite like having the edges left raw and fraying, and to be able to watch them wear over time.  I made the brooch by layering cotton fabric, fibres (silk hankie fibre and cotton nepps), cotton scrim and mixed threads. I held them together with 'magic film' and then machine embroidered over the top to trap them in place.

Here are some others that I made:

They all measure about 6cm x 6cm ish.

I'm not totally sure what I think about them, to be honest.  I like being able to feel the raw edges of the fibres but I'm so used to having neat edges, having a more freestyle look like this takes a bit of getting used to!  Maybe the idea is good but I need to develop it a bit.  I made more prototypes than this, but the 'magic film' malfunctioned a bit and they had to be abandoned (the magic film gets trapped by the machine embroidery and then you iron the piece, which is meant to make the film evaporate - but if you don't do it right it just goes sticky and that is disastrous!) - so before I try to develop the idea further I think I'll try an alternative - maybe Solvy.

Work still progresses on the other project - photos to follow soon!

Brooches in progress...

This weekend I'm working on some new Paisley-shaped brooches.  I particularly enjoy these as they're a bit bigger than my rings or necklaces so I have a larger area of felt to play with.  Again their colours have been inspired by my new supply of felt hankie fibre - and I'm trying to be a bit more adventurous with my bead colour choice, mixing colours together rather than sticking to shade variations of one colour.

This brooch will be called 'Chartreuse' - I'm really loving these delicate spring green shades at the moment:

I generally play around with bead placing for a while before I make the final decision (although sometimes it evolves as I go along).  It's pretty much impossible to keep the un-sewn-on beads on the felt as I sew, so these wee beauties come in very useful:

These are some of a set of tiny wee ceramic dishes made for me by Karen of hodgepodgearts - they are handy for so many crafty purposes, but I particularly use them for holding my beads as I work.  They are works of art in themselves (Karen made me a beautiful set of 8, each a different size and colour) and I just love to use them.

I've also been working on 'Iroiro' this weekend:

Still loving the rainbow colour combination, and I can't resist adding in a touch of gold with the beads.

I generally seem to do the beading first before the embroidery - I feel somehow that the beads give structure in a way that embroidery doesn't, so I tend to fit the embroidery stitches in around the felt textures and beads.  Embroidery for Iroiro and Chartreuse will hopefully be happening this evening!

End of summer giveaway~!

Well here in Edinburgh it's certainly feeling like summer might be over and autumn is waiting in the wings raring to go - the sun has lost the height of her warmth, the leaves are looking tired and beginning to turn, and the light has that distant, hazy feel... .

Now, autumn is my favourite season, so I'm more than ready for it - but seeing as we did actually have a bit of summer this year, and that it inspired me to experiment with more summery colours in my work, I thought I would celebrate with my first ever blog giveaway!

Awaiting her new home is 'Mitheithel':

Mitheithel is a brooch, made from hand-dyed threads, silk filament, merino roving and cotton nepps, in shades of lilac, buddleia, clematis and forget-me-not, with summer-sea aquamarine a touch of gold. I felted these, with my embellisher, onto wisteria-coloured hand-dyed cotton fabric, set on black felt baize and edged with turquoise whip-stitch.

She measures almost 4.5cm not-quite-square, and has a gold metal brooch finding with safety catch.

If you would like to enter the giveaway, just leave me a comment on this post, and I will choose the winner at random in a week's time (so remember to log in first before commenting so I can see who you are!).

Good luck~!

Current projects...

I've been quite busy over the last few weeks visiting friends all over the place, and finishing my biggest ever project (see my next post!) so I haven't had much time for craftiness. Here's what I've been fitting in in spare moments...

Another Paisley-shaped brooch in the making

Some linocutting (now turned into fabric prints - thanks Thomas!)

Some wee button-y cards to send as little extras with Etsy orders

I've also been given a really interesting idea by one of my Etsy customers (thanks Rosemary!) which I'm looking forward to exploring... watch this space!

Peardrop...

Here's another Paisley brooch prototype - 'Peardrop' :

This was my first time felting with a 'silk hanky' - beautifully hand-dyed by fibrespace supplies. I added some more silk fibres and wool nepps, before embellishing with glass and metal beads, and hand embroidery.

A close-up of the whip-stitched edge:

And this time I tried having black felt on the back - feels much better this way!