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.

Magpie Market...

Kasia and I will be sharing a table at the Magpie Market Spring Fair, being held here in Edinburgh on Sunday 8th May.  Hooray!

Do come along and say hello if you're in the area!

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!

Pencil cases...

For the last couple of weeks I have been working on a special present of a pencil case.  I wanted it to be a 'wrap' style case with no zip, and to make it from a piece of felted, embroidered and beaded linen, and to use some Japanese fabric for the lining.

When I do projects like these I always start off with a rough sketch of what I hope it will look like, with approximate dimensions - this becomes the 'pattern' that I work from (although I don't actually use pattern pieces, just measurements).  I generally make two of anything so I can iron out any problems with the design in the first attempt.

Here's my rough sketch:

The first pencil case I made was like this:

It has a pouch for storing pencils and pens...

(the black and cream lining fabric that you can just about see is more from my vintage kimono stash that I got from Kyoto)

...and then rolls up like this.  It's held closed with an 8-tama kumihimo braid.

 Here's a closeup of the front felted area:

Fortunately the pattern worked out ok, which meant I could also make up the second pencil case - this time in my favourite autumnal shades:

 the inside has red kimono fabric:
(I used felt for the lining of the pouch to provide some extra protection for the contents)

The Autumnal pencil case has been given as part of a special present, but I am keeping the blue prototype for myself - and I'm looking forward to using it on our next sketching trip!