Tuesday, October 24, 2006

New Books (Rewritten)

Hopefully I can remember and recreate what was originally here before Blogger ate it.

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I received two new books in the post recently.

The first one is the eagerly awaited Complete Feltmaking by Gillian Harris which I bought with an Amazon voucher. Plus they knocked off the postage costs as I've had to wait over 6 weeks for it. Almost a book for free.....

Contents:

1. Introduction; History of Felt, Properties of Wool Fleece, Equipment.
2. Simple Flat Felt; Flower hair tie, Greeting Card, Table Runner, Sheep Wallhanging, Heart-shaped Rug.
3. 3d Shapes; Felt Bead Necklace, Handbag (pictured on the cover), Baby Booties, Tea Cosy, Cloche Hat.
4. Knitted Felting; Flower Corsage, Handbag, Spiral Patterned Cushion, Patchwork Scarf, Cot Blanket.
5. Needle Felting; Tooth Fairy Cushion, Heart Pincusion, Photo Album Cover, Cat Toy, Fish Mobile.
6. Advanced techniques: Cobweb Scarf, Nuno Shawl, Adult Slippers, Embellished Bowl, Poppy Wallhanging.
7. Templates, Glossary, Resources & Stockists.

At first glance, not all of the projects could be tackled by a novice feltmaker. The flat felt projects have a lot of step-by-step pictures, but the more progressive projects are not as well illustrated so you'd have to know what you were trying to achieve.

My favourite Projects to try are a variation on the Spotty Bag and the Tea Cosy (Christmas Presents).

Gillian has used Colinette Skye for the Baby Blanket Project in the 'Jamboree' and 'Fire' colourways. This yarn is an Aran-weight and a dream to felt - I really recommend it.

All in all a great book to add to your Feltmaking Library.

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The second book received is a copy of Wild Color by Jenny Dean which is currently out of print.


I was browsing on eBay and spotted it.

I read this extensively on the Guild's Dyeing Day back in the Summer while my skeins were simmering away. It shows how you can make 25 shades from just one dye bath with the use of different mordants. A really good reference book for natural dyes, a lot of which you can find in your garden. We had excellent results with annoying old bindweed!

1 comment:

Artis-Anne said...

How weird is this !! I have today received from Amazon the very same felting book plus one called Simply Felt and a book called Colour in Spinning. Think we are both going to be busy :)