Sunday, March 1, 2015

Spring Gathering of Artisans

One-of-a kind Zazzy Peacock Felted
and Beaded Swirl Bracelet by Jill Newman
After this bitterly cold winter, what better way to celebrate the vernal equinox and welcome the coming of spring than by shopping for bright new accessories for you and your home! On the very first day of spring, a "Spring Gathering of Artisans" will showcase the work of seven local artists, including myself.  The show will be held at a private home in Glen Echo, Maryland by invitation only on Saturday, March 21 from 10 am to 4 pm, with a preview showing on Friday, March 20 from 7 to 9:30 pm.  

This show is a great opportunity to find something truly unique to brighten your home or your wardrobe.  Bring a friend (but not the kids, please) and enjoy a glass of wine, hors d'oeuvres, and a relaxed atmosphere while you shop for unique hand-crafted items.   Here are some brief descriptions and photos of what my wonderful fellow artists and I will be offering at the show.

Vibrant Handmade Ugandan Quilt from Amy Gautam



Amy Gautam is offering unique handmade Ugandan quilts.  While living in Uganda several years ago, she designed the quilts, purchased local African textiles, and hired local women to do the sewing.  Of the 120 quilts created from this collaboration, only 8 remain.  Each is one-of-a-kind and features colorful batik fabrics.  Amy will also be offering kitenges -- African cloths with Swahili sayings printed on them.


A collection of Beverly Roger's hand-painted pillows





Beverly Rogers paints beautiful original abstract artwork on canvas, pillows, placemats, and unique totes.  Beverly's lively art and home decor focus on color, balance, and connection.  Beverly can be reached at brogersb4designs@gmail.com.

Debi Sacks creates colorful abstract oil paintings on canvas as well as  mixed media collage.  Her bold, expressive use of color captures abstractions of nature and conveys deeper meaning.  You can see some of Debi's work on the Marin-Price Galleries website.  


More adorable Tutu Bags handmade by Nancy Marshall


Nancy Marshall creates unique handmade gifts including silk and beaded purses, personalized ballet tutu bags and aprons, children's hair ribbons and accessories, super hero capes, and chalk placemats.  Visit her Etsy shop, Fancy by Nancy, to see more.

Betty Farrell -- Unique jewelry made from semi-precious beads and crystals.

Unique Lamp from Crystal Luxe Lighting





Aldeane Josephs designs elegant custom-made lamps from Crystal Luxe Lighting -- each made from a one-of-a-kind exotic crystal or semi-precious stone set on an acrylic base with nickel hardware and a custom silk shade. Crystal Luxe Lighting lamps were featured in the 2014 D.C. Design House. See more of these sophisticated lamps in the Crystal Luxe Etsy shop.

Jill Newman -- Yes, that's me!  I make hand-felted and beaded jewelry and accessories.  My wearable art pieces are all one-of-a-kind and incredibly comfortable. And my vibrant color palettes are perfect for Spring!  I was recently juried in as a member of the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center.  A selection of my work will be available there, hopefully beginning with their April show.  In the meantime, you can see some of my work on my website at Zazzy Peacock Studios.  

So, as you can see, there will be something for everyone at this Spring Gathering of Artisans.  If you receive an invitation to this special event, please go enjoy the show -- Friday, March 20 from 7 to 9:30 pm and Saturday, March 21 from 10 am to 4 pm.  Hope to see you there!
"Crop Geometry," oil on canvas by Debi Sacks

Zazzy Peacock hand-felted and beaded swirl bracelet and ring


Close-up of one of Nancy Marshall's handmade ballet tutu bags

Monday, February 23, 2015

Fun with My First Felt Hat

Me in my Funky Felted Hat
Just about the only good thing about this frigidly cold winter has been that I get to wear the very warm and very funky hat that I made for myself last fall.  I had been wanting to wet felt a hat for myself for a long time, but I wasn't sure how to go about it.  After reading a couple of books, lots of blogs and watching several online tutorials, I came up with a way that worked for me.  To make a long story short, I needle felted on a rudimentary homemade foam hat form, then wet felted on a ball.  Then, I did my Zazzy Peacock thing and needle-felted a fun piece to decorate my new hat -- including a peacock motif, swirls, leopard print, and all the colors in my winter wardrobe.  I love it!

My homemade foam hat form

Here's how it happened:  First I tried to go straight to wet felting on a ball, but that didn't exactly work out.  Using that method, you're supposed to lay the wool roving out on a ball and then somehow magically stretch pantyhose over all that loose wool without messing it up.  Then, voila, you wet felt on the ball.  But as you've probably surmised by now, I completely messed up the wool trying to get the pantyhose on.  Granted, the tutorials warn that it's a two person job and to go very slowly.  I was just one impatient person, and it was a no-go for me.
Layers of wool laid vertically on foam hat form












Then I read about needle-felting on a hat form.  I knew I wanted to wet felt the hat, but since  I prefer needle-felting, I thought I could at least do the pre-felting with a needle and then wet felt once the wool was holding together.  

You can buy hat forms, but that gets very expensive.  Most suggestions for making your own foam hat form involved using spray insulation foam, which is economical, but it sounded complicated and messy.  So I decided to try to carve a form from a block of foam.  For me, this was an inexpensive option because I happened to have two 16" foam blocks from two cube seats that my kids had outgrown.  I used my electric carving knife (yes, the one we use to carve the turkey) to do the job.  The form is rudimentary, and there were little bits of foam just about everywhere, but it worked!  (If you're making your own, remember to size up to allow for lots of shrinkage during the wet felting process.)

Horizontal layer of wool fibers
I laid out the first layer of wool vertically, then horizontally, then vertically, etc., lightly needle-felting the wool in place between each layer.  Most tutorials recommend three layers, but I somehow ended up doing four or five, which is why my hat is extra thick and warm and cozy.  To create the rolled edge, I created a rope of wool (using needle and wet felting); then after laying down the last vertical layer of wool, I turned the hat inside out, and folded the loose ends of wool over the rope along the bottom edge of the hat; then I needle felted it all together.




Ball secured to canister with duct tape

Once I was confident that the wool was holding together and that the layers were even throughout, I transferred the pre-felted hat to a ball for wet felting.  With the ball secured to a canister, I rubbed the wool with hot soapy (using olive oil soap) water for a while.  When it seemed strong enough, I took the hat off the ball and threw it on my counters for a while.  Wow, that really got it firmly felted and fast! I then did some final shaping directly on my head.  

When it was dry, I shaved it very carefully with an electric razor to achieve a smoother finish.  Then it was time to create my personal fascinator.  I needle-felted it separately rather than directly on to the hat.  This gave it a more sculptural quality with more dimension.  Also, I initially thought I would just pin in on so that I could swap it out  at some point, but I loved it so much that I just needle-felted on to the hat. 



By the way, my rolled edge didn't exactly come out even, and I made it worse by trying to create a scalloped edge.  What was I thinking?  At some point, I'll fix that -- the beauty of needle-felting is that you can always continue to add wool -- for more detail or to correct imperfections.  In the meantime, I have been getting lots of use out of this hat during what has been the coldest winter I can ever remember.  It is warm and fuzzy and very me, and I love it.  I think there is more hat-making in my future!
My unique Zazzy Peacock felted wool hat with its colorful peacock heart, swirls, and animal print