BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS !!!!!

ALL NEEDLE FELTERS ALERT !

This morning I sat as usual with a cup of coffee in front of my laptop, checking this and that and also as usual checking what's new in Blog-land.

Haaa! My eye catches the little thumbnail from Mobifilz ( http://mobifilz.blogspot.com/ ) on my blog ,what's that ??

Well, I'm still jumping up and down about this, this great lady who makes great needle felted objects has invented YES INVENTED !!!! a needle felting device !

She worked on this for 3 years ! And now she presents her addiQuick Turbofilzmaschine !!!

No more painstakingly stabbing ! This machine works with 2500 jabs per minute.

 She demonstrated it on the Craft Trade Fair in Cologne and you can watch this video : I have to tell first, it looks like she is poking the wool but that is only in the beginning, to fixate the coarse wool a bit.

When that's done you slide over the wool like using a pencil or brush.

Well, I hope you are getting as excited as I am !

It's in store coming September !

Jessi, you are brilliant !

Helen XXX

Twins . . . . . .

I wanted to make more Sloths, twins !

And a bit smaller then the other two, the other two are life size 4 Months old and these  about 1,5- 2 Months.

I found the noses where good ( especially the first sloth baby) but it took forever to paint, paint again, paint again and varnish.

So I decided to experiment with rubber/latex ?!!

I made a  nose with a bit of mouth out of clay, then a plaster mold of the clay nose/mouth.

The liquid  latex must be applied with a brush in a thin layer on the inside of the plaster mold. 

You have to let it dry and apply another layer, eventually you have to build up eight layers of latex.

I did two layers :-) , quick dried it with the blow dryer and then poured the latex in the mold and poured it out again. Again the blow-dryer on the hottest temperature and VOILA ! 

The rubber nose has a softer feel but I didn't figure out yet how to paint it. I used a skin-coloured latex and painted it with acrylic paint , it holds but I don't think you can get an even layer.

You can not use oil-based paint on rubber ( oil is a NO NO on rubber) so that is something I have to figure out.

Here is a close-up :

 You can glue it with the liquid latex on the wool ( very firm) and and . . . . with the reverse felting needle you can pull out wool through the rubber and make it a bit hairy :-)

So, if anyone is interested I can make a photo-shoot from the entire process ! ( I don't think I described it very clear)

Well, here are the twins, not ready yet but cute so far

Helen xxx

Bath Time for Baby Sloths | Too Cute

Little three toed Sloth in the making. . . . .

In case you don't know how cute these are :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1mAGQAw3Oc

Hellooooo !

The little curious girl . .

She is a really nosy one, didn't have the patience to wait until I finish her claws, or as a matter of fact her ears ! Yes they have tiny ears and that explains it ! She don't listen !

Found her on a tree this morning. . .

 Big smile of course !

Between the pillows . . .

I could catch her and here she is , I thought she would be sleepy by now but NO

As I was working on her ears, she sneaked up on me, climbed upon the table . . . . 

Pheeew, she snuggled up with Pinky and I think she is asleep now :-)

Something is creeping out of my wool . . .

I hear strange sounds lately, squeaking noises,scratching. . . . 

CAUGHT YOU !!

White faced scops owl

Before I left for Germany I was working on this little chap. Finished him today !!

Helen XXX


p.s. in my Etsy shop later this day

Lizards, Checkers and Shutters

We are back ! We had a great time , lots of things done and the weather was surprisingly fine. 

A bit freezing at night but during the day the sun was so nice the lizards ( never seen lizards in real !!!! ) came out to take a sun bath. Came out from where ?! I suppose they live between the sandstone walls.?!

Little Komodo Dragons !

I painted a Checker board on the table, we have a TV with build-in DVD player but no cable yet, so besides watching movies or read in the evening we also like to play games.
Painting it on the table is practical and it looks nice ( according to me:-)
I asked our neighbour for some logs, I didn't know yet what to do with them but I love to use wood. They were the perfect size for stools.
 So I made a comfortable cushion , chequered fabric,a handy string handle ( you can't just pick them up, they are very heavy) et Voila !
They have become our Checker-stools :-)

 Pinky likes to watch us play and keeping an eye on the Salami and beer ;-)

We both didn't play Checkers for years so there is a mistake in this picture . . . . 
I thought playing Checkers is like riding a bike, you will never forget how to do it. Well, after an hour we suddenly remembered !

Am I a "checker" addict ? 
YES ! 
I bought chequered fabric for the curtains as well, I couldn't remember the measurements and took a gamble. They are a bit short. . . .but I will sew a nice border onto it the next time we are there.

 Aaaaw don't that look cute?


Erik went treasure hunting in the little attached "old-men-house" and TADAA : treasure !

 Look at those shutters !!! A good cleaning and a nice colour of paint and then. . . . . . .

What do you think ? I especially like the hinges ;-)

Pinky watching Erik . . . . . .



With this nice weather we wanted to be outside and we decided to give the house some air. It seems to be sandstone houses need to breathe .
 Well, this house couldn't breathe :  trees, blackberry bushes, brushwoods,ivy, you name it.

 Before. . . . 

After :-)

Oh and a pond appeared ! 

Well, the last day Erik decided to experiment with some plaster, we are not sure if it's the right stuff he put on but it looked nice and when we come back by the end of April, we will find out if it's still on the wall or if it's still white :-)

Pheeew, some week !

Of course we did go for long walks, Pinky isn't the usual "let-me-sleep-in-front-of-the-fireplace- Bully" while we are there.

She was busy all day, sniffing, barking, chasing invisible things, drinking mud from the smelly pond. 

By the end of the day she was dog-tired and so were we.

We visited Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, drank coffee on this beautiful square

I was trying to find a store where they sell wool and felt, there are more shops in Germany where they sell felting necessities then over here in the Netherlands.I promised to look for a wooden felting "mouse" for Katharine but no luck :-(
 
 


Didn't had time to play with my wool but decorating and taking care of the house is so satisfying and my wool is waiting patiently.

Little Vacation

I'll be in our German house ( I must come up with a name for the house soon) until March 10th.

I will take my wool with me ( addict!) but I'm not sure I have time for needle felting.

We are planning on painting the bedroom, making curtains and explore the area ( as in hiking).

 Oh and  Mama Barn owl's eggs have hatched :-)

See you then sweet readers :-)

Helen XXX