Black, Turquoise and Orange felt scarf

Getting ready for the CWA Twilight Markets now moved to 18th April because of lots of rain in SE Queensland, I made a nuno felt scarf the other day.

It is totally different to anything I’ve made before and I love it!

Using a thin strip of black chiffon, I laid the wool rovings well over the edge to get a softer edging. I also made some pre-felts of bright orange and turquoise/teal which I cut and laid out on the top with other bits of wool shapes and lots of hand-dyed silk tops.

It was fun to make as I haven’t felted much lately and I was very eager to see the outcome of this one.

Here are a couple of pics – not the best quality, but you get the idea:

Nuno felt scarf – Black, turquoise and orange

So many eco-tees!

…And lots of other things as well!

Since I wrote my last post, I have bundled, boiled, dried, rinsed, dried and ironed quite a few new eco-printed shirts and tees. All ready for the CWA Easter Art & Craft Twilight Market on 4th April.

Rather than bore you with the details, which are similar as for previous posts, I’ll add a gallery of my latest beautiful nature-painted clothes.

I’ve taken photos of them in the last few moments of sunlight in front of our mini-rainforest – so the colours of the eco-dyed clothes are enhanced by the trees and bushes, and natural light.

Over-dyeing with eucalyptus

A few days ago, I experimented dyeing an old tee shirt and cotton scarf which had not been mordanted, but had been washed. I used turmeric and paprika powders from my cupboard and eco-printed with Eucalyptus cinerea leaves dipped in iron water.

After boiling for 2 hours the result was bright yellow turmeric areas, with smudgy black leafy areas.  I dried them but wasn’t really happy with them. I just don’t like the colours! They’re too garish. I didn’t really think it through but just grabbed what I had in the pantry!

Undeterred, and not liking to waste a good under-painting, I washed them and dipped in milk/water mordant then dried again.

Today after dipping in water/milk again, I laid out a heap of Eucalyptus leaves from my garden and Eucalyptus cinerea that had been soaking in water with a bit of vinegar.

Then they got bundled up and as I write they’re still boiling in a bath of water stocked with more eucalyptus leaves and bark.

There was space in the top of the pot to place an upturned colander, so I bundled up some more paper and leaves (just Eucalyptus leaves this time) and stashed them on there. I covered the pot with al-foil, and secured it with string to keep the steam in.

After a couple of hours or so, I’ll take them all out and leave the cloth as long as I can before opening them.  Good luck with that Madame Impatience!

New articles on my website

Having a couple of hours to spare this afternoon – after work and a relaxing ‘nanny nap’, I began the task of adding to my new website, www.aannshajones.com.au

Here’s a run down on what you can find newly added, if you are interested:

Nourishment For Your Soul CD – at the moment accessed via “Buy Now” button on Audio page

Little Inner Voice to Articles Section

Expression of Life to Inspirations Section

Free Articles Section,

Inspirations Section

And I updated Events page.

 

 

Contemporary Romance Novel

From Trust to Love, a contemporary romance novel by Aannsha Jones

I’ve finally managed to upload links to my contemporary romance novel onto my new website!

I wrote this book years ago when I was starving for affection and a bit of passion, and everyone who’s read it so far (unwitting guests that stay at my place for longer than one night lol) has says it’s a page turner.

It’s a good ol’ contemporary romance set in the Gold Coast Hinterland of Queensland in Australia and, while it follows a Mills & Boon type format, the characters are more insightful and the plot has more of a complex storyline than you would find in a M&B.  Which is why years ago when I wrote it, they rejected it with a nice comment of “competently written”.

I was  gutted at the time.

These days however, I wear the rejection – together with their compliment on my writing style – as a statement of the book’s inherent worth for a novel of this genre.

I won’t gush about it too much here, but will simply direct you to the page on my new website (which I love by the way thanks to Ben Foster of Static Wave & Digital Marketing) Thanks Ben. 🙂

For a sneak preview

Anyway, the novel is called From Trust To Love, and is available as a kindle book.  There’s a preview of chapter one from the amazon link on the picture on the web page: http://aannshajones.com.au/content/980/Romance.aspx

From Trust To Love

 

Christmas felt pebbles, brooch & pic

I fancied a change today.  No scarves today, I wanted to do something different. Something cute. Something small.

Felted Christmas pebbles

Wet felted Christmas pebbles approx 5x3cm

So I collected some pebbles from the garden and felted them in Christmas colours;

red with green silk,

white with red silk,

green with red silk,

white with purple silk,

purple with white silk and a touch of sparkly gold Angelina fibre.

Yummy!!

I’ve also covered one pebble in dark blue with lighter blue silks and I think I will be embroidering a star on that one.

I think these will make lovely little stocking fillers, or Christmas table decorations.

Then I made a…

15x15cm Felt picture

This is of an evening nature scene, 15x15cm which I will stick onto a canvas of the same size.

Here are a couple of pics of the layout and the picture itself.  The first one is of the layout, mainly of merino wool, with some silk tops, a little Angelina fibre in the sky, some nepps as stars, some silk noile flowers and a little bit of silk sari for patterning in the foreground.  The photo of the layout was taken in daylight and the one of the finished painting was taken in artificial light this evening, so there’s a bit of a difference with the hues.

Layout for nature evening scene

Wet felted picture 15x15cm of evening nature scene

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needle felted brooch – country scene

Then, with time to spare, I got out my felting needle and a large button for sizing, and felted a little nature scene with a poppy in the front, which I stuck onto the button, after I’d attached a brooch clasp to the back.  Here are a couple of photos of this.  It is very cute, and only 4cm in diameter.

I thoroughly enjoyed making these different objects and I’ll make some more smaller, and different items, which I’ll be able to display for my customers at the two pre-Christmas markets that I’ll be attending.

Felt brooch back

Brooch: Needle felted scene 4cm diameter

Bespoke Gift Ideas!

Wanting something unusual, unique, sumptuous for a friend or loved one for a special occasion and know they’d love a piece of wearable art? Or a stunning felted wall hanging? Or quirky felted bowl or other unique item?

Here are some ideas:

Summer Scarf (nuno felted onto tissue silk)

Summer scarf with zig zag detail

Summer scarf with circles and free flow design

Summer scar with larger detail in complimentary colour

Network Scarf (lots of merino and varieties of silk)

Blue network scarf with lots of hand dyed silk – hankies, tops, chiffon and dimensional yarn. Blues, turquoise green.

Red network scarf with lots of hand dyed silk – hankies, tops, chiffon and dimensional yarn. Reds, oranges, maroon.

Skinny framework network scarves

Summer Scarf with Flower detail (nuno felted onto hemmed 100% silk scarf)

Hemmed soft, drapable nuno felted silk scarf with poppies at either end.

Closeup of nuno felted flower scarf – Fantasy flower – tissue silk, merino, silk hankies, silk tops, cotton scrim – all hand dyed

Iris inspired summer flower scarf nuno felted with 15micron merino and hand dyed silk hankies and silk tops felted onto tissue silk. Blues, greens.

Poppies! Nuno felted summer scarf with tissue silk, merino wool, silk noile, silk tops, silk hankies.

Jewellery made with felt and/or beads/freshwater pearls

Jewellery made with hand-made felt roll, embroidery and beading.

Jewellery made with hand-made felt “bead”, embroidery and beading.

Jewellery made with hand-made felt, embroidery and beading.

Jewellery made with hand-made felt balls, and beading.

3D rose brooch drying on a rack in the kitchen.

Wall hangings and felt paintings

Diptyche of poppies. Wet felted with beading.

Wet felted wall hanging of Moffat Beach

Beach wall hanging, drying

Country scene ’round’ felt painting 15cm

Completed wall hanging, with added details in embroidery and needle-felt.

Vases, bowls, books and more…

Two glass vases with the different styles of felted covering

Felt Covered Note Book

Green and orange felted bowl

Glasses case multi coloured – front view

Turquoise bowl

3 felted purses in a row

Midnight sky nuno felt evening bag

These colours remind me of the beach! Various felted goodies.

“Flotsam & Jetsum” Beach inspired mobile

Some ideas for Christmas

Ensure your gift is ready for Christmas!

Now is a good time to put in your order for a commissioned scarf or other piece of felt art.

As these are hand made items, and each piece takes several hours to make, if you order now you can ensure your order will arrive in time to gift it at Christmas.

If you let me know which out of the scarves or other items you’ve seen on this blog that you like, and give me an idea of the colours or style you are after, I will do the rest!

There are felted gifts to suit your budget –  from $5 plus P&P to $500 plus P&P.

I would love to help you with the ideal gift! Contact me today using the contact form below and we can arrange that extra special one-of-a-kind gift.

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Summer scarf Network scarf Summer Scarf with Flower Detail Bowl Vase Covered note-book Jewellery - necklace Jewellery - earrings Jewellery - cuff/bracelet Jewellery - set Felt wall hanging Felt painting Other (please complete comments)

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$20-$49

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Eco dyed scarf on Jill

Jill has been trying out my eucalyptus dyed silk scarf while I’ve been at work.

She even took some pictures of herself, cleverly working out how to use the timer button on the camera.

Jill may look like a dummy but she’s quite smart lol.

Here are some pics of her wearing the scarf in different ways, showcasing the lovely warm light browns and beiges that the eucalyptus and vinegar produced on the silk.

Not bad for a first attempt at dying.  (I need to work on my ironing skills though.)

Eucalypt eco dyed scarf on Jill. Dyed with vinegar, eucaluptus leaves and water.

Eco dyed eucalypt scarf folded to show different patterns

Eco scarf on jill folded back over her shoulders – very chic!

Eucalyptus dyed silk scarf – closeup showing variegations of colour

Two more scarves for the markets

Nov ’13 Glasshouse Market stall

Yesterday, along with the Poppy Scarf, I also made a couple more nuno felt scarves using a hand-dyed piece of chiffon that I cut into one thin and one wider strip. I was very industrious as I was working towards today’s Glasshouse Market stall, and the next few markets before Christmas.

Without going into the ins and outs of the whole production, here are some photos of the finished scarves.

Summer scarf in rose, lavender, heliotrope and yellow on hand-dyed tissue silk using lighter dye bath of same colours.

Close up of narrow summer scarf nuno felted onto tissue silk. Colours include lavender, heliotrope and rose.

Close up of summer scarf in rose, lavender, heliotrope and yellow – modelled by a lady wearing a rose top.

Slim summer scarf tied as belt

Summer scarf nuno felted onto tissue silk using merino wool on tissue silk, with silk hankies and silk tops. Hand dyed colours include lavender, heliotrope and rose.

Hemmed soft, drapable nuno felted silk scarf with poppies at either end.