Wet Felted Beads-Sparkly Fun!

Fibery jewelry with lots of texture and shine, nothing wrong with that!


I've created these tubular beads ranging in size from around .5" to 1.5" using the wet felting technique of layering many feather thin wisps of fiber with lots of metallic threads, Angelina fiber, sari silk and other goodies nestled in between. The non felting fibers are trapped between the layers of feltable fiber creating beautiful pops of color and shine. I've made them with a generous 4mm hole for stringing them on hand spun for a funky, artsy flair. They would also be wonderful strung on a short length of fiber/yarn and used as a spin-in, and of course they already have a jewelry like quality and would be perfect for adding some fibery goodness to any jewelry design. These bead sets have already been listed in my Etsy shop, but I know I will making some for myself very soon!



Have a wonderful and safe weekend.
Happy New Year, Blessings Friends!

PixieDust Fingerless Gloves

I've really been hankering for some fingerless gloves, my hands get so cold sometimes, I thought they would be nice and cozy for around the house as well as out in the big wide world. I spun up a batch of my PixieDust blend in worsted weight and with 70 yards had exactly enough to finish! I wasn't too worried, I was knitting two at a time on a circular, so I knew if I needed to I could mix in another color of hand spun if I ran low.




I dyed up this luscious angora fiber in a pretty, soft pink. I'm planning to spin this and crochet a fluffy trim around the cuff. It's on the roster as soon as I finish a couple of secret projects.

Wishing you all the best of the season and on into the New Year! Blessings Friends!
Melissa

Twirly Curly Bird-Shop Update

It's been a crazy busy week, normal for this time of year, it will settle down soon enough. It's been especially productive on the fiber front and I have added lots of goodies to the shop! Here's a tiny sampling.


I am now carrying one of my favorite all time spinning add-ins, Angelina! I have a few colors with plans to add more! Ooo, Ahhh, Sparkle!


I've added a few new items to the Spinners Candy section of the shop, new fiber palettes and art batts, lots of color and texture for spinning play!



I've put together a kit for those who want to do some pixie knitting of their own, it includes patterns for stockings hats and sweaters perfect for the wee folk in your neck of the woods. I've also included two balls of my PixieDust hand spun, one in lace weight and one in sport weight, the kit contains enough yarn for two sets of each pattern, plus tiny colorful hangers and diminutive little clothes pins, perfect for hanging your pixie knits. The hangers and clothes pins come in an artsy little keepsake tin.

Take a moment in this hectic holiday season to put your feet up,kick back and take a peek around the shop, I've created a coupon for my blog readers giving you 20% off, good for purchases through the rest of the month.

To use the coupon code:

Visit my etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/twirlycurlybird

First add an item(s) from my shop, to your cart and when you’re finished shopping,start the check out process.

Enter the code, CURLYBIRDEXPD2010 in the ‘notes to seller' and the email address where the revised invoice should be sent.

Complete the order but do NOT go to Paypal to pay.

You will receive a revised invoice, and a link to complete payment, via email reflecting the discount.

Have a great weekend! Blessings friends!
Melissa

Textile Art Market

(click to enlarge postcard)
Hello Fiber lovers! If you're local and want the opportunity to shop the wares of tons of talented fiber artists, stop by and visit us at the Prince Conference Center. I was helping set up earlier and there are so many beautiful items!

Have a great Weekend! Blessings Friends!
Melissa

Winter Wonder Art Yarn Scarf

It's been a really creative week, I've been doing so much spinning and knitting, plus lots of other fiber related activities, which I always enjoy. On my list of things I wanted to get done were some scarves knitted with my hand spun art yarn. Those delicious thick yarns can really sparkle up a simple scarf.


It all started with this batt I blended up, Winter Wonder. Chuck full of super soft, creamy white and silver fibers, like angora, alpaca, mohair, wool, milk protein fiber and lamb locks. Providing tons of softness and sheen. For little wisps of color I added soft tones of my hand dyed, in blues, pinks and lilac. I also sprinkled in short lengths of some of my favorite novelty yarns, like Crystal Palace Stardust and Splash, they really gave the spin that jack frost touch. You can see the silvery splash dancing across the batt, looking very much like frost on a window pane. Plus shimmery Angelina for extra sparkle, like sunlight on an icicle.


I ended up spinning and plying four strands of wintery art yarn and plying them together with another Crystal Palace yarn, a super soft pure, beautiful white pom yarn, which I over wrapped with various styles of silver thread. Above is a close up of the yarn.


This is one of my latest creations, the Winter Wonder art yarn scarf. I'm really happy with how it turned out! When I finished knitting this, I noticed that it wanted drape in soft swirls. I decided to really play that up by weaving through ribbons of tulle (love tulle, can't get enough of it!!!) which I hand dyed in pale turquoise. (I've been playing with dying lots of synthetic fibers lately!)


I added Winter Wonder fringe to the ends and included some more tulle, I really like the effect. You can sort of see in this close up, the Winter Wonder fringe is knotted on the ends, creating these chunky little snowballs. It reminds me of the little balls of snow and ice that clung to my wool mittens as a child.Remember how your mitts would just be caked with little snow balls when you finally dragged yourself in from playing in the snow? What I find interesting about this scarf is that while it has these little whimsical touches, it is also artsy and beautiful. As always, I really enjoyed the creative process, it's cool how sometimes things work out better than you could have imagined or visualized at the start.

I hope you are all enjoying the fresh start to the new month and the fresh layer of the first snow (first for us) crisp and clean as we wind down this last month of the year and gear up for the new year to come. Blessings Friends!
Melissa