experimenting with felt

today (snow day!) i made two fun discoveries:

• craft podcasts on craftypod (mom, i know you read this, so i'll tell you: they have one titled, 'stupid sock creatures' and another on artist trading cards.) today i listened to one about felt.
• an article about the downside of being a 'jack of all trades' creatively speaking. excerpt:

"When we begin a new hobby or creative pursuit, so often we pick something that seems easy. We judge ourselves, reach a verdict, and lower the bar for what we are willing to try. We avoid things that might be painful or frustrating because there is no immediate payoff, and often that shortsightedness keeps us from being the person we would dearly love to be. I know. I’ve done it dozens of times.

What I didn’t really grasp when I was a kid, taking up and quitting many hobbies, was the concept of what I call “creative compound interest”. We all know that compound interest in the financial sense means that any interest added to the principal, then also earns interest. Acquiring new skills works the same way. The payoff is really small for a long time, and that can be extremely frustrating, but eventually, if you stick to the plan, you amass your “million dollars”. And the more you have in your account, the quicker you get there. It’s long term investing in yourself. And it works." from make + meaning

one of the hardest things about sharing in such a public space is the wish to be 'finished' and 'spectacular.' but i like trying new things, and i am very interested in a lot of different areas: knitting, sewing, fiberarts, embellishment, embroidery, etc. problem is, i'm not ALL that good at any of them, yet. and i know that i'll eventually find my niche(s). i've been working on this part of my life for at least ten years now, but never with a ton of steam- more as an outlet from time to time. but now, i'm starting to really have some fun.

...so, if i really want this to be a place to tell the story behind handmade treasures, i'm going to have to be okay with sharing me behind the scenes as i figure it out. this is all a long winded way of saying,

'hey- what i'm sharing today isn't necessarily awesome... yet.'

i guess creativity is a tension between an item being 'finished' and a process that goes on and on through lots of projects. so we have to be happy with the stops on the way. and i have challenged myself to be okay with that and enjoy the process, mistakes, and lessons learned.

i've been really into felt for about six months now, and i am finding it is such a versatile medium that i feel boundless in using it. which can be paralyzing! and totally fun! so i am telling myself to 'expect nothing' yet and just get to know it. here are a few things i have worked on:

(felt kits from fancy tiger.) (thanks, mom.)

i played with some felt a few nights ago and like the 'cable' look- will work on that some more.

i also bought some stuff that looks seriously like colored dryer lint. when i bunched it up and needle felted it, it made these really fun raised, dense bumps. fun! so i kept making them. i also tried 'braiding' my roving (see the purple far right.) fun as well, but need to work on that. see the mustard clump? yeah, i totally do not like that part! i am wondering if i stitched and beaded on top of this and cleaned it up a bit, if it might be a fun journal/album cover, or little clutch.

i made this with alison one saturday at my mom's house using her embellishing machine (so fun!) this one i think has the most promise- and i definitely want to make it into a envelope-style clutch.

on a side note, if you are wondering where stories of my mom went, it's because i am wondering where my camera went. it's here somewhere, buried under all the displaced home things around our place while we remodel. i feel okay taking photobooth pictures of my work but it would NOT do hers any justice!

but don't worry- i have SUCH a good story coming soon! :)