Wool Breast Pads for nursing moms

One of my dear friends is having a baby shower this weekend. When I looked at her gift registry, I saw she had organic wool breast pads on her list. It got me thinking….
I have wool and I felt. So, I came up with these felted breast pads. I used a Merino-Corriedale wool bat for the base and embellished the top with colorful tussah silk top and merino wool roving. Because this is an experiment, I made them in two sizes. I hope they work out well for her.

Betz White Pincushion Tutorial

I am completely taken with the adorable felt work by Betz White. I particularly like these cupcake pincushions. The other day, while browsing on Whip Up, I noticed that Betz appeared on the Martha Stewart show. She has a tutorial on how to make her cup o’ joe pincushions. You can read more about her appearance on the show in her blog and you can purchase her work from her etsy store. Thanks Betz!

Fascinating table on display at Scripps

I made it over to the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College for their 63d Ceramic Annual exhibition over in Claremont. The show was guest curated by Tony Hepburn who is the Head of Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI.

Many have been critical of the exhibition by saying they felt like they were in an Ikea showroom. At first glance it may be easy agree with this comment, but any second thought would prove this notion wrong. I believe the curator and exhibition designer may have been able to help extinguish these ideas by removing duplicate items and refraining from displaying objects in a symmetrical fashion.

One thing I was very intrigued by was this table that was used for the display. I am always attracted to stylish designs that use inexpensive, everyday materials. The table was constructed from 2” thick plywood. The two white legs were galvanized pipe screwed into bases that were screwed into the table. I like it so much, I may have to make one for myself.

Recycled Design

During the opening party for MOCA’s SKIN + BONES: Parallel practices in Fashion and Architecture exhibition they had some interesting designs in the courtyard.

First there were these amazing benches that were bails of old clothing. Next, the tables were topped with crumpled wire mesh which acted as a vase for a few Tillandsia plants, also know as air plants.

The benches reminded me of this very interesting recycled clothing chair I saw a while back that was designed by Tejo Remy. Besides the great use of recycled materials, I really liked how these designs created new uses for ordinary materials.

New jewelry at my Etsy store

Here are a few of the new items I have listed in my online Etsy store.



These earrings are sterling silver hoops that I have adorned with Garnet and Carnelian gemstone beads.

This pair of earrings are made from sterling silver wire that I have hand forged into the swirly shapes. I have adorned them with Swarovski crystals.

I designed this necklace after seeing the movie ‘Shakespear in Love’. It is constructed from hand forged copper wire and embellished with vintage, olive green Swarovski crystals.

100th Second Saturday Art Walk this Saturday in Pomona, CA

This Saturday will be the 100th second Saturday Art Walk in the Downtown Pomona Arts Colony. There will be a celebration featuring fresh art, live music, food, rickshaw rides, and an antique auction. The festivities are from 4pm – 9pm.

The American Museum of Ceramic Art, in conjunction with it’s exhibition Rudy Autio, In the Round, is hosting a Drawing in Clay workshop. Designed for adults and families, people may drop in at anytime during scheduled hours from 11am – 4pm.

American Museum of Ceramic Art
340 S. Garey Ave
Pomona, CA 91766

My Favorite Stitch Markers

I really enjoy knitting in the round and have recently discovered cables. So, I need to use stitch markers all the time. I have purchased several types of stitch markers that have not impressed me.

The first type I purchased were like these split lock markers. The ridge on them was so wide that they created ladders in my knitting.

Next I purchased some metal rings with beads dangling from them that were akin to these. They were really pretty, but I found the dangles were a bit cumbersome and only added extra weight to my project. Extra weight is a problem when you are prone to tendonitis.

Finally, after being unable to find my pile of markers, I ended up tying my scrap yarn into loops. This works perfectly for me. They are extremely inexpensive, and I can color code them for meaning. Green can mean the beginning of a round, red can mean the end of a cable etc. The only downfall to these is if you knit by touch, yarn stitch markers do not have enough texture to tell you hands to ‘do the next thing’.

Super find at Michael's

I stopped by Michael's craft store this weekend to pick up some supplies to make Valentine cards for the Valentine's Day Postcard Swap happening at Flickr. I looked through the dollar bins and found this cute journal made from really thick die-cut felt. It will be perfect for keeping notes about all my current projects. It is amazing it only cost one dollar.

Art on Chung King Road, Chinatown

I made it over to the art galleries on Chung King Road in Chinatown this weekend. I have always enjoyed walking around looking at art in that area, but I and am usually unimpressed. This weekend there was a great deal of wonderful things to see. There were three galleries that have exceptional work on display.

First were the colorful New Works in Pastel by Stan Kaplan and Eric Niebuhr at the Mary Goldman Gallery. I have always thought of this gallery as a leader amongst the many on Chung King Road.

Next were the stunning paper sculptures in Organic Transformed by Rachel Portenstein at LMAN Gallery.

Finally, there were a series of captivatingly detailed drawings from Body Swallows World by Aurel Schmidt at Peres Projects.

Quartzsite, Arizona

I spent last weekend in the craziness of Quartzsite, Arizona. It is always amazing to go and see what treasures are there in the outdoor swap meets each year. I particularly enjoy all the gigantic fossils from Morocco and the Amethyst and Citrine geodes from Brazil.

I made sure to visit one of my favorite artists, Gary Andruss of The Stoneworks in Hood River, Oregon. He hand cuts beads and pendants from gorgeous stones. He also sells quality uncut stones for the Lapidary enthusiast. Gary has no website, but can be contacted at Stone22@charter.net.

I could not resist getting my picture taken with these amazing fossil fish and table full of beautiful fossil ammonites.

Moxie's how-to: needle felted finger puppet

The amazing Moxie has created a great photo tutorial on how to make a needle-felted finger puppet. Be sure to check out all of her fantastic finger puppet monsters.

Knit Rib-And-Cable-Mitts

I have been working on the knit Rib-And-Cable-Mitts pattern from the spring’06 Interweave Knits. It is my first attempt at doing cables. It was a bit challenging at first and I had to frog a couple of times, but then I had the ‘a-ha’ moment.

I am using Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn in 6285, Oceanic Mix, and 6205, Dark Chocolate. I adore this teal/brown color combo. The yarn is a bit thicker than the recommended so these are coming out a bit larger and chunkier.

Solid Perfume

I really enjoy the smell of essential oils. My two particular favorites right now, which my acupuncturist first used on me, are Geranium and Neroli. I like to wear them as perfume, but because they are not created to be a perfume, they evaporate very quickly leaving me scentless. I have been mixing them with vitamin e oil when I wear them, which helps them last the day. Unfortunately, oily wrists and neck are not so good for the clothes. Luckily, Instructables came up with this tutorial on making solid perfume. It is basicly the same as making lip balm which I wrote about here.

Outdoor design at Joshua Tree National Park

I spent the New Year’s weekend away in Joshua Tree National Park. It was gorgeous, but a bit chilly at night since the sun went down around 4:30pm at our campsite. I saw some fabulous outdoor sculpture and patio furniture at the Western entrance visitor center. I may need to consider some of it for future projects.

There was this gorgeous weather vane at the entrance.


Outside on the patio there were these cast concrete benches and tables. I particularly like how they made the surface look like stone. You can also see that the table bases were cast from paper sonotubes.


Another thing I really enjoyed were these concrete posts (perfect for potted plants) and the metal siding of the building.



Finally, I really liked this wooden gate that pivots around the rusty metal pipe.

Knitted Felted Ballerina Slippers

I have been making a few more pairs of the knit Felt Ballerina Slippers from Fiber Trends for the women in my family as Christmas gifts. I used Berkshire yarn from Valley Yarns. It is 85% Wool and 15% Alpaca. The Alpaca fiber felts very well.

The Berkshire yarn is a heavy worsted weight, so it was a bit tricky trying to get the sizing right. It was also challenging trying to get them to dry into a nice shape. I ended up using a two way shoe stretcher to dry the ballet slippers on.

I embellished the slippers with yarn in contrasting colors and commercial felt that I cut with pinking shears. I sewed the buttons to the strap, and sewed a loop of clear jewelry elastic on to the body of the slipper that loops over the button and strap. The stretch of the elastic allows you to slip the shoes on an off without having to deal with the button.

You can see the first pair I made here.

My favorite felt artists

Whether it be made from loose fibers, knit, crochet, or commercially made, I adore felt. Creating a fabric by wadding up a bunch of fibers seems like magic. I have created a few knit and hand felted items, like this, and this, in addition to a few scarves, but would like to explore the medium more. Here is a list of a number of felt artists that I find truly inspirational.

Lizzie Houghton
Gail Crossman Moore
Thomas Horst
Natalya Pinchuk
Jeung-Hwa Park
Ann Kyyro Quinn
Latifa Medjdoub
Sonya Mackintosh
Nicole Chazaud Telaar

The International Felt makers Guild has some good resources too. What felt artists do you like? The rose in the photo was created from a Two Old Bags pattern.

An Inconvenient Truth, the move.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to see the movie An Inconvenient Truth. If you have not had a chance to see this move, it is really important that you do. I highly recommend it. It simply explains global warming without making you feel guilty or stupid. As a result of viewing this move, I am going to add a few links to the sidebar that offer green products and articles.

Knit Pattern: Mr. Hankey Christmas Poo

I decided to add a little humor to my Christmas decorations collection this year. This is what I came up with.

Materials:
Chunky yarn, brown
Worsted yarn, red



The pattern is now available at my etsy store:
ansleybleu.etsy.com

You can view more photos here.

This pattern is copyright by Ansley B. Davies and is intended for personal use only.

Holiday Art Boutique this weekend

Buy Handmade for the Holidays!

The San Gabriel Bead Company Holiday Staff Boutique

Featuring mosaics, ceramics, magnets, journals, sterling silver jewelry, handmade beads, beadwork, fused glass and more.

Friday, December 8th, 12 – 9pm
Saturday, December 9th, 10 – 6pm
Sunday, December 10th, 12 – 5pm

Featured Artists
Mariah Bonner
Ansley Davies
Jennifer Morris
Alice Neal
Shu – Shu Perugino
Shirley Whong

The San Gabriel Bead Company
325 East Live Oak
Arcadia, CA 91006
626.447.7753

This will be my last boutique for the season. I hope you can make it!

Felted Baby's Yoda hat

I saw a pattern for a knitted baby's Yoda hat today. You can find the pattern at Meandering.
Thanks Sunshyne!