Felted Wrist Warmers

Not art, but knitting... A couple of times over the past days, I've mentioned I was knitting something. Yesterday I completed my latest little project: wrist warmers. The idea is that you knit the warmers and then felt them in the washing machine. I fell in love with the wool last week. It's Lana Grossa "Feltrino Mix", which is pure virgin wool. The wool is multi colored, so there is no hassle with changing balls, to create patterns. You just knit away, and the patterns appear as you do so. Apparently most people use Feltrino to knit gloves, caps, and slipper-socks.

Before shrinking and felting

Once you've completed the item and sewn the pieces together, if required, you simply toss it in the washing machine and wash it at 40 degrees (Celsius), to shrink and felt the item. Feltrino shrinks by 30-40%. A couple of years back, I accidentally shrunk and felted a woolen cowl I'd knitted. At first, I was a little disappointed, until I realised that the felted cowl was much warmer than the unfelted one. Since then, I've been an absolute fan of felted winter accessories. Here are the before and after photos for my wrist warmers.

After shrinking and felting

Art Angelix Journey 2010 - 2011

I'm back. It's been a long time since I posted here. Let's just say that a lot of life got in the way, but whatever...

Autumn in the Air

So now it's September. The equinox approaches. All around me I see the last fruits of summer ripening in fields and gardens and by waysides. My nature-wise friends tell me, the signs predict we're in for another long, hard winter, much like the last one we had here in northern Germany. Last winter, we had snow for almost three months solid. With that in mind, I think it might be a really good idea to set up a nice, long, involved art project...

A New Art Project

For the past few weeks I've been looking around for a long-term project to join, but either I started too early or I've been hunting in the wrong places. I originally wanted to join in on someone else's project, but, that's rarely the way things work out for me. I'm more of an initiator and teacher, so, I ran the basics of an idea past my arty friend Gena, and, based on her response, decided to offer a project of my own.

An Archetypal Journey

The project will work with an archetypal journey format based on the "Story Maps" writing workshop I taught for many years. The journey will take place between October 2010 and September 2011. The project is a combination of mixed-media art, art journaling, and, if you're also a writer, a story to join up the pieces, so to speak. I'll provide a basic storyline and set of prompts for journal entries and art projects. Your art and writing will be your personal interpretation of those prompts. Where necessary, I'll provide tutorials on this blog or, at the very least, links to online tutorials that will show you what to create at each stage.

The Guild of Artists

The linking idea is that all participants belong to a Guild of Artists and were bound by the statutes of the guild to undertake a journey at some point in their lives. On their return to the guild house, they recount their adventures and show each other what they experienced and what they found along the way.

Project Duration

There are no deadlines, except the October through September project deadlines. That said, based on many years of project experience, I strongly suggest you plan time for art into your life and make an effort not to fall too far behind. Each artist will work at her own pace and is free to complete the activities in any order, though I will suggest an order for those who prefer to work that way.

Project Type

This is not a round robin project. Should you decide to participate, you will not be required to send your artwork or journals to anyone else. That means you can work on any scale, with materials you enjoy. It means you can afford, in all respects, to invest yourself in the creation of beautiful art and descriptions of your personal experience. What we will do, though, are occasional small-scale exchanges of the kind typical for journeys: mail art, ATC, perhaps an ephemera exchange, and the like. These are all things that will keep postal charges low. All sharing will take place in Blogland, on a blog I'll create for the Journey.

Joining In

There will be a core group of artists who make a commitment to the project. These artists will post to share notes on their progress and images of artwork for others to see. But the journey project will also be open in the sense that anyone can tag along, without the need to register or commit or keep to deadlines, unless they want to, of course.

Core Group Commitment

If you want to be in the core group, please send me an email. You'll find the link in my profile. All core group members will have access to the project blog and be able to post images there. Posting is expected.

Arting Along Without a Commitment

If you want to art along with us without any commitment, send me an email when you post your work on your personal (art) blog and I'll be happy to add your blog or website link to the project blogroll.

Signup Deadline

Signup for the core group is 30th September. You'll find the Email link in my profile.