SHE CHECKED EACH STONE FOR CONSISTENCY
You'll have to excuse the photos - I got carried away and had to post tonight, so waiting till I had good light wasn't an option.
I've been playing. With stones. And rubber bands. And clingfilm. And yarn from the handpaintedyarn.com company. And 6.5mm bamboo needles. And a large knitted piece. And temperature gauges on the washing machine. And a pillowcase which is now burgundy.
And the end result: Shibori felting - a felted piece (ok, overfelted piece) which has little raised bubbles of unfelted fabric - they're the pieces wrapped over the little stones and then wrapped in clingfilm to prevent felting. It's going to be the centre piece for something secret I'm working on, but I'll let you in on it in a little while, when my fingers stop aching. The quilting and rubber band tying and untying have left my fingers feeling a little tender. Jussi - it reduced about 70%. Just a little overfelted. But it worked!
That is amazing! Are their directions on the web anywhere for that? I can't wait to see the whole thing.
Posted by: mo | September 06, 2005 at 01:06 AM
That looks gorgeous, what a cool idea! But will all the little bumps stay in over time?
Posted by: jodi | September 06, 2005 at 04:03 AM
Wow, that looks amazing. I've been wanting to try that ever since I got the last InterweaveKnits. Can't wait to see your final product.
Posted by: Lazy | September 06, 2005 at 05:03 AM
Oooh, it looks great! I can't wait to see what the secret is.
Posted by: Nichola | September 06, 2005 at 08:59 AM
See...now that's just brilliant. Very curious to get a better look at what you've been up to.
Posted by: cari | September 06, 2005 at 02:10 PM
And as to my email earlier? If you're doing Shibori this means that that thing did arrive and we did talk about it and it went straight out of my fluffy little overtaxed head. Whoops!
Posted by: cari | September 06, 2005 at 02:12 PM
wow that looks fantastic! can't wait to see the finished product. very cool!
Posted by: Taryn | September 06, 2005 at 05:01 PM
That's hillarious. I just read the article in Interweave Knits on Friday, and started thinking about doing some Shibori. I'm into the pleating.
Posted by: valentina | September 06, 2005 at 08:39 PM
That is so amazing!
Posted by: Jess | September 06, 2005 at 10:00 PM
Wow that is beautiful! I have also been wanting to try my hand at Shibori felting/dyeing with knitting. I love that pleated and stitched and dyed example in IK. I might have to try my hand at this... it is daunting with my very on washing machine though.
Posted by: Mary | September 07, 2005 at 01:45 AM
Wow... can't wait to see what this is all about! Sounds quite complex to this novice...
Posted by: kelly | September 07, 2005 at 01:54 AM
Oh I love this, I have been wanting to try it as well. But your teasing me, I want to see the finished project!
Posted by: Joelene | September 07, 2005 at 02:03 AM
Wow! We are both doing shibori pebble projects in the same color! Yours is beautiful. Besides rubber bands, I've also been using fishing line, which you can use in a continuous piece, wrapping around each pebble several times. How did you figure out to use the plastic wrap?
Posted by: Sonja | September 07, 2005 at 09:20 AM
oh my lawd that is lovely. do elaborate.
Posted by: winnie | September 07, 2005 at 09:58 AM
I've seen this done. A woman at the Crafts at the Castle in Boston had some wonderful scarves done in this technique. She used hazel nuts. I've wanted to try it out. You are inspiring. Can't wait to see what you do with it.
Posted by: Meredith | September 07, 2005 at 11:00 AM
Beautiful! I'm glad that you worked out the felting ratio, makes things easier for next time.
I am inspired...thinking a dragon toy with chickpea sized bumps on his back...a scarf with alternating shibori pleats and bumps...
can't wait to see your finished surprise.
Posted by: Jussi | September 07, 2005 at 12:03 PM
just in case anyone comes back looking for answers...
Sonja - I have no idea where I got the wrapping of the stones in plastic from - if it wasn't in the IK article, I must have made it up. It seemed logical to do that to stop the felting of the bubbles, like you would cover a material piece when tie dying to stop colouring certain parts.
Jussi - dragons with chick peas!!! YES!!! Do it!
Mary - you're washing machine will forgive you :)
Jodi - I really hope the bumps will stay in - they stand quite proud by themselves, so would just need a little pulling up every now and then.
Your comments are all just so lovely to read - thankyou.
Posted by: Alison | September 07, 2005 at 02:26 PM
What an ingenious idea. Looks fabulous. Definitely going on my ever-increasing "to-do" list.
Posted by: Paisley | September 09, 2005 at 05:42 PM
Thanks for my backtack present! I love it all.... and the bag si so pretty!
Posted by: jess | September 10, 2005 at 03:18 AM
Really cool technique. Thanks for explaining how you achieved it. I will have to give it a try!
Posted by: Martha | September 12, 2005 at 02:55 AM