I need a lot of flowers and leaves for my big wallhangings, so I developed a process how to do them efficiently. For me it works :)
First I do a big piece of prefelt
Can you see, I used the first time my new palm washboard and it is great! You can also see a bottle 'megafilzer', which I still had from years ago and thought I might try it again. It is nice to use, but not really necessary, I still like the sunlight soap the best.
While the felt is drying under the carport, Billy occupied my work table. He is very happy, that I have all wallhangings at home at the moment. They are only for him of course
I forgot to take photos when I cut out the leaves. I use a small roller cutter for that. Then they get another treatment with water, soap and rubbing
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| this time I use the small washboard |
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| first gentle and then a bit more forced |
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| and the final shaping is still done by hand |
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| time for drying |
The final touch is done with the sewing machine
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| I am so happy to have found an old Bernina for a good price, it works so much better than the Janome Onestep I had for the freemotion stitching. |
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| adding veins |
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| finished! |
Once all the leaves are done, I will check them again, tidy up threads and shave any 'wild' bits off.
I am very grateful to Lisa Klakulak for all she taught us in the workshop. It had been a very stressful weekend and I am not following everything. But I am certainly more concerned about tidy appearance and try to produce a good felt. She also showed us the small roller cutter, that is so handy! But instead of endless rolling I use now the palm washboard, and depending on how delicate the product is, I spin it in the washing machine, that removes more water and speeds up the process.
