Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Eye Made Some More Blinking Rings!

Well - a lovely lady in Switzerland wanted one, so I got off my lazy backside & made a few.....










The dolls eyes are (approx) 1940's and new (I didn't have to 'operate' on any toys).

I've also used crochet, faux bone, small vintage tins, resin, seed beads, sterling silver beads and more....

One ring band is brass, the other sterling silver and the third is felted wool.

Felt good to get off my backside :)

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Nailed It Ring

Finally got this ring finished and photographed!

The focal part are some nails.....


I also used amethyst cubes, raw tiny diamonds, shards of pink vintage glass, citrine, sterling silver, NZ merino wool (hand dyed), acrylic paint, resin & a coconut ring.





By Ginga Squid - unique, one-of-a-kind and a small size US3/US 3.5

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Beer Bottle Top Table

Finally finished!  This table top is the result of much hard beer drinking (mainly by my friends of course!).  Nobody said it would be easy......



My kiddies helped sort the bottle tops into colours and set them out into flower patterns.


The we splodged on the grout!


And once the excess grout was sponged off - voila!


Guess Heineken in our beer of choice.......

Plus I still have a huge box of top leftover.....what to cover next...?

Friday, January 23, 2015

Double Ended Merino Fall Dreadlocks

Ginga Squid is back!!!!




Merino Fall Double Ended Dreads

Sorry for the long absence - I had to take a 'proper' job....

I have been busy with some hand dyed merino wool, wet felting into some gorgeous way-long dreadlocks.

More details & photos here:
http://www.gingasquid.com/shop/show_single_product.php?prod=549


Friday, October 14, 2011

How to: Heart Felt Soaps...

Lovely Lady Leanne from Feel At Home brought me over some of her New Zealand olive & avocado oil handmade soaps (with sea salt and infused with essential oils of sweet fennel & Roman chamomile) to felt.

So I thought I would document the process as I notice I haven't blogged about anything for a year or so, which is very slack of me...

1. Choose your soap and some colourful wool roving (merino felts nice and easily).


2. Using a block of foam & felting needles, very lightly needle felt some wool into squares large enough to wrap around the bar of soap.  Two thin layers of wool works well - one ontop of the other, fibers lying in perpendicular directions.




3. Wrap the square of lightly felted wool around the soap and wet it, so that all the fibers are dampened, using the hottest water you can stand (rubber gloves will help)!


4. Using a thin sheet of plastic (eg. cut up shopping bag) - wrap this around the hot, wet, woolly soap so that it makes a parcel.  Then rub this parcel on all sides ontop a bamboo mat or non-slip piece of plastic mat. The roughness makes the warm, wet wool fibers felt together when rubbed.


5. When the wool has started to felt together and feels a little secure around the bar of soap, take it out of the plastic wrapping, get it nice and damp again with really hot water and then get back to rubbing it directly on the uneven surface.  Keep this up for around 15 mins until the wool has completely felted on all sides and fits snuggly around the bar of soap.











5. Rinse off the excess soapy suds under the cold tap and leave to dry on a wire cake wrack. First layer is done!


6. After a few days, when the outer layer is dry, but the soap is still a little moist underneath, it is time to needle felt some designs onto the base layer.  I use a size 38 felting needle.  Careful with your fingers or you will leave blood marks on the felt....







7. Finished!
 

Friday, September 17, 2010

Sunrise Oolite and a Woolly Jumper

Gosh - sorry (Queen Grand Purl Baa) I've been so very awol!  This absence will probably continue for a while until I get the sack from my 'proper' job.



I've just had this little woolly brooch returned to me from an exhibition in Waiheke Island - it features a piece of one of my favourite gemgrade fossils called 'Oolite' from the fantastic Heart Of Stone Studio (its such a satisfying word to say).


Oolite describes a sedimentary rock formed with ooids (meaning "egglike") - spherical grains in concentric layers.  This oolite comes from Wyoming and is multicoloured with pink and gold spots of fossil.
Other materials used: Faux bone, sterling silver, merino wool (needle felted), base metal washers and microscrews, Thai Karen Hill Tribes fine silver beads (purchased Fair Trade), copper backplate, small beads and a brooch & pendant clasp.
Length: 7.5cm (about 3 inches)
Width: 6cm (about 2 1/2 inches)

I have mainly been knitting recently - it has been very cold and rainy here in NZ and so this happened...


Useful for keeping warm and doing bank jobs.
The thick/thin 'meltwater' wool I bought on sale from the yummy online NZ yarn shop called YarnTraders - run by the lovely Helen who stocks exotic and unusual yarns, fibres, felt and fabrics.



I'm hoping spring/summer will be here soon so the evenings are lighter and I can get more 'creative' stuff done instead of wanting to curl up under my duvet and block my ears to the sound of the constant rain. I can't believe it rains more here in NZ than it does in the UK - how is that possible?


Saturday, June 19, 2010

Pink Optic Fiber Turquoise Brooch Pin with Felt & Crochet.....

Apologies. My 9-5 Mon-Fri office job seems to be getting in the way of things and all I want to do in my spare evening time is knit!  Knitting is my latest addiction. But it is fabulous to have some cash coming in on a regular basis and some warm woollies......

I finally got around to finishing this piece which incorporates optic fibers with a pink LED. The LED is hidden inside the felt on the back and is powered by a small, flat  3V coin battery.

The beautiful, multicolored piece of turquoise (purchased from Heart Of Stone Studios) (size 42.5mm x 33.5mm) comes from right over the Tibetan border in China. It is the same source of turquoise that the Tibetans have used and worn for centuries.

I have also used oxidised copper, UV resin, vintage shards of pink glass, brass eyelets, merino wool (needle felted), beads, crochet thread, conductive thread, bamboo, bone & craft wire.
About 10cm long by 8cm wide.