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On Sunday 26 September, along with my friend Sue, I attended a one day Nuno felting workshop arranged by the IFA (International Feltmakers Association) Region 5 and run by Emma Jackson 

The venue was the village hall in Husbourne Crawley, Bedfordshire. Emma showed and demonstrated how to make a ripple Nuno scarf. We had to do some preparation before the event, buy and dye three meters of silk chiffon then choose coloured merino wool tops/roving to compliment the colour of the silk.

Wikipedia

"Nuno felting is a fabric felting technique developed by Polly Stirling, a fiber artist from New South Wales, Australia, around 1992. The name is derived from the Japanese word "nuno" meaning cloth. The technique bonds loose fibre, usually wool, into a sheer fabric such as silk gauze, creating a lightweight felt. The fibres can completely cover the background fabric, or they may be used as a decorative design that allows the backing fabric to show. Nuno felting often incorporates several layers of loose fibres combined to build up colour, texture, and/or design elements in the finished fabric. The nuno felting process is particularly suitable for creating lightweight fabrics used to make clothing. The use of silk or other stable fabric in the felt creates fabric that will not stretch out of shape. Fabrics such as nylon, muslin or other open weaves can be used as the felting background, resulting in a wide range of textural effects and colours."

We had a very enjoyable day and came away with new skills. Since the course I have been inspired to 'play' with the silk and wool idea and create other scarves. There is a video on YouTube "Introduction to Nuno felting" it's worth a look as it gives a clear explanation of the concept.

In our garden we have a Scots Pine tree, a few weeks ago I picked up all the large (15cm/6ins) pine cones that had dropped on the ground. Now I'm making the cones into Christmas decorations, very easy and very cheap. First of all, with my handy Dremel, I drilled a hole in the top of the cone, to pass wire through for hanging. Using ordinary household emulsion I painted the cone white. While the paint was still wet I sprinkled white glitter on the cone, just to give it that touch of sparkle. When the cones were dry I added ribbon bows to finnish them off.

All you need for this project is

1. An empty, washed, aluminium drinks can
2. A pair of scissors
3. Fine grade sandpaper
4. A ballpoint pen, that doesn't work
5. Cardboard, for a template  
6. Nail varnish.
7. Newspaper or kitchen towel to work on

With scissors carefully cut the top and bottom off the aluminium can, this leaves you with a piece of aluminium to work with.

Using fine sand paper remove the print from the can, this gives the appearance of brushed metal. Wash and dry your piece of aluminium.

Make a template to draw around, from cardboard, a heart, bird or what ever you like.

Draw around your template on the aluminium.

With scissors cut out your chosen shape from the metal.

The embossed appearance is created by drawing both on the obverse and reverse of the design. A ballpoint pen, that doesn't work, is all you need as your embossing tool

'While repoussé is used to work on the reverse of the metal to form a raised design on the front, chasing is used to refine the design on the front of the work by sinking the metal. It is also known as embossing.'

Don't work on a hard surface you need to work on something with 'give' to execute the embossing technique, newspaper or a few sheets of kitchen towel are perfect.

To achieve the embossing you draw lines on one side then flip the design over and draw on the other side.

Because the aluminium is virtually free, a byproduct, you can experiment and try out designs without feeling guilty at wasting it.

The designs can be left plain or painted with nail varnish, I think the painted ones remind me of the colourful Mexican tin art, examples of which I have included at the end of the post.

Use the designs as embellishment on greeting's cards, the heart would be perfect on a Valentine.