Nettles, Treadles and Love

I’ve been wanting to do something with the small piece of wool that I dyed in the onion skin vat. I love the color so much.

So I decided to try felting it like we did in Katharine Jolda’s workshop.  I wanted to make a smaller version of the purse – like a wallet/pouch thing.

Here is the wool fluffed and unfluffed.

Here it is all fluffed up and separated into piles.

All set up with hot soapy water, bubble wrap and plastic mesh.  Also, you can’t see it but there is a cardboard pattern that it is sitting on that I will form it around (although next time I will cover it in duct tape because I ended up getting cardboard fibers stuck into the fiber inside the pouch.)

Added hot soapy water and started adding friction with my hands.

When I was done felting this side I flipped it over and wrapped the edges around the cardboard, then added the bigger pile of wool on top and felted it, flipped it again and wrapped the edges again.

Almost done.

Next comes the fulling stage – vigorous rolling.  This is when the fibers start to really shrink and cohere.  It didn’t shrink nearly as much as I thought it would, but I probably could have fulled it much more.

finis.

The tools I had were not ideal – I definitely need a larger bamboo mat.  And I’d like to find other materials than plastic, but it might just be the best thing for this kind of project.  We’ll see.  Fun trying it on my own.  I want to make either a hat or slippers next.

This is my most recent upholstery project.  After…

…and before.

A friend found it for me at a thrift store.  I was determined to avoid all synthetic materials with this project.  Trying to just stick with old school natural fibers and metal.

First thing is to tear it all apart and pull out the innards.

The springs were already nicely attached, so I just left them on there.

Tying down the springs nice and tight.

Covering with burlap.

Piling up a big pile of horse hair.  Not easy to find these days, but my teacher had a big stash.  This huge pile compresses WAY down.

My teacher Gina demonstrating how to fold up the corners.

Folded up and sewed down.  A little lopsided, but hey, it’s organic.

A layer of cotton.

Stapling down the fabric.

Lining up the sides to sew them together.

Sewing the welting.

Stapling the welting to the bottom and maneuvering the corners.

finis.

Three years ago I discovered a free upholstery class offered through C.C.S.F.  It was so popular that there was a lottery system worked out to determine who could get in.  I lucked out and every Saturday for a semester I learned the basics of upholstery on a simple chair I had around the house, for free!  Needless to say, this class is not offered for free anymore.  That was actually the last time it was offered as such.  They still have it available, but now it is only 7 weeks for $200.

This is the first chair I worked on.  Before:

…and after.

Like any addiction, after my initial free exposure I was hooked.  So I signed up for the 7 week training to work on my second chair – this one a little more complex.  The class was so short that I didn’t get very far with it and during which I discovered an excellent teacher who has a thriving upholstery business in a warehouse space at the Alameda Marina.  Gina of Sew Far Sew Good upholstery.  She doesn’t have a big web presence, but you can find her basic info here.  She has decades of training and experience under her belt, is a kind, funny and generous instructor, and offers a rare and valuable service of providing affordable and accessible upholstery education.  These days this is hard to come by.

The second chair I just found on the street.  Before…

…and after.

I do have another BIG chair project I want to do, but I think I am going to just work on footstools for a little while.

 

I made these little bags last weekend…

They were both made from fabric remnants I had.  One for a young friend of mine, and one for myself.

I like this dandelion detail on this fabric.

This book has been very handy for learning how to make bags:  Sew What! Bags by Lexie Barnes

 

 

I finally added a leather strap to my felted bag I made in Katharine Jolda’s workshop.

I decided against a button closure for now.  We’ll see if I need one as I use it.

I found some leather, and tools to work with, at Frank’s Leather and Hides here in SF.  It is an ENORMOUS warehouse full of leather from floor to ceiling.  You can smell the place half-way down the block.  The proprietor Frank was friendly and helpful to me, though with a somewhat strange sense of humor, but you can see on this yelp listing the many various reviews of him and the place and some pics on this blog post.

I found a nice scrap piece, and bought some rotating shears and cutting mat.

I cut a long strap which I then cut two long strips into to be able to braid it.  I think in the end I made them too wide and the braid came out a little chunky.

As you start braiding one end, the other end simultaneously braids too.  You somehow braid one side and then the other and then flip it when they meet.  It was tricky and I don’t know if I did it right.  I was just winging it.

I attached them based on trying to duplicate what Katharine had done to hers.  Made a tiny hole in the felt and used some upholstery needles to get the leather through.

I used a leather piece on the inside to disperse the pressure from the handle on the felt.

Finis.

Years ago, when I started trying to eradicate plastic from my life, I kind of developed an obsession with glass jars.

Ball canning jars are great, and then I also remove the labels from purchased product jars and reuse them.

You do need to be a little more mindful when packing up glass jars for a lunch bag, but in all these years I think I have only broken 2 jars.

Jars can be useful for many things.

The title of this blog post is the song that Sean sings as he is cleaning up a pile of jars from the day at dish-washing time.  He’s a good sport.

More recently my obsession is including candles.  We are working on reducing our electricity consumption, and are looking into alternative sources of energy.  Bees wax and other natural wax candles that do not emit harmful toxins like petroleum-based candles are simple and lovely tools.  Caution is required with their use though.  Candle-light dinner is a regular thing for us now, and we are looking into oil lamps also.

For Winter Solstice, we gathered up all the candles in the house and lit them to honor the light.

Little steps like these are certainly small in the grand scheme, but really it is about shifting our patterns and thinking around use.  Do we really need that light on in the morning in the bathroom when there is a dim glow of dawn light coming in? Or maybe in the evening a single candle will suffice moving from room to room?  What are we just accustomed to?  And then what do we really need?   Just asking that. Simple.  It starts to make a shift.

Sean had a lot of fun oiling the treadle, attaching the cable and getting it to run smoothly.  He had fun sewing on it too.

The first completed sewing project on the treadle was curtains for our bedroom.  I got some heavy hemp canvas for the curtains and then some black raw silk as a liner to keep out more light.

After Sean put them up, they looked kind of plain.  I went to a craft fair and found the perfect accent.  A garden “totem” – a banner with prints of a beetle, a beet, and dandelions – “so that all the critters, weeds and produce would find a balance together in the garden.”  That is a rough quote of how Trinity described it.  She had a booth at the Bazaar Bizarre.  You can find her simple lovely eco-friendly clothing, etc. at fielddaywearables.com

I also got a couple of her cool patches from her etsy shop.

Another thing I made as gifts this year were jars of golden Ghee – clarified butter (or drawn butter.)

Ghee is pure butterfat – it is butter that is gently heated to the point of separating out the water and milk solids from the oil – which makes it lactose-and casein-free.

It is a very heat-stable aromatic fat, making it great for cooking.  It develops a delicious rich nutty flavor, and I pretty much slather it on everything I eat.

The beautiful deep yellow color of the ghee is indicative of the high content of fat-soluble vitamins – and this is greatly increased by getting butter from cows who have grazed on fresh pasture.

A unique property of ghee is it’s ability to penetrate deep into the cells, making it’s nutrients easily absorbed by the body, and making it a good carrier for nutrients that are consumed with it.

The Indian healing modality of Ayurveda utilizes ghee as potent medicine.  It is excellent for digestive problems – repairs the gut lining, balances cholesterol, promotes healthy thyroid function, nourishing to the brain and mental function, contributes to healthy skin, and is tridoshic – meaning it is beneficial for all 3 ayurvedic body types.

(I got a lot of this info from a member of my local WAPF (Weston A. Price Foundation) yahoo group.  Unfortunately I can’t remember who posted it, but thank you to them.  By the way, WAPF is an amazing resource for little known and practical information on health and nutrition.  They have an encyclopedia of info on their website.)

Ghee is my one addiction I cannot imagine living without.

I make my own at home because it is easy and much more affordable than buying it.

To make it you will need:

– a thick bottomed stainless steel pot (no lid necessary)

– 16 oz. of butter (4 4oz. sticks or 2 8oz. bars)

– something to strain it (mesh strainer, cheesecloth, etc.)

– something to strain it into ( a glass jar)

The process should generally take about 15 minutes.  It could take longer if you decide to use a lower heat.

Put sticks of butter into your pot. Do not cover it.  Put it onto a medium heat.  I just leave it at medium for the whole process.  You dont need to watch it the whole time, but keep checking periodically.

It goes through stages.  The butter melts.  It simmers and bubbles.  It starts to separate into three distinct layers.  Little bits of milk solids stick to the bottom of the pot.  In the middle is the layer of yellow butterfat.  On top is a white foamy layer that is the liquid evaporating off.  It tends to go through a vigorous bubbling popping phase as the water boils off.  Eventually it starts to get quieter and the foam begins to disappear.  When things start to get real quiet and/or once you see slight browning of the foam around the edge of the pot, turn the heat off.

It is very easy to burn the ghee at this point, so now is the time to pay close attention.  Although I will say, even burned ghee is delicious.  It turns out more brown than yellow.  Probably loses some of it’s potency, but I usually still use it.  If you wait too long sometimes the bubbles on top start getting really tiny again – almost like foam – and the foam will start to rise very quickly and over flow the pot.  It is definitely a learning process.

You will want to let it rest and cool a bit for at least another 15 min – 1/2 hour before straining.

You may find other methods that work for you, but what I do at this point is I pour the contents of the pot through a mesh strainer into my jar.

You can dump what is left in the pot and strainer into the garbage or compost.  Nothing usable there.

Put the lid on the jar and you can leave the oil out at room temp.  It is very stable.  Depending on how hot or cool it is in the room it will be liquid or solid or something in between.

Like I said, I put it on everything, even into my smoothies.  It makes food taste better, more digestible, and make it’s nutrients much more available.

ah, the glory of ghee.

p.s. If you are wary of saturated fat, please relieve yourself of this concern.  Natural, healthy saturated fats do not make you fat.  They actually contribute to satiety, making you feel less hungry, among their numerous other benefits.   Trans fats and refined vegetable oils, excluding olive oil, should be avoided however.  For more info on fats look here.

 

 

I made some little zipper pouches as gifts for the holidays.

I used the cotton fabric I dyed with onion skins for the outside of the pouches.

I made two linoleum block prints – a sheep and a ball of yarn.  One for each side of the pouch.

letting the ink dry.  I used a jar of water-based non-toxic ink.

These are printed with the natural plant pigments we created in the plant dye workshop with Rebecca Burgess.

lined with un-dyed cotton.

This project covered many firsts.

First solo dye project, first linoleum block prints, first zipper pouches.  Ta daa!  fun.

 

I’ve been saving up coffee grounds from Sean’s morning coffee for the past few weeks.

Thursday night – soaked my yard of cotton cloth in tannins (coffee grounds) for 90 min. at 185 degrees.

A tannin bath is used before the mordant, or metal ion bath, for cellulose fibers, such as cotton, hemp, linen, flax, etc.

Friday morning I went to the beach to get ocean water.

I soaked my cloth and some wool in the ocean water, or metal ion bath, for 90 min. at 185 degrees.

Protein fibers, such as wool, silk, etc. can go directly into the mordant.

The mordant helps connect the pigment to the fiber.

When I got home Friday night I made onion skin tea bags to make my dye bath.

Simmered the fibers again for 90 min. at 185 degrees in the dye bath.

I let this cool overnight and strained it out the next morning.  This is the color of the fabric vs. the original white color.

the wool was even more striking.

36 hrs total.  Probably 3 or 4 hrs of my time.

So satisfying to find a new life for these things that will end up in the compost pile.

And so exciting to see the alchemical transformation – the pleasant surprise of discovering what you will get.

Day #3 was again at RDI.

Katharine Jolda was the felting instructor.  She creates felted items and teaches felting and is the inventor of a bicycle powered carding machine, or cyclocarder. She has a great website called Felt the Sun, and the SF Chronicle just had a nice article and interview with her here, and in it is a good explanation of the whole felting process – which is essentially turning a pile of raw fiber into a fabric through the addition of hot soapy water and friction.  It is a simple and physically involved process.  With a very grounded and calm teaching style she gave us the option of making either a felted bag or a hat.  The following are examples that she brought in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still need to put the finishing touches on my bag, but it was a fun day that makes me want to do more.  So many possibilities.  You can’t get much more hands-on than this.