soap stories (3)

Using one of the soap-photo's for my new years wish...

  2014 will rock! 

wishing you all a creative rocking new year

soap stories (part 2)

Why all these efforts for a felted soap?
First of all I like to make it and it is a wonderful gift. It is a lovely interior-decoration when you don't want to use it for washing. A lot of people are surprised by seeing wool around the soap. They think it is like a wrapping for a present and are wondering how to get it of. Others put it between their garments for the lovely fragrancy.
But when using it for washing a felted soap will exfoliates your skin more or less depending on the kind of wool that has been used with felting. It gives a longer life to the soap. It won't get slippery in your hands. And when the soap is finished you will end up with a felted ball when you give it more felting, a little bag when cut open, or a coaster when totaly cut open.

Designs
I have learned that even experienced felters are making soaps too. One has shared images of her designs. With my experiments I have made some unusual designs. I have worked with my eco-dyed fabrics, with a netting,with lace and with massage-nubs. Some usual are with woolen dreads and silks to give the idea of a stone and with colours. One of my felt-friends told me that she was embroidering soaps. I had the idea of making letters and numbers on it. There are different ways to get them on it, but maybe I will use the monogram-design I have found in an old French magazine.

I have made some soaps with very fine 16micron wool with a topping of silkfibers. That was not a succes. I expected a soft, silky surface, but the whole thing feels like sandingpaper. I think that the silkfiber didn't liked the soap in it.The fun with this is, that I could start over again and made another layer of wool around it. Now they are covered with eco-dyed chiffon.

And while some don't like the idea of a string on it, I like it as a design. Also it is handy because you can hang it on your tap and let it dry after showering.

Testpanel
I'm still searching for the best kind of soap. One of my first try-out soap to test and to felt was a soap of Lux, a very creamy one. The man who used that felted soap could kneed the whole soap like a ball. Fortunately he liked just that idea. Funny enough he didn't care about the nubs on it. Now he is testing the Chevrefeuille Soap with eco-design.The rubbing he likes only on his arms..

I prefer the soaps on base of natural ingredients. I have bought for this reason Marseille Soap, with all kind of fragancies. There is orange, vanille, almond and chevrefeuille. The colour of the silk will tell you which one. There is also haselnut, citron, honey and rosemary, lavender and peche. One of the first things people notice is the softness of the wool and next they want to smell the soap.

My hubby and I started to use the soap for testing. I have learned that you first need to wet the soap thoroughly and get it soapy before rubbing it. Otherwise you will end up with loose ends of wool. Unfortunately I have bought a soap which give enough cream when showering, but the foam is disappearing too soon. So that one is probably better to use in the bath-tub. Next soap to try is the chevrefeuille Marseille soap. 

soap stories

The smell of soap is every around me since I was asked via some feltfriends to find someone who could make felted soaps for a gallery in Normandie in France. I had a few felters in mind, but my head was already spinning. What could I do with this theme. So I myself contacted the gallery and started to experiment with felting soap. 
I have done first some investigation on the internet and learned several new things about soap. You can have soaps that are shaped by liquid and soaps that are pressed. Some are very, very creamy and some will last longer because of the extra pressure they had. This is a plus for felting, so the soap will not go slimey. Soap can be made in an articificial way or soap is made on a natural base. Also there are many different kind of shapes and flavours. 
My own experiments was about testing different kind of wool, colours and designs. I never thought that is was so much fun to make this. My mother in law offered me to help when it get to an order. She is 81 and suffering from Alzheimer. Felting soap and to be in good company will get her hands busy and comforts her wellbeing. 

Via, via werd mij gevraagd of ik iemand kende die zeepjes in kon vilten voor een galerie in Normandie. Toen ik daarover nadacht, bedacht ik me dat ik het ook wel zelf eens kon doen. Op dat moment begon het in mijn hoofd te borrelen met ideetjes. Dus ik nam de uitdaging zelf aan en legde contact met de galerie.
Eerst heb ik een zoektocht op het internet gedaan naar zeep. Al snel leerde ik dat er verschil is tussen gietzeep en geperst zeep. Goede geperste zepen worden niet slijmerig, wat een pre is voor een vervilt zeepje. Bovendien gaat zo'n zeep langer mee. De ene zeep is erg romig en een andere zeep is weer erg schuimig. En behalve zeep met kunstmatige toevoegingen is er ook nog de zeep met natuurlijke ingredienten. Deze laatste heeft mijn voorkeur. Tenslotte is er veel keuze in vorm en geurtjes.
Mijn eigen experimenten zijn gebaseerd op soorten wol, kleurtjes, ontwerp en 3D elementen. Ik was verbaasd over de mogelijkheden en had nooit gedacht dat het vooral erg leuk is om te doen. Mijn schoonmoeder van 81 en met Alzheimer heeft me aangeboden om me te helpen als de order doorgaat. Het vilten zal haar goed doen!

folding and felt

A very new and original way of making a flat piece of felt into a 3D sculpture was demonstrated by Andrea Noeske-Porada from Germany. I have been in contact with Andrea since 2011, when she started organising and hosting the workshops with Horst. Since than Andrea, Ricarda and I 'share' teachers from abroad. And this year she herself was a teacher at my place. Andrea has developped this technique herself and althought it looks very mathematic, it isn't. The only thing you have to be concerned about is that you have to work very precisely and planning the work at forehand. In this 2 days workshop we were able to make 2 objects, but she has showed us many other possibilities.

Andrea Noeske-Porada uit Duitsland liet ons een hele nieuwe en originele manier van viltmaken zien. Door middel van vouwen komt een plat stuk vilt tot 3D leven, met vele verschijningsvormen. Ik ben in contact gekomen met Andrea toen ze Horst uitnodigde voor een aantal workshops. Sindsdien hebben we contact gehouden en nodigen we in samenwerking ook met Ricarda Assmann buitenlandse docenten uit.
Deze keer had ik haar uitgenodigd. Het was heel leuk om haar in het echt te ontmoeten en te ontdekken dat je op een lijn zit. Andrea heeft deze techniek van vouwen in het vilt zelf ontwikkeld nav het boek van Doris Schatschneider. Het is echter niet wiskundig, maar je moet wel precies kunnen werken en een en ander goed voorbereiden. Behalve de 2 proefjes die we maakten, liet Andrea nog diverse andere mogelijkheden zien.

photo's at FB-page Fiberfusing

no boundries

several jewelries made by Judit Pocs 

In October this year Judit Pocs from Hungary has been teaching several workshops. It was a joy to have her around. Judit showed us that whatever your imagination is, it is possible to make it into a feltdesign. There are just no boundries! Here you will find some of the things that were made. . Good news is that she will be back next year around the end of October/begin November 2014.

working together

Vorige maand, in oktober, heeft Judit Pocs verschillende workshops gegeven. Het was heerlijk om haar hier te mogen ontvangen. Judit liet ons zien dat ieder design, ieder idee omgezet kan worden in een mooi viltwerk, of dat nu in een sieraad is, in een hoed of in een sculptuur. Hierbij een aantal van de werken die tijdens de workshops zijn gemaakt. Judit zal hier volgend jaar in oktober/november weer een aantal workshops geven.

More photo's to see on my FB-page.

one of the sculptures made by a student

heel veel dank and thank you all !!!!!

Fashion Art Design at Fort aan de Drecht, Uithoorn, the Netherlands 30 August 2013
Paintings Henny Woud, sculptures Sabrina Woud,  felted fashion Dorie van Dijk
models from Future Vibes

Beste allemaal,

Heel veel dank voor uw komst en enthousiaste reacties bij de expositie FASHION ART/ DESIGN in Galerie Fort A/d Drecht in Uithoorn.

Dankzij het geweldige benefietoptreden van HazBeanz, de heerlijke wijn gesponsord door De Wijnschuur,  de verrukkelijke  zelfgemaakte hapjes en......

..........mede dank zij de grote opkomst, het heerlijke weer, het prachtige monumentale gebouw waar we binnen en buiten onze expositie en fashionshow hebben kunnen houden, is het voor ons een onvergetelijk weekend geworden. Iedereen super bedankt hiervoor.

Ook namens Spierziekten Nederland dank voor uw donatie.

Hartelijke groeten van Dorie, Henny en Sabrina

Thank you all for coming to the exhibition FASHION ART/DESIGN. Thanks to the musical performance of HazBeanz, the wine sponsored by the Wijnschuur, de delicious home made snacks and...
.... thanks to your visit, your reactions, the lovely weather and the beautiful building of the Fort we have had an unforgetable evening. Also thanks from the Spierziekten Nederland for your donation.

Henny Woud
Sabrina Woud
Dorie van Dijk - foto's fashionshow

one show after another....

Time flies.. there is so much to do that I just cannot keep track with the same speed as the clock is ticking. I try to keep my blog updated, but it feels that this is ages ago. Anyway here is the link to a video Bea, one of the models, made of the show at the OBA in Amsterdam on th 11th. July 2013. And ofcourse it feels good that we were in the METRO-paper the next day. It's a photo of the preview with two of my garments, showed by left and Louca (right). The one behind is Asia Prusinowska.

we're in the newspaper Metro!

I'm also part of a weekend exhibition at Fort Galerie in Uithoorn, where Henny Woud shall exhibit her paintings and Sabrina Woud shall lightens her special waterbuoy made from willow branches. I shall open this exhibition on Fridayevening with my own small fashionshow. And although it seems that this is the same show, I have some fears. How to fill  the show and please the audience with the amount of pieces I had made last time. And this show will be totaly on my behalf, no more Horst who can guide it or any other technical assistence as there was at the OBA.  I have some ideas but I just don't know if they works....

my brother is checking the poster of the exhibition and fashionshow

the making of....aw13 collection 'Summer Darkness'

My thoughts with this collection were based on my visit to the event Summer Darkness in Utrecht. Watching the people walking around in black cloths, dreadlocks and heavy black make-up and at the other hand the lolita's in soft girly dresses made me wondering why. Both seems to say 'don't touch me!'. The darkness frigthens people while the sweet girls seemed so fragile. Someone told me that this way of dressing will protects the wearers their soft and gentle innersoul....

I started to design 'something' with crosses, because I was inspired by the music and meeting the leadsanger of Cruxshadows. A cross is a sign of protection againts all evil. Along the way of the proces I learned from Carmen Bolanos to work with the indigoblue. Blue was used in the old English wars as a 'make-up' to protect the soldiers during the fights.

Choosing wool and handmade felt as my medium for making the garments I wanted to use the raw wool from the 'Zwart Bless' (Black Bless), given by my friend-farmer Marie-Josee. To test the possibilities with the raw wool in combination with the silks I made several samples for colourcombinations and textures. I have made the felt by myself and used the wool in many different ways.

The natural handdyed and printed silks worked perfectly for the airy lolita dresses, but also as a nunofelt for the tops and jackets. My sister helped me with sewing the fabrics under the felted dresses.

In my opinion the closure of the garments had to be more industrial. I found metalic elements which are normally used for electricity stuff. Together with rubber strips and rings they formed a good closure on the dark clothes.

In a next post I hope to show you more of the finished garments.

Strongfelt, Lisa Klakulak

Lisa arrived very early at the morning of 19th June 2013. She had some troubles to get the right flights because of some stormy weather in her area. Her suitcases were on another plane and we had to wait for a couple of hours. This gave us the chance to chitchat in the juicebar at Schiphol. It is always a surprise to meet someone who is only known by the internet. In this case a very pleasant surprise. The first thing I learned was to pronounce her name well; the accent is on the KU in her familyname! Lisa is a lovely, talkative person and my family and I had a good click with her.

Lisa was happy with the workshop-space and prepaired the needs for the participants for the 2 workshops with partial felts in 3D and nunofelt creations. She works very structured and her approach to the proces or feltmaking is very unique. Her Strongfelt analises make a lot of sense to the students.

The group of students in both classes came from many countries, like Gemany, England, Tsjechie, Belgium, Israel, Denmark, Austria and ofcourse some from the Netherlands too. They learned a lot for sure. Bringing the big world to my humble atelier makes it all worthwhile.  

In the next few days I shall post little by little about each other event that took place at my atelier and I shall talk about my own collection 'Summer Darkness' this year.

'GATHERING'

A special Gathering with 4 international designers giving a spectactular fashionshow on the 11th July 2013 at the OBA in Amsterdam, just before the official fashionweek in Amsterdam will start. There will be a preview at 19.00 hrs with a small talk about the works. At 20.00-21.00 hrs their will be the show in the theatre. Buy your tickets online at www.OBA.nl to be sure of a seat.

The designers are SheverDuska aka Tatiana Sheverda, Asia Prusinowska, Dorie van Dijk and Horst van Horst Couture. The connecting factor is wool and felt! They will tell you about their passion and motivation for their new collection 2013. And I can tell you that each of us has made such a different collection!!!

Asia Prusinowska (Poland, living in the UK) - Memoir
Tatiana Sheverda (Russia, living in Australia) - Galactic Garden
Dorie van Dijk (the Netherlands) - Summer Darkness
Horst (USA) - New Origins

Except for the works of the designers there also will be shown the stunning works made by 4 upcoming designers in the classes Horst has been teaching the past week.
The works will be shown by some lovely models at the music of Cruxshadows.

See you, hope you all will be part of the GATHERING!!!!!!!!!!

Meeting her Majesty Margo Duke

We were honored to have Her Majestety Margo Duke herself around for two special workshops about making flowerfelts with needlepunch machine and construction a felted fascinator. Her creations are very colourfull and so rich in texture and details. It was a great time together and we all learned new things about using a needlepunch machine.

In the fascinator class we had the choice in the many feathers and other decorations Margo took with her. So much fun to make this for in your hair!

High Team Time with Pamela MacGregor from the USA

Pamela MacGregor and her table full of equipment

Pam arrived very early in the morning on mothersday and after a good day rest she was ready to discover first some parts of the Netherlands. Totaly refreshed we started on the 17th May with a group of 12 ladies. Most of them were from the Netherlands, but there were also three members of the board of the Irish Felt Assiociation with us.

interesting handle for an interesting teapot made by Pam

This was a masterclass with so many possibilities and with outstanding results. Pam had brought some beautiful teapots and there was for every student a 'goodiebag'. As an experienced teacher she showed us all kind of tools, most of time found at the DIYshop or toolshop, or self-developed and handmade. Every daily and common object or houseware was useful. Even in our greenhouses she grabbed some stuff to use it for making the pots. Her eye is never resting!!!

Anne building up the layers for her bumps teapot

A teapot is about the body, the sprout, the handle and the stopper. And with these basics you can play. Pam brought many designs with her, but we had to make our own. And after showing the design you could choose the pattern that was going with it. I enjoyed watching the developments of the participants in making the pots. I couldn't resist the offer the next day to make myself one too. On saturdaymorning Pam had prepared me a table with all the equipment so I was able to start immediately. My sister prepared the lunch for that day, so I could spend all day making the teapot with 'must-go' wool.

colourful Punam working on the fish in the teapot 

The best is to work with wool that makes good and hard finishing skin for sculptures. The techniques Pam showed are not only usefull for making teapots, but can be helpfull in any fantasy sculpture or pot you want to make. Pam likes to finish the work as she would with ceramics. Kneding and petting to get it very, very strong and the bottom as hard as concrete. At home it can take her many days to reach that level, without any hardener or stiffener.

Minka working on the finishing touch for her Dutch flowerpot

my own attempt in making a teapot before final finishing.

It was a challenge for Pam to work with us, because we all had different kind of wools and designs. But at the end of the three days the results were fabulous and a real high tea worth. Thanks Pam for sharing your knowledge and experience. There are still some 'must-go' wool with me to make some more pots and I'm looking forward to the special 'Dorie' pot you will make soon....

the red hot chilli teapot of Karen is taking a siesta..

In a next post I will show all the results!

Tangled up in Blue with Carmen Bolanos

shibori sample made by Carmen Bolanos

We have been looking forward to this workshop, dyeing blue with Indigo and making designs with the Shibori techniques. Carmen Bolanos has been working with Indigo in El Salvador for a long time. What started as a pilotproject is now a structural way of living to a lot of people in El Salvador. She started to show us a big sample where she had made different designs with typical Shibori stitching as a resist. During the morning we all worked on our own sample.

dip in the indigo dyepot

After lunch the big play started. Again Carmen explained in a lovely mix of English-Dutch how to make designs, but this time using clamps, boards, pipes and many other things as a resist. It was just at the second day that she learned us how to make an indigovat by ourselves. Carmen has her own recipe for the vat, learned from the Japanese Indigo master. Her favourite is the one where you use fructose for reducing. It will take you some more time to use it, but it will give you a longer profit.

simple resist can give great results!

fabric dyed and designed by Marianne Hauser

fabrics of different students

The fabrics made on this day became bigger and bigger, we all get the hang of it and couldn't hardly stop At the end of the day Carmen showed us how to make a flowerpaste-resist and how to make a paint of indigo. Something to experiment with at home. All students went home with a bag full of indigo-dyed fabrics, enough to give their home and body a make-over!

my own small experiment with a flowerpaste-resist

  

Show must go on!

The show must go on, to start with a full week Diana Nagorna from the Ukraine!

showmodels of Diana Nagorna's dresses

dress made of only wool by Diana Nagorna, 18 April 2013

I was in such a good flow, having good idea's and I could handle all the stress. Untill that split of a second. Hubby was hanging up the last lamp in our renewed atelier and asked me for my 'approval'. I made a turn, didn't lift up my foot (probably because of my distrophy) overbend my knee and before I knew I was swimming on the ground. After two days I went to a doctor and the photo showed a broken ankle. It needed surgery with 7 screws, 1 pin and a plate and 2 nights hospital. Plus 4 weeks no walking. And this all happened two weeks ago, just before the season with all my guests. Now way to cancel this because of such a thing. So I decided to go on, to start with as first Diana Nagorna, a week full of felting and demonstration.

one of the participants showing the dress Diana Nagorna made on the first day

Diana's work is one of a kind. She started feltmaking a couple of years ago and she developped her own style. She is talented with skills and creativity. She knows how to flower a woman's body, the quality of her felt is superb and the finishing of the garments are perfect. Her sensitivity for the right colours are tremendous.

particpants are 'testing' the quality of the felt of the jacket Diana Nagorna

In the seminars Diana has showed her secrects how to make a dress, which fits as a handglove and she demonstrated a complex jacket with a hoodie and shibori. She shared her knowledge and her patterns. In the workshop she teached how to make a felted scarf with bumps and fringes. All participants were very satisfied. One student went home after the first day and came back on the last seminar with two finished dresses! Another student had worked on one sleeve untill the middle of the night to test the way Diana is working. Some students worked the whole evening to get felted the hundreds of fringes.

happy students with their finished scarves workshop Diana Nagorna 19, 20 April 2013

It was such a great privilege and pleasure to have Diana as a guest during these days. I also want to thank Natalia, for translating all the technical explaination and being a helping hand during the days.
I'am still sitting in a wheelchair, there are a couple of weeks to go before I may walk, but with the help of my family the show will go on. Thanks to them too!

lovely group with particpants from all over the world, 2days seminar Diana Nagorna 21-22 April 2013

Bluetiful Blue with Carmen Bolanos

Last weekend it was raining all saturday. If Carmen Bolanos wasn't visiting me I probably had been sitting down and doing nothing. But now we had a great day dyeing with indigo! I heated the woodburner at the workplace and nothing could stop us from working. Last time we were together we had a pH-issue. Carmen wanted to solve this problem so badly that she drove 2hours by train to test it again. She wants to get it perfect for the upcoming workshop at the 26th and 27th April, 2013. And after testing and re-viving the vat we got two perfect vats. One made with hydrosulfiet and one with fructose. It is realyy magic how the green change into blue! We have tested several kind of fabrics like wool, fauxfurcotton, silk, linen, cheescloth, nettleyarn and flaxgarn. We tried to make some Itayime and even an open weave as cheescloth it worked very nice. 

I know there are springholidays for most of the dutchies and maybe they will be abroad. But for those who wants to visit Europe and our beautifull country, this workshop at the 26th and 27th April 2013 could be a perfect combination for sightseeings and creatings. My atelier is located close to Amsterdam and there are lovely B&B in our countryside. The partners can go for a golfclinic at the golf-centre which is at a distance of 5 km. 

Vorige week zaterdag regende het de hele dag. Maar dat deerde ons niet. Carmen Bolanos had twee uur in de trein gezeten om de verfbaden met indigo weer tot leven te blazen. Bij een warm gestookte kachel stonden ze al klaar. De vorige keer in november 2012 kregen we de pH niet goed op orde. En nu met de methode die ze al jarenlang gebruikt lukte het wel. Carmen gebruikt indigo uit El Salvador, de beste die er is volgens haar japanse indigo-docent. We hebben diverse stoffen en garens geverfd van licht naar donker.  Het is iedere keer weer een wonder hoe het van groen naar blauw veranderd. De workshop zal hier plaatsvinden op 26 en 27 april as. Behalve hoe je een bad maakt, leer je ook allerlei handige tips hoe je zo'n bad controleert en weer nieuw leven in kunt blazen. Ook zal er geexperimenteerd worden met het maken van dessins in de Itayime-techniek. Voor informatie zie het tabblad hierboven.