Friday, December 14, 2007

The steampunk watch.

I was thinking about watches the other day as the steampunk forums were going crazy about some new skeleton watches that were out on the market. A skeleton watch for those not in the know is a watch in which the movement is visible. But the new watches they were discussing.... not cheap by any means, so I hit ebay. I actually wanted a transitional wristwatch with a top crown. Before the wristwatch became what it is today, they used to take pocketwatches and mount loops on the case for a band to pass through. Then when a pilot or airship captain needed to check the time, he did not need to take his hand off the wheel to check his pocket watch. But when I saw the prices on the ones I could find.... my rememberances of wayward youth started to de-frost/fog and I remembered my old pop swatches.

They had a top crown because you coud pop them out of the holder and wear them as a pocket watch or a lapel watch if you had the clips for that. And they made skeleton movements. So after ripping my storage closet apart trying to find my old classic, ebay awaited.Eight bucks later (with shipping) I had an eighties (that's 19-80s for you jokers out there) flashback sitting on my desk. A skeletonized one at that. But what to do with it? It didn't really look all that steampunk at this point. WeeeeeeL....Needlefelting to the rescue!



I figured that if you were up in a cold gondola under a big explosive bag of gas you would probably want something warm. But this is only the beginning. I found a website that I can buy old pop swatches from europe. What I am going to do is use this as the band but the watch is going to be a pocketwatch. There is a retro popswatch that looks like an old train conductors watch that will go on this band. Why two watches you ask?

The wristwatch will be set to greenwich mean time, the pocketwatch to local.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Back for more.

I have new roving. Nylon of all things. It will needle to itself and other items, providing the ability to create jewel and luster tones. It is neat stuff. I have:
Jade

Gingerbread
and Stormy Sea
The pictures don't really do justice to them. but you can do effects like I did on this pouch with them and it looks VERY deco if not tiffany studio-esque.

Friday, November 23, 2007

ugh.

I have a problem.

I keep giving people stuff before I have a chance to take pictures of it. I need to get a small, cheap, digital camera to keep in my work bag. What is the use of this blog thing if I can't post pictures of what I'm doing?

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Nell's camera case

This just happened to fit her camera perfectly. And her birthday was coming up...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!

I knit.

I have been assimilated.

Resistance was futile.


Damn, Damn it to heck.


At least now I can have a greater colour choice with what I am doing. It will allow for stronger projects as well (in theory).

Plus, I learned today that I can needle felt applique on a cotton hoodie. Yea for books!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

small stuff...bigger


My second bag is just a bit bigger. Same technique. To get the finer lines for outlining, I "unplied" the yarn and used single or double plies in places. The brown corner is where I demoed the technique for someone at Knitch. Oh well. I use it as a tool bag.

Small stuff


My first small bag. I wanted something that looked like a printed circutboard. This was a test of colour really. I think it will work. The lines are wool yarn, again. My first attempt at felting the seams shut as well.

The bag


This is going to be a messenger bag when I get done with it. The picture shows the front flap.

My first major project is going to be mostly applique work (at least that's what I call this) so I wanted to see how it worked on a larger scale. The base is a russian 100% wool army blanket i purchased.

The central design is supposed to be a dorje, a buddhist thunderbolt. I did it from memory, freehand, if that explains why.
Second attempt... same as the first!
The small circles on this and project one are actually small balls I felted on. I needle felted the base and then did the purple. black outline on this is black wool yarn. On the first it is actually pulled roving.
On with the project pics...

Attempt one:

I basically wanted to just get used to the material. It isn't anything specific.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Oh, well.

Well, I finally have enough roving that I had to reorganize my bag and take some out. I also removed some tools that I really don't use much now. I'll guess I'll just have to put together a demo bag or something....

Oh, shucks.

I am so put out (tee hee).


My problem is that I love this woman's roving, but you can only purchase it in a 2 oz. multi colour pack. Only ONE colour series has the red I want.

http://www.leighradford.com/wool2Cart.html

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Inspiration



I have always admired the work of Leon Bakst(1866-1924), a Russian painter, costumer, and set designer. Probably most famous for his work with Ballets Russes on the set and costume design for Scherherezade, I would really like to be able to become good enough to produce some of his patterns in my work.

For examples see:

My photobucket album:

http://s57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/iaymael/Leon%20Bakst/

And Fine Art Museums of San Francisco Image Base:

http://search.famsf.org:8080/search.shtml?artist=Bakst

Friday, November 2, 2007

First time

Screw gentle. Dive in headfirst, that's me!

Well, apparently this is the inaugural post of the Third Steppe from the Left.

I have to apolgize beforehand...I have never been good at this journaling thing.

But as EVERYBODY seems to do this now a days...Bandwagon!

This is mostly going to be felting projects and the odd "other" projects page. I getting sick of myspace, and most everyone I know has sort of grown out of it. SO....

Here I is.

Teehee.