Ancient Paths New Visions

Ancient Paths New Visions is the theme for this years Convergence 2010 and the Designing Weavers theme as well. I started off wanting to explore a little Shibori dyeing, since felting is already an ancient. Shibori is the Japanese term for resist dyeing using threading, bunching, clamping, and today's tie dye techniques are based on these methods. I first made a large piece of felt using C-1 wool and started to sew threads.I used embroidery thread that I had, it was strong enough and only broke a few when I was pulling them.

Dyeing was the next challenge, originally it was going to go with a friend piece that she was working on, but I couldn't get the vibrant colors that she had in her weaving, so I went with colors that I would like. Purple, green & yellow
I didn't really like the colors so I re-folded the felt in the opposite direction, tied it so the folds would stay and added a brown dye.
Now for the fun part, I made a pair of boots! I didn't take pictures of the process, but here are the finished boots.


With my ancient techniques of Felting and Shibori, my new vision is a wearable pair of boots.

My Shoes

These are some of my shoes. Clockwise from upper left:

Blue Clogs uppers made from a Merino wool & Tencel blend custom dyed for me by Chameleon Colorworks. They have an all leather sole that I made by gluing several layers together, they are a lasted shoe. Hand felted flowers

Brown Polka Dots are hand made felt uppers with a hand stitched edge, the shoes are lasted with a custom Vibram sole and tied with ribbon.

Last, but not least, my HGTV That's Clever Shoes! This is my "Hero" pair, which is my totally finished pair made from the same Merino wool & Tencel blend from Chameleon Colorworks. They are also lasted with ribbon ties.

Belts

Hand made Merino wool felt, sewn to a brown leather backing. Matching felt attached to the metal buckle. The buckle is also removable making the belts reversible, why you'd want to do that I don't know, but it's an option! Both belts are 2 3/4" wide, Blue belt is adjustable from 40-45", Brown belt is adjustable from 30-35".

Hand felted sequined lace over wool bag. The bag is autumnal colors of browns, oranges, greens & reds.This large bag measuring 14" tall X 15" wide at the top. The strap is brown leather with the same felt sewn onto it and attached with vintage belt buckles. The strap drop is 21" and is meant to be worn across the body. The lining has a pocket and is hand dyed Hemp fabric with a magnetic closure. SOLD