BEARS, BEARS. BEARS -

On my last entry I showed some of my Teddy Bear collection and mentioned that my daughter Joan makes stuffed toys. This picture is a sampling of some of her work. Two Rabbits and one Teddy Bear.

This is Barnaby. He is mohair and ultra suede.
A lovely boy!

This closeup shows his nose and cheeks.

They are done with needle felting.

He wears his hat but his vest is still on the

sewing machine.

This is Roxanne - she is mohair and

velvet - unfortunately her clothes are not

ready for her to don.

This is Murphy. He is made of Alpaca and

has a needle felted pink nose. He gets a large top hat

that his ears fit through.

Joan has been unable to find dyed roving in the colors that she needs to complete the needle felting of noses, cheeks and embellishing items for her bears. She has solicited my help with this problem since I am the dyer in the family. I in turn asked my friend Pat Wenger about the use of roving and she kindly offered to give me roving to experiment with.

The large ball of roving is what Pat graciously

gave me. The packet, which contains 12" of

is what Joan purchased on the internet

for $2.25. Big difference!

I was told that the trick with dyeing roving was not

to let it felt. That it is much more "tender" than

woven wool. Sooo, I soaked it overnight with a tablespoon

of salt in the soak water, in the hopes that the

pores would open,

The end result was to be pink that could be used

for noses and cheeks. I decided to treat the roving as tho it was

wool strips that I was dip dyeing. I used a shallow pan

and very little dye since I wanted to make four

shades of pink.

Dipping a piece in the shallow pan.

After dipping and getting the desired shade, I removed the

roving and put it in a pan of clear water with vinegar. When all

four shades had been dyed I then simmered the four shades

together for 30 minutes. When I say simmer, I mean just barely a boil bubble in the water. A very low simmer!

After 30 minutes I turned the burner off and let the wool sit in the pan 4 hours until the water was completely cold. I then rinsed it using

the sprayer hose on the sink and using the "smell test" to make sure

that all of the vinegar was rinsd out.

Here is the finished product. I did not squeeze the roving dry - instead I let it drip by laying it across the bars of my drying rack
out in the yard. After a few hours on a sunny day
I brought it inside and let it finish drying in my laundry room.
I am pleased to note that it did not felt and that Joan
was very pleased with the results.

I have come to the conclusion that I need to know more about needle felting. This is a skill that I have little knowledge of. I am now aware of how little is used to make noses and cheeks. I probably dyed enough pink roving for 100 noses and cheeks! I realize now that I was thinking in terms of dyeing swatches for rug hooking and I need to change my perspective if I am to continue to dye roving. Joan has asked me to dye "flower colors" so that she can do some nice embellishment for the bears and rabbits. This is a new experience for me and one that I am looking forward to perfecting.

If anyone can recommend a good book on needle felting I would appreciate it. After all, we are never to old to learn!

Have a great weekend everyone. This is the Saturday that the Boonsboro chaper of ATHA meets at the library and I plan to attend. Hope everyone is having a hooking good time!

Doris