Eco friendly felted accessories by EthicStyle

I love felting for its eco friendliness and beauty. Felted items are created out of basic materials like wool, water and soap. They radiate positive energy as natural warmth. While felting an artist doesn't add any special glues or additives. The process is very straightforward and, yet, it's not easy to turn a piece of wool into an art object. The simplicity of the process is very deceptive. I've recently discovered a really cool artist Svetlana of EthicStyle who creates unique and fun looking felted accessories.



Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I was born in Latvia in a small city by the sea. I live in Germany now and create felted accessories and home decor items. I love to experiment with wool creating bags, shoes, jewelry, toys, etc. All my items are made of pure wool. I love minimalism, natural and eco friendly materials, comfort and quality. I try to create items that are different and unique.



How did you start?
I've been designing and hand making items pretty much all my working life. After I had my daughter I picked up felting. I thought it would be nice for my daughter to have unique toys that nobody else has. Wool is an amazing fiber. It's soft, comfy and durable. It turned out to be a perfect material to make baby toys. I was completely fascinated by wool as it gives an artist so much freedom to create and experiment.



What inspires you?
I'm inspired my Japanese minimalism. I like it for its simplicity, elegance and perfection. I love nature especially in the autumn and spring when air is so transparent. I love the sea. It's amazing to walk by the sea barefoot stepping on warm sand.

My daughter brings a lot of joy into my life. Her phrases that start with: "mom, did you know that..." make me wonder and think about many things that surround us. I discover and learn so much when I'm with her.



What fibers do you work with?
I only use natural fibers such as undyed merino wool, alpaca wool, silk and plant's fibers. All my children toys are stuffed with wool exclusively.
All items made of wool feel so special when held in one's arms.

Art dolls by MioPupazzo

Art dolls are one of a kind objects that bring back memories of our childhood. Art dolls made by MioPupazzo are tiny fairy creatures that belong to our favorite fairy tales books. I was curious to know more about MioPupazzo and her beautiful art.



Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
I was born and raised in a loving family in one of the most beautiful cities in the world - St. Petersburg, Russia. The city is famous for its tsars' palaces turned into world class museums and parks.

From an early age I often visited such places as the Hermitage museum or Peterhof known for their architecture and beauty. Almost every weekend my mom took me to a museum. My favorite one was a museum of decorative and applied arts.

As beautiful as St. Petersburg is, its climate is not that welcoming. In 2003 I moved to warm and sunny Israel on the Mediterranean coast, where there is no snow at all. My new country and a different climate somehow changed me. I became a much more open and outgoing person. In Israel I met a lot of wonderful people and found something I fell in love with - making art dolls.



How did you start?
I graduated from St. Petersburg (Russia) Technical University with a major in material science and engineering. After graduation I worked in a patent office and that's where I met an amazing and very creative person. This lady taught classes on papier-mâché and had her shows at different art galleries. Inspired my her I made a few toys and participated in a Christmas show in 2000 in St-Petersburg. That was how my interest in dolls and handmade craft got to a totally different level.

When I just started creating dolls I experimented a lot. I tried every possible doll-making material. These days I mostly work with paper clay. In the beginning I made all kinds of traditional clothes for my dolls. Later my love for patchwork and dolls merged and I evolved my own signature style of tiny crazy quilting dolls dresses. I love the fact that my work is so tiny. Typically, fabric art works are done on a large scale - big wall panel or a quilt. I create the same layered textured effect but in tiny dolls' dresses and soft sculptures.



What are you working on know and what are your plans for the future?
I've been working with an American publisher C&T Publishing for two years. Together we have created a wonderful book “Enchanting Art Dolls & Soft Sculptures”, which will be published this summer. It's actually already available for pre-order on Amazon. In my book I talk about the technique of embroidery “crazy quilting” and the creation of dolls. There are 8 unique projects including a beautiful mermaid, a fantasy fish, an elegant princess, and a sweet teddy bear with step by step photos.

Last year I switched to the creation of small brooches-dolls. They are very cute! Dolls could be used as brooches or decorations for a purse. One can turn my brooches into an ornament or a home decor item.

I've recently came up with an idea of creating crazy quilted letters. Letters are very unusual and elegant. I'm not sure I’ll be able to recreate all alphabet letters though. I've already made “L” ,“O”, “V” ,and “E”.



What inspires you?
I love collecting old photos, especially those with small children and their toys. Girls in aprons with their beautifully dressed dolls or boys on rocking horses offer a lot of ideas for my art dolls. Also I have a huge collection of small decorative keys that inspires me in my creative process.

Nursing teething crocheted necklaces by Julia Ermakovich

I came across teething and nursing crocheted necklaces looking for a baby shower gift for a friend. What a great idea! These necklaces are made of natural materials and I especially like the combination of plain wooden beads and crochet. Julia Ermakovich is an artist who creates bright and happy necklaces to entertain moms and their babies. I’m glad I had a chance to talk to her and ask her a few questions about herself and her art of making nursing necklaces.



Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
I live in Moscow, Russia. Up until recently I’ve been working in a bank full time and had limited time for my family and my crocheting business. A month ago I quit and am now fully engaged in developing my business and enjoying my family and friends. So it’s all about crocheting now.



How did you start?
As long as I remember myself I’ve always been knitting and crocheting. First it was making items for my dolls and later for myself and my friends. Some 7 or 8 years ago reading a fashion magazine I came across pictures of crocheted necklaces. I decided to try as necklaces looked super stylish and cool. Besides it’s much easier to crochet a necklace than a man’s sweater!

It took me some time to figure our the technique and come up with the right design though. I started with making necklaces for my girl friends as gifts. People started taking about my necklaces and I got my first custom orders. It was great as with money earned through sales I could by more supplies and afford to try new materials and techniques.

About four years ago a friend of mine asked me to make her a necklace that would color match a sling and a baby carrier for her new born baby. Thus, a nursing and teething necklace was born!



What inspires you?
I make a lot of customs orders and my clients often share their ideas and designs with me. My clients' fantasy and imagination is unbelievable. They inspire me to create new designs and come up with new color patterns.

I’m a very eco conscious person and I am always looking for new eco-friendly materials that I could use in my nursing necklaces. There are so many products that are made of organic and natural fibers that we don’t know much about! Every time I come across a new fabric or a new fiber I feel a need to incorporate them into my designs. I’ve recently discovered buttons made of coconuts. They look great and are very nice to handle!



What are you most popular items?
It all depends on what group of my clients we are talking about. Sometimes young moms are looking for something to wear every day. I make them necklaces of neutral color combinations that are less flashy and bright.

If my clients are looking for something to entertain their babies with I make necklaces bright and happy. I can add a crocheted animal or a wooden ring to make the necklace more attractive for a child.

Thank you, Julia!

How to dye in green with blue and yellow drink mixes

Since I bought Kool Aid brink mix in blue raspberry I now have all prime colors I need for dyeing. I am eager to start experimenting with mixing different colors and creating new ones. My first experiment will be in mixing a bright green color. We will need one pack of yellow drink mix. For that we can use lemon Kool Aid. In addition we will need a blue drink mix and blue raspberry Kool Aid works just fine.

I mix both drinks in a plastic container. It makes sense to first make a yellow mix and start slowly adding blue drink mix into the container with yellow water. Keep stirring for colors to mix well. I suggest you do it slowly so that you can control the hue of green and stop when you think the color of the mix is the one you are looking for. I've noticed that for a pack of yellow mix I used about 2/3 the blue one.

I dyed my hand felted white wool pieces in the mixture of two drinks and got brightly colored green stripes.
Now it's time to turn them into something nice and beautiful. I assembled white and green pieces of wool on a base that I hand crocheted from jute earlier. The green color turned out to be even better than I've expected. It's a true positive and happy green. The brooch is bright and vivid making it a great accessory.

Bright canary brooch hand crocheted from jude

I'm currently experimenting with different materials and techniques. The new material I recently discovered is jute which is a yarn made of natural and vegetable fibers. It's pretty sturdy and rough but looks great when combined with elegant and light lace or soft and cozy wool.

The neutral color of jute works well with bright and vivid yellow, orange and blue colors. The brooch I created is an ideal accessory for spring and summer so I'll definitely keep experimenting with combining jute with other materials.

Hand crafting at home

Hand crafting is a great way to relieve stress and to spend some time creating unique and beautiful art pieces. The result usually looks amazing and all the relatives and friends end up catching the same crafting bug. Be it crocheting, felting, beading or yarn hand spunning it will all make you happy and feel a real artists and craftsman.

We all have spare supplies of buttons, glass and plastic beads, yarn and threads in our homes. They are stuck somewhere in the basement or deep inside our closets.
I encourage you to go and find them! You will be amazed by all the treasures you find in your house!

When I was small I loved to sort my mom's buttons she inherited from her granny. They were so shiny and colorful, of different shapes and sizes! I loved the glass buttons the most. In the sun the light would go through them and make everything around shine! Look for a few glass beads and buttons in your house! You might find some vintage pieces that are priceless!

After you dig out all the treasures it's time to start crafting. Every person is different. Some like the feel and touch of yarn and fiber and, thus, enjoy knitting, crocheting and yarn spinning. Some like vivid and bright colors of beads and are eager to spend hours beading and wire wrapping. It's actually fun to try everything possible craft and technique as you never know what you fall in love with at the end.
The result of hand crafting will always be unique and rewarding. It's such a joy to end up with a beautiful necklace or a cool hand knitted scarf.

I beg you not to waste your spare time at home! An hour or two of crocheting and beading will make you feel better! I promise!:)
I was myself inspired by an example of Ira Rott who has recently made her first hand spun yarn. It's an exciting process you should definitely try! It’s next on my personal list of home crafting techniques.

Crocheted flower brooch in blue

I stopped by a supplies store last week and picked up some really cool yarn in blue and its different shades and hues. The yarn is very pleasant to touch, soft and stylish. As a result I crocheted a flower brooch in blue with white hand felted bead in the middle. It looks great of lightly colored outfits. The brooch can be worn on outdoor coats as it's rather durable.