May

It is June 1st, so it is time to reveal the May vessel!

I conceived of the idea for May early in the month but just never got around to doing the vessel until just the other day.

When felting with a flat pattern, which is how I make my vessels, you have to be very careful about how you work the edges. If you rub too hard, too quickly, you can end up with something that looks like Saturn, with a rim around the center instead of a smooth, round form. I thought that I would take this idea and push it a little.

Here is the beginning. I started by laying out what would be the bottom and adding a piece of bubble wrap into which I had cut a circle. This was laid down and a rim of fleece was added to make what would hopefully be a ruffle. The flat pattern was then put down and more fleece added.

Then more layers of bubble wrap and more fleece. You can see that there are quite a few layers here!

I wet everything down and felted. And felted. And rubbed. And felted. And so on and so on and so on...... There were a few areas that burst their seams and required some patching. And more felting.

Here is the final vessel. I will be honest in saying that it was not quite what I was expecting. I was hoping that it would end up being taller and the ruffles a little more...well...ruffly!

I was hoping to get something reminiscent of a Spanish dancer and ended up with a sumo wrestler playing dress up.

I think that this is an idea that wants to be revisited in the future.