I've had to split my blog post about these little rockpool magnets into two different posts because I have literally HUNDREDS of photos of them and we'll be here for years if I waffle on around all of these photos. They are just so photogenic - although a little hard to photograph sometimes, my camera doesn't always want to focus on the areas I would like it to so some images are a little fuzzy. That doesn't stop me trying to photograph them though!
I started these on the 10th April (thank you Instagram) although the plan for them had started a few weeks earlier as I had to order in the little hoops for them to go in before I started. The reason for making these has got lost since it popped into my head so I can't remember why I wanted to make them, other than I was donated a lot of tiny little shells which I wanted to use in a creative project. A lot of the shells had holes in which was just fantastic as it means you can use them more as sequins and apply less surface stitching to attach them down.
With the craft hoops that I use (the same ones for my
embroidered flower pendants) there are three parts to the hoop. They aren't mean to actually be stitched in, more for decorative craft purposes, so the outer 'hoop' is laser cut into shape with two little sticky-up bits for the screw to go through, there is a slightly chunkier wooden inner piece cut to fit inside this hoop and then a thinner wooden piece designed to be glued onto the back of the hoop. Holes are drilled into the sticky-up bits for your screw.
I tend to buy mine off
Ebay (they usually come from China) but they are still quite expensive for what they are - and even more expensive if you find them in shops here in the UK! Ideally I need to find someone who can laser cut the shapes for me at a better cost price then I would be able to have these sorts of hoops as a kit, wouldn't that be great?
To make the filling for these hoops I get a much bigger actual hoop with some thin calico in and draw around the inner wooden piece from the hoop set, leaving gaps between each one to allow for a cutting line. This drawn line then becomes my 'safe sew zone' and I can fill it with whatever I like! In this case I went through some of my seaside fabrics and cut off small pieces to cover my space, then added some shells to each of them before going round again and adding bits of jute twine, fancy yarns, scrim, silk throwsters waste....whatever I could find in my stash that looked like it would work in a rockpool setting. To make them appear more watery I added tons of beads so that each one sparkles and catches the light, finishing it off with french knots and some bullion knot barnacles.
Every single one is different, which I absolutely love! The techniques and layout may be the same on some of them but the colours are different and the trimmings are different, and the shells all have their own unique personalities. Plus a story that we'll never know!
I don't actually know who gave me these shells, they were all laid out on my desk in the office when I went back to my day job after being furloughed and then working from home. No one has come forward to reveal themselves as the shell fairy so I don't even know which beaches they come from!
When stitching the fabric down for each magnet, you can see in these photos that I roughly tacked around the shape of the drawn line, much like I do for my Stitchscape Pebbles. It makes it so much easier to pick up and put down without everything falling off and you can prep it all in advance as well; so add all of the fabrics, then add all of the shells, then go round individually and add your extra things on top. It doesn't look particularly neat at this stage but I love it when the tacking stitches come off, the shapes are cut out (with a seam allowance) and suddenly it's looking more like the finished thing and all comes together.
I did have one shell disaster though so I ended up with one less than I was hoping for. Most of the shells were pretty sturdy, but I used up more shells than I was given and ended up rootling around in my own collection for some more. This one was just too delicate and when I stitched some green yarn over the top of it and went to tie off my thread at the back I must have pushed slightly too hard and the shell cracked!
I do at least have a new excuse to go to the beach as I am clean out of tiny useable shells but I have lots more wooden hoops still to use!
To put them in the hoop you make running stitch all around the edge of the trimmed piece (I like to layer up a felt piece and the wooden section to make sure I get the height of the stitches right), then take the centre wooden section you drew around, pop that in the centre with the felt and pull the stitches so that the fabric gathers everything up. For the oval shapes I had to do little triangle snips around the ends to reduce the bulk at either side as well.
Once it's all gathered you squeeze that into the hoop, which will open up slightly to make it easier, and add the screw to tighten it all together. Previously I've had to use my fingers to tighten it all which took ages but this time I was prepared and borrowed a super tiny screwdriver to make it easier!
I have to say that the holes for the screw to go through aren't always very nicely executed with these hoops. More often than not they don't line up properly or have caused small cracks, which is fine as they are only decorative, and add a certain charm to the piece, but it would be nice if the screw could go in at a straight angle! It's not just the seller that I bought these from but I find it with quite a few of the sellers I've found it just seems to be a thing that because it's so mass produced. Time and attention to detail isn't so great.
Once I've got it all tightened up, I use gorilla glue to glue on the back wooden panel to make it all lovely and neat, holding the pieces together with pegs overnight to make sure it sets tightly. I have tiny little circular magnets that have a super sticky side which then glue on to the back and voila!
Cuteness overload.
No comments:
Post a Comment