craftlog

Advent 3: gocco

I’ve been wanting to do a thick felt ornament for a couple of years now, after getting a lovely felt snowflake tied to a package from Anthropologie. I also experimented with gocco printing on felt a while back, too. Then I bought this wonderful ornament from wonderland Q, and I knew I had to do it. I’ve got yeti on the brain lately, and yetis seem suitably winter-related, right? Unfortunately, I can’t draw a yeti, so I traced an image from this guy’s gallery. I emailed him a few days ago asking for permission, but I haven’t gotten a reply yet. Hopefully he doesn’t mind.

I have been unable to find a supplier for thick felt (anybody know of a place? I desperately need some for a different project), so I fused together 3 layers of wool blend felt to get the thickness and body. Even though it’s pretty think, my fabric shears had no problem with it. The hanger is just rayon embroidery thread. I like the rayon thread because it’s shiny.

Various pieces of gocco advice: Burning masters from tracing paper doesn’t work. The paper bubbled, leaving unburned pock marks. It’s easier if you print on a single layer of felt, then fuse extra layers to it. Felt likes to stick to the screen, and the single layers peeled off with less smudging than the triples. I used the ink for paper for this because I didn’t have any blue fabric ink, plus I made my Xmas cards with the same design. Worked fine. Finally, sad news that Riso is going to stop making goccos! And they only have enough supplies for 3 more years! One more thing to add to my Christmas list.

So, I got a little carried away making these. The craft room is currently hosting a veritable army of yetis. I’m swapping one for this awesome tiny sweater made by Wise Craft, and I think I’ll send another one to wonderland Q since her ornament inspired me to make these. A few are going in lieu of cards to various people. And of course I’ll keep some for myself. I think that leaves about 20 unaccounted for. So, if you’d like to trade for one, send me an email: craftlog [at] huangfamily [dot] com I’m game for pretty much anything: ornaments, buttons, trims, craft supplies, whatever.

No more yetis, they’re all spoken for. Thanks!