Etsy Shop for RedSuedeKitten

Felt Bead Necklace - Bee Sting Smudge

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:46:32 -0500

$60.00
A necklace made from sushi style felt beads that have been double felted - once by hand and then in the washing machine. This creates a wonderful, soft, slightly blurry or "smudged" effect on the layers of felt in each bead. The colours also fleck into each other a little from this process, making the colours more muted.

This piece is in my Bee Sting colourway: yellow, gold, dark brown, black and accents of bright red. I also have a Felt Cloud brooch for sale in my shop in this colourway.

The necklace has a crocheted chain made of Colinette Jitterbug yarn in red, brown and black tones. It fastens with a crocheted loop and a bright red, hand felted ball. Australian merino tops has been used to create all the felt in this piece.

This is a versatile piece. You can wear the necklace with the beads flat against your skin, or you can swivel the beads round on the thread to mix up the angles a little (see the last picture).

The beads range in size from approximately 1/2 - 7/8 inch wide or 1.2 cm to 2.4 cm. The length of the entire piece (end to end) is approx. 24 inches or 61 cm.

All red suede kitten items are one of a kind - no two are ever the same due to the handmade processes used. They are all based on original designs by Melita White.

This piece has taken several hours to create by hand.

Buckle Bug Brooch - Pearl Angel

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:46:32 -0500

$28.00
Buckle Bug Brooches were born when red suede kitten realised she had a huge glut of fancy buckles and buttons waiting to be made into something, well... delightful.

These bugs are happy little creatures. Like the Felt Clouds they are colourful, odd little creations, and are ultra original too! Wearing a Buckle Bug will make you and others smile.

Each bug is unique and completely one-of-a-kind. They are made from plastic buckles and buttons (sometimes vintage, sometimes new and interesting) and layers of colourful felt and fabric.

They come in luscious colour combinations too.

This Buckle Bug comes in shades of white, soft pink and mauve. The wings are made from layers of mauve, grey and soft pink felt. Pearl Angel bug has fabulous fabric accents in white, grey and bronze tones on top of her wings.

Pearl Angel's body is made from an extra large, white, textured buckle with pointy ends. Her eyes are made from a pair of vintage, translucent buttons with sparkly silver bits on them. The brooch fastens with a sturdy pin on the back.

The dimensions of this bug are: approximately 8.5 cm long and 8.5 cm wide (at its extremities) or 3 3/8 inch x 3 3/8 inch. This is a large bug!

The last picture shows Pearl Angel Bug sunbaking with her other Bug friends. This listing is for the Pearl Angel Buckle Bug only.

Felted Yarn Ball Bead Necklace - Purple

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:04:47 -0500

$105.00
This asymmetrical necklace is made from wet felted balls of left-over yarn in purple colours. I wound the yarn into little balls and then felted them by hand and in the washing machine.

The yarns used include 100% wool, hand-spun alpaca, and mohair/merino/alpaca blends. The beads range in colour from lavender, to grey, light purple, violet and burgundy.

The necklace is threaded onto cream crochet cotton, which has been crocheted into a chain at each end. The beads have been threaded on from smallest to largest - which results in an asymmetrical piece.

To add to this asymmetrical feel, the fastening for the necklace sits on the side of the piece (though if you prefer, you can put this at the back for a different look).

The yarn ball necklace fastens with a lovely pale lavender, textured button, and I have sewn on two more buttons for extra decoration, but you could actually use these to fasten the necklace for a range of looks and lengths.

This is a one-off piece that took a lot of time and care to make. While the beads are felted as securely as possible, they are not indestructible. Therefore, they need to be treated with care and not picked at or played with too much. The item can be gently hand washed if necessary - avoid rubbing the beads, rather, give it a gentle dip in soapy cool water, and rinse out.

The necklace measures approximately 60cm in length.

An environmentally friendly piece that uses up materials that would otherwise be unused or go to waste!

Buckle Bug Brooch - Chocolate

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:04:47 -0500

$28.00
Buckle Bug Brooches were born when red suede kitten realised she had a huge glut of fancy buckles and buttons waiting to be made into something, well... delightful.

These bugs are happy little creatures. Like the Felt Clouds they are colourful, odd little creations, and are ultra original too! Wearing a Buckle Bug will make you and others smile.

Each bug is unique and completely one-of-a-kind. They are made from plastic buckles and buttons (sometimes vintage, sometimes new and interesting) and layers of colourful felt and fabric.

They come in luscious colour combinations too.

Chocolate Buckle Bug comes in shades of brown, taupe, orange and grey. Her wings are made from layers of chocolate brown and taupe. Cocoa bug has a large body and tail made out of a piece of fabric in co-ordinating tones (brown/grey). He also has a tiny nose made of ochre and taupe felt. The buckle is a chocolate brown vintage plastic buckle with a faux woodgrain finish. Chocolate's eyes are made from a pair of textured, chocolate brown buttons. The brooch fastens with a sturdy pin on the back.

The dimensions of this bug are: approximately 7.5 cm or 3 inches long and 5.2 cm or 2 inches wide (at its extremities)

The last picture shows some of the other members of the Buckle Bug family sunbathing. Chocolate is not in this picture, but her brother, Cocoa Bug, is. This listing is for the Chocolate bug only - which is shown in pictures 1-3.

Custom Felt Cocoon Necklace with Owl Inhabitant - red, yellow, orange.

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:06:05 -0500

$60.00
This necklace features a handmade felt pendant in the shape of a sphere with a hole at one end. The outside of the pendant is a bright red (flecked subtly with yellow in the process of making it) and the inside a goldy yellow.

Surprise! Inside the main pendant lives a tiny owl. The owl is black and white with big blue eyes and a yellow beak. He looks like he is hibernating for the winter, or just having a cozy nap in his fuzzy cocoon home.

A crocheted chain in complimenting tones of deep orangey red and yellow wool blend yarn completes the necklace. It fastens with a bright red vintage button (more like a large bead) which mirrors the form and colour of the main sphere. This button measures approximately 1.8 cm across.

The necklace pictured here is not the actual piece you will receive, but is a guide to how your completed piece will look. Due to the handmade processes used, the appearance and size may vary slightly, but the overall appearance will be very similar. The materials used to create your piece will be identical.

If you would like other colours or sizes, or even a different type of bead button, let me know. I can create a new custom listing for you!

Please allow 3 working days for your piece to be created.

This piece will be made from wet felt techniques with Australian merino tops from an original design by red suede kitten. Each necklace takes hours to create and uses secret techniques to mold and shape the felt.

The chain measures approx. 56 cms and the pendant (large outer "cocoon") measures approx 3.8 cm across. The inhabiting owl bead is approx. 2 cm high and 1 cm wide. This owl bead is suspended on a head pin inside the cocoon, so it is secure in there, while also having a little bit of leeway to swivel and swing around.

Tribal Bib Felt Necklace - Wild Thing. Red, Green, Purple

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:20:54 -0500

$85.00
"Wild Thing" is a bib style necklace which combines a felt panel in red and purple with green buttons and a fur trim. The piece started out as a honeycomb shibori felt panel (those little craters you see), and morphed organically into this animistic piece!

The panel was created with wet felt techniques out of layers of crimson red and deep aubergine felt. The holes were created by felting marbles into the piece, cutting out the marbles, and then felting some more.

The front of the piece is red, the honeycomb holes are purple, and the back of the piece is purple. Australian merino wool tops was used to create this piece.

Embroidery was added around some of the honeycomb holes in a lime green cotton, to emphasise the round forms, and I embedded tiny green buttons in some of the holes.

The piece gets its "kapow" factor from a bright red fur trim. The piece fastens with vinyl/faux leather straps. There are no clasps or fastenings, so you can adjust the length by tying the straps to suit you, or even trim them with scissors if you want to make it much shorter. The trim and straps have been handstitched on to the piece.

The bib part of the neckpiece measures 15cm wide (nearly 6 inches) and 12 cm high (4 3/4 inches), trim included. The straps are 55 cm long each (21 1/2 inches) - this allows you to tie it low or high.

Please note: I am uncertain of the origins of the fur trim. It may be real fur, but the haberdashery store was unable to tell me what it is made of. My guess is that it is either synthetic or possibly rabbit fur.

Felt Cuff / Bracelet - Lorikeet Green

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:08:06 -0500

$135.00
This felt cuff is made from pieces of hand rolled sushi felt in the Lorikeet colourway: green, yellow, red, black and grey. It was made for a special "green themed" store display at Craft Victoria.

The piece was inspired by the large groups of lorikeets that congregate and sing loudly in the gum tree in my neighbour's garden.

To make this piece, I first created hand rolled pieces of sushi felt, using the wet felting technique, and sewed them together. The piece is lined with a manufactured, felt sheet lining, to reinforce it. The cuff fastens with a black button.

This piece took 12 hours of labour to create, so you have a carefully and lovingly created item here!

The cuff measures approximately 23 cm /9 inches in length (undone) and is rougly 6.5 cms / 2 1/2 inches across at its widest point. Fastened, the cuff has a diameter of approximately 21 cm, or 8 inches around.

For reference, I am modelling the cuff, and my wrist measures 6 inches or 15 cm around at the smallest point. The button can be moved if you need to adjust the cuff.

Please note that there is some hand stitching around the perimeter of the lining (on the outside, around the portion where the button fastens I've done a simple, large running stitch) - this doesn't show up in the 4th photo as I took this picture before I added the stitching!

This one is definitely a statement piece - you will get noticed in this!

Please be sure to read my policies to avoid any misunderstandings or surprises: http://www.etsy.com/shop_policy.php?user_id=6704262

Green and Gray Felt Bead Bracelet

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:07:14 -0500

$36.00
An asymmetrical bracelet made from sushi style felt beads and hand felted spherical felt beads in green, teal and grey.

The sushi beads have been double felted - once by hand and then in the washing machine. This creates a wonderful, soft, slightly blurry or "smudged" effect on the layers of felt in each bead.

The piece also features a green crocheted chain and loop fastening in vintage, 100% pure wool yarn (Paton's Bluebell). The piece fastens with a large felt bead in green and grey.

Australian merino tops has been used to create all the felt in this piece.

The sushi beads are approx. 1.5 cm in diameter (just over 1/2 inch), and the grey beads 1-1.2 cm (just under 1/2 inch) across. The length of the entire piece fastened is approx. 20.5 cm or 8 inches. For reference, my wrist is 6 inches in diameter, and I am modelling the piece in the photographs.

All red suede kitten items are one of a kind - no two are ever the same due to the handmade processes used. They are all based on original designs by Melita White.

This piece has taken around 2 hours to create by hand.