Featured Creator! Picciolo

I think that a great way to perfect your craft is to explore and experience pieces that are created by other artists. Occasionally, I am going to talk to some super creative people and feature their work on my blog.


My first featured creator is Picciolo, a fiber artist from London. I love the color, texture, and motion in her work! You can see that she takes the greatest care to ensure that every little detail is executed beautifully! Check out her creations and blog at http://picciolo.etsy.com/ and http://picciolo-picciolo.blogspot.com

I emailed her some questions about her work an creative process...


How long have you been marketing your creations? How did you get started?
I have been marketing my creations since September 2007 when I opened my etsy shop, so not that long, but I am really enjoying it! I got the inspiration to start from my sister, who also has an etsy shop.

What else is going on in your environment when you create? (Example- I usually have a movie playing in the background, and I sit at my desk or scatter everything all over my bedroom floor!)
All of my sewing takes place in our living room, our corner table has become a permanent sewing-box table, and my box of felt and favourite fabrics has taken root nearby. I do try putting everything away every time, but it seems as if as soon as I put it away I need it again! The final stage of handpainting my items happens at our main table, which looks out over the garden. This part of the process often sees me painting while my five year old daughter does something creative next to me, which is often a really nice part of our day.

How do you personally benefit from creating? (aside from financial benefits)
I think that I benefit from creating in lots of ways:I love seeing items evolve as I make them, I know at the start what I am making but not what the finished piece will look like. I love how no two of my items are the same, I think this stops me from getting bored with what I am doing. I love it when you have had an idea for something new, and it turns out even better than you hoped. And best of all, its such a great feeling sending an item off in the post to its new home, imagining someone else enjoying the things I have made is wonderful, especially when they end up all around the world.

How did you come to embroider with felt? Do you create with other mediums (like paint, knitting, sculpture, etc)?
I have always been someone that draws and paints and tries out lots of crafts, I’m not sure how I ended up with felt and denim being my two main materials, I think partly it was because of the range of colours available and their textures, and now I'm addicted!

What things in your life inspire your work the most?
Nature is my main inspiration, I love birds and trees and leaves, and skies and clouds…and being a graphic designer I keep up to date with what is going on in the wider design world which is a great source of inspiration.

What are your favorite colors?
My favourite colours are: olive green, robins egg blue and raspberry

Felting- Before and After

When I started crocheting, I had no idea what "felting" was. Now it is one of my favorite techniques! I love the fact that I can make a bag, felt it, and then I don't have to add a lining , and I have one of the most durable bags ever.

So, my newest excursions into felting land have been with jewelry. I've made some bracelets and a ring with some wool crocheted beginnings. In one of the above pictures you can see the before and after of some bracelets that were eventually felted.

I don't usually felt things in the washing machine anymore (for those of you new to felting, it basically means that you wash something wool with hot water, and rinse it in cold. Adding soap and agitating it in the hot water helps too). Nowadays I heat up some water on the stove, pull on some think yellow kitchen gloves, and plunge in. I use some dish soap, and scrub my creation in the how water for usually about 15-30 minutes (depending on the size and amount of felting I want). Then I rinse it it cold water in the sink, and lay it out to dry! I like being able to see my creation shrink and get that cool felted texture!

Welcome to MyStringTheory!

Hello all. This is my very first blog ever. So, I am excited about sharing my creations with you. Hopefully this will become a regular thing for me, and will let me clear my head when I think that there are 50 different things I could be crocheting at one time!

Here are a few pictures of my newest creations. I have been making crocheted and felted purses for a while, and now I have a new passion! I love making purses because they are useful in all seasons, but now I'm all about the crocheted cuff bracelets! I've been making a small army of them, each one unique and decorated with various designs. The navy one pictured here has some fun flowing greenery with blooms on it. I like the 3-D aspect of adding embroidery to the bracelets.