WIP Wednesday- Rainbow Week Continues and The Tale of Two Crowns

What a wonderful coincidence, it's rainbow week and I can also show off the crown that Matteo is getting for his birthday! Now before you all get excited on me... NO, I didn't make this crown. As I was searching Etsy for ideas and supplies, I came across this gorgeous, breathtaking silk/wool wet felted crown made by the immensely talented Susanna Wallis. Even though, I had already bought supplies for Matteo's crown, even though I was already more than halfway finished with it... I just saw this crown and fell in love (I mean, look at those crystals embroidered in the middle of every star... too precious!).

So, I feel like I am punking out a bit on the original crown. I even spent an evening appliqueing trees on one of the side panels- ripping them out almost immediately because, well they just looked so sad. But this is my solution... stay with me here... Last year my best friend wore 2 dresses for her wedding- a beautiful traditional white ballroom wedding dress for the ceremony and then a gorgeous hot pink silk halter dress for the reception... no reason why Matteo can't have 2 crowns for his birthday, right? The rainbow crown can be the special one to be worn for the family dinner every year and the train one can be his special 4th birthday crown he can wear to the party with his friends and year round for play, which also gives me an excuse to make a crown every year that can reflect his interests (as with the trains this year).

Mr Birthday Boy has a pretty good stash of royal goodies coming his way. We got a copy of Ivan's family's coat of arms and I hoping to make an applique of it to put on Matteo's robe and I will finish off the year round crown


I went to the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco a few weekends ago and picked up some really delectable roving. They both are made with merino wool and silk. The purple/magenta one has pieces of silk sari and the blue/green one has bits of peacock feathers. Inspired by the rainbow crown, I want to make one for my beloved Nico. His birthday isn't until November, but I REALLY wanted to do some wet felting and get my hands on that batting!

I'm still laying down the wool and oh.my.goodness... it is the softest material I have ever laid my hands on! It's like working with gossamer. After some trial and error last week with other pieces, I realized that it takes quite a few layers to get the thickness I want. The mohair roving is going to be embellishments on the crown. I'd like to inlay them into the crown as I wet felt it or I'll needle felt it if the inlay doesn't work.
For those who are interested in trying this at home, the batting (I am working with almost 2 oz) is available from Yeti Yarns and Dry Goods and the mohair roving from Luna Bud Knits. If this works out, I'll post a tutorial... wish me luck :)!

I am very excited to be participating in the the Seasons Round Exchange and have started some of the projects (this is where you, Grace, my swap buddy have to close your eyes if you want to be surprised :) ). Matteo and I needle felted a few acorns.

...more to follow :)

I realize this is probably one the longest posts I've done in ages. Thanks for sticking with me, lovely friends :). Surfing around, there have been some other great projects going on with the WIPsters, go check them out!