New inspirations from our travels in the Pilbarra Region of Western Australia.
Yearly Archives: 2018
Soosie’s Bali Penjor Project | Follow Us | Join Us
Living so close to Bali I have been there many, many times over the past 40 years (I was very young the first time I went). I fell in love with the Island of the Gods from my very first visit. Beneath it’s obvious tropical beauty lies another layer of joyous harmony in the many and varied festivals celebrated at regular intervals.
One of these festivals is Galungal and is celebrated every 210 days. It gives thanks to God in His manifestation as Hyang Giri Pati (the God of the mountain) for the bounty that the island provides its people. To honour the volcano Mt. Agung elaborate Penjors (see below photo) are erected outside of the gates or doorways to homes, businesses and shops creating an archway of dangling and swaying gifts to the mountain god.
Created from bamboo, palms, fruits and flowers it represents the necessities of life that the fertile soil of Bali provides. I have always wanted a Penjor in my garden but of course bringing one home would be very impractical so I have decided to make one from felt! It seems only natural that it should be officially unveiling at Nancy’s Bali Meditative Adornment Textile Retreat to be held in May 2019.
Follow my progress in creating the Penjor and join us in Bali for its raising, or better yet join us and have a fabulous time! Follow Soosie’s progress on: Website: soosie.com.au
Facebook Instagram YouTube Pinterest by Soosie Jobson, Perth, Western Australia.
MAGNETIC CLOSURES FOR FELT and FABRIC
Treetops is happy to introduce our new line of one-off exclusive Australian designed magnetic closures for felt and fabrics. Everyone knows how hard it is to find an appropriate fastening device for felt garments. Button holes stretch, hooks and snaps can leave a garment with limited options for which it can be worn, pins can leave holes….
Our wonderful friend, Soosie Jobson, has come up with a gorgeous and inspiring solution for all of us! Uniquely designed magnetic closures (brooches) have been hand-crafted from Polymer clay and designed to coordinate with many of our Treetops Colour Harmonies colourways! Each brooch is unique.
The magnets are strong enough for lightweight to mid-weight felt. She will be developing a range for heavy weight felt in the near future. Swivel magnetic back to a vertical position to remove. Health warning: Magnetic device. Do NOT use with pacemaker. Click Here for products.
SAMPLE SALE | NEW COLOURS
We have been playing again! Inspired by our recent trip to Karijini National Park, in the Outback of Western Australia. The glowing colours of earth, rock and bush are hard to wash out of your mind and literally as well, that red dust is awesome! Its taken us quite a few goes at making the perfect new colour combos – ‘Sand Plains’ and ‘Banded Iron’.
So be quick! 15% Sale on our one-off superfine merino samples. Click here to purchase. Roughly most balls are around 230gms for AU$33.25.
Final colourways are coming SOON to our website!
NEW AUSTRALIA POST UPDATE PRICES 0CT 2018
Oct 2018 Australia Post has implemented extensive changes to their parcel delivery services. It particularly affects small businesses like Treetops. Here is a summary of what will effect you and how to get the most out of your postage costs.
- DOMESTIC PARCELS – There has a been a minimal price increase
- INTERNATIONAL PARCELS UNDER 1KG:
Intl Economy (Air NO Tracking, NO Recourse for lost parcels) is now cheaper than ever,10+ business days delivery. We do NOT recommend using this service for parcels valued over A$100!
Intl Standard (Air with Tracking) This is a NEW service which allows tracking and medium speed delivery 3-10 business days. Around A$7.00 more than Economy.
Intl Express (Express Air with Tracking and Signature*) A very expensive service to use for such a small parcel. Fastest and most secure delivery service 2-4 business days. (*not available in all countries) - INTERNATIONAL PARCELS OVER 1KG – 2KG:
Intl Standard (Air with Tracking) This is a new service which allows tracking and medium speed delivery 3-10 business days.
Intl Express (Express Air and Tracking and Signature*) Fastest and most secure delivery service 2-4 business days. Over 1.5kg this service generally only costs around A$5.00 more than the Intl Standard service, in our opinion it is the best to use for parcels over 1.5kgs. (*not available in all countries) - INTERNATIONAL PARCELS OVER 2KG:
Intl Express – (Express Air and Tracking and Signature*) Fastest and most secure delivery service 2-4 business days. Only cost approximately A$5.00 more than the Intl Standard rate and is safer and faster.
Discontinued Colours | August 2018
15% OFF ALL DISCONTINUED COLOURS, till stocks run out!
Something needs to go…. shelves are bulging, too many colours (no, never too many colours, not enough shelves, that is really the problem)! So we need to say goodbye to the following old friends for now. Superfine Merino tops (pictures shown below): Frankie, Adobe, Seedling, Troppo!, Lantana, Kangaroo Paw. Paj Silk Fabric: Lantana, Kangaroo Paw, Seedling, Frankie. Tissue Silk Fabric: Seedling, Kangaroo Paw. Bombyx Silk tops: Frankie, Adobe. Click on the above hyper links to see photos of these sale products.
Please Note: Shopping cart will only honor one type of discount. We do not give discounts on top of discounts.
FIONA DUTHIE | TREETOPS COLLABORATION
Fiona Duthie – Feltmaker from Canada
Fiona Duthie is a felt maker recognized for her dynamic, sculptural clothing and artwork. In her most recent Big Ink pieces, she’s been working with silk and paper embedded in wool fibres which are then used as a canvas for bold, fluid brushstrokes in ink. These works celebrate the nurturing of our internal coals of potential; flaming these into life through strong gestures.
Fiona is coming to Australia in early 2019, with an exhibition at Timeless Textiles, in Newcastle, running from 13 February to 10 March. As well as a workshop at Timeless Textiles, she is also teaching with Felt Wear Able in Melbourne, Grampian Textures, Evocative Arts in Adelaide and Nelson, NZ. Many of these classes are full or filling quickly. If you are not able to attend one of these in person classes, Fiona also offers a very popular series of online felting workshops.
Her newest class, Foundations in Felt Garments Online, is extremely popular, with students from all over the world creating at least four different felt garments over the twelve week class. Many of the previous students used Treetops Colour Harmonies Silk Paj or Silk Mesh in their class projects with stunning results. Fiona recommends these materials for this class, saying that “the beautiful blending of colours that Nancy produces in her silk and wool fibres guarantees a gorgeous end result. The materials are of such high quality and the colours so well composed, this simplifies our design process and brings greater satisfaction in our felt work. We can add as much of our personal creative signature as we wish, or keep our projects very simple and let the materials sing for themselves. The results are always stunning!”
Fiona strives for excellence in design and technique, while furthering the medium of felt through the use of new material combinations. Fiona has a full-time studio practice based on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia and has exhibited her work in Canada, the US, New Zealand, the UK and Australia.
Thie below Big Ink Red Dress reflect pieces that can be made in her in-person workshops in Melbourne and Nelson in 2019. This piece uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Heartache.
The Big Ink Felt Wing image shows a new piece in a body of work for the exhibition in Newcastle, and uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Heartache, plus Silk Mesh in Ironbark.
The images shown below all reflect projects from the Foundations in Felt Garments Workshop. The Capelet uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Tamarillo, The Cape uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Silverback. and the Red Vest with Godets uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Heartache.
Click here for Fiona’s Website.
Click here for Fiona’s Online Workshops.
OUR FINEST WOOL TO DATE | AUGUST 2018
Treetops has just ‘popped’ our finest bale of superfine Merino to date – 18.1 micron!! Very exciting for us, especially since wool is globally in such high demand and there are such limited supplies.Here at Treetops we are very lucky indeed to have such great connections to a great supply of superfine merino wool. Yes, the price has gone up, but so has the quality!
This new wool will be slowly working it way through our supply chain. We will be marking each new dye bath with a ‘NEW 18.1 Micron’red dot, until our existing wool stocks run out.
PLASTIC DROP SHEETS | 2018
Finally, we have sourced our dream plastic drop sheets for felting. Who would think it could be so hard! The sheets are 2.6m x 3.6m (8.5ft x 12ft) in dimension and just the right thickness for felting. They also have a special embossed surface that keeps the plastic from slipping around quite so much.
NEW TABLE LEG RAISERS | 2018
Tired of having a sore back? These Table Leg Raisers are the perfect answer. Available in two sizes (130mm and 90mm) or they can be stacked together for those of us who are really tall for a total of 220mm!