Spun Cotton Crafts E-Book

Valerie Lloyd

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 129

Beschreibung

Learn the nostalgic, easy-entry craft of spun cotton and make the perfect handmade decorations! Spun Cotton Crafts features more than 25 adorable step-by-step projects, organized by season, using affordable materials, including vintage Easter cake picks, crescent moon fairy lights, a Halloween cat, retro elves, a toadstool candy container, and so much more! Also included is a brief history of spun cotton, an insightful section on essential materials, and technique tutorials for adding color, making armatures, applying cotton, and making spun cotton balls. Accessible for anyone to accomplish no matter their skill level, this guide is a fun and festive introduction to making charming spun cotton ornaments! Author Valerie Lloyd is the owner of Smile Mercantile Craft Co. where she sells quality craft goods to passionate makers, from twine and paper mache to spun cotton craft shapes, holiday novelties, and more. Her popular YouTube channel by the same name is where she offers an array of imaginative and easy-to-follow craft tutorials.

Leseprobe

Introduction

Spun cotton is a folk art with a long, quiet tradition spanning over 150 years. This craft of forming ornaments, figurines, and decorations out of cotton fiber began before the age of plastic, when home crafts relied on ingenuity to work with simpler materials. Cotton batting and cotton fiber applied in layers with starch can be transformed into a remarkable array of shapes and forms limited only by the artist’s imagination.

Make your own spun cotton Santa here.

In this book, I explore the craft of spun cotton with an appreciation for its historical origins. Many of the projects are based on antique and vintage examples and draw inspiration from pieces made from the 1880s up to the 1960s. The techniques include methods for constructing entirely hand-built figural spun cotton pieces as well as assembled ornaments using premade spun cotton shapes. I feature many old-fashioned craft supplies, and some new, to create heirloom-quality pieces.

Spun cotton crafts, of course, need not follow tradition. They can be anything you want them to be. You can create abstract artworks, fantasy creatures, hyper-realistic animals and people, or even deconstructed pieces that focus on the tactile characteristics of the cotton. The versatility of the medium allows for a great deal of creative expression, and once you learn the techniques, you can adapt them to create something entirely unique.

© 2021 by Valerie Lloyd, Smile Mercantile, andFox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc.,903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Fox Chapel Publishing, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review and the enlargement of the template patterns in this book for personal use only. The patterns themselves, however, are not to be duplicated for resale or distribution under any circumstances. Any such copying is a violation of copyright law.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021951769

Project Team

Editor: Hayley DeBerard

Designer: Mary Ann Kahn

Photographer: Valerie Lloyd unless otherwise noted

Proofreader and Indexer: Jean Bissell

Images from www.Shutterstock.com: ang intaravichian, 30; Elizabeth_0102, 30; nadtytok, 31

Print ISBN: 978-1-4971-0208-8

eISBN: 978-1-63741-090-5

We are always looking for talented authors.

To submit an idea, please send a brief inquiry to [email protected].

This book has been published with the intent to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter within. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the author and publisher expressly disclaim any responsibility for any errors, omissions, or adverse effects arising from the use or application of the information contained herein.

For a printable PDF of the patterns used in this book, please contact Fox Chapel Publishing at [email protected], with 9781497102088 Spun Cotton Crafts in the subject line.

Contents

Spun Cotton: Then and Now

Materials

Cotton

Binding Media

Figural Elements

Embellishments

Techniques

Adding Color to Cotton

Making Armatures

Applying Cotton

Making Spun Cotton Balls

PROJECTS

Springtime Celebration

Rosette Ornaments and Package Toppers

Vintage Easter Cake Picks

Feather Birds

Victorian Slippers

Putz Sheep

Midsummer Garden

Crescent Moon Fairy Lights

Cherry Brooch

Sugared Oranges

Rustic Carrots

Golden Pears

Autumn Treasures

Autumn Berry Candle Rings

Toadstool Candy Container

Woodland Deer

Halloween Cat

Winter Wonderland

Snowball Ornament Set

Flat Batting Dolls

Folded Batting Father Christmas

Winter Kids

Snow Baby

Retro Elves

Swinging Santa

Embellished Angels

Icicle Trim

Glitter Trees

Alpine Village

Templates

About the Author Valerie Lloyd

Spun Cotton: Then and Now

Antique spun cotton ornaments from my collection.

For collectors of antique spun cotton pieces, the simple fact that such a fragile material has survived the decades contributes to its rarity. The regional cottage industry that sprang up in Germany during the 19th century resulted from a growing demand for Christmas ornaments beyond the paper chains, cookies, nuts, and fruits that adorned the first indoor Christmas trees. Spun cotton was popularized right alongside delicate glass ornaments, embossed paper die cuts, and shaped wax figurines which evolved in the same areas of Europe. From the late 1880s to the early 1900s, the demand for hand-built spun cotton reached its peak. The late-Victorian spun cotton ornaments of this time were beautifully crafted and highly embellished. There were figures like Santas, angels, and children dressed for snowy weather with muffs and scarves, as well as animals of all types. You could also find representations of everyday objects like umbrellas, shoes, fruits, and mushrooms. Folded and cut cotton pieces were often paired with lithographed scrap pictures to make colorful flat ornaments. In America, Pennsylvania German communities developed their own style of cotton ornaments, which were typically large-scale, flat cotton shapes backed with paper and trimmed with tinsel. Commercially produced variations quickly became available for purchase from mail-order catalogs, bringing a sense of old-world nostalgia into the craft.

In the early twentieth century, spun cotton became a mechanized process. The name ‘spun cotton’ came from this era in which cotton fiber was machine-spun into molds to make dimensional shapes like fruits and bells. The styles changed with the times, and spun cotton transitioned from homemade and hand-built to more of a dime-store novelty item, mass-produced and inexpensive to purchase in shops. By the 1970s, the old techniques for making spun cotton at home were largely forgotten.

Today, artists and crafters are rediscovering the craft of spun cotton. The calming nature of this medium is an appealing antidote to the unrelenting pace of modern living. Building a spun cotton piece can be quite slow, adding cotton layer by layer and allowing for drying time. Methodically assembling components is relaxing and creatively fulfilling. The simplicity of the materials, sometimes just cotton and a binding medium like cornstarch, is refreshingly basic. While the process can seem somewhat primitive, the designs do not have to be. It is the artist’s choice to follow the historical traditions and themes, or design works with an entirely modern aesthetic.

Materials

COTTON

The materials used for spun cotton in the nineteenth century were different from today’s, and cotton processing has changed quite a bit since that time, providing easier accessibility to a wider variety of cotton types. While I offer suggestions for what materials to use for each project, you will find that there are types of cotton you enjoy working with more than others, so it is worthwhile to experiment with materials as you craft.

COTTON QUILT BATTING

Modern cotton quilt batting is designed to withstand machine-washing, so it is densely produced with evenly distributed fibers. This makes it more durable but less airy and soft than the battings you might see on an antique ornament. Batting is readily available from fabric stores and comes in folded sheets of varying thicknesses. Look for 100% cotton batting with no scrims or stabilizers (which are synthetic additions). Because of the uniformity of the fibers in quilt batting, it is ideal for dyeing; it can be soaked, rinsed, and squeezed and will not fall apart in the process. Thin sheets of dyed or undyed batting can be folded and used like felt to create costumes for figures and flat ornaments. Tearing the sheets apart by hand leaves feathered edges that are easy to paste down to a surface with starch, leaving the seams virtually invisible. Some brands of batting are easier to tear than others, so try a few different brands to find the easiest ones to pull apart.

Quilt batting comes in large, flat sheets, and can be found at your local fabric store. It can be torn into strips or patches to cover ornaments.

COTTON SLIVER OR ROVING

Cotton sliver, or roving, is raw cotton that has been brushed to align and straighten the fibers and comes in long coils that are easy to split into straight lengths. Roving and sliver have unique, natural textures and remain plusher than highly processed cottons after applying starch. This material is best suited to tight-wrapping simple forms with few angles as it has less ‘tooth’ than other cotton types and can be slippery. Fiber-arts stores will often carry different varieties intended for spinning into yarns, and you will want to seek out ‘long staple’ sliver or roving, which has longer individual fibers. The shorter the fibers, the more challenging the cotton is to wrap. The directional grain of the strips is sometimes visible after applying it to a piece, so if you are looking for a seamless finish, consider batting or medical cottons.

Cotton roving (also called cotton sliver) is brushed raw cotton with long, straight fibers that can easily be pulled apart into small pieces or kept long and wrapped around armatures.

COTTON COIL

Cotton coil is a product used in hair salons and can be purchased at beauty supply stores. It is inexpensive, and comes coiled in long, fine strips that can be pulled right from the package. The quality varies by brand, with some being soft like unrolled cotton balls and others being denser and paper-like. Cotton coil is an excellent material for tight-wrapping and filling out the inner parts of a piece. It is easy to pull apart into patches and layers and is useful for covering large areas on more sculptural pieces. It can also be used much like batting and wadded up to fill out armatures. Be sure to select an ‘un-reinforced’ coil to ensure it is pure cotton without any threads or synthetic additives.

Cotton coil is an inexpensive option perfect for tight wrapping around armatures and filling out the inner parts of denser pieces.

MEDICAL COTTON

Medical cotton rolls are designed for maximum absorbency, so they soak up starch medium, allowing you to apply the cotton in wet layers that dry firm, almost like papier-mâché. You can buy inexpensive rolls of thick medical cotton from drugstores and specialty medical or veterinary suppliers. Strips and patches of these cottons blend easily for a seamless surface.

PREMADE SPUN COTTON SHAPES

Small factories in Europe still produce spun cotton shapes, and you can order them online from specialty craft suppliers. These are made using machine-spun cotton cellulose tissue into molds to create various three-dimensional shapes like balls, eggs, bells, snowmen, and fruit. The molded shapes are firmer and lighter in weight than hand-built cotton shapes, and they have a paper-like surface texture which is ideal for painting and decorating. You can decorate spun cotton craft shapes to make ornaments, and they also make convenient armatures for covering with cotton batting.

Medical cotton is one of the most affordable cotton options for making spun cotton pieces. When used with starch, it yields a bright white surface that can be useful in replicating snow.

Premade spun cotton shapes come in a wide variety of forms and sizes. These hollow, light weight shapes make for a quicker option when crafting.

BINDING MEDIA

Early spun cotton artisans used a variety of binders and stiffeners depending on what they had available to them, including corn, potato, arrowroot, and tapioca starches, as well as diluted gum Arabic, sodium silicate, agar agar, and various types of diluted glues. These ingredients were prepared into liquids or gels that held the cotton fibers together. For this book, a simple, all-natural binding medium made from cornstarch and water is all that is needed to produce well-crafted spun cotton pieces.

DILUTED GLUE

There are certain projects where the desired effect is for the cotton to be firm or more durable, for example, wearable pieces like millinery fruit for hats or corsages or sculptural pieces needing additional support for heavy, complex layers. Using glue mixed with water binds the cotton fibers together, rather than just stiffening and sealing them. The resulting surface hardens completely as it dries. You can also use diluted glue to seal the surface of a piece, using it as a primer for paints that you do not want permeating into the cotton.

To make diluted glue, mix a clear-drying, water-based PVA glue like Elmer’s Glue-All® in a 1:1 ratio with water to start, and then gradually thin with more water until it just barely soaks into the surface of the cotton. Apply with a soft paintbrush or your fingers.

STARCH MEDIUM

Starch does several different things: it acts as a binder to add one piece of cotton to another, stiffens cotton that has been shaped, and keeps fibers from lifting off the surface for a smooth finish. And unlike glue, starch, allows the cotton to retain its loft while being able to still manipulate the cotton to hold its shape. Apply starch between layers of cotton in a process similar to papier-mâché for firm and dense pieces or just to the top layer of the cotton for a softer effect. Use a soft, flat paintbrush to apply starch, or you can also dip your fingers in it to coat and smooth the cotton by hand.

To prepare a starch medium, boil 1 cup (250ml) of water in a saucepan, then reduce heat to a simmer. In a bowl, combine 1 tbsp. (15ml) of cornstarch powder and 1 tbsp. (15ml) cold water. Use a spoon to stir until all the powder is dissolved. Add this slurry a little at a time to the simmering water, stirring constantly to keep lumps from forming. Continuing stirring as the mixture simmers for two additional minutes. Pour mixture into a glass jar and allow to cool. This mixture will keep in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for a few days.

Cornstarch medium acts as a binder to add one piece of cotton to another, stiffen shaped cotton, and keep fibers from lifting off the surface for a smooth finish. The prepared mixture can be applied with a paintbrush.

FIGURAL ELEMENTS

There is a long tradition of combining spun cotton with scrap pictures and bisque or porcelain doll heads to make spun cotton dolls and figurines. In the nineteenth century, German dolls and scrap pictures were known for their quality and were a natural pairing for spun cotton. Mid-twentieth-century designs from Japan often used round spun cotton heads for an abstract and modern look. Vintage and new doll parts are not difficult to find online, and scrap paper faces are still being made using beautiful old designs. Pay attention to scale when shopping so you can be sure the size of the head or paper face will match up with the finished size of the piece.

Antique ornaments often featured paper faces that you can find replicated by specialty craft suppliers. Keep the scale of the finished ornament in mind when you are selecting scrap faces.

SCRAP FACES

These old-fashioned printed faces, typically German-made, are die-cut and embossed paper that can be applied to cotton figurines. The bodies that you create can be flat silhouettes dressed in batting or three-dimensional dolls built on wire armatures. The edges of the face can be disguised with strips of cotton fashioned into hats or hoods or with decorative trim like wired tinsel or pipe cleaners. Scrap faces usually come in sheets with several designs, and you can also sometimes find old greeting cards or other bits of vintage ephemera with usable faces. Cut them out with small scissors and apply to the cotton with clear-drying glue.

TIP

When used with starch, medical cottons and cotton coil yield a surface with a slightly papery texture, as opposed to the batting and roving, which have a more fibrous and fabric-like texture.

MOLDED DOLL FACES