Felt Inspiration

Landscape Class at Luckystone Studio in Glens Falls, NY

2012-02-02T14:39:00.002-05:00

Teaching my class at Robin Blakney-Carlson's Luckystone Studio was just as wonderful as I thought it would be. I already knew many of the students, in fact 3 were repeating the class, and Robin is such an easy person to work with. I stayed at Robin's lovely home along with her sister Susan and friends Cher and June. It is so much fun to relax after class with friends who are also felters. As Robin said wool, wine, and wonderful women made the weekend great. And Robin's studio was a great space to work in. There was plenty of wall space to hang my example pieces. This was the first time I have seen all these unfinished pieces hanging up together...I makes me want to finish some of them.

As usual I have lots of photos of the students work. I use my camera as a tool in class to help students to really 'see' the image in the felt. It helps by making the three dimensional object into one with only two dimensions and really aids in seeing values when I change it to black and white. In my classes I have two main goals. One is to get them to really SEE and the other is for them to have FUN! It is not a project class and most of the pieces are not finished when folks go home but I hope they have the knowledge to continue on their own. I also give them ideas of how I would proceed with the piece. I think one of the biggest challenges for an art teacher is to guide the students to achieving their own vision and imposing mine, especially when our aesthetics may be so different. I was lucky with this class in that I knew some of the students well enough to know their color sense. Here are the pieces, first as it looked at the end of the first day after the wet felting, and then as it looked at the end of the second day after needle felting. I hope that some of the students will send photos of the completed works later.

This is Cher's

Donna's

Diane's

Stacy's...(I had planned on using the same photo as a reference but her piece came out so well I may not).

Robin's

June's

June got my vote for best use of yarns...I loved the look of this boucle...

and she twisted two yarns with roving to make the trees.

This is Susan's piece.

And last but not least Sonjia's

Now I am wanting to get in the studio and make a new one myself...although I really should finish at least one of the old ones first. Maybe.

Slide Show of the Northeast Feltmakers Guild Creation Myths Show at the Lapham Gallery in Glens Falls

2012-01-22T10:30:00.002-05:00

Can't believe it!

2012-01-11T18:08:00.001-05:00

I knew that my work was going to be on the postcard for the guild's 'Creation Myth' exhibit at the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council. I didn't know it would only show my work! My oh my! My heart is thumping!

A New Year Already?

2012-01-10T21:41:00.000-05:00

Wow, does time fly when the holidays come around. Yet again, I feel so far behind in writing what I have been doing this may be a long post. The holidays were good, except that Dad had to go into the hospital the day after Christmas. I had to call the ambulance in the morning because he was having really bad pain. It was the worst that I have ever seen him and I was very afraid. We both thought it was a heart attack. It turned out to be a spasm in a coronary artery that was fixed easily by having a stent put in. Now he is back working harder than he has in months and he is happy about that....and I am very thankful just to still have him with us.
The holidays always mean packing up my 'studio' so we can fit the 20+ family members in the dining room. This year we tried doing something different and turned the big table 90 degrees. It seems like there is more room now so I am able to keep the folding tables out and put them on risers to ease my back. Since most of my felting stuff was packed away I laid out a simple rug on my table down in the basement. I used one of the fleeces that I bought in November; a Border Leicester. Here it is with the layout almost finished.

I finished the layout but that is as far as I have gotten. It is still down there waiting to be felted. Good thing we don't need THAT table for anything!
After Thanksgiving I was able sneak in a visit with Joei. I wanted to use her drum carder on the brown/black fleece I bought. It was slow going since the fibers are so short; much shorter than I thought when I bought it. I am planning on making a hat with these batts.

Joei worked on a pair of slippers for a Christmas gift. Here she is, looking a bit maniacal with her wooden spoon for hitting the felt. She is so fun!

We talked about the upcoming "Creation Myths" exhibit that the guild is having at the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council in Glens Falls NY and shared lots of ideas. I have always wanted to make a Greenman out of felt and we thought it could fit in with the theme of the exhibit so I came home inspired. I got right to work on it. Here are some progress photos.

And here is how he finished up looking. He is a wearable mask with Velcro straps on the back. I made removable eyes too but decided not to use them. I did stitching on all of the leaves since I have my lovely old featherweight tuned up and running smooth.

I am quite happy with him.

I then got back to working on my primordial soup piece. I just have a few bits left to stitch but here it is. I need to get better photos before I ship it off.

And last but not least I was busy getting ready to have a wonderful group of ladies come for the weekend so that we could felt together. Joei and I have been 'keepers of the flower vine' for the guild for a while now. This vine is a collaborative guild project and is meant to be displayed at our exhibits. Therefore I wanted to get it done in time for the January 20th opening. That meant a lot of sewing to put the flowers that the members made on to the vines. Here is what we had to work with.

Sadly, Joei was not able to join us, but Cher, Cheryl, Carol, Robin, and I were able to finish the vine and have loads of fun. So much so that I want to have more felt get-togethers. Be warned Dad, D&D's B&B may get busier!

In A Woman's Handbag

2011-11-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

Since we have been having more unusually warm weather I have been working more on my project of emptying boxes that were stored in the garage. Some of the boxes contain things other than just books and papers. In one of the boxes I opened this weekend was a woman's handbag. The box was one of the moving boxes that was packed back in the late 50's when my great uncle moved from Flushing, NY up to Grand Isle, VT. The box was then brought down here to CT in the late 90's. It had never been unpacked. So this handbag would have belonged to my great aunt Lou, whom I never met.

Here you can see some of the contents of the box. That thing with an old fashioned telephone dial is a neat phone number file. You dial the first letter of the name of the person you want to call and the thing opens to that page.

And here is a closer look at the hand bag. Could my great aunt have been the woman with the alligator purse that we used to sing about?

On the inside of the bag is this interesting second purse frame attached to the big one. It pivots and has two extra pockets but it is not attached at the bottom so the main compartment is not split in two.

I found it interesting how many different thoughts and feelings looking through the items in this purse generated. First, as with any of the small boxes or fat envelopes I find, there is the feeling of excitement wondering what treasures I will find within. But then came a kind of feeling like I was violating some unwritten rule. A woman's hand bag is so personal. I almost felt like a kind of voyeur, especially since this woman was a stranger, a relative that I had never met and hardly ever heard much about. And what I had heard was not very flattering. My impression of her was that she was someone who really cared a lot about material things.

One of the things that struck me was how little things have changed over time in terms of what women carry with them. I laughed out loud when I found something that most women have in their purses...

yes, it is the crumpled, possibly used, tissue! How many of us have been so thankful for that tissue on various trips to a public restroom.

One of the tissues had been used by the woman to blot her lipstick. There were several different tubes hiding in the bottom of the purse. I really like the slim oval one.

And of course to go with the lipstick there are compacts

Many times the bottom of a woman's purse also holds some sort of jewelry...often a broken piece such at this elephant which I believe came off of an earring.

Of course there was some change, though not many of us still carry mercury head dimes. There were things to fix her hair, like combs, hairpins, ribbons, and hairnets. Buttons, safety pins, mirrors, key chains, pens, a ruler to measure things, and many pieces of paper.

There were a couple of things that I don't think you will find in many hand bags now, I don't even know what two of them are.

I recognize the garter and the button hook, and I know that is a bolt but even Dad didn't know what it was for. And that brass thing winds so that the shaft with the point is hidden in the tube. I almost cut myself when I twisted the darn thing. Dad didn't know what that was for either, so I decided it was for self-defense since that thing is so sharp!

There was also this cool souvenir from Rigi Kulm. It is a note pad made of celluloid with a tiny pencil on a string. There are still notes on some of the celluloid pages.

But I have to admit that my impression of my great aunt was not much changed when I really looked at some of the scraps of paper. Most of them were ads from newspapers of things she wanted to buy.

I wonder what kind of impression the belongings in my own purse would make on a stranger 60 years from now.

A good article about feltmaking.

2011-11-18T13:13:00.000-05:00

Felting transforms raw material into art | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Back to my own felting.

2011-11-13T11:27:00.000-05:00

My last two posts make it seem like I have not done any felting lately. I have done a bit. I did a landscape for the Granby Land Trust art show. Here are some photos of its progression.

And here it is mounted. I didn't get in the show this year but I don't mind. Since I got an award in the show last year I already feel that my work has been acknowledged, and I know that what matters most is what I feel about the piece. And I am happy with it.

Last weekend I was lucky to have two of my friends come to stay with me. It was the weekend of both a guild meeting and the Fiber Festival of New England. Both events were going to be held in my area so Cher Benda and Joei both came to stay at D&D's B&B. It was so much fun! We worked on the guild flower vine on Friday night while we gabbed. Then on Sat. Joei and I skipped the meeting to go to the fiber festival since we both wanted to buy fleeces and we wanted first pickings. Cher went to the guild events. I wish I could have done both but Cher filled us in on what Joei and I missed. On Sunday we went to the business meeting for the guild since I feel that that is really the most important part of our participation. Many members just seem to want the benefits of being guild members without wanting to contribute to the less fun parts of the organization. We have 110 members but only average about 30 people at a business meeting. I don't feel like I do as much as I could for the organization but I do try to contribute and not just use the benefits. Ok...off that soapbox!
Joei and I bought lots of goodies at the fiber show. We came home with lots of glorious, sheepy, smelly, greasy wool that we washed and then sampled. We ooh-ed and ah-ed over the staples in this Romney hogget. Though we did not know what a hogget was at the time (as a former drudge for Merriam-Webster I will leave you to look it up!).

Here is my personal haul. BAA-BAA Black Sheep, Have you any wool?

I am thinking of curtains for my room, hats, rugs...so many ideas, so much fleece...so little time. I did get them all washed and sampled and I am quite happy with my purchases.

I one of the things I love about dealing with raw fleece is feeling connected to the animal that grew these wonderful fibers and supporting local farmers....though I know at the prices we paid the farmers are not really seeing any monetary gain.
This week I spent some time laying out the background for a new piece for the guild's Creation Myth exhibit. Our first show is scheduled to open in January at the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council. I am depicting a primordial soup for which I had previously made some of the creatures.

And last but not least please check out this years Felt United exhibit that is now online. There is some really stunning felt and photography there and it is a great way to get a sense of feltmaking in the rest of the world. The founders of Felt United; Cynthia Renolds and Elis Vermeulen, are amazing to me and I hope someday to be able to meet them both.

Another Great Landscape Class and October Snow???

2011-11-09T08:42:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: I had started writing this post last week when our power came back on. Unfortunately it went off again and I am just now able to finish and post. It was wild to come back from a trip to Maine where I was able to walk in shirt sleeves (with no snow in sight) to see this...

and then come home to Connecticut to see this...

I had missed the crazy October Nor'easter which devastated our state.

Another Great Landscape Class

This past weekend I was up in Bath, Maine teaching another felt landscape class. The class was held at Halcyon Yarn, a huge yarn store which has a great classroom and a wonderful staff. It was such a pleasure teaching there and I had a fantastic time staying with my friends Marianne and Gar DuBois. Diane S.; another guild member and one of the students in the class also stayed with us as well. We all had such a good time talking about common interests that we were almost late to the class one morning! Felters make the best friends!

They also make great students. Here are photos of the pieces as they progressed during the two days.

Here is Diana's...

She was loving making those circles.

Wet felted and...

after needle felting.

Here is Kendra's piece.

Marianne's....

Phillippa's...

Angie's...

Carol's...

Diane's...

Diane had used her photo as an inspiration for two other images, one done with quilting and one done with paper collage. Here is a photo of all four images.

Several of the students were not done with the needle felting but I think they look pretty pleased with their results so far.

'The Great Barn Clean-out'

2011-10-20T21:24:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy, but not with felting. For a long time we have been discussing what to do with our large barn since it was really starting to deteriorate.

The roof has been leaking and last year it developed 'skylights'.

It is amazing that it did not cave in last winter when we had so much snow that roofs were collapsing on all types of buildings. We thought it would be prudent to deal with all the STUFF in the barn before it fell since dealing with all the STUFF was not going to be a fun task anyway; and another winter quickly approaches.

I got the ball rolling by organizing a family work party and we had a big dumpster brought in. But before the work day I needed to make room in the garage for the things that normally are kept in a garage. That meant finally dealing with all the boxes of books that came down from my grandfather's house in Vermont and got put into said garage. I had told my mother I would take care of them when we brought them here, and that was over 10 years ago, so this meant facing up to a neglected responsibility. It also meant seeing the damage that my neglect allowed to happen. But rather than indulge my guilt I tried to concentrate on the fun part of the task. It was like a treasure hunt to me. Here are some of the finds...

First edition of Gone with the Wind, photo albums,

many post cards and even an album of them,

a bible with a pressed nose gay, a program from a confirmation and photos of the owner; a great Aunt,

along with a scroll that is her confirmation certificate; written in German though the church was in Brooklyn, NY,

a couple of beautiful leather binders from my grandmother's trip to Mexico, which I believe was made to bring her embezzler brother back to face justice ;)

a leather bound book embossed with these wonderful insects,

and a portrait of my grandmother.

Not all of the boxes contained just books, one box had Grandpa's old movies, an ancient suitcase held bottles and hurricane lamps...

and one box had an old negligee and lace curtains.

Sadly, there was also mold, mouse 'stuff', silverfish; all the nasties that love dark, damp places. Here is a photo of some of those boxes in the workroom, aka my tent.

Some of the most interesting things are the old letters, receipts, programs, and other ephemera. Here is a letter mentioning the birth of one of my sisters, a menu from a 1930 dinner with Admiral Byrd, and an eyeglass wipe from my great grandfather's optometry business which reads "A Batavia girl stood on a soap box, Selling the new style of wrist clocks, But her eyes were so red, The young ladies all said, You better get glasses of Wilcox" Dr. D. E. Wilcox, Batavia N.Y.

It is going to take me a long time to go through all this paper STUFF. I am thinking that I may write a post just about the books as some of the subjects and titles are just too good not to share.

Dealing with the barn STUFF was whole nuther kettle of fish. It was an incredible mix of things from so many different eras and some of it did not belong to either Dad or me. And it was all jumbled together...

Here too there were many interesting things. Such as this cement mixer,

a church pew,

a spinning wheel?

but the most asked about item was this...

which was a float in a parade...a replica of the first church/meeting house in town. I wonder how many folks in America have old parade floats in their outbuildings.

Now part of the reason we have all this STUFF is that my folks are/were very creative people who grew up in the depression era. They are/were also rather concerned about the environment. Thus everything might have another use. I confess that I am the same way. For example, I saw these and HAD to keep them to try using them for dyeing.

There were many odd things that went into my pile of 'keepers'.

Thankfully, the weather for the Great Barn Clean-out was gorgeous and a large bunch of the family joined in the fun. We separated the STUFF into piles such as scrap metal...(Dad has taken four loads so far and made enough to pay for the dumpster!!!)

Notice this pile included the proverbial kitchen sink...

Some of the STUFF was going to be kept for possible tag sale or other re-purposing. That meant we needed a place to store STUFF other than the barn. We talked about renting a POD but instead we re-purposed one of the items that had been in the barn...

A gutted RV trailer makes a nice alternate storage area. I envied the crew that got to demolish the inside of this thing.

At the end of the day we wound up with a fairly empty barn...

but the yard looked like something you would expect to find 'down in the holler',

complete with chickens and a car up on jacks!

I was actually glad that we had rain later that week so I did do some felting but that is for the next post.

Felt United 2011

2011-10-06T09:05:00.000-04:00

I finished my piece for Felt United...sort of. I still need to tweak the hanging system. I really don't like the fussy finishing work of getting a piece ready to display. If I had loads of money I would turn the pieces over to someone else to figure that part out. In fact, one of the things I didn't like about working with pastels was trying to get the pieces matted and framed without getting the pastel dust everywhere or smudging the image. I am just not careful/patient enough. That is not a good reason to give up on using a medium. Thankfully not all my felt pieces are hard to prepare for display.

Here are the photos I submitted to Felt United. I wound up pinning the piece to a board to take these shots.

I spent Felt United day, Oct. 1st 2011, at my friend Joei's house having a felt-a-thon. I was supposed to teach my Felted Landscape class at the West Hartford Art League that weekend but it got canceled...again. (Since it looked like only 1 of 8 workshops was actually going to run there I am trying not to take it personally. Happily the workshop I am teaching at the end of the month at Halcyon Yarn in Bath, Maine is full.) I had spent so much time on my piece for Felt United, especially doing the stitching, that all I wanted do at Joei's was to play felt. I do like stitching but my finger tips were sore; and I like felting more. I had bought a lot of new fabrics at JoAnn's (damn those clearance sales!) that I wanted to sample, but first I wanted to use up all the left over scraps from my leaves. I don't usually use red so I figured I would just take the cut pieces, throw them on some wool and felt it like a real abstract. Here is the crazy layout.

As I felted it the black base fibers came up though the red (as I hoped it would) and toned down everything nicely. So nice that I decided to shape it into a little clutch that I just need to stitch on the sides and add a button.
Uh-oh...more stitching!

So on to my fabric sampling...first I tried this embroidered netting.

Then I did these samples which may get made into cuffs...yep, more to stitch.

Lastly I sampled several different fabrics in one piece.

And of course Joei and I did a lot of talking, laughing, eating, and drinking.

It was a great way to celebrate Felt United.

Felt United

2011-09-24T12:12:00.000-04:00

I have been working on my entry for the Felt United exhibit on October 1st. Now in its third year, Felt United is an event in which celebrates feltmaking all around the world. On this day feltmakers display in public a felt piece created based on a theme. Other events that serve to educate and celebrate felt in all its forms are also planned in places all over the globe. An online exhibit of the pieces is then created.This event was started by two amazing women who deserve a lot of credit for the hard work they put in to make this event happen; Elis Vermulean and Cynthia Reynolds. Last year I was honored to have my entry be the first one that appears in the online exhibit. This piece was also shown in the FiberArts magazine article about the exhibit.
This years theme is the last slice of the color wheel, blue through red. The first two years of the event covered red to yellow then yellow to blue. Since reds are not my usual colors I needed to start by dyeing some silks in those colors.

This last one I liked so much I decided not to cut it up for this project.

I am not done with the piece yet and normally would not write this post until it was finished but I wanted to let my non-Facebook friends (esp. Joei (BTW when ya gonna update that blog?)) see what I was working on. Here it is so far...

Felt Workshops in August. PART TWO

2011-09-18T21:31:00.000-04:00

The student exhibition at the Felter's Fling was wonderful. It was nice to be able actually see and touch some of the work of artists that I have only known through the Internet. The quality of the work was so high and it was great to see such diversity in how we all use this wonderful medium. So much inspiration! Here is a sampling...(unfortunately I do not have the artists name for all the pieces shown here).

This piece is by Diane Gonthier. I wish I could remember the title. It was something poetic about the beauty of getting older.

An Elynn Bernstein garment.

Piece by Piroska Toth. Sadly the photo does not show the face emerging as well as it could. I loved this piece.

Another Elynn Bernstein, this one uses marbled silk.

A Pam MacGregor vessel.

I loved the way this lace doily felted in.
In between sharing laughs, stories, wine, food, and wonderful felt with other feltmakers, I was working my hands/arms/legs to the bone working to make a rug that was felted hard enough to pass inspection by Rod and Karoliina. Whenever I asked Karoliina if I was done with each step in the fulling process she would say "Little bit more". I am not a very patient person so this was a difficult thing for me. That and using so much wool for one project. $150 dollars worth of Finn wool! Look at this pile.
That is my table mate Diane Gonthier in the photo.

Of course before we could layout all that wool we had to make a sample. The sample was supposed to have some of the more difficult parts of our design.
Here is my design...

and the layout of my sample.

The photo below gives an idea of the size of the samples. My piece flanked by Cher Benda's and Linda Veilleux's.

Here are photos of my rug in progress.

And the finished rug. We named the rooster 'Oscar' because he looks wilde and flamboyant.

The last two days at the Fling were made even more interesting by the approach of hurricane Irene. Folks were trying to make alternate arrangements to get home, many leaving early since the storm was supposed to hit the area right when we were going to leave on Sunday. My friend Joei and I were supposed to meet at my house on Sunday as well, to travel to a workshop with Liz Clay in western New York. We all worked like mad to finish our rugs so we could leave early. It was amusing to see some of the ladies rinsing out their rugs in the rain from the approaching storm.

I left the Fling just before dinner on Saturday thinking that Joei was not going to be able to make it to our workshop with Liz because she was having car trouble, plus we were having bad weather. I begged her to get to my house somehow...and when I mentioned that it was my birthday...my fiftieth birthday no less, her husband Bill drove her all the way to my house! It was a wonderful birthday gift to be surprised with and thankfully Irene was not so bad here and we were able to drive on Sunday so we got to Canandaigua in time for class on Monday morning. I didn't take many photos there but it was a great workshop. Liz is a great teacher and such a sweet person. I learned a few new techniques that I am really wanting to explore more. Things like how to embed fragile objects like leaves...

how to make a heavily textured felt by pleating a prefelt and then fulling it....

making holes, overlapping fabrics, carving designs into the felt, etc. We were to make books and learn some bindings but I got caught up in making the samples and had to rush to do my book. It is about trees. That is part of the bark page above. The book is not done...and may never be...but here is one page spread.

And here is the sample that I made embedding stones and shells. I liked it so much I did some beading and stitching on it too.

I can't wait to get back to some serious felting so I can really explore all the things I learned late in August 2011.

Felt Workshops in August. PART ONE

2011-09-09T11:09:00.001-04:00

I have been lucky enough to take two different workshops in August. Since I was a self taught feltmaker in the beginning, it was only through the Northeast Feltmakers Guild that I had had any real instruction. I took my first official (ie paid for) class two years ago with Linda Veilleux and the next summer I spent a week at Shakerag in India Flint's Quiltfelt Landskin class. Having two back to back workshops this year was a big deal for me. Especially as the first one was at the Felter's Fling. I had decided that if this was going to be the last year that Sharon Costello was going to run the Fling I was going to go whether I could really afford it or not. Because I have been teaching I decided that it was important for me to take workshops myself. Teaching has also given me some extra funds to reinvest in my feltmaking.

The Fling surpassed my expectations. I WAS expecting the felt work in my Scandinavian Rug class to be physically grueling. It was. (I am glad I did some training by making two natural fleece rugs on my own; plus all my gardening!) What I was not expecting was how easy everything else was and just how wonderful it would be to spend a week with people who all spoke felt. I also wasn't expecting to learn so much outside of class, though I should have been. I find fiber artists to be so much more willing to share and support than groups of artists in other mediums. For example, after the show and tell for Erma Yost's class I spoke with her about using some of my old woodcut blocks for printing on fabric. I have been wanting to try this for a long time, and Erma gave me many tips and showed me which paints she like to use. So through the wonderful rug class with Rod and Karoliina, visiting the other studios, show and tell nights, and conversations with so many other feltmakers I learned so much and I am filled with ideas of things I want to try.

Here are some photos from the show and tell nights.

Student work from Anna Gunnarsdottir's class.

Student work from Marjolein Dallinga's class.

More student work from Marjolein Dallinga's class.

Here is Janice Kissinger showing the yurt bag she made in Annemie Koenen's class.

Student work from Chad Alice Hagen's class.

Annemie and Bruce Sargent taught a class where students learned about yurts and created their own models.

Students in Erma Yost's class learned about different surface design techniques.

More student work from Marjolein Dallinga's class.

Here is some of the work from students in my friend Jean Gauger's Butterfly Shawl class.

To be continued...next up, the student exhibition.

Trying to find my way back

2011-09-08T10:29:00.000-04:00

It has been a very difficult summer. When I started this blog I was just trying to keep a journal for myself to help me remember the things I had been doing. One of the medications I take really effects my memory and getting older just adds to that. It was also effecting my cognitive functioning so that writing was very difficult. Since my poor memory and cognitive functioning was making me depressed I decided to reduce and then stop that medication. This was not a good idea. (This seems to be a lesson many folks with bipolar have to learn over and over.) I think things would not have been too bad but I was hit with a string of separate events that had me worrying for the lives of both of my sons and my father. A few other difficult, but minor by comparison, losses and troubles added to the burden and I cracked a bit. Except for the lessons learned through these trials I would rather not remember much of what happened since I last wrote.
I have also had trouble with blogging since it has become less of a memory aid for myself and more of a way to get my art shown to the public. I guess I never thought I would have more than a few followers. I feel like I should not reveal so much of my personal feelings here. Perhaps I need to keep this blog about my felting and my life as an artist and have my posts shorter. As a way of beginning again I will write next about the workshops I was able to take this summer.

Ray of Hope

2011-04-22T13:57:00.000-04:00

I have been feeling a bit lighter since last week's post. I think this is due to many factors. It has been a bit sunnier, I have been sleeping better, family 'stuff' has been easier, taxes are done, and I taught my last landscape class until mid May. Less stress = an easier and quieter mind.
My class last weekend was one of the best I have had. I only had four students, all of whom were a joy to spend time with. It was so nice to not be pulled in so many directions and to be able to give lots of time to each student. Plus, Chris White was able to take steal a few minutes from her busy schedule to spend some time with us. She has been such a wonderful friend and mentor to me, it was really nice to be able to reconnect.

Here are photos of each student's piece as they developed during the weekend.

Here is Lisa's piece laid out,

wet felted,

and after needling.

This is Pat's piece laid out,

wet felted,

and after needling.

Here is Sherril's piece laid out,

wet felted,

in progress adding some needle felting (I love photos of artist's hands at work),

and at the end of class.

Here is Janice's piece laid out,

wet felted,

and after needling.

I was so inspired that I worked on a new landscape that I am actually liking. I hope I can get myself to finish this one; I am running out of finished examples to take to class.

But the most uplifting thing this week has been watching what I call 'chick TV'. I bought chicks at Tractor Supply (I should not be allowed in that store when they are having Chick Days!) and I have been so enjoying just watching them. Vicki and I went in to get just a couple of ducklings which I have wanted for a long time. They were out of ducks that day but we couldn't resist these,

two Leghorns, two Golden Comets, and 6 white Silkies.

The next day one of my hens decided it was time for HER to have some chicks. She has gone broody and was sitting on 6 eggs at last count. She is on the favorite nest so the other girls just pile in and lay their eggs next to her. When they leave she puts their eggs under her too. I will have to isolate her if I want any eggs for myself.

In this photo the broody is in the front, a hen is laying in the back and one is standing trying to find room.

Vicki went back to TSC a couple of days later and got not two but FOUR ducklings...

AND two bantams...

and two Black Astrolorps. (I will admit that I approved the Astrolorps since I love my Miss Lucy so.) I guess instead of being a crazy cat lady I am a crazy chicken lady...or now that I have ducks and a visiting? parakeet I may be a batty bird lady.

I could spend hours just watching them.

Pushing Through

2011-04-15T15:09:00.000-04:00

I have avoided writing a post in the hopes that my spirits would improve. I am trying hard not to be a 'Negative Nancy' but this depression does not seem to be easing. I am still waiting to see if some improved weather will help. A friend pointed out to me that we have had a lot of cloudy cold weather that is more like November which is typically a down time for me. I always feel a bit better on sunny days. There have also been some difficult times with family so it is not all chemical but if things don't improve soon I may need to change meds. I have been busy too and even the good things can be stressful and stress causes the delicate balance of mental health to go out of whack.
Here are photos of some of the things that I have been busy with. I was very lucky to be picked in the guild lottery to take the Illuminated Felt workshop with Sharon Costello. I was still inspired by the forms forms we saw at the bulb show.

Since there are wires in the leaf/petals the shape can be altered.

I liked it enough that I started another one when I got home.

It is straighter than it looks here.

I love the light that these lamps give off.

Next I had the guild meeting. Unfortunately I was not with it enough to take photos. We had a really good presentation on mounting, framing, showing, and conservation of textiles given by Robin Blakney-Carlson and her sister Susan Blakney.

I had an exhibit submission deadline the following week that I was going to submit an existing piece to but then decided I didn't like any of those enough so I would make a new piece. I didn't like that one either so in the end I did not submit any thing. The piece I made could be added to so that it would work better but it lacks a focal point, so it will be added to the pile of unfinished landscapes.

That week I also hosted two friends who were taking Andrea Graham's pods class at New England Felting Supply. After we had dinner they continued to work on their pieces. I was going to do some more stitching on my woods lamp but I could not watch them wet felting and not play too. So I made this weird thing.

I had a one day craft show after that and made this while Vicki took care of the booth. (I had told her we could do the craft show if she took care of everything so all I had to do was 'be there'. She did a really good job).

The funny thing was how well they fit together with no intention on my part.

Tomorrow I teach at New England Felting Supply but then I have a nice stretch of time without anything on the calendar during which I plan on playing with fibers and taking care of myself.

The ups and downs of spring.

2011-03-24T14:22:00.000-04:00

I have been doing a lot of wasting time (aka numbing my brain) playing Majong on the computer. When I have to make myself do some felting I know there is something really wrong. Judging from my Visa bill for last month I think I am on the down side of a small mania. I have been trying to get outside and get some exercise to help with the "I just want to go to bed and sleep for forever" feeling. It is odd for me to be so down in the spring but we have not had a lot of sunshine. And my emotional state is very connected with the weather and seasons.
I don't like anything I make when I am like this, so that may be part of the reason that I don't feel like making felt. I was working on a piece for an exhibit titled "Dialogue in Color" but I guess I read that as being a dialogue about color. The piece I had started laying out in my last post was part of the piece which was really about color in the American civil war; black verses white, blue verses gray. The circle I had laid out was a color wheel of skin tones with black and white in the center as stylized hands entwined. I next laid out parts of the American and Rebel flags. I had recently read some novels set during the war and the passages describing how men would put themselves at even greater risk to keep the colors raised during a battle really struck me. This is what it looked like at that point.

I thought that the colors of the flags was too bright so I decided to change them to shades of gray (as in not everything is black and white).

Before I got it wet felted I reread the description of the theme of the show and realized that I was way off base. They were referring to how the use of color can form a dialogue between the artist and his work and the work with the audience. The ways that color can be used to for shading and depth and to render an object in nature. Well, that was more up my alley, so after a little while bemoaning the time and effort I had put into the other piece I decided to do an underwater piece. I was not happy with how it came out so I decided to needle in some changes and then wet felt it a bit more. It was then that I discovered that I was totally confused about what day it was and I would have had to send it by overnight mail to make the deadline. Well, I didn't like the way the piece turned out anyway so it seemed like the whole thing was just a big waste of time. I think it will make a nice background for something someday

I decided that I would take a break from felting for a while and concentrate on getting outside and spending some time with the chickens. I got a good amount of yard work done but not much else.

Then on Saturday my friend Joei called and asked if I wanted to go with her up to New England Felting Supply because she wanted to get some more colors to make another landscape. I suspected that her impromptu visit was just because she knew I was not doing well, but she denied that. My daughter and I had plans to go up to the spring bulb show at Smith but as that is right near NEFS we decided to go there too. It was a really good thing to do. The sun was shining, it was warm in the greenhouse, and the smells and sights of so many growing things was good medicine for my spirit. I took too many photos to post them all but here are a few.

I took a lot of close up shots for reference photos. I am thinking some Georgia O'Keeffe-esque pictorial felts.

And of course lots of photos for reference to forms, textures, patterns and color combinations.

But the best thing for my spirits was getting to spend such an enjoyable time with Joei. I am so thankful that through felting I have found such wonderful friends. I even convinced her to stay over night and we got to make some felt. I have really admire the work of Renata Felt whom I know of through Facebook. She recently posted photos of a class she taught in Moscow so I had a better idea of how she manipulates the fibers. She may be coming to the US to teach and I would love to take a class with her. Here is what Joei and I came up with.

I was actually happy enough with my piece that I got back to work on a piece that I had started. It totally changed from what was going to be a wall hanging into a vessel inspired by the trip to the green house.

And I almost forgot to add that I got my copy of Fiberarts Magazine that had a photo of one of my pieces in it. I sure wish that the good things that happen would stick in my mind as good as the bad things do.

Landscape Felt class at West Hartford Art League

2011-03-10T13:36:00.003-05:00

I was rather nervous about teaching at the West Hartford Art League since I had never been to there before and I was pretty sure that most of the students had never felted before. It was also going to be the first time that I taught without someone there to call on if there were any problems. I am getting a little better about handling things outside of my comfort zone but I kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong. My friend Joei and I were wanting to get together for one of our usual fun, felting weekends anyway so I asked her could she pretty please come help me with my class...if only for moral support. Thankfully she said yes. I got almost everything packed and ready on Thursday so that we could spend Friday doing some felting, gabbing, and laughing. I have so much fun with her. We actually did only a little felting since we had a lot of things to show each other. We both worked on art cards for the guild swap at the April meeting. I decided to try some new yarns and batting that I recently bought.

I just wanted to play with the materials and not try to make it look like anything. I am going to do more stitching and maybe add some beads.

Thanks to my friend Joei the class on Saturday went fairly well. The classroom was nice, with big windows on three sides, lots of tables, and two sinks.

Unfortunately some of the tables had water soluble paint on them that made a mess when we wet out the fibers. Next time we will have the tables covered. That is my ready assistant Joei on the left, ready to help with those minor? problems. I wish she could always help!
This class was a struggle for me, in part because I was not feeling great. The students were so quiet that I found it hard to gauge whether I was being understood or if they were enjoying themselves. At least one of the women did enjoy it enough to sign up for the class I am teaching there in May. And another student bought enough fibers from me to make another landscape at home. (The last time I went up to New England Felting Supply I was thrilled to see one of my students, photo in hand, buying fibers for a new painting that she was going to do.) Since the women all left at different times I was not able to get a group photo this time, but I did get photos of each piece.

When I was driving home from class on Sunday there was fog rising from the snow, which I was told was sublimation at work. It created some beautiful mysterious scenery. I wanted to capture it in felt since I had been watching others felt for two days. I am not happy with it but it is not fully dry yet, and at least I got my hands in the fibers and soapy water.

In the last two weeks I also finished two pieces that I had been working on. The first is a piece for a guild exhibit on creation myths.

And this piece for the SDA's exhibit titled 'Merge and Flow'

I also purchased a laptop so I have spent quite a bit of time learning how to use the touch pad, which basically means learning how to undo something that I had no clue I was doing, and learning Windows 7.

And now on the table is the start of a new piece, which I will explain when it is done.

Landscape Class at Linda Van Alstyne's

2011-02-24T14:11:00.000-05:00

My class at Linda's went really well. I love teaching at her home studio. The atmosphere is so relaxed, the view out the sliding doors is beautiful, and we are surrounded by Linda's wonderful felt. I also have her as a ready assistant. All of this is in addition to my getting to take a mini vacation from home. I sleep so well in her guest room with the big old bed that needs a stool to climb up into, and I get fed gourmet food by her loving husband. I am just a tad jealous of all that. But the best part is that I get to spend a lot of time with my one of my good friends!

The students were all such nice women and the pieces that they made were wonderful. Here is the group with their pieces.

I was happy to have two of the women from the last class that I taught there come back with their unfinished pieces on the second day to get more advice on how to proceed with the needle felting.

Here is Nan's piece after the last class...

and at the end of this weekends class.

And here is Betty's.

The changes to Betty's piece were very subtle and are more apparent than can be seen here.

Here is a photo of the ladies working on their layouts on the first day.

And in no particular order, here are photos of their pieces at the end of day one and then day two.

Here is Joann's. Inspired by a photo from her honeymoon in I think Aruba.

Here is Eileen's. Her picture so reminded me of our place up in New Hampshire.

Her is Rita's. Poor Rita had a hard time letting go of her desire for precision; much like my sister Beth. But she worked through that and a serious lack of confidence to produce a nice piece that her family could tell was of the cliffs on Martha's Vineyard.

Connie did a photo of her home and yard. I don't like to have student's do buildings because the organic nature of the felt is more conducive to depicting natural objects, but Connie had a strong art background so I felt she would be successful...and she certainly was.

And here is Donna's piece.

I find that one of the most challenging things about teaching art is when the student has a style that is very different from my own. It can be hard to figure out how to guide a student who sees things in such a different way. I want the pieces to be truly the students work not mine. I feel that my job is to act as a guide to get the piece to what the student envisions. Donna is a graphic artist who uses a very different palette than I do. I hope I did not stifle her vision with my suggestions.

Linda also tackled a new piece when she was not helping me out. I was so happy to see that she struggled less, and was not so critical of what she was doing. I didn't get a shot of hers before she did the needling.

Linda had Monday off and invited me to stay over another night so we could play and I could pack up at my leisure. We made some small samples of collage felt...and did lots of talking and sharing of ideas. It was a fantastic weekend! Thank you Linda!

Lost time.

2011-02-24T11:38:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe that it has been three weeks since my last post. I have been busy but I also lost a few days to illness. I have not been really sick physically in many years so it was really strange to me. It was a stomach thing and I slept for two days and was not up to snuff for about four days after that. Trying to get caught up and back on schedule is really hard for me. Now I think Dad has the same thing, poor man. I am trying to take care of him but he doesn't accept much help generally and no babying when he is sick (unlike most males when they are ill :). I also have been dealing with an injured chicken. My Miss Lucy had a head injury, possibly caused by Fred in his overzealous mating. I had to bring her in the house and I don't know if I will be able to have her join the group again. I bring her out to a separate cage in the tractor during the day but she needs to come in at night for the warmth since she won't get on the roost with the others anymore. I really don't want a house chicken, she is lucky she is so sweet.
I am really happy that I started this blog since it really is serving its purpose in helping me to remember things. Since I am taking more pictures and they have dates I can see what I have been spending my time on. It helps me to feel less confused and lost...maybe more in control. I see from the photos that the first week since the last post was when I started dyeing some things to bring to Linda Van Alstyne's for the landscape class I was to teach there. When I teach at places that do not sell wool I bring all the fibers that I use to create my own landscapes. It can be hard to find just the right colors when using commercially dyed fibers. I dye my things so that the colors are uneven and muted just for landscapes.

These locks are from a Border Leicester fleece that I bought this fall, dyed in the grease. I was so happy with the results.

I also dyed some silk fabric for some future underwater images that I plan on making.

My sister Beth wanted to start another landscape and wanted to do it here so she could ask advice if she needed it. I can't wait to see it after she does the needle felting.

On my way up to teach at Linda's I stopped in Albany to see our exhibit at the Davey Jones gallery. I took lots of photos. Here are a few.

Since this post is long I think I will write the post about the landscape class at Linda's later. I hate playing catch up!

Teaching another wonderful landscape class

2011-02-07T20:50:00.000-05:00

The class I taught this weekend went really well. Saturday was a good day for me as far as my memory and word retrieval goes, and I felt pretty put together. I spent a lot of time last week preparing for the class when I was not doing more snow removal.
I don't remember ever having weather events disrupting normal life for such a long stretch of time. So many roofs have been collapsing around here it is scary. We got most of the snow off the lower roofs but the high ones still have massive amounts. I jump at every creak the house makes. This week was somewhat warmer so people started having problems with roofs leaking. Having a roof over one's head is taking on a whole new aspect. Driving is also still messed up by all the snow. The lanes are so narrow and the banks are so high that sight lines are terrible. My Dad got the first dent in his new van by cutting a corner on a driveway too tight. The compacted snow is like concrete. And more snow is on its way...sigh.
I did do just a bit of felting. I finished fulling my fish dish. He still needs eyes and some tweaking but I kind of like the way the colors blended. I am thinking that the fish might look nice with some beading.

The fish that I put in the Huyck exhibit is displayed by being hung on the wall. It looks cool like that and kind of reminds me of the 'trophy' fish. I didn't get to go to the opening on Friday since I knew I would be too tired to teach the next day but here is are a couple of photos that were posted on facebook. I hope to get there soon.

See the red dot next to my underwater painting? 'Seeing red' is developing a new meaning for me. :)
I also took time to wet felt another landscape. I find it helps to get me ready to teach the landscape class if I have made one just a few days before. It is not done (that is becoming a theme) but I can see some potential if I fix some things and as usual I learned some things. I think that learning is one of the driving forces in my life.

One of the things I am learning is how rewarding teaching can be. I get to meet some fantastic women, talk art and felt, and feel like I have something to give. I heard some wonderful things during my class. Things like "this is so much fun" and "I can't believe I made that!" or 'I am very happy with it" make me feel good. I also love to hear the students figure out for themselves what might improve a painting. But the best is when they come in on the second day saying that they saw things in the world around them that they never noticed before. If I can get students to really 'see' I feel like I have given them something that goes way beyond the ability to create a nice picture. I also felt honored to have the very talented fellow teacher and feltmaker Jean Gauger take my class. She took some great shots of the class, some of which I am sharing here.

Pat's...

Karen's

Brenda's

Sue's

Deb's

Jean's

Lindy's

Barbara decided not to do a landscape. She created an illustration for a story instead.

We were all pretty tired by the end of the weekend but I think every one was happy.

No rest for the weary

2011-01-30T13:09:00.000-05:00

I am tired...in every sense of the word. Last week I finally had some time to relax a bit. So what do I do? I decide to finally redo my bedroom. (I am not sure that I know HOW to relax...(unless it is with a cocktail :)). Not an hour after my last post I could be found in my bedroom scraping the wallpaper that has been there since my childhood. I have been living here for about 3 years and I think I have finally figured out that I am going to be here for as long as Dad is still here.
(Side note to family: I am not staying here after that...so prepare for the house to be sold when the time comes! More on this later.)

My other reason for starting this project now is that my bedroom gets some wonderful sunshine in the winter. The dining room where I work is on the north side of the house and is rather cold. I thought if I fixed up my bedroom it would be an inviting place to do some of the less favorite parts of my projects. Sewing and beading could be done up there in the wonderful sunshine.
My enthusiasm for this project has been somewhat dampened because:
a. the ceiling needs to be fixed which has to be done on someone else's schedule,
b. I was physically tired from the first day of scraping wallpaper (apparently different muscles are used in this activity than are used in felting),
c. the wonderful sunshine was not so plentiful,
d. the wonderful sunshine was not so plentiful because the snow WAS,
e. the removal of said snow also involved using different muscles than are used in felting,
AND...
f. is for felting, which the lack thereof seems to dampen my enthusiasm for life in general.
While I would rather have nice white snow than the freezing rain/sleet mix we have been getting a lot of the last few years there is a point when enough is enough.

And when it comes to snow, 'enough' for me is when the removal takes up so much time and energy. I had to shovel my path just to get to the the chicken coop to give them their breakfast.

This last snowstorm also made it necessary to rake the roof. Now THERE is a whole set of muscles that really don't get used often. I don't remember ever having to rake the roof before. And we have more than one...

I didn't spend ALL my time dealing with chores though. I enjoyed photographing the changing sky at the end of the storm.

I thought the cloud above looked like a bridge.

This cloud reminded me of the sign for infinity.

I also HAD to make at least one piece of felt. I decided to experiment with a few different things; a VERY limited palette, a piece of strange netting that I found here, and a different way of laying out the fibers. I learned a few things from the exercise and decided that this would be a good piece to use when teaching to demonstrate the effects of values and context in a landscape.

My sister brought over her landscape to show me how it has progressed with the needle felting. It is wonderful. And I was especially proud when she said that when something was not looking right she was able to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it because of the lessons I taught her.

Here is her piece before the needle felting...

and after...

And now that I have finished this post I am planning on getting in 'the studio' and finish felting this fish that I started last night....if I am not too tired!

A Chance to Relax

2011-01-23T12:41:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy this month with several things needing to be done at the same time. Most of the demands on my energy surrounded the Huyck retreat exhibit and article for the International Feltmakers Association. I brought the pieces for the show up to the gallery in Albany yesterday. It was four hours of driving during which I had a change to unwind and just enjoy the ride. I love when the driving is easy, listening to music, singing loudly, and enjoying the scenery. It was beautiful driving through the Berkshires even though I just stayed on the highway. The sunlight and clouds cast wonderful shadows on the mountains which were a wonderful dusky lavender and plum color. The trees were stunning with their frosting of snow and glaze of ice. The snow was still sticking to the medium size branches but the small twigs at the ends were only covered with the ice. The snow outlined the main parts of the trees and the ice twinkled from the tops. It was like a fairly land and made me think of Narnia and the white witch. It also was almost too much of a distraction and really made me wish I had my camera.
Though I was busy with those tasks, and dealing with problems with the computer, and with an offspring, I balanced the struggles with some fun. On one of the nicer days I went out and played in the snow while I was visiting with my chickens. I was only going to shovel to find them some grass to eat but I seem to have a way of getting distracted by the need to create. I did not uncover too much grass...instead I made a snow chicken.

Here she is almost done but something was not right.

Apparently my critics noticed too.

I finally realized i had forgotten to give her a wattle, and though the sun had gone below the horizon and I was really getting cold I had to add it. I could have ~~wasted~~ spent many more hours on her. It was probably good that it was getting dark.

I also went out to help my daughter with her snow cave later in the week. I thought we could improve the aesthetics if we made it look like a castle, so while she worked on the excavation I added the 'stonework'.

It would have looked better if it had not been made out of the dirty snow bank, but what a perfect home for two out-of-work recent college graduates.

I am happy to say that even though I took that time to play I managed to finish the banner I started in my last post. I am not very happy with it but I learned tons. One of the things I learned is that I can not work like Joei and Beth did on their landscapes. I tried to be more careful with my layout and think more...not a good thing for me to do. I also learned that when working big like that it is even more important to remember to step back and look at the whole image...even though stepping back involves a step stool.

I needed to add a heron although it is way too large for the scene. There was one fishing the pond every day of the retreat...besides I love birds.

I also made a sculpture of Indian pipes. I have always thought these were magical and it was like uncovering a secret of the forest the first time I ever saw them.

I added leaves and a newt and called it 'Healthy Humus, Healthy Habitat' since these plants only grow where there is humus rich soil and the health of the soil is important to all living things. (I won't get on my environmental soapbox here).

And once I got all the paperwork etc. done for those pieces that were finished for the exhibit I was able to work on the 18x24 I had said I would do. I didn't think I could get it done since it was the night before I had to deliver the pieces but I got it to this point...

I brought it to the galley even though it was not really done and ready to hang (I was surprised it was not still damp). Since there was a lot of wall space to cover in the gallery the curator, Sara, said that she would like to hang it. I didn't even have time to stitch my initials on it!

And now I need to go clean up after that felting frenzy.

How to avoid writing an ARTIST'S STATEMENT

2011-01-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

I am sitting here very early in the morning while a nor'easter rages outside, trying to think about my art and come up with some kind of ARTIST'S STATEMENT for two shows that I have coming up. I thought that reading some of the old posts here would help, and it has somewhat, but writing a new post about what I have been doing lately is much easier than writing that ARTIST'S STATEMENT . I am finally facing up to writing a real ARTIST'S STATEMENT because my friend Joei was here this weekend and working on hers for one of the shows. She shared the information she found about how to go about writing the dreaded ARTIST'S STATEMENT , for example we found this website helpful for getting the ideas and words flowing; http://artiststatement.com/ . The funny thing is that I think writing an ARTIST'S STATEMENT could be very enlightening for me if I had the time to fully examine what my art is. The conundrum is that I need the pressure of a deadline to actually do the work. I have several other deadlines to meet the next two weeks so instead I will escape by writing about the fun I had with Joei this weekend.

Joei has been wanting me to teach her how I do my landscapes and since she is my best friend and we share so much I gave her a private lesson. Besides a year ago she showed me how she makes her beautiful nuno felt pictures, including the secrets of sanders, dryers, and fussy cuts! We started the weekend in our usual way; talking, drinking, and making flowers for the guild. Only three got done but we had a lot of catching up to do since we had not seen each other since before the holidays.

Unfortunately I forgot to get a photo of Joei's finished landscape. You will have to look at her blog for that. I did remember to take some photos of her layout though.

And I got one of her doing her needle felting after the wet felting.

She really wanted me to teach her how to render the light in a landscape and I think she nailed it. In between giving her advice I worked on none of the things I should have been doing. I made this instead. It is a fish candy dish. I think I have to get some Swedish fish to put in it...I would use gummy worms but I think they would get covered with fibers. I am going to put it in the Huyck show so the time was sort of spent on one of the things I should be doing.

I did do just a little work on what was going to be my banner for the Huyck show but when I held it up for Joei and my sister Beth to look at they could see the light coming through the thin felt and it added a wonderful new dimension to the piece. I decided that I would save that piece for a show in Rochester, NY and hang it in such a way that it could be softly lit from behind. The hanging will take a bit of experimenting to figure out since the felt is too thin and uneven to hang nice and flat, but I think I may have figured out a way. Here is what it looks like hanging in a window. The light shines through the really thin spots and looks like dappled sunshine in a forest, exactly what I was trying to depict.

I have to make a new banner to put in the Huyck show now. Here is the start of the layout (sideways because it is so big I have to stand on a stool and hold the camera over my head to get a photo of all of it).

On Monday I had another reason/excuse for not working on that ARTIST'S STATEMENT. My sister needed my help to boost her spirits. She was feeling like giving up on her endeavors in felting landscapes after seeing how well Joei's picture came out. Beth had been my ~~guinea pig~~ first student when I started teaching the landscape class and my teaching has improved since then. She had been doing some pictures on her own that are charming in their simplicity ...

...but she could see how differently Joei was laying out the fibers and how many colors were being used. She wanted to try doing something more complex. Her piece came out beautiful. Here it is after the wet felting.

So now that I am caught up on my blog i guess I have run out of excuses and need to work on my ARTIST'S STATEMENT. Unless of course I go out to shovel some of this.

On my way back from giving the chickens water.

The chicken tractor looks like a chalet.

I love the sculptures.

Getting the morning paper took some doing...just trying to get dressed. Here is Dad on his way out.

He shoveled the steps on the way back in...now i think he will need a nap...hard work just walking when the snow is up to your knees. And it is still coming down.

Ah! Done with the holiday!

2011-01-01T17:40:00.001-05:00

I am still trying to recuperate from the Christmas doings. I am too tired to write much but I wanted to make a last post for the year. I also am afraid I will forget much of what happened if I don't get it written soon.
A few days after my last post I found out I had sold one of the pieces I put in the Wesleyan Potters annual show ans sale. This was a real good example of things going well since it was a piece that I had forgotten I had and submitted it at the last moment! It is the one I did for the Granby Land Trust art show last year.

I finished the (insert the appropriate curse word here) project I was working on in my last post. I am proud that I finished it but it fought me all the way. The sewing went so badly that I went to my sister's house to do the button holes, which are no fun to take out over and over. It also convinced me it is time to buy a better machine. The project was to make a nice warm vest for my Dad.

The finished vest does not look terrible if you don't look too close, but it fits as well as would be expected for this project. I know it is not about the gift, it is the thought that counts, but I had so many bad thoughts about this does that still apply?
Once I had my shopping for gifts over with I got busy with the traditional cookie baking.

I like this part of the Christmas holiday...especially when it is a shared time. While I was mixing the last batch of dough my daughter decided she wanted to do a gingerbread house this year. She remembered the houses that my mother used to make. One year she made six of these...

We didn't have time to do the candy stained glass windows but I think we did OK.

A close-up of the lady of the house...

and our ~~drowning~~ swimming gingerbread man. We could make up a story that he is from the story and was no fox in sight to get him across the water...only the ducks. Or we could say that he was a participant in a polar bear swim, but really it just shows our strange sense of humor.

It didn't take me long to get back to felting. I didn't even wait until I had the studio(aka dining room) set back up properly. The blizzard prompted me into making a nice 'warm in the snow and wind hat'. It reminds me of a hat from the Star Wars movies but it keeps my ears warm and yet I can still hear. Besides I am not one to care about how I look, comfort comes first, though it looks kind of cute on my niece. I still need to do a fastener for the real windy days. It is just pinned in the photo below.

My niece decided to make a hat too. I could not believe how hard she worked and how she stuck to it. She even did more work the next day adding the finishing touches.

And now on the table is the beginning of a large landscape for an exhibit of work done by the felters who went on the late summer retreat at the Hyuck Preserve. The show will be at Davey Jones Gallery opening in February.

I started this post last year aka yesterday but I got interrupted, which has been happening a lot lately. I hope the New Year goes as well as the last. I do know it is going to be a busy one. Happy 1/1/11!

Another Landscape finds a home

2010-12-14T10:54:00.018-05:00

The day after my last post I had a wonderful surprise. I went to the lecture given by the juror for the West Hartford Art League's "Out of the Loop" exhibit. Ed Johnetta Fowler-Miller spoke about her art and how she went about the jurying process for the show. I thought I was just going there to listen, and pickup my piece so I didn't worry about how I looked. I had been moving hay and getting the chicken's winter quarters set up before the talk but I figured I would just sit in the back and be unobtrusive. (Now I think there is a rule that if you leave your house looking horrible it is almost guaranteed that you will be in a situation where you so wish you had at least brushed your hair before you left. If you leave looking put together you won't see a soul. Problem is I forget about that rule.) Well, when I walked in the only seat was in the front and since I was wearing my felt coat Ed Johnetta came up to me and said "You're one of the felters Which piece is yours?" I said "Yes" and when I pointed to my piece I was shocked to see a red dot indicating that it had been sold!! I still can't believe it. This is the piece...

Ed Johnetta also said that she would be having me stand up during the talk... Gulp! Well, there were several artists there who also had pieces in the show so she had us all stand up by our pieces. Lucky me...my piece was dead center on the wall that the audience was facing...uggg! Then she has us all speak about our pieces....YIKES!!! I have no idea what I babbled about since my mind was not functioning. I was still trying to process the fact that the piece was sold. It is so strange because I only saw the piece hanging 3 or 4 times and now it was no longer mine. And since I had put a hefty price on it and the show was small I never thought that it would sell. I had been thinking about what I was going to do with it when I got it home since it was so big. It always feels like a piece of me is being sent out into the world.

I feel like I didn't get a lot of felting done last week. I did make my niece a pair of slippers very similar to the ones I made for myself at Joei's house. My niece was giving a small, invitation only concert. She is a very talented singer but quite reclusive so the only time others got to hear her sing was at the yearly recital given by her vocal teacher. It was a huge step for her for many reasons and I was so very proud of her. I wanted to do something to let her know that. No photo of the slippers :(

I also felted three new heads. My sister wanted a couple to give as gifts. She thought they would make fun candy dishes. I loved the idea. Reach in the mouth of the monster head to get a candy! I made the mouths a bit wider for a hand to fit in and made the base wider too. I wanted to get them done before the concert as I would be seeing my sister then. That way I would not have to deliver them. I got them done except for sewing the eyes on and I was able to finish that while Sis looked through my scarves for another gift. So nice to have those checks coming in...though I think I spend them all on more wool! Here are the new heads...

I was asked how big the heads are when I posted photos on Facebook so I took this picture for a size comparison....somehow i felt that a big bottle of cheap wine and a few bananas would be perfect for the job.

This week I have been doing some of the dreaded Christmas shopping and working on felting some yardage for a gift. I want this item to be really warm but not heavy. This has been one of those projects where things go wrong. The first thing was that I started laying it out and discovered that I was not going to have enough of the black short fiber wool. But luck was on my side here because though it was Sunday (they are closed Sunday and Monday) there was a class taking place at New England Felting Supply and Ariel said I could come up and buy more wool. So on Monday I laid out dyed grey silk fabric, two layers of short fiber merino and then some angora that I had left over from when I was raising the rabbits.

I had a problem when I went to wet it out, though. I was distracted and couldn't find my usual water bucket. I grabbed the dishpan and added some water and soap to the water that was already in it. After spraying about a third of the piece using my ball brause I noticed a bleachy smell. Turns out the 'water' in the dishpan was a bleach and water mix that my Dad had been using to clean something. A month ago I wouldn't have worried about it too much except in terms of color loss. But just recently there was a discussion on the Feltmakers List about using bleach to determine if something is 100% wool: if it is wool it will break down...crumble... dissolve...disappear....finito... gone! And to me that was much worse than some color loss. I HAD to rinse it..but carefully since I did not want the fibers to felt before they migrated through the silk fabric. It was a swampy P.I.T.A. Thankfully there was minimal damage. Next up was trying to find the garment pattern that I planned to use. I knew I had it before the Thanksgiving studio clean up but I could not find it anywhere until today. Here is a photo of both sides of the fabric, the bluer grey side is the silk side.

I am thinking positive thoughts that it will be smooth sailing from here on....at least I am trying...but next is the machine sewing and that does not ever go smooth! It is very tempting to give up on this one.

'Tis THAT season

2010-12-04T18:48:00.015-05:00

Since teaching my class at Linda Van Alstyne's house I have been doing holiday things.
Of course there was the yearly 'packing up of the studio so we can use the dining room for it's intended purpose' chore. And then the Holiday itself with about 20 humans and 3 large dogs filling the house. We were lucky to have the youngest family member come to visit. Here she is helping out in the kitchen.

She and her great grandpa got some quality time together while the adults played a card game.

It was nice to see the dining room clean and I might have stopped felting until after Christmas but stuff had to come back out since I had a show coming up (and I am planning a few felt Christmas presents). I am not a big fan of the holiday season. I usually get depressed at this time of year anyway and the added pressure and stress make for a bad combination. Also there have been several deaths in our family that occurred around this time of year. Many of those were old relatives that used to make the holidays special by coming to visit. My mother died on Dec. 19th 2005.

Thankfully I have been so busy with felting and teaching this year that I have not had much chance to think about holiday things. It helps that I do not watch TV, listen to the radio, or even go out in public much, so I am not bombarded with all the advertisements that push the ideas that we should NEED, WANT, and GIVE more and more STUFF. I try to do what I can to not BUY into all that and make Christmas what I believe it should be about and to DO the things that bring joy.I know that part of the reason I don't really like Christmas is the commercialism that many of us hate. So I was somewhat uncomfortable taking part in a Christmas craft show this weekend, but money is necessary, the booth fee was low and my daughter thought we should do it. So after Thanksgiving I got into production mode and actually made some Christmas stuff.

Like this Santa.

I needle felted the head but wet felted the rest of the doll.

My daughter also helped me make some Christmas ornaments. She did some cookie cutter needle felting and beading. She also helped with finishing the snowmen. I love having her work with me and especially her help with the business part of this endeavor.

I also made a hat...

and a purse...

and a couple of scarves...

And the show was definitely worth the work as I sold another of my paintings. One of my older pieces but one of my favorites.

Another successful landscape class

2010-11-25T20:52:00.000-05:00

I taught my landscape class at the home/studio of my friend Linda Van Alstyne this past weekend. It was a wonderful experience. I love Linda and envy her energy and enthusiasm. She is an incredibly talented artist and has been making felt for a long time. I have enjoyed her hospitality on other occasions and as always my stay at her house was a real treat. Her husband is a gourmet cook (I actually ate brussels sprouts and really liked them) and he took care of all of our meals so that we could just concentrate on the class and talking felt. What a sweet heart!
I thought the class went well. Everyone seemed to be having fun and they made some beautiful pieces. Here are the layouts.

The wet felt.

Here are the ladies working and having fun.

Robin doing some needling.

One of the criticisms about this class is that there is not enough time for the needle felting. It takes me several days to finish one of my felt landscapes so it is not surprising that students can not finish their pieces in two days. I am working on solutions to this problem. Here are the pieces at the end of class. I hope that those who did not finish will keep working on their pieces since they all came out lovely.

Linda did more needle felting on the piece that she had started in my class last year.

When I got home I worked on felting a commissioned table runner for a woman that I met at the opening for the Granby Land Trust art show. The customer wanted a piece that was based on a felt done by Anna Moberly, whom I know from the guild. Anna had been given the commission first but she got too busy to make the runner. I contacted Anna to make sure that she didn't mind my using her design. The runner is really not my style of art but I enjoyed playing with the technique of embedding things in the felt. It is supposed to be reminiscent of a river or stream in winter.
Here are the samples...

and the finished runner...which I delivered in time for the holiday. The woman was pleased enough to ask for place mats...without the stones of course.

And to top it all she gave a home to my rooster!

Betty the burlesque beauty

2010-11-07T14:09:00.000-05:00

Presenting the sad story of Betty the burlesque beauty. Betty has fallen on hard times lately. Like many jobless Americans she is looking for a way to make some money. Betty is considering returning to the stage, after an absence of many years. Betty had been a beauty in her day. Unfortunately after all the booze she has consumed though the years she is rather out of touch with reality. She has no idea of how ~~hideous and creepy she has become~~...um...unkind the years have been to her.

During a get together with her old friend Olivia, Betty excitedly shares her latest idea. She is going to make a fortune with her comeback performances.

Olivia has been trying to convince her that her 'entertaining' days are over. She gets frustrated that Betty will not face the fact that her smoking and boozing have contributed to her present difficulty.

Sadly Betty ignores Olivia's advice and goes to audition at the local ~~dive~~ ~~club~~ theater. She sings and dances her little heart out.

Her singing is so bad the directors have to plug their ears.

They quickly tell her to STOP!

As a last ditch effort to save her old friend, Olivia arranges for an intervention, asking Betty's estranged family to attend. Unfortunately the discussion quickly became a shouting match and ended badly.

Olivia did not see her friend after that. Tragically Betty's life went from bad to worse. Her appearance in the documentary "Lives of the Poor and Homeless" was the last anyone saw of her.

2010-11-05T09:29:00.000-04:00

Last week was spent on more felt business. I had to finish stitching the backing on the large underwater piece and get it ready to hang. I was submitting it to a juried fiber art show in West Hartford. The show is titled 'Out of the Loop' and is put on by the West Hartford Art League. It was stressful for a few reasons; driving down toward Hartford and getting lost for an hour being just two of them. I am happy to be able to say that my work was accepted along with the work of three of my good friends from the Northeast Feltmakers Guild. Go Felters!! I am also still working at getting the four pieces that are going to be in the Wesleyan Potters annual show and sale ready for exhibit. I find that I can not attend to that boring finish work for very long. I also am good at procrastinating at things like that when I think I have plenty of time. I am a bit more motivated since last week though. I added to my own stress because what I thought was plenty of time to finish sewing the backing was not. After I finished sewing I hung the piece and it no longer hung flat. I wound up finishing the sewing at the gallery. How unprofessional is that! Ah Well...live and hopefully learn.

I was able to recoup during my weekend visit with Joei. We did more flowers for the guild on Friday while we discussed what to make on Saturday. We decided on slipper/shoes. Mine are the blue gray ones.

My shoes are made with a combination of short fiber merino, pelsul, and C1 so I hope they will be durable. I am going to try to put some soles on them...I have a shoe repair man in the family :)

While we were working on our shoes we also washed two fleeces.

The grey fleece is from Whippet, an icelandic lamb. Joei and I bought the fleece at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. The camel colored fleece is a merino moorit that Joei kindly shared with me. The grease had started to dry on the fibers so it is still a bit sticky but I felted a tiny bit and it made a wonderful felt. Now I am pondering what to use them for.

On Sunday I made the background felt for this piece so it is ready to hang in the Potter's show.

I also fulled a piece of a prefelt that I had made earlier to see how it will look when/if I finally use it to make the image that it is intended for.

And I worked some on fulling this head that I had started at home.

I love the way his eyes glow in this shot.

I took this shot to show how sculpted his face is. I used mostly Romney which is always a bit spongy and did not shrink as much as my other heads.

I put wire in his arms so they can be posed. He reminds me of a Wallace and Gromit character.

Finally I am happy to be able to say that at the opening of the Granby Land Trust Art Show last night I won one of the top awards....the Granby Land Trust Award. I also sold the piece and got a possible commission. I am proud of myself.

Latest Finished Felt Landscape

2010-10-25T20:42:00.003-04:00

I am happy that I was able to finish the landscape that I was doing for the Granby Land Trust art show. This is the third year I have submitted a piece of felt. I got juried in both years. I am hoping this will be the third. Here is the photo I was using for inspiration.

This was the start of the piece just before I did the wet felting.

Below is what it looked like a few days ago after a lot of needle felting.

The piece finished...

and framed.

There are still things I would change but I am not unhappy with it and having it be done is wonderful.

Looking for the bright side

2010-10-21T22:10:00.001-04:00

Such a fight it has been the last week or so, and I am tired of fighting. It has been a very difficult day; following on the heels of several other difficult days. It happens every fall but I never know how bad things will be. I have been trying to 'think positive' and use the skills I have learned after 30+ years of fighting the enemy within. I walked this afternoon to try to get some exercise and boost my spirits. I also wanted to get a photo of a pair of barn doors at the nearby farm. The colors when the sun hits them is gorgeous and I knew the light was going to be wonderful today. The weather outside was such a reflection of what I was feeling inside; clouds, sun, wind, and rain all within hours and sometimes occurring together. The shots came out wonderful (I made them smaller than I usually post so they will not be appropriated without permission). I often feel that I am at my most creative when I have tipped to one side or the other of center.

The doors

I had written a poem many years ago during another depression in which I spoke about understanding that without pain we do not fully appreciate pleasure, just as we can not have a rainbow without the rain. I can not remember the exact words right now but I thought how fitting it was to see this rainbow on my walk.

My spirits were lifted,at least for a while, as I listened to the sounds of the resident hawks and eagles crying as they soared in the sky. It seemed as though all the birds were rejoicing that the storm had passed.

I savored the changing light as the sun slid lower in the sky...

...giving way to the night.

The rise of the moon reminded me of how much things can seem to change depending on your perspective.

I will continue to try to keep things in perspective and look for the beauty of life.

Another late blog

2010-10-18T15:11:00.002-04:00

I started this blog to help me remember things that I have been doing. Apparently I am not posting often enough since I am having trouble remembering what has happened since I wrote about my landscape class and Felt United. I know that there was some extra stuff thrown at me. My son needed help with moving and while moving is always difficult it was made more so by the fact that his dog Brandy had been hit and killed by a car the day before. They were out in the yard at the time and while accidents happen and dogs should not go in the road, I think it is awful that the driver did not even stop to say "I am sorry".

But then again we just had an accident in our state where a woman hit and killed two men who were changing a tire and even though her airbag went off she kept driving. It is a crazy world out there so it is no wonder I want to hide here in my own crazy world...at least that world I understand.

I also spent some time the last two weeks doing fall chores like cleaning up the garden and helping Dad to wash windows. And since I have been starting to feel the grip of that black beast known as depression I have been trying to be sure to go outside in the sun and get some exercise as much as possible. It is a fight and all I want to do is go to bed and hibernate like a bear, till spring comes again.

I have also been trying to do some business type work; submitting photos to Felt United, filling out inventory sheets for the Wesleyan Potters Annual Exhibit and Sale, and making arrangements for another landscape class. I did start another head that I don't like because it reminds me of my grandfather Wilcox.

There were many good things that happened that I am trying to keep in the fore front of my mind. I have been wanting a felt coat since I started felting four years ago. I attempted one last year which came out pretty well. I made yardage and got the coat all sewn. I don't remember why but I did a bit more felting after the sewing was done. When I put it in the washing machine to spin out the water I accidentally put the machine on agitate. The result was a coat that no longer fit me. I have more confidence in my ability to felt a large piece after doing the large piece for Felt United so I again made yardage.

I really liked the yardage but thought that it would be a bit much for my conservative nature to wear. I decided to over-dye it with a pale grey to minimise the color change from top to bottom. I dyed some silk for the sleeves at the same time since there was not enough of the patterned fabric.

Here is the finished coat.

I was happy to have finished it in time to wear it to the New York Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck on Saturday. I went with my friend Joei and we had lots of fun and I bought (what for me is a lot of) wool. We also bought a small Icelandic lamb's fleece that went home with Joei. I am hoping we can do the processing together....or maybe I will just try felting it 'in the grease'.

Joei came over on Friday and after dinner we made more more flowers for the guild vine that we volunteered to take charge of.

After Joei left on Sunday my sister Beth came over to help with washing some of the curtains and the inside of the windows. After lunch Dad said it was such a nice day out that we HAD to stop working and go for a walk with him.

It was a wonderful way to end a great weekend.

What happened to September Continued.

2010-10-03T12:19:00.002-04:00

I thought I would get right back to writing about my landscape class but it has been almost a week. (I get distracted so easily.) One of the wonderful things about teaching is that I learn so much from my students and I always get inspired and a refreshed excitement about felting. I actually did some needling on my last landscape and was finding it less of a chore. I think I went so overboard needling on the barn painting that I did last year that I kind of burned out on that part of doing my landscapes. Needle felting is not my favorite...but I like what I am able to do with the needle.
There were 7 students and since I would only take a maximum of 8 that was a good sign that folks might want me to teach again. In fact plans are already in the works for a class in NY state for a class in November and another class at NEFS in the new year. One of my students had to drive 7 hours to get to the class. I can't tell you what those things mean to me. How my self esteem has been elevated by doing this class. Not least of all was concurring my own fear of taking the class to this new venue. I knew that the fact that I was so nervous about it meant that I really NEEDED to do it.
The best parts of teaching are when you see a student 'get it'. The moments when you see an expression of confusion change to the light of understanding. Or when you see a student's opinion of their work change because of a suggestion you have made. Since taking the two workshops last year and teaching my classes I realize just how special the sharing of knowledge and excitement that is fueled in a class setting can be. Teaching and taking classes is about so much more than technique and projects. But enough of my musings.

Here are some photos of the students and their work. Many of these photos are taken by the students because my batteries were rendered ineffective by NEFS's resident ghost ;) They worked when I got home:)

Here are the women working on there lay outs.

This is Janet, a very new felter, working hard on her lay out.

This is Lori, well her hands at least, adding some locks to her lay out. Poor Lori. I knew her from the guild an yet somehow I got it in my head that her name was Dawn. I called her that the entire class...except when I called her Dawnlori.

This is Pat's lay out in progress. It turned out that Pat knew my father and mother from church so I felt a special bond with her. She also understood my humor and took my teasing in stride:)

I did manage to get photos of most of the pieces st the end of the day, after they were wet felted.

The next day we did the needle felting.

Pat enjoyed this part so much she planned on working more the following day while on vacation.

Jean was very excited about the way her piece developed with the needling.

Thea had fun adding yarns and though her piece came out more abstract than she originally intended I think she was pleased with the end result.

A tired but happy group.

A closer photo of Janet's piece that is hidden in the group photo.

My interest in landscapes was so renewed that I spent the last few days working on one for Felt United. I was not going to participate this year since I have been so busy but since the theme was the blue to yellow slice of the color wheel which includes my favorite colors I just had to do it. This is the largest landscape? I have done to date. At 37 x 80 inches I had to roll up some of the top to hang it on the trellis that I used to display it out by the road.

The audience.

The critic.

A detail.

The piece.

Now I have to figure out a way to hang it!

What happened to September? Part One

2010-09-28T13:38:00.001-04:00

I feel like I can finally take a breath now that I am finished with both shows and teaching my class. I learned something about myself as I was trying to get ready to teach. I had two weeks to devote to doing the things that were necessary in order to be prepared such as; editing my booklet, cutting pieces of plastic for rolling in, going over my notes, etc.. I could have done everything I needed to do in just one week but since I had two weeks I felt I had to do more. In fact I realized that I felt guilty every time I was doing something else unless it was a 'have to do'. I don't think it is possible to be over-prepared but I do learn to balance things better.

So what did happen to September?

Preparing and manning a booth twice (a lot of work!) but also very satisfying, especially to see and hear people reacting to my work.

To get ready to teach at New England Felting Supply I wanted to learn more about the color pallet the students would be working with since my own collection from NEFS has changed through the years. So I made this.

I spent hours making it and could have been even more obsessive with getting the colors where they should be in the color wheel. That is the kind of thing where I can 'waste' so much time being exacting when 'good enough' would serve the purpose. I am glad to have the wheel though and the named bits of wool for my own reference so it will have use beyond the class.

I also wanted to make a landscape using just these colors and the locks etc. that would be available to the students. That way I would know what could be done with that pallet since I am used to having my own specially dyed wool to use as well. Here is the lay out.

It was also helpful to do this because it has been a long time since I have done a felted landscape this way. It also reminded me of what I enjoy about this process. And I learned some things from teaching the class so I was inspired to do some needling last night on the wet felted piece.

I also did quite a bit of editing on a companion booklet that I made for this class. Because there is so much information to remember even I find it helpful to have the tips written out.

I have to admit that I did give myself sometime in the evenings to do some fun felt. I have wanted to experiment with using black as a ground for a painting. I think Rembrandt used a black ground to help achieve the chiaroscuro effect in some of his paintings. I first wanted to see how the black would effect the colors as the fibers blended. I was doing this just on impulse laying down the black base and then just grabbing some color. It turned into an evening on the ocean scene that I could probably improve with some needling but I don't like it enough to spend the time on it. I did however learn what I wanted from the experiment.

Most of my 'free' time was spent making more of my silly heads though. I am loving having a face develop as I sculpt the felt and the fact that I can complete one in an evening is a bonus to a person who feels guilty having so many unfinished projects.

Here are the newest members of the gang.

The last guy was inspired by Halloween.

I was going to write about my class in this post but it has gotten too long and I can only stand to be sitting at this machine for so long so I will continue my September story later.

Felt in Nature Retreat

2010-09-18T14:33:00.000-04:00

I have been busy with so many different events that I have only just now gotten a chance to try to describe the retreat that I was able to participate in. It was an honor to be part of this event. The event was wonderfully organized by Sharon Costello. It was held at the Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville, NY. Here is the description from one of the brochures we had at the exhibit at the end of the week. "In 2010, ten distinguished [Me distinguished??] fiber artists, working in felt, spent a week in residence at the Preserve exploring felt in nature." I still can't believe that I was part of this group. And what a group it was,Joei Bassett, Sharon Costello, Marianne Dubois, Carol Ingram, Sharon Janda, Renate Maile-Moskowitz, Lynn Ocone, Kris Sandoy, and Linda Van Alstyne. They are all so talented, kind, sharing, funny, and energetic. I was in awe and I am so thankful to have been able to get to know these women and their work so much better. This one week has had a profound effect on me. I feel like I have grown through this experience not only as a felter and an artist, but also personally.
This was my first beautiful view on arrival at the preserve.

I loved working on my felt out on the porch on the left.

The first thing we did was to decide which space we would work in in this building, which is the research lab on Lincoln Pond. Although it is uncharacteristic for me to say what I really want I stated right off that I wanted to work in front of this window, though the first order of business was to wash it.

Next we chose where we would sleep. And again I said what I wanted. I am not sure what came over me that day. I just loved this little old horse stall turned cabin, and I had my favorite roommate Joei to keep me company, along with the bugs and whatever critter was running around up in the attic. It was almost as good as camping!

We had two presentations by prominent mycologists, and we did some dyeing with mushrooms. Here is Susan Van Hook who ran the dye workshop talking about insulation made with fungi.

We took a guided walk by the pond with the director of the preserve, Chad Jemison.

We were not able to go all the way around the pond due to a bit of reconstruction by the resident beavers.

But most of the week was spent exploring the preserve, felting, or talking about felt and art and life. Although there was also a lot of sharing of laughing, great food, and a little wine. ;) Here are a few photos of some of the artists working.

I was amazed at the amount of wool the other women brought, with the exception of Where's the Wool Joei with her single bin!

Carol's wool spilled out into the corridor.

I didn't bring that much wool but I really made a mess of my space when I was felting.

Here is what I was working on. A bunch of small pieces tied together, somewhat inspired by the nature centers collection of natural objects and my own habit of picking up feathers, leaves, stones, etc. when I am outside.

Here is a close-up of my tree bark.

At the end of the week we had an exhibit at the visitor's center.

Many of us did small pieces inspired by the various shapes and textures seen on our walks.

But the large banners really made an impact.

Sharon Janda

Kristy Sandoy

Sharon Costello

Carol Ingram

Lynn Ocone

We also had an interactive installation about a destructive invasive species; man. Visitors were able to felt their own hand shapes onto a tree.

And although we had beautiful weather the entire week, the day of the exhibit brought just enough rain to give us a rainbow.

After the show was hung we had sometime to do more felting.

Sharon Janda made this hat. I learned quite a bit watching her work.

And I made this silly bird house man.

I stuck burdocks on for eyes but they will be replaced with eyes that look more like his lady friend which I made yesterday.

Here they are hanging out together, what a cute couple, maybe they will have kids some day.

This post does not come close to being able to describe all the wonderful things that came my way through being able to attend this retreat. I am very fortunate, and thankful for being able to share it with all these women.

Eco print update

2010-08-23T12:33:00.002-04:00

A quick lunch time update on the dye pot from Saturday. I experimented with some of the pressed leaves that I had gathered in the spring. I want to know what types of leaves I should be gathering for the barren winter months. I know that the results may not be the same because of the difference in season, summer vs spring harvest but I want to know what is worth a shot.
Here is part of the experimental piece.

I also did three others in the same pot.

I am very happy with this one...and it is a finished scarf! Unfortunately I can't remember what the other two were or where they went so I guess I won't be showing them.

In the scarf below I really like the pattern I got from the tying but I don't like the colors.

This is an over-dye of a horsetail yellow scarf.

And here are the finished scarves that I laid out that day. One of them was a blank that I want to Eco dye so I won't bother to show that.

I almost always make my scarves different on both sides.

And since those went fairly well I laid out a few more which I will roll today.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2010-08-21T13:21:00.001-04:00

I am feeling a bit stressed about all the things coming up the next few weeks. A week long felting retreat to prepare for, for which I leave on the 30th. Come back on the 5th, a one day show on the 6th, and a show on the 11th and 12th. It may not sound like much but I am someone who lives a quiet, stay at home life and generally stresses about everything anyway. At least I feel good that I have been finishing things. Having a deadline can be good in that way.
I finally finished this hat that I started maybe a year ago. AND I am happy with the way it came out!

The feathers are from my buttercup rooster who happens to be molting. I risked being pecked to gather them from the pen he has been incarcerated in. The black ones have a green iridescence. (I washed them before I sewed them on!)

I used my jelly rolls to make some hair clips for the booth.

And I rinsed, pressed, and photographed some of the silk scarves that I dyed (wash fast acid dyes). I was going to use them for felting but I liked them too much as is. Maybe they will sell. (An added stress factor is that I have been over spending and really need to make some money!)

I had a lot of fun taking photos of the scarves dancing in the wind.

I also finished this bag. It is a 'green' bag; undyed, locally sourced wool, some of which was raised right here in town.

And though I told myself I needed to hold off on the natural dyeing I must confess that I did do some and in fact have a pot going right now. I decided that could be cooking while I am rolling the four felt scarves I laid out yesterday :)

These are my eco-print experiments overdyed in a pot with the berberis thunbergii I got from the local convenience store.

I made this piece with a fun piece of metal here that I think will see a lot more use.

This chocolate silk piece was in the same iron pot. I also had partial success with using my metal roosters as a resist as they are exact mirror images.

Not crazy about the colors I got (this was an overdye) but I can see the roosters do have potential.

Lunch break is over now so back to work...

copper water update

2010-08-20T21:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I think that Dianne Stott hit the nail on the head with her suggestion that it could be the copper pennies that were turning the water a cobalt blue instead of aqua. I thought that the pile of pennies I used were all pre-82's, I can remember sorting some out. Apparently I was wrong. Check out the really eroded ones. What the heck is in those things?

making copper water question

2010-08-14T10:07:00.000-04:00

I posted this on the 'Sustainable Natural Dye Practice' Yahoo group but I thought I would post my question here as well.--

I have a question about copper water. I have made several jars using some old copper wire and they always come out that lovely pale greenish blue typical of oxidized copper. I decided to start another jar with a piece of copper pipe and some older pennies. I thought I had used vinegar in the first jar so I put that in with water (1:1) and waited...and waited...etc. No color was coming so I opened both jars and smelled the contents and could tell I used ammonia in the first jar. I poured out the vinegar water and added ammonia water (1:1) and got an instant color change. Now after a week or two the color is a very deep cobalt blue. Does anyone know what is happening?

I can't come up with a witty title so...

2010-08-12T13:10:00.003-04:00

I will just jump in. This post is just a log of what I have been doing since that last post.

My sister Beth, who has not been in the hospital since the early 70's got appendicitis. She is fine... thank God/Jehovah/Allah/Buddha/the Creator/et al....with apologies to whatever deity I missed. So part of my time has been spent thinking/worrying about her and at her house trying to be a bit of help. It was actually very nice to feel that I was able to give her some loving care because she always does so much for me.

It was also the week before the August guild meeting which was taking place in Vermont. That meant I had to do some things to get ready. I needed to make an art card for the swap but since I had so many small felt pieces already made I just had to pick one and get it mounted on some card stock. Here is the one I choose to give.

I also had to pack extra stuff for this meeting since

1.I had the makings for the flower vine that we are doing as a guild project,

2. I was delivering a felting machine to Dianne Stott as a favor for my new friend Sharon Janda (who I meet in person at Shakerag),

3. I was going to be tenting as I LOVE sleeping outdoors and it would give me a quiet place to go since I often get overwhelmed with all the doings at these meetings. It can be tiring to have lots of people around since I am used to staying home with just my Dad. Linda Veilleux was one of the hostesses for the meeting and she has a gorgeous backyard to put a tent in....here it is in November.

The sun came up over those mountains and at night I got to see stars (we don't see many here due to light pollution). I even saw some 'shooting stars' (Perseids) and the Milky Way!!

Joei and I traveled to Vermont together. We had so much stuff to bring that we had to borrow my Dad's minivan at the last minute. We took the scenic route on the way up on Friday and stopped to see Moss Glen Falls in Granville. (Slalom driver Joei loves those curvy mountain roads!)

The weekend was great. We laughed, ate, drank,and talked, talked, talked (as any group of women are quite good at) about felting, dyeing, and all kinds of fibery things....as well as some general life stuff. We had a workshop by Jennifer Hoag of the Northeast Fiber Arts Center on using a drum carder.

She must have spent a lot of time getting the carders set up as this is just some of them.

We then had a slide lecture "Have Yurt Will Travel-Felt Journey from Mongolia to Australia" by Dutch feltmaker and anthropologist, Martien Van Zuilen. We also got to see some of her work in person.

She will be coming back to the States next year to teach the techniques used to create some of these pieces.

Then it was on to the usual meeting stuff, Potluck dinner, Show and Tell (one of the most inspiring things),

art card swap...(not many this time, many got forgotten or arrived too late)

and then the business meeting. The only bad part of the weekend was that I lost my glasses, (they were found after we left in the driveway, I don't know how THAT happened but I am grateful to Superhostess Linda for finding them and mailing them to me!).

Joei had Monday off and since she had to drive as I could not see too well, I convinced her to stay over with a bribe of gathering some dyestuff from the fields around my house. You would think she would have been sick of me by then but she stayed. My "cool" dad (her words) found and cut her a length of iron pipe to use in her dyepots so now she has lots of things to play with if only she can get some time too. A commodity none of us creative types get enough of as the ideas are almost always flowing.

I have spent the rest of this week starting and finishing some pieces and making little (hopefully saleable) things for my two up coming shows.

P. S. I am not sure why I use so many parenthesis...or ellipsis. Especially since I get annoyed by writers that over use punctuation such as! exclamation! points! Maybe that is just the way I think.

...for all the unfinished thoughts and ( ) to try to make clearer all those thoughts. It can be a mess in my brain for sure (insert exclamation point here).

Newest Felt Project

2010-08-01T17:27:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick post because I told my friend Joei that I would post my latest project. I wanted to do an experiment to see how the eco dyed silks would felt up. I had know idea what kind of color changes I would get with all the soap and water. I have not been washing out the silks, just picking off the plant matter. India Flint says that the colors cure with time so I just press the pieces with a steam iron without rinsing.

Here is the project laid out. I used prefelt and just ripped the silks in rectangles.

I had trouble getting an accurate photo today of the final color but here are two shots.

Some of the pieces did not felt in too well, but I should be able to needle or sew them down with out it looking too bad.

To give an idea of the color shifts I took this photo. As I expected the choke cherry changed to a more bluish grey color, but I still like it.

I cropped two of the photos so you can see the color shift better. I can see that when you are using all natural dyes they do all go nicely together even when they change.

I don't know how or if I could put the pictures side by side which would be helpful here. The top is before felting.

The real colors are not as dark as in this photo.

On the brighter side

2010-07-29T14:32:00.000-04:00

Not all of the past two weeks have been hard. I did do some felting...though the piece is dragging on much longer than usual. But the best thing I did art-wise was to do some dyeing and felting with my wonderful nieces. These little girls always bring me joy and when we are doing these projects I feel good about myself.

First we picked some leaves and berries that were growing in the yard. We had to do this quickly since a thunderstorm was fast approaching. We weathered the storm in the basement, not because it was that bad but because that is where the dye studio is. It is great to have this space where we can be really messy! I forgot to take photos but the girls' mom got some shots as we were opening our bundles.

Here we are discussing what worked well.

'A' does not look too sure about touching the mushy cooked leaves, though 'K' does not seem to mind.

We were all happy with our results, though 'A' was getting a bit silly putting a large felt bowl on her head.

We had talked about mordants and how they can change the colors. (These girls are very smart and interested in everything!) Since my piece had colors similar to the girls' I put it in washing soda to show them how it would change. Here is a photo of it after the washing soda dip.

While we were waiting for the pot to boil we did some felting. They wanted to make butterflies. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the ones the girls made. Here is mine.

I did more dyeing on my own as well.

This one was done with old dried rose petals found while cleaning out my daughter's college apartment.

This was done with mystery leaves I gathered in Ithaca on a break from cleaning out that apartment. I wish I knew how it happened that while the one leaf only left an outline the spot where it overlapped the other leaf is a different color. My theory is that it acted as a resist of some sort.

I did some dyeing with berries. It is too bad that the color will not stay for long. This is done with chokecherries.

Leftover crushed black berries. The pot had some iron in it.

This was done with purple loosestrife and a fern that had lots of spores on the back of the leaves.

This was a piece that I over-dyed with annatto by just sticking it in the jar and letting it soak for a long time. The dark spots are from St. John's wort.

Here is a photo of all the pieces. The silks on the upper right were done with rust.

Struggling

2010-07-29T11:59:00.001-04:00

The past two weeks have been difficult. Kids and pets have all needed extra time and care. I have been struggling more than usual this summer, trying to fight the thoughts that weigh me down and added worries sure don't help. Each of the challenges lately have caused me to pray that I will be, say, and do the right things, meanwhile fighting my own inner bully that tells me I am not good enough. So far I am still duking it out and though I may not be winning the fight I am still standing.
The biggest blow has been that I decided to put down my pet cat, who has been with me for 12 years. I am struggling with that decision in part because of my own feelings of failure but also because of comments from others. As with any issue, we are each entitled to our own opinions and should be able to express them. I also know that it is up to me how I will allow an other's viewpoint effect me, but that does not mean that does not add to the hurt.
I wanted to write this post just so that I will remember when these events occurred.

Peanut