Of Chickens and Felt, part two

Another part of my quest for the simple life was to get chickens. Since I was living in an expanding suburb/city and still working I could not jump 'whole hog' into homesteading. But having a garden, and raising chickens seemed like a good way to further my dream. Now, I probably would have just continued to dream but my daughter facilitated the acquisition of 9 Buff Orpington chicks.

I had researched the breed on the Homesteading Today forum and, yet again, learned all I could from the wonderful world wide web. These are duel purpose birds, good layers, nice disposition, winter hardy... all good things for the homestead right? Well what I did not expect was that I would fall in love with them. Who knew chickens were so entertaining and that they have individual personalities?

They free ranged in MY yard and unfortunately on the neighbors immaculate lawn as well. I forgave them, as the grass WAS greener on the other side, but I am not sure my neighbor was amused (though he never outwardly complained). Here they are hanging out on my front steps, hoping I will come out with a treat.

Due to other life changing circumstances I found it necessary to sell my home and move in with my Dad. I was not sure how Dad felt about taking in a cat, a few rabbits, and me, never mind a flock of chickens. Happily the people who bought the house loved the chickens and wanted to keep them.

It has been a couple of years since, and I missed having chickens. My daughter and I were talking about chickens one day this spring and before the conversation ended we had placed an order for 26 day old chicks (10 Cornish X broilers, 10 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Black Astrolorps, 2 Silver Lace Wyandottes, and a Male and Female Golden Polish).

So January 2010 finds me living with my Dad in my old room, raising 14? chickens* and one cat, distance mothering my 3 grown children, and doing a lot of felting...and it is good!

*Although life was better before yesterday when I lost my Phyllis . This is the third time she went missing. The poor thing can't see too well with that feather hat so she spent much of her days searching for the other girls. I am not holding my breath that she will return this time as the neighborhood hawk has been hanging around our house lately.

Of Chickens and Felt

Many of the changes in my life over the last four years are related to the death of my mother on Dec. 19th 2005. That was a catalyst for me to try harder than ever to make a good life. I won't go into all the deep philosophical and psychological changes that happened. However, one small step down a path toward trying to be happier with how I spent my time on this earth brought me to the art of making felt and the joy of raising chickens.

I was working for a well known dictionary publisher as THE illustrator at the time. I am not all that well suited to sitting in a cubical in silence it turns out, and a co-worker and I started dream-talking about things we would like to do to make our personal worlds better. Much of the talk was about sustainable living...you know, working less at a job, having less STUFF, making things and making do.

During one of our conversations she suggested raising angora rabbits as a way to start down that road. Theory was that I could sell the fiber and have the enjoyment of those wonderful creatures. Rufus T. Firefly shown here was my first angora. I got him from Chris Morgan (woolybuns.typepad.com) and before I knew it I had five balls of fluff to love and care for. One thing I didn't have was a way to sell that fiber though. The afore mentioned friend told me that I could felt that surplus fiber so I looked it up on the internet and tried wet felting with my lovley angora. When I was done I had a holey piece of felt that looked a lot like a rabbit that had been runover by a steamroller...and I was hooked.
My next endeavor was using a felting needle to make a bunny from the bunny fiber. And then I discovered that a woman named Chris White sold wool in lots of colors from her home in a town not too too far away and so I made my first combination wet and needle felted landscape with angora AND wool.

To Be Continued...

Felt Together

One of the things that got me interested in blogging is my friend Joei's blog- Art That's Felt. I met the talented Joei though the Northeast Feltmakers Guild and I am very thankful to have her as a friend. Joining the Guild has been a blessing for me. Women in the fiber arts seem to me to be the most caring and giving of artists. The acceptance of newbies and the sharing of information in the fiber arts is amazing and I can honestly say that that is not true among all the fine arts.

This past weekend Joei hosted a Felt-A-Thon. Joei invited me and Jane (another guild member and friend) to come visit. We did some felting, a lot of dyeing with indigo, and lots of talking and laughing. It was just what I needed in many ways.

Here is a happy Joei hanging up some ribbon and some silk after a second, or was it third? dip in the indigo vat.

The lovely Jane who did most of the dipping. Thank you Jane!

It was fascinating to see the color change from this beautiful teal to a bright blue when exposed to the air. Felters love those magic moments when the properties of the medium changes before our eyes or beneath our fingers.

Figuring Things Out

I am an artist by trade and birth...it is in the genes. I am taking a shot at this blog business because I want a way to keep track of some of the things that I have been doing. My memory and thinking have been rather befuddled in the past few years. I thought a blog might be a kind of mnemonic device that would help remind me of parts of this journey called life.
This blog is another leap into the cyber world for me. I have a shop on ETSY (FeltInspiration.etsy.com) and I have used twitter and flickr. I have been on Facebook for several months and I like being able to share my images and feel connected with family and friends. However, I sometimes wish I could post more text, easily share information with non-facebookers, and have the ability to go back and see all the old posts and comments. I also like that a blog can be like a continuing story.
I expect that my blog will be mostly about art and chickens. Yes, chickens. I raise chickens as pets...outdoor pets. Most of my days are spent creating; felting and painting being the current obsessions, and taking care of my 14 hens and 1 rooster. That is when I am not doing housework!