What happened to September? Part One

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.