Midwest Felting Symposium part 3

So much has happened since the symposium that it seems like years ago. I will have to try to go back in my mind archives and see if I can find some memories of what happened.  Since then I have had another week away from home; on a retreat at the Huyck Nature Preserve with nine of my friends interpreting our surroundings in felt. But that event deserves its own post. I am also recovering from doing my one and only craft show this past weekend. So this post will probably not be the best but I will be able to cross it off my list of things to do. The weekend went well, I sold some of my older work which always feels good, and I got to spend a lot of time with my lovely daughter. Here are photos she took of my booth.

That is my wonderful dad who is another of my helpers without whom I would not do even this show. It is so much work!
Time with my daughter has been especially important since her relationship of over 8 years ended while I was out in the Midwest.  At about 2 in the morning on the day of my NoBodys class my phone rang. Talk about scary. Waking up in a hotel room to a call where all you hear is your daughter sobbing so much she can't speak. I thought someone must have died. I finally was able to hear her say 'Tony doesn't love me anymore' and my heart broke and it was AWFUL not to be there to hold her tight. I was hurting too. Tony was like a son to me and it seemed like he always would be a part of our family with or without the actual marriage certificate. There were a few other phone calls in those wee hours of the morning and a lot of tossing and turning as I worried about them and did my own mourning about the loss of a future we has all imagined. Needless to say it was not a good way to start a day that I would be teaching the class I has the most worries about being successful.
I was right to be worried. The class was listed as advanced with a warning that it would involve intense hand work yet two of my students had only felted once before. I had agreed to take one of the students when Holly, one of the organizers, told me that she had a student who really wanted to take my class but did not have not much felting experience. I told Holly to ask her to practice felting over a resist before the class, sadly that did not happen. Luckily I only had 4 students so I told them that I would do my best to help them succeed but that I had to give equal time to all the students and could not give them special attention. I also asked the class to forgive me that I was not quite all there and explained my troubled night. In the end it all was fine, since the students were happy with their creations and most importantly had a lot of fun. In a way the extra challenge was good for me since it helped distract me from worrying about my daughter. Here are the hollow heads that the students made. Only one was considered 'fully' finished. Pun intended.

This is Ramsey with her creation.

She has wonderful plans on how to finish and accessorize this guy. I hope she sends me a photo to share. I loved the bone through the chin idea.

This is Jaclyn who was one of the newbies. She 'got' it right at the start and seemed to just be able to understand how to manipulate the fibers. She also had the hand strength to be able to full the felt and shape it. She was a natural and it was amusing that she only took the class to accompany Joan.

Ah, Joan....my biggest challenge but we had so many laughs. I had to borrow a phrase that Karolina Arvilommi uses in her classes when students need to do more fulling; she simply says "little bit more". She says this so sweetly so that you do not hold it against her when she is asking you to push yourself beyond what you think you can physically handle and you just want to be done. Each time I came to Joan as I made my rotation around the room the conversation went like this:
Joan: How is this?
Me: Little bit more.
Joan: with a shocked expression Really???
It got to be a running joke...so here she is saying "little bit more".

 

Finally here is Dominique. Dominique was talked into taking my class (she did not really like my NoBodys) but she wanted to learn as many shaping techniques as possible. In the end she said she was so happy she did take the class. Dominique had just taken a class with Pamela MacGregor; a master of shaping and making hard felt. I was intimidated to teach 3D felt making to a student who had just taken one of her classes. Dominique had a bit of trouble sticking to one concept and started a few different pieces, but she worked after class hours and had a new piece started when I came to class on the second day. Her piece was inspired by the missing Nigerian school girls. She wants to add 200 spikes at the top of the figure to represent each young girl. It was my pleasure to have her in class and especially to have her share her thoughts about feltmaking and life in general. 

Fiber artists are some of the nicest people I have know and feltmakers are the best. Students may come in the door as strangers but it is not long before they seem like old friends.

My final class was back in my comfort zone teaching the one day 'ScapeScarf' class. It went really well and was a great way to end my week. Six lovely ladies created six lovely scarfs. Two of the women used my Springtime themed scarf as inspiration. 

Here is Carol's.

Sue used the same scarf for inspiration yet each woman created a piece that was truly their own. That is one of the cool things about felt. No two pieces are exactly alike.

Here is Sue.

Sharon had her own image idea that she wanted to render. Her finished piece came out just the way she described the scene to me. 

Janet wanted to render a beach scene reminiscent of the Outer Banks. I think her scarf really gives that impression. 

Betty was also thinking Spring when she made her beautiful Cherry tree scarf. I love the idea of a nice warm winter scarf showing colorful warm times of the year.

Carol had in mind a sunset. She used such beautiful colors and her use of one of my yarns was fantastic. I love when students use my materials in a way that had not occurred to me. I always learn so much when I teach.

And now it is time to do some unpacking...and cleaning...and....

In Production Mode.

The past two weeks were spent getting more products ready for the Shopping Holiday Season. This business of selling is so counter to the way I live, and want to be, that I find it a source of unease in my felt making. In my own life I am trying to reject consumerism, constantly questioning do I really NEED this THING.  My journey through some difficult life events made me really look at what truly matters. I came to clearly see the ways that all the messages we are fed through advertising, of needing and wanting MORE, just leads to a viscous cycle and a constant feeling of discontent. It is much of the reason that I no longer watch TV or listen to the radio. Instead of the WANT I am now trying to see the ENOUGH. I often think about survival training; we NEED adequate food, water, and protection from the elements, everything else is really a WANT. Learning how to live with very limited funds reinforces these lessons. Because at this point in my life I do live in this consumerist society I am feeling the NEED to sell my felt. I think I NEED to sell for many reasons beside providing those essentials for life: mainly to pay for more wool and to feel that there is a good reason to spend my time creating. I could go on and on about this subject when the simple point is to express that I have been feeling a bit at war with myself.
So now time for some shameful self promotion by showing the THINGS I have finished.
(Side note: when I went to add photos to this post about consumerism and money matters I found out that I had used all my free space in Google's Picassa so I HAVE to purchase more space if I want to continue adding photos to my blog. How ironic.)

 I made a few scarves, and some Christmas ornaments...well, Vicki my daughter made the ornaments, but I felted the little white balls and designed the snowmen.

I also finished another NoBody. This one is a puppet like  Betty the Burlesque Beauty but without the arms and legs. I am really determined to be able to make a good puppet, but figuring out the shape of the resists has been the challenge. I am getting closer but still have a long ways to go. Here is this guy (I think his name is Mortimer) making a few faces for the camera.

 One of the things I need to fix is the placement of the hole in the back.

But best of all I finished some things that were started a long time ago and have been in my UFO box.
I am especially happy to say that I finished felting the hat that I started last year. I had to stop felting it because my hands and arms were hurting me...a lot. I could do the softer felting but not something like this that requires so much strength to press down and rub and to stretch.

It is a very large Men's hat. I bought the large size hat block because we have a lot of big domed men in the family....too many brains I guess. I am proud of it for a few reasons. One is that I worked on a project that has been kicking around so long; that is always a triumph for me. I am also proud of the way the felt came out since I picked out the fleece, washed the fleece, and carded the fleece.
I am also proud of this hat for a strange reason. For many people, an art piece is not considered good unless it looks like the real thing. I used to buy into this notion...and I guess I still do to some extent. I did not feel like I was a good artist until I could do those realistic drawings that I did for work. Drawings like this...

So, I was happy that my hat looked like it might have been manufactured, not hand made by some lady in Connecticut who bought a fleece to felt something with. It is a very strange way of thinking and really shows the conservative influence of my upbringing. I am trying to remember that it is the maker's mark that is often what makes a piece really special and that perfection mainly demonstrates technical skill not creativity. Besides, I don't believe that perfection is attainable by humans. I have to remind myself that doing the best I can at the time is really what I should strive for and that does not mean always doing my best work.
There has been little work of the felting nature being done this week. Many hours have been spent doing new listings for my Etsy shop. Is that more shameless self promotion? Yes, I will admit it.

Late November Already?

I can't believe how fast this month is going by. I knew the last two weeks were going to be busy but things got even busier when my Dad had to go into the hospital for a few days. He is fine now but it did make things a bit extra stressful, and I am a stress monger anyway. November is never a good time for me depression wise so I have to give myself a pat on the back for how well I have been holding up. I know that my working with the wool and doing the felting really helps my mind.
Much of the busyness of the last two weeks has been business. I went up to Glens Falls NY to help my friend Robin (who kindly volunteered to be show coordinator!) and other Guild members hang our Creation Myths exhibit at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts in Blue Mountain Lake. It was while driving back from the gallery to Robin's that I got a call from Dad in the hospital. I would have driven straight home but 'home' was in the middle of the Nor'easter that blew through the same area as hurricane Sandy. Lucky for us we were on the edge of both storms. When I got home I had to deliver my pieces to the Wesleyan Potter's and deliver my things for the Open Studio in Hartford. In between those two deliveries I found out Dad was getting out of the hospital. This was on Friday night and I got lost in Hartford trying to get from the open studio over to the hospital....for over an hour! And Dad was waiting for me....and Hartford is a scary place at night when you have no idea where you are. It was horrible and I totally lost my self control...driving when you are sobbing is never a good thing.
I recovered enough to be able to teach my flower class the next morning. I even got compliments on my teaching...from an art teacher! I remembered to take a couple of photos this time. Here are a couple of the flowers.

Since we don't have enough time to make the flowers into a brooch, I let the students choose a few beads and take a pin back to sew on at home.

After that I was able to relax a bit and just do some felting for the upcoming shopping boutique. I made/finished a couple of bags.

This was a bag I had started a long time ago but hated the way the colors came out. So I over-dyed it using some resists. I love when it happens that fixing a flaw makes a piece better than the original idea ever would have been. This is so true of life too. Often what we think of as mistakes or bad times turn out to be beneficial in ways we can't imagine at the time.

I decided to couch some wire on and love the look. I am going to do this again. Oh goody, another technique to explore!

 This bag has one of my marbled silk pieces on one side and some black lace on the other.

I used a wool from New England Felting Supply called People's wool for this bag. My understanding is that it is from a local wool pool. I love the felt it makes but it was not really right for this project. Choosing the right wool for each project can be difficult especially as I explore more types of wool. Learning what Chris White calls "fiber dynamics" can be so interesting; especially when using combinations of different wool types. Yesterday, I was finally able to explore the dynamics of a fleece that I bought earlier this month at the New England Fiber Festival. I bought an Icelandic fleece from a friend of my daughter. It was not the best fleece (quite a bit of VM and second cuts) but I love supporting a young local farmer. Here is the raw fleece; I really like the colors.

And it made a great felt. This sample is felted in the grease. I used mainly the undercoat (thel) at the bottom of the sample and then a mixture of both coats toward the top. I placed a few locks at the very top of the sample.

 I love the way that the outer coat fibers (tog) loop up to the surface of the felt.

I think I am going to make myself a pair of shoes with this wool. I am also saving some of the locks for hair on my NoBodies. Here is a new one I made. It is also the smallest one. He is not named yet, but I am thinking Tiny fits.

Another Landscape finds a home

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.

Betty the burlesque beauty

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.