So Good to be Home

While away at the Midwest Folk and Fiber Show, my friend Joyce died, unexpectedly. Joyce is home, but her family is grieving terribly, especially her husband Dennis.

With the coming changes in my life, time has become incredible precious to me. Time, always a high commodity, even more so with interviews, resumes, orders, hats to make, sleep to catch up on, show schedule getting hectic...inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, relax and let it go, one thing at a time.

This is my recovery day and it has been fairly non-stop. The show was nice, sold a good number of hats and many "Bling Batts" to spinners and felters. Met some really nice folks, had wonderful food --Sushi Thai two days in a row. My mouth is still happy just thinking about it. The weather was really hot, but the venue had AC! How wonderful that was! Picked up another teaching opportunity and perhaps a truck show for the fall. All in all, it was good, but as always, it is better to be home. The photo of the lovely woman in the hat is Joann. She bought the hat just as I was saying that I was thinking of keeping it for myself. It looks so good on her and I know it will keep her warm, it is a double hood. She looked so cute in that hat, I had to take a photo of her.

Since my time was limited today for doing anything creative, I decided to dye this silk Ruana. As usual, the camera simply does not capture the colors. Love this rauna!

Gotta go work on the resume, get some sleep and then get ready for the next show this weekend!

OXOX and Shalom,
Suzanne

Beautiful Viking Horn's or Roses

This is a fairly large resist, 32 inches wide x 22 inches tall. Very large even by my standards, but I was planning only 2 fine layers of wool in the layout of the fiber. As Bonnie Arhens taught me; "trust the wool, trust the wool". I achieved well over 50% shrinkage, but it did take a long time, a lot of rolling, nearly to the point of boredom....and that has never happened for me before. Finally, it was done being felted, but then the time for how to form it. Because of the points on it, it could have been formed into a "Beautiful Viking"...which I did play with for a good bit, but in the wee, small, quiet hours of the morning (1:30 AM to be exact) I made the decision to go with the roses. This is my new favorite hat because it it ultra light weight, tons of colors and silk fabric laminate on the surface it just perfectly felted into place. I might have to keep this one for myself...but I always think that when I make a new hat. Still thinking about a "Beautiful Viking" hat for the near future.

The felt making class for August 7th is filled. I am now forming an overflow list and we may do it again in October, so if you are interested, please feel free to contact me through the website.

I'll be at the Midwest Folk and Fiber for the rest of the week. I hope you all have wonderful felting adventures.

Until next week,
Shalom,
Suzanne

Late entry:
The hat, completely dry weighs 2.7 ounces. Even I am shocked!

Be a Mikey, ..."Try it, you'll like it!"

My dear friend Martha ( of: http://www.rachelsmoms.com ) giggles with such glee every time I tell her that I've used cheese cloth in one of my felts. I don't know what it is that makes her laugh so, but it gives me joy too. Anyway, I've challenged her to "try it, you'll like it!"

Ok, I'll grant you that cheese cloth doesn't sound real glamorous or sophisticated, but the effect of it is so lovely, who wouldn't want to use it from time to time in their felt making projects. It creates a lovely effect, nearly lacy, meshes easily with the wool and adds a lovely dimension to the final product.

So if you too think that cheese cloth sounds a little too folksy and you want to spiff it up a bit, here are some other names it goes by: cotton scrim, which BTW, does come in different weights and in Britain it's sometimes called butter muslin. Cotton scrim does sound nice, don't you think? I think it all has to do with how ones views something. Personally, I love cheese cloth.

I made this small flower to show you all what effect it has when felted. I've used it in my hats and bags and wraps and each time, I've loved it. So I am challenging you and Martha, if you haven't tried it, "Try it, you'll like it!"

Shalom and laughter,
Suzanne
If you get a chance to check out Martha's hats, please do. She uses my large hat forms to make them. Love the white and pink one. It remains my favorite!

Midwest Felting Symposium

Unless there is a change of events, I'll not be able to attend the Midwest Felting Symposium--The PREMIER EVENT for feltmakers in North America. I have a scheduling conflict, sadly. The line up this year is spectacular and well worth your time and effort to get there. It is truly the event I look forward to all year. The feltmakers, the gallery, the incredible classes, wonderful vendors...all just fabulous! It's not too late. If you can get there, GET THERE! If you click on the heading of this blog entry, it will take you to the Midwest Felting Symposium website. Go, go.

This hat is a combination hat. One of my students had needle felted several hats with the full intention of wet felting them. Some big changes occurred in her life and she brought them all to me to finish off. I made a few design changes, like a silk cap over the crown and the beading in the flower. For some reason, I have a hard time working in blue. I do not understand it, but clearly recognize it. Navy blue, that's fine, but all of the other blues are very difficult for my mind's eye to see well. Perhaps it is because I do not wear blue. Do you have any colors that give you trouble? This hat was also made with a goodly bit of mohair so it is a fuzzy hat. I'll have to give it a shave before it goes to market. This hat is her third hat. Very nice job for a first timer, don't you think?

Happy Felting and Shalom,
Suzanne

It's Too Darn Hot!

Very hot 4th of July, and warmer still today in southwest Michigan. As the day cooled down a bit last night, I decided to make sculpted felt hat. I used two very thin layers of roving in the lay out, so it took a lot of rolling to get the rate of shrinkage that I needed. It is a light weight, very sturdy felt.

Today I am going to get an ice pack and take a nap through the heat of the day. Is it "sweater weather" yet?

Passed!!!!!!!!!!

I took my state boards on Wednesday of this week. Found out at 5:30 PM today that I passed with flying colors. Change is coming fast.
Enough said.
Shalom and happy felting!
Suzanne