Upcoming Three Day Workshop in Wisconsin January 2014!

I am so pleased to announce that I will be teaching at Bahr Creek Llama Fiber Farm and Studio for three days the last full weekend of January; the 24th, 25th and 26th. nuno, hats and bags. For more information, please contact Brigitte DeMaster at #920-668-6417. Each class is $125.00 which includes materials.  Three days of felting, plus a house to stay in and food. It us going to be great fun. I hope you can join us. Call soon, classes are filling. I apologize for not posting this sooner.

Found These Finds

 I am making a felt hat for my cousin, and needed a mid-day break from the rolling, and rubbing, and rolling and tossing, rolling and slamming...you know what I mean.

I know it is Black Friday and it is my usual wisdom to avoid all shopping of any kind of this day, but the overwhelming urge to get to the local thrift shops simply became too much and I went out for about an hour. (It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be).

I found a few really nice things and these two lovelies that will soon be used in some of my felts, one is on tulle and the other is a synthetic fabric that I've experimented with in the past with pretty good results. I am hoping it will happen again because the design in this fabric is way too fun. 

So what wonderful fabrics have you found?

Look for the overlays on holiday dresses...great fun, Oh and wedding dresses are often filled with beads and sequins. It's a bit harder to come by where I live, but it does happen.

Felt Happy!

Shalom,

Suzanne



I did finish the hat for my cousin Teri Lyn. It is merino wool with some of the decorative tulle on the surface.

I remember when I used to sleep at night....

The challenge these days is staying awake as I've returned to nursing full time and am working third shift. It's HARD!...very, very hard. My body is all messed up and my mind even more so. My morning is when most folks are heading off to bed and my nights are when everyone else is awakening to start their days. I have coffee at night and a glass of wine in the morning. Does this sound crazy to anyone besides me? Then when I get a day off, I have to flip back around to being a day person. I am totally fatigued and more confused all the time! But, we do what we gotta do and stand thankful for the work.

This past July I picked up some lovely polka dot tulle and used it in this black hat that has sari silk, synthetic organza, and the tulle. For as long as I've been teaching nuno one of the common phrases is that if you can blow through it, you can use it. Well....the tulle should have been a given a long time ago. I've since been collecting bridal and gown materials, some with sequins, beads, wonderful metallic threads, etc....if fact, the more the better. Gives the finished product the appearance of a lot more work that what was actually done. I am not one to sew, beading eludes me, but if it is the fabric that I apply to the felt is already beaded and sequenced...I am delighted!

 I did learn some valuable lessons along the experimental way.
One this green hat, the black tulle almost overwhelms the sari
and the hat. There are three pieces on it and it looks okay, but
I think it would have looked better if the same color wool was
under it so the the dots showed up, not the tulle or netting.

So with that knowledge...

I made this black and grey hat....and the netting does not show up to the casual passerby. The texture with the tulle changes the felt a bit, makes it firmer, and in some cases a bit more bump-ally. (new word!)

It also changes the way in which the felt shrinks if the hat is not covered with the netting. It's a goodly amount of experimenting, but I think the end results are well worth it 

This hat has tons of sequins and lovely metallic threads. Because I used two colors of wool, the blending of those colors through the felting process "hid" the tulle nicely.

With the white hat, the netting was all white and all that remains on the surface is the design of the sequins, beads and polka dots. It turned out pretty nice and I think that it will simply sparkle on a cold winter day or evening.

I am going to encourage you to get to your local thrift stores and buy up those gaudy dresses with the beads and sequence all over them. Way too fun!

I am also making as many of these bird pods as I can. I love, love, love working with this shape and the Finn Wool. It is just an amazingly wonderful felting, sculpting wool. In fact, so much so that I am now selling it in my etsy shop. (see side bar) 

 I leave you with these:

Heavy sequins

LOTS of bead work! (felts in beautifully)

Sequins with flowers!

more sequins and flowers.








Felt Happy!

Shalom,
Suzanne

In a Few Short Days...

 In a few short days I will be driving off to Pueblo, CO to teach for three days and then spend some time with my friends and fellow fiber artist Donna Gower.  Donna is a magnificent weaver and I am honored to have several of her pieces in my home.

I am looking forward to the 20+ hour drive, the vast expanse of flat land as I drive through Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska and then the dauntingly beautiful Rockie Mountains off on the distance horizon. I can already imagine John Denver singing "Rockie Mountain High" running through my head.

 The car is all packed except for the final few things, I'll fill the tank tomorrow afternoon, and hope to  leave by 4AM on Thursday. My father in law and husband are starting the " she's leaving and we don't want her to go" phase of my getting ready for a trip. In their defense, I spent all of yesterday dealing with the excited/sadness of this trip and leaving my home and my men. Dad is quite dependent on me for his social interactions...we play well together. He does miss me terribly when I leave. Jim and I just very simply do not like to be apart for any reason, but we do understand that some things just need to happen. With all of that being said, I am now very excited about the trip to CO.

 I wanted to share the bird pod that I made several years ago and the wee wrens that are raising their fledgeling there. It is one of my larger pods that they chose this year and the pod is noisy these days, with the frantic calls of ' feed me". I imagine that they will have flown away by the time I return home, but I am hopeful that they will raise a second group of hatch lings in the same pod. Wrens are small birds and fly pretty fast. Trying to get a photo of them was a real task. Their songs just totally make me smile. Their sound is "happy"

I've been making a hat a day for the past few weeks, As Hillevi Huse says...." a hat a day.....".  I think that is great!

I have a great many ideas in my head, but making hats is when all of those ideas congeal. It's not that it is mindless for me, it's that it is familiar and my mind can wander. I keep the drawing book close by.

Brief question: do you want me to continue to blog or not?
So much happens on FaceBook and I am wondering if I am duplicating and boring .

Blessings to each of you!

Felt Happy!

Suzanne

Pueble Colorado Classes in June!

Final plans being wrapped up for my 3 days of teaching in Pueblo, CO in June on the 25th, 26th and 27th, dyeing and nuno, Day 1, samples and embellishments 1/2 day and talk Day 2, bag or hat Day 3. I'm checking on the cost but I think with classes and material fees, it is around 250.00. Will double check on that cost and post it as soon as I have it. To sign up, call Carol Snow at 719.859.4609

 Shalom to you,
Suzanne

Margo Duke and me

This is top that I made and Margo Duke did the collar work on. I love collaborating with other fiber artist, especially some one as talented as Margo.