Calm, Change, Chaos....and life goes on

We are three weeks into Dad's living with us and it has been enlightening, to say the least. He has masked just how much he needs to be with someone who can supply the nursing/physical care he needs and how profound his loneliness has been. We've had a trip to the hospital, Dr. visits, managing the care of his wife who is in an assisted living facility, bills to pay, medication runs, assembling of a bedside commode and a bunch of other stuff I'd rather not talk about here. Let's just say that I am happy to have him here where I know the care he is getting is very good.

I was able to sneak away briefly to work out some of the things that Emy and I are working on together. The bag has the leather trim that I wanted on it and the skirt is completed. The top for the skirt is still "in the works" but will be coming soon. It seems that everything has to be done the way one eats an elephant....one bite at a time.
After weeks of moving, carrying, cleaning, arranging, re-arranging, moving, throwing out, selling, transporting, boxing and un-boxing two households, I had a down day. During my 'down", the phone rings to tell me that two students had cancelled due to illness, and would I still teach? I said of course I'd still teach if there were only two....and by the way, when is the class. I don't have it on my calendar? TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What! End of down time and started packing the car. I had so much fun with these gals. They dyed their scarves, laid out their wool, rolled them and then after the fibers had started to migrate, we headed off to the local laundry mat, where they saw their project transform into highly textured nuno works. They were a delight and I needed to be around folks making felt more than I knew. It was a very good day.

Personally, I've no idea when I'll be back making felt. I'll be teaching a good bit and am always open to workshops within the mid-west. I'll be teaching at the Nature Center in Kalamazoo, Midwest Felting Symposium, Michigan Fiber Festival, Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival, and Colorado, Ohio and a few other places this year. A lot depends upon the road we are traveling now. My family comes first.

I will make felt again...I will make felt again....I will make felt again.

Shalom and Happy Feltmaking~

Suzanne

Breather...

Prior to the Michigan Fiber Festival, there was three weeks of "get ready"....and that meant more thinking than I am accustom to doing. This year, I was scheduled to teach three wonderful classes, multiple resist felt purse, needle to wet felt hat and fingerless gloves. Now, normally, I would share wonderful photos to with you, but since I left the camera at home...that is not the case!(...and shame on me.) The purses were wonderful, every single hat was great in quality and design and the fingerless gloves were so, so pretty. I hope that if any of the folks in the classes read this blog that they will send photos of their finished projects my way. I'd love to post them. (hint, hint.)

I love-love-love teaching. You get to meet the neatest folks, build friendships, laugh a lot, and watch together the wonder of felt happen. The joy of watching that for the first time with someone who has never done it before, is just a pure pleasure treasure for me. Do you remember the first time you made felt? Do you remember that lovely feeling, that smile?

Okay, now about the nuno dress...
It is a project that I've been working on for some time and there are other components that I hope to add to it as time allows, but for now, here is " the skinny" on how I created the fabric.

1) dye Habotai silk ...I used 5mm
2) cover tables with towels, then cover towels with 2mm plastic large enough to cover your project or table surface
3) lay out silk on the plastic and apply thin wisps of super fine merino wool
4) wet fibers and fabric with COLD SOAPY water
5) cover with another piece of plastic large enough to cover your project or table surface
6) massage with a large sponge the entire surface of the wool/silk for about 10 minutes...a wet sponge works best to rub over the plastic.
7) then roll everything up on a pool noodle, except the towels, firmly, but not tight.
8) after that, then roll your roll in the towel and begin rolling . ( I roll 1000 times in one direction, then un-roll and roll from the other end 1000 times...and yes I actually count them all.)
9) then flip and begin the rolling again.
10) if the wool has not migrated through to my satisfaction, I begin again, and usually do roll a piece about 8000 times. (long arm roll, not short little rolls)
11) then I rinse and toss into the dryer, wet but not soaking, on AIR ONLY to do the tossing for me. It produces incredible texture and saves my arms a bit. This process in the dyer must be closely monitored, say like every 5 minutes to make sure the fibers are not sticking to each other and that they continue to migrate through the silk. Allow to bang around in there until you get the texture that you want on your finished product. A couple of tennis balls help a bit too.

Nope, no bubble wrap...I want the warmth of my hands as close to the feltmaking and fibers process as possible. I also do not use a netting over the wool. I figure that with the nuno laid out between two pieces of plastic, the wool has no where to go except into the silk. Pulling the netting up has disturbed the fibers for me in the past, so I simply do not use it anymore.

This is how I make nuno, and there are many other ways that create wonderful results. Everyone does something different and each piece reflects the hand of the maker. Do you have some pointers to share? Would love to hear them! I hope this "how to" is helpful to you.

After the fabric was made, it went off to Emy Myner, a skilled and creative seamstress, who helped me with the design and details of the dress. I wanted a very simple dress because the fabric and color are so striking. I think we achieved our goal. I am hoping to have some professional photos taken of the dress very soon...but like I said, I am taking a breather...it's been a busy three weeks.

Photos by Jim Higgs and Beth Pulsipher.

Felt Happy!
Shalom,
Suzanne