Fabulously Fun FELT UNITED

Again this year, Barb and Gene Marr have invited Sue Pufpaff, me and YOU to join them on October 1st from 12-4 for the international day of feltmaking. Sue and I will both be doing demos and Barb will have the shop open for sales of their fine, farm grown yarns and fibers. All of the details and the "how to get there" are on the link. I hope that you will join us. It's great fun and very educational.

http://marrhaven.com/feltunited.html

The colors for this years FELT UNITED event are red, blue and purple. It should be exciting to see what we all come up with. Please do come and join us if you can. It won't be the same without you.

See you there!
Shalom,
Suzanne

Class Announcments, and then some...

While taking a breather from feltmaking, I decided to get more of my house in order and take care of some organizational things. Since my home is my studio and my studio my home, those spacial areas often over-cross each other, creating it's own unique chaos. I can live with a certain amount of disorder, but then...it's just got to be dealt with. Feeling pretty good about the progress, but still have miles to go before I can ease up a bit. Each day a bit more gets accomplished, but focusing on the "clear out" has left me with little time to felt....but I think of it constantly!

Last weekend was the Wisc. Sheep and Wool Festival, where my friend Brigitte DeMaster and I share a booth. The weather was PERFECT, and we got to see many familiar faces and friends. Dear Martha Steines repeatedly stressed to me that I had to enter the dress and cape in the design competition. I've never entered any such thing before so was very reluctant to do so. Finally I relented and entered. Martha was such an encouragement and I got "Best in Show". Shocked and humbled, I was. There were gorgeous items in the design category. I was really honored to win and happy that I have friends who push me out of my comfort zone. God bless you Martha and Brigitte. You bless me always! (My friend Zelda is wearing the nuno dress and cape in the photo, I am wearing one of my nuno scarves.)


While at both the Michigan Fiber Festival and Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, I got to see Chris from Briar Rose Fibers:
www.briarrosefibers.net
Chris usually dyes beautiful yarns, but has started dyeing silk bricks that are so spectacular! I've posted the link and let her know that I was going to share the information with you all. I do a lot of dyeing of silk fibers...this stuff blows my socks off! Great colorways, very good prices. Let Chris know you found the information here, please. Are these silks YUMMY or what?

Often I am asked to teach and have decided that with the upcoming show schedule, I have only one more option for teaching this year, unless there is a miracle. So, I've set up a nuno felting class for Saturday, October 29th, at the Otsego Historic Society building from 9AM-5PM in Otsego Michigan. We will dye the silk and then nuno the silk, like what I've shown in the photos above. Space is limited, it will be first come first serve so do let me know as soon as possible. You can let me know on Face Book or via my website email which is: info@hookedonfelt.com Cost is 125.00 for the day. I will supply silks, dyes, mordant, and wools. Will have a complete list of supplies later. Remember, space is limited, first come first served.

The days are becoming tipped in autumn, a fresh coolness in the air, birds flocking together, spiders laying eggs for next years' crop of spinners. The sky looks bluer, the clouds whiter, a fullness of time fills the abundance of this good earth and the goodness of God seems exceptionally clear during these shortening days of daylight, even the moon seems brighter somehow. These are days of early morning walks with sweater snugly wrapping my shoulders, a felt hat on my head, an awareness that these days too are limited before the winter white envelopes us. I love these days of color tipped trees and cooler weather. They are my favorites always. I remember more easily now the days of harvest on the farm, the canning of tomatoes, pickles, beets, corn, peaches, pears...the days of final hay cutting and baling, all things harvested, fields cleared, the rush to get it all done before the snow. Just writing this has brought back a vivid memory of warm apple cider on a field trip I took with my daughter... hay rides, root vegetables, cool air, and cold nose kisses. I love this time of year.

Okay, I'd better stop before I get lost down memory lane and can't make it back.
God bless and Shalom,
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

Simply Red...

A simple red hat to share today. I've had a very busy week of dyeing silk, felting, making a lot of nuno,...and there is so much to get done before the Michigan Fiber Festival, which is August 17-21 in Allegan, Michigan.

I'll be teaching at the Michigan Fiber Festival. I was informed by the workshop committee that I have some openings remaining in the multiple resist bag class. The details are on the Michigan Fiber Festival website,if you are interested. The other classes have filled. I will not be teaching any nuno classes at this event, but nuno will be incorporated into the bags if desired.

So much to do, so this is all for today.
Be Happy and touch others with your gifts,
Shalom,
Suzanne

It's toooooo hot!

http://www.castlefarms.com/
is where I'm heading off to in a few short hours. I just returned from beautiful Asheville, NC and home just long enough to catch my breath, do a bit of dyeing, unpack and re-pack the van, do laundry, answer a few emails, pack orders, pay bills, all while under incredible heat indexes. I can not function well in this heat, so I keep ice packs on my person at all times. We do not have central air, only a small window air conditioner. It at least dries it out...or so that's what I am suppose to say, right?

Sold most of my nuno while in Asheville, so I am heading off to Castle Farm with very little other than newly dyed silks. I have one I am working on, but that may be more than I can accomplish right now. The air conditioner is keep the house at 88 degrees. Can you tell the heat is bothering me?









I leave you with these photos of the newly dyed silks. I am getting requests to teach a nuno class in October. Are you interests? If so, I need to hear from you so that I can finalize the dates.

Shalom and good felting!

Suzanne

Green Bird House

Just a few minutes to write today, much to do, still getting ready to leave for Asheville, NC. We leave early next week and will be away for a week. I will miss being home.

I got to thinking about how our felt bird pods....(you've made one, haven't you?) are really green and they last a long time even left out of doors throughout the year. I just love the versatility of felt and felt products.





This is a small sample of the next project I am working on. It may be mid August before I get it all done. I am the slowest feltmaker ever!

Off to get more stuff ready to go.

Felt Happy!
Shalom,
Suzanne

Tunic Response

A month or so ago, I was in Cedar Grove, WI teaching for four days. Had a great time and met some wonderful people. I brought some of my finished works to show them some of the possibilities. One of the questions that comes up is how I made the tunic. This is a typical email from folks who want to know how I did it.

Hi Suzanne, Well, last week I taught my sister-in-law to nuno felt and she is now obsessed with it.  Her very first project was on black silk.  She made peonies and daisies and it turned out gorgeous.  We have ordered more silk and are inviting another friend over tomorrow to do another project.  It really can become addicting and so fun to see what happens.  I really would like to try to make a tunic like you showed us at the workshop.  Do you have any suggestions?  Would I only felt the center section of fabric?  Do you have a photo of your tunic anywhere on the internet?  Anyway, wish you were here to help and to see the enthusiasm that your class has engendered!    Warm regards, Pam 
Iron Mountain, MI

As you know if you are a regular reader here, I cannot sew! and seek to work in uncomplicated lines. My focus this year is on two basic shapes: rectangles and circles. The tunic is one such rectangle.  Here is how I did it:

I laid out the hand dyed silk on my table top with a good amount of fabric, evenly draping off the ends and sides of the table, then nuno felted the table top fabric only. the a hole was cut for the head in the center of the rectangle and it was sewn from waist to arm pit area only. Tie were applied to the back of the tunic so that it can be sized that was. It is pretty simple to do...it has to be, I did it! (Need I say more about that?)

Hope it helps my friends in Iron Mountain and beyond.
Shalom,
Suzanne

More Classes In Asheville, NC

Felting with Pre-felts-A unique neckwrap with fused glass buttons with Jone Rakoski

You will be the talk of the town, wearing this creation! Using hand-dyed merino prefelts, needle & wet felt techniques that are unique to prefelts, you will create a fab & Warm neckwrap you will be proud to say “I made this!” Basic glass fusing will be discussed. Minimum Age for Class:18, Students should bring 2 towels, sharp fabric scissors-beginners are welcome!

Date: 7-16
Location: Vendor Booth
Cost: $90.00
Material Fee: $45.00
Start Time: 12:00 PM
End Time: 6:00 PM
Total Cost: $135.00

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Felting with Pre-felts-Making a unique hat with Jone Rakoski

A fab way to create a hat! Using hand-dyed merino prefelts you will needle and wet felt your way to a hat you will be proud to wear! Needle & Wet Felt techniques will be taught in a way that is unique to prefelts. Hat construction and unique embellishments are on the agenda! Minimum Age for Class:18, Students should bring 2 towels, sharp fabric scissors, hat block (could be bowl, pan, tin etc.the size of your head)-beginners are welcome!

Date: 7-17
Location: Vendor Booth
Cost: $90.00
Material Fee: $45.00
Start Time: 12:00 PM
End Time: 6:00 PM
Total Cost: $135.00

Class Announcemnt for Asheville, NC July 15th.

Wool Felt Pottery

Make a vessel or piece of wool pottery using flat resist and surface designs elements. Prerequisite student skills: beginners and up. Students should bring scissors, 2 towels and an apron.

Date: 7-15
Location: Vendor Booth
Cost: $90.00
Material Fee: $25.00
Start Time: 12:00 PM
End Time: 6:00 PM
Total Cost: $115.00

http://friendsandfiberworks.com/summer-retreat/

If you are in the area and want to take this class or several of the other felt classes offered in Asheville, NC, now is the time to sign up. Looking forward to seeing many friends there!
Shalom,
Suzanne

Nuno Felts this week...

Close up of nuno on chiffon.




The entire scarf. It was dyed by Char Epley, then I did the felting on it. We both like it.










Silk side of a nuno wrap.


Wool side of the same wrap.









Start of layout

Completed.











It's been a busy week, cool cloudy days are most productive for me. Time seem to move slower somehow and I feel like I get more accomplished. The heat is due to return today. Got to get a lot done before we have our Sabbath group here tomorrow. I am looking forward to their arrival and our time together.
I wish you all God's Peace and Good Sabbath.
Suzanne

Finally, Hats!

Cloudy, rainy days...how I love them! This has been our weather lately, and I've enjoyed it completely! Most everyone else I know, not so much.

Creative Felt Gathering has announced a special guest teacher from far, far away coming to the event this year. She's not told us yet who it will be, but I am thinking it will be great. This is a wonderful event. Surprises make it even better! Her is the information in case you've missed it. Come to this if you possibly can. It's amazing! The instructors and participants are amazing as well. It is just super to be there! Elis Vermeulen , Chad Hagen, and Pam MacGregor will be there...plus a surprise guest teacher. I'm getting anxious for Sept. to arrive!

Time	Monday, September 19 at 9:00am - September 24 at 6:00pm
Location	Dainava - Manchester, Michigan
Created By	Creative Felt Gathering
More Info	September 19 - 24, 2011 Chad Alice Hagen - resist dyeing Elis Vermeulen - raw fleece and roving bag, roving bag with fab shapes Jone Rakoski - glass fusing Pam MacGregor - fused glass and loop and toggle cuff $450.00 - early bird price $500.00 - March 1, 2011 $10.00 per night for 9/18/2011 or 9/24/2011 payment by check or Visa/Mastercard after August 31 2011 - no refund after July 31, 2011 - 75% refund after June 30, 2011 - 90% refund Catering by Marilynn $100.00. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 5 days. Simple and healthy comfort foods. Catering is optional. July 31, 2011 is the deadline for ordering. Sheets are provided limited blankets and pillows available. Dormitory style sleeping arrangements. 4 to a room, 90 beds, but since we limited the Gathering to 30 you can spread out. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE: Monday 6-8 registration 8-9 discussion, coffee 9-12 classes 12-1 lunch 1-5 classes 5-? dinner, discussion, possible activities Tues., Thurs., Fri., 8-9 discussion, breakfast 9-12 classes 12-1 lunch 1-5 classes 5-? dinner, discussion, etc Wednesday free day - felt, rest, take mini classes to be scheduled, take a class from a visiting artist TBA, whatever you choose Saturday 7-8 breakfast, discussion 8-11 classes 111-12 lunch 12-4 classes 4-5 closing ceremony, certificates, photo ops Contact: Jone Rakoski - spectralglass@hotmail.com phone - 517-456-6066

I've been making a lot of nuno lately, but decided I needed to build up my hat stock a bit. Finally, hats! The show season is upon me and I've got a lot of stock to get made. I think there are a lot of long nights in my near future.
Got to get rolling....felters, you know what I mean!
Shalom and may Peace be all around you,
Suzanne

Breathless...

Since being on Facebook, there is a wide exchange of fiber art photos that get shared. Some folks share their travels to fiber art shows, some share their teaching, their workshops, the participant in the workshops, the finished goods, the foods they eat, the sky they share, flowers and things that inspired them. It is just great fun to see the things that others are doing.

Well....
there are some folks that ROCK MY FIBER WORLD, and now I've just added another to my list: Vyga Iene. Her work leaves me breathless! I've asked her permission to showcase this wrap. I've looked at it about 30 times today! I love how well executed the process has been implemented, but the colors are simple, understated, elegant, oh yea, and so my colors! I adore this wrap. If you are on FB, do take the time to let her know your thoughts. This is her website: http://www.jadvyga.ten.lt/ Is this beautiful or what?

Who rocks your fiber world?

This is a wrap I've been working on with hand-dyed silk and super fine merino wool. I'm liking it a lot, but my arms are sore from two days of rolling nuno scarves. I know, I could use the sander, but I am unhappy with the nerve damage from the sanders. Using my legs a bit more these days. Getting older is not, NOT easy...but you do get more inventive about getting things done.

It acted like it wanted to rain all day today, heavy clouds, overcast, high humidity, cool ...oh, I love days like these. We didn't get much rain, but any day without lots of heat is a great day. I had a wonderful day! You?

Shalom,
Suzanne

Monday's List...

So many things were written on my "to do" list today, and only got a few of them done. Top on the list was to make a nuno felt on one of the silk scarves I dyed a couple of weeks ago. The scarf was dyed in golds, oranges, a smidge of purple, cherry and red. I used fine merino on the opposite side. The colors of the wool are burgundy, hot fuchsia, hot orange and gold. I love how the wool migrated through this habotia silk. It is ultra light, super soft. I am almost wondering if I see it as something else...not just a wrap/shawl. Hmmmmmmm....something to think about.
What's on your mind today? Did you get your Monday List completed?

Shalom and Blessings,
Suzanne
Dream from your heart. Share what you have.
Live simply. Love deeply. Work with joy. Pray with love.

Thank God always.

I Feel Like the Queen of Stupid!

(Inside before dyed)
I've got a few classes coming up and have been asked for samples to have available for the potential participants. Okay, I could do that...but why do I do what I know fails! ( by definition, in my book, stupid is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results!) Again, I tried to put golden yellow and purple together in a felt bag.There is some silk on the surface that was golden, in hope of tying it all together....but it didn't work. The gold migrated through the purple, making it look dirty, dingy...yucky. This is not my first this doing this....and continue to try to make it work. It does not work for me. Perhaps someone else can make those two colors work together, but not me! So........


(Inside after dyeing)
As you've come to know about me if you are a regular reader, mistakes are an opportunity to try something else....like the dye pot!











(bag before over dye)
So I took this purple/yellow bag and over dyed it in purple, the extracted color, then over dyed in multiple greens and teals, then removed more color. I like it so much better now. But what about you? Do you think I made a mistake over dyeing it.

I often make the inside of my bags lighter on the inside so that when I open them, I can see what is in side my bag.





(bag after over-dye)

This is the final end result on the over dye, un-dye and over dye of the bag. These colors appeal to me more than the gold and purple....so why not start out that way? Really, I am the queen on stupid.

I hope some one learns from my mistakes.






This is a portion of a scarf that I over dyed for a friend of mine. It had become muddy during her felting process by using colors that did not blend well together. She was about ready to throw it away. She in fact, gave it away to Jone, who gave it to me to "try to fix" it with the dye pot. She had used olive, gold, gray, some purples to make the nuno scarf....but it just did not look good color wise. The nuno itself was wonderfully done, beautifully executed. I pulled all of the colors out then over-dyed it with multiple greens. Now that it's been dyed in one of her favorite colors, I'll be gifting it back to her. Hopefully, she's going to fall in love with her own creation.



The heat has been terrible here for two days. Finally, some cool weather and rain today. I love rainy, cloudy days. Looks like tomorrow will be cloudy and overcast like today. Yes! the smell after a rainy time is simply wonderfully earthy. I love that smell! We have many ferns around our home and they seem to give off a strong fresh fragrance of 'clean' after rain.

Shalom
Suzanne

Dream from your heart. Share what you have.
Live simply. Love deeply. Work with joy. Pray with love,

Thank God always.

Happy Discovery

I had to leave town for several days for a family matter, right in the midst of a nuno felted scarf. I had dyed two silk gauze scarves, one gold, one gray/green. My idea was to marry the two pieces together with the wool between them. I, more often than not, prefer the "un-wooled' side of a nuno scarf. I've no idea why, perhaps it is just the wonderful water color effect of the the colors blended together that appeals to me so much. So I thought, why not make a scarf that is completely "un-wooled" by having the wool between two scarves. I had first seen this done on a small scale by Connie Delameter ( I might not be spelling that right) several years ago. Connie is an amazing fiber artists and shepherdess and person. I laid out a very thin layer of merino wool, in multiple colors between the two scarves so that there would be a different effect on each side. I love the look of each side, and maybe the darker side the best. Since I had to leave in the midst of the felting, it was allowed to dry is this lovely crinkled state. Oh Wow, do I love the effect, it is nearly pleated, and has great "give" the fabric. The results are very pretty, very feminine. My big problem is that I'll need to find a place to allow it to dry for 2-3 days next time around.

Does anyone else love the back side of nuno? Would love to hear from you!
Are you going to try putting two scarves together? It could be fun!
Peace in your heart, joy in your felting!
Suzanne