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

Can you come to the Winter Retreat in Ashville, NC ?

http://friendsandfiberworks.com/
Lisa Mackey is holding a Winter Retreat in Ashville, NC the 14th, 15th and 16th of this month in Ashville, NC. The details are on the link that I've posted. Will you be able to come? Would you like to? There are some great teachers there, Chad Alice Hagen to start with. We will be in a mall! How neat is that? I think it should be a very interesting venue.

Jone Rakoski and I will be traveling together to be at the show. We've already made plans to have dinner with Chad. I am looking forward to that, just wish some of her genius would rub off on me. I wonder if she'll mind if I sit really close to her so our shoulders are touching? (You're right , that would be inappropriate. I'll try to behave myself!) Anyway, if you are in the area, or looking for a fiber road trip, please think about coming to this event. I think it is going to be wonderful! For spinners, I'll have my "Bling Batts" Jone will have wonderfully dyed prefelts, her incredible felts, and I'll be bring a few hats. ( I only have a few and didn't know about this show until two weeks ago..Yikes, no time to get much done!)

These are three of the nuno felts that I'll have at the show. I put the photo up on Facebook and got a bunch of questions off and on the thread. I've been asked about the type of silk I am using and how I get the intense crinkle effect. For the purpose of brevity, I am going to re-post here what I wrote there. Hope you don't mind.

Here it is:

These three were done on silk gauze. I roll them a lot, maybe more than most. I roll in each direction, on both sides 500 times, by actual count. Then I may roll again another 200 hundred times if I want it a bit tighter. It also gets "slapped" on the table top about 200 times. Then I will toss it in the dryer on AIR ONLY until I get the texture that I'm looking for. I also do this with the habotai silk, except the initial rolling gets bumped to 1000 times each way on both sides. Added note, I use cold water through the entire process.

Well, I've got lots to get done before we leave and am starting to get excited about the trip. What's not too exciting, is that we are to get 17 inches of snow over the next few days, right when I'm packing the trailer! Snow is so beautiful...shoveling it is not.

I'm wishing you all wonderful felty moments.
Shalom,
Suzanne

The all day Wrap...

My slow, rainy day Monday was indeed slooooooooow! Seems like it took all day to get anything done! I started this nuno on silk gauze early in the morning and didn't get it finished until about 9:30 PM. Talk about putzy! I'd start, then stop to do something else, then come back and leave it again. Truly, my ADD ruled the day.

The colors that I dyed the gauze are gray, blue, crimson and plum. The merino wool colors are hot orange, cinnamon and purple. The close up shows the colors far better than the "live shots", because again, we are dealing with bad lighting. The lay out was very random (... see ADD gone wild!) leaving many open areas to form puckers and bubbles. I love that more and more in the nuno/laminate felts. I wish I had asked Jim to get a couple of shots of the "wool side" of the wrap. Maybe I can ask him later...maybe.

Next on the list of felts to make is a large bag for my beloved niece, Jami. She is a teacher and wants a large felt bag for carrying her "homework" home with her. She's asked for it in brown. Not a color I usually work in, so there will be some creative challenges for me. I hope I'm up to it.

My Mom sent this little video my way. She knows I love watching the humming birds. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. What a rare treat for this young man!
http://www.wimp.com/babyhummingbird/
Well worth it if you take the chance to watch, really wonderful.

What are you making these days? Are you having fun? What is your favorite thing about felt? I am asking because I really want to know.

I am thinking about doing a give-away for my blog readers. If I do, what would you like me to put up for a FREE GIVE AWAY?

Gotta go.
Shalom,
Suzanne