Which One, Where, Why...really? Too much?

Been thinking a good bit lately about the amount of time one could spend just promoting a product...and then which is most effective, why is it effective, what gets the most exposure, and does that exposure turn into profit or sales, why or why not? and when is too much, simply, TOO MUCH!

My current venues are:

this blog, obviously, Indiepublic, FaceBook, Hooked n Felt website, Flickr, Ravelry, Etsy, Google +, ...and probably a couple of places that are not coming to mind right off the top of my head, like Pinterest and Linkedin. When does it all just become too much? Too much time, too much energy, too much information, too much invasion of creative space? Really, are all of these necessary? Why?

Got thoughts? Would love to hear them...and what is it that brings you back to this blog? What would you like to see here?


http://www.etsy.com/listing/89303117/nuno-scarf-fabric-5mm-habotia-hand-dyed



...anyway, I've been making a goodly number of flowers for the galleries that I supply and I've been dyeing 5mm habotai silk for nuno felting. You can find the new fabrics on my etsy. I am in a good spot on the energy-meter and that feels wonderful...coming out of the holiday funk....yeah!

Good Peace to you and Shalom,
Suzanne

DAZE of Rest and Recovery

Seriously, I am still a bit dazed over the whole 10 day show thing. While I am thinking felt, I am not making felt. I think it must be that time when the ideas store up and then will burst forth at some later date. The time now is spent looking for upcoming art shows in early spring, looking at the fiber art show schedule, getting some crocheting done for the pure pleasure of doing it and putting things away from the trip. There is still much of that to get done.

I'll be teaching a lot more this year than last year. The phone has been busy with offers to teach. Classes are filling before I can get them put up on the blog or posted locally. Have a class between Christmas and New Year. Who does that? What was I thinking????

I am putting some items up on ETSY. The one in the photo is one of my favorite hand dyed scarves with random acts of felting all over it. The color alone is great, adding the felt just makes the texture a bit more interesting to me. Listing things take so long for me. But it is a time of taking it easy, so I'll not berate myself for being a slow lister.

There is snow falling, it is quiet in the house, peaceful in my heart. I am so glad that felt happened to me. I love everything about it. I think my favorite moment is when the wool almost become liquid in my hands, just before it becomes felt. It is superb moment for me. Has anyone else experienced that? It is most noticeable when I am making felt beads. Love that feeling!

Ger, Yurt, Housing for Homeless

Photo is of the scarf I dyed yesterday, now being worn. Funny how the effect changes, softens somehow. Really like the effects of the color flow on this scarf. Am hoping to get some more done in the next few days.

I've been clearing some land that we own. Doing only a couple of hours of work each day usually in the early morning hours and using only loppers to get the underbrush cleared. It's about 7 acres that we have but I am doing very specific spot work on it for the time being. The land is on the High Banks of the Kalamazoo River and the vista from the land is calm and peaceful. I frequently see deer, geese, turkey, and coyote while I am clearing. I often tell my husband that I could easily live there and would love to put up a summertime yurt. So, as I am working I imagine what that yurt would look like, the feel of it, the smell of it, I wonder what thunder would sound like all muffled through the wool,...then I thought about the homeless, winters here in Michigan, the bitter, biting cold of the north wind during winter and my mind began to wander and wonder about the simple comfort of the yurt, the inexpensive housing of the yurt, the soft strength of a home of wool, the strength of the round shape ger in severe winds, the beautiful quiet that happens inside a ger or yurt.

I'm hearing from family and friends that tent villages are springing up all over the states, and not from people who choose to be homeless, but simply have nowhere to go. I realize that it could happen to anyone at anytime. Is the simple, lovely yurt a potential answer to our housing crisis? It's totally portable, easy up and down in a day, protection from the elements, and all things considered, very inexpensive housing. Now I realize that plumbing and electricity are issues, but I have to believe that a yurt or ger would be so much better than under a bridge, in a dumpster, park bench. I often wonder if the creative, artistic people of our world should not be more active in the problem solving aspects of the issues the world faces today. Creative folks already think out of the box, or as I often say "what box?" I'm going to keep thinking on this while I work in the woods.

Felt bracelet and felt bookmakers

Yesterday, I spent a good deal of time talking on the phone with Suzanne Morgan (her website is listed on my sidebar) who I've met several times at different shows, once at the Midwest Felting Symposium and once at SAFF in North Carolina. She is an incredible artist, working with silk, wool and beads. Her best work is in the designs of her felt bangles or cuffs as she calls them. They are so pretty, so fem, and so easy to make. She has them all packaged up in these neat little kits, guaranteed to succeed in felt making. Suzanne is a delightful person, soft and strong kind of quiet person. I'll encourage all of you to take a peek at her website and her works. Her silks are simply stunning and lovely to work with in the felting process.

I decided to try to make one of the bracelets, then found I really liked the idea of felt bookmakers instead. I am thinking that these are a great way to use some of my silk hankies, prefelts and a few others things that have taken up every nook and cranny around here. Anyway, that's the newest thing that I've done. They are made of wool, then silk fabric squares laid on top of the wool then a silk hankie overlay then felted as usual. Very nice effect and a nice small gift to give to my friends who are avid readers. Cool, huh?

Shalom,
Suzanne