Jan – Page 2 – Felting and Fiber Studio

A Mer-person at Kanatacon gaming and felting convention; Friday

October 25, 2025 Jan Comments 6 comments

What a busy seven days! No wonder I feel like falling over and having a nap on the floor (which is lying and saying it’s very comfy and I should fall for it!) Chunks of the last seven days were even fiber related!!! I will not overload you with all 7 days at once, or even all 7 of them! But let’s start on Friday, Oct. 17, which was the day my last post went up, about squishy-fish-centres.

The Fish-person in question from the last blog (AKA The Mer-Boyfriend), and I, along with a green folding tote of fibre and needle felting tools, and a cloth bag of snacks and more fibre. We all got in the car and headed off to Kanata (Glenn will be joining us after work), to go to the Kanata Games Club’s annual 2-day fall convention. This is a popular convention and is at the church they have their regular gaming evening the rest of the year. This also explains why the convention starts on Friday, since someone else already has the church booked for Sunday activities.

By the time we got there, Gaming had already begun. From previous years, I knew that the few empty tables would soon be full of gamers. Good thing I brought my own chair (walker), and I had my little folding table still in the car from demoing earlier this summer. I had the same spot at the back of the hall by the coat racks as last year. I can watch the fun, but am out from underfoot and not too far from the bathroom!

1.1) little table and felting supplies for the next 2 days

1.2) The temporarily empty 2 tables directly in front of me will be filled with Playtesting and new game demos’

I got myself sorted out, got my audio book playing (Wen Spencer’s “Black Tie and Tails: Black Wolves of Boston, Book 2” (mostly werewolves) I was almost finished that so soon continued with Dianne Freeman’s “A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder: A Countess of Harleigh Mystery, Book 8” (nothing supernatural in this one).

2.1) I consulted with the young Mer about his fishy-part’s colours. It’s a bit early to start adding the top layer, but I am putting off deciding how to approach the Scutes and Denticles.

I have had fun with variegated braids for landscapes, since you can pull out a bit of whichever tone you want. If you don’t like blending to get the colour you are looking for, this may be an option (but blending is not difficult and fun to do too).

2.2) Part of the braid undone so you can see the colour variations.

Since I can’t work on the final colours if I don’t have the under layers to the correct shape, I need to put away the fish colour and work on adding the fins.

2.3) Adding the Dorsal fin, it has a “V” notch on the back part of the fin and is thicker at the leading edge.

2.4) starting the Heterocercal and Caudal tail fin

2.5) There is a thicker area along the top edge of the heteroceral tail fin

As I was working, the convention continued around us. There was lots of cheering as well as quieter playing. I am not sure which game this was; it caught my attention due to all the various game pieces.

2.6) I am not sure which game this was, but all the odd playing pieces caught my attention.

2.7-2.8) the tail, Pelvic, and Anal fins have been blocked in, but the shape is not correct yet.

If you were curious as to how I am making fins.

To give each fin structure and poseability, I used floral wire. To give it extra support, I added a couple of supports for the dorsal fin and a lower wire for the caudal section of the tail fin.

There are two choices: the wire can be part of the armature, or added as a supplemental element (not attached). I used both methods this time. The Pectoral fins were added to the armature when I reached the hips as I wrapped the first layer of core wool. I twisted the wire around the central aluminium wire armature, then out to the sides. I then kept wrapping wool below the wire along the fish body. The two parts of the tail are also directly attached to the main armature.

3.1) fins that are part of the main armature, Pectoral and Heterocercal tail and caudal fin

The second option is to insert the appendage without attaching it to an armature. This is often done with individual bird legs if you are not making a full armature. For the birds, you can insert the straight wire and use a drop of glue to help secure it until you build up the fibre to support the wire. You can also insert a wire with a curve or loop to make it harder to pull out after more fibre is added around it. I used a single wire for the anal fin that went through the core wool, then the wire was twisted back upon itself.

A single wire can be used to create a single fin, as I did with the Dorsal fin, which went through the fibre in 2 spots, leaving a loop in the centre and one longer and one shorter wire on either side of the centre loop. I again estimated the length for the three sections of wire and twisted them. When you are (prototyping), ok, guessing the lengths you will need after the rest of the core wool has been added. You can come up a bit short. I suspect the anathetic was hanging out in the measuring and estimating section of my brain. You may notice the change in plan as we get further into the project.

3.2) single wire insertion to create a secure Dorsal fin. (More fibre will be added to the core wool after the wire has been added.)

I this case, for the pelvic fins (there are two fins, one on either side of the abdomen), I ran the wire through the core wool at the level I wanted the fins to start, estimated the length, making a bend in the wire, then twisted it (this will both strengthen and shorten the wire). Then built up the core wool fibre of the fish body to further secure the wire.

3.3- 3.4) Pelvic fins are a pair of fins on the underside of the fish before the single anal fin.

It is easier to hide the wire and attach the fibre for the fin if I first cover the supplementary support wires with wool. So, like wrapping tiny toes and other fine appendages, start with a thin, narrow piece of fibre (or roving), you can always add more, but it’s a pain when you have added too much.

I secured the fibre that I will be wrapping around the supplement wire to the body at the base of the wire. Once secure, I will wrap the length of the wire. When the fin wire is wrapped, I added a thin layer of fibre over the wrapped wire, and tacked it into the fibre that wrapped the wire. I folded the fibres over the leading edge with the wire and then used the punch tool with fine (40-42g) needles to secure it to itself and compact the fin. I expanded the fin area with more thin layers of fibre and secured them with the punch tool. I am keeping the fins thin, since fins are thin and I will be adding more fibre when I add the surface colour. If you wanted to do even thinner fins, you may choose to build this underlayer with your finished colours. I used the final outer fibre with Mrs. Mer’s fins, which are white and relatively thin (butterfly Koi).

3.5 ) using the fake clover punch tool to flatten the fins at his hips.

Tip: support your fin on your work surface edge and use the punch tool to flatten the felt as much as you can. Pieces of pool noodle can be helpful to support parts of your work as you needle felt an appendage. Sara has a mini version of her stabit rice and burlap pad that can be used in the same way.

Tip: We are felters, we are not spinners who shun scissors as the work of the devil, and would never cut their spinning fibre. If you get the fin to the thinness you want and the general shape, you can use scissors to correct the shape. Remember to check that the cut edge is solidly felted.

In the evening, there was an announcement that we could go downstairs to view the games that would be on sale tomorrow morning. Luckily, there is a small elevator, close to where I was working, so I could check out the sale too. After looking through the extensive piles for games with sheep themes, we did not have luck with sheep, but I did find one game focusing on alpacas and one about llamas. If I get them tomorrow, I will take them to the next long weekend social and see if we can play them.

4.1) previewing the room full of games for sale.

It was getting close to 10 pm, Glenn had fun with the games he had played, and I had a good day of felting and audiobooks. It was time to head home. We will have to get up early if we hope to get such exciting games with fibre bearing animals! (I promise not to leave you in suspense for long!)

PS the comment button is at the top of the page, if you would like to use it.

Fish should not have squishy centers!

October 17, 2025 Jan Comments 13 comments

A few weeks ago, I turned my attention back to working on the latest Mer-person (the boyfriend for Miss Mer) and realised I had a small problem. It is very fixable, but I thought you might like to chat about what and how it happened.

A quick review of the newest Mer-persons progress so far;

1.1-1.2) 05-2025 Cangames (you can see what happens if you get distracted winding fingers…I fixed that too.)

1.3) 06-04-2025 Mer-boyfriend trying to get me to rush his felting

1.4) 06-15-2025 Blacksmithing weekend and felting the mer-boyfriend

1.5) 07-14-2025 Social

1.6) 08-08-2025 Friday Twist shop and demo

As you can see in the review, I had a few problems with counting fingers and rushing to build up the shape. I do have an excuse, as I started this project, I was still heavily distracted by lingering anaesthetic. I think there may be a few tendrils of the stuff still clinging to bits of brain, but most of it has now left the building. (Yah!)

When I was wrapping, especially in the Fish parts, I had not kept the second layers of wrapping as tight as I would have liked. This was exacerbated by starting to block in the superficial features before getting the understructure as firm as I would like. This meant that the Fish parts were now close to the correct shape at the surface, but squishy if you applied pressure to the felt. Squishy does not suggest strong young fish!!! (Fish also usually do not have the ability to fold mid fish.)

Working on superficial features (shallow poking of the wool with 38T333 and 42T222 needles) gave me a nicely felted surface with a much more loosely felted under layer. (I got excited, I jumped ahead and started into the fun sculpting, before a firm under layer was achieved!) Well, that is not what I was wanting. How am I going to fix that?

2.1) Diagram of superficial felting with a less felted core.

Since I am still working on the understructure, I can fix this now without too much difficulty. I will need to move fibre at a deeper layer, and since I am making the under structure, not the finished surface layer, I don’t have to worry about surface pitting if I move to a courser needle (a 36T-333). Pitting is telling you to keep felting, until the raised area (the parts not yet felted) is even with the lower spot (which is felted more).

Why would I move to a courser needle? I want to move fibre, but I will not be adding more fibre superficially at this point. Also, if I work deeply with a finer needle, it is more sensitive to minor directional changes (which can lead to OOPS!!) I would prefer not to have to go searching out broken needle bits from his fishy parts.

Synopsis: A Courser needle is more aggressive when moving fibre, and is less fragile than a finer needle, especially when working deep into the under layers.

2.2) Diagram inserting the needle deeper to affect the under layer

Synopsis: The barbs affect the fibre by grabbing one to a few fibres as they are passing through. If you only work to a shallow depth, you will only be affecting those fibres. If you are working to a greater depth, you will affect the fibres that are located there and some of the fibres above them.

There is another way squishy interior felt can occur;

As with Wet felting, some breeds of sheep have fleece that is less inclined to create a dense felt than other breeds. I have had trouble with a couple of the Rideau Arcott fleeces (created with a mix of breeds) I have used. No matter how much needle felting of that wool I did, it remained spongy, but it was holding together, so it was felted. A Less than appropriate wool choice is not the problem this time, since I am using Corradale carded roving, which I have used before without problems.

Before I started to firm up the understructure of my fish person, he was able to fold his tail tightly in half and fit in the smaller project bag. Now, after hours of poking, he will have to go into the big project bag.

3.1) 10-05-2025 Slipper workshop (I think the wetness was too much for him?)

He now bends and stays in position, but no longer stays when the bend is extreme. (The increase in felt stiffness has strengthened the wool. He is poseable, but the wool felt is getting closer to overpowering the wire. I can stop increasing the firmness now, and work on adding more of the understructure superficial detail and the missing fins. (I will return to shallow poking rather than deep stabbing!)

I should mention the importance of gauge choice and wire type for your armature. It is important to figure out the gauge of wire you need for the size of your sculpture, and the pose or position you would like your figure to be in. You can make a blind guess, an educated guess from previous experience, or you can make samples. (I know some fiber artists, I am looking at a couple of my weaver friends, who are vary avers to sampling but it can be both educational and inspirational even if you don’t get the result you expected.)

I organised a study group during COVID to make samples of various gauges of mainly aluminium and Steel (floral) wire. It gives me a reference sample I can use to select a good wire gauge to try for a new project. (Before the samples, I could adjust the armature to make it stronger by adding steel floral wire to a limb to give it more strength. This can be done over part of the wool under structure, as long as more wool would be added on top.) I have also had to add lateral supports when the lumbar spine of Mr. Mer broke (I wound up doing surgery with a sharp awl, inserting Harrington rods running up each erector spinae muscle and down into the upper Hamstrings.)

awl inserting harrington rods (10g aluminum coated wire) lower section is imbeded from lower lumbar to below his glutes Mr Mer showing where the two rods is hidden on one side of his back 4.1-4.3) 01-19-2022 Mr. Mer’s Fishy parts, augmenting armature after felting is well underway. (Insertion of Harrington rods in progress) fixing this far into felting becomes harder to hide the surgery, but not impossible.

With armature wire gauges and felting, you have 3 options for outcome.

1) Wire overpowers wool (felt):

The wire holds the wool/felt staying in position when posed.
A lighter gauge of wire could have been used and still held the wool in position (working with heavier wire than you need can stress your hands and may develop metal fatigue if you are moving the figure often)

2) Wire = wool (felt):

The wire holds the wool staying in position when posed

This is the balance you would like to achieve, since you will not have worked with over-stiff wire.

3) Wool overpowers wire (felt):

When posed, the wire is moved out of position by the density or strength of the wool.
Augmenting the armature might be possible if you catch the imbalance before you finish the understructure. It is increasingly difficult to strengthen the wire the closer you are to finishing the sculpture. (but you can see with Mr. Mer it is not impossible to strengthen the armature quite far into the felting.)

If you have the opportunity, you may also want to make samples of various gauges of wire or combinations of gauges if you don’t have access to a full range of aluminum and floral wire (there are sources online if you can’t find a range of wire locally).

Investigate locally easily available types of wire first. One of the English felters uses rubber-coated garden wire for armatures. A few felters on YouTube, like pipe cleaners, but craft pipe cleaners are weak compared to the strength of other options. If you are doing very lightly felted structures (a lot of the faceless fairies are only lightly felted), pipe cleaners might work to su0pport the wool. What pipe cleaners are very helpful for is wrapping around your armature, to help secure the wool as you wrap it. Cheap quality pipe cleaners, in areas of high humidity, have another problem: they can rust.

As you find more gauges and types of wire, make samples of them too. Keep notes, was it easy to shape or twist, or did your hands tire quickly? (Note: Uncoated aluminium will leave marks on your hands.) Also, try a gauge and augment it with a second finer wire too; it will give you more options if you don’t have access to a full range of aluminium and floral wires. I made a series of legs, with feet, and to test floral wire as fingers, I made arms with hands. I can now refer to the samples when I start a new project.

I have been puttering along, firming up his fishy bits and then moved on to work on his upper musculature. I will have to print off another set of photo-reference if I cannot find the book with the last set. (found it!)

5.1-5.2) The fish parts are now quite firm. I think I am almost ready to start adding the little spikes.

I will try to remember to take some more in-progress shots while I figure out the fish details. I apologise! I am afraid that for this part of “stiffening-of-the-Fishy-under-structure” felting, I climbed into bed with a big pile of pillows and felted while listening to the end of the new Lynsay Sands vampire book. Then started the latest Wen Spencer (this one has a vampire and werewolves) audiobook, and forgot to bring the camera! (Needle felting in bed is not the suggested location for optimal felting and avoiding self-stabbing as you fall asleep while felting…. a table is really a better choice)

5.3)Some of the sturgeon reference photos I have collected, focusing on the spines/spikes.

What’s next;

You may remember last year, about this time, was the Kanata games (and felting) convention (last year I found a sheep game). It is coming up, and I wanted to have most of the basic shape blocked in and firmed up so I could start working on the fiddly bits of the ridges and rows of spikes. If all is going really well, I hope I can start to add some of the colour layers during the convention.

PS: I can think of a reason you may like to have that firm outside and softer felted inside. I am sure one of my cats would have appreciated something to pounce on that squished in a satisfying way.

One way to achieve this would be; wrap your fist layer securely (around the armature, if you are using one, which will keep the felt from rotating around the armature), then wrap the next layer a bit looser. Then, focus the majority of your felting on the shallow depths, and you could recreate the squishy inside effect. If you wrap around a bundle of fresh catnip leaves, it will be even more appealing. Just make sure the outside is well felted, so no one can tear off and eat the wool, to get to the catnip!

Even from what is technically an anaesthetic-incused mistake, you can notice something and save that thought for later use. Who knows when it may be a useful idea?

I will update you on his progress at the convention! Maybe there will be more felters this year! Stop by between games if you are there. I hope you too are enjoying this late summer/not-really-fall and getting the last of your summer fibre purchases washed, before the weather remembers to look at the calendar and realise we used to have snow in about 2 weeks from now. (Really, there is no rush! I am enjoying this not-fall and am perfectly happy not to be having snow any time soon!)

PSS, if you would like to comment on any of the posts you read in the blog but cant find the comments button, it has vanished from the end of the post! (it is either very shy, or trying to avoid work) since it is now hiding all the way back at the top of the post (where no one would ever think to look for it! silly button you have been found and will hopefully be put to work!)

Ann’s Slipper workshop: from the students perspective

October 7, 2025 Jan Comments 10 comments

I am very lucky to have a local weaving/spinning and felting guild in the city. I know many felters are not so lucky. As you have already heard, it is quite an active Guild, with meetings, socials, and workshops. Today we will have a chat about one of the felting workshops.

Ann will be teaching a few wet felting workshop this fall, including teaching wet felted slippers. I had signed up quickly after registration opened, for both her slipper and hat workshops this fall. As you probably have notice I tend to be mostly a dry or needle felter, but occasionally I will get my hands damp or almost even wet and try a wet felting workshop.

It will be the first time running this workshop in the studio space, now that the floor looms have moved up stairs. This will allow for a slightly larger class size, we usually have 6 students for this workshop the extra space made it comfortable to try 8 students.

Ann had emailed the students a couple weeks before the workshop, to select their fiber colour. We would be using Corriedale for the slipper and she would have other fibers available to embellish them.

I gathered my wet felting bag from Living felt (Thanks Marie!) added some extra needles (just in case) found the camera, a Mer-boyfreind (in progress) and a large towel ready for the morning.

1.1) the Wet felting kit from Living Felt. I will be using the purple Ball Brause Wet Felting Tool.

6am, October 05, 2025 arrived much more quickly than I had anticipated. I did a bit of computer work, then Glenn got my stuff into the car. I headed off to let Ann into the building, so she could set up for the class.

I heard the weather report as I was heading in and found out the sweater I had layered on, would not likely be necessary….. (The temp at 3pm, was 29.7c, which beat the 1941 record of 27.2 C.)

On Monday (the guild meeting day) we are expecting a high of 30 C and a humidex of 33c. Did I forget to mention this is OCTOBER and its usually Much cooler by now. I am not complaining!!!! This gives me a bit more time to get the garden organized for winter.

I did arrive ahead of Ann but not by too much. She quickly got the tables up and started laying out the supplies for the workshop.

2.1) Ann prepping plastic for the workshop

2.2) bubble wrap, plastic and pool noodle

2.3) Ann Brought not just the fiber for the slippers, but a wagon load of fiber.

Ann got the bag of 100 gr balls of the requested colours and handed them out.

distributing 100gr balls of wool in 3 photos 2.4) 100 gr balls of Corriedale fiber

She showed us sample of different types of slippers and showed the resist that would make that shape.

2.5) slipper samples and patterns

We each selected our slipper shape and then traced our feet. Ann estimated the shrinkage and added it to the resist. We had the slipper with heal, the slipper without heal and a couple ankle high boot slipper shapes too. For high arch feet she had to add a bit of extra space.

Ann tracing foot shapes to create the resist shape 2.6) ankle books resist shape

2.7) heelless slipper resist

2.8) slipper with heal resist.

We cut out our resist, (that’s floor underlay), it works well since we can feel it through the wool.

Next we divided the wool, fist in half (half for one side half for the other). I had to then spit each side in half, since I have two separate slippers, rather than one joined resist shape. For most, each side was divided into 4 equal lengths, since we will be adding 4 thin layers of fiber in alternating direction.

3.1) starting to divide the fiber

Jumping ahead I have added 2 layers and was just starting the 3^rd layer on the first side.

3.2) laying out the first side of the resist, last of the 4 layers starting to go down

After completing 4 layers over each slipper resist. I gently wobbled the fiber and then moved it off to one side and started what will be the other side.

3.3) 4 layers on each slipper on each side

Once we had both sides with 4 layers of changing direction, it was time for lunch.

I mentioned Ann had brought a bit of fiber to embellish our slippers…. Ann’s wagon is obviously related to the Tardis! Boxes just kept emerging, and fiber appearing out of it! she covered the table with options, Marino top, Throwers waste, shredded hankies, sari waste top, locks and curls, silk blends, trilobal Nylon, her own hand spun yarn, and some mixed bits of odds and ends. We will get back to this distracting pile of clolours shortly.

3.4) embellishment fibers filling the table

Next, we were getting into the really scary bit. We added water under the resist turned the edges and then added the second layer. The water even dripped on the floor!!!

4.1) wetting the first side, and carefully wrapping the extra fiber around the resist

4.2) my slippers start to get wet

4.3) using the plastic to help spread the water (so the fiber doesn’t stick to your fingers)

4.4) wrapping the second layers edge fibers around the wool rapped resist

Once we had the front and back wrapped around the edges of the resist, it was time to consider embellishments.

5.1) some of the embellishment fibers

Once the embellishing was added and in some cases wrapped to the other side, we wet the new fibers. I had chosen silk and wanted to give it a better opportunity to attach, so added thin whisks of hand blended merino wool over top of the silk.

5.2) embellishments added and then more water added

Maybe if I move the plastic you will get a peek?

5.3) looking under the plastic at one of the tows of the slippers

Ann has been able to find a collection of the old Tupper ware lids. I will have to keep my eyes out for them too. We used them to gently rub from the edge of the resist towards the center. At first very lightly then adding just a tiny bit of pressure.

6.1) the rubbing with Tupperware lid

By this point the water was making a brake for it or a frontal assault, I’m not sure which. I employed the power of the towel and tried to keep the wetness in check! The towel did not stay dry long!

6.2) pinch test after rubbing is successful and it’s on to rolling!

I kept loosing track of my counting to 100 then flip and rotate the resists. You can see the slight rippling developing, there is some shrinkage happening.

6.3) checking everything is still attached and looking for signs of shrinkage

6.4) The water was making a valiant effort to soak me but I dogged as much as I could! The towel, on the other hand has only a small patch that is still dry, the rest is quite soaked

Mer-Stergon in progress turned away from the camera showing extencie gluteal development (he has a nice butt for a fish-person)) 6.5) Even the latest Mer I was working on, did not seem interested in getting wet! (Unrelated dry felting glute shot!)

Since Ann was having the other students stick their feet in the cold wet slippers, I used the original unscaled up foot tracing to check if my shrinkage was getting close.

7.1) checking with foot size agents the length

7.2) try it on

Once a slipper was close focused felting and shrinking were done to ether length, width or both.

7.3) adjustments

Mine still need more work but its getting closer.

7.4) still needs work but they now look like slippers, checking amount of shrinkage

I still have more work to do, but I can heat them up again and keep working on getting the heal a bit tighter. You can see I have had quite a bit of shrinkage I will work on them more this week.

But for now I have to head to bed. There is a guild meeting tomorrow as I am writing this, and I will need to leave extra early since there is expanded construction on the queens way today. I will give you an update on the slippers when they fit just a bit better (they are close but the heal is a bit loose, on one more than the other)

Ann was a fabulous teacher, as usual! She is very mellow and we didn’t feel rushed or confused. In fact this is the second time I have taken the felted slipper workshop (and I stuck to the plan and actually made a set of slippers this time, not boots! I think I have taken her hat class 5 times so far, each time making a totally different hat. this will be hat class #6. I still have to decide if I want to make a replacement for my stolen hat or make something new.) If you have the opportunity to take a workshop with her I would defiantly suggest it! and I do feel safer from the evil wetness when I wet felt in a group!!

Have fun and keep felting!!

Stash-It! in Kempville On, Canada, 2025

September 25, 2025 Jan Comments 13 comments

From August into early September we had 3 local fiber festivals to help top up our felting and other fiber needs. You just saw Twist, the large fiber festival in Quebec, but it is now leaning more heavily towards knitters. I had no luck with long 12-14 inch locks this year, maybe I just missed them, it was very busy on Friday!

Poster of Stash-It sheep in a cloth bag with head sticking out cute image.

1.1) Poster for Stash-It!

The next one after Twist is a much smaller festival in Kempville, “Stash-It Fibre And Textile Event”! Don’t let the smaller size detour you. There was a good selection from fiber to finished goods and multiple groups demoing diverse fiber arts, including knitting, weaving, spinning and Needle felting. yes I did a bit more shopping and I picked up another full Shetland fleece and a few part fleeces.

2.11 ) I think I may need to get a bigger walker or one with an attached cart for shopping. Now I have to take everything off so I can sit down!

the first section of the big “White” fleece in the plastic bag, has just come out of the soap wash and will be going back in to soak, probably multiple times….. What was that ram doing? Was he rolling in the mud and dust daily? As you can see, the inside cut end of the fleece is glorious, if only I can get it clean. He is a lovely (Creamy?) Shetland and I hope the weather holds long enough to get him washed. (Tonight we had the first call for frost, and we have put tarps and sheets over the herbs and pulled under the overhang the hanging baskets.) I am still washing in ambient outdoor temperature water, so I have lengthened the soap soak to make up for the lack of heat from the sun, who is not working as hard as it was just weeks ago.

clear plastic bag holding about half of a shetland ram fleece, which is vary dirty. the bag is sitting on a wire drying rack

4 strainer baskets full of less dirty fleece sitting inside the stock tank soaking in water

close up of fleece in stainer baskets soaking in water

Sunlight dish soap saved for washing fleeces in yelow plastic bottle with sunlight lable on it. sitting beside the RV hand washer spin dryer.

2.12-2.14) I have about half the fleece in the strainer buckets and this is what remains. The water is a lot cleaner than the soap soak it came out of! I am using sunlight dish soap I can’t seem to find this anymore, so what I have left is saved for fleeces.

I have already washed the little paper bags of part fleeces and they are all draped over one of my Ikea fleece drying racks. (Ikea should add that use to their description!) They were all relatively clean and only took one soap soak and a single rinse soak to be ready for the spin dryer. The brown is, as listed, a bit short in staple length, but very soft, and will make a lovely bat to spin or felt from. I will have to find time to use the drum carder at the guild. it has a finer cloth than my drum carders have.

2.21- Shetland – 2.22 – Icelandic – 2.23 Gotland/Fin

2.3 one of my hanging baskets this year, Fussia

Oh no, today I was going to tell you about the Needle Monika of The Olive Sparrow had. Drat, I got distracted by that dirty ram and now feel like I will leave you dyeing of suspense if I don’t give you a quick tour of the event and a link to the list of vendors. (https://stash-itfibreevent.ca/)

Ok a quick travelogue (I promise not as long as Twist and there will be felting!!)

Early Saturday August 23rd 2025 Glenn and I headed south of Ottawa to Kempville. When we got there we realized i had forgotten the camera (I thought Glenn had grabbed it, he thought I had) he left me waiting first in line and drove back to Ottawa to get it. He stopped to get Cookies from Ann on the way back. So, a very exciting morning, and I have less photos to inflict upon you!

Lets have a quick roll around the event.

3.1) the event fills a gym, and has Equipment, yarn, project bags, knitted items, fiber and demos.

3.21-3.22) Judy Kavanagh’s Spindles and bandweaving loom, she also had the cool mitten pattern (if only I could knit and follow a pattern)

3.3) Alpaca tracks thread lightly silk hankies hand died

3.4) Wind Weft, Mohair and Mohair/wool blends

3.5)Luna (wood turning and weaving)

3.61-3.62)Janet Whittam handwoven cloths, blankets and baskets

3.7) Karberry Farm hand dyed combed top and fiber (its where the dirty ram came from she always has lovely Shetland fleeces)

3.8) Croocked fence farm

Occasionally I spot something I think one of my friends or family may truly like. This time it was the exquisitely fine needle work making this thimble into a necklace. I think I was told it was 24 count(?) cloth, with single strand floss. It required an illuminated magnifying glass to do the embroidery. Did you see the subtle shifts of blue from one square to the next? The recipient makes teddy bears, all hand sewn so I was sure she would enjoy and appreciate the delicate work.

4.1) Charm N Stitches, Butterfly embroidery in incredibly fine detail (those are miniature pins in the thimble)

4.2) Top of the whorl

4.3) Les Moutons de Richard, they are new vendors and had batts as well as spun and hand died yarn.

4.4) Originals by Lynne, Knitwear

4.51-4.53) Yvieknits Yarns

4.61 – 4.62) Cactus Yarn Studio

4.7) Les Belles Bouchlettes, Mohair yarn For knitting and weaving as well as combed top.

Demos:

Demos were along one end of the gym. I was looking at the display from the Kingston guild when I got distracted by the demo table at the end of the row, so i wandered over there next.

5.1) Kingston weaving and spinners guild had a nice display of weaving

The Kingston guild will be having their sale Nov. 6^th-9^th(www.khws.ca), the weekend after the Ottawa Guilds sale Nov 1-2^nd 2025 (www.ovwsg.com/sale/). (in case you are somewhere near eastern Ontario and would like to drop by!)

I promised there was felting in this blog!!

This demo was by Farmer Brown’s of Spencerville. Shannon and I had a lovely chat. (well, I was having a lovely time, I hope she was too!) This was her first demo and she did fabulously. She was making play mats using wet and dry felting. We chatted about needles and felting with naps and sneaky way to persuade them to stay stuck.

6.16.2 6.3-6.4) Farmer Brown’s Felted play mats.

I was so pleased when I found out Shannon has been reading the Felting and fiber studio and has been enjoying my odd distraction about needles and their origins. I did warn her there were a couple more chats about needles coming up soon.

As has become a tradition with fiber festivals, we should check in with the husbandly viewpoint of how the event went. Was this fiber-festival up to Glenn reading and napping standards?

7.1-7.2) I would say that was a yes.

Were you curious to see what followed me home? I took my purchases into the guild so I could spread them out and get a good shot of them for you. I seem to be on a fiber acquisition theme this festival I have defiantly increased my stash!

8.1 8.2 8.3) jan’s shopping

I am not sure how I got distracted into another Fiberfestival travelogue, when I was sure I was going to chat about felting needles but I promise I will get back to the felting needles soon. I have got my hands on a needle I didn’t think I would be able to find. Monika from The Olive Sparrow was able to get her hands on some and I am looking forward to chatting about them in the near future. I also have the post mostly finished about odd comments from over the summer again about needle, I am not sure which will appear first.

I hope you have had fun virtually shopping again and have found local fiber venders to top up your own fiber supply in preparation for winter. Have fun and keep felting!!

TWIST 2025, PART 3 NEW BOOTHS OF INTERESTS

September 15, 2025 Jan Comments 5 comments

PART 3 Twist 2025 new booths of interests

Part 1 (https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/08/24/twist-2025-part-1-new-booths-of-interests/)

Part 2 (https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/09/05/twist-2025-part-2-new-booths-of-interests/)

14.1) hat and mitts on table

As we left off last week, I had just come to a screeching halt in front of the most exquisite pair of mitts. Then left you at the cliff hanger of what else was in this booth, and its adjacent neighbour.

14.2) the booth with the fabulous mitts was Cercle d’envol

I stopped to chat and find out about the mitts and found out this was a program to mentor indigenous youth into fashion design and other programs. They had a box of yellow squares of fabric and lots of colours of sharpie pens. I was asked to draw something that the students would sew together, making a wall hangings. Hummmmmm…… something Canadian would be good. I have been felting a lot of partly 3-D moose, why not try and draw one. I haven’t sat down and drawn anything in ages…. but my latest phone screen saver is a picture of one of the felted moose bags, I can use that for reference.

14.3) drawing on squares to be use to make quilt hangings.

14.4 – 14.5) moose seem to be a theme lately

This is what I came up with, I should have kept going with this drawing, added water and pond plants hanging out his mouth but I didn’t want Glenn to get too bored or get too much of a nap (he might start snoring!).

I had a very nice chat with the gentleman at the booth. He was talking about blending native knowledge with non-indigenous knowledge. I asked if that was like what had happened with the very old missing arctic explorers ship problem, that had been lost until someone asked the local Inuit if they knew anything about it and they knew where it was.(no one had thot to ask them earlier?)

I have been curious about the arctic for quite a while. It probably started with snow bank tunneling and the frustration we did not have the correct snow to make igloos. We used oral history as we learned the safety rules about snow tunneling, from the older kids and told the ones younger as they started to play in the snow banks. (I also made snow dinosaurs with the other local kids, i was already a bad influence). At university, I was excited to find out that we had kimberlite pipes (they make diamonds) in the arctic and a beach made of garnets. Then I found out about the wonders of Muskox fur (well the undercoat, Qiviut). There are also Norse / Dorset archeological sites to further investigate in northern Quebec and Baffin. I was very lucky to visit Iqaluit, briefly, while my brother was working there. I would love to go back with a much better camera than I had then. Maybe I can get a good shot of arctic cotton! (the tricky little plants kept moving in and out of my focal depth!!)

Sorry I got distracted back to the booths.

The description of this group from Twist was; “Cercle d’envol is a pan-Canadian organization based in Plaisance that empowers Indigenous youth by increasing access to career and entrepreneurship opportunities. With nearly 25 skill-building labs focused on fashion and sewing, we are training a new generation of creators. We are supported by globally recognized brands, including Janome.”

The next booth was quite different from all the fiber related booths.

15.1-15.2) Kidjīmāninān booth looked like a log cabin!

Twists information said that Kidjīmāninān is “Led by the Kitigan Zibi Anishinàbeg community, Kidjīmāninān brings together the MRC, citizens, community groups, and researchers to restore and protect biodiversity in the Outaouais region. Inspired by the Algonquin term meaning “our canoe,” we move forward together, sharing knowledge and respect for the Earth to create lasting impact.”

I again stopped and he was talking about biodiversity and endangered spices. I told him of my absolute joy and amazement while hunting by hand from the family row boat, I employed the standard cray fish hunting technique (distract with one hand while the other come in from behind to grab the crayfish) on mysterious bubbles coming up through the muddy silt. I was pretty sure I knew where the turtles nose was, directly below the bubbles, but the rest of the body could be in any direction under the mud from there. I guessed correctly and lifted up a soft shelled mud turtle the size of a luncheon plate! I gently put it in the bottom of the boat and rowed quickly back to the dock, (staying safely about 6 feet from the shore line). Unfortunately, Mom was not amused or impressed when I showed her my most amazing catch and told me to “take it out side now! it is an outside creature”. I released it and it swam back to its swampy bay.

The gentleman at the booth, asked if I could identify the lower part of a leg on the counter in front of him. I admired it, then told him I hoped it was a moose. He seemed surprised and pleased. He said it was an adolescent moose leg.

15.3) leg to be identified (adolescent moose) and cool pin (landscape with a canou and 3 little circles representing heads in it).

He said he was getting signatures for a petition to protect biodiversity in the Outaouais region. We both signed it. Other kids should have the opportunity to experience catching (and releasing), many kinds of frogs, turtles, snakes and other local wildlife. We have seen a decline of plants and wild life since I was a child at the family cottage. I hope his petition will help. As we were about to leave he gave me a bag with the logo from the pin on it. There were a few goodies inside. I thanked him profusely! (and will show you at the end)

There will be an online petition coming soon to their website, but if you are interested in finding out more about this group, check here: https://kidjimaninan.com/en/ .

15.4) Kidjimaninan bag and pin

There are still spots we have not yet visited so let’s leave the gym and head past the group demos in the hallway and go look outside. (I know it’s very hot today so we will not linger too long outside and try to stay in the shade)

Outside:

16.1) the full map of the event we are at the back of the building at the top of the map.

The fist tent just right of the building doors was the kids tent (some of those kids looked quite tall and older than I had expected, but they are having fun). From the left; rare breads tent, vender tent, tent for ball winding, the talks and demonstration tent, Beer tent, and food tent. There is also a misting station (its water misting so I’m going to avoid it, but if you are feeling hot you may want to check that out too.

16.2) kids tent

16.3) just barley in view to the far left is the rare breeds tent, the large tent on the Left/middle held more vendors, the smaller tent to the right had swifts and ball winders. Off camera further to the right were three more tents. The smaller two had lectures or demonstrations and the other small tent sold beer. The large tent, held the food vendors. Off camera behind me are the kid’s activity tent and the scary misting station.

Let’s take a look at the guest sheep that was visiting at the rare breeds tent fist. You have seen this booth in previous years. They are interested in more than just sheep but they know who we want to see today! The sheep even in this heat wave was in shade, had water and seemed to de demonstrating the thermal insulation properties of wool. She seemed quite mellow and relaxed. (I wonder if she tried the mister?)

17.1) Heritage livestock Canada had a friendly sheep!

17.2) sheep in the heat! She was in the shade and seemed very relaxed.

17.3) She did seem to enjoy all the attention

18.1) On to the vendor tent!

I know it’s getting late and your feet may be getting tired, so let’s just look at a couple of the venders in the large tent and then we can think about a very late lunch.

There was a vendor with felt but this time the felt was sewn to create her sculptures. They were very cute

18.2) Felt figures

18.3) dragon sewn felt

Did you see the Ferme Tajga booth? They had yarn, sheep skins, batts, and raw fiber. I was too tempted and bought a bit of the raw Icelandic. It was in the mettle tub on her table.

18.4)Ferme Taiga booth

18.5) Ferme Taiga booth close up of some of the very nice fiber

The sheep was not the only gest fiber producer at Twist. There were these two bunnies. The little bunny kept shifting form curious to shy.

18.6) Angora production team

18.7) Big Blue Mama’s booth had more fabulous baskets

18.8) there was a lot of knitting yarn at twist, this time it was alpaca blends

18.9) there was also yarn meant for weaving, and in this booth, there was yarn meant for crochet

Glenn spotted this package and bought one to try. It was freeze-dried hole strawberries, coated in chocolate. If you spot a package you may want to try it too. It was extremely tasty.

19.1) a treat of Chocolate coated strawberry’s (we will have to look for these closer to home!)

Just to prove that Sunday was just as relaxing as Friday was.

19.2) Proof that Fiber festivals are the perfect spot for husbands to nap.

Yes I was a horrible wife and woke him, so he could carry the last of my purchases to the car. Since it will be a year until we return next, we took the opportunity to again head to our favorite comfy duck sandwich purveyor.

I hope you have enjoyed Twist, even though there was a lot of yarn, and very little long locks, there was some fiber, and new booths that were educational and interesting. If you are driving between Montreal and Ottawa and are passing St Andray du Avalon, you may want to take a brake and see if there are any Comfy ducks sandwiches available for lunch…. I will be thinking about that sandwich until the next trip to Twist.

19.3) duck, bacon, apple, celery, onion, mayo and apricot-raisin bread, salad with raspberry dressing and fries with mayo dipping sauce! Twice in one year!!!

Oh did you want to see what I purchased?

We can compare and see if you picked the same things!

20.1) Glenn gave me the twist bag which the Mer-Boy-Friend seems to have taken over. I was given a gift of green curly locks, and purchased the linen tea towel.

20.2) I seem to have a theme of mostly Felt and fiber this year.

20.3) the Kidjimaninan bag had wonderful things inside it; Butterfly seed bombs, Kayo-Tea, Maple Syrup, playing cards, cloth bag and enamel pin

20.4) Horticultural felt 100% wool

20.5) silk hankies

20.6) top row tags (L to R);Top row: Solstice 2023(Grey; Cormo/Angora/Merino/Poleworth/Lama/ Tussah silk), Masham (green red black), Masham (green red black), Cheviot (White aqua and cream). Bottom row: Shropshire (Greay gold), Exmoor Horn (Brown Blue), Faroese (Blues), Masham (Greens orange), Eclipse (Greys), Cheviot (White aqua and cream).

20.7)Urso wool batts, golden tones and cream tones

20.8) 2 braids Cheviot/Peridale

20.9) Raw Icelandic fiber

Thank you for joining me, it was a very big show! I hope you had fun virtual shopping if you were unable to attend in person. The dates of next year, August 7-8-9 2026, are already on their website. if you are going to be in the area there may be a comfy duck sandwich calling your name too! Have fun and keep felting!

TWIST 2025, PART 2 NEW BOOTHS OF INTERESTS

September 5, 2025 Jan Comments 7 comments

PART 2 Twist 2025 new booths of interests

Today Lets head back to Twist

9.1) photo selfie setup just outside the arena with a sheep on a rocket and snowball bush.

This year there was more yarn for sale at boots, but I did find a few venders selling fiber, mostly combed top, and one selling felt (which you saw last time). There were a few more informational booths that I want to point out and we already saw some of the local guild /group demos.

9.2) a quick peek at the ongoing Ottawa guild demo in hall between the arena and the gym.

Lets take a quick look in the arena, there were booths around the outside and a row placed back to back down the center. The isle were wide and there were a few benches to stop and rest. (as demonstrated by Glenn last post, but most other bench users were not a somnolent as he was).

10.1 3 shots, one of the arena at opening, woman looking at weaving yarn, mohair top

10.2) buttons, knitting yarn and samples

10.3) Christine’s booth with bats of mixed fiber and art yarn. She is spinning on a Majacraft wheel.

This is a booth, A Lair Artifacts, I kept going back to. I have shopped here over a number of years. The died top is available in a number of different fibers/breeds. There are some super wash merino, regular merino, and many other breeds with greater luster as well as a few fiber blends. (you can see a list of what fibers she is dyeing with here; https://www.alairartifacts.com/en/general-5 ). I keep being drawn to Masham, it’s a long fiber but it has such a captivating luster and is much stronger than the soft limpy-ness of merino. I keep telling myself, I am going to felt with this so if the staple is too long for what I want to use it for I can use scissors to make it shorter (which will offend spinners!)

11.1) combed top of various breeds and needle felting with dried flowers.

I am sure you spotted examples of felting in this booth too. When you look closely at the ghosts, which are very small, you will notice they have fabulous drapieness to their sheets.

11.2) ghost with dry flowers in belljar.

11.3) looking up breed information tag has breed and micron count and some times staple length.

one of the shoppers asked about one of the breeds she didn’t recognize and the vendor was able to explain about the sheep and she showed her more information from the handy little book “The Field Guide to Fleece: 100 Sheep Breeds & How to Use Their Fibers” By Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius. (sometimes all the time i have spent in the local guild library comes in handy!)

11.4) There was a pebble mat of felted round rocks as well as an very well done mushroom! (one in needle felt, one crochet and i think the last one is sewn)

11.5) I was impressed with the top but check out the frilly side, very nice line work and lovely subtle blending on the stem

I got distracted and had a chat about the shallow working depth of crown needles. I hope I didn’t overwhelm or bore her too much! The pebble rug, which was quite large, and covered the table, looked like the mushroom was growing from between the pebbles.

Since we have had a quick look around at the vendors in the arena let’s go over to the gym and see one of the booths I wanted to show you over there. On our way there lets first take a quick look at some of the other vendors.

12.1) Eco printing

12.2) Cheviot Top hand died

12.3) a booth with brooms

12.4) Linin tea towels in basket

12.5) samples of knitting with yarn from this booth

now lets stop and take a look at the first of the booths in this hall i thought might catch your interest.

La laine : matériau d’avenir | The Future is Wool (Concordia University)

the Future of Wool booth, this is a group we saw was it last year in the outside tent? This year they have moved inside and are creating a collaborative embroidery project. Twist posted that this is a “new 3-year community stitch project, exploring cross-cultural histories and planet-healing futures of our favourite fibre, local/regional/Canadian wool! Together, we’ll create a multi-panel ‘Bayeux’-style tapestry about our wool”.

Their own description about themselves is :

“The Future is Wool uses wool and craft to propose the questions: of Does the pleasure of handwork and the chance to work in community with other makers bring us comfort in this time of [post?] pandemic anxiety? Does wool’s biodegradability ease our ecological grief as our planet faces what seems like catastrophic climate change? This project is ongoing”. https://re-imagine.ca/the-future-is-wool/

13.1-13.4 “the Future of Wool” booth close up of image they are making, pictures of people embroidering,

They had a range of ages helping with their embroidered tapestry and all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

13.5) a large age range participated in the embroidery.

Each time a went past this booth, there were new people helping by work on part of it. the promotion of wool is always a good thing for felters and spinners!

Just around the corner was another booth that cot my attention (ok, so I may be easily distracted but did you see what was on the table?)

inuit mitts and hat 14.1) hat and mitts on table

Since we are now on page 11 as I am typing this up, I should probably stop and show you the rest of this and the neighbouring booth, and a few of the outdoor vendors and the guest sheep next post, part 3. In the mean time I will let you drool at those mitts as I did. Do you think that is seal and fox fur? I would never have cold fingers again!!!

i hope you are enjoying the vicarious shopping and have room for a bit more next post. until then have fun and keep felting, or maybe washing he last couple fleeces before the snow arrives again!

Twist 2025, Part 1 new booths of interests

August 24, 2025 Jan Comments 7 comments

Twist 2025 new booths of interest

Some of you have joined me in previous years on the trip to Twist Fibre Festival in Saint-André-Avellin, QC. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes from home, a bit longer with construction detours this year. It is worth the drive in shopping opportunities and usually has lovely scenery. (We had some of the smoke from fires much further west so it was too hazy for the views overlooking the river). Twist is also the largest of the close fiber events to Ottawa. Please join me as we take a peek, first at the demos and a new booth that I hope will catch your interest too. We will take a look at more of the event in the next post. Don’t forget to meet me at La Toquade restaurant for after shopping Dinner of comfy duck sandwiches.

1)Lining up to get into Twist 2025

Demo Hall way,

There are two halls (Gym and Arena), one on either side of a main hall, which also leads to the back of the building, where more vendors in a large tent were located. The hallway is where the demos from various fiber arts groups are located, including the local weaving guild and our neighbour guild across the river. Let’s take a quick peek before heading into the main hall. I was sure I had taken pictures of the knitting guild, and author and one other group at the end of the hall by the tent but I don’t seem to see them. This year we had examples of weaving, spinning, and a bit of felting at the guild table.

2.1-2.2) OVWSG Demo table

2.3) Guilde des tisserandes de Gatineau; our neighbour guild on the other side of the Ottawa River

2.4) The Lace makers guild

2.5-2.6) Association des Artisans de Ceinture Flechee de Lanaudiere

While at Twist fiber festival, I spotted a few new booths which caught my attention and I thought you would also find interesting. So I am going to focus on one of the booths today but we will look at the rest of the event hopefully in the next post.

New Vendor has felt

At this point, we had arrived, said hi to the morning demo team, and started looking for booths selling fiber or (Needle) felting supplies. It was close to opening time, and was still quite busy with a rush of shoppers. I had to wait to get into the booth. The little I could see from outside had me curious as to what else might be in there. I was sure it would be worth the wait.

3.1)I see wool! Yes, that definitely looks like wool. I wonder which booth this is?

As the crowd parted, I could see the signage “Field & Fleece” and “WoolGrown”. Behind the sign was a 3 foot tall roll of felt!! As well as bags of fiber (I think I overheard the bags of fleece were mixed rideau-arcott sheep fleeces?)

3.2) When the crowd parted and I could see part of the booth!

3.3) Precut lengths of felt, some have holes cut out for planting plants, others are solid.

3.4) There were examples of wool Felt use; Jacket, purses, art, small batts in bags

There were also small strips of wool rolled up on the table. They were selling them to start seeds in. I looked at them and saw name tags!!!

3.5) wool strips for sale in the booth

The strips were being sold as “Seed starting wool strips the eco-friendly evolution of the innovative seed-starting method known as the “Seed Snail.”” The concept seems to be to un-roll the wool strip about 4” x 4’ long, add moistened potting soil mix, roll up the dirt with wool, making something that looks like a less tasty cinnamon roll. Plant the seeds at the top of the roll, so the roots will grow down between the circles of wool. That sounds like an interesting concept but I still see name tags when I look at these rolls. There were a few different widths so I selected a few of the wider (about 4”) and a couple of the cheaper 3-ish” ones.

If you noticed the little square about an inch thick by about 4 inches, I picked up one of those too. I will try it out as a felting surface later.

Since I had finally got to the front of the booth and had already found a small selection of items, I kept looking.

3.6) OH my! What is that?

Not the prins, look in the cup! I was just apologising to Glenn, as we drove here, that I suspected the booths selling blacksmithing items or supplies would again be rather thin.(ok, None. I am sure it’s just an unintentional oversight that will be fixed at some point in the future.) Those rusty items are square-headed nails, and look like blacksmith-made objects! I asked about them and was enlightened that they were the “nails” from a brick wall that had been taken down and she didn’t have the heart to toss them. She was selling them for dyers to mordant their dye baths. I bought a little bundle for Glenn so his day was not just carrying my packages and taking naps on a bench while I shopped or photographed.

Since you have seen the extreme relaxation (napping) demonstrated at various fiber festivals I should not deprive you of another sighting.

4.1) Fibre festivals are a good spot for extreme relaxation.

4.2-4.3) The Mer-boyfriend got impatient and started to work on his own abbs. I spent too much time explaining why I was making another mer-person to people stopping to ask what I was doing and how did it work? (Yes, I got another voodoo comment too!)

I filled in at the OVWSG Demo Friday afternoon, as the demo started to pack up, I “rushed” back to buy the roll of felt but they were unfortunately closed…. Drat. Ok almost everyone is faster than I am at the moment.

While we are still in town, we can go enjoy the comfy duck sandwiches at the La Toquade Restaurant. It’s part of the enjoyment of going to twist, and I think about this sandwich for a year between twists, so let’s go see it they are still as memorably delicious as it was last year. (Oh yes it was!!)

5)“Club sandwich au confit de canard- Servi dans un pain abricot-raisin-tournesol garni de bacons, oignons, pommes vertes, céleris et mayonnaise maison et un choix de frites ou de salade mesclun” / (Google helped and translated the above to English for me: “Duck Confit Club Sandwich – Served in an apricot-raisin-sunflower bun topped with bacon, onions, green apples, celery and homemade mayonnaise and a choice of fries or mesclun salad”. the dip for the very tasty french fries was “choix de mayonnaise maison” and the small salid had a fabulouse rasbary baslamic vinigret. Desert was Mousse au chocolat (I think that has to be one of the best types of Moose). If you make it to twist, this may tempt you to stay in town for dinner or a late lunch.

After a delicious dinner, we headed for the highway, through rolling hills and past a very picturesque stream, which I keep meaning to stop and take pictures. Unfortunately, shortly after getting on the highway, we found the highway was closed, so wound up enjoying rock cuttings and farm land while following a very round about detour. (We eventually found out the road was closed for paving.)

6) I suspect I have been watching/listening to too much US political news on you tube. We saw this in front of us on the detour. Can you guess my first thought as to who must be having a quick getaway visit to Canada?

We did make it home after enjoying parts of Quebec we had not seen before. I spent the rest of the evening reviewing Fridays photos and posting some on the OVWSG Group FB page, I did a bit of investigating on the internet since I regretted not buying one of the rolls of felt.

WoolGrown Company web site: www.woolgrowncompany.com

WoolGrown Company on Face book: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568471715075

This is a Canadian company, based in southern Ontario. It is a lot closer to drive to Twist (Just over 1 hour east), than to drive west, well past Toronto (Over 6 hours south-west of Ottawa). (Which is why I was trying to get back to twist on Sunday.)

As I heard at twist and saw on their web site, they were looking at ways to diversify their farm production (sheep farming). On their web site i found links for Wool pellets for mulch, Garden & Horticulture Felt (which was the felt I purchased on Friday, but not the option with holes precut in it for plants) and Sheep Tea Pouches. In their booth, were also examples of; felt art, Felt Jackets, Felt Bags and felt Pots as well as the felt itself.

I tried messaging the company on their Facebook page (but they were likely very busy recovering from day 1 of twist) since I knew going back on Saturday was not an option. I would have to hope to be up and running… er, walking… ok rolling on Sunday. Glenn said he was up to joining me again, (he was hoping for more Comfy duck), so off we went back to Twist early Sunday morning.

7.1) 3 foot tall roll of wool felt!

Ah good they have not sold out, but as I got closer, there was a lot of stock missing. The 10 foot by 1 foot rolls were gone and so were the other sizes I had seen on Friday (Drat). Luckily, Sunday morning at opening was not as busy as Friday, or I heard Saturday had been, so they said they could cut me a piece from the big roll.

7.2-7.3) I got 4 feet of the big roll.

I am hopeful I will be able to use this with my picture felting students. I need cut pieces that are a bit bigger than 5”x7” finished picture size. I want my students to feel the difference 100% wool felt feels, when compared to the cheap part wool, to full acrylic non-woven options for picture felting bases.

8.1) “Horticultural”, as you can see there is some kemp and a bit of VM. Even so, it looks like it will make a good base for picture Needle felting.

Let me show you some of what I wound up with from this vendor, I will show you the rest later. I am looking forward to investigating this wool felt, hopefully soon.

Today (which will be yesterday as you read this) we headed south of Ottawa to Kemptville for a much more intimate fiber festival. I had wonderful chats about felting and fiber and thoroughly enjoyed myself. (Glenn read a book and had another nap, I told you fiber events were extremely relaxing, soon all husbands will want to attend with us, just for the quality napping!!) I would like to show you a couple of interesting displays and booths there too, but let’s finish off visiting Twist next. Don’t forget to save a bit of virtual or actual money for shopping at Almonte Fiberfest on Sept 6^th2025 if you are in the area!!

Cyanotone print on paper then felted with Fiona Duthie

August 14, 2025 Jan Comments 16 comments

08-06-2025 Cyanotone print on paper, then felted with Fiona Duthie – fine felt

On August 6th 2025, The Great Canadian Felt Project, using Cyanotype paper dying with wet felting, arrived in Ottawa, Canada. This is an ongoing project moving across Canada, starting in the Maritimes (east coast) and moving west. Small 3-hour mini-workshops are set up as Fiona and her husband travel across the country in a vintage VW bus. The workshops are being arranged on slightly short notice, due to allowing for travel time to reach the next area where felters will be gathering. (If you are west or north west of us, you can see if she is heading your way. She has a web presence, you can try to connect with her as she is moving west. https://www.fionaduthie.com/great-canadian-felt-project-2025/)

Liane contacted her and ultimately arranged for two sessions in the OVWSG guild studio for Wednesday.

I have worked in a darkroom at university, so I am familiar with the concept of Cyanotype printing. It’s a little like playing with the enlarger in the dark room, but more blue. I also preferred keeping my fibres dry when I felt. Since I can have fabulous fun with photo-documenting the event, I suggested I photograph and let someone else enjoy the fun of felting. (If they were short students, I could switch, and there would be fewer photos.) There was a lot of enthusiasm for such a short notice, mid-week event, and we wound up with 2 groups of 11 students, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. We only had a few days to get it all organised. The guild is also in the middle of moving rooms and looms, so tables had to be tracked down, a quick clean-up of the studio, and we were ready to have fun. You may recognise a few of the students from previous times you have joined me on shopping and at guild activities!

By the time I arrived early Wednesday morning, hoping to get a tiny bit of library work done before starting the photography fun, Liane had the room all set, ready for the workshop. She arrived shortly after I did, and was quickly followed by the teacher and her husband. The students arrived soon after that. Everyone was very excited, and almost everyone was early.

FIona and husband arives in OVWSG Studio with tables set up ready for teaching 1.1) The room arranged, and the teacher and her TA setting up

Fiona Duthie and her husband both used to work in Ottawa, but are now located in BC. They had been on the East Coast, giving a felting workshop and visiting family. She gave a brief overview of the order of operations, and the students quickly got into laying out their local plants and other objects they had brought.

on table covered in striped blue and white plastic cover Trays (cat litter trays) for rinsing, hand laundry scrubbers, Ballbrasa, Soap and water buckets 2.1) Equipment: Trays (cat litter trays) for rinsing, hand laundry scrubbers, Ballbrasa, Soap and water buckets

2.2) close up of the hand laundry scrubbers. I think these were made in Germany. They remind me of a sewing clapper (it’s used on seams to flatten them)

2.3-2.4) the magic chemicals that make the wonderful blue colour (Chemicals: The primary chemicals used are ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. These are mixed to create a light-sensitive solution.) She had examples of two ways the chemicals were sold. Fiona pre-prepared the treated paper for the class.

The Cyanotype printing process uses a light-sensitive prepared paper, with something that will block light, making a silhouette, in this case with local plants and found objects. The paper with objects sitting on it is then exposed to (UV) light, which will create an image on the paper. The students were instructed to lay out their designs on the Plexiglas, then, when ready, the light-sensitive paper would be provided and the plants/stuff would be moved to it. But first, get the design they liked laid out.

Fiona gave an the overview of what they would be doing today shows 2 previous prints on felt 2.5) The overview of what they would be doing today

morning and afternoon students for the workshop 3) the morning and afternoon workshop groups

Laying out the design on the plexi

A board, a piece of plexiglass and bubble wrap were at each spot. Students brought plants, lace, stones, weaving tools, and found objects.

4.1-4.6) laying out the design

Magic Paper time!

When the composition was the way the students wanted, Fiona handed out 2 sheets of the pre-prepared light-sensitive paper. (Note she has it hidden from the light between two boards.) One page the students will keep, and the other will go into Fiona’s Group project.

Since as soon as the paper is exposed to light, it will start to etch (like photo paper in an enlarger). So pre-laying out the design made it faster to get the composition moved from the plexi, which had been moved out of the way, so the magic paper on the wooden board could be quickly covered with their selected stuff. Fiona was very calm, and although it is time sensitive, no one seemed to be looking rushed.

The paper itself is also important. Fiona talked about what she had found most effective that allowed the wool fibre to bond with the paper (I promise I will get to the felting!). She mentioned my favourite place to get paper when I was taking Printmaking at the University of Toronto, the Japanese paper shop in Toronto (Queen Street West). A couple of the papers sounded familiar, so I probably did use them for school. Alisa remembered Lokta paper and Kita Kata paper. There was another suggestion, but I should have been smart and taken notes, not just photos. You will have to take her mini workshop to get a list she has found works with felting, or Ann says Ruth does felting with paper, too.

5.1) Handing out the magic paper

The plexi gets used again:

Once the foliage and other items were transferred to the magic paper, the plexi sheet was put on top to keep anything from shifting. A couple of boards had things that were lumpy; some were placed on top of the plexi, others were under, but a bit of masking tape was added to ensure nothing shifted.

plexi is now used to hold the plants down on the paper so it wount shift 5.2) Plexiglass added to keep plants in place

Now it’s time to face the sun!!

Since I was just doing the photo documentation, I was volunteered as Door holder. Unfortunately, this presented a problem. I know the rules, no but shots!! I had a lot of trouble trying to get shots that kept to at least the essence of the rule.

students putting bords with paper plants and plexi on ground in the sun 6.1) putting the light-sensitive paper in the sunlight

As with photo paper, Cyanotype is activated by light. So the prints were left out for the required time. (It was sunny and the smog from forest fires was less today.) Let’s take a peek at a few of the cooking prints.

6.2- 6.4) sitting in the sun

When the time was up, the boards were carefully brought back into the studio. (trying not to move anything) .

bringing the plexi covered paper and plants on board back into classroom 6.5) back into the studio, leaving the plexi on and trying not to shift the leaves and objects

A couple of students at a time would remove their objects from the papers, then add them to the first of two rinse baths. After the correct time, it was transferred into the second bath. This was to remove the extra active chemicals. This took a while to get through, 22 pictures, 4 at a time, but it was very interesting to see what had been created by the cast shadow of the plants and other objects.

the rinces baths of water and placing the papers back on the board after the rince baths 7.1- 7.2)

Felting!!

When most of the images were through their baths, it was time to set up for felting. (I bet you didn’t think I would ever get to the felting!) Fiona explained which direction to lay the paper images down on the bubble wrap, then demonstrated laying out the wool, which was limited to a measured amount, so all the pieces would be close in weight.

holding combed top and showing how to pull out shingles of fiber to lay on paper 8.1) explaining laying out fibre for wet felting.

continuing to demonstrate laying out the fiber on the paper 8.2) Laying out the fibre demonstration

Then the students worked in white or blue Merino wool. Most had combed top, but one had merino that may have been a batt at some point, but was now more tufts and clumps.

the students start to lay out fiber, teacher helps as needed 8.3)

wetting the fiber covering with buble wrap and then gently rubbing with landry scrubber 8.4)

Water was added, then gentle rubbing (effleurage), then gently using the scrubber. Once it was starting to hold together, it was time to roll, first one way, then rotate and roll again. They were not wanting to make a hard felt. The students will be stopping at the pre-felt stage, so Fiona will have options as she felts all the pieces together when she gets home.

rubbing on bubble wrap and students on far side of table rolling 8.5) various stages of rubbing and rolling

Rolling must be done carefully so the paper doesn’t wrinkle as the wool starts to felt and the paper gets entangled with it.

various students rolling felt 8.6) more rolling and rubbing

gental tugging with flattened palms to remove wrinkles 8.7) Gentle persuasion removed a small wrinkle that was developing

Sander

We also got a demonstration of using a sander for felting. This speeds up the felting, but especially with this, you can not drag the sander, or you may damage the paper.

demonstrating using sander while felting 9.1) Fiona shows the Makita sander

close ups of sander working 9.2) Sander working

showing under side of sander with ikea shelf liner instead of sandpaper. there is tuck tape under the plate to keep water from entering the main part of the sander 9.3) Under side view of Makita sander

Makita, variable speed sander, with tuck tape applied to the under plate and Ikea Shelf liner where the sandpaper would go. This is the Expensive model, but it’s much quieter than the less expensive version. (Or the little one I have.) I was told they go on sale around Father’s Day if you are wanting to go hunting for one.

The final result

When the images were the requested size, and had reached the pre-felt stage (holds together but is not yet fully felted, so she can join them together when she gets home, they were finished.)

meusing to make sure size was correct, cutting excess and finished pices more finished pices checking out eachothers pices 10.1-10.3) the finished pieces

Samples with this and variations on this technique

Fiona brought with her some samples, which she shared with the students

11.1-11.4 samples

Fiona has not made a final decision as to how she will put all the pieces together when all the group projects have been completed. I think either a medieval rose window, adding felt to make the stone traceries, or maybe a tall Gothic medieval stained glass window, which would give an interesting grid pattern and could be done in a series of windows. (a tryptic or more?) It will be fun to see what she decides to create.

You may have noticed I have a new camera, a Nikon with a wicked zoom lens and extra stabilising. It’s a steep learning curve from my Lumex, but I am trying my best to climb it! You may be muttering about my love of words (many of which I can’t spell), but also my love of photos. I did have a bit of restraint. For this event, I took 618 shots; there were a few with focus problems (stupid essential tremors), but also a few more with odd facial expressions that I ignored. That still left a lot of photos to choose from!

This was fun to photograph, and it looked like the students had both fun and learned a technique they can add to their felting skills. If you are somewhere West or north-west of Ottawa, check and see if Fiona will be somewhere near you too! (Her web contact is at the top of the post.) Have fun and keep felting!

Demoing Felting Question: “How does that work?”

August 4, 2025 Jan Comments 22 comments

Demoing Felting Question: “How does that work?”

Summer is the season of planned and spontaneous demos. Whether it’s planned, demonstrating felting at fairs, craft shows, fibre or yarn stores, or less planned, felting sitting in front of your home, or waiting at a doctor’s office, it’s an opportunity to introduce others to the fun of felting. I wanted to chat about this today, since I have recently overhead others say they haven’t signed up to do guild demos because they don’t know what they will get asked at the demo. Also, they have never demoed before and feel that they need to be really good to demo.

Demos are an opportunity for us to show others what cool things we are doing. We don’t have to be masters at what we are showing, but we have to be enthusiastic (without scaring the public) and look like we are having fun. Seeing someone who is enjoying what they are demoing is likely to inspire someone to try whatever they are doing. It is also good to see someone who is just starting to let others know they can do this, too.

1) 2019 Wool Growers Co-Op Demo

If you have never demoed before, try a group demo where you are not alone and have others who can answer questions and take the lead. You can also just bring your felting with you when you will be waiting somewhere for a while, like the doctor’s office or emergency department, most people will just smile and watch. (They are usually happy to have something to distract them from why they are there. It’s a good way to get used to being watched while you’re working.) Spinning is particularly popular with people in the emergency waiting room.

I have found that at most big demos, I have to start talking to people before they will approach. When I first started to demo, it was weaving I was showing. If someone seemed curious, but not brave enough to ask what I was doing, I would ask what type of loom they had at home (even when I was reasonably sure they had never seen a loom before). They usually laughed and started talking to me, often about their grandmother’s spinning wheel! (We will not discuss today anyone loudly saying “look she is making wool!!” while I am spinning, or “Look she is spinning!!” when I am weaving. It’s a bit trickier, so getting Sleeping Beauty’s spindle wheel confused with Rumpelstiltskin’s flax wheel is slightly understandable.) Nevertheless, it was an opening, and I could tell them about the magic of watching cloth appear as you change the order of harnesses, which changes the pattern.

Now let’s consider what seems to be the most scary for new demo-ers, what am I going to get asked?

First, you are not required to know everything to demo! If you get a question you don’t know the answer to, admit that, and suggest they contact the local or online group. You don’t have to be an expert! Enthusiasm and looking like you are having fun will inspire others to try. That said, whether I am demoing needle felting in 2D or 3D, I most commonly get a few questions repeated as I am working. Let’s take a look at some of the most common questions.

The first is “How does that work?”

If you don’t know how the needle’s barbs grab the fibre and push it into the felt or ground fabric, it does look like magic. I try to show them the barbs along the working part of the needle. If you have a course needle, it’s easier for people to see or feel the barbs (32g or courser). If they are having trouble seeing, I let them hold the needle, warning them the end is very sharp, and have them run their fingernail over the area where the barbs are located.

*I did have one person tell me they had tried using a needle to felt and it hadn’t worked at all. After I showed her the barbs on my needle, she admitted she had tried a sewing needle. I can see why she was having trouble getting the wool to felt.

2.1) Doer felting needle 32G

2.2) Doer needle chart for triangle needles

2.3) 2019 small muskox landscape, Demoing at a social, under drawing and adding wool, finished image

Common 3-D Question:

When I am working on a 3D piece, I get asked variations on “how do you move the wool where you want it to go?”.

First, the wool moves in the direction that the needle is travelling. Poke in the direction you want the wool to move. While also being aware of the position of your barbs, and thus your working depth, so you are getting the barbs to entangle or move the fibre to the location you want it to be. It’s easy to say, and sounds simple, but I have seen beginner felters poking vertically (up and down), while trying to move the wool horizontally. It would be more effective if they poked the needle horizontally (moving left and right) or rotated their shape to align with the direction the needle is moving.

You can get quite devious with this concept. While working on a sheep broach, I had the face quite sheepish, but the nose was not as firm as I wanted. Who wants a soft-nosed sheep, that is just flaccid, or a limp-nosed un-sheepish aardvarkish-sheep? If I poke from the outside, into the nose, I will distort the nose, and I will have to add more wool and reshape it. There is a second way to firm up under a surface structure that you are already pleased with, if you have not finished sculpting the back side. You need to know where the first barbs are on your needle and how far to push the wool so the needle does not emerge past the finished surface. In this case, I worked from the back of the head, pushing fibre through the sheep’s head broach towards the nose, from the back, to firm up the nose without changing the outer surface. It’s sneaky, but it works.

3.1) Moving the wool to firm up the face if needed.

3.2) 2020 demoing for the delivery guy sitting by my side door

I also usually explained that needle felting sculpture is both additive (like clay) and Subtractive (like Stone). Usually, you use some of both concepts when you sculpt with wool.

Additive:

You can make a shape and then add it to your creation. Sara from Sarafina Fiber Arts (lots of YouTube videos, including the Mermaid feltalong) works a lot this way. It has the advantage of being easy to explain what you are doing and is repeatable by other felters.
You can build up a body by layers of muscle, which is a great way to study musculature, but not a fast way to sculpt. Most sane people just add the general superficial musculature in a simplified form. You can also just go for cute and make more of a caricature of what you are making.

4.11) A circle of fibre, needle felt across the diameter, then fold in half. Felt along fold line and as far down as needed, leaving an unfelted fringe giving an edge to attach to the main shape. Sara creates most of her sculptures this way.

4.12) adding fins that have been pre-shaped and the attachment edge left loose to allow it to be secured to Shark Boy

Subtractive:

If you poke in the same spot repeatedly, the fibre under that spot will entangle and compact. Visually, you will see the area that is being poked indent. Which looks like you have removed the wool above the dented area, while in fact it’s just compacted the fibres and moved them in the direction the needle was pointing.

4.2) Stabbing repeatedly in the same spot will both indent and compact that spot relative to the surrounding area.

Hybrid – working with loose fibre (using both additive and subtractive methods to sculpt):

I often use loose fibre, use a few pokes to attach it to the area I want to sculpt and then, by careful poking, shape it into what I want to see. I tend to do this more when I am building up the under structure. But sometimes for adding detail, too. This is not as fast as remaking a shape and adding it, but it’s a lot of fun.

4.31- 4.32) Miss Manta demonstrating adding loose wool and sculpting it into place.

Common 2-D felting question:

When I am working on a picture, people will stop and watch me add small wisps of fibre, layering them to get to the depth of colour I want. “Oh, I would never have the patience to do that!” OK, that technically isn’t a question, but that gives me the opportunity to talk about the various ways you can approach making a picture with needle felting that they could use.

Like a pastel: (usually a good approach with landscapes)

Working from the background towards the foreground.
It is easier to overlap images and create depth.
This usually makes the most sense for most images as an order of working.

Treating wool/fibre like a watercolour: (slow but impressive results)

Slowly layering tiny bits of fibre like washes in water colour painting. The transparency of the application allows the upper layer to be affected by the under layers. If you have lots of patience or just like to putter on a project, this may be your choice.

Like an acrylic (paint by number or colouring books): (much quicker than working like a water colour)

If you use a small window to isolate part of your reference image, you can match the colour you see in the little window, mix that colour, and then add it. Move to another spot and match and add that colour. You can think of this more like a paint-by-numbers kind of approach.
You can mix larger amounts of colours that occur in various parts of the image, which gives the image cohesion and it’s faster than mixing the same tone multiple times.
This is quicker than working like washes of watercolours.

Using a bit of each approach:

If you use the work order (like a pastel) from the background /mid-ground /foreground
Use colour matching to lay out the main parts of the picture, then
Use wisps of colour for blends and highlights in the blocks of colour.

5.1-5.2) 2018 Makers fair demo

I also get asked about “What fibres are you working with?”

This gives me the opportunity to talk about different properties of fibres. We can use lots of different kinds of fibre, sheep, alpaca, lama, Dog, Cat, Yak, silk, even plant and manmade fibre. I can show on the fox picture that some of the cream coloured fibre is cat hair. That there is silk in some of the highlights, and the whiskers are horse hair, but I am looking for the outer guard hairs of a muskox, which I think will work better. Most of the rest is various breeds of wool.

Different types of sheep have different wool properties. (light reflection/ texture/crimp) fibre preparation; carded or combed, can also be used to affect your picture)
- Merino absorbs light, so it works wonderfully for shadows
- Bluefaced Leicester has a higher light reflection, so it works well for highlights
- Shetland and Coriedale are what I tend to use for most of the image
We can also use fibres from other fur-bearing animals; dogs, cats, llama, alpaca, muskox, yak, bison, angora goat or rabbit, etc.

“Where do you get your fibres”? It is usually the next question.

Local yarn or fibre shops, online, and local farms.
Try to give a few options that are near to where you are demoing, if possible

6.1) 2017 Ann demoing the Blending board at the carp fair

If the demo is at a fair or large event, remember you may only get a few minutes of their time, so give the brief version of an answer (I have trouble with this. I can be verbose, I know you are shocked to hear that!). If they don’t look like they need to leave, you can either go into more depth or ask them if they have more questions. If they look interested, but rushed (kids are trying to drag them away to the rides), try to have contact info for the local group that they can track down later. A business card is great to hand out, or a sign with the contact info that they can take a photo of and consult later is helpful too.

6.2) 2019 Farm show demo, part of the table display

6.3) 2025 Dickonson day demo, Amanda getting help with her spinning

Synopsis:

Smile, engage people by asking them questions, show them what you are doing, and have a contact for more information (it can be an online option if you don’t have a local guild/group). If you don’t know the answer, say so and suggest they contact the local group for more information.

The three important concepts for needle felting are

Rule 1) the sharp end of the needle goes in the wool, not your finger (following this rule saves on bandaids)
Rule 2) the needle goes into and out of the wool in the same vector (no changing direction as you poke), and
Rule 2.5) The direction you poke is the direction the wool will move.

I hope this gives those who have not tried demoing yet some encouragement. It’s lots of fun and you get to meet future fibre people! Have a wonderful long weekend, Monday! The next long weekend will be Labour Day Monday, September 1st, 2025! Have fun and keep felting!

New book on Blending boards to tempt you

July 25, 2025 Jan Comments 10 comments

I am not sure how it got to be Thursday so quickly. It’s been a busy week since we last chatted. I was working on another post about demoing felting, but it needs more work, so that will be coming later. This week at the local guild, we had a social focusing on Blending Boards. My Kia is partway through her gastric surgery (one of the parts of the new parts was missing from the box, so next week?) The weeds are trying to outnumber the plants in the pots, so that has to be done; they are all looking limp from heat and lack of water, i have to fix that too. The last part of the huge fleece is finally in for its first rinse. Just to add extra excitement, I am still wiping out and having long naps at odd moments. Life is fun!

Since you probably are not interested in the gastric distress of my car, and are likely trying to tackle your own weeds and lack of water (although it keeps raining?) So, this will be a short blog, so you can go enjoy the weeding and fleece washing while the snowbanks are not here. Let me show you what turned up, besides blending boards and bags of bits of fibre, at the local guild on Monday.

Guild social with Blending boards

0.11) Ann making rolags on the blending board, 2 more blending boards used in the background

0.12)- Ann’s rolag is flaccid!

0.13) 4 of the 6 spinners are using drop spindles

Daisy brought in her new book: “The Spinner’s Blending Board Bible: From Woolen to (Nearly!) Worsted and Everything in Between”, by Deborah Held. Released April 2025, it is hardcover and has 136 pages, in English. (ISBN: ‎ 978-0811773676, if you wanted to look at it too)

cover of: The Spinner’s Blending board Bible, from wool to (nearly!) worsed and everything in between”, by Deborah Held 1.1)cover of: The Spinner’s Blending Board Bible, from wool to (nearly!) worsted and everything in between”, by Deborah Held

This book was written for spinners, but felters may also be inspired by it. Anyone working with fibre has more options if they know more ways to prepare that fibre. Different fibre preps produce different kinds of yarn if you are spinning, and will behave differently if you are wet or dry felting. More options are always good. For felters, the fibre mixes that a blending board can create may inspire you. Probably a turbulent sea or impending stormy sky, even mixes of greens suggesting distant trees?

1.2) first 2 pages of the Contents pages

1.3) Chapters 3-6 plus appendices

Let’s have a look at the contents of the book to see if it sparks your interest. While I am writing this, Indigo (online) has an excerpt including the full list of contents (in case my new camera and I are still discussing visual acuity) https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-spinners-blending-board-bible-from-woolen-to-nearly-worsted-and-everything-in-between/c06b9a51-bd73-3adf-adf6-1d363cd16a3c.html

Here are the main topics covered (I have listed the contents of all of chapter 4, since it may be of greatest interest to felters):

Foreword

Introduction

1: YOUR BLENDING BOARD: THE ALL-IN-ONE FIBER-PROCESSING TOOL

Breaking Down the Blending Board
A Comparison of Tools Used in Fiber Preparation

2: INDUSTRY SECRETS: UNLOCKING THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL OF YOUR BLENDING BOARD

Aftermarket Accessories
Technique: Dos and Don’ts
Smooth vs. Textured Preparations
Working with “Difficult” Fibers

3: ROLLED-OFF PREPARATIONS: ROLAGS, ROLLED LOGS, PUNIS, AND ROLY-POLIES

Rolled-off Preparations, Defined
Rolling Fiber Off Your Blending Board
Color, Texture, and Other Creative Play

4: BATTS AND CLOUDS, ROVINGS AND SLIVERS

Batts
Better Batts
Make the Best Batts
Layer Your Fiber in Thin Staple Lengths, Burnishing Often
Remove the Batt from the Blending Board
Make It a Double
Make It More Woolen with Multiple and Directional Passes
Directional Loading
Recard Your Batt
Make It More Worsted
Carded Clouds
- Make It the Most Woolen
Roving vs. Sliver
- Pin-drafted Roving
Make Your Own Roving, Multiple Ways
Hand-pulled Rovings: from a Batt/Cloud or Roll-up, as a Z-strip
Diz a Roving or Sliver
Diz from the Board
Off the Batt or Roving
Double-diz
Make It More Worsted
Creative Play with Color and Texture
Flecks/Tweeds and Heathers
Garneting for Extra Texture
Make It a Marl by Stacking Your Batts
Stripes/Repeating Colors and Variegates
Color Blocking
Gradients
Vertical and Horizontal Gradients
Individually Carded Gradients
Scraptastic Sandwich Batts
Fractals
Fancy Farm Batt
Bizzed Datty Bumps

5: UNEXPECTED WAYS TO USE YOUR BLENDING BOARD

Bring a Braid of Fiber Back to Life
Flick-card Locks and Line Them Up for Spinning
Flick-comb Your Locks
Diz a Repeatable “Combed” Top
Wet Felting

6: CARE AND STORAGE OF YOUR BLENDING BOARD

Keep It Clean
Storage

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: DIY Blending Board

Appendix B: Comparison of Blending Boards Used in This Book

Resources and Credits

Glossary

I like that the book considers repeatable and totally unrepeatable ways to work with fibre. While it’s fun to do artsy one-off things, it’s also nice to be able to get a predictable effect and repeat it if you want to. There are two tables I am particularly impressed with, one on types of fibre prep and what they produce (with pros and cons)(I want to meet this author!!). And the other on the Woolen to worsted continuum. It’s an elegant way of explaining vocabulary. Which is a problem when shopping for the prepared fibre, you want what you thought you were purchasing to arrive. There are good photos of various ways to lay out colour to get different effects as well as photos that show how to use the equipment, including the diz.

Let me show you a few interior pages to see if I can tempt you to check it out further.

2.1--2.6) interior shots of the book to tempt you to go take a look at it.

As you can see from the list of contents and the photos, this book covers a lot of ground, not only in ways to make use of a blending board but also in the various fibre preparations and how they are different. If your library or guild picks up this book, seek it out and take a perusal. Even if you never find a blending board at a garage sale or make your own, there is a lot of info here in case you do!

3)Back cover

Also, you can absorb the info presented and transfer that knowledge to a drum carder if you have one, or have access to use one. You can lay fibre directly on the drum, diz off or make rolags. Even after a short-ish perusal and skimming, it has me thinking odd thoughts of trying things on my drum carder. But first, I have to finish washing the last of that giant fleece. Just how big was that sheep? And what was he rolling around in? That water is filthy.

Oh no, a big storm is coming through in consecutive waves this evening, I guess the weather thought that fleece was very dirty too and is helping with the rinse! I will hope the waves of the incoming storm don’t take out the power before I get this posted!!! (Ann may not be able to do the final spellcheck and find all the missing or extra capitals!)

Have fun! Stay dry, Enjoy Summer and Keep Felting!!

Felting and Fiber Studio

An International Collective of Felt and Fiber Artists

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Author: Jan

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