Guest Artists – Page 4 – Felting and Fiber Studio

Paper, Ink and Textiles….and….Pumpkins!

October 29, 2025 Antje Comments 19 comments

This will be a brief post from me this time as I frantically prep for overseas adventures…

Early this month our textile group had a workshop entitled Paper, Ink and Textiles given by Justine Warner (www.justinewarnerartist.com). She is a familiar tutor to our group as we have previously (a few years ago) undertaken her workshop involving ties. In fact at one point, she was known as the ‘Tie Lady’ meaning that donated ties would appear in bags on her door step!

01 An example of Justine’s Tie creations

This workshop was a new venture for Justine who demonstrated her ‘accidental inked finding’ with us that she has now perfected into an abstract landscape form.

With both tables and us protected against being possibly inked in the process, we followed Justine’s instructions to create coloured sheets of paper. The sheet sizes were ideal for long landscapes and initially we worked on inexpensive paper to get the hang of the technique. Then we were let loose on the thick watercolour paper.

03 Colouring our sheets of paper – quite a messy process!

The timing was such, that we had all the messy work done before lunch, giving us time for our work to dry.

Recently, Ruth posted about hand stitching into paper, so it is quite a coincidence that I had been machine stitching into paper around the same time.

As you can imagine, machine stitching directly into watercolour paper is the perfect way to create perforated shapes that decide to separate! So, it is no surprise that we used an iron-on interfacing before starting our stitching.

Again, we were given clear instructions on how to create our ‘implied’ landscapes and how to use the various bits and pieces (fabric, wool tops, threads, metal leaf, netting etc) to enhance our work.

05 The beginnings of my stitched landscape

All too quickly the afternoon was over….time just evaporated! Sadly, this meant that no one piece of work was finished (so I have yet another WIP to complete!). The collective display was impressive, and each piece looked so different. Adding a simple paper ‘frame’ to view each, really turned the creations into stunning works.

These are just a few of the pieces that I particularly liked from a workshop that I enjoyed and was all too short.

Switching tracks (all will be become clear, I Hope) –

On Saturday, five of us from our local group attended an NWR (National Womens Register, Formerly the National Housewives Register) national conference held at the Hopetown Museum, Darlington.

I digress, but wow what a place….Hopetown is an ambitious £37m rail history museum, finally open for the 200-year celebration of passenger rail travel (the first being from Hopetown in Darlington)….I will definitely be going back to fully explore the offerings for every age, ability and technical know-how (most of which are free).

After the morning speakers and lunch, it was time to disperse to our various chosen workshops. Solo, I joined the ‘craft’ workshop with its seasonal theme of pumpkins.

The tutor brought lots of furnishing fabric offcuts and gave us clear instructions to make a small or large pumpkin, and if we had time maybe two.

We all set to sewing, and there was much light chatter. When you are part of a group, either local or national, you are one amongst like-minded people, so I found it easy to chat with my neighbours sharing our supplies and stories.

10 The invisible person or ‘ghost’ (my opportunity to continue the Halloween theme) marks my position!

On this occasion, whilst I did bring home a big pumpkin WIP, I set to and completed it that same evening….woohoo, an achievement. Both now have a place on the table. Happy Halloween👻

I will be keeping my eyes wide open during my adventures, particularly for creations and inspiration of a textile nature, and hopefully I may get a different slant on something I know. If I do, I will report back!

Inspiration is all around us….I hope you see something every day that will make you pause and take note.

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

October 27, 2025 Jan Comments 5 comments

Surprise, it’s the continuing adventures of a Mer-person’s (and Jan’s) busy weekend. Last post, we made it through Friday at the Kanatacon. Let’s see what happens next. (I am sure you can already guess!)

Saturday Morning:

Glenn, the Mer and I hopped in the car early so we could line up for the sale. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Kanata, it was raining, so they kindly let us line up inside. We were number 26 and 27 (the mer waited upstairs with the felting stuff since he wasn’t shopping). The instructions were that you could select up to 5 games, then go buy them. If you wanted to buy more, you went to the back of the line and went through again.

5.1) The first time through, a lot of games are already gone! I hope I can find the alpaca and lama games!! How many gamers in front of me are Fibre People?

Success!!! I have scored the Fibrr barring animals!!! I also found 2 card games with birds for one of my sisters in law ( they were sent to her, but I have not heard if she likes them yet).

5.2) First round of shopping, I got both the lama and the Alpaca games!!! Plus 2 that had tempting descriptions, and the boxes looked interesting.

5.3) A quick look around, and there are still shoppers downstairs.

I took the elevator back upstairs, dropped off the games with Glenn and took a quick look around the convention before getting back to work. One of the tables near me was playing a board game about Rome. It is a visually stunning game with detailed buildings, cards with drawings, a colourful board and many tokens. It all fits in a very, very, big box.

5.4)A game about Rome, lots of buildings and monuments

This is where we are with this young Mer-person. We are now at the part I have most trepidations about, creating the bumps running down the fish’s back and sides. (Scutes -back and Denticles -sides)

6.1 )Saturday Morning, after the first round of game shopping.

After reviewing my reference photos, I decided on the lighter (“White”) sturgeon. With further inspection, I could see that the first few(4ish)points along the back were spaced a bit closer together, and the rest were farther apart. The number varied from 11-14 Dorsal scutes; I went with 12. To get the spacing, I used sewing pins.

6.2)pins used for spacing

I kept adjusting until the spacing seemed correct. Next was to add small amounts of wool to create the point of the Scute and to felt down the space on either side of the point. For the second one, I realised it worked better if I lowered the space between the points first and then made the point. It is more of a half cone on each side of the ridge. The body colour also accentuates the cone-like shape.

6.3)working on the first cone link-shaped bump

A second shopping with dropped prices was announced, so back downstairs I went (ok, I did not do the stairs). I mostly wanted to see how much had gone and what was left. I was not very quick getting to the basement, the elevator needs a key, and it took a bit longer than the stairs. This meant I was at the end of the line in the hallway, which left me standing by the cashing out table at the back of the sales room! So I got shots of the remains of the game piles and the fervour of reduced price shopping! It was actually calmer than some of the fibre festival shopping I have seen (Black Lambs’ bag of cashmere and silk mill ends comes to mind)

6.4) At 11 am, the second go through with reduced prices on most of the games started.

6.5) I found a few more games that looked interesting, but most had no fibre theme.

The table beside where I was working had a game going; these were a pair of steampunk airships battling each other. (The map and miniatures were very cool; the math to figure out if their various cannons and guns hit each other eluded me, but they seemed to be having lots of fun even with the math.) They spent over an hour chasing each other around the board, trying to blow each other’s airships up.

6.6) Steampunk airships battle over a landscape of hexes.

Switched to a new book; Kristen Painter’s “Embrace the Suck: First Fangs Club, Book 5” (this one has some mobster-like vampires, and other supernatural naturals). Now time to get back to work. I continued blocking in the general shape of each scute.

6.7)the smaller closer closer-spaced scutes

6.8) Scutes are blocked in

With the scutes blocked in, it was time to turn and work on his upper human body. I need to firm up his arms. I brought the reference diagrams I was using for a minotaur project I was working on.

7.1) Turning to the human parts, let’s firm up and define muscles

Firming forearms is not as exciting as it sounds, so I took a break and I tried a bit of the skin tone on his head and some of the fish colour on the fins. I think the skin tone is close the fin colour will need more work.

7.2) building up the definition of muscles and firming up the wool in the forearm

I got a bit distracted listening to the new audio book and concentrating on the arm myology, so there are not a lot of progress shots.

I had a few of the gamers come over to see what I was working on this time. I did a few explanations of needle felting as I worked.

This is always a fun spot to felt and watch the gamers have fun. I should go with Glenn on their regular gaming night occasionally, too. (I might even try a game?)

I know that sometimes I am not a particularly fast felter, I am not in a rush, and I enjoy the process, and I felt quite firmly. So it may not look like I have accomplished much for two days of felting. Good thing the young Mer-person seems quite pleased!

7.3) Glenn and the Mer in progress, both looked quite pleased with the weekend so far! (and it’s only Saturday!)

Dare I tell you what happened Sunday? How about we save that for later?

Do you have any sheep-related games in your collection? Have you tried the Alpaca or Lama games? Have fun and keep felting

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.

Further revelations on Onion Skins and book review on Pigments (plus new course announcement!)

October 21, 2025 helenefeltzen Comments 13 comments

I’m hoping the featured image will make you curious!

Before I start into my post I want to mention my new course on wet felting which was recently launched with the Felting and Fiber Studio. It’s designed for felt makers who are new to using resists.

It’s fully supported by ‘how to’ videos and PDFs and we work with the simple circle. You will learn how to make a vessel and at the end I discuss with you the possibilities of how you can take it further.

So, you start by learning how to make something like this ….

Then I discuss a few variations that can be made with the circle and you could choose after the course, to make something like this ….

I discuss how to make this sculpture on the new course

This course is permanently open so if you fancy it you can register anytime. Curious? Then feel free to head over to https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/online-course-wet-felting-a-vessel-using-a-simple-resist/ to find out more.

Promotion over! Thanks for your patience, Now let’s move on to my post.

Onion skins were at the centre of my last post – I talked about making pigment out of the dye. I mentioned that I would return and show you a little bit more of what I did with some of the dye. Here is the link to the post in case you missed it: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/08/18/is-this-compost-or-dye-material-actually-its-both/

I had set aside around half of the onion skin dye pot to try out on some fabric (I used the rest to make the pigment). I decided to experiment with a little margilan silk and some woven wool fibre. I mordanted these fabrics first, using an alum solution. The alum attracts the dye particles and the colour is less likely to wash out.

Margilan Gauze dyed with yellow onion skins.

Woven wool sample dyed with yellow onion skins

I love the vibrancy of the results. I would describe the wool sample as deep orange while the silk sample turned out more of a golden colour. It is quite the challenge to get the photo to reflect the true colour of the fabrics. I now need to work out what to do with these two fabrics. To be honest, there is not a lot of either and I don’t have a toning fibre to use behind the margilan – I think I will have to make up another batch of the onion skin dye.

Once I finished dyeing the few bits of fabric, I transferred the remainder into a 5 litre container. I basically forgot about it and only remembered it when I came to put together this post. So it has been sitting around for two months.

Now I need to digress a bit. Our lovely little pooch, Archie developed a lump on his elbow a number of months ago. We have been keeping an eye on it as his vet warned that it would become impossible to remove if it grows much bigger. (there would not be enough surrounding tissue to easily sew up the wound). As fate would have it, it grew and Archie went ‘under the knife’. He was discharged wearing his ‘cone of shame’ which we quickly swapped for an inflatable version – much more comfortable for Archie and for the humans too – less bruising on our lower limbs. The only downside was that the cushioning around his neck caused him to snore. He sleeps in the bedroom with us and this was cute for about five minutes….. The cone was tied with an elastic bandage. I was having fun playing with the weave and thought it might be fun to felt with.

Archie in his blow up collar and sore paws

I made a bangle. First I laid down the bandage and wrapped it around a resist which matched the length of the bandage. Then I laid down layers of merino fibre – 6 thin layers in total. I felted it to fit my wrist and shaped it. The whole purpose was to see how it would take the old onion skin leftover dye. I did a cold mordant – I soaked it in 10% of its weight in alum and left it overnight. I rinsed it out and popped it into the dye bath, slowly bringing it to the boil.

Here is the result. The colour is a lot lighter than its first run. That said I decided to speed up the process as the smell of the dye bath was pretty awful. In fact it was pretty disgusting. I endured it for around one hour and then my nostrils got the better of me. I poured off the majority of the dye bath and then left the bangle to cool in the rest. I also lit a scented candle (it really did take away the stink – good to know going forward!)

Bangle made with merino and elasticated bandage dyed with yellow onion skins

While I like the colour, I think I will use it as a base to play with stitches. So I may be back to you on that.

I mentioned in my last post that I had just ordered a book on pigment making and that I might review it, if readers would like that. I know I am stepping away slightly from textiles and felt here but it is possible to combine pigment and textiles (alcohol inks anyone?). I was feeling quite excited as I had ordered the book and it was on the cusp of delivery. I got a positive response so here it is.

The book is called ‘Natural Watercolor Paint Making’ and it is by the artist Joanne Green. Some of you may already follow Joanne on Instagram (#joanne_green_art). I love watching her magically transform plant matter into pigments and then reconstitute it into a paint which she uses in sketches of the plant which has formed the basis of the actual pigment. Very clever and a great pleasure to watch.

Joanne’s book is beautifully presented and very readable. It’s a bit like sitting with a knowledgeable friend having a chat over coffee. The materials and supplies list is very comprehensive and I found that there’s really nothing on the lists that could not be sourced. With regard to the topics covered, I think the easiest way to show this is by sharing the contents pages. As you can see, there’s a whole section devoted to step by step instructions on how to make the lake pigment from the moment you have produced your dye bath through to turning your powdered pigments into watercolours and how to store your new treasures. Joanne is living in Canada but I can easily access many of the plants she uses in her recipes in Ireland.

Source: Natural Watercolor Paint Making; Joanne Green

Photography (primarily by Canadian photographer Tegan McMartin) – is sumptuous and a pleasure to view. It’s interspersed with Joanne’s tiny watercolours that are a feast to the eyes.

I am so pleased that I made the leap and purchased this book. I found it easy to source too. If you are a fan of Joanne’s social media postings or are curious about producing pigments, then it is a worthy purchase.

Two Coats Colder

October 19, 2025 frabjousfabrica Comments 11 comments

Back in April 2002, before I became infected by felt and was still interested in woven tapestry, I plucked up courage and attended a Tapestry Weaving Course run by professional tapestry weaver Bobbie Cox. If you live in or near Rochester in Kent you may have seen some of her work as there are four of her tapestries adorning the Lady Chapel in Rochester Cathedral. My report of the workshop was published in the March 2003 edition of The Journal for Weavers Spinners & Dyers. I have reproduced it here. I’m afraid that there weren’t any photographs for me to show you as I didn’t own a camera at that time. I have tried to produce the sketches that I made and you will see why I say that I can’t draw, except with a felting needle!

inside a cathedral showing stained glass windows with tapestries below and a tapestry on the front of an alter with 2 candles on it — Lady Chapel, Rochester Cathedral – Bobbie Cox Tapestries

“Peter Tavy, Two Coats Colder than Tavistock”

“And I wish I had known before I went! Still this only related to the weather and was in contrast to the warmth of the welcome from the inhabitants of Peter Tavy when I joined 16 others on an ‘overflow’ course on Design & Tapestry Weaving given by Bobbie Cox at Peter Tavy Village Hall (formerly the school) in the second week in April 2002 (the original course had had such a long waiting list that Bobbie had arranged an additional one).

“Our first task was to explore the village taking in textures, colours and atmosphere, making notes, taking wax rubbings and collecting samples.

“On returning to the hall we discussed what we had found and then Bobbie told us that our theme for the course would be ‘windows’. She showed us slides of photographs she had taken from the inside looking out, outside looking in, of misted window glass, and raindrops, of reflections and shadows. She reminded us that windows are the eyes of a building and can be looking at us whilst we are looking at them. (I’ll never regard a window in the same way again!) Then she sent us out around the village again to ‘collect’ windows. The villagers were (with one unpleasant exception) very tolerant of the students gazing at their properties in a very odd way, even the overwintering inhabitants of the sole remaining farm’s cowshed.

wax rubbings of various surfaces — Wax rubbings of various surfaces

rough sketch of a church window — A rough (very) of a church window showing diamond panes.

Rough sketch of slit window in a barn from the outside — Another rough sketch – a slit window in the cow barn from the outside

rough sketch of inside of slit window in a barn — A sketch showing a slit window of the cow barn – from the inside

“The students were of mixed ability, from complete beginners (three of us – one of whom was our ‘token man’ Peter) to the quite advanced. Bobbie showed us three ways of warping our frames, how to decide on the set of the warp and how to spread the warps appropriately. She gave us advice and encouragement and showed us some of her many sample pieces to illustrate her points and her tips.

“After a picnic lunch beside the River Tavy, it was back to work – perfecting our designs with paint and pencil. (I stayed up till 11.30 getting mine done.)

painting of a church with diagonal lines drawn on it and cut into strips along one side of the diagonals — My idea of how to depict a view through a diamond paned window – not used in the end as too complicated

painted design of a four paned window for the tapestry — My final painted design for the window tapestry

“Next day Bobbie set up an Indigo vat – in the back of her car! (Well it was very cold out and much warmer inside the car which was standing in the sun, indigo vats need to be kept warm.)

“We all took turns to dip various yarns and fibres, re-dipping and over dyeing some coloured yarns for various periods during that day and also leaving some in the vat over-night. In between times we started the actual weaving of our tapestries, all the time receiving tips and advice from Bobbie.

“She advised us to watch out for shrinkage or ‘waisting’ – the tapestry pulling in at the sides as the weaving progresses. It is unlikely that this will be the result of poor selvedges, but more likely to be because the use of several different yarns in one pic, or ending one or more kelim slits in a single pic. Bobbie’s suggestion was that we should insert a number of ‘guy ropes’ by sewing one end of a spare piece of warp thread near the edge of the tapestry (but not too close to it) and tying the ends to the sides of the frame. If this is done on both sides of the tapestry, the tension will help to prevent the waisting. (I wondered what the purists would think of this, but if it’s good enough for Bobbie Cox it’s good enough for me.)

“Day 3; and after removing the yarns which had rested in the dye vat over-night, some of us tried some more in what was thought just to be the exhaust of the indigo. In fact there was still quite a bit of life there and we dipped several skeins each.

“As the sun was still shining, we decided that we would lay out on the playground the yarns which had been dried over-night so that Bobbie and those students with cameras could photograph them. It was then that we received some exuberant visitors. They were some of the inhabitants of the cowshed on their way through the village to alternative accommodation. They were moving at high speed in all directions, frantically followed by the farmer. Bobbie saw off the ones which had decided to see what the activity was at the Village Hall. I understand that they were eventually rounded up and led of to their new abode, having left liberal donations for the rose garden in the streets.

“Before lunch, delivered to the Village Hall by Jill, the Peter Tavy Sandwich Lady, some of the students accompanied Bobbie on a walk up to Dartmoor. Some of us, not having sufficient warm clothing, decided to stay and work on.

“During the day Bobbie showed us some more slides of windows and also some of her own work. However the highlight of the day was a visit to Bobbie’s own studio. She was not working on anything at the moment, being very much involved in the administration of her touring exhibition ‘Woven Water’. She did have two of the larger pieces from this Exhibition, ‘Spring’ and ‘Autumn’, which she hung along with some other pieces for us to see, including a recently completed commission – a large tapestry inspired by the beach at Blakeney Point in Norfolk entitled ‘Tidelines, a Woven Memory of Blakeney’. Also on display were picture boards showing the inspiration and development of that design and some of the Woven Water tapestries as well as some smaller samples and bundles of wefts tied and dyed. Bobbie explained the mechanics of her large high warp loom and how she works on it.

“The next day – our last – was Sunday. Now we were all working hard trying to get as much weaving done as possible before our visitors arrived. At Bobbie’s suggestion we had all asked our bed and breakfast hosts to morning coffee and to see what we had been doing during our stay. This is apparently a feature of Bobbie’s courses and many villagers visit regularly. The noise level rose dramatically as the visitors wandered around and chatted.

“Bobbie did manage to fit in a few more tips for us though:

“1 Don’t be in too much of a hurry to cut the work off the loom, live with it for a while in case you subsequently decide that you want to add to it or make some changes. It won’t be possible after it’s off the loom.

“2 Ends of yarns are usually left hanging at the back of the work, unless it is to be viewed from both sides. Don’t cut them too close to the weaving or they will start to work through to the right side.

“3 Darn in yarn ends which are near the selvedge or kelim slits.

“4 When you darn in, slide the needle up or down the warp thread, not across the warps – it might show.

“5 Consider the mechanics you will use to hang the finished tapestry (although this should have been thought out at the design stage). You may need to weave further pics in the heading, for instance if you will be incorporating a metal (preferably stainless) rod or a wooden slat.

“6 Weighting the bottom of the weaving will help it to hang better.

“7 Steam press the work on the reverse side – using a cloth and pressing lightly.

“At three o’clock we started to pack up and then display our work and our design drawings so that they could all be looked at and photographed. It was amazing what diverse designs had been achieved. We had all learned something, particularly we three beginners. Bobbie had encouraged us to try our own ideas and allowed us to make our own mistakes, lessons being better learned by trial and error than by example.

“By the time that we finished at about four, we were all very tired by very happy. One usually finds on a course like this that there is one person who spoils things for the others, but it had been noted that our group was particularly lucky in that we were not “blessed” with the student who wanted to grab all the tutor’s time, or the one who wanted to be the centre of everyone’s attention (boring or noisy or both), or the hypochondriac. We all had a great time – thank you Bobbie.

“PS If you attend another of Bobbie’s courses in Peter Tavy, better diet before you go – the food in the local pubs is marvellous – so’s the beer!”

partly completed tapestry of the four paned window on a wooden frame loom — Window Tapestry – still on the loom I’m afraid and I don’t think it ever progressed any further.

A couple of weeks later I attended another tapestry workshop run by another professional but I’ll save my report of that one for another day.

Jacket completion

October 11, 2025 mariees26 Comments 14 comments

To finish the back of my jacket, I needed to decide what pattern to stitch on the remaining back panel. I wanted it to have a similar look to the panel on the other side.

I drew another grid to help me with the design; it is a 2cm grid, again drawn with a Frixion pen. I used an egg cup to make the semi circular shapes.

The initial long oval shape I drew can be done in a portrait or landscape orientation, and it can be left like this if using a smaller grid, for example 1cm, and a smaller item to aid with drawing semi circles. I repeated the design in the opposite direction with the egg cup, and now it looks completely different.

The design has a tessellating feel to it, and I think it does look very effective; hopefully you can see this in the stitched pattern. I have taken the design up to the back yoke to match the other side. I have added some further stitching to the earlier patterns I made on the back yoke – two further circles stitched along with a pattern development on the completed circles.

Both side panels together, showing the different patterns achieved with a grid and a pen!

Extra stitching, and another couple of circles to the back yoke.

Again, I have used a variety of embroidery floss to stitch the design, and I feel that both sides compliment each other very well. Some of these patterns do look complicated to sew, but are really just a wavy line, and stitched on the diagonal. The tricky bit is where the lines meet, or cross over.

The inside of the stitched area is not too untidy, so I will leave it for now while I think about it for a little longer. I may add some lining to the yoke area especially, and I will probably sew that to the seams.

I will probably add more stitching to the jacket as time goes on, mainly to the front yokes, but I feel that it is fine for now, and time to look towards something else.

I am really glad that I made the decision to do some stitching on this jacket. I am having second thoughts about whether I should have used just one colour to stitch, but this is not classic sashiko, it is just some decorative stitching in the style of sashiko. I wear it out too.

My photos have turned out a little better I think? They look ok on here as I am typing this, and inserting them into the text, but what they will look like when posted is another story. Probably huge again. Pale denim with some stitching on does not make for good photography I feel. One photo looks a little blurred as I am writing this, but that may possibly be due to the remnants of the ‘seasonal cold’ that I have had for the last 2 weeks, but I am gradually recovering.

Felt Connect 2025

October 9, 2025 teriberry Comments 13 comments

As I write, nearly a week has passed since the 18th Southern Hemisphere Felters’ Convergence drew to a close but that peculiar mix of exhaustion, elation and excitement I felt as I drove home still lingers. I’m buzzing with so many ideas and happy memories! 🙂

The Felters Convergence is usually (pandemics permitting) a biennial event organised by volunteers from Australia or New Zealand. It is an opportunity for antipodean felt-makers to gather and share their knowledge and ideas. This year it was held in the beautifully quaint and historic suburb of Parnell in Auckland, New Zealand.

Before we arrived we were invited to “bring your smile”, a common refrain for anyone attending a social event but this time there was a twist…. We were to arrive with a smile and leave with a smile…. a felted smile! 🙂

Christine Roxburgh and Jenny Forrester (our very talented and incredibly hard-working organisers) put together an amazing, fun-packed program over the 4 days we had together. At almost any given moment there were 3 to 4 different classes or talks taking place and if that wasn’t enough, there was a room full of traders selling all manner of fibres, fabrics and felting equipment and a fabulous felt exhibition to visit. They REALLY crammed a lot in to the 4 days!

A small selection of pieces in the exhibition:

As Christine explained at the opening dinner, the Felt Connect title was a nod to the underlying philosophy of Convergence where feltmakers from far and wide come together to not only share their knowledge and love of fibre arts but also where new connections and international friendships form.

We had just shy of 100 attendees, 30 of whom were visiting from Australia and one came all the way from the US! Our headline tutors were equally international with Nancy Ballesteros from Western Australia, Katia Mokeyeva from Vermont in the US and Jacqui Collins from New Zealand.

Nancy taught for 3 very full days, covering topics such as:

colour theory for fibre artists
making properly fulled but beautifully drape-able felt in the Art of Drape class
the saucily titled, “Hanky Panky” session where she suggested lots of different ways to incorporate silk hankies into your felt
the Natural Rhythms class where she shared how she uses Fibonacci’s design principles in conjunction with her colour theory lecture from day 1. This allowed us the perfect opportunity to put some of what we had learned from her colour theory talk into practice while exploring wet-wool layout techniques.

Our sessions with Katia were a technological leap forward for Convergence, having someone teach 100 felt-makers from a different continent was novel and gave us the chance to learn from an expert that most of us will never have the opportunity to meet in person.

An example of Katia’s “Sea Waves” technique from her website

Katia provided us with pre-recorded videos of her signature “Sea Waves” technique and answered our questions over a Zoom call. Jenny did an amazing job of bringing it all together and resolving the inevitable technical issues that required her to hold the speaker jack in the computer so the room full of keen students could hear Katia’s replies to their questions from half a world away.

After our online session with Katia we were set free to experiment with our new learnings in the main hall.

Jacqui provided 4 full days of teaching, her classes were so popular many of them were over-subscribed. She covered a wide range of topics including, how to:

felt a fedora style hat using alpaca fibre,
make a wet-felted necklace,
painting on silk
construct and hang 3D wall art

And of course then there was the army of more than 20 volunteer tutors who offered to share their knowledge, a technique or ideas on how to develop your own style in new directions. There really was something for everyone!

A raffle was held to raise seed money for Convergence 2027 and the prizes were drawn on the final day:

The final gala dinner and fashion show was a hoot, with heartfelt closing speeches from Jenny and Christine followed by the very funny “Glitter Sisters” AKA Lynn Evans and Sharon Fergusson, who hosted the felt fashion show with more than 20 stunning creations paraded among the enthralled diners.

L to R: Lynn Evans, Jenny Forrester, Sharon Fergusson and Christine Roxburgh. Photographer – Flo de Ruiter

Just a few of the fabulous felted outfits on display in the fashion parade. Photographer – Margaret Joppa

Bernice Mitchell modelling one of the three outfits she presented during the parade. Photographer – Margaret Joppa

Attending a Felters Convergence has been on my bucket list since I first read about the 2015 event and 10 years later, I’m pleased to say, Felt Connect 2025 massively exceeded my very high expectations and was worth the 10 year wait! Now I am hooked and Adelaide 2027 can’t come around soon enough! 🙂

Thank you so much to everyone who attended, organised and / or volunteered at this event, you are all utterly marvellous!

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!!

Woven Fabric

October 5, 2025 tesivaara Comments 22 comments

My local quilt guild had a male speaker a couple of months ago. I really enjoyed his presentation, his honesty and his work. His name is Mathew Boudreaux, aka Mx Domestic. He and Tara J. Curtis have written a book called Fabric Weaving and Mathew has also created a new weaving tool, Mx Weaver, that works quite well with his weaving process. He has quite a few videos on YouTube as well. He also has an online fabric shop and I really love his fabric choices. I’ve even purchased a few of his traditional quilt kits because I loved the fabric choices. And on Saturdays he has been doing a Facebook live that I enjoy watching.

https://mxdomestic.com/collections/mx-domestic

The book has a large number of projects using a variety of different types of weaves. I thought I would try a tumbling block (aka triaxial) weave. His project suggests cutting it up and making it into coasters. I love the weaving on the cover!

Fabric Weaving book

First thing I had to do was draw a grid. This will be attached to a piece of 24” x 30” foam core board that is at least ½” thick as you will be pinning into it. This is a photo of my second grid drawing. The first I didn’t have the lines extended out to all the edges which made it difficult to line the fabric strips up with. As I progressed with the weave, I found out how important that detail was! One good thing is that I can reuse this grid later.

Paper grid used to lay strips onto

This project required 3 different fabrics, light, medium and dark. I decided I wanted to work with a turquoise pallet.

Once I picked my fabrics, I needed to cut them into 1” wide strips and then use my ½” bias tape maker to make 12 strips out of each color.

3 fabrics used, light, medium and dark value

Photo of my 1/2″ bias tape tool doing it’s job!

1/2" bias tape tool making strips

Photo of all the medium color fabric strips ready to go!

bias strips of medium colored fabric

Lots of prep to do prior to any actual weaving…

Finally I could start laying the strips down on the grid. First the medium color was placed vertically . The drawn grid lines are 1” apart, so 2 strips fit in each section.

This photo shows the first layer going down onto the grid.

1st fabric strips layed on grid

Layer #2 requires using the Mx Weave tool and starting to work diagonally. Here is a photo with the Mx Weave tool.

2nd layer of strips being woven

Second layer progress…

2nd layer of strips after fixing grid

2^nd layer complete

2nd layer complete

Now for the 3^rd and final weave. I switched to the smaller Mx Weave tool for the third layer and used my Purple Thang to help get the tip through in the proper places.

Purple Thang photo

Purple Thang tool

1st couple of rows of fabric 3…

1st two strips of 3rd fabric

I’m getting excited to see the tumbling block pattern come to life! Hope I’m not boring you with all my progress photos. I found the whole process fascinating!

3rd layer of weaving showing weave error

When I got to this point, I realized a few mistakes that I had made along the way.

One blatant one to my eye was that the strips were not laying in a straight line from edge to edge. You can see in the above photo how the blocks are bigger on the right side. It’s an interesting effect but not what I was looking for in this project. And since my drawn edge lines didn’t extend out far enough past the ends of fabric #2, I couldn’t see what I was doing. And all those pins to deal with! I tried to fix things and finally decided I would start the 3rd layer over again after I redrew the grid to make it bigger. This was a pretty scary move at this point because I had to remove all those pins. Worse case scenario was that I would have to start all over again and I was prepared to do that if necessary.

I was successful in transferring the 2 layers to the new grid. I think it was a good move to do this as I was much more pleased with the new block consistency.

3rd layer strips almost completed

And here it is with all 3 layers woven together.

3rd layer of strips completed

Much more consistency after redoing layer #3. I can live with this version!

I had laid some woven fusible interfacing down before I started adding the strips. Once I removed all the pins, I taped the edges, gave it a good steaming to get the fusible interfacing to adhere a bit and then sewed all around the edges to keep it from coming apart.

Now…onto the coasters. How in the world could I cut this up to make coasters??? Oh my.

But I did. These are almost 6″ x 6″ which is a bit large for a coaster but here they are. All done!

6 coasters made from finished fabric 6" x 6"

I learned a lot from Mathew’s process. I wish I had taken a class from him first, as I’m sure he would have passed on a lot of his success secrets and do’s and don’ts. I will probably try another one or two of his woven projects from his book. That was fun!

Happy creating!
Tesi Vaara

My Knitted Scrappy (Memory) Doll

September 29, 2025 Capi Puszcz Comments 13 comments

Original creation by Capi Puszcz. Posted to Facebook 04/10/2025. Hand knitted stuffed pillow shaped doll. Embellished with latch hook hair, crochet eyes, vermicelli-like button nose, hand sewn mouth, icord appendages and earrings. — My Scrappy Doll Prototype – I’ve named her Vermi’ (as in Vermicelli)

Last April 2025, I was itching to do something different. It was months before Tour de Fleece would begin, and I was looking at an endless supply, of leftover yarns – all balled up with nothing to do. As I was wandering through Facebook posts, I started noticing some clever fabric dolls kept popping into my feed. They were made entirely of fabric scraps, but I felt the same could be done with my yarn scraps. (Facebook Group: Scrappy Girls Club if you’re interested) I had already gathered similar colors together for a failed attempt at crocheting large baskets to hold my leftovers. I couldn’t get the ever expanding, crocheted base to lay flat…and it really bugged me. The pattern called for using a US-N crochet hook, and up to 7 strands of different weight yarns. I started, and re-started, several times – then ripped everything apart!!

I kept thinking about those scrappy dolls, I’d seen. I thought, why couldn’t I make a Knitted version of the Scrappy Doll. The yarns I used, were mostly hand dyed, and created lovely marled blends. I wanted something that knit up fast, as I might decide to sell the little buggers, later. I grabbed a US-15 circular needle and cast on a bunch of stitches, then set about knitting round and round. Excellent TV knitting. When my knitting reached a certain point, I switched up my yarns to imply a division of head to torso. Then continued on, close to the end, of that particular bunch of yarn.

Now, I have been knitting for almost 60 years, and I have discovered some tricks. One of the best, when ending a tube, that’s going to be sewn anyway – is the 3 needle bindoff. Huzzah!! Worked like a charm. I decided to use the edge loops of the bind off, as a way to latch-hook, colorful fibers in place to imply hair. I was able to find a use, for some recent hand spun yarns I created, that were never likely to be used otherwise.

Close up photo, latch hook fibers attached at top edge — Close up view. I used a crochet hook and fingers, to essentially latch hook a wad of cut fibers, into each loop of the bind off edge. A little tedious, but I didn’t want to search for my latch hook.

With the hair completed, Vermi’ needed some facial features! For her eyes, I quickly crocheted 2 circles, with some of the coordinating fibers I had near me. I used 2 safety eyes, for stuffed animals, to poke through the center of my crochet pieces. (Note: if I would ever sell one of these, or give it to someone, I would sew or glue the crochet edge down.) Next, I grabbed my jar of old buttons. I went to an antique store in Holland, Michigan a couple years ago, with good friends; and bought some inexpensive bags of interesting buttons. I saw this button that looked like it was made of spaghetti. I thought, it would make a perfect nose, and a good memory of times spent with friends.

close up view; crochet eyes, button nose, stitched mouth — Close up of eyes, spaghetti button nose, and an embroidered mouth.

I couldn’t think of anything cute for her mouth, and didn’t want to take anything away, from that perfect nose – so I stitched a mouth with thick yarn. From there it was time to tackle the legs, and arms. I decided to knit them as i-cords. I cast on about 6 stitches for arms, and 8 for legs, so they were substantial enough: yet wouldn’t require stuffing. I tied the knots to make Vermi’s hands and feet.

At this point she looked good enough, but my creative juices were still flowing. I played around with some wooden beads, I remember purchasing, while visiting my parents in Arizona. I attached the beads, to some (drapery hardware) pieces for cafe curtains, to make her dangling earrings. Since I was on a roll, I used variegated worsted knitting yarn, to make more i-cord for a necklace. I saw the beads and got the idea to knot them in place. Necklace done.

Close up photo of embellishments — Upper torso embellishments created by Capi Puszcz

I’m not going to bore you with all my sewing techniques. I attached everything using yarn tails – when possible – and by whatever means achieved the look I was going for! I stuffed this gal with a small ready made pillow form. Then, I sewed up the bottom cast on stitches, attaching the legs securely as I went by them. I thought about giving Vermi to my mother for her memory-care room, but was afraid it would walk away, or something worse might happen. So, I’ve kept “Vermi” (in Italiano no asterisk) in my craft space, as a Memory Doll. She’s too sophisticated to be referred to as “Scrappy” now!

I’ve been making Scrappy Doll bodies, with more of my stash…I’ve tried to streamline the process to keep my hours as few as possible. Even so, I would need to charge more than most craft show audiences, would be willing to pay. ($100-$125+) I wonder if I should consider galleries that specialize in fiber art pieces? Let me know what you think? I am open to any ideas you may have.

Capi

———————————————————————————-

I am really excited to announce, after 4+ years, we were able to get our domain “TheYarnAndUs” back again. I have learned a few things, in the process. Mostly, protecting things I’ve created from unscrupulous people who use media as their playground. I intend to make sure I credit myself, on original things I create – especially when I share them on FFS blog posts or social media. Here’s an interesting thing I recently discovered – when searching the term: “ArtFelt Paper.” The FFS article I wrote, about experimenting with art felt paper (too many years ago to matter) is a majority of what information pops up. It’s pinned worldwide! I couldn’t believe it! It shows other people’s names, with my photos! Nowhere does it mention my name, my business’s name, or worst of all – credit feltingandfiberstudio.com who I wrote the article for.

This all brings me to thank Ruth Lane, for the additional work I put her through this week, to make sure this blog post is written, using theyarnandus.com as our WordPress presence. Brian and I, have had some challenging years, but no matter what the future holds: we are proudly united as TheYarnAndUs.

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