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Boxing Day – Year End Round Up

Boxing Day – Year End Round Up

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We don’t celebrate Boxing Day in the US so I didn’t have any idea really what it is. I looked it up and Wikipedia says that it historically in Britain was “a custom for tradespeople to collect “Christmas boxes” of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys’ diary entry for 19 December 1663. This custom is linked to an older English tradition: since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts and bonuses, and sometimes leftover food.” So Happy Boxing Day to anyone who had to work on Christmas Day!

Poinsettias Holiday Card

Each year I like to look back over the blog here and on my personal site and see what I might have accomplished over the year. Sometimes it’s easy to forget all that you have done in a year and that is one reason I really like to blog about what I do. It keeps a record of my fiber art.

Red Circles

I started the year by taking a couple of online courses from Gail Harker about circles using your sketchbook. And after looking back through the year, I worked a lot in my sketchbook. I sketched a bunch of flowers, made lots of circles, collages and made some stamps and stencils to use on my sketchbook pages.

Here’s a recent page that I made with snowflake stamps and stencils.

My local fiber group is still going strong and we made everything from Ukrainian eggs, discharge dyeing, gradation dyeing, mixed media paintings, soy wax batik, shibori to clamped dyed felt. But the thing we did the most often was silk screening. That seems to be one of our favorite activities.

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

Here at the studio, we had four great challenges based on artists including Jackson Pollock, Stewart Stephenson, Claude Monet and Land Art. We had some great entries from everyone and I did manage to complete all four challenges this year.

Size Difference

Other felted items I made this year were phone sleeves, slippers, cup cozies and a Holiday postcard for the Felting Forum Christmas Exchange. I also made a Wensleydale felted lamp shade and a piece of cut shibori felt.

Ice Flowers

I completed some machine stitched pieces including “Ice Flowers” seen above and a piece for the Totem Exhibition. I also stitched up some clamp dyed felt into zippered pouches.

Fused Applique by Ruth Lane, design by Nanci Williams

I started a collaborative project with my friends Nanci and Deb. The “girls” is an applique piece that was based on one of Nanci’s sketches of people who visited my store. We will be having an exhibition and we’re also making a book. So you’ll hear more about that in 2015.

In February, my husband, my friend Paula and I set up the yurt at the Mini Maker Faire at FVCC College. It was a one day event and was tons of work to set up the yurt but it was great to educate people about what wool is (no sir, it isn’t made of dryer lint) and demonstrate felting. I also taught three classes to high school students in how to make a felted phone sleeve in April. Other miscellaneous things included dyeing wool and cheesecloth as well as making numerous cat toys to sell at the store.

Another thing that I have been working on is developing an online class in surface design techniques on felt which will include paper fabric lamination, using thickened dye for stamping and stenciling, soy wax batik, screen printing techniques and hand as well as machine stitching on felt. It’s taking a bit longer than expected but hopefully will be ready to go in 2015. So keep your eyes peeled for more information here.

Felted Inukshuk

So as usual, when I look back, I have done a lot more than I thought. Here at the Felting and Fiber Studio, all of us have had a pretty busy year judging from all our posts. Also, Marilyn joined us this year and has been a great addition to the team. Thanks Marilyn!

We’ll soon be posting about what’s going to be happening in 2015. We’ve come up with a great idea for the challenges and I hope you’ll enjoy them. All our best to everyone and we wish you happiness, good health and as much time as you want to play with fiber! Thanks for supporting us here and on the forum. We really appreciate you all.

 

 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

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It’s New Years Day and I feel like I should say something profound but I haven’t been able to think of anything other than I hope your old year ended well and the new one will go the way you hope.

happy-new-year 1

Last year I picked the words explore and persevere as my words for the year. I didn’t try as many new things as I would have liked but I did do some things, I did some small art works and took a boot making class on line. The boot making class brings us to perseverance. I have made 2 sets of boot tops so far and am not happy with them. I did adjust the pattern between tries and I am still not happy. the upper fits better but the Uncle is not right yet.  I ordered more wool and will adjust the pattern again and hope that I am 3rd time lucky. so more perseverance this year too.sheep spiral

one boot shrunk

I think the other idea I would like to work on is self awareness.  Trying to do the things I want and not what others think I should do. That sounds a bit selfish but I don’t mean ignoring other peoples needs just being more aware of my own.

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Step one for everything is doing the new year sort and tidy. Nothing like working to make a mess. Everything is on the wrong place and its time to put it all back and maybe find better places for things. And maybe but only maybe, get rid of some stuff. I am not good at getting rid of things that might be useful. I have the packrat gene.

rat

Building in 2013

Building in 2013

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My chosen word in 2013 was Build. I can’t say that I really thought about the word itself much throughout the year, but I did build things, the most notable of course was the yurt.

Is It a Mushroom?

The yurt building process began in March and we had the yurt raising party in mid October. This was the biggest felting project I have ever tried and even though it was hard work, I really enjoyed the process (excluding that one day it poured rain on us). Dennis and I learned so much and the end result was very satisfying. There are a few more things we need to do next spring before we put the yurt back up but all in all, it was a great experience. Thanks again to everyone who helped with the yurt, we really appreciated your assistance.

In regards to my other goals for the year, I did complete the last session of my level 2 stitch class which included making a beaded book, various applique samples, a machine stitched book and machine cut back applique. My class held an exhibition in September which was well received. I was sad when the class was over because I really enjoyed learning more stitching techniques, art and design and interacting with my fellow students.

The Daily Dose of Fiber Challenge was the first quarter challenge here for 2013. I wanted to encourage everyone to be creative every day even if it was just for 5 minutes. I did blog about my daily dose of fiber over on my personal blog on a daily basis. I had hoped I would get in the habit of blogging more regularly but that hasn’t seemed to last very long into the year. Instead, I am back to blogging once a week on my personal blog. I guess if I didn’t have a full-time job, five blogs, Facebook, the forum blah, blah, blah, then I would have more time. 🙂 But I do still try to have a daily dose of fiber each day and enjoy my creative time.

In June, I took another course at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center, Level 1 Color Studies. Mainly using acrylic paints, we studied various color wheels and color combinations. It was really interesting to me to see all the colors that can be achieved and how one color looks different depending on what other colors surround it. I think you could spend a lifetime studying color.

Pile of Dyed RovingThroughout the rest of the year I dyed fiber, carded batts, worked in my studio journal, made a bunch of note cards, free motion stitched a variety of projects and made a few notebook covers. In my local group, I learned some new techniques including free form crochet, carving linoleum print blocks, ice dyeing, natural eco print dyeing, paper fabric lamination and encaustics.

Free Motion Machine StitchedI then experimented with the paper fabric lamination with nuno felting and it worked like a charm. I really like this technique and I think I’ll be trying more of this.

Close Up Shibori ScarfI also tried some stitched shibori for the first time and overdyed two scarves with that method. Even though the stitching and tie method is a bit fiddly, I like the result and will most likely be doing a few more of these as well.

Full Tree 3One of my other goals was to continue to build a fiber arts organization that I started called Tangled. The group had its first exhibition with the theme of Shelter in October at The Purple Pomegranate. For that exhibition, I made my umbrella tree pictured above. This was made by felting over an umbrella and recreating the top of the umbrella with nuno felt. I am thinking that I will enter this piece into a few more exhibitions in the coming year. The group is also planning an annual exhibition and perhaps some outdoor fiber art installations.

The only goal that I didn’t manage to meet was making video tutorials. I did make some videos of the yurt and my beaded book but I haven’t managed to make any tutorials. Perhaps next year? I did make plans for further teaching opportunities but sadly those classes did not fill up and had to be cancelled.

As I was looking back over the year here, it amazes me how much Ann, Zed, Karen and I have accomplished. Well done ladies! I am also thinking on what the focus will be in 2014. Are you planning any big projects or changes in direction? We’d love to hear about your plans for the new year. Best wishes in the New Year!

2013 Review

2013 Review

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How does the time go so fast? It really doesn’t seem like almost another year has passed since we posted about our plans for 2013. Looking back over what I’d hoped to achieve this year, I had the same feeling as last time we did a review: I didn’t expect to have done many of them, though it seems I mostly wanted to be more organised and felt for the fun of it more 🙂
I think I did manage to get a bit more organised, or at least more efficient with time, starting with Ruth’s Daily Dose of Fiber challenge. I also rearranged a couple of my rooms to make my sewing things more accesible, so it’s easier to pick things up for a few minutes here and there, or while watching a film or being read to.
Probably the first big thing of the year was publishing my e-book ‘Beyond Nuno‘. I have received lots of really nice feedback about it, which was all very much appreciated and really made it worth while 🙂

Beyond Nuno 70 perc fits A6Although I didn’t post about them earlier in the year I did have a few things I hoped I’d be able to achieve, such as opening an etsy store, maybe writing another e-book, doing craft fairs. I did open an etsy shop, and have sold a few things. I did start with some samples for a new e-book, but going into spring the light wasn’t really working for photos. My girlfriend convinced me to do a tutorial about Polymer Clay instead, but that soon grew into an e-book! I had fun doing that, though I could have used a few more hands, and better light 🙂

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI did finally get a chance to do a craft fair as I blogged about recently, that was a great experience. And I did get chance to make some felt pieces just for fun. One of my favourite pieces was one I made recently when I was exploring sculptural felt and bamboo fibre. It made me smile that most people thought it reminded them of a shell, I didn’t mention it in the post or caption the photo but I’d thought the same thing and had named the photos ‘shell’ though it wasn’t obvious unless you clicked on them 🙂

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHow did your year pan out? Did you have any definite plans? Did you stick to them or did you have a few surprises?

looking back at 2012

looking back at 2012

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Back in January I picked a worked for the year, Breath. I think I managed to do that more or less. Stopping to think about what I want to do. I tried some new felting things and learned to use a serger. Signed up for some new shows. I went to the medieval fair all dressed up and had a great time. So I did breath and do some things I have been wanting to do for a while.  I still haven’t worked on complicated resists much but I am still thinking about it.

Dressed up for the fair
Dressed up for the fair

It’s been fun and educational doing this blog with Ruth, Karen and Zed. Through the forum I’ve got to know some friends better and meet some new friends. All in all despite some sad times this year it has been pretty good and on track.

2012 Review

2012 Review

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It’s hard to believe it’s almost a year since we posted about our plans for 2012! Looking back over what I’d hoped to achieve I didn’t expect to have done many of them, as the year panned out a lot differently than I expected. One thing I really wanted to do was learn some stitches by taking part in Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST). I did try my hardest, but I found the instructions really hard to follow and gave up after about 13 weeks. I never got the chance to explore direct dyeing felt any further, which is probably a good thing, since I’d hoped to combine the results with stitches I learned from TAST 🙂  I did dye some fabrics for using in felting, though. And I did actually get around to trying out a Suri Alpaca sample, but I’d hoped to try a few more ‘controlled’ samples so never had enough to make a post about it.

suri alpacaOne thing I was really looking forward to spending time on in 2012 was working more with other felting fibres and fabrics, and writing some tutorials for the studio site. Early in the year I did make quite a few pieces exploring natural fibres with natural wools, which I really enjoyed. Some of the results were quite interesting, like this Suffolk wool and banana fibre piece, a photo of which ended up being used by a Lecturer at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) for a book.

suffolkI did write a few tutorials for the blog this year, but they weren’t about fibres. It seems like I spent a big portion of my time in 2012 on the phone to various government departments and agencies trying to get onto a scheme to become self-employed. I thought I had all the information I needed until it came to writing my business plan and realised I (along with everyone else, it seems) have no idea whether the scheme lasts 6 months or 12, which is quite a problem if you’re trying to forecast things! But hopefully that will all be sorted out in the new year.

I enjoyed taking part in the Studio Challenges this year, I haven’t done a piece for Karen’s weather challenge yet, but I do have some wool and fibres blended and around 40 photos of storm clouds to work from in the next few days 🙂 Another thing I enjoyed this year was finally learning how to make silk paper. I did intend to try a few more methods, but that was another thing I didn’t get around to, though I did buy a book about it!

silk paperA couple of my favourite things from this past year are the bird pods I made and using the electric sewing machine my mum gave me to make collage notebook and diary covers. I still haven’t mastered the speed pedal on the machine, but I can wind a new bobbin really well 🙂 The bird pods were great to do, I haven’t had much success previously making 3d felt from flat resists, but they all turned out really well. This is my favourite.

bird pod whiteI’m looking forward to 2013, all the challenges and exciting new things yet to come. I hope you’ve had nice holidays and if you’ve done your own 2012 review, post a link in comments, we’d love to read them 🙂

Quarterly review

Quarterly review

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It’s hard to believe that 4 months have already gone by this year, I’m not sure that I’ve done a quarter of the things I planned to do. I did try out a lot of the fibres that Karen sent me and even made a nice piece of felt from some silk threads that came off the sari silk ribbon.

I haven’t used any of the gorgeous threads that Ruth sent me, hopefully when I’ve learned a good variety of stitches from the TAST challenge I can do them justice. I’ve enjoyed learning new stitches, one I really enjoyed exploring was running stitch. My first thought was ‘running stitch?! what can you do with that?’ A lot as it happens 🙂

I haven’t had chance to explore dyeing further yet this year, but there’s still plenty of time for that. I’ve enjoyed the Studio Challenges so far, not only producing pieces for the challenges, but also exploring the themes in depth, taking photos, altering photos, always looking for things to fit the themes.

Last week after Ruth’s Challenge post, I chose some of my old abstract acrylic paintings to get some inspiration from. I started with a small acrylic in blues, greens and yellows.

And made a small felt piece inspired by it.

I’ve done quite a lot of work on my project for using ‘other’ fibres and fabrics in felting. I still haven’t worked out what format or formats it will be in, but I think that will become clearer as I go along and have a better idea of how all the info would best be presented. I’m working around a loose outline, but as usual there’s always something new to learn with each piece of felt, or a new idea forming wanting to be explored. I’m trying to stick to the outline and write down the other ideas for exploring later, but I don’t want to forget them while they’re fresh, either 🙂

I’ve already been inspired by the great felting and fibre community we’re part of. It’s great to read all the comments we get on the studio site each day and I love logging onto the forum and seeing everyone’s new projects. I really like the way we get inspired to try out new things from each other’s posts, compare our results and share techniques. I think I’m adding to my list of things to do rather than ticking them off, but that’s alright 🙂  How are your lists of things for the year? Are you getting much ticked off or are they growing, like mine?

First Quarter Update

First Quarter Update

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I try throughout the year to review my intentions and make sure I am “focusing” on the essentials. My word for the year is focus and it has been a helpful word so far. You can see my original post about my goals for 2012 here. I have a tendency to see something new or see someone else’s projects and want to dash off and start trying out that new technique or idea. This year, before I veer off course, I say to myself “focus” and then I step back for a moment and determine if I should really try out this new and exciting idea, or just write it down and save it for later.

One of my biggest focus points this year is my Level II Hand and Machine stitch class. I have been working very hard on my homework which was mainly Kantha stitch. When I first tried this stitch I wasn’t too impressed and thought I wouldn’t really like it. But after a bit of practice, I have to say I’ve really enjoyed it. Now I when I see a pattern, I think, hmmm… that might work well for Kantha stitch. I will be off to our third session at the end of this month and we’ll be concentrating on machine embroidery.

In regards to my other intentions for the year, I have started teaching classes at my local yarn store and that has been amazing. I find that I love to teach felting, it’s such fun to share my passion with others and encourage them to get hooked by the “felting bug”. I did preliminary investigation into teaching at the community college but I think that needs to wait until I’m finished with my stitch course.

I mentored several artists in my gallery and went over some of the same information that I have been writing about in my Marketplace Monday articles. Again, it is rewarding to be able to pass on information I’ve learned over my 14 years as a shopkeeper to artists that are just starting out. I’m sure I’ll continue with this mentoring activity.

I have been keeping up with our blog here and the forum. That really isn’t a chore at all as I love the interaction between felt makers all over the world. It’s great fun. I have been struggling with Ann’s latest challenge of abstraction but I’m sure I can work something out in the next couple of months.

I have started on a bit of planning for the yurt project and that will be ongoing. I also did a bit of exploration into the combination of machine stitching with felt and hand stitching with felt. Our surface design group continues to play with various techniques. Our latest activity was making hand-made paper. I’ll show the results of that soon.

The two things on my list that I have not started on at all are making video tutorials and learning more about Photoshop. I did get a video camera but I haven’t even turned it on or looked at how it works. I plan on starting work on the videos this summer. Zed inspired me with her videos that she posted on the forum.

We’re already four months into 2012. I think I have done fairly well on keeping my focus. I have found the best way to meet your goals is to just get started. Don’t keep studying what you plan on doing, just begin. That is the most important step for me. That and turning off the television and ignoring the computer. How are you doing on meeting your goals or plans of what you want to accomplish this year? I’d love to hear how you’re doing.

Looking Forward 2012

Looking Forward 2012

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Looking forward I am tempted to say I see trees, lots of trees but can’t seem it find the forest. I too had a look at Ruth’s link and thought this was a much better way to move forward. I was thinking of using release, as in her example because getting organised is one thing I am always saying. Instead I decided to pick Breath.

  • Breathe out slowly and let go of inhibitions and all the other things that hold me      back from moving ahead with my felt.
  • Take a deep breath and plunge ahead with ideas for new felt pieces.
  • Make breathing room by getting rid of stuff that is just in the way.
  • Say no, so I can catch my breath.

I am sure that if I practise my breathing I will be able to back up and see the whole forest.

I am looking forward to helping Ruth, Zed and Kaz develop out blog and Forum. Along with following along with the various challenges that come up on the Blog and Forum I want to make more complex resists to make more complicated and interesting hats, vessels and birdhouses. I want to explore nuno felt more, being more creative with combining silk or other fibres with different wools and I want to use some raw fleece to make a bag with long curls. I think all that should keep me busy.

Happy 2012 everyone

My Year in 2012

My Year in 2012

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My Brand New  2012

What an awesome start to our year with the birth of our very first Grandchild, a girl called Charlie,   this will set the good vibes rolling throughout the year and I know its going to be amazing

Following Ruth, I haven’t made a resolution but I’ve decided on a word instead, I’ve been trying to think of  one  that will set my scene for the year and I’ve written down  5

Change, Trust, Adventure, Belief  & Willingness

I’ve spent the last year or more being  kind of suspended ,  I have had a bit to deal with in the later part of 2011  but I was still not really believing that I have what it takes to follow my dreams.  Not being able to trust  that I could really begin my adventure into the world of  Felting and Fibre Art but working on the new Studio Site with my friends has made me realize that if i have the willingness  to change my way of thinking,  I can do anything.

So my word for 2012 is  Willingness and no matter what I try , my Willingness to learn and focus will be foremost in my mind and my work,  I guess I could have chosen any one of those 5 words as they all have a meaning for me ,  but,  without the Willingness  to Believe, Trust and Change then I’ll have no Adventure at all !

So with my Adrenaline Running on Willingness  I would like my 2012 to be one of creativity,  to learn and share and be the best person I can be.

  • I’ll be giving much more attention to The Studio Site and our Virtual  Forum
  • I’ll be starting a 6 week online course with Victoria Crowder Payne in Feb called the Mixed Media Stitch Journal
  • I’ve already started working on Take a Stitch Tuesday  and creating my very own book of  stitches
  • I’ll be working on some embellished Journal Covers and Wall Hangings
  • I’ll be getting to know more about Fibres and making up some sample pieces as well as laying out my favorite fibres to use in mixed media  backgrounds
  • I’ll be practicing  more on creating better textile beads
  • I’ll be working harder on my Etsy Store and adding more items to that
  • I’ll spend less time on the computer and more time at my work table
  • And I’ll also be spending time Babysitting my Beautiful Brand New Granddaughter !

Small steps I know compared to most but I’m happy and im healthy

So am I wearing my Willingness Hat ?

YES I AM  !!!!!!