Ions ago, I purchased all the bits and pieces that I needed for acid dyeing. I never lost my enthusiasm for it (in principle!). I listened to my textile friends waxing lyrical about dyeing. If I am to be perfectly honest here, I lacked both the knowledge and the confidence to try it. So when I came across a dyeing course which was being run over the four Tuesdays in November, well, I didn’t have to think twice, I immediately…
A learning curve is a graphical representation of the relationship between how proficient people are at a task and the amount of experience they have. Proficiency (measured on the vertical axis) usually increases with increased experience (the horizontal axis), that is to say, the more someone performs a task, the better he or she get at it. (Wikipedia) Recently I’ve become intrigued with learning how to quilt on my domestic machine using a ruler foot and quilting rulers. It seems…
In December I was trying to supply lots of different places with felt things. In truth, I was a bit over-stretched. I decided to focus on making plant holders, with a few tea light holders and a couple of vases. Oh, and some cards. Here’s an overview of the things I made. PLANT POTS AND VASES First I made four plant pot covers from merino wool and silk pre-felt and incorporating different pieces of vintage lace Next a couple of…
In my last post, I introduced you to how we raise sheep (and wool!) a little differently than most in Canada — our sheep live outside year-round and graze solar installations and cover crops as their day-job. In that post, our livestock guardian dogs made an appearance and garnered plenty of attention, as they should. We couldn’t graze sheep like we do without our dogs! Where we farm, coyotes are a major threat to sheep. Our sheep are also vulnerable…
It’s that time of the year when I look back over the last year and think, “Whoa where did the time go and what have I gotten done this year?” While I was thinking about writing a round up post of what I had created this year, I remembered our new Community Gallery page. I thought it would be great to feature work from our readers and authors who have submitted photos for our community page. Anyone is welcome to…
Following what seemed like a never-ending period in creative limbo, the second quarter challenge has gotten me thinking again. The photos were all amazing but one in particular set me thinking: It’s funny, loading the photo as reference now, it is not like I remember it in my mind’s eye. I thought the pole was further over to the left side of the photo. (Like most people, I would make a very unreliable eye witness). Having said that, it was…
Last week I was invited down to Leicestershire to visit the Cosby Quilters to give a talk on the Tuesday evening and run a textile workshop on the Wednesday. The workshop they chose was “Tall Trees”, based on one of my early art quilts, which involves painting fabrics such as cotton, interfacing and muslin which are then layered with organza and free motion stitched. Normally this is a two day class but occasionally, as with Cosby, it’s booked for one…
Some of the first felt objects I made were vases: made around a flat u-shaped resist that I designed to try to get a good even layer of felt on the base (wobbly bases not being good for vases). Every so often I get the urge to make a few vases, so I thought I’d show you some I’ve made recently. My felt pictures are often inspired by my coastal environment. So, I thought I’d make some coast-inspired vases. I…
A wonderful 4-week holiday in Australia, Christmas markets and hosting lots of family visitors mean I’ve done very little news-worthy felt-making since my last Felting & Fiber Studio blog. ‘Production felting’ is my own term for making lots of similar things for shops and markets. I did a fair bit of this in November and December: mostly printed tea light holders, printed wool ‘pebbles’ and Christmas cards. These were my 2022 cards: handmade felt with hand-printing. I extracted the tree…
A recent post from on spinning by Shepherdess Ann reminded me of a wonderful trip to Finland back in 2013. This weeklong trip brought together representatives from many European Union countries. We spent the time together in an Artists’ commune in Järvenpää experimenting with various fibre media. It was an incredible experience; there was lots of learning and some great friendships were formed during our time together. Participants were each given a drop spindle and a lesson in how to use…
