Dry Felting??????

Yes, dry felting. Left side (blue) before dry felting, Right side (red) after dry felting.

I was able to take a trip up to Easthampton, MA the other week to see Chris and the gang at New England Felting Supply. I always get a book to add to my slowly increasing library of felting books. This year I added Chad Alice Hagen & Jorie Johnson's Fabulous Felted Scarves (an oldie and a goodie).

Anyway, in a freak stroke of luck, I actually had some time to sit and go through it! Well, while reading Chad's basics I, at first, skimmed a section that gave a description of dry felting, then did a double take. Dry Felting??? It's basically compressing the dry fibers before adding your soapy solution therefore speeding the felting process.

Well, after seeing Chris with her back brace after her second back operation (she looked great by the way) and experiencing back tenderness and carpal tunnel myself, I will look at anything that helps speed the felting process and relives pressure off my back!

This technique actually works! Not that I would doubt anything Chad has stated in print! Two advantages: 1. you can actually move your piece without sending your fibers into a tizzy, and 2. you can actually move your piece without sending your fibers into a tizzy!

Way to go Chad!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

From my home to yours....

Hope your New Year is filled with love, family and friends.

Fuzzy Feet On Deck!

We run a really first rate, high class photo shoot in my neck of the woods. When the light is right, it's all hands (and fuzzy feet) on deck! I needed an alternate shot for a piece in the Artful Home catalog and 10:30 in the morning has the best natural light coming into my front windows.


I do have some hurdles. My model is my 16 yr old daughter, and those of you with 16 year old know that 10:30 in the morning is prime sleep time on the weekends, but I had to get the shot done. So, sleepy eyed, panda socks and all, my little trooper makes time for Mom.

Don't you just love her!

World of Swirls!

Westchester Fine Crafts Show was, for me, a great show! Many old customers and a whole swirly bunch of new ones! This piece I highlighted in my booth got a lot of attention, especially when pared with Brian Toohey's belt (we later did what I have sworn not to do, and verrry rarely do....traded!)

This piece is actually an overgrown scarf. I was experimenting this year with extreems (via the weather's influence on the world) and did a lot of big and little patterns. People associate my work with flowers, but these swirls have been a staple in my work for years and it's fun and challenging to find new outlets for these patterns.

Welcome Back!!

After a really horrible summer, mom passed plus assorted emergency room visits by close family members and then the untimely passing of a friends young daughter, it's been hard to keep up with my work, but felting has been a blessing and a curse.

The blessing was the distraction and the wonderful surges of energy and creative spirit which got me through some days, the curse is that all of my commitments are now coming due. Through exhaustion and deliberate focus, plus a few little angel helpers via my daughter's friends, I've been able to pull a cohesive line together and get through some of these deadlines.

Here is some eye candy for you.....hope to get back to posting. It's nice to be back.

Tips and Tricks #??

Forgot what number I was on.

Anyway, I've been suffering with a case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. At times it's really been a pain when I lay out a piece of roving. It's most painful when I'm on the computer. Like right now.
Lately it's really has had me reconsidering my work, which I love, so it's been a painful process in a lot of ways. I've even started laying out roving with my left hand as the dominant hand!

Last year I was playing with spatulas as an instrument to hold the roving down while you pull off the wool. It worked ok but I wasn't desperate to see how it would work in the long run, so I kept it in the back of my head. Well, lately work has really gotten too difficult. So I brought out the spatulas and started again in earnest and you know what? It work pretty well!

Now, there are some drawbacks. First, you need the spatula with the ridges and one without. (The putty hardware store kind.) Second, the 'pull off' is a bit shorter that if you did it by hand, so you have to be a bit more patient laying out your work. Third, I feel it doesn't work as well on the top layer, so you need a bit of doing it the usual way. But you can certainly try alternating techniques. Fourth, it works really well on fine wool. Not so great on coarser kinds.

It takes some practice, so make sure you test it out first before you try it on a client piece.

Good Luck!

Sometimes It Feels Like....

...somebody's watching me.

He's always there. Watching. Waiting. Wagging. It's never ending. Always looking for that opportunity to....PLAY!!!!!

Now, this is not the case of a sad little puppy left alone and ignored all day. No, no, no. My constant companion and 'felter's best friend' is played with morning noon and night. But here I was trying to set up outside on my patio for some shots before the sun got too high in the sky, (It reflects a blue tone on my backdrop at a certain point during shooting and I have to stop.) and realized after the shot that I had a stalker, waiting, watching. The good news is that I have some new pieces that I'll be posting soon if those sad 'play with me' eyes don't get the best of me.

Poor, poor pooch.