Fiona Duthie

Upcoming Workshops at Fibres West

2012-02-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

I'll be teaching three classes this Spring at Fibres West in Abbotsford BC.
For more information and to register, visit the Fibres West website: www.fibreswest.com

Friday March 16th, 10:00am -1:00pm
Nuno Felted Scarves: During this hands on class, we’ll create a gossamer light, wool felt scarf in a luscious combination of silk and merino wool. Nuno felting is a wet felting technique that encourages wool fibres to migrate through fabrics, bonding them into one unique textile surface. We will explore many aspects of nuno felting, from making the sheerest of textiles to using nuno to create great surface texture for other projects. Everyone leaves with their own finished, wearable art. Suitable for beginners.
Class fee: $45.00
Material fee of $15 includes: silk fabrics, merino wool and embellishments in a wide range of colours, plus print instructions. Please indicate your general colour preference on the registration form. Additional kits will be available at the workshop.

Friday March 16th, 1:30pm -4:30pm

Felt Surface Design: In this class we’ll play with as many combinations of felting and surface design as we can fit in to the time we have together! Nuno patches in silks and cottons, protrusions, shibori shaping, slashes and holes, prefelts, pockets, clamping…… We’ll each create our own wet felted art cloth sampler, that can be later made into a great needle case, bag front, or further embellished and mounted as a tapestry.
Class Fee: $45.00
Materials fee of $15.00 includes: silk fabrics, merino wool and embellishments in a wide range of colours, plus print instructions.

Saturday, March 17th, 10:00am-4:00pm
Felt Bags: 3-D felting with resists: Felting is a great medium for making bags - beautiful, unique, and durable. 3-D felting involves using plastic resists to create seamless hollow forms, in any shape you desire. This technique is commonly used to make slippers, hats, sculptural works as well as one of our favourites – hand bags! We will cover resist making, and felting on a form. We’ll be using the best sculptural tools, Norwegian C-1 and Pelsull. We’ll be adding all sorts of individual ornamentation, silks and cottons, ruffles, protrusions and prefelts, all while making your own personalized, functional art.
Class Fee: $90.00
Materials fee of $35.00 includes all wools and embellishments in a wide range of colours, leather handles, plus print instructions.

letting go of the lists...

2012-01-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

I do love a list...I make them regularly...and then don't follow them....but they do help clear and focus the mind, and allow me to take the next step in the day...

Last week I thought I was going to get piles done, in certain directions, as per a certain list, but the week took a different turn....still productive, but also relaxing...it was all about letting go....

I still have not finished my felted blanket... it sits on my studio table, taking up every inch....and the question is do I finish it to clear the surface, or somehow put it aside until I'm more ready to work on it....still not sure! I have a bolt of organic cotton voile on its way in the mail, which is the fabric I want to use for this new homewares felt line...but it may be another 10 days before it arrives.

I do love how the white wool floats in wisps across the surface...stratus clouds....at least I can enjoy this view every time I go into the studio!

Instead of other felting work, I ended up doing lots of dyeing for orders this week....a week of playing with colours...

Fluffy wool roving and elegant sock yarns, absolutely inspired by our ocean walk last week....

...and then some other activities....I think our week has been going so well because we are working at playing attention to only what is most important, a bigger picture, and letting go of the small niggly bits! And with 4 of us (this week) in a small space there are lots of niggly bits! An exercise in not letting the details get in the way....It's all about focal point, hey? Sometimes you need to focus in, recognize and appreciate the details....and sometimes we get too involved in the macro, and need to draw back and take a landscape shot...

On Sunday, we all sat down with some watercolour paints and just played with colour ...not trying to make anything in particular....we were used to paint together every week, but haven't done so for a long time....it was such a quiet, soothing, refreshing activity....Absolutely about the process and not the finished result....I was used to do watercolour veil painting...just 15 minutes a day, everyday, while I was preparing lunch...I'd like to add this into my day again...

I'm taking on this paying attention to the big picture as my theme for this week. Not so many lists (I can always go back and use my ones for last week, if I want- my current lists would probably be the same!) and instead picking one big overview for the day...today it is shipping orders...and all the little things and everyday-ness will fit in around that....I'll see how it goes!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

touching life....

2012-01-27T09:15:00.000-08:00

A day of family...rather than fibre....

The weather here has been glorious, so I've been making an extra effort to get out with my sons and enjoy some moments....

They are so big- all as tall as me....but we all love a day at the beach...it's like a nervine tonic...regenerating the rough edges.....

The moment we got to the park, I lost them... they were off down the trails to the bay.....hunting for boat building materials....Ahhhhh.....and I got a moment to enjoy watching them....and take in the glorious colours.... the most delicious greens....

....and the bones of the earth....

...and the boy and tidepool....

And the boys in their (flotsam/jetsam)boats.....

...And the wonder of wings... a great blue heron stopping in.....

The quantity of family happiness factor definitely is balancing out the quantity of personal work factor! With Graham away, somehow everyone is pulling together and making an extra effort...and the household has been harmonious, co-operative and productive....In taking a few spontaneous hours like this, we all seem more alive...and able to do so much more each day... both in work and pleasure...
Warm wishes,
Fiona

What to do today....

2012-01-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

This morning I dropped Graham off at the Fulford ferry...he's heading back to Ottawa for the funeral of a very close and loved family member...It'll be good for him to have some time there with his mother....and it was sad for me to watch the ferry leave...I let the wind blow me around for a few minutes on the dock...clearing with air....


Nuno Felting supplies, including some of my organic plant dyed cottons

And now it's me and the boys and I need to decide what to do today...it's not like I don't have a long list already on the days agenda...but it feels like a good day to get lots done...should I finishing photographing some yarns? Nuno felt a blanket that I want to make? (I want to make a simple blanket that I will use as a canvas while learning and practicing my stitches as part of the Take a Stitch Tuesday project), start knitting on a new pattern for a scarf/cowl I have envisioned?

Can I maybe do all this? And get help our homeschooling work done? And do my Living Crafts work? Maybe....

I'll let you know tomorrow!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Felt Floor

2012-01-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

This is a project we worked on a while ago...another collaboration of wood and wool....

Felt flooring in our living room..... It was such a great, exciting experiment....The idea jumped into view while Graham and I were on the ferry from Vancouver island to Salt Spring one day....one of those jumping up and down, speedily thinking, planning, dreaming, kinds of conversations....Growing from a single floor into a whole design line of flooring, room dividers and art pieces....since then it's shrunk back into a more reasonable scale of project...scaled, down, refined....the experiment floor in our home, and wall pieces, small and large...these will be part of our new studio line for 2012....(I'm planning on some wood/wool hybrid bags also!)

Floor before....yuck.....

Design drawn freehand onto panels of beautiful birch plywood... then carefully cut and labelled. Installed and finished with a natural varnish. The floor measures 12 feet x 16 feet (3.6m x 4.9m).

I hand felted some panels to use in the sections using the very durable Norwegian C-1 wool, laid out very carefully in order to achieve the same thickness in the finished felt, as the wooden panels. Then handdyed, in order to get some liveliness in colour variation....Glued securely in place.....and taa-daa....wood/felt flooring. It's very fun.....

It's hard for me to remember sometimes...like over the last few weeks (wintery blues)... that everything we touch can be just a little more, a piece of art, something beautiful....It's important to make that effort. That's what this project was all about. It's something we can always do....and making our living spaces a little more beautiful, with our own special touches, I think can elevate all the activities that take place within that space...

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Felt Armour

2012-01-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

Luckily for me, I had a board meeting to go to yesterday which got me out of the house, into the great bright, white outdoors early in the morning. I needed that reminder to stop working and get outside....

So later in the day we went down to Fulford, to the beach....visited the petroglyph, and got blown away....

It felt like emerging from a hibernation....and having all the cobwebs swept away....

I wore my felt tunic for the first time yesterday...like an armour against the elements, both real and imagined... it's been billowly, blustery and snowy here....lots of it..and it's quite lovely....

...and a good day for some felt armour! So here I am for those that wanted to see the tunic on....Not the best picture, but it does the job....the tunic felt is great to wear, soft, snug, warm, strong, and a little wild....
I'm going to make some bags this week based on this design...linen nuno felted, racka locks, overdyed, stitches...I can hardly wait to show these this Fall....
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Bold and Dramatic...

2012-01-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh...First Felt of 2012 is finished....I'm so happy with the results....It feels like a just the right starting point and direction to head in for this year.

My peacock blue plans ventured into inky midnights...

My red (to be purple) mini pocket disappeared into the depths-The purple becoming barely discernible but the pocket is still there- perfectly unobtrusive and ready to hold secret messages....Paua shell bead at the pockets edge...blue and shiny...meeting the wild, now raven black racka locks...which reach out over the nuno linen to find the partially eclipsed shibori moon on the tunic side...

Neck details adorned with dyes and red stitches and a paua shell bead...

Shibori moons on the back and side...in honour of the moon under which this was made....(not indigo dyed...although I did fit in my full moon indigo dyeing day this past weekend....).

The finished tunic is simple and dramatic...artistic and bold....and I'm so ready wear it this year....

Warm wishes,

Fiona

First Felt 2012

2012-01-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

First Felt...isn't that a glorious notion?
The other night was movie night here, and I was not that into it, so I ventured outside into the darkness and illuminated my studio....What a refreshing time. I never think to go out there in the evenings......usually by then I'm pretty tired anyway. But it was delightful. To have the radio on, my warm lights, and just me...in my space.

I started working on a tunic design I have in mind for Fall 2012. Working on a small fashion and accessory line, combining felt, raw locks, shibori dyeing and fabric inlays...

When working on larger projects I try and do the layout and first felting in the afternoon/evening, then leave it overnight, and finish the felting in the morning. The rest for both me and the felt seem to make the felting go so quickly! This piece took quite a bit of planning. First the math to get to template sizing right to allow for shrinkage. Fabric inlays? Or Shibori? or the crazy Racka locks? Colours in relation to overdyeing? Stitching, to be felted in, or done after, and what colour? As a first sample in this line, I was more interested in experimentation, so it got a little of everything...

These photos show the tunic at 2/3's felted, ready for shibori, stitching and first dyeing. This is the neck detail, with black linen, racka wool locks, and wensleydale locks.

The pocket detail. I decided to put on just a small pocket...maybe a place to hold a charm, intention or wish. I'm imagining a small stone or parchment hidden inside, to be noted as necessary while wearing. This tunic is destined to be first overdyed in blue, so the red will become purple. More Racka and Wensleydale....fun...fun....

I'll be finishing it up today, and post the finished pictures!

It's amazing how much energy you get from working in a place of pure experiment. Or from inspiration....This is one of the pieces I scrawled out in my sketchbook on New Years Eve...bringing it to life is so exciting....more evenings in the studio....must remember that all i have to do is take a few steps outside and flip the light switch....

Warm, wishes,

Fiona

PS- I can't belive my spell check has no sheep breed names in it....is there a special spell check language that felters can use?!

Craft Resolutions 2012

2012-01-01T15:32:00.000-08:00

Now this is my kind of resolution! This might work for me!

I have some grand, and not so grand craft aspirations for 2012...

I'm going to learn how to crochet. Properly, I mean. I know how to... I've taught people how to... I've even taught people how to carve their own crochet hooks. I taught my sons how to crochet, and they have beautiful, hand dyed, crocheted pencil cases, still in everyday use. But I'm more of a knitter, and have only used crochet as an accent. There are so many beautiful and inspiring crochet blogs that I love to read....so much colour! It's time. I'm going to figure out this crochet thing, and make a blanket.....

Do-able....

Launch feltgathering.com. Domain is purchased, web hosting is in place. I just need to set up the pages. I hope to have it live by February 2nd. This will be a resource website that has information for felt makers on different sheep breeds, their felting characteristics, projects and links to sources for different wool breeds. I've talked about it here several times...the first months wool is in the studio already or ordered...now it's going to happen! Yes!

Do-able....

Start doing Craft Shows again. One of A Kind and Circle Craft. I've had a two year hiatus while moving, and this November I was so missing setting up at this type of show and being inspired by all the creative people there.

I had a most exhilarating day yesterday. The felt ideas were a-swirling, and my sketchbook quickly filled with drawings and scrawl and a new fine felt product line for Fall 2012. Lots of shibori, raw locks, over dyeing, stitches....I started working in this direction with my work for WinterCraft this year....and now it just feels so complete and ready. Can't wait to start! Oh! and this isn't even a resolution, but I'm a total last minute person. I usually start getting ready for One of a Kind in September....but I've already started for next year! If I make being more organized and pacing myself better, a resolution, I could check it off already! Grin!

Do-able...

I'm going to add ten new wholesale accounts to carry my organic/plant dyed wool line, Kattikloo, next year. And completly renew the website... time for a change! This is a fun colour outlet for me. I never have any time to actually knit (or, ahem....crochet) anything from this yarn (which is the softest, most lushest yarn I've ever felt!), but I do love dyeing it. Between this and felt sales I should be able to keep us afloat while we are building our house this year (but that's not a resolution!:)

Do- able......

And I'm now older and wiser enough (it was my birthday just the other day, you see!) to know that anything more than this, will not be do-able! There are so many things I'd like to add....like to think I will do this year...but older and wiser for me means being at least a little bit realistic. I think I can balance this all, with a little homeschooling, family meals from scratch, some exercise (now that would be a resolution- but I don't dare make it!), my work for Living Crafts.....just thinking that all this doesn't leave much time for sitting on the couch reading a book... that would be a novelty....and something I would love to do....for myself, and only myself....no financial or creative motivations....so I'll add it in!

Allow for some couch sitting/book reading time! Any book recommendations anyone?

Do-able....:)

Do any of you have a craft resolution you'd like to share? I'd love to hear it! We're posting a series of these over on the Living Crafts Blog this week also, if you'd like to read about what some other creative types plan on getting up to this year!

Happy, happy, New Year to you all! May it be full of joy, satisfaction, colour, and creativity!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Studio Time

2011-12-30T12:03:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm.... just not quite how I was expecting it!

Today is my birthday, and my grand plans included felting myself a jacket. At least getting it laid out and started, and I had my sons all ready to help me out with the rolling as a partial birthday gift!

BUT! On November 24th, my studio looked like this.....

And after a month of lots of felting and dyeing and a show and articles.....it looks like this.....

Oh! How inviting that clean work surface from November looks....
So today I'm cleaning up the studio... to start the new year right! And get to that jacket!
It's glorious and sunny here today, so I plan to include a walk along the shore in my most favourite place, some yummy food, some good red wine, maybe some time in the hot tub at the local pool (seeing as we haven't got one set up here yet), and maybe....just maybe...if I get myself going.....a little wool time...

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

I just got a box in the mail this week from my Mother back in the east. I had no idea what it might be, maybe some early presents for the boys. I opened it up and read her note...and cried. It's a good thing-by the way! It's not that it says so much, but in it's few words it says everything that matters about the holidays.

These are made using some of my Grandmother's knitting patterns from the Shetland Islands.

   "Hi there everyone- About six weeks ago I remembered what you said in your blog last December, Fiona, about not having your box of Christmas tree decorations with you. So I decided to gather the troops together and make a few for you to use this Christmas.
  I had hoped to get them sent to you a bit earlier than this but the last ones were just dropped off to me on Saturday- so here they all are!
  I hope you like them and that you feel the love from us all as you take them out of the box.
  We'll all miss all of you this Christmas and hope you feel our love emanating from the decorations on the tree!
Much love to you all, Mam/Granny xxxx"

Ohhhhh.....It's so simple and perfect, don't you think? It makes me cry because we are far from our families this year, but this note and package reminds us that we are never that far apart. I pass by each one on our tree and I can picture each family member, young or old(er) so vividly!
Beauty, handcraft, love and family....Gosh, just how much sentiment can these ornaments hold... they are like tiny little concentrated capsules of emotion!

I've organized group projects/shared gifts like this for so many others- this is the first time I've been on the receiving end, and I can't believe just how touching it is. As others have said that received them- I feel so loved!

Just wanted to share my gift of warmth with you! And wish you all such warmth, whether your families are near or far!
Have a joy filled, peaceful holiday!
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Felting with Wool Locks

2011-12-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

Mmmmm...I've been wanting to work more with wool locks and felting...I got to play a bit with this with some new pieces I've been making for WinterCraft.

This is the layout for two scarves. I love laying out the layers of white. It's so serene amd perfect. There is an underlayer of fine merino, then I used lengths of plastic resists since the locks are quite fine and would probably felt into the surface. On one side are Blue Faced Leicester Locks and on the other are Mohair. Then another layer of merino roving on top...Once the pieces were around the prefelt stage, I cut them apart, down the middle, so they could be finished individually and the cut line would felt also.

This is the mohair lock scarf, with some shibori stitching done before dyeing. It's so nice to wear...and works well as a shoulder wrap also. It would so dramatic to wear with an evening dress....if one had occasion to do so!

I have some super amazing Racka locks I bought recently from Namaste Farms. I so want to try these out this way with a wild and black sweeping line of locks on a scarf.....or jacket! That is my planned birthday project! A new felt jacket.....

Aren't these wild! I had never heard of Racka sheep until very recently. This came as a great reminder to get the Felt Gathering online project underway for January. Very Exciting!

Back to the studio and some little felted birds I am making...

Warm wishes,

Fiona

felt experiments

2011-12-05T20:26:00.001-08:00

I have been working, working, working in the studio recently, and will fill you in on all the details but in an effort to get back into the swing

of things here, a few playful pictures of one of today's projects:

Using different breeds of sheeps wool in balls and layers to create this awesome surface texure. Felt upholstery? Carpets? Art? Overdyed? So many possibilities. This illuminates in a most interesting way also. This is one of a series of trials I am working on, expanding my repetoire of surface design elements in felt. I didn't expect the mounds to stay quite so pronounced.

This has East Friesian wool on the inside, and Blue Faced Leicester wool on the outside. Just a small sample for now....

But I'm looking forward to more... I'm quite taken by their perfect round and fluffy forms!

I'll be right back (at least in the next day or two!)!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Uplifting Gifts...

2011-11-19T11:01:00.001-08:00

I just received a package in the mail...a lovely package sent for no particular occasion...just to make me feel happy! What a great surprise and a truly uplifting package it is..both because of the potential of the materials inside and also because of the sweet intention of the sender... my felt friend Heather WoolLove.

Oh my goodness! Is that not just a blast of fiber happiness! I love these mixed colour rovings...carding into blends, as opposed to dyed. They can be used to add such depth to felt works. I don't know yet how I will use this...but I want it be for something that helps someone else...to pass the good intention forward, in a new form...

It is so delicious! I will hang it up in our small space as a garland to savour and inspire, until the new year, when I can turn my intention towards the right project!
I lost the thread on my Gratitude Gifts from earlier this year...but think it's time to start them again....and I know just where to start! More coming soon!
These unexpected gifts, given from the heart, mean so much and as a giver maybe you can't imagine just what it might bring to the recipient- so much more than just what is inside the package...To me this is the perfect gift...unexpected, given without expectation, materials to spark one's creativity, and a reminder that doing little things for people can give so much.
Thank you Heather! I love it!
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Peace Dove 11-11-2011

2011-11-12T19:25:00.001-08:00

This is a project of time and meditation...an idea that sprang into being and had to be made..and although not in accordance to the timing anticipated, maybe the right timing in it's own way.

This is my PeaceFelt project. I was completely set to start making this on September 23rd, to be mailed on the Monday following, but on the 22nd I had the accident in my studio, bringing all weekend plans to a halt, and generally slowing and simplifying the whole Fall season. In one view...making it more peaceful. Within this slowed down season, my idea for a series of felted birds deepened...entwining with text nuno felted into their "feathers", as with my storytelling felt series. And that is how I came to make this little creature...the first of....several, at least!

If we have nopeace, it is because we have

forgotten that webelong to each other.

~MotherTeresa

Let there be peaceon earth,

And let it beginwith me.
~Seymour Miller& Jill Jackson

Peace comes from within.

Do not seek itwithout.

Buddha

If you wish to experience peace,

providepeace for another.

Tenzin Gyatsa, 14th Dalai Lama

texts on the bird's wings and tail.

This bird is wet felted all as one piece, using a resist for within the body, and resists under the wings and tail during the felting process. After removing the resist and completing the fulling, stuffed with wool. My son welded the feet for me, out in the "boys" studio- that would be at the back of my studio and home to the wood and metal shop. I stitched and tied the tail to shape the tail with fan like pleats, then removed these stitches once the felt was dry. I wanted the silks to be a little raw, a little ragged. The text is obscured through the felting, but evident, and the text is mostly hidden from plain view- just available in glimpses ...if you look for it... all symbolic and reflective.

Maybewe should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon.

A happinessweapon. A beauty bomb.

Andevery time a crisis developed, we would launch one.

It would explode high in the air - explodesoftly –

and send thousands, millions, of littleparachutes into the air.

Floatingdown to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap,

either- not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener

builtright in. With silver andgold and copper,

magenta and peachand lime, amber and umber

and all therest. And people would smile and get

a little funny lookon their faces and cover the

world withimagination. ~Robert Fulghum

This is the quote felted into the bird's breast...a little more light and fun....and colorful than the others...and feeling appropriate to share with another feltmaking who plays in color and creativity!

It feels appropriate to have started with this project on the International Day of Peace and to have finished on Rememberance Day, and on an special one- 11-11-11.

I'm so attached to this little character...he stands about 8 inches (20cm) tall and is 10 inches (25cm) long...I hope my Peacefelt partner enjoys him...

I'm looking forward to making some more of these... Inspired by ravens/crows/and jays- those noisy storytellers of our forests, with their deep rich iridescent colours and loud voices...what will they have to say?

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Indigo Shibori at Maiwa Symposium

2011-11-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

I 've just returned from my mystery trip! And what an adventure it was! I had two events to attend- The Green Festival in Los Angeles with Living Crafts magazine and then an Indigo Shibori Workshop at Maiwa in Vancouver.
I don't have any pictures from my time in LA, unfortunately. We did set up a wonderful 20 x 20 foot community craft space, and taught many people how to felt, weave and embroider, all crafts we feature regularly in Living Crafts. It was wonderful to spend more time with Pardis, the editor of the magazine, and fellow contributors, Christine Schreier, and Elizabeth Seward. And of course to share our crafts with some existing readers, and some new ones.
What a buzz of excitement to be travelling to teach in California. The change was exciting....the United States is different from Canada in so many ways. The warmth, sunshine and palm trees were like a balm....

And there were some darker moments...grounding moments....I got lost in LA without a map, and without an address to put into the GPS in the car I was using. Using the "force" to find your way around LA is a very tricky business! I found myself in an a darker side of LA, driving under an underpass, full of garbage and shopping carts and people's homes...brings one down to earth. I had to get out of the car and find a payphone (I don't have a cellphone) and feel extremely out of place, and aware of the value of my life in certain neighbourhoods. And then, several days later, I found myself walking the length of Hastings Street, in Vancouver's lower east side, arguably the roughest area in the city....and it was like nothing I've ever seen in my life...humbling, unsettling, and terrifying...and invigorating. All this while also exploring and playing with the beauty of natural fibers in both places...such a luxury...I loved the contrast....I treasure these experiences..It was truly a perfect balance in dark and light...or the shadows in between...and the epitome of the travelling experience....

Then, of course there was the fibre play! A wonderful retreat time with Akemi Nakano Cohn in indigo shibori dyeing, part of the Maiwa Symposium. The techniques she shared with us deepened my knowledge of clamp and resist dyeing, and added to my textile toolbox the classic stitch resist patterns of shibori. I learnt that I need to add more indigo when making my baths, to reach the dark deep midnights potential in indigo. I also learnt that I know more about indigo and shibori than I thought...and this creative confidence booster came at exactlya most needed time. I left inspired, and I believe to have a student leave full of ideas is a great credit to a teacher!

I see using these pieces as "canvases"; foundations to be added to or changed through other textile mediums...Fractal building blocks....windows...a frame, or set of frames for future additions...

One of my favourites...a canvas waiting for something....ferrous imprinted leaves? stitches? nuno felting? Mmmm....unknown at this moment...still immersed in moon/indigo relationships...

Traditional Ori Nui Shibori..stitched layers...so contemplative in process.....I know I will use the clamp resist techniques more often, but this I will enjoy using for special projects....this process has such a strong meditative quality for me, less physical process than mental, and will be used as such, when desired or required..

Twice resisted and dyed...6 dips total resulting in deep indigo colour. angel/moth/butterfly wings....

Arashi Shibori, wrapped and tied around a pole then folded and dipped. Love this!

A re-creation of a piece I made during my last full moon indigo dyeing session...moons are clamped CD's....I experimented with some different patterning above them...clothespins and tight binding with string, but got very different results than I expected. Still a great base for adding more- layers of dyeing maybe?

And my line full of Shibori banners! The blues a lovely contrast against the greens and yellows of our Fall landscape here. Most of these pieces are done on quilting weight cotton for sewing...I'm going to cut them and share them....and then dye some more in silk and wool for feltmaking on the coming full moon this Thursday. I enjoyed the setting aside of this time for creativity with such talented fibre artists, both in Los Angeles and again in Vancouver and came away with great new plans and ideas....and the feeling of being grounded in our real world with an appreciation for this beautiful little island and the home our family is creating.

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Eco Dyeing October 2011

2011-10-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

It's been ages since I've been felting, and I have so many projects I want to get to- lots of woolly experimentation coming soon...... as soon as I get back from a little trip (fibery work trip-yay!) that I'm going on on Thursday. That's all a little ephemeral and dreamlike...a big adventure...and so I'm trying to take care of all the necessaries right now, so I can fully embrace the single adventurer mode for the weekend...more on that later...

In the meantime, I've been plant dyeing madly...well, as madly as one can plant dye, given the slow nature of the process. Maybe I should say concertedly dyeing, with a good dye agenda beside me so all the pots, and any available buckets are constantly in use. And created a delightful little eco-bundle in the midst of it all. Such an addictive process!

I wet and laid out about a 60 inch square of organic cotton muslin. Then laid on my gathering of leaves. Blood grass, maple leaves, bracken fern, plum, and fig. A mystery leaf which I walked down the road to collect from a neighbours bush. I've had my eye on it for months, while driving past. I was certain it was a purple smoke bush, or cotinus....but no....mystery plant, with lovely purple leaves. and the last of my fresh dahlias...there's a good stock in the freezer for dyeing with later...all this I rolled up around some cedar bark and a very rusty tin can I found, while collecting the bracken fern. It's such a perfect process. The gathering walk invites you to pay attention to your surroundings, in a fractal way. The sense of place, down to the minutest leaf....the beauty in contrast with the garbage...perfect....

Tied up and ready. I steamed it in one of my dye pots...at the end of a very long (but perfectly sunny and beautiful) day yesterday. The smell of the cedar steaming was absolutely intoxicating. I'm looking forward to using it more-both for it's colour and smell. Let it sit overnight...

And about 24 hours later....opened it up...I got some very good distinct leaf patterns this time. The purple dots are little cochineal bugs. Just a couple sprinkled on. I actually wish I had resisted that temptation...but there is always more cloth. I used only 6-8 bugs, but the dye is so strong, it penetrates all the layers and folds of cloth.

The tin can was in direct contact with the cloth down at the bottom right, showing the darkest colours from the ferrous.

I'd love to have left it for longer to steep, and to keep this fabric length whole... but this fabric is coming with me on my adventure, so it needs to be dried...and then cut up into little pieces to be shared, and I'm very inspired to make more when I get back.
More plant colours tomorrow!
warm wishes,
Fiona

Wool Breed Experiments-East Friesian Wool

2011-10-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely visit in the studio this week with local artist, Laura Kiel. She works in both ceramics and felt and will be teaching some felt making at a local school. She came by for some ideas and to make some things together. It was wonderful to meet her, make some felt, chat about wool, building a home, and how to move forward in our creative processes.

She brought with her some beautiful wool (well...almost all wool is beautiful in it's own way, isn't it! I think I have yet to meet a not beautiful wool!) from East Friesian sheep that lived at the Salt Spring Cheese Company (who make absolutely delicious cheeses!). It's a new wool breed to me, and the temptation to test was irresistible! Laura very generously shared some of her stash with me. The wool is quite soft, and felts quite quickly. I bet it would be great for needlefelting. Apparently the first shepherd to tend these sheep was also a hair dresser- a fine combo for us wool devotees!

We made some felt ropes, some felt beads and I made a flat felt to explore the properties of this wool breed. I'm working on developing a wool study collection...making a purposeful felt using different sheep breeds. I think this would be a wonderful study to share with others, and am working on setting up a website/forum for felt exploration- Felt Gathering. I had thought I would have this in place by early October, but am now planning on January as a reasonable start date. To start the exploration we will select one breed a month to experiment with and discuss and build up this resource journal/collection. We would share resources for finding the particular breed of wool, information on the breed including origin, staple length, micron count, the results of our felt experiment, and then how we would see using this particular fiber to best advantage. I'd love it if you'd like to join me! Leave me a comment if you are interested...a suggested wool breed?...and I'll let you know when I finish setting it up....I'll also announce it here as I get closer!

The East Friesian is not a traditional felting wool (as far as I know!), and it's great to have some idea on how we can best use our locally available, and under utilized wool resources. Laura mentioned that there is still a lot of this wool roving and battings available...adding to my wish list!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

A tale of two scarves

2011-10-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

I had my first studio visitors a few weeks ago. The studio is still not finished, but that is another story, and Eva and her friends were very keen to come by...It was so delightful to have people come to my own space, talk to them a little about what I do, show them materials and finished items and take an order. A great experience!

Eva chose two scarves in a light nuno patterning, using silk gauze and Canadian uncarbonized merino as the base. She called after her visit to see if I could make the scarves a little heavier, to be more warm for the winter. I didn't want the scarf to become too rigid, or the wool to be too heavy in relationship with the silk, so I added a light layer of alpaca roving instead...Oh! What a dreamy felt this makes!

I laid out the leaf designs, keeping each a little different, using handmade prefelt from the merino. Once the wool fibers had worked through the silk, I stopped felting and left the scarves to dry...ready to add stitch lines....paths...connections....following along how we meet, what paths lead us to another, where does our connection take us....as with many things, it is not necessarily about the finished product, or effect, but our intention and how we get there...

These looked so beautiful hanging in the window- they'd make such lovely, delicate, feminine curtains...I'd love to have a pile of scarves made up, all in white, ready to be dyed, and available to be draped at will or whim, randomly about....mmmmmm....good goal!

Eva asked for one scarf in off white...kept natural, but toned down with a brown tint. I added some gold/ochre/green highlights using pencil rovings...working with some of her favourite colours that she mentioned during her visit.

And her second scarf was to be in green and blue shades. It also has stitching throughout, all overdyed. As I dyed the scarf, I felt it needed a little extra colour boost, so I cut some leaves from scraps of merino felt, and dyed them chartreuse, then stitched them on after the scarf was finished and dried.

Normally I don't add lattice work on the ends of my scarves. This was a special request from Eva, so she could pass one end through the other, using the openings, to tie on the scarf. An interesting experiment for me. At the prefelt stage, after stitching, I cut the wool openings to be shaped like leaves, to carry on the theme from the body of the scarf. I love how it looks in the picture below- like a tree growing up my wall, with it's branches starting to open at the top.

Usually I produce my work as it appears through my imagination, often designing as I lay out the fibres, or work with the dye baths. This project was very much a collaboration between my customer and myself. A collection of ideas, played with creatively. I met Eva again while in Vancouver to deliver her special order. It was a nice way to finish...the felt and stitches connecting her ideas and mine....crossing the Salish Sea- her coming to my studio with ideas, and me meeting her in Vancouver with her finished felts....

Also a very nice way to get back on my felting feet!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Wooly Headed....

2011-10-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

I've been having quite the misadventure during the last few weeks since my full moon indigo dyeing post!

I was gearing up, finishing the studio, to be ready to open my space for October 1st. For an Open Studio, Community Felting event, and to celebrate Felt United. Such plans...long lists...and lots of work underway! And then the wood fell from the sky and landed on my head! This must have been on September 22nd.

I was preparing an installation of natural materials and the felt works they inspired. Driftwood, bones, feathers....some of the natural pieces are small, with extra large felts made in relation to them and some are super size, with miniture reflections of surface design and shape to accompany them. Expansion/contraction, range of focus, surface design....

One such piece- a piece of driftwood that stands about 9 feet tall and weighs about 60 pounds, was leaning on the wall, ready to be attached securely. I had my back to it, working on something esle, when it fell over, landing on my head and bouncing down my back. Loud yells, lots of blood, a serious concussion, and sore back...Time to lay quietly, reflect (not too deeply! I was not thinking clearly for a few days after the accident!)...and have some family time...pulling back from the artist's life and the studio time.

I have been absent from the computer, absent from my blog and emails, absent from my studio, absent minded....and cancelled all but the most essential of work tasks. I just want to sit and knit...well, just sitting would be fine, but I just can't justify that! I've managed to get the yarn and needles in one place, but can't chose a lace pattern for a new scarf and hat design I am working on....wooly headed...and not in the usual way!

Slowness....just for a few days... I feel there is something special coming out of this (driftwood) inflicted down time... not just an exuberant outburst of wool and color...something bigger, momentous, and planned and controlled. I just remembered a felt art piece I had in mind from a few years ago-never realized...working with wool and driftwood...dyed with plants indigenous to our homes...relating to our migration patterns...where we come from and where we go or find ourselves...I must come back to that thought! Very happy to be having creative thoughts again- they vanished for a week or so after the accident.

So- that's where I've been..and what I have not been doing...No pictures...as nothing is happening!

I'm feeling so much better and will be back with gusto next week!

I'd like to say just now- thank you for reading, and thank you for commenting....it is always so good to have your feedback and thoughts...so many new and wonderful friends through this place... and a beautiful way of keeping in touch with old ones, too-and I very much appreciate you all!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Full Moon Indigo Dyeing

2011-09-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

For at least a month, maybe two, I've been holding the idea of Full Moon Indigo resist dyeing. Somehow indigo and the moon feel connected...is it in the colours of the night, turning cloth from moon white to evening sky blue? The lunar relationship to water and tides, and the necessity of water for our dyeing? I'm not sure...ideas to meditate upon while using an assortment of clamps and resists to embed beautiful moon shapes, naturally, into our cloth. These textiles will all be used in felt making projects later....and for now, enjoyed hanging in my studio!

And on the Full Moon of September 12, I gathered my cloths, my clamps and resists, and prepared my indigo vat, and set about indigo dyeing in the moonlight! Indigo dyeing is always such a magical process...it never fails to fill me with awe! In the picture above you can see the cloth coming out green from the dye vat, and turning blue above as the cloth is exposed top the air! Magic!

A simple fold and clamped length of cotton batiste, freshly out of the dye bath and stretched out, wet to oxidize. Beautifully simple, both in process and finished cloth.

All the indigo dyed pieces spread out under the moonlight. I left them there all night...

The full moon rose over the trees, and shone down on me as I dyed..It was so peaceful...left me thinking about the sun and the moon and their qualities...sun dyeing and moon dyeing and why they would be different...and what a textile piece might look like when you brought them together...would it look different from an anyday/everyday dyed work?

The first clamp experiment, rinsed, dried, and ironed....silk habotai...

Indigo full moon on wool prefelt...clamp resist dyed. I dyed about 2 metres of this prefelt using the clamps and moons cut out from foam meat trays...

...and full moons on silk habotai...this silk piece was laid on top of the prefelt, then both were folded, clamped and dyed. I quite like how some of the indigo migrated under the resist to create the little lines of blue on the moons' surface...

The cotton batiste...I loved dyeing cotton with plant dyes. it's usually a more involved process...not so with indigo...but the feel of the cotton after ironing...mmmmmm.....

My favourite piece from the session...this was the last piece I did, so I was starting to figure it out a little! Metal resists, super tight clamping, clamps on the resists rather than on the outside layer of fabric, long immersions in the indigo vat...I'll cut this piece in two along the length...Unless I keep wearing it as a scarf, as I did to the Salt Spring Studio Tour meeting last night!

Indigo moon flowers...I love the rust marks left by the clamps in the middle section...

Indigo moons, with folding patterns...calling out for stitches...I find it interesting how the lighter blue areas are each so different, like different characters...arms folded upwards, arms outstretched...a bear face, or fox? Mythic....I'd love to make one with thirteen moons...and see what "unfolds"!

When the indigo vat is going...who can resist...a little organic merino fingering weight yarn, indigo dipped...

And last of all..6metres of cotton cheesecloth for nuno felting...lots of ideas for this piece of cloth. I didn't get around the clamping it..getting too late and dark, so it is just tonally dyed. I may just hang it from the ceiling for a while and enjoy it's ethereal qualities!

I learnt so much from experimenting with the process... I had known for a while I wanted to do this, but I hadn't done any preparation for this full moon. I need more resists and clamps ready and available for next time, and a little studying on the clamping process. I might try some in the meantime using acid dyes, to try out some different techniques with fast setting dyes.

Dyeing with indigo in the moonlight had such a meditative quality, so quiet and peaceful...as if the moon required me to remained focused and centered...paying attention..not getting distracted with other tasks, or dyeing simply for production...And I could only dye so much...as it was getting darker and darker as I worked, having this limitation on the exercise was also clarifying...

A lovely evening...and now lovely textiles hanging in my studio as inspiration!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Studio Floor-finished!

2011-09-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

Creating this dedicated workspace to make it as inviting, comfortable and inspiring as possible has been a wonderful challenge! It is becoming a space where I want to spend every available minute, and invite others to spend time with me here, also!

This is a corner (back right) that has me a bit confused...it feels like a natural sitting place, a relaxing place, a place for telling stories, and dreaming while looking out the front through the big cedar and glass barn doors. But the overall space is also quite small...so this might be too indulgent a use of space. This corner may become the finished felt display area...for scarves, purses, jackets and wraps, pillows and throws and lights...saving the expanse of white wall for art pieces...this would be a a great view from the felting tables...

Sweeping curves that lead the eye, from the doorway to the different parts of the space. Strongly influenced by Scandinavian colours and patterns, as in our home and my new felt wall hangings (must show you those soon!)...

Looking over towards the back left corner, which will house the new wall of wools; a soon-to-be colourful show that is for sale, inspiration, and
quick-to-reach for use in design swatching, production and artwork.

In the middle of this flooring section will be the main felting table...

And back to the front doors- a wall of glass and cedar and light...beautiful. My little cash counter will be just behind the last window above, and I added the little painted feature where I will stand behind my counter...where only I can see it...and that pleases me!

Most of the floor surface is solid- There are just the three main sweeping lines and the corner detail... a little fresh highlighting...

And now it is finished, so it's time to move in and get to work!

warm wishes,

Fiona

Flag Folding and Dyeing Scarves

2011-08-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

I dyed this scarf using the traditional flag fold. I don't yet have pictures of how to make these folds, but I think I'll do some this week and add them here.

I folded the scarves in half along the length and folded them up in triangular sections.

First dip was into the yellow dye bath, holding the folded scarf carefully into the bath with tongs, for about 5 minutes.

Next dip into turquoise. One of the things I like about this method is the secondary colours we get where the dips overlap. All the layers add a great colour depth to the finished piece.

Last folded dip into red/brown. I had decided I would be making this into a purple hued scarf, so I chose colours that would mix well and have a good relationship with the purples. In this case, warm, earthy tones.

The silk side of the scarf above, and the wool side below. It's surprising that the silk side has softer colouring than the wool side. Usually silk takes up the colours more vibrantly than the wool.

This scarf has a lovely watercolour feeling. There is a shimmer and iridescent effect from the layering of colours. I'd have loved to have spent some more time with this scarf before it was dropped off at the gallery... to appreciate the colouring and take some better pictures.

I'll just have to make some more!

So many things to make...I'll write more on the folding techniques, plus put together my tutorial on nuno felting this week...and then...the scarves I had set out to make at the beginning of this story...inspired by Els at Fiber Rainbow's Kaffe bag!

warm wishes,

Fiona

Accordian Folding and Dyeing Felt Scarves

2011-08-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

I started out with one idea on the new felt scarves I am making...but ended up going somewhere completely different! Those initial design ideas will incubate for a few days, while I work on this new direction!

I started by felting a superfine merino fiber into silk habotai scarves. The fiber is so luscious to work with...dreamy...and virtually felts just by looking at it. I felted three scarves at one time, and then dyed them individually.
This one is dyed using an accordian fold. I divided the width of the scarf in quarters and pleated it along those lines. Then I folded the scarf along the length.

First dipped into a yellow dye bath. Held carefully with tongs, so only a third of one surface was submerged.

I held it in the dyebath for about 5 minutes. Next dip was into fuschia pink. I didn't get a picture of this step, as children came around at this point, with needs and squables, and between being immersed in my dyeing, and a need to restore equilibirum...I missed the photo stage!:) Using the tongs again, I dipped in only the bottom third of the scarf surface in the fuschia.

For the last step on this scarf I put the whole scarf in a mild turquoise dye bath, still folded, and left simmering for 45 minutes.
And...taa daa! Accordian folded felt scarf...I love the way it has a very soft plaid effect, subtle lines and shadings. I'll dye like this again, with more pronounced colour combinations and longer dipping times...

Picture taken very hurriedly as I rushed to get the scarves into the gallery before they closed for the day!
The extra fine merino and habotai create the softest, most luxurious scarves...mmmmm....looking forward to Fall!
...and tomorrow...Flag folded scarves...
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Felting, felting, felting today!

2011-08-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yay! I'm back to work at my felting table- altough it is outside of my studio, and not in it! I love my new floors so much, I'm reluctant to move anything inside!

Today I'm finishing some orders for wool lights...

I love these...wool and lighting in combination is so warm and enchanting. I have a whole new series of hanging lights planned for this Fall...inspired by nature...flowers and wasp nests and beeswax....

And this afternoon...felting extra fine merino scarves and shawls for ArtCraft. They have sold all my work in the last few weeks while I have been building and dyeing...my shelves are empty and so I'm dedicating this week to making new pieces for them.

I'm going to record my process and write it up as a tutorial. I should be ready to post that next week...I plan on trying out a new series, inspired by some conversation I've had with Els, at Fiber Rainbow...

Just thinking this about is making me twitchy to get started!

warm wishes,

Fiona

Flying Felties Tutorial at Living Crafts

2011-08-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed chatting, playing and creating with some young visitors this summer. It was such a pleasure to have some little people around, and their parents!

One day we made these Flying Felties together, an easy to make felt toy that my sons all loved to use years ago (and still did this summer!).

The tutorial is now available on the Living Crafts blog. Enjoy!
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Studio Colours

2011-08-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

Wow! We're almost finished rebuilding the studio!

This looks a little messy, as it's still very much a construction site and has not been all prettied up. I'll do before and after session once we are truly "after"!

The ceilings are whitewashed exposed rafters.
The floors are just 3/4 inch ply wood...simple and inexpensive, and not good one side and in need of paint....

My (almost) last job was to paint the studio floor, and I chose this Robins Egg Blue. It just seemed like the right colour, but now I'm not so sure.

It is much more light, and has a delicate, seaside feel....

I've always veered away from blue in the home, as it can make it feel so cool....and warmth is very important to us after years of living in a cold house and chopping lots of firewood! But one of my sons asked why we never have anything blue, and that got me thinking....And I imagined a warm turquoise floor, with grass green, white and coral orange patterns painted on the surface- just a little...a few swirls and flowers....just because.

So now we have the blue base....and I'm having trouble getting used to it (it's been all of 12 hours since I finished painting!)....It feels a bit like a swimming pool. At least half of the wall space will be covered with colourful rainbows of wool. Do I try it out for a while? Do I paint on my surface designs and add all the finishing trim and furniture that will make half the floor space dissappear? Will the blue make it harder to photograph items well in the studio? Will it reflect up on the white walls and make things look dull, and always a little blue? I don't know? What do you think?
I need to have the floor finished by tomorrow so I can start moving in....So I'm going to take a break from studio colours for a few hours and immerse myself in colours of another sort- dyeing piles of yarns and rovings...and then make the decision!
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Living Crafts Magazine/Kattikloo Giveaway

2011-08-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

Last year I designed a wedding shawl for the spring issue of Living Crafts magazine.

It is such a special project. The shawl is knit in two halves, with the families of the bride and groom each knitting a side, which is then joined with an entwined lace centre panel.

A Living Crafts reader, Marcia Kimpton, wrote to me, sharing her heartwarming story in making this project for her son's wedding this summer, and you can read it here.

To celebrate these shared craft projects, Living Crafts and Kattikloo Fibre Studio are sharing in a giveaway! A fabulous package including three 100gram (3.5 ounce) skeins of Kattikloo Baby Alpaca yarn as used for the Living Crafts wedding shawl, a copy of Living Crafts Spring 2011 issue that features the wedding shawl story, plus a one year subscription to Living Crafts Magazine (Total value $100.00). Yarn color will be the winner’s choice.

So please visit the Living Crafts blog, enjoy the story and enter the draw by leaving a comment by midnight pacific time on Sunday, August 14th. Winner will be announced on Monday, August 15th.

Good Luck!
Fiona

Summertime Roadside Attractions

2011-08-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

I love taking some time to as I drive from place to place, errand to errand, to observe a prevalent feeling or observation during the journey.

This weeks meanderings ventures into pinks...the predominent roadside color these days here on the island.

I parked and walked and snapped photos and observed...just taking a few minutes, in between things....a little breath of beauty on this summer day, in this place.

Such a splendour of pinks! I returned home, with a few checks on my to-do list, and dyed some yarns....holding the space of the roadside beauties...

Baby Alpaca in a laceweight that is luscious for shawls and scarves...

And some great worsted weight yarns, perfect for hats and mittens and children's sweaters and pants....

A little breath of color and making, in amongst the summertime socials and lists! And available in the Shop now, for some later Summer into Fall knitting and crochet!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Wool Giveaway Winner!

2011-08-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I just used the random number generator at Random.org and the winner is.....

Number 10! And that would be Ronnie in Australia from Homemade Happy!

Please send me an email, Ronnie, with your mailing address and the wool play pack will soon be winging its way to you!

Thank you all again for your comments! I loved reading about your project ideas. I'm sorry you can't all have won- but I do hope you have some beautiful wool in your stash so you can make some of the great ideas you described!

August 1st was perfect sunshiney summery birthday! My twin sons turned twelve. A special day including birthday breakfasts- homemade crepes with fresh fruit and whipped cream, visits with dear friends, gifts of wood working tools, modelling clay, wooden airplanes and remote control helicopters, sunshine, building and play... and two cakes... that will take us most of the rest of the week to finish! An ideal day for birthday boys!

August 1st also marks the halfway point between Summer solstice and Fall equinox, and traditionally is celebrated as the beginning of harvest. I love to mark these points in time; they bring a focus to each period; a deeper awareness; a reminder to pay attention. With my sons' birthday falling on that day, we will observe this through the week instead, making some traditional harvest crafts this week, using wheat straw and corn husks, to celebrate the shifting seasons.

I haven't been getting in much wool time making as my studio/felting shed is under (re)construction. And it's short term- hope to be finished by the end of this week. So it feels more right to tidy up some other business, like articles for Living Crafts, wool orders for Fall, more wool dyeing in preparation for Fibrations, in Victoria, workshop planning....rather than set up shop temporarily. I can't wait to have it all finished, both because I love the space, and I'm so looking forward to getting to work on fall projects! It is probably good to have my ideas building up and bursting out of my notebook in anticipation of the time when I can hit the felting table again!
Warm wooly wishes,
Fiona

wool share!

2011-07-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

I received the most wonderful package in the mail yesterday!

I entered a giveaway on Heather WoolLove's blog, Wool Love- functional fiber art. Heather is a marvelous feltmaker and very sweet person. I'm so enjoying getting to know her!

She was giving away some of her handspun yarn, and I won some-Yay!
And now it's here...a treasured package....you know..one of those you hold on to for a while and savour the unveiling!

Mmmmm...isn't that yummy?

So..I'm going to use these in a felting project...surprise..surprise! I'm imagining some kind of fairy world project. There is a kind of magic in these beautiful yarns...I see using these together, in combination....Heather so thoughtfully wrapped the package with a length of silk sari ribbon, definitely to be included with these yarns in my project....they all would also be interesting used as cords on a felted scarf....hmmmmm.....it'll be fun to see what they become when it's their turn on the table!

...I think I'll have to hang this loveliness in my studio for awhile and enjoy it's amazing textures and fun colours!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Heather!
And I'd like to pass on this generosity...with a giveaway of my own. Passing on the wooly goodness and creative potential! What will you make?
I'd like to send someone a wool play pack...

one year ago today...

2011-07-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of time sorting through pictures on my laptop...they get stored in a really odd way....day, month, year, which makes it hard to find things sometimes...but with 3 years of photos to go through, lately I've been having fun with this. Looking at this day, last year, the year before...where was I in the world, what was I thinking of?

It's like my whole life is encapsulated in these photo files....so here's where I was a year ago today...
A few days at the cottage...in Quebec....

...working late, late one night and watching television while I worked.....this painting was in the background of a scene in a show I was watching. I loved the flow of colours, and the dark and light spaces...not the best of photos- sorry...but enough to remind me for future inspiration. I have a collection of photos taken from movies and tv like this. And the next morning...

...my teenager enjoying a quiet moment on the front porch, catching monarch butterflies on his toes! Lovely!

...my boys handpainting on cotton batiste to be used in nuno felting a quilt for Granny! This may be an article some day- what a great project!

...and me, later in the day, starting to wet out the felt blanket....

...and a display installation I made for my friend Carol's fibre arts store, Wabi Sabi, in Ottawa....We were trying to find a fun way to display wool rovings....colourfully while keeping them apart so the fibres wouldn't blend. I love the way the colours are highlighted...Very fun....
Wow..was all this only a year ago? It seems like so much longer...

...and now back to the present...and the studio renovations!
warm wishes,
Fiona

Dreaming of...Walled Gardens

2011-07-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is...oh...was (recently sold) walled garden of a good friend. I had never really spent time in one before...and they truly are magical spaces. The mass of the stone blocks out the rest of the world....except for whatever is living within the walls...and this takes on a special life...the scents are more fragrant...the conversations more distinct and intimate...Such a space to share tea, knitting, chatting....relaxing....We loved being in.....

....and on this walled garden! He's actually quite high up....a case of holding my motherly tongue and trusting in his instincts and innate sense of balance and self preservation! We went to the walled garden during every free moment we had during our visit...tranquil and calming.

This morning I woke up....looking up the hill at the site of our future garden...and started dreaming of stone walls....and blooms and birds and fountains....lucky for me, my brother is a (very talented!) master stone mason....maybe I can convince him to come for a (working) visit!

It's just so easy to feel special in such a special place. Maybe because it takes such intention just to build such a monument to peacefulness.....

It may remain a dream...but it's a nice one!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Traveller Scarves

2011-07-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

We have visitors coming who we met while in New Zealand....way back when...It'll be so lovely to reconnect with them, and of course their visit takes us back to places shared when our children were small.... and all these thoughts led to these scarves in a subconscious way.

I started with making two simple nuno felted scarf lengths...white on white...habotai on merino...I love the simplicity and pureness of this stage....it would be lovely for a wedding ensemble....a perfect canvas...Absolute luxury....

Then I folded the scarves in half, rolled them up, and dyed in turquoise....more dye comes in contact with the ends than the middle. I like the random nature of the patterning. Then I re-rolled them, and dyed in a shallow immersion dye bath of magenta.

At this point it was hard to decide how much farther to go with the colouring. Luckily I was working on two, so I could practice restraint with one, and play with the other! So the bottom scarf remained in soft blending of blues, pinks, purples and white....

So the NZ connection? I was working very instinctively on these...no formed plan or conscious inspiration...At this point I realized I was thinking of NZ, of the soft colours on the horizon in the Marlborough Sound; the blues and greys of the Wellington winter (as it is now); and of paua shells (abalone)...That I had just come across while digging in my very disorganized jumble of a craft box....that traveled with me from here to there and back...

The other scarf I dip dyed in a yellow dye bath, to complete the paua shell colour blending of purples, blues and greens....

I quite liked the rainbow colours this gave, but it was not what I was looking for this time, so I overdyed the whole scarf once more in a very mild turquoise dye bath...turning the yellows to greens, and the red to purple...keeping it gentle....aqueous....

And I am happy with these. I loved the process and I love the finished scarves...I want to keep them...but these are for ArtCraft....

Along with the earrings these beads are made into....

I'll create more of these in a series of travelers scarves...it's lovely to create and let your mind wander into the places you've been and the people you've met and miss!
Warm wishes,
Fiona

More Storytelling Scarves...

2011-07-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

This week held lots of felting frustration, and sore tired upper arms...lots of smelly raw wool..exciting ideas and exhaustion...but that is not for todays chat!
Just some simple dyeing...and felting....

Silk habotai eco printed with these stunning St John's Wort flowers we have growing everywhere on our property, onion skins I've been saving...and saving..and forgetting to use..until now! And a sprinkling of dianthus flowers I gathered on a dye walk....they produced the lovely soft purple colouring on the silk. I didn't include any metals, as the plants are high in tannins and this works well as a mordant also. I should have left this for longer...to steep...but had some deadlines to meet so production won over art!
This silk piece became these scarves....

I tried using some gutta resists in copper on the silk before felting. I like the shimmer, and it holds really well both to over dyeing and felting...could be interesting...but I found it a bit hard to control..due to lack of experience...I haven't done any fabric painting in 20 years , although at that time I made a range of clothing that was entirely hand painted... it didn't all come back to me immediately! Some of my copper lines looked bulky or smudgey...so the purple/red scarf got over dyed quite extensively....and then beaded to tone down, work over the coppery areas....highlighting them rather than hiding them...it worked out....but I'll be leaving the resists alone for awhile until I can experiment more....
I'm developing a line of classes for the Fall, and using different textiles mediums in felting will be one of them....details coming in August!
There..a little fibre chat....a little focus on some good things...and I feel much better! Thanks for that! I'll show you my frustrating felts later this week...lots to learn from them....particularly, when tired, stop!
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Colour!

2011-07-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Oh! What a gorgeous and sunny and lovely day. A great day for dyeing lots of local merino wool rovings....I'm just going to post the pictures today...soak up the sunshine and colour! Yum! I feel some sweet and soft children's projects coming on!

Mmmmmmm...I feel fibre nourished already today! These are all available in my etsy store, Kattikloo, waiting to be made into wonderful things by all you fiberistas!
Happy happy....What fibre goodness might the rest of the day hold?

Warm wishes.

Fiona

Monday Inspirations 11

2011-07-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

Or...Monday Inspiration 1 revisited!
It has been an invaluable experience for me to write to Monday inspirations series. It has given me a record of material to draw on for my own work and in reflecting last week on how sometimes I am not looking for new inspirations, I came to a better understanding of the impact seasonal change can have on my creative impulses.

While building houses, Graham and I have found we needed to schedule in a slowed down period over the peak of winter, and the height of summer. (We didn`t always manage to actually do this- but often reminded each other that we should!) The extremes act in similar ways upon us. In winter it is a time of introversion and reflection, of cocooning in the cold and long nights. In the summer the heat and humidity similarly quiets us down, finding us sitting under a giant ash tree or on the porch- an extroverted, social time of year, but also one where we chose to do less, enjoy our close to home, look out into the greater world less, and reflect more.

It all made sense to me after writing last week that creative inspiration should follow a similar rhythm. In the winter and summer my rhythm finds me looking at my world through different windows, collecting ideas and images. Spring and Fall brings periods of intense activity and making, not necessarily with the inspirations most recently collected. I think these need this period to sleep. To lie dormant and percolate and germinate, to take on shape and form, and then come to life in the following season, or as the opportunity arsises, when the conditions are just right.

This is not about being fixed in patterns...and is not absolute...it is about understanding yourself and your creative rhythms and then relaxing into them and allowing them to work best for you, rather than struggle against them. Every person will have their own creative rhythm...a way of approaching making in which everything flows and works.

Last week I had an image from Monday Inspirations 1 absolutely popping in my head! It was truly felt impossible to make anything else and I could barely keep myself from getting out to the felting shed and getting going...

And of this image, came this wool felt bag:

The front flap of the bag, showing the coloured silk inserts, made using round resists, felting over them, then cutting them out... and little bit of beading...

I included a few coloured insets on the front under the flap....and a couple on the back...

This bag was a departure from my storytelling felt series...but it just had to happen.

Looking at the image, I know there is so much more I can do with it...and I look forward to playing with some of the others collected over the winter...
And collecting more now, to plant for the next creative season...
Warm wishes,
Fiona

This week in the felting shed...

2011-06-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

Oh Yay! It's Thursday afternoon, before a holiday Friday, and my felt making for ArtCraft is all complete for the week! My wool felt storytelling bags like these...

...have been selling really well (as well as the scarves and earrings) at the summer show I'm taking part in, so I needed to get some serious felting in this week in order to be stocked for the holiday weekend.
And so early in week, I started out making these...

I make the beads all in natural white, and then toss them in the dyepots when I am overdyeing the silks and scarves. I try to get them floating on the surface so they absorb the dye more on one side, and then dip them into another dyebath for a little more depth of colour...
And I made these....

More storytelling scarves...these have just been felted. You can see the tannin and coloured imprints from the eco-dyeing, and the texts collected have been added, before felting...
And I made some of these...

Three new felt storytelling bags... The grey tone wools seem to be the most popular so far. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out over the summer. They are the colours that most people wear, and then they have some bright colour accent for a bit of spark.
And then, late last evening, I overdyed, steamed and pressed the scarves...ready to go!

I worked late into the night...ummmmm...3:00am...I kept thinking that this was a bad idea (or at least it would be in the morning, when I had a phone meeting scheduled with my editor for 8:00am!)...but I was watching an interesting documentary on the US school system (not so very relevant to me, but relevant to so many that I know...) And of course sewing, embroidery and beading to do on the bags....which became these....

Ooooo...Up at 7:00 to read and think and prepare for my phone meeting....and then the finishing of the earrings....

Tagged, priced...and delivered...and now I'm dreaming a giant felt dandelions in seed....think 4-6 feet in diameter....or nuno mandalas....same sizes...maybe that is what this weekend will bring....a wild felting diversion from the production felt pieces...and a little extra sleep!
Happy Canada Day!
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Monday Inspirations 10

2011-06-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't written one these for a while. Some days I am just not that inspired. Some days I just need to finish (or start) the list....make food for the family...maintain peace with a house full of three adolescent boys.... I always make things, and love doing it....I sometimes just can't see past the day into new inspirations and creative ideas. I came into period of time recently where I really needed to work with where I was, and what I had, and not be looking for more ideas.

Then we went on a hike through the forest, down in Ruckle Park (my most favourite place on earth), off the trails, wandering....
At the top of a rise, circled in beautiful red arbutus trees we found a full skeleton of a deer. It was an amazing lesson in anatomy to really see the ball and socket and how they work...and to see to subtle shading in the natural wear of the bleached bones. Appreciating them for what they are...and what we could imagine them to be....

What amazing symmetry. This strikes me as perfect form for a vest..either mystical and mythic, or derived from into an everyday wearable felt or knit piece.

Just look at those amazing lines...Do our skulls fuse together in these patterns as babies? Wanderings, but with clear direction...an ancient river, complete with oxbow lakes...nature revealing patterns that repeat in different forms. I'd like to make a simple wool felt wallhanging that includes these wandering lines...I love that they are formed through a fusing together...very felty! I have some local fleeces that would we great to make this with....

What a perfect, simple form this is....how feminine and delicious...so graceful and refined...and worn around the edges. I love this bone...I keep seeing it in my felting shed and wanting to add it to one of my bags...but that is just not the right combination....It is only in writing this that I see I should make some felt wallhanging and use some of the bones within them, as well as as inspiration...

The vertebrae have great shapes...Each is unique and yet fits tightly with its neighbour..only working when in harmony with the others...These bones inspire both reverence, and fun. I started using these as little puppets (without heads- see their lovely waving arms?) up on the hillside, making up stories...leaving my children rather bemused....Maybe because I was telling them that if we had of had bones like this when they were small, they would have had no toys at all...these bones were so fun....They could even be turned into.....

....Rocket fighters...Oh yah....and orchids....mineral orchids....

These have such different shapes...one so massive and strong, with great rounded protrusions, and one so straight and refined, with crisp, clear carvings.

The long straight tibia (maybe?) reminds me of some Viking carvings I have seen...tools and ornamentation...I love the lines on this bone...It will have to be included in the new felt line as well...

Maybe this will become a part of a series of felt called provenance....I've been thinking alot about our materials and the provenance of our craft...these bones would excellent to incorporate into such a work..along with local wools and found plant dyes....

Now to find the time to work on these!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Nuno Felt Dress

2011-06-23T23:25:00.000-07:00

Last week I needed to find something to wear to the opening night of ArtCraft. I was imagining finding something cottony and simple at the local thrift shop that I would felt into. Then I saw an image of a lovely felt dress made by Linda Borkamo, and knew this was just what I wanted to make.

It was so nice just to make something for the pure pleasure of making it, after a few weeks of making items for the show. That was all still a pleasure but different. It felt so decadent to take a whole day, just to make myself a dress! I did all my math, creating a template to allow for shrinkage, and laid out my silk habotai and merino wool...all in natural to be dyed after felting.

This was made as a seamless construction, all in one piece, no sewing...except the stitching I did with wool yarn over the surface at the prefelt stage, in keeping with my storytelling line of felts....I used some of the stitching to created some shaping at the neckline, by gathering the stitches and knotting them off. And there's a little silk ruffle left without wool at the front of the neckline.

It was wonderful how the advance planning and attention to detail paid of in the fitting of the garment. The sizing was perfect once completely fulled, with the exception on the armhole fronts, which I then worked on, in isolation (the felt, not me, although it is entirely likely that I had lost any companions that might have joined me in my felting shed by this stage of the process!), a little
more vigorously to pull in the shape as I needed, and also therefore strengthening the sleeve openings. I would so love to make some more couture styled pieces, fit so perfectly to the shape of the new owner.
Dress felted- day 1...then I had to decide what colour I wanted to wear the next day!

The blues and greens just happened...Turquoise seems to be surfacing as my colour of the moment... and I love it! I rolled the dress up from side to side and then folded it in half and immersion dyed it in a light yellow green. Then I unrolled it, and re-rolled from the other side, and dyed in turquoise. This dye method is the same as I am using to overdye my storytelling scarves. I really like the organic blending of the two colours as they flow through the textile into the middle, leaving the ends in each single colour.
Dyeing complete- lunch time day 2, and I have a new party dress...woolly and shimmery all at the same time......mmmmmm.....
I see lots more felt clothing in my future.....
Oh! And the opening was amazing- full house- dynamic and engaging....and I've already sold 4 pieces- yay!
It does all feel a little Cinderella like, only my sweeping up cinders is making more felt bags, wraps, and lights, and writing articles....and I can hardly complain about that..in fact, I can't wait to get started!
So back to work for me..maybe I'll hang my shimmery dress in my shed, just to keep me thinking....for the next moment I get some felting playtime...
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Yard Sale Treasures1

2011-06-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went out to my first yard sales on Salt Spring Island, on a delightfully guided tour with my friend, Amy Melious. I haven't done much yard saleing since my sons were small. Maybe because we've been building houses, and traveling, so hardly ever had anywhere to store anything and items brought into the space had to be carefully considered.

I don't go out looking for anything in particular, but found a wonderful array of goodies for wool craft and my new studio space.

Yummy Peace Fleece yarns. I love their wool, their company and their philosophy. The seller also had three skeins of black, but I just knew I would never use it myself, so I left it for someone else to treasure.

2 x 100grams for $2.00

Hand dyed Merino wool..so soft...I like to collect bits and pieces. They may be knit or crocheted as they are, felted into pieces, or used in classes.
2 x 100grams for $3.00

More merino...Hard to resist. This is one of those cabled yarns. I quite like the texture they give. I imagine I'll over dye this.
10 (yes! 10 balls..all in one colour!) x 50 gram balls for $3.00

Cotton damask tablecloth. I recently saw some of this Eco- Printed and over dyed which brings up the damask designs. Very excited to play with this!
$0.25

Two balls of crochet cotton. There was a whole box of it...all going for $3.00. Maybe about 20 balls. But I just don't need that much. In fact, I don't really need any of it. I bought this for one of my sons who seems to always be asking me if I have any string for his various projects. So now he does!
(Oops...thinking...thinking.....I could use some of this for the stitching on my storytelling felt pieces. The cotton would integrate in an interesting way, and I love that it already has a history with someone else. it has already been on a journey. Now I'll have to ask my son if I can use some of his string!)
2 full balls for $0.50 (The seller only wanted a quarter, but I felt like I needed to give her a little more!)

I pick up scarves second hand wherever I can. I like to cut them up and felt them into different projects. As well as being an inexpensive source of silk, velvet and cottons, it also adds to the provenance of apiece I think. I don't know where it has been worn to, seen at, given comfort during, shielded against, caressed, but each imagined story adds to the finished work.

Velvet, silk and cotton scarves for $1.50 (for all three)

Mmmm....this is an interesting collection....A cone of super bulky alpaca, and two hand dyed balls ...more merino from the feel of it. It's very fine. Added to the playbox...

3 balls for $1.50

What a fabulous box of fun! A great big box of basket making supplies. Cane and reed in different sizes, plus a few half finished treasures. I like these projects started by someone else. I love to sit back and look at/appreciate their work, and then add my own touch to it, in completing it. Either holding to it's original form or changing it completely. Basket making is something I like to do on the edges of my creative space. It is not really my thing, but I find it balances out all the wool sometimes. (And gives me great vessels for storing it all!)

Big box for $10.00

A great mirror for my new, soon to be studio/shop space....I like the rounded edges and simplicity of the design...and the price! Woohoo!

Mirror for $0.50

Two really big bamboo blinds for felting surfaces. I used bamboo blinds for felting for years, then switched to solar pool covers. But I couldn't pass these up. I think both types of surfaces have their applications, and these will be great for workshops and large projects.

2 x bamboo blinds for $5.00

I love old wooden windows. They are not great for insulation, but really no window is, and these have such character. These will be incorporated into the new studio space. They'll be a little tricky to frame in (but I know Graham will manage it!). What a great shape. I might put them on either side of a glass door....or right next to one another like they are in the photo...Today I'm working on the floor plan for the studio space, so I'll figure out where they belong...

2 x old wooden windows for $25.00

And last of all- two fig trees. We have a thing about fig trees. It reminds us of our time in Australia. Such a wonderful time in the tropics, camping for almost a year with our three boys. We had two fig trees back east that we gave to some dear friends to foster while we went traveling in 2008. They still happily thrive with one another (the people and the fig trees!) in the months of preparing to move, and solidifying our decision, we kept saying to each other- if we move to Salt Spring Island, we can have fig trees-outdoors...And here we are, on salt spring, on our own land, and acquired at our last yard sale stop for the day- 2 fig trees....Yard sale goodness! For $3.00 each

Total spending for the day: moderate- $58.75 (the windows kind of throw the budget a little!)

Happiness quotient: high!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Evergreen Felt Houses

2011-05-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

This week I finished up some pieces for donation to the Evergreen Independent School in Cobble Hill.

It was so fun making the little home for a gnome! I first made these to sell last fall, and never got any pictures taken of them. Probably because I made them while camping, out in the rain, in late November! I've made them in a variety of sizes and shapes. I love them all. These little homes will be available for sale again soon, and also as a tutorial and workshop offering. I really enjoy making felt work for storytelling and play. The warm tactile nature of the wool is ideal for inviting and involving children in the story or play.

I feel so fortunate to have so many creative outlets for my work. Sometimes I feel like I should be focusing on only one; that I would go further by only pursuing one vein of interest, but I love to do all these things, at different times, and I hope that exploring them changes and deepens and improves the other avenues of making.
I make small and large whimsical storytelling creations for children, parents and teachers. I make felt accessories; scarves, purses, jewelry, clothing, light, soft, feminine and involved for craft shows, galleries and studio sales. And I make an interior design line, with crisp lines, using felt in unusual contexts, with a strong Scandinavian influence.

So today I jump from making little gnome houses, to designing a floor covering that is a wood/felt hybrid. I am so excited about the potential in this. It all came together during a conversation on the ferry, after dropping off my donations to the Evergreen School....I could barely stand still- in fact I wasn't. I was jumping up and down and waving my arms! My partner is amazing- he is a brilliant sounding board for creative ideas, and has plenty of his own to add to the mix. We are lucky to have each other!

Off with my sketchpad and colouring pencils in hand to the property...I hope the Auction at the Evergreen School is going as well as my day is today!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Salt Spring Island Story Scarves

2011-05-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

It's been a super busy few weeks...I should really just stop saying that...as it seems to be perpetual! I am working on my time management and work vs relaxation balances!
Three articles for Living Crafts complete, application submitted for ArtCraft, lovely visit with my Mother in Law, completion of a new knitting pattern (more on that to come), two new felting tutorials in the works, plus some play with using transfer papers in feltmaking (more on that soon too!)...I can feel satisfied with these accomplishments!

I have really been enjoying makes my felt story scarves. In my last post, they had been wrapped and were ready for steaming. I half immersed the dye bundle- I set out to steam them, but my years of long, slow immersion plant dyeing make it hard for me to resist adding more water so the dyes can move around! After simmering for 30 minutes, I wrapped the bundle in plastic bags and popped them into our handy fermentation house. Usually used for sourdough bread, and kombucha making, and presently home to sprouting date seeds and plant dyed silks! I stuck it in at the back so no-one would notice!

When I`ve used India Flint`s Eco Colour techniques in the past, I`ve left the bundles for weeks and sometimes months before opening them. I lasted 3 days on this bundle. I was so curious! I wanted to see how the plants reacted with silk and the felt.

I quite like the effect. Lots of tannins in there. And some very distinct patterns. It does feel like the scarves have taken on and come into relationship with the terroir of this place. And that is the whole idea!

These are the scarves with the text added...found or overheard snippets of conversations, observations, collected while out on my dye walk...I used a fabric marker for the text...a little tricky to be delicate. I want the text to almost disappear, to be in the background, present but unobtrusive. I have to experiment a little more with this. Write first, then felt, and plant dye...Use a different technique for the writing...(these would be questions but my keyboard has switched to French somehow, and I don`t know how to change it back! So a question mark comes out like this-É!). This method is absolutely wash fast. The persimmon and brown wrap was washed several times after adding the text with no change.

Then colour just called out....loud and clear... it needed to happen! So I rolled the scarf tightly and immersed it in a dye bath, then rerolled from the other direction fand dyed with a different colour. Low impact acid dyes on the blue and green wrap and plant dyes on the persimmon one. I love this name for that colour! I was just reminded of it today. It is one of my all time favorite colours...warm pinky orange....persimmon....Can you see the little stitch paths (footprint tracks) working their way over, around and along the scarf (É)
It was Graham who suggested I dye one more time from the other end to add that last burst of colour. I was hesitating, thinking about what other people like, and he said some sage words about making what you love and people will respond to that, before going out for a walk (I am not the best company when feeling hesitant and uncertain about creative choices!). He was so right...and I did tell him so, when he returned. Now they do feel right. And like me...my work...I would wear these everyday as wraps or scarves. The tannins and patterns from the first plant dyeng, blend and tone well with the second and last dyeing. The layers and layers of process build up and feel rich and complex...the earthiness is present and tangible...I wish I had some pictures of these wraps or the scarves being worn, but they have all been delivered for jurying into a summer show (at the very last minute- actually with two minutes to spare. Exactly.) Fingers crossed!

And the next round of scarves beginning their story journey....

Warm wishes,
Fiona

Salt Spring Island Dye Walk 1

2011-04-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

This has been a weekend full of activity (already!). Social time, new classes and studio openings. Planning, organizing, drawing and thinking. Hill walking, garden walking and beach walking. We are finally waking up to the longer days and feeling their potential to be out and active well into the evening hours.

Yesterday I had the most grounding and creative time. I have been working on a felt series for the market and my studio here. It incorporates geography, sense of place, and relationships.

I felt into lengths of silk with local wools, stopping partway through the process to add storylines of stitches. Songlines, trails, pathways, tracks, topographical lines-interpretation open to the setting and the viewer. Then finish felting. My dye process is based on the work of India Flint. On each dye story walk I go to a different place and take in the sounds and sights, and collect for the surface design. I collect plants from the land or the sea, garbage, metals, and stories and conversations.

"Home" seems like the best place to start this textile art recording. So I walked our property, observing the plants, looking for treasures. Those that spoke to me, I collected in my dye bag. Gary oak shavings, cherry bark, lichens, daffodils, primrose leaves, dandelions, arbutus bark, periwinkle flowers and vine, ajuga...some old tarnished coins...a few old nails...I brought them all down to the beach and soaked the felts in the tide.

I love how the silks felts bubble and float. They look just like seaweed. Inspiring in themselves. Another project!

I lay out my collection on the felt surface. Using the natural shapes to create interesting patters. Lines, circles, sweeps of curves. Then I add the next felt on top, building up layers of textiles and plant materials so that the dyes can move through the layers in different ways...in relationship.

The plants, metals, and other findings are rolled up into the felt bundles and submerged or steamed to extract and set the dyes.
(look carefully at the photos above- do you see the tide slowly coming in and claiming my boots! I didn't! Grin!)

The songs and stories and conversations are written onto the surface on the scarf or textile length. A record of that day, in that place.

It feels so right and true.

I'll post a finished picture this week.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend- filled with family, warmth, pleasure and creativity!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

76 Children

2011-04-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

I had a great time last week visiting the Evergreen Independent School. I spent a full day there, working with one of the parents, Andrea, teaching 76 children how to make felt. Oh ya!

It was a little wild and a little exhilarating! We had the day very well planned, with the classes organized to come in a staggered time frame. So while one of us was starting instruction and layout with one group, the other was working on finishing the felting with another. There was also enough flexibility built into the day that we could accommodate the different needs of each group, and have a few breathing moments ourselves!

Andrea, stretching out the youngest children's felt to dry.

Everyone started with a piece of white wool batting and built up their picture, and layers on top. This was one child's picture- a robins nest with egg. How beautifully simple, and inspired by the season.

And a sun setting in the forest.

We harnessed the energy of some the boys to do a group rolling! Each group had different needs, in terms of time for each step of the process, help with design choices and execution of the felting methods. There are so many ways to make felt- it was great to be able to pick and chose to best fit the group for age, dynamic and energy!

One class working their felts on the work surface. They are so sweet! Isn't that just a heartwarming image of children, happily engaged in creating?

Our discussions led us into the history and geography of feltmaking, which some of the teachers were going to build upon in upcoming lessons through the week. Some of the teachers also had the chance to make their own felt.

One class almost entirely decided to make their felts for a loved one. One was for a boy's Mother, who had been away from home for a few days, and he wanted to make something for her for when she returned. Another made a heart for a Mother's Day present; one felt became a gift for Grandfather. Not only creative, but so generous!

The older children were ispired to create masks. It would have been so good, with everyone, to be able to come back and work with their felts as a canvas for another project. To change, add and embellish. With this class, it would be so fun to put these masks on and create a story based around them.

Some of these are upside down- so they may be hard to make out. To work with 76 children in one day, we had to really keep track of time and put all our attention into the making, and not the photographing! I wish my pictures showed off their work in it's true beauty!

A great spider weaving a web of woolly colour!

This day was designed as a basic introduction to felt making. Most of the students had never made felt before, and those that had, had mostly experienced needle felting. It was such a satisfying day...our best laid plans paid off, and everyone finished and enjoyed the process. More time is always a good thing, but this worked well as an introduction. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to come back and work with the Evergreen School again- this time making a large wall tapestry for the school, made by all the hands of the children and their teachers.

Thank you Evergreen, all of your students and staff, for having us at your school! It truly was a wonderful day!

Warm wishes,
Fiona

Gratitude Gifts

2011-03-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

In 2011 I aspire to make one gift a month for someone special; for a maker in my life that makes for others and may not always receive handmade, and/or for someone who gives willingly, without a thought or expectation.

For March, I made for a friend of many years. Jenny Walker is a talented graphic designer and artist, and has been helping me out with projects for years. Far too often I have called her up or emailed at the last minute in panicked desperation, within days of heading out to a show or exhibit without promotional materials. And she has always stilled my panic and put together beautiful pieces for me. Jenny is also someone who I can talk to and have interesting, diverse, stimulating conversation with...and that is someone to treasure.

In a thrift shop here on the island, way back in December, I came across this turquoise print silk scarf. It just struck me that this was Jenny, so I bought it, not sure if I would send it to her as was, or add a little something of my own to it. It felt right (tee hee) to add something of myself to it, as it was a gift for her in appreciation of her creative talents. Finally this week, the scarf had it's turn on the table!

I added handdyed blue merino rovings, plus some handdyed green and purple prefelt, and some silk organza cut outs. I cut a large hole at one end, for the other end of the scarf to pass through. The other end tapers to a point, and has a felt cord, felted to the end. I left a few small spaces on the edges without wool, so that there would be small ripples showing the original silk pattern.

And....taa daa! The finished scarf! I love the way the patterned silk changes through felting.

The scarf is completely reversible, and can be worn wrapped around twice, with only the cord as a hanging tail, or wrapped singly, for a lighter scarf with a long hanging end. It's a fun style to play around with in front of the mirror, as there are lots of ways to wrap it on, and expose different combinations of patterns and solids.

The scarf is in the mail right now- on it's way to Jenny- just making it in time for my March Gratitude Gift! I hope Jenny loves it!
I'm thankful, both for knowing Jenny, and also for having the opportunity to take this time to make something for another maker...It is really a special thing to make something with a particular person in mind. We can't help but think of them, and about all our past experiences together...and I have to believe these emotions become enmeshed in the fibres of our project.

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Anemone Felt Scarf

2011-03-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by my tidal pool walk on Monday and found I had both some new fibre on hand plus some free time to just play with felting.

When I bought the beautiful sea colour blend cashmere at FibresWest, I knew I wanted to felt a cowl with it. Teaching the surface design class last weekend brought shibori bubbling up to the surface of my creative space, and the sea anemones brought the two together!

I laid out the wools and cashmere on silk gauze, then lightly felted to the prefelt stage and let it dry overnight.

The next day was glorious and sunny...perfect for working outside...and that just added to all the good feeling around my felting and "day off"! It was so relaxing, and creative...so re-energizing. And I was so happy to be making something without constraints of time, money, or necessity....I stitched designs in wool yarns, and added lots of shibori bubbles. Randomly spaced, sometimes in clusters, sometimes separate, as they are in the rock pools.

Then I finished fulling it. I love it just like this, without releasing the shibori beads. But on this scarf, the beads needed to be let out- there are surprises hiding inside! Ready? Taa daa!

I love the vibrancy of these bubbles. I also love it in its quieter version- precutting. The beads could be released form the back instead, leaving the bubbles whole. It would make a beautiful scarf with the shibori bubbles done all in white also....reminiscent of constellations....So much felt to make! Good thing I start selling at the market soon, and in my studio space, so it all can find new homes! For me it is all about the idea, and the making. I don't need to own any piece especially. But I love to play out an idea in 10 different variations of colour and pattern, before moving on.

The picture above shows the patterning on the reverse side of the shibori bubbles. It's quite lovely and textured...and cashmere...mmmmmm.....

And here...the cashmere side of the stitch design in detail, and then with the silk gauze side. These stitch patterns really resonate with me, and I feel they'll be showing up a lot in my work. They create senses of pathways, songlines, animal tracks. I have several wall pieces percolating....they will certainly use these lines....
The cashmere is gorgeous...it felted really well, and it is delicious against your skin. I used about 20grams for this scarf, which means I have more than enough to make another....yay!

A highly wearable and unique scarf. I am thinking that if I am going to put the time into felting pieces, why not let it always be such a pleasure, with a one of a kind outcome...felt less, charge more?
A perfect spring week...wool, sunshine, creativity, ideas...
Hope you had the chance to make something, just for the love of the making this week!
warm wishes,
Fiona

Monday Inspirations 9

2011-03-22T00:28:00.000-07:00

Today it's all about Anemones. Yes, those little sea creatures whose name, once you can say it, is just so fun to say, you have to repeat it! They are so soft and delicate- flowers of the tidal pools.

The colours within them are so interesting. The predominant ones here, on the edges of this island, are warm, mossy green, with bright coral and pink tendrils.

They develop great patterns on the pool floors. Different sizes, different spacings, some open, some closed. That randomness that is so prefect and challenging to recreate.

In this example I see perfect shibori dye patterns; maybe some discharge dyeing...and, of course, shibori felting...which is where I'm going with this today. This week I have the inspiration from our seaside walk, new fibres (yummy cashmere) and a project in mind- all at the same time. So I'm acting on this serendipity...started today, hopefully finished tomorrow- I'll show pictures as soon as it's dry!

I've been quite obsessed with anemones as fibre inspiration for a few years now. It all started in a much bigger way with Anemone chairs (which have not yet been made- maybe a good thing? I don't know....wild can be good for us all from time to time....). Every time I see them I think of something new to make. They are full of contrasts. So much texture. Their individual structure and their form en masse...Lots to see...

I'm so pleased to be playing with this today...I wonder where else anemones may take me?
Finished pics this week- definitely!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

FibresWest!

2011-03-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

We're back! And Ohhhh! We had so much fibre fun! Well, I should only speak for myself really, but Graham did have a good time talking wool with the ladies while I was teaching my classes, and the boys were so helpful, setting up and taking down displays, making hangtags, doing emergency woodwork, and being my helpers during the classes- with no fights or complaints- so I take that as a major success for all!
It was so lovely to spend several days surrounded by fibre people. So many wonderful conversations, and beautiful woolworks....
My classes went very well- lots of fun, lots of felting, lots of inspiring and talented people, and we almost finished on time!

These are just a few of the works in progress and finished scarves. As always, such a range of colours and styles- and all so beautiful!

On Saturday, we were working so intently on our surface design experiments that I didn't get a single picture! But one of my students did, so I hope to be able to share those with you soon. This class was fantastic...zingy with ideas and inspiration....we managed to fit in lots of techniques, while making beautiful felted art cloths.

I had the immense pleasure of meeting and spending some time with Lesley and Tina, of Pollika yarns. Two wonderful women, with lots of ideas and energy and smiles! They came to both of my classes, and we chatted off and on during the show. They carry a beautiful line of undyed yarns, shawl pins, kits, and buttons.

I made two small and carefully considered purchases at the show. I have so many WIPs here at home- articles and patterns in the works, that I had to be selective.

When I saw the cashmere roving in Knitopia's booth though, I knew I could not go home without it. And Barbara Walker's books have been on my wish list for years- I'm so happy to see them back in print. This cashmere is destined to become a felted cowl....maybe tomorrow! It is so divine, it has be used in a project I can snuggle into and touch as much as possible!

I also really wanted to take some pictures of my booth to show you- the great unveiling! But I was so revved up from teaching and talking wool, I completely forgot! Next time....and there will be a next time. It was such a great environment to be in for two days, thanks to the organizing of Brenda at Penelope Fibre Arts. Congratulations, and heartfelt thanks, Brenda, on hosting such a fabulous event!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Design Challenges

2011-03-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

I realized something about myself today. I love to do anything, as long as there is a creative design challenge involved.

We've just bought a one acre property on Salt Spring Island BC, which has a 1971 trailer home on it. It had been the home to a long term smoker. It didn't have a lot going for it, and the only thing we wanted was for it to be gone.

So we've spent the last few weeks designing a great, modular, eco- studio- oh so cool! But will cost about $20,000+ to build and that's not counting our (free) labour. And this isn't even our house. With our very meager building budget, we 've been a bit hesitant to commit.

Today I was on site, trying to look creatively at the space and make a decision. I think we are good at creative design solutions, but we are really bad at making decisions- notoriously...as one friend said, and as often applies to us, "you got a bad case of possibilities!". Unless, of course, it relates to travelling, and then we can make a decision in a heartbeat...that's just how it is! So, I was using my imaginative eye and trying to make a decision, and quite unexpectedly, the horrendous trailer home became a gypsy caravan. Or next, and alternate step- a modern, eco space. Oh Ya! Now that might just be the thing. So we did a rough costing on it- $5000, to completely style up the trailer....and the garage / wood workshop. That's enough to put in the new septic system. Inspiring, eh?

Can we (should we) turn this....

Into this?

Jeanne Bayol's most beautiful Roulottes

or this?

trailer wrap project- mobile home

So different...and each with it's own appeal. This will be the design studio space on the property, that we will stay in, and work in, while we build the house. When playing with designs, the making becomes somehow more than the project itself. It takes the project to a greater level than just straight craftsmanship. It is all about the challenge of taking something unusual or unwanted and making it beautiful and desirable.
Time to make a decision....I can sense some strong opinions on the horizon!

We're leaving tomorrow for FibresWest- should be lots of felty fun!

Maybe when we get back we'll have made up our minds!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Monday Inspirations 8

2011-03-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

Ah! Spring! A great season for inspiration and motivation!

I walked around our property today, watching for new plant life....looking closely to see who I might have missed, hiding in the dead leaves and undergrowth. The colour collection is surprisingly diverse. Today's walk is about stopping to take a break; paying attention to small details; focusing in on little pleasures.

Ah! Spring! As simple and obvious as this inspiration is (and what could possibly be wrong with appreciating for a moment any simple and obvious inspiration that we may be overlooking?!), it is also such a joyous, refreshing, time of tremendous change. Our senses reawaken; spring smells- earth and flowers; spring songs- water, birds, frogs; spring feelings- warmth from the sun on our skin, gentle rains, fresh earth; spring tastes- garden fresh greens, asparagus, wild nettles and violets...

I really needed that break today, both for the time of observation and time away from work (although I do have the best work ever- making things every day!). When I start working towards a goal, I almost never stop, except to take care of the family needs. If it was just me alone, I could work all day and long into the night. I reach my goal or deadline, and then have a great long outbreath of several days or a week, when I do only everyday things (and try to reclaim order after my great explosion of creative activity!). It was a good thing to intentionally stop, and do something different.

I also made a couple of spring purchases, in keeping with the theme of the day. Little things, with bright fresh colours.

These are so sweet! One for each of my three boys...I think they still need some Spring sweetness as much as I do. And a length of fabric- half price! This I'll be making into outdoor cushions for the deck furniture we don't yet have, that we'll sit in on the deck we haven't yet built. But when we do- we'll have glorious, happy pillows, ready and waiting! Promise pillows....

I can just feel the cushion behind me now, with a summer sunset on my face, and the glass of red wine in hand...or maybe it's a margharita today. Yes, I think so. But not yet...we are still in Spring, and that is really what it's all about...promise, hope, freshness, change....

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Felted Purses

2011-03-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

I've had some interesting motivation to make fun felt recently. Writing this blog for one! Writing the Monday Inspirations really is helping me to focus and keep my thinking involved, but a bit above the actual piece at hand. I've also been playing with textures while planning for my Surface Design Class coming up next week. Plus I've been making samples for jurying for the Salt Spring Island Market, and Christmas Craft Shows, which has involved making one of a kind pieces that showcase technique, colour or texture, plus can be made repeatedly (with variation) for selling. Whew! It has been so busy the last few weeks!

The result, in part, are these wool felt purses. I love them, especially the "Change" Purses!

I tried to work on all three at once, thinking that I could save some time by doing all the lay out, then some light individual felting, and then rolling all three to get the felting really happening. I do know better than that. Sometimes I can get this plan to work, but most often I just end up exhausted and frustrated late at night, with nothing finished. Now that it's in print, I will remember for next time!

The two round purses have a foam resist inside and are felted all around, then cut open to sew in the zipper. The large bag has a rectangular resist inside, plus an extra pocket with resist. All made with Norwegian Wool batting, with two colours- one for the inside and one out, for the blending/shadowing effect, and just for fun!

front flap of the wool felt bag

I used Indian cottons and silk organzas, and handmade prefelt for the surface design. I wanted to make a lightsome and cheery bag, warm and playful.

I hand felted the rope separately, keeping the ends unfelted, and once the bag was finished, I cut two holes on the sides, passed the rope through the opening and felted the ends together. It worked well- a good strong bond, and strap.

back of the wool felt bag

The Indian cottons (skirts I picked up at the thrift shop) have sequins sewn all over them- Sometimes they come a bit loose during the felting, and I either let them come off, or secure them while I embroider over the surface. I love using these-just a touch of sparkle.

lip gloss/key pocket inside, in lime green- just because it can be!

Now these are my absolute favourites- the Change Purses. A metamorphosis in wool, through dyeing, felting, beading, lots of stitching, sequins, and felted protrusions. Note the coins used like shisha mirrors!

It's funny how making one thing often leads to ten more projects! It's all good....and probably good to realize that there can be no such thing as a creative to do list...or at least not one that will ever be fully checked off!

I love to hold the Change Purses, and look at all the different surfaces. I want to make these in the forms of larger bags, pillows, and art hangings. Yum!

Maybe next....next week....after I get back from FibresWest!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Monday Inspirations 7

2011-03-08T00:17:00.000-08:00

Grasses; their forms, stories, colours and patterns....

I love the tussock grass patterns. The way they stand up and above the low grasses; the colour in their stems, and the random patterning of the clumps over the fields.

These grasses inspire me to keep my designs asymmetrical; to infuse a random nature into my patterning; to include vermilion as a life force color, and to bring some three dimensional aspect to even the most compact work. Grass is not only green- how many colours are there in that one tuft! In the picture above, I pay attention to the large, tall, angular tuft, surrounded by smaller round clumps of grass. Different patterns playing....

It was these grass patterns that inspired my 2010 line of home furnishings- the paddock carpet and cushions. Kept very simple, so it can be integrated into the home, but still a reminder of the natural world.

I think most patterns in nature remind us to keep our work flexible and varied.

The different grasses and wildflowers don't all grow in groups or lines. There are gaps and spaces; open areas, and then clusters. That can be difficult to recreate in wool, felting or knitting. In felting, my favourite method is Ginger tip #1: cutting with scissors, small flecks of hand dyed wool; allowing them to fall and stay, and building up layers of colour and pattern in this way.

There is strength in flexibility. An attribute of the grasses that is most inspring to me.

This is possibly our family motto!

This comes from the Aesops fable: The Tree and the Reed

  "Well, little one," said a Tree to a Reed that was growing at
its foot, "why do you not plant your feet deeply in the ground,
and raise your head boldly in the air as I do?"

  "I am contented with my lot," said the Reed.  "I may not be so
grand, but I think I am safer."

  "Safe!" sneered the Tree.  "Who shall pluck me up by the roots
or bow my head to the ground?"  But it soon had to repent of its
boasting, for a hurricane arose which tore it up from its roots,
and cast it a useless log on the ground, while the little Reed,
bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright again when
the storm had passed over.

Making breakfast in the Grasslands- 2010

Homeschooling- Journal drawing before we hit the road- 2010

We do need a little of both- the roots and the flexibility.
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Indigo blues

2011-03-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

What a fabulous weekend!

It started with beautiful sunny weather, and a viewing of Who Does She Think She Is?, a documentary on women artists and motherhood.

www.whodoesshethinksheis.net

So much of what was said resonates with me. We have a need to be creative, and also have chosen to be available to meet the needs of our families. So often I feel like by trying to do both, I do neither as well as I should. I would not be the parent I am, without exploring my creative side; I know that in theory, but so often every decision feels like too much compromise. It was supportive and uplifting to hear my thoughts refelcted in the viewpoints of the artists featured in the documentary. An interesting and though provoking start to a weekend in which I planned to dye with Indigo all day- no family plans in there. I did get home and make lunch for everyone...then headed outside to get my hands blue! Balance, balance...

Materials and the means. I had 30 skeins of yarn and 5 pounds of merino fibre ready and waiting to be dyed, and had made up an indigo stock solution about a week ago. It was keeping warm and lively in the back of a little proofing cupboard we made for sourdough bread. It is an eclectic mix in the proofing cupboard right now- sourdough starter, sprouting date seeds, and indigo stock...a healthy mix of interests there!

I use the natural indigo from Maiwa, in Vancouver, and followed their instructions for making the stock and vat. I've been dyeing with indigo for more than 10 years, and almost always use this method. I hope to keep the vat going next time. I dye so much material that the vat is exhausted completely by the time I am finished.

First dip! The merino wool yarns are taking up the indigo so beautifully. I'm hanging the skeins over an improvised line, and letting the colour run down to the ends a little. These are going to be beautiful tonal hanks of yarn. I want to make a scarf and a short sleeved sweater with the DK merino....I can just picture them...but these are all destined for the shop and FibresWest, in two weeks. Can I justify taking 3-4 skeins to knit up samples to bring to the show? And do I really have time to knit them in two weeks?

I gently push the wool in, trying to introduce as little oxygen into the vat as possible. Then I leave it in for 10-15 minutes for the first dip. I'm pretty impatient to see whats happening though, so I do fidget and pull out the wool now and then!

Second dip on some of the wool- Plus the wool rovings and battings are starting to come out. I also had some "observers" on Sunday- my neighbours chicken kept me company all day, and seemed to enjoy the activity....maybe they like the smell of indigo.

Ah! the smell of indigo.....the natural pigments that create the colours, are the same as those that cause rotting things to smell. It is pretty intense....and so I'm working outside. Keeping the best interests, and desires of my family in mind! See...good parent! Grin...

Graham commented at one point, while passing through, that I will have to do my indigo dyeing on days when my studio is not open, as this may not make the best first impression on my customers!

I don't notice the smell...so much...but maybe that's because I don't stick my nose into the pots like the boys do!

What a glorious colour. Well worth the effort. This is silk habotai, ready for nuno felting. I did two dips on Saturday, and one on Sunday.

Everything is now hanging or spread out to be fully exposed to the air for 24 hours. Then I'll rinse twice and give it a vinegar bath to restore the PH as the wool likes it.

It was so peaceful to be outside in the warm air, in the sunshine; just me, the wool, the dye pots, and the chickens. All felt right with the world. And with the family balancing. I was happily engaged, and everyone else was too.

Slow dyeing....lots of preparation...lots of time in between steps to have a cup of tea, a chat, make a meal...go see a documentary...A perfect weekend pace!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Making Prefelt Tutorial at Living Crafts

2011-02-27T23:33:00.000-08:00

Living Crafts is featuring a tutorial I have written on making your own prefelts. If you've ever been curious about prefelt, or just would like to find out more- head over for a visit to the Living Crafts Blog and say hello!

These are so easy to make- and add so much to your felting repertoire! I made and used some just this weekend, while making my new Purple Scarf.

This tutorial was written as a companion to the article on Prefelt that I wrote for the Living Crafts Fall 2010 issue.

Red Rock Prefelt Scarf, as seen in Living Crafts Fall 2010

The article discusses prefelt and how to use it and includes four projects ideas- making a hat, a scarf, a wrap and placemats- a great felt craft when working with children!

Prefelts are not necessarily something you use on their own (although you can!), but shine out for getting crisp, clean lines for cut out patterns when applied to wool roving or batting layouts, or onto larger sheets of wool prefelt.

This article was a fun one to work on- as well as challenge! Magazine deadlines come up well in advance of print time, and the main article was written in September 2009, while we were camping our way through the Canadian Rockies. A true testament to how easy prefelts are to work with!

New England Felting Supply supplied the beautiful materials, and I felted my way through the beautiful ( and very cold!) surroundings! Ooooo...just looking at the pictures reminds me of cold nights in a tent in Alberta, hand sewing the last details on these projects....of stunning scenery, and of how amazing the wool prefelts are to work with!

at a campground in the Kootenays, finishing the River and Branch Prefelt Wrap

If you do any wet feltmaking, prefelts are definitely a technique you must try!

Decadent Fibers have generously sponsored a giveaway that you will find at the end of the tutorial, ending 8 p.m. EST, Tuesday, March 1, 2011. Their fibres are out of this world- hand dyed in lovely, luscious colors.

Good luck with the draw!

If you have any questions about using prefelt- please just ask!

Warm wishes,

Fiona