Obsession in Spring

Sort of washed out photos of the "lichen like" sculpturals, but am loving them, and then my new selection of scarves, the oranges are from the semi sanguinea mushrooms, which I had made a very strong batch of mushrooms, and then put the mordant directly in which is not what I normally do, but I only wanted to dye the two orange ruffle scarves, and I have made silk ties for them, and the striped ones I made white and then arashi shibori dyed them, which was an adventure in patience and perseverence.

Spring gathering this morning in the alders, and looking for new and exciting lichens and moss, which are in abundance here. I have just gathered very small bits of lichen to experiment with

and see if they give colour but not taking much of any one type. They grow very slowly and so are not the best to gather. But am experimenting with small bits and putting ammonia and water with them to see what they give. The lichen off the alders is very giving and there is quite a lot of alder lichen here, as alders grow like weeds where I live. Gathered some turkey tails for making tea, and they are so lovely. I have not been able to coax a dye from them although I know you can with some versicolors. Perhaps I will make tea and drop some mordanted alum yarn in it to see what happens with this batch . lol

The scarves were part of my new spring work, as well as the sculptural felts which I still am not sure what I am going to do with these. I did put an led light inside and it was quite stunning at night...perhaps......??!!!

Spring is springing

Here are my new pieces, and I am loving the bulbs coming up and the felt flowers on the workbench...Also working on the indigo cuffs, which are made from a soft white merino and then arashi/shibori dyed and voila, indigo accordian cuffs....and some new accordian spring cuffs, made with the colors of the spring bulbs in mind. The other sculptural pieces are more lichen or sea coral or whatever they remind me of in the moment, but definitely sculptural. Am imagining

using these in a wall piece but haven't solidified anything yet, just have an array of sculptural pieces with no known destination. lol...

I will be giving a two day one evening workshop on Quadra Island at Nanci Cook's B&B, in March for anyone interested in learning many felting techniques.
This workshop will be for "beginners and beyond" and should provide a lot of tricks and learning to anyone interested in honing their felting abilities. It will be a lot of fun, and Nanci has a great B&B which she provides for people to stay and the studio space is open 24 hours, which allows for a lot of great experimentation. I will be bring lots of different fibres and many ideas with which to play.
Her B*B is Firesign B&B on Quadra Island, and should be easily looked up for anyone interested in finding out more about the b&B....

I am now thinking more about felting in spring colors so spring must be here, my tones are changing with the weather. We have been soo soooooo lucky this winter with mild weather, and now the crocii are blooming in the orchard as well as my kitchen table. Nettles are ready for the eating and life is good.

where did January go?

Springtime , well that could be a little optomistic, but we do have some bulbs blooming on our table, thanks to dh....

and where did January go? apparently more experimenting in felting cuffs...These cuffs were inspired by a Canadian feltmaker who does wonderful work and I was do impressed I had to try and make the cuffs...her name is Marjolein Dallinga, and she has such amazing felts and costumes...

These cuffs were experimental, as I used several typês of fibre for trying them out, the pink and orange were done with a fine merino, the blues with half breed, and the yellow and blacks with a combination...I preferred the half breed as it gave them some substance and weight. I had wanted to make these for some time and it took awhile to get the correct diameter of the cuff, but all worked out fine in the end.

So here is my first posting for February, because a friend nagged me about it, which is apparently what I needed.

I will continue to experiment with the felting textural work and hopefully something will come of it and I will be able to use all these techniques in future felting projects.

We have been experimenting with Lichens and dyeing with them. Right now gathering and experimenting with their ability to colour fibre..and with the orchils it is a long process. §o I am learning patience and labeling and keeping records of where, what and how they work. Dh is studying moss and lichens so he is a big help with remembering the names and where to find it, and it involves a lot of zen walking in the woods which is not exactly aerobic but is walking. lol