Susan McFarland, Susan's Fiber Shop, arranged with Beth Testa, owner of the Pink Poodle in Madison, Wisconsin, to host my Trunk Show. Beth kindly transported everything and by the time I arrived, had artfully arranged everything in preparation. Her husband, Joe, was the perfect host and dispenser of wine, but the real star of the show by far was Halle, their wonderful white pet poodle, complete with pink fascinator and painted nails :-) I was truly in awe of Halle and their shop! We crowded quite a few in their spacious quarters surrounded by upscale clothes, sparkling jewelry and interesting furnishings and I met more wonderful people (mostly felters) than I could possibly mention here. One of them, Linsey, from North Dakota, was so fascinated by the Fascinators that she modeled a different one every day and she looked so adorable wearing them and loved every minute of it. We named her "Tinker Bell" as she flitted around sprinkling happiness in every class every day!
Beth truly made me feel like the "Queen" picking me up in her BMW converible with the top town and whizzing me (and my friend Pat Smith one evening) off to dinner and to a private opening of her shop a few nights. Beth thinks that she and I were twins separated at birth since we both love fancy things - but I must say she outweighs me by far in the "bling" department; she has such style and access to what seemed zillions of jewels, silk, satin and furs - and knows just what to do with them ooooh, the fun! With Beth's help, I'm making progress with the "bling" as I came hope with quite a few treasures and tips on how to wear them.I'm hoping that I'll have access to more pictures as students post them.
I had such a busy time sharing Embellisher techniques with my students at the MFS that I forgot to take many pictures! Very naughty; I have to do better next time and I will! These happy pictures were taken one evening after a (another) full day relaxing afterward with Pamela MacGregor, Suzanne Higgs and Anna Gunnarsdittir (hope I spelled your name correctly Anna). Actually there were a couple more but the lady in the booth behind us probably had more wine that we did and took a few pictures of the ceiling vents instead of us! Every evening was enjoyable but I don't need pictures to remember the really fun night with Pam de Groot and Regina Doseth at the Jamaican restaurant recommended by Pam. To be surrounded by such talent is daunting and I how I wish I could have taken the eco dyeing/felting with Pam de Groot or the nuno dress class with Regina - their work was so gorgeous. I was fortunate enough to be able to take Suzanne's really fun dyeing class and had already taken Pam MacGregor's memorable felt vessel class (her tiny teapots are amazing). Suzanne provided me with one of her nuno tops to embellish - so watch for more to come on that.
My darling husband is going to set up a photo studio for me - but in the meantime these pics will have to do - a small sampling of what YOU can learn at the Midwest Felting Symposium - Embellishers will be provided!
A whirlwind in June - our family vacation with all of the grandchildren and my soon to be 89-year-old Mom enjoying life at a private beach in Virginia - then home a couple of days before a fabulous workshop with Charity from the Netherlands. I've been a long-time admirer of hers and we'd made a connection on-line but I never dreamt that I'd be fortunate enough to meet her in person, nevermind being able to take one of her classes - what an inspiration and delight she is!
Some of my friends belong to an exclusive felting group that meet during the week - well I work during the week but besides that, they have no room for another person so when I found out that they were having Charity come I practically begged to be part of it - luckily for me, one of them was unable to make it so I got to take her place (happy dance!).
Since I found out about it, I'd been collecting fabric, wool and embellishments - I always love to stretch myself and do something really different for me when given the opportunity. My inspiration fabric was a lovely yellow chiffon with aqua blue flowers - I had also taken an aqua sari as well as a deeper saffron sari (been collecting them for a while) and a selection of lovely fine laces, silk ribbon trims and a great find at a thrift shop - a saffron top comprised of netting and beading which I promptly cut up to use - mainly on the center back of the coat which gives it just the right touch of glimmer. I love, love, love, working with tone on tone and then adding touches in another colorway. My original intention was to have it aqua on one side and the yellow/aqua on the other but the aqual sari was not quite wide enough so the creative spirit took over and the coat became yellow - before I added the deeper aqua touches, I was a little worried that I'd end up looking like a canary!
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We had an opportunity to try on Charity's samples and when I tried on her white wool and cashmere winter coat - I simply swooned! . . . and guess what? It is all mine to fondle and enjoy- she let me purchase it from her! what a treasure and elegant work of art!!! Thank you Charity for sharing your talent with us - I don't think I've ever learned so much from one person.
Over the past couple of months I've been relentlessy collecting colorful flower heads - garden (not too many), local florist (a few) and of all places, Safeway, (very kindly letting me sift through their discards) -- and freezing them to make ice flower prints (thank you Patricia!). I had some leftover fabric already mordanted with alum from a fabulous Elin Noble marbelizing class just waiting for a project like this. Since I work full time, things must get done in stages, so last weekend I created all sorts of bundles with the flowers in layers, put them in warm water and left them for a few days. When I unwrapped them they were gorgeous but I didn't have time to do anything other than shake out the decomposing dead flowers and rinse before putting the fabrics in a large bowl to wait for this weekend - couldn't leave them out to dry since it rained quite heavily. When I went to check this weekend I was in for a huge disappointment. Note to self: do NOT leave wet flower prints all bunched up or the color will dissolve and meld away. All the lovely prints were gone and I was left with not what I had strived for but nevertheless attractive meld of greenish soft gold but not close to the beauties that they once had been.
Not wanting to ruin my silks - a medley of organza, habotai, etc., I thought this would be a good time to try an experiment that I've had in mind since seeing the silk tie prints on Easter eggs. I layered the smaller pieces of damp silks with cut up silk ties in between the layers and tied them all up in a tight bundle before simmering in water with a splash of vinegar (used my dye pot, not a cooking pot). What a lovely surprises when unwrapped! I also thought I'd bundle a piece of vibrant torquoise blue sari silk with the larger piece of soft gold organza and the results are a quite lovely mottled blue/soft gold. Now that I've seen the results, some of the prints are quite surprising with the reds staying quite vibrant, and I learned that the deeper colors turnout best. Here are some pictures so you can see for yourself.
Last week I was fortunate enough to take a three-day workshop with Pamela McGregor. And it took every bit of the three days get our vessels into shape. Before class I had struggled with what shape to make but in the end I decided that I would make a vase because 1) I had some sequins bits (the sequins look so interesting when felted) cut off of an upcycled dress that reminded me of flowers (you know how I love them) and 2) I wanted to learn how to make a stopper that fit. Now how many vases with stoppers have you seen? - not many, I didn't have the color of wool that I wanted to work with (aqua) so I used the green that I usually love but am a little tired of at the moment and I knew it would be a little weird (vase with a stopper?) - well, by the end of the second day when I looked around the room at all the very gorgeous and artistic shapes and then at my piece, I had to burst out laughing and I wasn't the only one - it was resembling something that I hadn't planned and didn't really want. Of course all the clever felters in my class did wonderful sculptural pieces that were just amazing under Pam's watchful eye and careful instruction. That night was a restless one - could I save it? Every time I thought of it, I got a chuckle so I decided I needed to take drastic steps and out came my trusty Embellisher (and the scissors) the next morning to the rescue. At the last day, and after some work, the top of the vase began to look like a strawberry jar and I did learn how to make a fancy stopper that fit. I began to really like it and what great memories are incorporated into every rub (thousands, believe me!)
On September 30, I'll be teaching my Fascinating Fascinator class at Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, Virginia - they are called fascinating because truly some of the materials that I've found to use in conjunction with the wool are such so much fun to play with and so easy peasy! You can match your personality with a very demure or way over the top fascinator - you will be the designer and have something to wear to fiber or other events or have just to admire!
