A hat to wear while toddling. I’ll lightly felt the skein of my hand-spun yarn to set the twist, and then use the yarn to embellish the hat. I might add some embroidery — this little hat asks for some pink stitching and some tiny beads.
Little Troll Hat and Fiddlehead Ferns
Mother’s Day Exhibit with a Floral Theme
It always feels good to straighten up the studio and get new work completed and labeled to share with others… I’ve been working on these Rhapsody Rose scarves and some corsage pins today.
Mount Nittany Spring
I am not a neat person by nature. And so after months of going from project to project in the studio, it’s more a time of reckoning than cleaning. But this pause feels refreshing and I’m looking forward to restoring order. Yesterday I received a beautiful surprise early Mother’s Day gift from our younger daughter. Five exquisite buttons, each one a little work of art, that were from Ron Myers of Spokane, Washington. Such a beautiful gift, in sweet harmony with the opal-hued work of recent weeks as well as in harmony with my current focus: simply making order. In this moment of rest I’ve been appreciating so many sources of inspiration. Loved ones, bright little studio, good resources at hand, the profusion of violets and tiny red Japanese maple seedlings suddenly all over the front yard — and all of the colors, sounds, scents, breezes of spring…
There are so many other inspirations, among them “Spin Artiste,” the new online fiber publication. The most recent article, about Dancing Leaf Farm, was so energizing and positive, it felt like a warm spring breeze. I’m looking forward to The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and to meeting some of the fiber artists I’ve read about, and whose work and generous spirit are beautiful gifts. In this pause from felting, I’ll enjoy the less-physical work of doing some spinning, to savor this moment — and see if I can translate some of the beautiful colors around me into yarn…
A Few More Views of the Mimosa Nuno Felted Scarf
The silk fabric base for this nuno scarf is the work of fiber artist Suzanne Morgan. Her hand-dyed silk fabrics are as interesting — with subtle variations on every inch of the yardage — as they are exquisite. I feel grateful for her beautiful silks, and for her inspiration.
Wearable Art for Little Vikings and Trolls…
It was a long, cold winter in central Pennsylvania.
Somehow, we managed to keep warm and happy…!
The model at left wears my little “Bliss” dot scarf that has lots
of dyed curly wool locks as fringes; the hat on the
right is a fusion of my felt and hand-spun yarn.
One of the best things about feltmaking is being able to nurture those you love with your handiwork!
Mimosa Nuno Felted Scarf Lay-Out
From my living room windows I can see spring colors finally emerging all around. Mount Nittany is a pale slate blue, glimpsed beyond the layers of just-beginning to blossom cherry trees and the chartreuse and rosy pink leaves of budding trees. Later today I hope to card and spin some yarn in those spring colors. This morning I continued to focus on the Mimosa theme, beginning a delicate nuno scarf on a base of Suzanne Morgan’s exquisite hand-dyed silk fabric in the color “Patina.” 
Studio Glance
The light shines through some of Suzanne Morgan’s lovely hand-dyed silk fabric. Visible in the background, a yellow pencil and the curving metal of the mannequin on which the silk is draped. For me, this glimpse captures that moment in the studio when I feel my imagination dancing and I long for synthesis: a way to express what I think and feel, beyond words…
First Felted “Mimosa” Scarf
Students learning feltmaking often ask “How will I know the piece is done?” Good question. My advice is that since you can always work a piece MORE, but you cannot UNDO fulling (shrinking) once a piece has been overworked, the time to stop is before you think it’s completely done. An experienced felter can feel this change in the fibers; those newer to felting need to pay careful attention in the fulling process. I thought of this question as I worked on this Mimosa Scarf.
Each mimosa flower is a little assemblage of nine wispy layers of different merino and silk fibers, and this layering results in a slightly textured surface that highlights each flower. The chartreuse merino on the bottom layer hints through two layers of white merino/white silk fibers. I wasn’t sure how these layered flowers would look where I deliberately overlapped them along the edges to create a random border.
As I worked the piece, I noted that by paying attention to how the edges were changing I knew when to stop — in this case, when the edges still had a bit of that deckled “cobweb” look. By stopping before the edges seemed done I could continue to full the piece: while rinsing out the soap, while giving it a vinegar rinse to remove any remaining soap, and then while rinsing the vinegar. I continually checked all along the edges of the piece to make sure those flowers did not curl under or over.
“Mimosa” Felted Scarf: Lay-Out
I describe my feltmaking process as “sculptural” to explain the layering of fibers and placement of design elements. In this Mimosa scarf, I tried to create the randomness and lightness of mimosa flowers. The bottom layer is a soft chartreuse green merino; the mid-layer and top layer are a white merino/silk fiber blend; the stems of the mimosa are my handspun, merino and silk. I used a lot of white tussah silk in the flower layers, and hope this adds shimmer and texture to the finished scarf. After being wet and worked, the design will lose much of the visual fluffiness and texture of the dry lay-out. I’m hoping that by overlapping the edges here and there to create softly undulating borders; and with the use of so much silk — three different kinds of silk all over the piece — the piece will offer so much softness and such a light drape that it will feel and look like mimosa.
Wooly Bliss 