Felting kits

I had mentioned that I would post about the felting kits, then I got involved with making stuff. I really like what I make and like the making. So here is the kit!

I have included everything - except water and an old towel - that you would need to get started felting, this is a great way to start and try out a new craft! Each kit has an ounce of fiber in all sorts of colors and breeds - Each bag is a little different so dig through and pick your favorite! - a roller, a textured mat, netting, a small bar of soap, rubber, and a resist. Also, included is a instruction sheet that I put together. The one thing I did not include is project ideas, all the creativity is left to you.

Shown here is a friend testing the kit for me.

I will be posting ideas here though. ~Julia

The to-do list before the Show

I have a terrible habit of starting projects and then getting called away. When I come back is were the terrible part comes in, I don't always finish the project I was working on, sometimes I do, sometimes I start a different thing. Then I get called away... Are you noticing a pattern?

So before this weekend's show, I need to clean house of partially done projects. I have embroidery kits, crochet hook cases, knitting needle cases, and project bags. I also have to print out the instructions for the felting kits (more in this post) and add them to the kits.

I have some beautiful new skeins and weaving to inventory and tag. (This sounds quick but it actually takes quite a bit longer than I ever give it and I really don't want to put it off until Friday or worse Friday night!)

I have to either finish making the new tablecloths, they are a bright blue knit and are giving me some trouble, or buy Holiday tablecloths.

I want to pick up a small tree - we have some beautiful wooden and beaded ornaments to offer this time! - to show these off.

I want to do some dyeing in larger lots and maybe do some more embroidery skeins.

I also need to make a few more fascinators and vessels.

Okay, well looking at that, I really need to get off the computer and get to work.

Julia

The show

On Saturday I will be at:

I will be at the Jackson school location.

The business of Business

Takes time and often feels in the way. This morning was spent in paperwork, bills, commission payouts, and ordering new shiny Brochures.

I know that I need to spend more time on the business end of the business, making postings on Etsy and Square, marketing and the like. I enjoy the blog work and the social media stuff, but everything I need to do takes time from the designing and creating I want to do. Sigh. I must simply buckle down and do it, I want to share my art with you, to see your art, to help both grow, which is why I stepped out of my studio to begin with.

I have been doing a poor job of letting you into my studio, my apologies, please grab a cup - coffee or tea your choice and a chair and let us craft together. I have coffee in mine this morning.

Here is the lovely brochure designed for me by Arian.

I am going to be improving my wet felting kits and will post on that tomorrow!

~Julia

Updating

I am working on updating the Etsy and Square sites and hope to have new listing live soon.

I also am working on some ideas I am really excited about and I will share more on those soon!

Behind the scenes

Often I get asked how I can get everything done. Usually, I joking respond I don't sleep. Which is true to a certain extent, it is rare for me to get to bed while it is still the day before a show date especially, and setting up a booth on two hours sleep is less than fun! Sometimes if I see that the person is looking for a better answer than that, I might talk about priorities. I rarely sit still, I always have a project (or three) going. The day - or more likely the Monday after a weekend show - I will sort through everything and make a list. Things may stay on the list for a while depending on how annoying not having them done is. For example, tablecloths have been on my list for a while now. I plan on making nice drop over ones with pleated skirts that come to the floor and look really sharp. However  nice having them to sell off of will be making them keeps getting put to a low priority.

Here is this week's recover list:

On-going

Spin more skeins

Make fascinators

Make embroidery hanks

Weave

Before Next Show

Table clothes

Postings to Etsy, Square, & Ravelry

Order brochures

Develop subscription boxes

Develop Embroidery Kits

Create felting example

Update felting instructions

Finish felting kits.

Create display for Fascinators.

Structural:

Clean and reorganize main studio (we do not want to take over the kitchen again)

Arrange dye studio better

Washing machine

Informational:

Talk to ecceltica bead about Core spun Bracelets and wire.

Harbor Market - June 2

It rained! All day! But people came and enjoyed themselves despite that. Here is some photos from the prep work and then from drying of day (Thank you mister rain!)

Wool prep - Southdown

 Welcome to my kitchen! Today I started (with some help, Thanks!) to process a Southdown Fleece. This was 7.5 pounds of wool I purchased at Sheep & Wool this year. The farmer was a young girl who sells her fleeces to save up from college, Yep this is a Junior's fleece. I am a 4H leader and always extra happy to help a Junior. This is spread out all over my kitchen table. Basically, you pick through it, remove as much barnyard and yuck as you can. Then you sort it into piles, by size, or stress in the coat. I only found a small amount of second cuttings - this is when the shearer doesn't cut all the way down and has to try again resulting in much short lengths of wool that are generally not desirable - and very little sunburn or rubbing in the coat.

 I sorted into four basic piles. One was it has lots of tiny bits of VM (plant matter) that will require extra work to get out but doesn't have much tagging (fancy, sanitized way of saying yuck - sweat, urine, and lanolin all kinda of rolled into one -  matted into the fur but that is not so bad - or full of manure - you toss.) I call this my extra picking pile.

 My compost bin pile. All the VM and manure, and the bits of wool it is not worth it to try to clean along with my second cuts. Gardeners don't worry, it take years for my compost to make it to my garden.

 This is the good condition pile, I don't think this will take any extra processing to get this ready. So wash, rinse, rinse, rinse, dry, pick, card or comb, dye and spin or spin and dye.

 This is the extra tagged pile. I will wash and rinse this. If I like how it comes out I will proceed, if not I will pick it then start over at the washing. If I had a dedicated dirty picker I would start there, but I don't.

Here is a close up of the fiber and stuff in it. I spent about three hours sorting through this wool, my daughter's both helped for a few minutes and a friend helped while her little one allowed it. Entirely by myself it would have been at least another hour if not two.

In the works.

Blended wool being removed from Carder.

Un-dyed single on the wheel.

Upcycled sweater project - really enjoying some clothes rescue this spring.

Things are cruising right along here in the studio! Getting items made, labelled, and soon post to the web-stores. Some of you may have noticed that I was accepted at Harbor Market this year and will be at Garfield Farm Museum's Rare Breed Show and at Westosha Market! Looking forward to seeing the new location there. My dates for these shows is to the the right.

Excited about the coming Season!~Julia

Bunnies

Are not a good thing in my garden, but in my fiber they are great!

It is bluer and greener in person!

I blended Cormo wool, Angora (Bunnies,) and what my Daddy would call Found wool. That being wool you found in your studio and can't find a label or remember where it came from. It is good wool and a bit like finding money in an old coat pocket.

I dyed this twice in a green and then blue green acid based dye bath and love how it turned out, soft with a great hand, pretty colorway, and a bit bulky. I have not done wraps per inch yet or labelled it, but after those sarcastic critters, I am calling it Bunnies in the Garden.

Inspiration

We find inspiration everywhere in our lives. This month for me it has been in colors and spontaneous what would have if thoughts, and in a series of mystery novels. The Embroidery Mystery series by Amanda Lee features Marcy embroidering her way through her work day - in her very own storefront where she helps crafters expand their skills (WANT) - through her friendships, life choices, and through solving the murders the story features.

It got me thinking, I had read in Spin off of people spinning embroidery or crewel threads. I decided to play around.

I started with white silk hankies, just two got me 48 yards of two ply. Then I grabbed a whole bunch of different bits to play with. (warning Embroidery thread spinning is fun and slightly addictive) I did a dark brown Corriedale, a light pink Merino, a raspberry pink Merino, a forest green Merino, and a purple Wensleydale. I sent these, along with some blue Lincoln Longwool curls, to my Mom to test out. I do embroider but as it tends to hurt my hands I don't do it often, even though I like it. She really liked them. I will post a picture of her work after I make it into a little clutch purse.

I will be making more and carrying them in my booth and on-line offerings this season!

Silk

Wensleydale

The dark brown is not pictured.

Hope you are looking for inspiration! ~ Julia

In the dyepot.

Well out of it and drying now.

Three dyebath self striping yarn.

 Longwool locks acid dyed blue.

8 oz of Tansy in four successive dyebaths, I will spin all of this together to highlight the variety in the color.

Tansy dyepot

I collected and dried some tansy from my yard this fall. Wednesday, I decided get moving on dyeing for the year. After some cleaning on the dye porch/studio - more on that later - I got the dyepot going. Yesterday, while waiting to pick the oldest up from work, I did the first bits of dyeing for the year.

 The first batch in the dyebath, I let the wool (Blue faced Leicester) sit over night.

 Dripping from the pot!

 Yes, I use a salad spinner to get the excess water out of my wool.

The dyed wool next to an equal amount of the same wool ready for the dyepot. This wool is mordanted in alum and rinsed before dying.

I reclaim all rinse water and reuse it in a dye season. This reduces the impact of the alum on the environment. At the end of the year I allow the water to evaporate off, so I am not adding alum - which is fairly safe anyway but care is always good - to my area's groundwater. The leftover plant material is composted for my gardens.

Those of you who read my personal blog will know that due to medical issues with my parents I have been very busy and stressed and I want to thank everyone for their patience, thoughts, and prayers. ~Julia

Tree Butter & Forest Champagne

A new colorway for me, I am calling it Tree Butter.

This is acorn dyed Eastern Freisian wool. I bought the wool raw (ie really dirty) from the farmer. It is now washed, dyed, washed, picked, carded, and being spun up. I am really hoping that you like the colorway as much as I do.


From the same sheep we have Forest Champagne, it is dyed with Quaking Aspen leaves.

before picking

After picking

The Maw of the Dragon - aka the business end of the picker

Dangerous and painful sometimes

Preparing to card

Spinning in the green

Getting organized and planning going on here. I am also hoping to arrange a bit more time to post so you'll hear from me more often. (yes, once a month would be more often. Sorry)

Here is what I just finished working on! it is not even listed for sale yet, but boy was it fun to work on!

 Fibers are all articulated and ready to go.

 Spinning is going. This shot is about halfway through the project.

Done. Two skeins of Navajo plyed yarn. The green is brighter in person than in my kitchen, we could use some sun here, maybe spinning such a bright green will bring it out. The teal is for a knitting project. This is the first time I have spun up Targhee wool, but it will not be the last! It is soft and fluffy like merino, full of air and spins up great! At the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival I bought two sheep's worth to support a junior farmer. I am so happy that I love working with it as much as I hoped. I bought this green already dyed from a very nice farmer who told me quite a bit about the breed and suggested I check out the birthing area as he was sure there were a few over there.

This momma gave birth at the festival three years running, this year to twins!

If the weather warms up (yesterday's high was 0) I will post about cleaning the wool later this week.

Hi there

I have been a slacker on here for a while now. I have been selling and creating but not posting. Bad Julia. A lot of my craft making time near the holidays goes towards making beautiful things for my family but I also made a few scarves and skeins. One of my big projects has been working with a friend to re-create my business card and we are working on a brochure. I think she did a wonderful job.

Thanks to Arian these are off at the printers.

I am also looking at setting my show season for the year, hopefully I will have a post about that soon.

~Julia