Is it wrong to have SILK COCOONS spun onto EVERY spindle you own?
I think NOT!!! Just look at those yummy BON BON’s of BLISS!
How could any spinner resist?
I am always surprised when someone asks me how to
use a fiber and then actually does just that. The finished MASTERPIECE speaks for itself……Sublime!
Filed under: Hand Spinning, Yarn Design | Tagged: Hand Spinning, Knit, Plying, Silk, wool, yarn | Leave a comment »
Cards of Various Yarns, Ribbons, Novelty….
Plus ONE fabulous BUTTON
So much FUN making up these little cards.
If you are a Mixed Media Arts fan, then you
need lots of little bits of coordinated “stuff”.
RAKU buttons and hand spun yarns, ribbon,
odds and ends of fabric metallic trim and
anything else that even remotely resembled
string is attached and ready to become a
MASTERPIECE!
I will have a basket full of these at my next show.
Filed under: Mixed Media Fiber Arts | Leave a comment »
On a recent walk around the Eugene West/Downtown neighborhood…..found this lovely Pisolithus Tinctorious..AKA Dead Man’s Foot..Fungi.
Kind of GROSS looking but it dyes the most beautiful Brown/Gold.Depending on the after bath or Modifier, it can be brassy or really Chocolate.
Easy to use, just CHOP it up and put into a mesh bag, submerge into a pot of water and simmer you can add wool fleece or yarn, with our without a mordant such as ALUM. Let cool overnight.
Rinse and spin out in the washing machine….ENJOY! One of many wonders from NATURE……
Filed under: Dyeing | 5 Comments »
Burnished Reds, Burgundy, Deep Oranges, Tawny Browns, Rich Golds and a Smidgen of Sinister Green…….
I am so ready for the seasonal changes that bring these colors out in nature.
Building a batch of Spinnable FEAST for the upcoming Fiber Festivals in the Pacific Northwest….it is decidedly AUTUMN!
I hope to see some of you this weekend at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds for Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival.
The dyelots! booth in the 4-H building will be showing off the NEW Zephyr Turkish spindle and Pixy Mini-Noddy
Celebrating Sweater weather and all things FLUFF related!
Filed under: Dyeing | Tagged: fibers, mixed media, Spinning, wool, yarn | Leave a comment »
Good Thoughts for a TRAGIC day in history…..
I spent the morning in the garden picking the leaves off the stems of BASIL for PESTO making…the heady scent filling the air around me as the Goldfinches, Red House Finch, Chickadees & Nuthatches sang their varied and beautiful songs. My outside Kitty wrapping herself around my ankles as my Welsh Corgi tried to eat Basil leaves, but kept spitting them out…I felt relatively safe. This is a luxury that people in some countries don’t take so much for granted. After my batch of PESTO (YUMMY!) I plied the first yarn ever spun on the new ZEPHYR turkish style spindle, again, out in the garden with the sound of the tweety birds drowning out the traffic on West Eleventh Avenue.
Thought for the day: Any day that I am not living in SYRIA is a really GOOD day!
Filed under: Dyeing, Tools and Toys | Tagged: Hand Spinning, spindling | Leave a comment »
Introducing ZEPHYR and PIXY!
A Turkish spindle that truly goes and goes and goes some more…….for the center pull ball, so dainty and easy for plying! Comes with a nice bag and some fiber.
And for skein samples, 1/2 yards a mini-Niddy Noddy……when you need to take small amounts of yarn off the bobbin, to label..before you forget what it is!
Woodworking is relatively NEW to me, however I do remember watching my maternal Grandfather Mihaly Nemesh (Mike Nemes) from Hungary in his wood working studio in Paradise, California. The scent of the woods and sawdust were intriguing, with the whirring of the lathe in his capable hands. He built all manner of things and my Mother (Annabelle) says he worked on many a Movie Star’s Mansion on Mullholland Drive…back in the day! By the time I was a summer visitor, he was making standing clocks and small glass top tables to hold his and Tra-Tra Grama (Dorothy’s) rocks, shells, bones, exotic eggs and ODD found objects. She had a small teardrop trailer that we go camping in at the beach….hence the moniker Tra-Tra.
When Vance (my beloved) and I made these FINE little Hand Spinning Tools….It felt so good to be in the wood shop with those familiar smells and sounds, completely natural for me. Working with my hands, making stuff, cutting, sanding, staining, buffing…..sigh! P A R A D I S E ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Filed under: Dyeing | Tagged: Niddy Noddy, skein, spindling, Spinning, tool, twist, wood, wool, yarn | 1 Comment »
The process of putting together moving images and stills for my first Online Class is surprisingly similar to having a child.
If you are clever (which I was not then – but am now) you might actually “ponder” how it will change your life forever if you do it.
But in the heat of the moment, exciting as it is…..it happens and then you are committed. You have told enough people about it that there is NO TURNING BACK.
Your mind is now a swirl of wild ideas about “how it will be”, which is NOTHING like how it will “actually” be……
Doing your best to prepare…..like a good Girl Scout, you rally your best ideas and gather it all up, think, re-think, organize, shuffle, and put everything where you
think it should go. It takes so long that it doesn’t even seem like it will happen and then……THE DAY ARRIVES!!!
It’s been with you every day, but it still does not seem REAL.
Well it is real and this is it.
Can you see the Online Classroom Tab at the top of this page?
Feeling a bit ADVENTUROUS?
If you decide to purchase my Class, may I ask that you try not to laugh too hard, In one segment I say the word FUN 17 times!
Filed under: Art Yarn, Dyeing, Mixed Media Fiber Arts, Yarn Design | Leave a comment »
I have always wanted to have a calling card that says (SCREAMS)….Artist!!!
These are the first ones…Collage and Water Color.
Now when someone asks for my CARD, I can truly hand them something Artistic!!!
Filed under: Dyeing | Tagged: watercolor techniques | 1 Comment »
“Feast” is a Mixed Media ART Yarn experience, for the adventurous SPINNER.
Over 20 luxurious ingredients go into this FEISTY mix….hand built in my studio and available in Golds, Oranges, Poppy, Pinks, Reds, Violets, Blues, Greens, Turquoise, Ice Forest (all sparlky whites!) Soft/neutral beiges, chocolate and BLACK. Offering this for the first time RETAIL.
Lovely presentation in a cellophane cone with silk ribbon ties. 4oz – $40bucks. I will suggest that you grab an armful, set it on your lap and basically deal with every tid-bit as it presents itself to you and MAKE IT WORK….feed it to the wheel! I like to ply mine with a 60/2 silk thread or metallic thread for extra shizzle…Divine! Let me know if you want some before I hit the SHOW circuit. fyberfiend@yahoo.com
PSS: I will be teaching this at Fiber in the Forest in May 2013.
Filed under: Mixed Media Fiber Arts, Yarn Design | Tagged: Art, DIY, fiber, Hand Spinning, yarn | 3 Comments »
Silver Falls Retreat 2013
Group Weaving Project – Many Hands – Amazing Creativity
My TRIBE of women friends who gather in the Forest each year to Spin, Weave, visit and catch up on each others lives.
Almost everyone contributed to this mixed media weaving instigated by Debbie….new to the retreat!
A weekend filled with friends, FIBER, wine and chocolate….can you think of ANYTHING better for the soul?
Filed under: Mixed Media Fiber Arts, Yarn Design | Leave a comment »
Adventures in Fiber Arts - Janis Thompson 