tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20604620158032389382011-06-07T22:28:23.850-07:00My personal experiences in working with various fibers; dyeing, sewing, manipulating, selling, wearing and whatever else I can do with them.Kippianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10442327625147677543noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060462015803238938.post-27306796900005566402011-06-05T08:21:00.000-07:002011-06-05T08:21:27.061-07:00Oh, the dyeing of the silk has not been going as easily as I thought!&nbsp; The preparation for the dye is a lot of work and now even the dyeing is much harder - at least for the silk roving.&nbsp; Dyeing the silk yardage is fun and easy.&nbsp; I guess the difference must be the amount of Sericin (silk worm spit) that remains in the roving.&nbsp; Perhaps if I purchase it from a different source it would be easier, however I am finding it not so easy to purchase either!!<br /><br />I also think the poor old (well, I've only had it for a year), electric roaster that I have been using has now gotten too rusty.&nbsp; I can't seem to ever really get it clean, no matter how I scrub.&nbsp; One of the problems is that this house only has a cold water source where I work in the basement.&nbsp; I did find a 24 cup coffee maker at Goodwill that I purchased for all of $6.00 that I use to heat up water - but I've generally only used that for pre-mixing the dyestuffs and for nuno felting.&nbsp; It's making me crazy not to have a proper set up and I sure hope the new basement work studio can be a better set-up - like with BOTH hot and cold water, a proper laundry sink and room to set up work areas.&nbsp; I get the housekeys tommorow and the first stuff I plan on moving in will be the trailer contents and the studio stuff.&nbsp; That way I can start in on all the work I need to get done for the upcoming Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair&nbsp;and Quilt Odyssey.&nbsp; I have&nbsp;a TON of work to do to get ready for both shows.&nbsp; I have about 10 nuno felting kits just about ready (waiting on the dyed silk roving and the written directions).<br /><br />Speaking of Quilt Odyssey - I have to come up with an ad for the program.&nbsp; There are some days when I hate being the one wearing all the hats for the business!!&nbsp; Graphic artist I am NOT!&nbsp; I also have been looking at patterns to purchase (which also means new samples made to go with them) and really, really don't want to go there anymore.&nbsp; I will have new surprises and I have to come up with my own designs to best present them.&nbsp; Oh, Lord - I never could draw very well!<br /><br />Well, off to clean the house first - it helps to "clean up" and clear out my mind as well.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2060462015803238938-2730679690000556640?l=fiberfreak.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kippianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10442327625147677543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060462015803238938.post-62748981187881966052011-06-01T17:24:00.000-07:002011-06-01T17:24:48.669-07:00First an introduction.&nbsp; I have been playing with fiber of some sort or another from at least the age of 5.&nbsp; I started out sewing doll clothes for my baby doll.&nbsp; Then, the advent of "Barbie", the fashion queen came along and of COURSE, I had to create fashion for her!&nbsp; My dad built me a doll house and for a while, I had to create all my own furnishings.&nbsp; Soon, I received a whole set of wonderful Danish Modern furniture for the house (including a lamp that lit).&nbsp; I had to make slipcovers, quilts, window dressings - and more clothes to hang in the new wardrobe.&nbsp; My meager allowance was often spent at the remenant table of our local department store (I think it was a Sears &amp; Roebuck).&nbsp; Along the way, I took up embroidery, learned a bit of knitting, needlepoint, macrame - all string of some form or another.&nbsp; At the first Smithsonian Folk Art Festival on the National Mall, I returned, day after day for all 7 days, to the tent where the ladies from the Ozarks were sitting around a quilt frame.&nbsp; They finally just asked me to join them at the frame and there they taught me to make a Cathedral Window Quilt and to do the quilting stitch.&nbsp; For many years after, I collected and made the Cathedral Window Squares to make a large enough quilt to use - it's all still in a shoebox somewhere.&nbsp; I learned many years later by taking MORE quilting classes, that I had reversed some of the instructions they had given me and mine is not a true Cathedral Window - but it is my first quilt.&nbsp; Well, actually, the Barbie bed got my first quilt.&nbsp; I just didn't know it was called a quilt!&nbsp; An aunt would send me the fabric swatches she would get from a mail order place - there were mostly wool suitings, but all cut to the same size.&nbsp; Needing a blanket for my Barbie bed, I stitched all those little rectangles together, covered the seams by making a lining (using my mom's sewing machine) and, voila (!) had a bedspread that I learned later in life was actually a quilt.&nbsp; I still have that one, too.<br /><br />In college, I decided to switch from Anthropology to Costume Design for the Theatre.&nbsp; I was talked into believing that I could learn all I needed there to go on to be qualified to work my dream job - restoration of clothing and textile for the Smithsonian.&nbsp; I didn't graduate, although I did learn a LOT.&nbsp; Unfortunately, I also learned about college politics and because I was not "serious" about going into the theatre, was not given a senior project that would allow me to graduate.&nbsp; Instead, I started just working to earn a living.&nbsp; I moved to Cambridge, Mass and worked at Harvard, in one of the libraries.&nbsp; Not one to enjoy (or own) a t.v., I soon discovered some art-type classes that I could take locally and signed up to learn to weave.&nbsp; AH - stringing along again!&nbsp; I also took on a very part-time job in a very new business - a tiny little corner of a small shopping mall in a shop that sold cotton fabrics and the few other supplies available for quilting.&nbsp; I had begun to read about quilting while I was in college (the old mimeographed "Quilter's Newsletter") and had made a couple of quilt tops for myself of my own design.&nbsp; I had no idea where to purchase batting or how to quilt; which of course, did not stop me.&nbsp; Finding that I actually knew something about quilting kept me moving forward and I cut and assembled a number of tops by hand.&nbsp; I have never stopped quilting, or being involved with quilting.&nbsp; I have taught, made quilts to sell, and have more dollars than sense dropped into the industry.<br /><br />About 18 years ago, I started selling patterns, speciality fabrics, and accessories for cloth doll making at the quilt shows.&nbsp; One of the doll designers I admired used "felted" wool to make jackets for her dolls.&nbsp; Another doll designer was also making doll jackets from felted wool and decorating them with small applique pieces.&nbsp; I decided to buy some wool and "felt" it to sell.&nbsp; The customers didn't much go for it, but I LOVED it.&nbsp; Pretty soon, I was wanting specific colors and adapting cotton applique patterns to wool applique.&nbsp; As I did more research, I learned about Penny Rugs, dyeing, fulling and everything I could about wool.&nbsp; I gave lectures on how to sew with fulled wool and the history of wool used for clothing as well as the history of Penny Rugs.<br /><br />Felting is a misnomer - when you shrink wool fabric (woven wool), it is called "fulled".&nbsp; Most wool flannel will shrink about 20-30% in length and about 10-15% in width.&nbsp; The looser the weave, the more it will shrink.&nbsp; As the wool fiber gets wet and is agitated, the fibers lock together to form a pretty impervious fabric!&nbsp; The edges don't fray when it is cut, wool does not burn with a flame, repels water and still contains enough air pockets to keep you warm even when it gets wet.&nbsp;&nbsp;Prior to Industrialization, wool went from the weaver to the fuller to finish processing it for use in making clothing.&nbsp; Felting has caught on with knitters and crocheters as well - but technically, it is called BOILED wool when a knitted items is shrunk.<br /><br />Over the past few years, I wanted to learn more about the various sheep and animal fibers and what makes some wools felt more than others.&nbsp; I also wanted to learn more about working from the roving - the wool after it has been cleaned and carded and before it is spun.&nbsp; I have been working on needle felting and really wanted to learn about NUNO FELTING.&nbsp; I started taking a class from a wonderful felter who has been wet felting for over 30 years.&nbsp; WOW!&nbsp; I'm loving this!&nbsp; AND, now I have more opportunity to dye.<br /><br />Oh, did I forget to tell you - I love playing with color - always have and always will.&nbsp; <br /><br />So now, I am a vendor at quilt shows selling my dyed wool and now dyed roving for felting.&nbsp; I've primarily been selling all the stuff needed for making penny rugs and some needle felting supplies.&nbsp; Now - a new venture....I have added silks so that I can make kits for wet felting, nuno felting and silk work of most any kind.&nbsp; I am going to try a few Fiber Arts shows now because I have crossed the quilting line.&nbsp; I won't stop quilting, but now I think I will be incorporating silks, nuno felt and other wild fibers.<br /><br />WAH-HOO - here I GO!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2060462015803238938-6274898118788196605?l=fiberfreak.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kippianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10442327625147677543noreply@blogger.com0