Wool Over My Eyes!

About a year ago I was asked to work part time at the Sarafina Art House.

I had taken a few "in home" kitchen table classes with Sara Renzulli before the Art House opened, and after attending the 2014 Open House, then a workshop, she asked if I wanted to join their small group to help with orders, stock, and to learn more about working with wool.

Sara teaching me how to dye locks and fibers.

I have always been drawn to fibers - especially wool.

And to be able to work and learn in a place that is so positive and creative - it can only affect your direction of creativity.

 Sara has many tutorials on sculpting with wool over armatures which makes for great practice and getting to know the materials and push the limits...

 I used to want to be a Marine Biologist when I was younger, but I get motion sick standing up too fast. And so now I am choosing to go back to what calls to me (this is just trying out some forms).

I am really getting to understand more about sheep, goats, and other animals that we use their fur (wool, hair, etc) and the processes that it has to undergo in order for it to be usable in crafts such as needle felting, wet felting, spinning, sculpting, and at some point - wearable art.

These two guys above remind me of the dwarfs from the Hobbit and LOTR movies and are the first figurative creations I made in the style of "forrest folk" (Lee Charlton and Sara Renzulli video).

I may just have to make myself a little gathering of dwarfs for my studio to keep me company!!!

And I am trying to keep a bit up on getting to the gym and spend time with my family.

So my time in the clay studio has been put at the back burner - not completely, but it is definitely relatable to binging on Netflix then not for a while... 

I have a craft show this weekend and I have lots of earrings, my bracelet kits, and needle felting ornaments to take with me.

After that - I will hopefully get around to updating my Etsy shop with new items.

And you know - a lot of them will be wool!

Ceramic Flower Disc Beads and Organization

I love that I have my creative studio space in my house.

I dream of having a secondary building somewhere where I can run my business and hold artist retreats, but right now with young kids, it's just not something on my horizon.

I try to sneak in an hour or two of clay time a week.

I remember those days where I could work all day and night on my work, but having kids, those days are long (LONG) gone. And even though I miss it sometimes, I really enjoy where I am right now in life...

And sometimes when I work on new pieces in series, I should listen to my brain that says:

"Hey! WAIT!!! Now that these are drying in groups, you should immediately sort them into smaller bisque containers for the bisque firing NOW instead of having to sort through all of these pieces after the bisque firing!"

Did I listen to my brain?

Not at all... (kicking myself)

So I had to spend (waste) an extra 20 minutes to sort through this entire 6" x 8" container full of my new flower disc beads.

Truth be told - I think my brain ignored itself because it somehow knew that I needed that 20 minutes of extra bead fondling once these were out of the bisque firing.

Now that they are fired and sorted, when I get to the glazing point, I can easily pull out the plastic drawer (I use the ones from the hardware store that stack high and have 30-50 drawers in each) and pick pairs. 

I like to work in pairs from the glazing point. If they make it out of the kiln with a matching mate, then it was meant to be. 

If not - then well - independence is theirs!

I have some in my Etsy Shop, and will be glazing more in early May for a shop update and for stock for Bead and Button (booth #610 with Nikki Thornburg Bead Studio).

And to send to Darlene of D7Studio where she represents Marsha Neal Studio.

And I am taking a little bit of time here and there to tend to the garden and spring clean up.

I just love these Hellebores...

First time this one is really blooming!

Curious to see about the cross pollination of this double blooming head with some of the others in the garden (they take 5 years from seed to blooming mature plant).

And a little educational treat for myself...

I adore felting, and have had two opportunities to take classes with the very talented Sara Renzulli of Sarafina Fiber Art, where we have been needle felting structural creatures.

This one is the Bunny Puff Kit (she has all kinds of critters as fibers are available and restocks often).

I love these for my house, and learning about creating structural fiber work is really going to help me take the next steps towards where I want my body of work to end up...

If you have ever wanted to learn needle felting you should check out her shop and her SarafinaFiberArt You Tube channel for a bunch of tutorials.