New Series and Spring

I began a new series of work in January. My group the ArtFelt Collaborative are having a show at Lake Country Gallery in July and we all decided to get to work. Our collective theme chose natural colour fleeces and off we went. I love natural colour fleeces and I love collecting different breeds of sheep. These piece encompass at least 15 or more different sheep breeds all in their natural colour. I began collecting different breeds a few years back from a shepherdess named Val in Swift Current Saskatchewan. I finally pulled those samples out and began washing them.

They were amazingly beautiful and the colour variations were truly unique. Of course..ha ha..that wasn't enough and I ordered more. The Cotswold grey was the true inspiration for this series. The beauty of the individual locks were incredibly inspiring. 

I am intrigued by the idea that all these sheep breeds are classified, categorized, evaluated and stamped...slotted into compartments of use and need and desire and quality. Some are judged better than others. I am amazed that when I combined them totally disregarding their labels they join together to created a oneness that is totally unique.

That's what this piece is about.

Dye Workshop: Playing with Colour

 Dye Workshop: June 21, 2014

Changing the colour of fiber is a magical experience. It is so much fun to to watch the fiber absorb the colour and transform
This workshop is about the basics of immersion  dyeing using commercial acid dyes. We will be experimenting with vat dyeing and overdyeing.

The workshop runs from 10:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m. and includes materials. Each participant will take home a sample of the colours dyed.
Cost: $90, includes materials
Registration at coloursparks@gmail.com

What Would it Take

What Would It Take

This work is a collaborative between Judith Mueller and Candace Giesbrecht designed to express the community that supports Mental health here in Kelowna

What Would It Take is comprised of many layers of wool fleece, at least 8 different breeds of sheep, that when intertwined become one piece of art.

Just as there are many different people in the world there are also many varieties of sheep not all of which produce the soft fibers we like to wear against our skin and are thought to be the “best”.  When we combine the differences in each breed we create an integrity and strength that can only be achieved through the
 acceptance of the abilities of each individual quality.

The leaves have been hand stitched on after the felting process and contain the initials of the individuals who have chosen to support mental health here at this event.

A Tree for Mental Health

This is the beginning of my layout for the tree piece I am doing for a fund raiser for Canadian Mental Health at Bottega next week.  At the event, the participants will be able to add leaves to the tree using a variety of materials and they will have the option to write words on their leaves. I am very excited about the project and I look forward to see the tree completely felted and fulled and full of leaves.
At the end of the evening the tree will be auctioned off.
My studio isn't big enough to make a pieces this size. So don't tell my kid, but I used one of his old paintings as a board to create a surface for the lay out. I did cover the painting with plastic so it wouldn't get wet.

Urban Dude's Infinity Scarf

 I knit this scarf with my boys in mind. The infinity scarves that I knit last year where too feminine for the boys...so I took some yarn, Araucania Panguipulli and picked a colour I thought Son #3 would like....knit the infinity scarf and then asked who wanted it....no takers...oh well, sample for the store.
Now look whose laughing...me, of course, Son #3 is up in northern Alberta...freezing his butt off and no Urban Dude Infinity Scarf to keep him warm.
This pattern is available in my Ravelry store:
 http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/urban-dudes-infinity-scarf

Plant Dyed Yarn....

 I've been dyeing wool fleece and yarn for years. I began my ...shall I call it an obsession...when I was studying to become a Waldorf School Handwork teacher. I was fascinated by the variety of colour you could get by just dyeing plant material. I read all the books and for a whole year I dyed only things I could find....leaves, bark, flowers, lichens.. By this time, I had over 60 shades of yellow.and then I branched out into madder and cochineal and added the reds and the pinks.
My first indigo recipe was complicated but once I mastered it I finally had a whole range of colours including the greens blues and the purples.

 It's not that  easy, you have to dye enough of the yellows and pinks to get the greens and the purples.....It just seemed I never had enough.

So now, quite a few years later...I begin again. This time I am using superwash merino from Louet and 10 skeins later all I have are 1 of a kinds. Nothing to add to the madder or the indigo....Oh well...the next time will be different again.

What is a Fibre Addict to Do?

Morning Madness Mohair Locks 4 oz

I purchased a mohair fleece from Vancouver Island and I have been spending my days dyeing it one pot at a time. I like vat dyeing...I begin with one colour, dye the fibre, then add another colour, then another, then another...I end up with way too much.
Right now, I have 21 acid dyes and I am almost finished the set. I have had to refrain, of course, from purchasing more colours....I decided I would finish this set and then I was free to experiment with different colours.
I actually take notes and samples and I have found that the colours are really consistent.
I have realized that the dyeing part is what fascinates me the most...its like magic...you fill a pot of water, put in a powder...add your
wool...and voila...colour.
The colour witch is alive and well and living in Kelowna...ha ha.

The mixtures pictured here are available in my etsy store
ColourSparks on Etsy

Dawn's Finest Hour Mohair Locks 4 oz

Perfect Hair Mohair Locks 4 oz

Blue Danube Mohair Locks 4 oz

Hats....Again?

I am adding a new section to my blog called Baby Hats....I love making hats...Working in a yarn store with a huge awry of yarns is amazingly inspiring. The problem is I can't knit something big out of everything. So I make hats. I am most interested in the yarns and not necessarily the finished project. I love wool,fibre and colour and that is the part of yarn that fasinates me the most. Yes, I love knitting too, but if I  tried to boil down what is my favourite part...it is definitely the fibre...and what better way to try all the interesting yarns in The Art of Yarn...than knit hats....(that way when the customers come in, I know what I am talking about).
So hats are the perfect object...they are functional...I wear hats all the time in the winter....my kids always wore hats and still do and I can carry them in my purse and knit them on the bus. I have become the lady on the bus that knits...ha ha ha...can hardly believe it.
I am working with a photographer....Linda Cunningham....I share my hats and she shares her pictures.

Here Comes the Sun

 Now that the sun finally came out for a few minutes, its time to get the dye pots going.  I purchased 2 BFL fleeces this year, along with my left overs from last year and the mohair, silk, icicle and all the other bits and pieces that I have.
Actually it began with green because I am planning on making Luka a blanket in the fall and I decided to over dye some of my plant dyed yarn with chartreuse because he wants a green blanket. That dye pot kept me on the green journey.
First I used emerald green (left side) and when it more or less was used I added more wool and it absorbed the blues left in the dyepot. Then I added yellow and got the middle colour. Since i have already dyed all these colours once, I thought by mixing and adding to existing dyepots I would get new colours...Looks like its going to work. The next colour choice is blue. Luckily the weather report says the sunshine is finally about to arrive.

Mid Term Critique

 Well, its almost reading break and my mid term critique is behind me. It was well worth while cleaning up my studio and using it as a practice installation space. Its a great way to try all kinds of different ways of installing my pieces. I had attached my heads to the wall with plastic tubing and wasn't really convinced it was the right way. I had them at different lengths but settled on the  shorter length as that way they didn't hang as much.
As I was waiting for my critique time, I realized that something was missing....the metal. My artist statement is about the combination of wool and metal and I was forgetting the metal. So off I went to the metal shop and welded some pieces together and added them to the installation. somehow, for me it was an ah ha moment where I realized that the metal adds an interesting effect to the space. It wasmuch too flat just having the heads attached to the wall.
Anyway, I hung up my balls....I love my balls, and as you look at the heads through the walls, I feel I am getting the elements I want together. The audio is on, but needs work...its the third

 component. It allows the heads to speak....but the not so fast...they need more space
I now realize that there is work to be done and my installation won't completely gel till I have my walls up in the sculpture studio. So reading break is almost here and you will find me in my studio making heads.

Do you love hats as much as I do?

 Well, I think I am a hat addict....I can't stop knitting them. I used to say I would knit about 10 per winter season....But I knit 4 since yesterday so I think I have surpassed that number already. My problem began when I started working in a yarn store....how can I try all these wonderful yarns in a short period of time. It takes me forever to knit a sweater...so that won't work. The only solution is something small and fun. Growing up in a cold climate has made me realize that if you dress for the cold you won't mind it as much. I wear hats...yes it does ruin my curls, but it keeps my ears from stinging. I actually wear the hats I knit, well except for the last bunch, they are baby hats...I had to photograph them on my felted heads as I have no babies to try them on.

If I Told You My Story...Would You Listen? 4th Year Show

 My pieces are now in the Fina Gallery at UBCO as part of the 4th year graduating class. The piece with the steel sculpture and felt balls is called What Colour Are You? and the piece with the felted heads is called If I Told You My Story Would You Listen. 
What is not visible hear in the picture is that one of the heads has a speaker in it and it repeatedly asks the same questions...trying to call attention to the viewer. The colourful ball sculpture has a motor in the middle which stirs the balls.

What Colour Are You?

Welded Steel and Wool Fleece

My work has dealt with the exploration of combining wool and steel and trying to find a balance between the two. I have concluded that the steel often ends up being a support or container for the wool. The idea that the steel could be construed as masculine and the wool as female was my original starting point. I felt the need to defend the idea that working in wool and using it as a sculpture tool is not to be designated as craft but serious art. In the end I was lead to the conclusion of “who cares”. The steel is stronger and holds the wool and that’s okay....just as the wool is soft and colourful and allows the steel to shine.

This piece is my attempt to display a visual reference for the oneness of mankind. People, though they may look different and believe different things are all human beings made of flesh and soul and spirit.

The idea that your life does not affect mine is for me an illusion and construe of society to allow bad things to happen in the name of the greater good. I believe that even though you live in a far away country and I have no visible relationship to you...your life affects mine in the matrix of mankind. The reality that you live in will change the reality that I live in and vice versa

If I Told You My Story...Would You Listen?

Wool Fleece and Media

This installation piece is the beginning of a larger piece that will explore the stories we tell about the lives we live. The faces are the untold stories of women as they meet and interrelate with one another. I want the viewer to listen to the stories that are told but I also want the viewer to imagine and hear the story themselves by looking at the faces and listening to what they hear.

Fabulous Finds: We did it

Fabulous Finds was fun. It was great being around all the other artisans and watching the people go by. It wasn't exactly the venue for Luka's Hip Hop hats. The crowd was more or less older than his hats, but it was a great experience and we both learned alot. There didn't seem to be a lot of fibre artists in the crowd either as there wasn't that much interest in the fibres. The biggest hit was the the pair of pink baby booties. Everyone touched them and cooed.

Fabulous Finds at Summerhill Winery

Come and visit us at Fabulous Finds this Saturday....Luka and I have a booth...VBS and ColourSparks
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=245706178805870\