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.

Playing with Wool

 I was in my studio the other day and realized that I could spend everyday cleaning up my supplies...I have a ton...but its been awhile since I worked on anything and it was time to get to work. So I started to felt....and like I am...I didn't really have a plan. Through my degree I realized I liked to start on projects and decide along the way what they would become and deal with the editing as I went. So here I realized I wanted to practice some of the techniques I had learned in the webcam workshop I had done...so off I went.
I have looked at this piece in many different ways and realized it is open to interpretation. My idea was to create pieces that may work in an Annette Messager type installation. My goal was to go bigger than the purple piece..which I achieved but was alot of work. So the idea of filling a room, as she does, is daunting...but doable. Her works are usually suspended, but I still love the idea of felt and metal so I placed it on one of my metal stands. They would also look awesome attached to a metal piece which is free standing on the floor.
Any its a start and we will see where it will go.

One Hundred Felted Soaps

I did a 100 felted soaps to be used  in gift packages for the opening of the BO.TTEGA The Bottega is a modern farm inn set against the backdrop of beautiful South East Kelowna. I was given  a white alpaca fleece from their herd to use. I mixed it with some fibres that I had in the colours green and teal. The alpaca was beautiful, soft and fluffy. It would be awesome to spin up and knit into something.
This was a fun project to do. 100 soaps seemed like a lot while I was felting them...took quite some time..but in the end they all fit into a shoe box. 

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.

What Colour Are You?

Yesterday, I was blue and red, You were green and yellow, She was pink and purple, He was brown and green, They were black and red.

Today, I am pink and purple, You are red and blue, She is yellow and blue, He is red and pink, They are brown and orange.

Tomorrow, I will be yellow and orange, You will be brown and pink, She will be black and green, He will be blue and yellow, and They will be white and pink.

What colour are you?

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 to justify the concept 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 will change the reality that I live in and vice versa.

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.

My Studio

It is really fun to finally have a studio...I can leave my mess and no one can complain because its my space. This picture is at the beginning before I got all my stuff into it. I have collected a fair amount of metal and have eased out into the middle space. Avery...my visa a vie studio partner doesn't mind as she has moved out and we meet in the middle.
My faces are coming along...I have quite a few more now and intend to have alot by April...watch for pictures from the 4th year mid term show

Felting Workshop with Jorie

I went to a felting workshop with Jorie Johnson in Vancouver this past weekend. It was fun to take an early morning flight out of Kelowna .....you sure know you live in a small place when you meet 2 people you know at the airport at 5:15 a.m.

I learned alot...especially on how to be more careful with my initial setting up. It sometimes is easier to take the time in the beginning than spend time fixing your mistakes. I learned some new techniques and I learned how other people teach felting and how the equipment you use is a sure sign on where you learned to felt. My teacher, Franziska, learned in Sweden...so bubble wrap and all that rolling is knew to me. Though I understand that my felting board is not good for everything I sure wouldn't part with it.

Spinning or Felting: That is the question

 I can't decide whether or not I should spin this batt that I carded up. My husband thinks its prettier the way it is and he is right, it is pretty. I could use it to felt with or I could sell it on etsy. It is a mixture of the BFL I bought this year and dyed, plus silks, mohair, and icicle that I also dyed. Once I spun the other 3 batts, the colours mixed and it is a yarn full of life. I made a baby hat out of the blue skein I had spun as they are only about 50 yds.
I ordered a new flyer for my spinning wheel, so that I could spin larger skeins as this is the max that my 

 flyer can manage.

Dyeing Black and Grey

 Even though I am rather colour obsessed, when I bought the dyes I included black, grey, brown. I, of course, left those colours to the end. The brown was deep and rich and certainly an addition to my collection. So when I reached the last two dyes, black and grey, it took a little encouragement to actually do them. Once done, the BFL black was so deep and powerful and the silver silk was glowing.
Now that I have gone through all my colours once, I didn't want to go back to the beginning and do them again. So this time I took 2 colours and combined them to see what would happen. This time violet and hot pink made an awesome purple and well, what do we call that pink. Chartreuse and Emerald created a blend that is in between both of them and the second dye bath produced a blue green on the icicle. It sure was fun. Now if the weather gets nice again, I will continue with my mixed dyes. The first picture is the Blue Face Leicester and the second picture is the silk, mohair and icicle. Fun how they take on the colours differently

Knit a Hat a Week

 I had this idea that I could knit a hat a week for a year. That way I would end up with 52 hats, most of which I probably don't need. I love to knit hats. They are easy and small and fun. They fit in your purse, you can do them on the bus, or while waiting for an appointment. I work in a well stocked yarn store and there is no way I could possibly make something out of all the variety that there is in the store. If I knit hats, I can try all the yarns I want to try and I haven't invested a ton of money or time and it satisfies my sanguine nature. One day it will be pink, the next day blue.... or whatever I want.
I consider this Hat #2 as last week I made the baby hat out of my handspun.
This hat is also my own design which I posted on Ravelry
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pink-passion-hat

Dye Pots are On

 Well, finally got organized and am ready to do my dyeing. I have been waiting all this past school year to add to my colour collection. I got a new fleece of BFL from Ranfurly Farm and what beautiful soft and curly wool it is. I will use it to both felt and spin.There is silk noil and spun silk and icicle and mohair in the dye pot. I don't do alot at a time as my goal is to get a colour stash. Whatever I don't use, I will share, but once I get it in my stash, its hard to let it go.
Today there is Gun Metal and Gold Ochre.... yummy

Washing Wool

Well, I am back from visiting family in Toronto and am ready to finally settle down and do my spring work. I have begun working on my garden and washing the wools I purchased in anticipation of spring. My favourite wool comes from Ranfurly Farm in Chase BC. Read their Blog at:  http://ranfurlyfarmbfls.blogspot.com/p/ram-photos.htmlThe blue-faced Leicester sheep that are kept there have a beautiful fleece. The fleeces are clean and easy to wash and dye and felt wonderfully. I guess you don't always know how well kept things are till you experience something else. I bought a lambs fleece in the fall, from a not to be mentioned farm, and the wool was so dirty, with both vegetable and fecal matter that it took forever to wash.

This is a picture of Bokiddick with her two lambs. The fleece is great and I can't wait to begin dyeing it. I will, definitely, buy a bigger fleece next year. I was trying to be conservative and use up some of my stash. I guess I also thought I would dye the lamb's wool, but the quality of that has been degraded to the quality of stuffing and not worthy of dyeing.

Cabinet of Curiosities

This is one of my sculptures in the cabinet. They weren't that easy to photograph in the cabinet and they were changed up a little bit in order to fit in the small space. They were really fun to make. I had found perfect circle cut outs at Action Metal. I went back when there was snow in order to find more as there is no way I could plasma cut the steel into such perfect circles. They are perfect to use in my classical sculpture podium pieces.
I didn't use all of them yet and will probably make a few more for the show next year. This is the first time that the wool and the steel complimented each other.
It wasn't the steel was holding the felt or vice versa but they are beginning to have a conversation with each other.

Welcome to ColourSparks

Well, welcome to my Blog ColourSparks.
I've spent the summer dyeing my collection of fibres. My intention was to use up my fibre stash and transform it into something more useful. The problem is, or was, that I ran out of certain things and had to order more. I have so far dyed 15 different colours in a variety of fibres: silk, silk noil, mohair locks, alpaca, border Leicester fleece, and okanagan sheep fleece. I had alot of fun making all these different colours and and I am sharing them in my etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ColourSparks

I have also done quite a bit of felting with my new found colours