Romney Batts

These are enormous batts, certainly nothing I could produce! When I learned they were batts of Romney fleece raised right here in Kingston, Washington, of course I had to have them. I wanted to dye them in one piece, which obviously would be a challenge as they weigh over 2 lbs. each. I managed to fold and scrunch them enough to squeeze them into the pot. Whew! Now, what to do with them? Maybe a "felting day" on the patio in front of the shop... I think they would make interesting felt rugs!

Finishing Felt

Near the end of day 2 and the work is nearly done. Yes, we are tired and sore from the endless pounding and rolling but we are not fighting over felt... this is actually part of the finishing technique!

Felt as Art

These are just 3 examples of the beautiful artwork created over these 2 days...

Felting Workshop

To all my friends that were around me for the past couple months "I'm sorry". I had literally worked myself into a heap of nerves (worse than usual, that is) in anticipation of teaching this two-day workshop on laminated felt using merino, silk, and cashmere fibers. You can see a picture of one of my pieces in the Summer 2007 issue of Spin-Off in the Handspun Gallery of Felted Items (Page 90-91). I lost track of how many yards of silk I had to mordant, and I have absolutely no idea how many pounds of cashmere, silk, and merino I dyed, oh, and lots and lots of kid mohair locks too!

Well, much to my amazement, the workshop went well and everyone went home with a beautiful finished project. So, "Thanks" to Suzanne for the opportunity to teach this technique in a workshop environment; and "Thanks" to fiber enthusiasts Amy, Kathy, Robin, Linnea, Katie, Liz, Lisa, Roxana, Cathy, Tiffaney, Judy, Susanne and Spring for signing up giving me the opportunity to share this with you. It was simply too much fun!