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!

Dyeing Silks for Custom Colors and Patterns

by Barbara Bechtel


Earlier this year, I took a eucalyptus dying class with Kim Mailhot at my favorite local studio, Art More Place. It turns out, that the green eucalyptus we see in floral arrangements and the favorite food of koala bears, when heated and steamed in dye bath turns a beautiful rusty color.

Here, you can see the beautiful rusty leaves and the impressions they left on the silk bags.

Another useful technique that Kim shared with us is that sari silk and other dyed silks can often used to add pops of color as well. When heated in a boiling steam bath, the dye transfers away leaving a beautiful watercolor effect to the formerly solid silks!

See those little lines? Those are made using tiny threads pulled from sari silk! On the left, you can see some faint lime green lines left from a piece of dyed green silk from Marsha Neal Studio.

I can see so many possibilities with this to customizing and dying your own silks for use, can't you?

Here are just a few of the silks that I dyed in my class!

In the same vein, recently I saw this tutorial floating around Pinterest and Facebook for dyeing easter eggs with old silk ties and that really got the wheels turning in my head because it essentially follows the same method that I learned with the sari silks!

These follow a similar approach! I can't wait to try this method with a silk to silk dye transfer!

Have you ever tried to dye your own fibers for your jewelry? I'd love to hear about your experience in the comments below!