Re: [AlpacaTalk] Fiber Arts
Hi Janice;)
Felting in wet and needle form are both fun, needle felting can be done anywhere LOL take my word for that it is stabbing dry fiber into the shape you want with the different needles to obtain a fully dry felted item(along with big swollen thumbs and fingers from numerous pokes). Great with the wet felting technique for adding a variety of textures and character to any project. I love it, and use it in almost everything i do including adding my hand spun art yarns to various projects, the possibilities are endless. Alpaca is really easy to spin once you get the hang of it, best to start off with something like BFL wool or Romney is even easier and go from there. I did it backwards, started with Cashmere and worked my way down LOL so its all quite easy once your technique for the certain fibers is down pat. I find Angora rabbit to be the most difficult of all of them, but i learned first on a drop spindle, which will test the patience of even a saint until you catch on;)
june Neill
http://www.geocitie
http://iherdalpacas
http://iherdalpacas
----- Original Message -----
From: houckj@aol.com
To: AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 2:54 PM
Subject: [AlpacaTalk] Fiber Arts
<<And Janice, you're so funny, apprentice with me! I learned how to weave
in college and I can draft patterns like nobody's business, and I can
sew very well, though I'm not a "production" seamstress, that's for
sure! But as for the spinning and felting... I'm just learning, myself!
And I have learned that I am not so crazy about preparing the fleece.
SO tedious! But I have so many things that I want to do, that I'm going
to have to force myself since I don't have the ready funds to send my
fleece off to the mill for processing, even into batts or rovings! And
felting in the bathtub really sucks. :)
Heather>>
Well I am totally intimidated by weaving! Have a wonderful loom given
to me years and years ago. Have never tackled. Used to sew, but
haven't in years. Used to crochet - ditto. Never learned to knit.
Always wanted to quilt - never found time, yet. Have recently been
trying (and trying is the key word here - with a 2yo there is no time to
read - grown up books anyway) to read a book about felting and am
getting very interested as it looks easier and more rewarding than
spinning. Bought a Ashford spinning wheel several years ago with
visions of spinning in front of the fire. HA! Our winters are too
short and I do most of my outside work in the winter when the overgrown
brush is knocked down and I can see what I am doing and the nasty
moisquitoes, etc are taking a break. So my images of peacefully
spinning in front of the fire must be from a previous lifetime! A
lifetime that did not include constantly demanding little ones - the
little buggers, how dare they! And Heidi, I am also always yelling to
close the door "I see dollars flying out the door" is what I say/yell.
But as for just getting started with the spinning and felting.....
under the impression you were far along. If not, then I admire your go
get em attitude. I can't find it now but I recall you signing off
recently with a very optimistic and upbeat sig line about making money
on your creations. Love that attitude! I know some time not too long
ago someone posted here that had several decades of fiber art experience
under her belt. I was thinking that was you.
We don't talk fiber much here and perhaps that is a good thing as then
the list might be too busy. But I would love to get discussions going
with others in the fiber/felting/
area. I am sure there must already be a yahoo group devoted this. But
do we have a few folks here that would be interested in this as an
offshoot of this list? Or have a list they can recommend? Just what I
need - another list to keep up with - not! Maybe we could do it here
and those not interested could use their delete button?
An acquaintance of mine says she does felting in the car (while her
husband drives). I can't picture that, at least from what I am reading,
it seems a big messy project. But I am thinking I could use all that
not good enough for spinning fiber I collected all those years I had
someone shearing that didn't know what they were doing - from a fiber
standpoint. I collected it all anyway thinking a stuffed doggy pillow
at the very least for old dog bones would be nice and soft and warm.
I know absolutely nothing about how to prepare a fleece; in fact mine is
not a "fleece", it is fiber stuffed in a bag. I just have mine stuffed
in pillow cases and haven't a clue as to what the next/first step is.
It is not cleaned or anything. I am worried about moths and mildew.
Maybe someone here could inform those of us totally ignorant as to what
to do and how to get started. Now that I type this I do believe I have
a vague memory this *was* discussed here earlier this year?
As an aside, I really need to get going on learning this. Our local
area museum is planning to morph into a living history museum over the
next several yuears. They are located in a historically significant old
homestead on the river and they want to recreate the original homestead.
I have always wanted a job at one of these places and covet the job
here. I want to be the herb gardener with the dye plants and be the
spinner and keeper of animals. There are no spinners around here, tho
there is a large guild in Atlanta (about an hour or so away). Here we
have many weavers. If I can become proficient before they get this
going I should be able to get the job. That is my "retirement" plan. I
have been told by spinners in Atlanta that alpaca is not a good fiber to
learn with; that it is one of the more difficult fibers to work with???
Warmly, Janice in GA
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posted by Chaddo at 10:19 AM
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