Needlefelting..

please remember there is a fiber festival in avreysboro (Dunn NC ) April the 21st .. it will be the first like it at ths place .. and we of course hope there will be many more.

to the left is a chipmunk I made earlier in the year. I will be teaching this sculpture at SAFF in the fall along with 2 others. I recently read on another well known nedlefelters page that tthere are no skill levels for needlefelting, and I sadly must disagree.

While not everyone can visualuize in 3 d

still others have a hard time coordinating their hhands with their mental image... if I were the artist with a paintbrush of the things I can visualize in my mind, I would be phenominal, but sadly I cannot figure out how to make an image appear to have depth when working with a flat surface. I am not alone and while skill may or may not be in question, "creative vision" is important. If I teach a class , and say gently sculpt the entire surface area, no matter what I say if the student only felts in a single section, and not the entire area, the finished product will look different than what I myself create.

the medium does require practice and knowledge of how it works .. if this is a " talent" or skill level, such as intermediate, and advanced, then I believe classes will need to be seperated from beginner, and intermediate ... beginners may not fully understand then that , certain fibers felt better than others, and still others may give different effect to a finished peice. should someone accustiomed to using different wool be subjected to this information over and over again,

in a class situation just because "nobody is a beginner with this medium"

at some point with everything, everyone is a beginner.

if you wish to view more of my felting please read the archives. I am still creating but in the middle of shearing right now so the completion of new work is stalled for the moment :)

Melissa

)

shearing and farm updates.

Well we will need to sell chance, a beautiful personable colt that came here last summer with a flesh injury to his rump. the people who had him said someone had to take him or they would shoot him, Im putting up a b4 and a current photo of him, he is currently


10 months old, leads, loads, ties, bathes, clips, ponys, and has been sacked out to tarps, kiddie pools balls and more... He is a very nice mover , with excellent hunter/jumper potential. I am asking a super reasonable price for him because I cannot afford to feed 5 horses indefinatly lol, and because he needs to be cut (gelded) , and the new owner would incurr that expence.


I am asking $650 for him ..


so if anyone is shopping for a colt or knows of anyone who may be, ... here is a great one..

We have also been shearing this month.


im posting a photo of this , for those fiber artists who dont own sheep of their own, Here is Rogue, a yearling corriedale ewe lamb, who had a covered fleece.
I started shearing at the legs, because the fleece needs to come off in a single peice, the skirted wool is the fiber on the lower legs, belly and under the neck. The head is also thrown aside because if a sheep is dirty it is on their heads.



the metal thing is called a blocking stand, and many sheep are not shorn standing up . I have her on this blocking stand because she is too large for me to shear in the traditional manner of setting her on her rump . By the time I get one of my ewes on their rump they still are so tasll their heads touch me about my sternum area , much too long bodied for me to shear this way efficently. What is scarier, is rogue is not even one of my bigger ewes.
We had a rain day today, good for the pastures, and once the ewes begin to dry out some more, I will get more photos.
Melissa

Spring fiber flings.

Currently im knitting and preparing to "full" a couple of hats I will put my own needlefelted designs onto. I Hope to have a couple for sale at the Dunn Fiber Festival, but at the very least some for SAFF. Im getting a little excited about MDS&W , and my potential entry , he is coming along well, but I need to keep going, get it finished and not be working my fingers to the bone right before we leave. I dont know how I will avoid it because I have everyone to shear, wool to get ready to braid into rug mugs.. as a "local" contribution for the museum here.
I have put in most of my compost and am trying a no-till garden, that composte wise is in layers , and from all I have read is called "lasagne" gardening
First I made basic raised areas in my normal garden , I put manure heavy with hay sdown first then manure/shavings and on top of that , actual dark composted materials.. I then covered it with a black rubber roof.
I will post pictures as spring gets more into swing and the plants go in..

here is a little no bake recipe for a great cheesecake that I made up.

I hope you enjoy it and it is awesome with fresh strawberries.
you will need
grahm cracker crust
2 bars cream cheese,
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 box vanilla pudding.
a small container whipped cream.
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/3 c sugar
soften cream cheese mix in yogurt, sour cream , sugar, vanilla,lemon juice.mix well with hand mixer until creamy...
add in 1 box vanilla pudding.. fold in 1 container whipped cream. add fruit if desired.
pour into grahm cracker crust... chill and serve.

hope you love it !
be sure to let me know if you do want more of my homemade recipes...
and remember we love cheese.
so most of our recipes have lots of it in there.

we currently have added 3 new white angora babies to the farm and they are playing king of the mountian. as I can catch them I will surely get more pictuires of them as well.
please pass our blog on to any and all ppl that you think may be interested in it !

Melissa

Events.

well April 21st I will have the puppest and more items at a fiber festival in DunnNC this is a new event so hand spinners please come out and show event planners that fiber arts is something we do want to see more of !
March the 10th there will be an all day needlefelting class for making an easter bunny, it will be palm sized, and plan on the class taking all day. It will be held at the Tail spinner starting at 10 am . please pre-register for the class! www.tail-spinner.com/
There will be a 3 day spinning class at the Tail Spinner starting March 23rd. on one of those days , students will come out to the farm to watch us shear a few of the sheep. From there they will scour the wool and get it ready for preperation for spinning.
We are still lambing and just had anopther little girl born a few minutes ago . I do still have several lambs for sale and you can contact us thru e-mail . As always all the puppets and hand sculpted items are for sale thru the tail spinner web site.
The SANTA ornaments. I am not selling them at this moment, but will have enough wool dyed to begin selling them again in July. IF you are going to need more than 10 of them please order them WELL in advance. and remember, I sell them for 10$ each . I do not care what you sell them for as long as I am paid upon reciept of the santas. WE are working on a new christmas ornament .. keep checking back for news on newest sculptures!
Melissa

New cashgora babies

It has been requested that I supply photos of my newest Cashgora kids..
they were born on Sunday, and arent they lovely? I think they are great My son has chosen the name for the little girl, and he wants to call her Shadow. the billys name is still in the works

But I'll let everyone know what we decide on.

In the works right now

This lynx is is in the "creation " stage.. he is not finished.

at this point the form for his body is there,the color applications of fur and details especially coloring like "markings" down to details like toe nails, and whiskers will come shortly.

I will be finding a y shaped branch to cut and mount this statue to.

This is what I hope to submit to MDS&W fiber artist competetion.

a lambie we have recently added to the flock... many more to come :)

Lambing and kidding.

I am up to my elbows right now with wonderful new lambies, expecting cashgora kids any second by the looks of nanna goat. but in the interm I am promoting wool to everyone I can, one tip to convince ppl who are not wool savvy... get a peice of acrylic yarn, and a peice of wool...
catch them both on fire. watch the expression of your new wool convert.

As of now Im creating a full body sculpture for competition at MDS&W and Im very excited about how it is turning out. as it gets closer to completion I will certianly post photos.

I am also working on a small bunny sculpture. as we approach easter, we will see what I can create ... I will soon post pictures of the newest bundles and also of the latest creations :) thanks Melissa

des femmes: Eye candy for the fiber artists

des femmes: Eye candy for the fiber artists

holidays and plans for the new year.

Attended the Parade locally, it was chilly and only emphasized to me my need to improve my knitting skills so I can make more warm things for my family. I came home and began spinning up some of my bets corriedale and right this minute as cold as my toes are Im thinking... socks.

on a more reliable note, especially considering that Im like a remedial knitter, I will be working on the 3rd part for my planned class for SAFF . It will be the third forest animal in that It will be a wild rabbit also on a stump. After completing that , I will begin sculpting the animal I hope to carry to MDS&W to compete there in needlefelting. IF I still qualify. I will need to read all of the rules and guidelines for it before I decide something like that.

Im trying to get several things completed around the farm before we begin lambing and kidding. things that will help me seperate the billy and rams farther from the ewes.
we will be looking into a new ram this spring to add to our flock of super fine corriedale sheep. We also hope to locate a cashmere billy that wont be too far out of our way or too expensive .

I will be ordering matilda coats for more of the flock this year, it should help increase the quality as well as quantity of wool my sheep produce and make sure it is nice and white.
I will post more photos from around the farm after the Christmas holidays end.
but until then happy holidays to everyone

another puppet photo.

I am not certian but after this posting I may have the majority of my puppets on the blog ya!

the elephant was a huge hit at saff, and the cheetah is one of my favorites. both of these guys are " earlier works." and the later stuff is below. I am currently sculpting a puppet modeled after one of my own horses. Will post him as soon as he is completed! Melissa

new to blogging

I am still learning , and hope to soon figure out how to add my fav blogs in links to here, I want to learn how to be a part of a fiber artist blog ring, and more , but one baby step at a time. in any case if anyone already knows how I can do either of these things and could help me along thats great! but if not its ok !!! Melissa

another puppet

I realize photos of 2 or 3 puppets on this blog site cannot really give the desired effect but I am trying to show some of my sculpture without being boring.
I am also working on 2 new projects that I will finish as I have time and most likely after the holidays .
but then again that will also depend on how heavy lambing is then too... all my adult ewes should be delivering lambs jan-Feb time frame.
My puppets are derived from photos of actual animals. Because I breed all white corriedales,my inspiration for other breeds of sheep, Llamas, alpacas etc, comes from pictures I liked. not always from "requested " work. so, just because I used a specific ram as my "model" does not mean that puppet was sold to the ppl who owned that ram.
so if you see a puppet that really "looks" like an animal you have, it may still be available for sale.
soon I will be ordering brass lamb ear tags, they will be engraved with my first initial and last name. and then numbered on the back. I felt this way, if I tag and "number" my work , people will know they recieved an authentic peice of my work, and that even 2 or 3 years down the road, if they give me the number, I will have a reference point , in referring to a peice of work I may have sold.
Yes I use all corriedale in all of my puppets. The outer fluffy wool may be any numbers of fibers but the base sculpture, (that even without the wool just looks like that species of animal only with a very close shave,) that is all corriedale.
yes, from here. I use that because it felts consistently and I have little guessing to do when working with it.
soon I will publish a "puppet in the works" here. so everyone can "watch it come along"
but until then I must go make more Santas :) happy holidays ! Melissa

class for SAFF2007

here is one of the 3 items I will be teaching in my class at SAFF on Friday next year. it will be an 8 hour class , with limited spaces . I ask anyone attending this class to please have needlefelted Something, anything before the class . it will help me to instruct the finer detail within the class if everyone already understands how the felting process with a needle works .

santa photos

here are the "santa heads " that I have been making A LOT.
each is a little different but they seem to be very well liked this christmas. thought I should show a photo of them

currently in the "works"

Well at SAFF I had 2 dozen "santa " faces ornaments. they were gone within an hour of opening the booth. so that night I made 4 in the hotel that lasted 4 minutes at SAFF on Saturday... so I made 3 more sat night that were gone immediatly in the morning on Sunday, since my return home I have had every one I have made, gone before I can catch my breath... in groups!! like ppl do not just buy one.. they are buying like 4 and 6 at one time ! so I recently made "frosty" faces, complete with corn cob pipes, black top hats and I really like them... the first 4 ever out in public will hit lindas shop on Tuesday night. she does sell thru the internet, yes even the santas and frostys..
they are 10$ each not including tax and S&H, but they are not heavy.
here is the link to her page
http://www.tail-spinner.com/
my puppets can be found there as well. plus if you plan to come to the coast, I do give classes at her shop.
I will try to get some pictures of the santas and frostys ...
but while setting everything up this evening to do just that, my camera lets me know in no uncertian terms that I need new batteries to feed to it. oh also please do feel free to pass around this blog spot to anyone who may be at all interested in my sculptures, I just want to get them seen and lil ole NC town is not a big metropolis :) melissa

three postings??

I apologise for the 3 repeat SAFF posts below. if you read the first , then you read the 2 below them as well.. I have tried to edit this and remove it but am so new to blogging in general that this just is not going well at this time . thank you though for your patience I am sure I will get it all worked out soon ! M

SAFF

I attended SAFF 06 and had a wonderful time ! here is the link to the SAFF site for those who may not have seen it before http://www.saffsite.org/page.php?page=home.htm
I will be an instructor for fine detail needlefelting next year, and will be holding an 8 hour class .. crazy right? possibly ! I was a little overwhelmed by the huge amount of ppl at SAFF, but the puppet I made after my angora doe Luci won the needlefelting competetion so that made me very happy. I bought some fleeces from Dan-Vir sheep, they have georgus covered cormos and colored corriedales that are "to die for " and I always try to buy a fleece from them. My friend Laurie Andreacci from Lauries lambs also needs to put a fleece or 3 on the SAFF show table for me to show off for her, her shetland fiber is beautiful , and sooo soft. maybe I can coax her into it for next year... hoping I will be able to get a good photo of the things Im creating with my needlefelting and put it up soon. Elizabeth Ashford put my Giraffe in the newest edition of "the wheel " magazine and WOW was I thrilled! anyway SAFF was a huge success and the puppets recieved a wonderful reception for their big debut!
thanks to any and all who attended ! Melissa

SAFF

I attended SAFF 06 and had a wonderful time ! here is the link to the SAFF site for those who may not have seen it before http://www.saffsite.org/page.php?page=home.htm
I will be an instructor for fine detail needlefelting next year, and will be holding an 8 hour class .. crazy right? possibly ! I was a little overwhelmed by the huge amount of ppl at SAFF, but the puppet I made after my angora doe Luci won the needlefelting competetion so that made me very happy. I bought some fleeces from Dan-Vir sheep, they have georgus covered cormos and colored corriedales that are "to die for " and I always try to buy a fleece from them. My friend Laurie Andreacci from Lauries lambs also needs to put a fleece or 3 on the SAFF show table for me to show off for her, her shetland fiber is beautiful , and sooo soft. maybe I can coax her into it for next year... hoping I will be able to get a good photo of the things Im creating with my needlefelting and put it up soon. Elizabeth Ashford put my Giraffe in the newest edition of "the wheel " magazine and WOW was I thrilled! anyway SAFF was a huge success and the puppets recieved a wonderful reception for their big debut!
thanks to any and all who attended ! Melissa

SAFF

I attended SAFF 06 and had a wonderful time ! here is the link to the SAFF site for those who may not have seen it before http://www.saffsite.org/page.php?page=home.htm
I will be an instructor for fine detail needlefelting next year, and will be holding an 8 hour class .. crazy right? possibly ! I was a little overwhelmed by the huge amount of ppl at SAFF, but the puppet I made after my angora doe Luci won the needlefelting competetion so that made me very happy. I bought some fleeces from Dan-Vir sheep, they have georgus covered cormos and colored corriedales that are "to die for " and I always try to buy a fleece from them. My friend Laurie Andreacci from Lauries lambs also needs to put a fleece or 3 on the SAFF show table for me to show off for her, her shetland fiber is beautiful , and sooo soft. maybe I can coax her into it for next year... hoping I will be able to get a good photo of the things Im creating with my needlefelting and put it up soon. Elizabeth Ashford put my Giraffe in the newest edition of "the wheel " magazine and WOW was I thrilled! anyway SAFF was a huge success and the puppets recieved a wonderful reception for their big debut!
thanks to any and all who attended ! Melissa