Felting with a sander & Alpaca news

I can’t believe I have not posted anything here since September last year, how time flys.  Hubby has just been to collect a 6 foot wall mounted hay rack for the alpacas from our farming friends which will be very useful.  We have two groups in the barn now for the winter as the weather here has been awful, far too much rain and wind every day.  The girls and crias have one section and the young males and wethers have the other, in between is the mountain of hay bales, straw and the farm cats who have made very comfy beds in the straw.  The big boys are still out in the bottom fields but have the new field shelter with hay inside and an outside hay rack so they are fine, and three pregnant girls and our few remaining sheep are out in the top fields, the sheep use the giant calf shelter but the alpacas don’t bother.

A very nice couple from North Wales came to visit the boys last weekend and fell in love with 3 of the 2010 gang of ‘Cheeky Boys’, my favourites which is always the way.  They will be going to their new home next month once their field shelter arrives and the fencing is completed, so in the meantime I shall be halter training, what fun, just waiting for the new head collars to arrive.

The lead up to Christmas was good, selling quite a lot at the Llanidloes Arts & Crafts Fair, and several pieces at other events.  Unfortunately the weekend at Chirk Castle was very disappointing and two days sat in a very cold damp marquee will not be repeated.

Andy bought me a sander for Christmas.  I had been reading about them being used in felt making and thought it seemed a good tool to take some of the physical work out of the job. It was the latest Bosch model in a case and complete with various accessories which no doubt will prove very useful on the decorating and maintenance front at a later stage, although Andy did assure me that he had only bought it for felting!!  Anyway I have been experimenting today as I am taking a Nuno workshop for the North Shropshire Guild in a couple of weeks, so wanted to get some new samples done.  I thought I would have a go at using prefelt and silk organza together, I have been itching to work with prefelt for a change so decided to see how well it would work in nuno.  I laid the piece out on bubblewrap wetted it down, covered it with the thin dust sheet plastic and rubbed gently for a while then rolled it up round some pipe lagging, tied a towel round the roll and rolled, checking every so often to make sure nothing was slipping in my design and to see if the fibres were working through to the other side of the organza.

Once it had started to felt through, and as I have a permanent grotty back so don’t like to do too much rolling, I thought I would get the sander out and have a go.  The battery was fully charged, I insisted on a battery one as I didn’t trust myself with electric and water, I placed a piece of bubblewrap onto of the work and sanded gently.  The bubblewrap wore in a couple of places which then meant the sander caught the fabric so I did away with that and folded the thin plastic sheet in two and used that instead, which to my mind worked better and didn’t have the same problem.  It took a while to work the fibres through so that the prefelt pieces were firmly attached but it was so much easier than rolling.  I shall definitely be employing the sander on a regular basis, especially when trying to nuno prefelt which takes much longer than using just fibres.

I was rather pleased with the end result and once it is dry I will upload a photo.  All the prefelt stayed where it had originally been placed and was nice and secure.  I will definitely be felting with prefelt and the sander again.

Felting Workshop

Last Sunday I ran my first Felting Workshop, our felting group near Dolgellau had asked me to run one on the layered scarves that I have been making for my ‘Art to Wear’ collection.  11 members took part and we had a lovely day.  One scarf was finished and the others were nearly there so just needed a bit more work at home, hopefully I will have some pictures after we meet next month.  I finished mine last night and as soon as the weather is a bit more favourable I will take some photos of it and the other two I made last week and post them up.  I really enjoyed taking the workshop and will now seriously consider doing some more, I have been offered a venue locally so will go and have a look soon to see how suitable it is.  North Shropshire Guild have recently asked me to take a workshop on Nuno Felting in February 2012 so I shall be working on pieces for that.

On a sad note, we lost the latest cria yesterday, a boy born a couple of weeks ago.  He hadn’t been very well so had visited the vet and seemed to have recovered nicely so we turned him and his mother out with the others and he had been chasing around with the other cria quite happily, but we found him in the barn yesterday morning having died during the night with no warning signs the evening before.  The remaining 5 crias seem fine so fingers crossed for the last one that is due any day now.

I am starting to advertise the boys from last year and some of the older ones as I really must find new homes for some before the winter.  I want to keep on the ones from this year as they are all coloured, so reluctantly have to part with some of the others.  They are all great characters and would make lovely pets.  Alpacas are also good guard animals for sheep and poultry, we haven’t had any foxes on our land since having the alpacas.

New crias

We now have 6 new cria (baby alpacas), 3 males and 3 females, and all shades of brown from pale to very dark nearly black.  Unfortunately we have lost 3 others one of which we had been bottle feeding for 3 weeks which was very sad as we had thought she was winning the battle.  There is just one more to come so fingers crossed that it is another female.  I shall have to get some photos taken now to post on the web site.

My lovely studio / workshop has had its new floor put in by Andy, and we have been making up shelving units and a chest of drawers to complete the new look.  It also has  vinyl flooring which is very useful when felting.  I now have a great place to display and hopefully sell my work and to make more pieces of Art to Wear.

In October Powys has Open Studios starting with north Powys during the first week, so my new studio will be open from 11am to 5pm every day except Thursday and Friday of that week, and visitors will be able to watch felt being made and visit the alpacas.

The garden is coming on in leaps and bounds thanks to some local help.  I still have some plants to get in and we have the membraining of the paths to do before we can put the bark down, but the beds are nearly finished and we just have to get the slate stone put on the long bed to finish it off once I have the plants in.  We could do with some fine weather for a couple of weeks now to get it all finished.

 

Just returned

I have been waving the Wonderwool Wales flag at Woolfest last weekend, handing out numerous leaflets to advertise next year’s event.  I also took my own work to display and sell this year, normally I only take alpaca and merino fleece, but as I no longer have a proper stand at Wonderwool as I am too busy working there, I thought it would be nice to show everyone what I do when I am not organising Wonderwool Wales.

Well, all bar 4 bags of alpaca fibre were sold along with other small bits and pieces, plus 2 of my felted stoles, a felted scarf and a woven mohair bag and I have just received a commission for another stole from a very nice lady who came on the stand at the show.  Normally I sell very little finished products at these types of shows as most visitors are also makers so I was very pleased.  I am now frantically making more items for Saturday’s event which I have only just remembered!

We had our first alpaca cria yesterday, a lovely dark brown female, she is very beautiful and doing well.  Just another 9 to go.  We have several lovely male alpacas for sale who are now a year old and ready for a loving new home, they are all great characters and will make wonderful pets.  I shall be sorry to see them go but we can not keep them all and as we have potentially 10 more babies due this summer I shall have to let some go.

I have booked to join Powys Arts Month in October where I will have an open studio during the first week of that month, so anyone wishing to visit the studio and also see the alpacas will be welcome on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday of that week.  I shall be working in the studio so you will be able to watch my felt making in progress.  Of course if you would like to visit at any other time in the year just give me a ring to make sure I am around.

Felted Bowl

Blue Poppy Felted Bowl

Having finished my flower bowl in time for the felting group meet on Sunday I now have a picture of it, it reminds me somewhat of the lovely blue poppies that I had at one time in my garden, hopefully the bowl will last a bit longer! I have added embroidery to the inside and also needle felted wool and silk fibres to both surfaces. I might have a go at making a ‘poppy’ one next time as I have some really beautiful oriental poppies in the garden at the moment.

Doesn’t time fly!

‘Graduating’ with certificate on the Rug Making course

Felted Rug made on the Wonderwool Wales 2 day felting workshop

I can’t believe the last post was in January. Smokey Joe or Mr Slinky as we have nicknamed him is fully recovered and into everything. We have come to the conclusion that he doesn’t feel pain as he has never shown any signs of it on either of his misadventures and is constantly climbing onto roofs etc and falling off, but just gives himself a shake and checks no one is watching and laughing at him.

Wonderwool Wales was a great success with over 20% more visitors this year. We are now officially supporting The Campaign for Wool whose Patron is the Prince of Wales, and John Thorley came on the Saturday to give a talk on the Campaign with a question and answer session afterwards which went down very well. The tutors from Finland stayed on for Monday and Tuesday to give two 2 day felting classes in rug making and scarves which everyone enjoyed – the pictures from the classes can be seen on the Wonderwool web site www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk.

My felted rug is now finished (see photo), it is the first one I have done and was based on the mongolian slate tiles outside the kitchen. It was hard work and very heavy when wet but I am pleased with it and would even be mad enough to make another.
Our Felt group made bowls last month based on the method used in the felting woolschools at Wonderwool. Mine ended up looking like a flower so I have needlefelted and embroidered it along those lines, it will be interesting to see the rest of them at the next meeting this Sunday.

My garden is at last getting sorted out having found someone local to come and do the heavy clearing work. We hope to get the membrane down next week and start putting the slate stone down on top to plant through, which hopefully will help keep the weeds at bay and make it a lot easier to maintain. I have a small stash of plants waiting to go in having been unable to resist a trip to the nursery when Andy’s aunt Enid stayed with us a couple of weeks ago.

Yet more snow!

Just when we thought it had all gone, yet another lot arrives, only a few inches this time but enough to be a pain. It took me 1hr 45 mins to get to work yesterday, it usually only takes 45 mins.

Smokey Joe is racing around with his artificial ligament, he has another 2 weeks before he can go out so is now in the utility / sun room as he had become a dab hand at escaping from the kitchen, and his fondness for jumping up on window sils wasn’t conjusive to the amount of china and plants on them!

Wonderwool plans are going well, only 3 months now which will go far too fast. I shall be looking for additions to my stash of felting fibres. I must try and have a good look round this year, I never seem to get enough time usually as there is always something that needs to be done during the show and 10 minute snatches are just not enough to have a real good look at everything.
Hubby has already booked the week before off work so that he can oversee the setting up on the showground, I am usually flat out in the WW office at home that week so it really helps to have him on board to keep an eye on things on site.

I am planning to get some fleece sorted for orders this week as I have a few lined up, but standing in an open fronted barn in temperatures that have reached -20 here was not my idea of fun, and the extra work that the snow and cold caused carting water around and hay really didn’t leave any spare time for much else. Roll on spring!

Snow again

It has been ages since I last had time to sit and blog, but we are snowbound yet again and yet another weekend away has been cancelled – third time lucky definitely didn’t work this time!

Now that the snow seems to be a regular feature up here each year, we are going to have to invest in another barn so that we can get all the animals indoors, making life more pleasant for them and far easier for us. Andy is also thinking of ways to lag the outside water pipes as we invariably end up with frozen pipes now for weeks on end which means carrying water up from the well overflow – not fun when the track and yard are covered in ice.

The kittens are no longer kittens but juveniles, and sometimes delinquents. Their father has turned up and although very handsome, he is a real bully causing three trips to the vet to date for various members of our cat family. The latest has involved Smokey Joe who ended up with torn ligaments in one of his back legs and has had to be wired and pinned and is now indoors bandaged up. A rather costly episode, so the tom cat will have to go. Our old resident tom who has been with us for several years and never been a problem, though we have never been able to get very near to him, has decamped which is a shame as he got on well with the others and was no trouble.

The Winter Fair was, unfortunately, not very successful as the weather was really bad, snow, ice and extremely cold, which put people off attending. Very disappointing having spent several weeks with steam coming out of the sewing machine making lots of stock, only to come home with most of it. People just didn’t seem to be buying anything, everyone felt the same.

The preparations for Wonderwool Wales 2011 are well under way, and I am now working like mad to get all the paperwork sorted out and thousands of leaflets sent out. We have some interesting Woolschools this year including 4 with tutors from Finland and another with a tutor from Alaska. There are also 2 workshops directly after the show which will be running for 2 days with the felting tutors from Finland, which we are very excited about.

Studio

My lovely studio had become a bit of a dumping ground as I had been working in my indoor room for the past year or so as I have discovered felting and realised that this was where I was most creative and what I most enjoyed doing, along with my textile work.

However, having had several groups approach me this year to visit, I thought that I had better spend some time sorting the studio out so that I could display my work and the fleece for handspinners, and actualy get to do some work in there. We had hired a skip to tidyup outside so now was the best time to clear out the accumulation of ‘stuff’ that I really didn’t need anymore.

My lovely big desk, which had been dismantled when I had revamped my indoor workroom and was stored against the wall in the hallway, has now gone into the Studio and will give me a huge area to work on and be able to leave work out. A new glass display cabinet was bought from Ikea to house some of my work as the original one had gone to Lake Vyrnwy Hotel Spa with work in it.

The outside is being sanded down and painted, and the rotten parts of the veranda replaced. It will definitely be fit for visits next year and I now have my Studio back again.

Kittens

Where has the last month gone! I had planned to write something every week but have been chasing after kittens for the last month+. It all started with a phone call from our neighbour, a cat had turned up on their farm and produced 4 kittens, they were worried that the farm dogs would get them and as our farm cats are old and pensioned off, thought we might like some younger models. Yes please, we said, and rushed off to the cat rescue man for traps and catching advice.

We caught the kittens but not mum and as they were near weaning age, we thought we would just take the kittens and work on getting them friendly. Home they came and a temporary pen was made with Molly’s old dog cage in the utility room so that we could get them used to us and used to being handled. Great we thought, until 7am the next morning when our neighbours phoned to say they had caught the mother.
Being involved years ago with some cat rescue we have a large pen in the barn so we put her and the kittens up there. The next day she managed to find the smallest of holes and took the kittens out, depositing two in the barn and taking the other two to an unknow destination. We carried on putting food down and keeping a distance so they would come and feed. Within a couple of weeks they all disappeared back to the original farm, they on to a neighbour and then another one, who phoned us to ask us if we wanted some kittens not knowing that they were the ones we had been feeding.

We took down two traps, set them up and came home, only to find them all up in our barn again! They stayed for a month in which time I slowly got them used to me and was beginning to be able to touch two of them (Smokey Joe and Tigger), one of the other pair had unfortunately been run over when they went back to the other farm and his mate was extremely timid, however he was beginning to come out and feed while we sat with them and watched.

They decided to go off again next door and then came back to live in the rough ground down our farm track, coming out to say hello when they saw me. Today they are back up the barn and meowing at me when they catch sight of me, hopefully this time they will all stay put. Why go anywhere else when there is a nice barn, mice on tap and food twice a day!
We shall have to catch them soon so that we can have them neutered as we don’t really want more than 6 cats on the farm. Perhaps that might keep them from wandering as well, I would hate for any of them to meet their end on the road.