Owning My Own Felt

So often, I sell my felt, but it is nice to have a piece solely for myself now and then. There are really only two pieces I have been unable to part with. Unable? Yes, unable. Each of my pieces has a story behind them, based on an experience from my life. Sometimes it is a place I have been or something I have seen, but it is always deeply personal. Two pieces have been too personal to give up.

"View from Lake Solitude"

"View from Lake Solitude, 2008-W7" is a felted wallhanging based on a road trip my husband and I took as newly weds. We went to the Grand Teton National Park and I saw a picture of Lake Solitude. I had to hike to it. The original plan was to hike from the far side of Lake Jenny up to Lake Solitude and then return. Once at Lake Solitude, we noticed the trail continued up over Hurricane Pass. Too excited not to continue, we headed up over the pass and then down Cascade Canyon, around Lake Jenny and back to our tent. By the end of the day, our 14 mile hike turned into a 24 mile hike with a vertical relief of 3,600' and I was grossly tired. But the experience was so exhilarating, I can't even tell you. The views were the most amazing I had seen at the time in my life. It was a day of discovery and respect. I learned something about the wonderful world I live in, about myself and my physical limits, and about how much I love sharing my life with John. This was the first of countless "extreme" hikes we have done. The trip solidified a loving, growing relationship with my new husband. The felted piece hangs in my living room as a physical reminder of how much I changed that day. It serves as a reminder of who I want to be and what I believe in.

"Oriole, 2008-V1"

"Oriole, 2008-V1" is a piece I created from a picture on a Kleenex box. Not very exciting, really. But it has grown to mean a lot to me. It was the first piece I made combining wet felting and needle felting techniques. It was a day of experimentation where I discovered much about how to control my work, and it was a huge leap toward what I wanted to accomplish. It was the first piece that removed the abstractness and provided more structure to my felting - which appeals to my engineering side. Anyway, I am proud of it, and it sits on my dinning room hutch.

It has been two years, and about a hundred pieces later - I finally made another piece I don't want to part with. This piece is a bag with a felted blue heron on it. "Blue Heron, 2010-V18."

"Blue Heron, 2010-V18"

This felted bag resulted from a class I was teaching. After two people dropped out, I decided to give the other students the opportunity to make something a little more complex than originally planned. I had been wanting to make myself a felted piece that I could use when out and about. I was particularly happy with the complicated structure. It was felted all at once, with no sewing. It involved considerable forethought and several resists. There are two tab loops at the top, which allowed me at attach the leather strap with D-rings. Shown in the picture with fabric to highlight the openings, the main pouch is the entire shape and roomy size of the bag, while a smaller pocket on the front allows me to carry business cards. The flap is a beautiful way to finish off the bag. Yesterday I got to wear it for the first time - and for a special occasion too, my felting demo up at the League of NH Craftsmen gallery in Littleton, NH. The demonstration went well!

Kathleen H. Peters with her felted bag

A Day in the Life of a Felter/Banjo Player/Mama

Last Monday, I received 25 lbs of wool which I bought wholesale. For those of you who don't know, 25 lbs of wool looks something like this:

It is an arduous job to process all of that into felt pieces, like this vase of spring tulips and the season's first lady slipper.

It is especially difficult when the trees and shrubs are bursting forth with new colors and shapes, and the sun is shining and your children just desperately want to romp in the sun, see who can jump furthest off old stumps, and go frogging.

Plum blossoms Forsythia

But I live in New Hampshire. And even after the plum blossoms are fully awakened and the forsythia has blossomed into tangible sun rays, it snows once more. The snowy gloom of yesterday drove me to the banjo where I start to learn a modal tune I've been wanting to try for some time, "Hail Agin the Barn Door". Chris Coole's version is one hundred times better - but I remind myself I only picked up the tune 24 hours before.

I nurse a cup of coffee in front of the pellet stove. I am now ready to embrace the day of mixing concrete for the pilings of the porch we are building, working on the tree house with the kids, and (hopefully) for a bit of felting during nap time.

Banjo, Phenology and Felt

I love to play the clawhammer banjo. This style is very different from bluegrass, and often the two camps of musicians stay far from one another. Years ago, I went to a concert featuring two of my favorite banjo players, Dirk Powell andRiley Baugus. Opening for them was Tim Eriksen, who I had not heard of before. Hearing Eriksen catapulted me into a completely new world. His music was so hair raising, so passionate, so gutsy. He embraces the northern roots, Appalachian, and shape note styles all in one.

Here are some of my favorite youtube videos of him:

Amazing Grace on the Fiddle

Amazing Grace on the Banjo

Golden Harp

Am I Born To Die

Fiddle Sticks on Mt. Pollux

Eriksen is also working on Behold The Earth, a musical documentary that investigates America's separation from nature. Much of the documentary is based on conversations with leading biologists, evangelical christians and environmentalists. Through this, I learned about phenology.

Phenology is the study of cyclic states of plant and animal life. Examples of this are the migration of birds, leafing and flowering of plants, and the emergence of bugs. These events are often driven by climatic variation and change. The USA National Phenology Network unites citizens, government agencies and non-profit groups, students and educators to monitor these changes throughout the United States. It allows people to collect and share information which provides researchers with data that is too expansive for them to collect alone. Since I am often tramping through the woods, it seems natural to follow these seasonal changes with my felt.

I love to track these changes from season to season and year to year. Two of the things I took note of this year was the first red winged black bird I saw and the blooming of the red trilliums. They wound up in my sketch book and two of my pieces.

Felt trillium vessel Felt red winged blackbird vessel

And what am I hoping to see? Some humming birds on the burgomot.

felt ruby throated hummingbird and burgamot vessel

Moths and Wool

It seems strange to be interested in both wool and moths. Together they are completely taboo. But it all started last summer when I saw my first emperor moth. It was stunningly beautiful with its five inch wing span of rich, velvety browns and oranges. I was fortunate enough to be able to study it for quite sometime as it was perched on the side of my house. The eyes on its wings were absolutely amazing! I started reading about moths and I even went so far as to buy a moth and butterfly field guide book. Here in New England, we will be approaching moth season in about six weeks. They are mostly nocturnal, and so most of the showy moths are not commonly seen. Since moving here to NH, I have only seen two luna moths. One was dead and found in my yard, the other was just a flitting bit of color against my windowpane one night. However, I have been doing my homework. Apparently you can lure them in using a number of methods and I plan on trying some of them out early this June. You can make a sweet nectar of fermented fruit and honey and then brush the concoction on some trees. With the aide of a flashlight, I should be able to lure them in. I am hoping for success. In the mean time, I have been felting up a storm (as usual). I currently have some moth vessels for sale at the League of NH Craftsmen art gallery in Hanover, NH. Here is my favorite, "The Night's Luna Moth". Actually, I had a hard time letting this one go - I thought about keeping it.

The Night's Luna Moth, 2010-V5

The Night's Luna Moth, detail

Oddly enough, I am not the only felter who is interested in wool, moths and butterflies. Jean Gauger of Sugarplum Originals is also. She is rather well known (in the felting world) for making shawls out of Nuno felt with patterns of moths and butterflies. Nuno felt is made with very small amounts of wool, which is felted to a foundation of a very light weight fabric, often silk. The result is an incredibly strong fabric that drapes beautifully. I first saw Gauger's work down at the New England Felting Supply, but I was most recently struck by the her stunning Blue Morpho Butterfly shawl which she is selling on her Etsy shop. The Shawl is reversible and has beautiful buttons - an absolute show stopper!

Jean Gauger of Sugarplum Originals

Blue Morpho Shawl found at

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31834477

Camel's Hump

I can't explain why, but from a very young age, I have been assailed with a listless heart - as if I am ever searching for something unknown. I have found nature soothes my listlessness in a way that nothing else can. For me, the experience of being outside can be likened to something spiritual - almost meditative. While many people say they need inspiration, I feel a constant bombardment of inspiration. My inspiration is exhausting because there is not enough time for me to realize all the creative visions I have running through my mind. Hiking calms me. It completely settles the constant existential questions that gnaw at me which nothing else can quell. Like the continuous need to create, I also have an ever present need to submerge myself in the natural world - to be where I can see the direct work of God around me. I can't look at the world and deny the evidence of something much bigger than myself. Something awe inspiring. Something great. It is here that I can somehow feel the affirmation of God's goodness.

Camel's Hump, VT

And so this last weekend, John and I took the kids to Camel's Hump in VT. There we spend 2 days camping and hiking in the Green Mountains. The trip was three fold. In addition to meeting my need to find peace outside, I also got to spend some much needed time with my family. Thirdly, John and I hope to introduce the world to our children so they learn some of the magic of seeing things grow, of studying the unknown, in understanding that nature can be a place for them to retreat. I hope to impart to them a bit of David Brower's belief that "there is no science and no art of greater importance than that which teaches seeing, which builds sensitivity and respect for the natural world, a world that 'has visibly been recreated in the night'."

We camped in a delightful campground where our campsite was secluded and had an incredible view of the lake. We let the kids explore the woods around us all afternoon and took them down to the shore where they shed their clothes and got in a little bit of BVD swimming. We wrapped up the evening with brats and s'mores. We hit the Burrow's trail up Camel's Hump nice and early and were able to summit. Seth did famously, hiking 99% of the way up - a feat for a 3.5 yr old. And both were sports given the chilly wind. There was still snow near the summit.

At the Burrow's trail head

On the summit of Camel's Hump

I have always been interested in woodland flowers, and was able to get some decent pictures that I will put in my To-Be-Felted folder. Cora found a fabulous Jack-in-the-pulpit that was all green. I had never seen one without purple on it - maybe this is a more rare species. It was quite beautiful, and Seth and Cora looked at it for a long time. We were also fortunate to see some trout lilies, red and painted trilliums, blood root, solomon's seal, ferns, downy yellow violets, forget-me-nots and countless others.

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Trout lily

Red trillium

Painted trillium

Ferns

Skirting a Fleece

This last weekend, I had the opportunity to skirt and pick through some Jacob fleece that a neighbor said I could split with her if I helped with the processing! Major score! (Thanks Deb!) Jacob sheep have a medium-fine fleece with no outer coat and are usually spotted. They are also unusual in that they have two sets of horns - one set arching from the top of the head, and the other swirling around their ears. All sorts of romantic stories trace this particular breed back to the Biblical flock of Jacob when he worked for his father-in-law (Genesis 30). Other stories trace the breed back to a flock which was washed ashore from a ship wreck during the reign of Elizabeth I and the attempted attack on the Spanish Armada. Though I don't know the validity of these stories, most modern flocks are traced back to England, where they have been established for many centuries. You can learn more about Jacob sheep on the breeders website: http://www.jsba.org/.

Kathleen H. Peters skirting a fleece

Here I am, skirting and picking away! The three fleeces I am working on with my neighbor were given to us for free by a woman who inherited them when she bought a house. Unfortunately they were kept in wood chips, so there was plenty of picking to go. The color variations on these sheep were incredible. Deb and I decided to process the wool all together and we are thinking the roving will come back a nice heathery color. I thought it would be more brown, but Deb thinks it will be more gray. We'll see! Such suspense! Regardless, I do love wool!

Color Study - Dyeing to Felt

Something about color really challenges me. It seems I am constantly felting things up and then they mute down to something dull and drab. Or worse, I use wool from an unreliable source and the dye isn't fast - leaving me with a bunch of wool to compost. When it comes to color, I get a picture in my mind and when it comes out in felt (or paint, or quilting, or whatever) it all looks so different than I imagined. One half of me likes the surprise. The other half hates the lack of control. So I invested in some dye and have been dying up wool to study. Felting white squares with colored dots has proven their immediate fastness, though I am still investigating light fastness. However, since spinning is easier for me to do than felting while my children are awake, I have started my true color study there.

These are the first two batches of wool I started with. Because I like a little more depth than a straight color, each of them were rainbow dyed. The red roving was cherry, scarlet and mulberry and I decided to spin it up. It was pretty bright so I thought I'd tone it down by plying it with undyed dark brown romney wool. I thought they looked beautiful together:

When plied into yarn they are hideous. Absolutely hideous - likened to a chocolate raspberry candy cane! Much too stark for my liking. After a few yards I stopped and dyed a new batch of roving in the same red shades to try plying. It came out a bit darker, but I plied them together and got a tolerable red tweed. It was still a bit more tweedy than I would have liked, but tolerable.

I learned two things: 1. I like more subtle combinations in yarn than strong tweeds, and 2. I surmise that when felting, the more stark contrast should make my picture stand out more, giving a more bold impression. Determining that I like more subtle changes for yarn, I switched to purples and blues, inspired by a quilt from a color theory book. When they dyed up they weren't completely what I was looking for, but the subtle changes in color are much more appealing to me and made a beautiful yarn. I still have a long way to go before I figure out the whole color thing.