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