Sunday, May 8, 2011

Alpaca Bag for Grand Nationals









I finished the bag for the auction/sale to benefit education for uses of alpaca fiber. It is 100% alpaca with leather trim and a cotton lining. The alpaca carded batting was first needle felted on the table top needle felting machine, then rolled on the rolling machine to remove any needle marks, then tumbled wet and soapy in the dryer to full it more. I pole wrapped one tan piece and dyed it using lanaset dyes along with a couple of other tan pieces. It has a polished stone button on the front. The natural colors of alpaca used are tan, dark brown and white.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Needle Felting Machine at the Great Western Alpaca Show!































Last weekend we brought a 36 inch table top needle felting machine to the Fiber Fiesta area at the Great Western Alpaca Show. We learned a lot about using alpaca fiber in the machine! Especially interesting was that Huacuya alpaca required a coarser felting needle. The fine needles caused it to back up in the machine. We couldn't find a difference with wool from using fine versus medium felting needles. Luckily I had half of the machine filled with fine needles and the other half with medium needles. I used the tan alpaca batting and when I came home I placed the needle felted batting on the rolling machine then let it full more by bouncing around in the dryer. I pole wrapped and shibori dyed a piece and dyed a few other pieces and now I am constructing a bag that will be displayed at the National Alpaca Show in Denver the weekend of May 21 and 22. The completed projects by a number of artists will be auctioned or sold with the proceeds going to programs which will further the awareness and use of alpaca fiber.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

I will be adding more of the shots soon.

Photos of garments from 1990 to the present



Seamless coat from Garments and Surface Design Video - 1991
















I gathered together a group of work that I have made since 1992 and brought them to a photographer in Colorado Springs. He found a model and I have some great shots of my work. The earliest coats were done for the Video - Feltmaking: Garments and Surface Design techniques.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

NEW! FeltCrafts Needle felting machine is finished!

The FeltCrafts large needle felting machine has been in development for a year and it is now complete. Contact us at 800-450-2723 for pricing and more information.