Friday, March 23, 2018

Felt necklace and getting ready for Open Studios

 (Above:  Pink felted necklace modeled by one of my neighbors.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

This week finds me finishing up one event and preparing for the next.  After last weekend's ACC (American Craft Council) show in Atlanta, there was paperwork to do and pictures to rehang here at Mouse House.  The Pro Panel booth walls, track lighting, and other things went back into storage.  There was custom picture framing to tackle (my "day job") and a few other waiting commitments.  Then, it was time to look ahead.

 (Above:  Another felted necklace worn by another, cute neighbor.  Thanks to both of you!)

Next weekend is Columbia's " 701 CCA Open Studios".  Mouse House is participating.  We'll be open on Saturday from 10 AM until 6 PM and on Sunday from noon - 6 PM.  There are lots and lots of other artists' studios open.  The entire event is free to the public.  It's a big deal ... especially for us!


Open Studios sort of means that Steve and I need to clean, dust, rearrange and tag artwork ... basically "spruce up" the place.  It is also the only time we ever have a sale.  Everything that is in shrink wrap is 50% off ... which means we need to make a few signs too!

 
(Above: Mouse House!)

Open Studios also means cleaning my studio!  I started this week.  I found two, large trash bags filled with recycled, felted wool.  This stash had been given to me over a year ago.  It came from another artist who worked as a care-giver for a woman who used to make hooked rugs.  This elderly lady went to thrift stores searching for wool suits and jackets and blankets to recycle into her rugs.  All the garments were snipped apart and felted in her washing machine. The work became too difficult to continue as she aged and the stash became mine.

One problem!  I generally don't use much felted wool.  I finally figured out something to do with the two bags of it ... make unique felted necklaces.  I made ten this week.  There's likely enough wool to make another dozen.  This has been a fun!  My studio is getting more tidy.  Some things are actually being trashed and the carpet has been cleared enough for vacuuming!

 (Above:  Booth 1408 at last week's Atlanta ACC Show.)

So ... here I am last week in my booth!  But, that's not all Steve and I did in Atlanta!


We also went to the Georgia Aquarium, the largest in the western world.  We watched the dolphin and sea lion shows.  We saw little Asian otters and large California sea otters.  The largest tank has two whale sharks!  There were sea horses, an octopus, sharks, alligators, sea anemone, and more fish than I could possibly list.  It was a great day ... especially having the opportunity to crawl under the penguin enclosure to see these amazing birds fly through the water.  I stood up inside one of the plastic tubes, just inches from very cute ones!  Great fun!

Below are a few more pictures of some of the felted necklaces!  Scroll down!




I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber artworks.

1 comment:

Shirlee Fassell said...

What fun your necklaces are! Last week I was in Brattleboro Vt. in the “Gallery in the Woods” your “Hot” work would fit in there wonderfully!