Phat Fiber Sample Box: Avalon Springs Farm Locks Giveaway!

Phat Fiber Sample Box: Avalon Springs Farm Locks Giveaway!

I am so excited to be a post on the PhatFiber Blog. It is a really wonderful article. I am so glad to get PHAT!!

Farmer sees art in raising Angoras - The Frederick News-Post Online

Farmer sees art in raising Angoras - The Frederick News-Post Online

I was so excited to be featured in the Frederick News Post. It appeared in the "A" Section in the Sunday Edition, 4/12/10. It also appears as the "Top Story" for this week's Mt. Airy edition. Above is the link on the web. It was fun that all the color photos were included too. I feel very honored. Thank you Frederick News Post & Nick Stern. Always, Karen

Hey World, Just got posted in a Treasury on ETSY. Really kind of a compliment. A treasury is a collection of favorite items someone has put together; usually they have a theme or continuity -- for example: all in the same color scheme, or all glass, or all about a particular topic. Here is the link -- I think it is good until Wed. or Thurs.
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=122399

Karen

"The Diamond Fiber"

Recently I have been doing a lot of volunteer work for EAGMA for their big show in June. One project, lately, has been making some handouts about Mohair that we can have at an information table. I have been working with my friend Greta: researching, compiling, writing, producing. Below is an excerpt from one -- it is basically a list, but I thought it was interesting.

UNIQUELY MOHAIR PROPERTIES:

1. APPLICATIONS - It is an incredibly versatile fiber. Mohair is used in all kinds of yarn and garments in a practical sense, but also used artistically in tapestry and rugs.
   
2. CARE - It is very easy: wash in tepid water with a small amount of detergent, do not agitate, rinse and air dry.
   
3. COMFORT - Mohair is not scratchy, and not a skin irritant - as some natural fibers can be.
4. COMPATIBILITY - Because of the features in this list, it is an wonderful choice to blend with other natural fibers, such as: angora, alpaca, cashmere, llama and wool. It makes wonderful blended roving, yarn and finished products.
   
5. DURABLE - Mohair fibers can be stressed with out damage. It endures through both time and hard wear.
6. ELASTIC - It can be stretched up to 30% and return to its original shape.
7. HISTORIC - Angora Goats which produce Mohair have been a domesticated farm animal and source of fiber for over 3000 years.
   
8. INSULATE - The individual fibers are hollow, so they resist conducting heat, better than wool, even when wet.
9. LIGHT WEIGHT - It is a smooth fiber which makes it ideal for yarn and garments.
10. LUSTER - Mohair is extraordinarily luminescent; it brilliantly absorbs dye and displays vibrant color.
11. MOISTURE SMART - It is very tolerant of, and effective at, absorbing and releasing moisture. This makes it an excellent choice with reference to weather and human perspiration.
12. NON-FLAMMABLE - Mohair will not burn unless it is exposed ot a direct flame.
13. PRODUCTIVE - Each goat can be shorn between 2 or even 3 times a year to get a 4 inch staple length of fiber, each fleece weighing on average more than 4 pounds.
    
14. SHRINK RESISTANT - Mohair shrinks much less than wool; the smooth fibers do not felt as easily as wool.
15. STRENGTH - Mohair is stronger than steel of the same diameter.

So that is why they call it "the Diamond Fiber." Pretty cool, hey! --kjs

Oh my goodness, it has been a long time since I have written. I feel the need to keep this a little more up to date. Here are a couple of topics I will write about in the coming posts. A review of the Montpelier and Shenandoah Fiber Festivals; wintering proofing the goats; skirting fiber, and the EAGMA show in June.

Currently working on making a lot of roving for sale at spring shows. Lots to keep busy with the animals in the cold and wet weather we have been having. Have succeeded in updating and increasing the inventory in the ETSY site. Have done a lot of volunteer work for EAGMA and the future EAGMA show, sale and fiber festival that will take place in June at the Great Frederick Fairgrounds. Back soon. Always, Karen

An inner connection between this little tea pot and making yarn from my goats

An inner connection between this little tea pot and making yarn from my goats:

This little tea pot came to me as a birth-day gift from the owners of my favorite little tea shop, Zen Tara Tea. Guy & Methee knew I was drooling over this tea pot for months. It became an instant treasure. Thank you Guy and Methee.

So it just came to me why I like it so much, I am really attracted to both visual and kinesthethic pleasures in one package. I think it is truly a long standing inner artist thing with me. At different periods of my life I would have called myself a painter and a potter/ceramicist (back and fourth several times), now I identify with the fiber art. However, in each period, I had a desire to create from both senses.

• The concept is pretty obvious for the pottery... people that love to create with clay must feel comfortable with both the tactile aspects of building & throwing the clay and the visual aspects of working with shapes in space and the colors of those shapes. As a matter of fact, if you are having a cup of tea in a room full of potters, you may hear them discuss this very inner leaning one way or the other - it seems for most it is not equally distributed passion. For some potters, the clay is simply an interesting canvass for what they can do with glaze and color. For others it is the opposite, its all about the joy of seeing that wet clay take shape between your own fingers.
  
• To understand the painter connection, I must explain a bit about myself. I have spent time learning to paint and draw realistally, but I think I hit my most interesting stride when I let go a little and did things a bit more abstractly in graduate school. I would like to revisit that some day. The point is I think I am more like Jackson Pollock than Rembrandt. Not that I made things that were unrecognizable -- its not about the subject matter at all. It is that I feel that Pollock had more of a full body physical relationship with his media while Rembrandt was an accomplishment of brain to hand. I'm sure its not exclusive either way. But, it is intuitively clear from looking at the resulting work that with Pollock, there was for him an emphasis and joy that was about how that paint felt as it left his hand and met the canvass.
• Fiber art is very much about color and how something feels -- that is what it is all about from the art part. Yes, it can also be craft. You can produce things that are not just to be observed, but also to be used, worn, knitted, felt, experienced... but it is a really perfect marriage of color and texture. The goats in my pastures are shorn, skirted, washed and dyed by me. I am working with the animals a bit like they are my living media. Then I am shaping and adding color to thier fiber like a canvas... and I throughly enjoy it.
  

So the direct line from tea pot to yarn is this... The perfect tea pot - one that has beautiful form, proportioned parts, visual flow of parts to body, beauty in its texture and color, and ease of use is the Holy Grail of the functional ceramic work; it is masterpiece --- so always be on your personal search for your perfect tea pot, it is a great joy. Even though I didn't make this teapot (wish I did), its my personal perfect pot. When looking at it, it told me why I love to do the art I am now doing -- making fiber art from the fiber on the goats in my own back yard. I think I owe a better understanding of myself to observations of the beautiful little teapot.

Karen



http://www.zentaratea.com/