Felted Wool Flower

I made this felted wool flower using the wooden handled needle felter and some roving...it looks a bit bright in this picture and it is bright in person, too. I made it by shaping the felt to the petal shapes and then just gently felting the wool. It is soft and very airy...usually I use the Clover felting tool but this time the wooden handle 'primitive' one worked better, I could get in to do details.

The flower will turn into a nice pin, I think, and makes me feel springy! I made it late last night when I couldn't sleep. That is one of my favorite things about felting. Unlike, say, metal work (hammers, torches, etc.) or paper crafts (big eyelet punches, hammers, etc.) it is QUIET.
So when I am awake long after the rest of the house is slumbering I can softly, quietly, just felt away.

Exhibiting in a bead show...

So we decided to exhibit in a bead show, or rather, two bead shows, that are coming to the town where our stores are. The first show is going to happen in mid-March at the NC Fairgrounds and we will be there mainly as advertising for our stores. The table costs only $225 and that is way less than an ad in the local paper. We'll have some items to sell and will be telling everyone about our classes and workshops and even giving out some freebies to folks that wear our store shirts.

I have avoided this for a few years, mostly because of burnout from all the trade shows I used to do with Bedizen Ornaments. Now I am getting excited. I have that 'oh, let's have some set up fun!' itch. It really was fun setting up for shows. I would arrive in this huge trade show hall with only concrete floors, forklifts and lots and lots of boxes. Folks would be working and playing loud music and greeting friends who they hadn't seen since the last show. I would work for long hours until the booth was just right; often having to figure out a solution to an emergency problem at the last minute. I liked sitting down to lunch or dinner on the floor of the booth, eating deli take out and drinking beer. Then when it was all done we'd take on last long look and then head back to our hotel room to clean up and have a nice rest before the first day of the show. Ahh. Memories.

Well, it won't be quite like that at our show here in Raleigh. For one, I am pretty sure they won't let us drink beer during set up. Hmm, maybe I need to check in to that?

using chain in place of jump rings...

So sometimes you hear an idea and you have a GI-gantic AH-HA moment. Like using links of chain (the unsoldered kind) as jump rings. For fancy jump rings. Just think...jump rings that don't look like plain old jump rings.



These earrings are by Tracy and Ndidi from Ornamentea...they aren't mine. The rings don't seem to make much of a difference in these pictures, but in person, they really make the earrings look so much more special. Yes, I had to give the earrings back. Darn.