My upcoming workshops at Urban Fauna Studio SF, Plainwell MI and Lexington KY are in the last stages of finalising, I hope to have all the details about the various workshops ready by the end of this week!!! I keep forgetting how difficult it is to write workshop descriptions accurately and provide enough information without overloading anyone. I try to be flexible when I am teaching so one title often doesn’t quite do justice to the various techniques that will be shared during the workshop so if anyone has questions once the info is uploaded please shout and I will do my best to answer!
The Mother’s Day Fiber Retreat at Downeville is booking up nicely, Emma (joint owner of The Tin thimble with her mother Sharon) has written a blog post with some links to photos of previous retreats so if you are interested in more information check this out.
As I write this post my current large ArtL!nks vessel is spinning in the washing machine. Today I have been rubbing, rolling and throwing it on top of my kitchen table, it is uncomfortably heavy to handle when wet hence the quick spin to remove some of the excess water! Hopefully it will have shrunk some more by the end of the afternoon, I am really wanting enough shrinkage to make inserting the exercise ball necessary to stretch it into shape before a lot more fulling and finishing. Wish me luck!
Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles 
Good luck with it, Nicola! I can only imagine how heavy it must be and I can’t wait to see the final result.
Hi Nicola, I made a very large vessel recently, using a bit of Kerry wool in the middle layer to help it hold its shape. I found it impossibly heavy to work with and put it in the washing machine to rinse and spin. I ended up leaving it there a good while as it was shrinking very slowly and would have killed me otherwise! I don’t have an exercise ball so I got some of those large punch ballons and blew that up inside it. Happliy it seemed to work but the kids keeping bouncing it around the house!! I don’t mind though as that is helping to shape it. I have to go back and work it a little bit more yet. As my design is a bit intense and very textured it won’t have to be smoothly felted as nobody including me could even tell the difference.
I have been following your artlinks vessels with avid interest especially the large one. I love the crispness of your openings and the effectiveness of your design which I aspire too. Would love to see them all together when they are all finished!
Sharon
Good morning Nicola,
That washing machine was worth its weight in gold, wasn’t it? Wet felt of your vessel’s size…Whew…Must have felt like you were lifting a boulder just getting it into the machine:-) Wishing you lots of luck in the finishing….Though I don’t actually think that you need any luck…Seems you have this vessel making down to a science.
Can’t wait until you’re back here…Will rush right down to Plainwell Ice Cream to make sure that they have lots of Butter Pecan on hand for your arrival:-)
Big hugs,
Dawn
So impressive , Nicole…you are such a trooper and I love how you tackle these huge projects. Good luck with the shrinkage.
Pingback: Crafty Blog update 13th-19th February « Irish Knitting & Crochet