Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Finished Hat from FeltLoom Alpaca Felt


Voila!  The hat is complete - bling and all.  Embellishing the basic hat is the most fun of the entire project.  This hat has black netting embedded in the felt along with the rose pink and the white wool.  A black netting rose on the flap ties it all together.  And the black beads complete the package.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Evolution of My Felt Hats


It all starts here!  One of my beautiful alpacas ready to be shorn!


And after she is shorn, I send the entire blanket fleece to processing.
I use a great mill in Mona, Utah


The batt that is produced at the mill looks like this. 
 I need to make sure it is large enough for my hat, so I lay out the pattern
before I take the batt to the FeltLoom.


After several passes through the FeltLoom, I am ready to full it in the laundry tub.
To assure that it does not felt back onto itself, I wrap the felted sheet in a laundry
bag (or in tulle if it is too large for the bag).
Then after gentle manipulation in hot water with gentle laundry soap, 
I wring it out, place it in my washing machine on a spin cycle 
to remove as much water as possible.  Hang it to dry after this 
and I am ready to cut the pieces out according to the pattern and sew.

Gotta go get to work on the next hat.   Check back for the next phase!!

Friday, May 13, 2011

What do you do with them?

For 20 years now, people have been asking me what do you do with alpacas?  Well, I love them, I spoil them, I sell them and I shear them so as to make alpaca felt.  Now I get asked "What do you do with the felt?"  The answer:  With the help of the FeltLoom, I turn the raw fiber into felt sheets which are then used to construct cool hats and handbags.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Can you believe that this tool improves CREATIVITY?

The FELTLOOM which was created by Lanette Frietag and her husband, Don Bowles, is without a doubt the most useful tool for converting raw fiber into felted batts. Modeled after the commercial felting machines where hundreds of needles puncture the raw material and intertwine the individual fibers, the FeltLoom offers the cottage industry the opportunity for processing fiber beyond the traditional weaving and knitting techniques. Beyond just producing felted batts, this tool allows blending of many fibers to produce some very interesting collage pieces.

Check out their website... www.feltloom.com

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day!


To my Mother who gave me the inspiration and motivation to CREATE. She lives in my heart every day when I work in my studio. Here she is in the '70s with an alpaca that she "adopted" at a fundraiser at the Los Angeles Zoo when she was a docent there. She would be flabbergasted to see the 33 alpacas that now live at my home.