North Carolina Sojourn- Part 2 of 2

                                            The 'très élégante' Grove Park Inn...

                             ...(with its spectacular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains)...

                                  ...was designed to mirror its natural environment.

                                  Filled with glorious Arts and Crafts furnishings...

                                               

                                     

                                                             ...and lighting...

                                          ...it truly is a spectacular place to visit!

The Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar was yet another highlight of my trip.

                                 A peaceful and nook-filled, book-lover's paradise...

                    ...it's packed with interesting tomes on all manner of subjects...

   ...plus, it's a great place to meet good friends for a coffee or a glass of wine!

                             (Here I am with my dear hosts, Paddy and Sandy...

                       ...and the delightful and indefatigable Chad Alice Hagen.) :)

North Carolina Sojourn- Part 1 of 2

       
                                            Paddy's bright and colorful studio space... 

...and my lovely and restful guest quarters.

    

                                   Felting 'flanged' mini-totes with Paddy and Vicki...

                                              ...while surrounded by nature...

...then indulging in a bit of experimental plant dyeing...

...with mordanted cotton and linen clothing items.

                                       We visited the Folk Art Center...

                                       ...of the Southern Highland Craft Guild...

                     ...and chatted with the lovely Charlie Patricolo about her cloth dolls.

                                       At The Laughing Seed Restaurant in Asheville...

                         ...our waitress sported these wonderful, petroglyph tattoos...

                                    ...and while drinking a coffee at Malaprop's bookstore...

             ...we met a talented and beautiful young illustrator, practicing her art.

               We spent a fun morning at the Grovewood Gallery...                                 

                                       ...enjoying their outdoor sculpture garden...

                                 

                                                 ...and beautiful plantings...

                         ...before heading into the historic Grove Park Inn for a peek.

                                                             (Next post.)

                        

'Video-Inspired' Felt Hat- Attempt 1 of 2

Cutting out 'house-shaped' pieces of finished felt...

 

...and long strips of felt in a complimentary color.



Sewing the strips to the pentagons to form sets...

 

...and joining the sets to form a whole.



Cutting strips of felt for a hat band... 

 

...and stitching it into place.

 

The finished hat...

 

...and in situ! :)

 

I have a dear friend who was looking for a very specific kind of hat for her husband at Christmas-time...

...and after 'coming up short' at her usual shopping haunts, she enlisted my help.

Now, those of you who know me, know that I am no hat-maker...

...but I decided to consider it a challenge! :)

This was her request:

"Make a hat like the one in this video." (!)

After pulling out a stack of felting books and looking through all of the different styles...

...I chose to try a version of Chad Alice Hagen's "The Marvelous Mitre"...

...from her peerless Fabulous Felt Hats book.

It seemed to have the same squared-off look at the top as the one in the video..

...and because I had leftover felt from this project that I could use...

...I figured, 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'! :)

Next time: I make a wet-felted stab at it.

Faux Two-Layer Scarf

Two thin layers of brown roving in a long rectangle...

...and two of gold blended with sour-apple green.

As I worked...

...I placed a narrow bubble-wrap 'frame' between the outer edges of the two colors.

The finished scarf with small, gold, metal washer accents.

You'll notice that the outer edge of the yellow-green layer is free from the brown layer...

...but the two layers are otherwise felted together into one.

The finished scarf appears to be made from two separate layers...

...held together only by the metal pieces.

I wanted to make a couple of men's scarves for Christmas gifts...

...and I remembered a wonderful alpaca scarf of Chad Alice Hagen's...

...in her book Fabulous Felted Scarves.

Instead of making two thin scarves in different colors and joining them with buttons after drying...

...I took a 'cheaters way out', and felted them together...except at the very edges!

The scarf is very light and soft, and I think it 'reads' visually as I had intended...

...but working with the bubble wrap 'frame' was a little fiddly.

Next time: modifications...

...and my second attempt at this type of scarf

Chad Alice Hagen's Bark Scarf

Dyes and table preparation.

 

Some of Chad's sample scarves in different colourways.

 

'Our' dyepot. :)

 

Stitching the 'once dyed' scarf.

 

Pulling the strings tight.

 

After overdyeing and removing the strings...

 

...the finished scarf...

 

...both visually and texturally bark-like!

 

At the Creative Felt Gathering this year...

...I was lucky enough to take two dyeing classes with the amazing Chad Alice Hagen.

In this class, we made one of her famous bark scarves...

...using Japanese shaped resist dyeing techniques (Shibori).

Our group used chestnut dye for our first 'dip'...

...a notorious 'splitter' which, interestingly, turned into many colors after dyeing.

Then, after an afternoon of quite daunting hand-stitching...

...we were ready for the second dye pot.

As you can see...

...I used a lovely red for my second 'dip'.

The fun thing about this scarf is that it both looks and feels like bark when you're through...

...making it a special addition to any fall or winter wardrobe!