Faerie Fabric

Can you see the fairy? Ok, it's just me, but this fabric shows alot of promise and I'm excited about the possibilities. I'm going to make Fairie DNA by inserting wires into the weaving, then making a long cloth and twisting it into a double helix. I even have A-Ts and G-Cs embedded into the cloth (in a fibrey sort of way). After all, everything on the planet uses the same letters for their DNA, even fairies (dontcha know?)

I'd also like to make a fairy mobile (you know, the kind that hang in a window) and have a few of them ready for the studio tour that I'm getting pretty excited about. I will soon be on this webpage so look for Solstice Studios here!

http://www.rockystudiotour.com/

I got alot of my fairy inspiration from this site, which I love and visit often when I'm feeling too human

http://www.fairywoodland.com/

I have also just become Stumbled Upon, which is kinda a fun way to find friends, sites, etc. Here I am

http://solsticestudios.stumbleupon.com/

Don't forget to take a couple peeks at my Etsy store over there in the sidebar. I just got all my photos on line, the beautiful and professional photography is all thanks to Tribal Treats Photography (aka hubby). XOXO

http://www.tribaltreats.com/

It's alot of links, I know, my excuse is that it's marketing tuesday, as well as blog tuesday. Which also explains why I'm not out in my studio finishing the alpaca vests that are almost done! Good lordie, the spring winds are just whistling through my mostly finished walls. I need to put some fingerless mitts on. I might also mention, while I'm waiting for my photo to upload, that I just bought some of the nastiest, most hen-pecked chickens that you ever did see. They were cheap and were supposed to be companions for my lonely little hen, Chuckles, but so far, they just stink to high heaven and haven't laid a single egg. Just a tip, finding chickens through the classifieds is not a good way to go, and *sigh* you really do get what you pay for.

Solstice Bio

She can weave with speaking threads,
The coloured patterns ebb and flow.
Woodlands, water, grass surround,
Her fired log cabin studio.

He can hold the camera lens
To capture moments near and far.
Hidden in the memory,
Is softness, sharpness, sun and star.

Creatures tame and wild blend,
In balance and in harmony.
Pastures lush, and forests dark,
Withhold, reveal, nourish, and screen.

Children laughing, gathering dyes,
Feast and resting, wax and wane.
Welcome guest, rain and sunshine,
Here in nature's parkland place.

To Market To Market

I wouldn't call the Sylvan Lake Farmers Market experience a huge success but it did get me inspired in many ways. That's my table there, have to experiment a bit, I'm not totally please with it. I'm glad I came around to the idea of selling my diaper wipes (Baby Bear Wash and Wipes, I call them) cause they are the only thing I know is going to sell consistently, thereby covering the costs of the table, etc. Otherwise, it is impossible to know what is going to sell. I had ALOT of yarns for sale this time, didn't sell any, not a whole lot of scarves, sold one, tonnes of photo frames, didn't sell any but lots of people said they were going to steal my idea. Just as a side note, it's ok to steal peoples ideas, I do all the time in subtle ways, but for crying out loud, you don't have to tell the person, as if your giving them a compliment or something! Actually, what I usually do if I'm going to steal someones idea (modified of course!) is I buy something from them, just out of courtesy, and it gives me a chance to compliment them in a real way.

Speaking of ideas, I came home and had some major brain waves. I have an idea for "faerie fabric" that is going to be all loose and shimmery. In my mind it is magical and beautiful, the hard part is to get it to translate on the loom.

I was going to do some hat work but I'm torn, spring is on its way and I should really start on my hand-painted place mats and table cloths to get ready for the summer season. I'm going to do 2 markets a month in Sylvan, it's at a really great time, Fri nights. Then I might try a couple in Red Deer and I might have some of my stuff at an organic co-op in Red Deer. Lots to do! AND then there's the Etsy store... soon to be refurbished, if I can ever convince my ever loving husband to get is butt out to my cabin and take the #$@&%*%#$@ PICTURES! My own pictures being sadly inferior. Deep breath, in time.....in time. I did like the picture I took of my yarns in the washer though.

Ply away!

I spent a whole day plying away. The top pic is of the phantom yarn plied with greeny stuff and it ends up looking eastery after all. The color combos are so fun! It's addicting, and I almost plyed every yarn I own, but ran out of time. I was using my new cherry wood indian head spinner that has a HUGE bobbin so I can ply a massive skein, enough for a whole scarf and hat or something. Aren't the colors great? I dyed the pinky orangy one the other day with my new batch of fleece. The other stuff I've had kicking around for awhile. I only have 11 skeins left to make this week to fill up my sales spindle for the farmer market I'm going to. Whatever doesn't sell at the the sylvan lake winterfest will have the priviledge of being made into funky hats. That will be my last winter project, after which I will be designing summer garb and linens.

It's getting to be that time of year, to hang the spring garland, pack away the remaining xmas decos, and hold my breath for warm weather. Can you believe our pipes are frozen for the 3rd time. arrrrrg. luckily its only the hot water in the kitchen that won't work, not a full on freeze. It did warm up enough though to castrate llamas today. Yeeeha! Life on a farm, I tell ya...

Phantom yarn

I just finished spinning this yarn while watching the Phantom of the Opera *sigh*. I have always love that musical, I can never understand why she didn't choose the phantom, come on! mysterious, brilliant, dedicated, passionate, dark, did I mention passionate. Ok, he was also a killer and stalker, but STILL! Better than that flim flam dude, bossy and arrogant, yuck!

It's great to spin and watch movies on a cold wintery February night (especially ones with dreamy phantoms). The yarn turned out beautifully, so rich, I thought it would be more easter eggy pastels when I dyed it but its actually fairly dark, I love that about spinning, never really know what your going to get. And would you believe me if I said that some yarns choose to be fine and others choose to be bulky? This one I wanted to be bulky but I just kept coming out fine with little nibs and nobs. And since I abhore conflict (personality type I'm told, although I know someone who disagrees with this statement) the yarn always ends up getting its way.

*another sigh* It's going to take me hours to wind down (hey that's almost a pun). I might just spin up another bobbin of yarn. I dyed three batches yesterday, that easter eggy one that turned out to be hmmm, phantomy, and a bright pink and orange one, and a sea green and blue one. I found some old wool that someone gave me and looked in a couple bags when I first got it and it all looked very pilled and overwashed so I stacked it in a remote corner, but I just yesterday looked in the other bags and here it was, unwashed fleece, pounds of it! Dye dye dye! I love saying that. Or I tell Grams, I'm going to dye today and go to spinners heaven (where Gerard Butler movies play all the live long day).