Well, I apologize for not blogging earlier. All these moves from Nelson to Salt Spring to a 5th Wheel and then to our new house we found have caused a lot of time to be spent packing and unpacking.

With our new house I have an outdoor Studio which is quite large and I'm so happy with it. I'm slowly getting it set up with pictures I want to show you.

I just had to let everyone know how tickled pink I am that I just sold my first real Art piece Thunder Storm/Sunrise, a 6 ft long wall hanging for $230.00 to an Art Consultant in Tennesee, USA (I hope I spelled that right, lol). They will be hanging it in their new Cancer Center. Whoop!!!

Well, I'll be sending you some pictures soon of my new Studio! Hope everyone is doing well. Hugs, Carole

Hi Everybody,

Well, my progress on doing the beading on my over tunic has been rather delayed because we have been trying to move to Salt Spring Island, BC. We had an offer on the house which fell through just a few days before it would have gone through and so stopped our ability to buy the house we were going to buy. Now it looks like I will be living in a trailer with my husband and rescue cats, a bit of a tight situation. But the trailer park is more like a treed beautiful campground right on the shore of St. Mary's Lake. It looks beautiful and I will have much more inspiration with lakes and oceans surrounding me.

So, I will still be adding the tunic, just later than thought. Sorry!

I will be moving on the 16th of September, next Tuesday and will then be back in business with Fearless Fiberworks and Amberdark on Etsy by the weekend of the 20th.

Wishing you all well!
Carole

Progress on Felt Overtunic

I know this started out as a dress but it just needed some more fulling. Well, I've managed to full it to a strong felt tunic. It is still soft and has ties down one side. The orange and red locks on the front of the sleeveless bodice are now being beaded in between. I'm embroidering the bodice and dress body with very different ideas (secret for now) and am hoping to get it fully done soon.

More on the mouse that my husband brought home, it unfortunately didn't make it. It was just too young. But, he brought us home another cat last night. So, there is a bit of upset going on in our household with our other rescues who are still hissing and fighting sometimes for the top rung. Aw, well, I guess I've rubbed off on my husband, lol.

Hope everyone is doing well and I will write back again soon. Bye Bye! 

Hi,

Well, guess what, my husband brought home a baby field mouse (really small, probably close to 2 days old or something).  It is so cute. We still haven't figured out whether it is a male or female. Every 2 to 3 hours we take turns feeding him/her. She (because I want it to be a girl) wiggles around and kicks out her little legs. It is almost impossible to find her little mouth and feed her with a paintbrush.

I've had lots of mice before when I was a kid and have had two boys, so it makes it easier for him; as he hasn't had experience with either mice or human babies. :)

My felt dress is actually Llama or Alpaca so that is why it didn't felt as completely as I wanted it to.  So back to the fulling process once again. I will be using my round paddle I got from Heart Felt Silks to finish the job. Then I want to embroider and bead the front before presenting it. I'm also going to try my hand at 3D Felt Sculptures. I think it might be really fun.

For all of you who are tired of waiting for my process, I apologize. I have Fibromyalgia, a very painful condition and Chronic Fatigue, so I am working around them the best that I can.  As I have had both conditions for a long, long time, I'm getting better at doing what I love Feltmaking and Fiber Art in a faster way.

Thanks to those who choose to follow my blog!! Have a great weekend!

Mr. G and Jellybean

Hi Everybody, I'm baaaaccck!! I truly will be blogging much more often, I promise.

I'm terribly sorry to have taken so long to have blogged with you. I am going to try much harder to make this a regular entry blog to let you know what I'm up to or tips I can share with you. Please feel free to send in your questions on felting, bead weaving, hand embroidery with floss or beads and knitting. I've got a SALE going on right now on my Etsy website for Fearless Fiberworks www.FearlessFiberworks.Etsy.com

I'm in the middle of re-felting a long Cobweb dress which didn't shrink at all the first time around. This I found quite perplexing. I also wanted to add some more red and orange curlies of wool around the collar on the front. I've also been thinking about how I would like to add some textiles like ribbons, perhaps cut out pieces of felt I've made in the past. I'm still thinking on that. I will be hand embroidering and beading the dress once it has been finally felted to the way I want it to be. I consider this a very complex piece of art wear. I used batts I purchased call Tea Rose (I think) to make this light Cobweb creation and I love how some of the pieces show the light burgundy coming through the brown and ivory webbings.

Maybe meanwhile I should make some smaller items so it isn't such a long wait until I list something new? I wouldn't want you to all think I'd died or something awful like that. I have a rather morbid sense of humour at times :)

I have placed my Amberdark Shop on Vacation until I can figure out what I want to sell on it. So please bear with me.

Happy New Year's Eve everybody!! xoxo

Well, Christmas was celebrated a little late in our household as my husband doesn't get the same holidays this year because he switched to this new job here in Nelson. He used to work for the Agricultural Land Commission, but I guess we all know where that's going now that they want to take a lot of the agricultural lands away. Don't know how we are going to find food in the future with no farmers.

Anyway, almost all the shops here close at 5pm. My husband gets off work at 4:30pm, soooo we were running around on the 23rd trying to buy each other gifties.  It actually ended up being Boxing Day that I just send my husband out to pick the things he wanted (he is SO hard to buy for) and then everything was good. A good Tofurky dinner with veggies was great.  How was your Christmas???

I actually got an offer from one of the shops to carry my items from Fearless Fiberworks!! How cool is that??? I'm going to take the articles in when the holidays are over with and we can concentrate on how to do this. Consignment? or whatever? Does anyone have suggestions?

Wishing you all the best in the new year and may you have the one you want!

Carole xoxoxo

Christmas Craft Fair

I had a great time at the Christmas Craft Fair that I was selling in. It took place about an half hour out of Nelson in Castlegar and was very interesting. There were many talented Vendors and I ended up bringing home a few of their tasty and beautiful items.

I actually sold some items as well. My Kootenay Mountain Felted Fiber piece sold and my Strawberry Summer Shawl and my Victory Shawl. That was very nice! There was a great deal of interest in the Felting and the knitting pieces I brought and being the only Felter there it certainly helped :) Here are the pics of what sold:

I made some new knitting pieces I thought I would show you and you can let me know what you think.

This is my Capelet Cowl (which almost sold):

It's made of Black Angora for the bottom trim with Gray Mohair next and 100% Baby Alpaca for the Cowl. I love how the Alpaca yarn is squiggly with thin and thicker throughout. It makes a lovely texture.

I also made a Zouave Jacket from a 1897 pattern book I have. Here are some pictures of that:

As soon as a take a short rest I'm hoping to get back to more felting. I'm going to be working on more textured pieces to wear with a more defined look. I can't wait to get to the designing.

Thanks for following and I hope you like the pictures!!

Felting again

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Well, I set out to felt a nice vest and ended up with a Felt Fiber piece of Art instead. It depicts the Kootenay mountains as I am totally surrounded by them and they are so beautiful. I just need to put a few finishing touches on it and it will be ready for listing. I also have a depiction of Kootenay Lake on the board in design. Nelson is so beautiful with all the trees and flowers still blooming in the Fall. There is lots of inspiration for me to use for my Felting.

I want to make a longer vest about half way down the bottom for warmth when bending over as we all have to do that a lot :) picking things up, vacuuming, ewww housework. I'm  hoping to get that started this weekend. I'm still going to get those beautiful mountains on the vest, just a bit smaller.

The new thing is that instead of rolling the felt out to full it, I've been using my new Hand Palm Washboard from HeartFelt Silks instead. Wow, that really cuts down the work and the strain on my body. It really does cut out all that rolling business and saves a lot of the strain on my back.

Now, when I make the vest, I'm going to try out my new Sander also. I've been reading about it and wonder if maybe it will just be a quick way to felt and not really a fulling instrument. But I'm still going to try it out. The less strain on my body the better, because I love to felt.

I have been doing a lot of knitting and found a book I purchased a while ago with 1887 patterns in it.  Now I've got two patterns from that book going and an original design of my own that I had to dye the wool for.  Now that was a first. The woman at the wool store here in Nelson said that if I wanted a really nice black I should use more about 3g of the black powder dye, rather than the recommended 2. So I did and it still turned out more of a dark grey. I really wanted black, but I don't think I want to do it again as it is hard on the wool with the acid dye. I really ought to read up on dyeing wool as I don't really know what I'm doing, lol.  Any advice?

Here's a scarf I knit out of Sari Ribbons -

I really love the look of encrusted jewels, so I sewed in some nice big Czech glass beads and also did some designs with the sari ribbons.

In my Amberdark shop I've started making Outfits so that the choosing of items to go together is done for you and the pieces are also available separately. I really think it's a good idea and it is more fun for me. I have made some items of clothing and now I can add them to vintage items or embellish upcycled clothing to go with them.

Here is one Outfit - The Classy Outfit

It comes with or without the crocheted and beaded scarf. I thought it might look good with the scarf tied around the waist of the skirt on the side for that gypsy look.

So, we are finally getting some of the rooms in the house to feel more homey. I didn't realize that it would take so long to get everything the way that we like it.  I'm felting in the basement and sewing in the attic, it's crazy.

Well, wishing you all a great weekend and I'd love to hear what you think of my ideas and things I've made.

All the best,
Carole xo

I just joined Ravelry. Looks like a very interesting site. I joined a Kootenay Knitters group and perhaps I might meet someone from Nelson, BC.

I thought I would expand my Etsy mini for Fearless Fiberworks so that you could see more of the things I have handmade.

Some of my work is going to be shown in NEW YORK!!

I have been picked to exhibit up to three images of my work within the newly installed digital exhibition room of See.Me's New York City gallery. The show opens on Thursday, July 25th and will run through to Tuesday September 10th. I'm so excited!!!

We found a great antique house in Nelson, so on August 1st we will be moving into a wonderful community where Art is a big thing and people are so friendly and caring.

There's a outdoor market every Saturday in a central park with a big waterfall and grass, trees and flowers everywhere. It's just like being back in the 70's. I LOVE it.

A little request and a new item listed

My work is being featured at fearlessfiberworks.see.me/  I sure could use your support by sharing my work. If u feel generous maybe by donating a $1.00. Thanks!

Here is my latest listing:

And I just sold this:

I'm so happy! I'm in the process of buying a house with my husband in Nelson, the eastern side of British Columbia in Canada. It is such a beautiful place of mountains, lakes and really friendly people. It's like a drop back into the Seventies, my favourite era. Saturday markets at the park with the big waterfall and drums being beaten, hammocks to swing in, hand made salves, jewelry, clothing and food to pick from. I'll be moving there at the beginning of August. Can't Wait!!!!

Moving across BC, Canada

Hi there everybody, hope you are all doing well,

We're going to be looking for a house in the Eastern side of BC now that my husband has found a really great new job. I really want to move out into the country for the peace and quiet as well as the privacy I crave so much. If we can manage some acreage we might get a few little female goats, no breeding as they can keep the grass short and are fun to have around, lol. We also can do some gardening, nice fresh veggies. I love growing herbs, being an herbalist, so that we have the natural pharmacy going and the beautiful sights and smells that go with it.

I'm going to keep up with finishing my lessons for the Organic Embroidery Workshop I'm doing.  I'm on Lesson 4 which is the Microbial picture I think I mentioned with lots of beads and it's coming along quite nicely.

I'm thinking about taking some of the relevant things out of Amberdark on Etsy and putting them in Fearless Fiberworks and slowly phasing out Amberdark. Can I get some opinions on what you think of this??

This will be the first time I've had movers who might pack things for us and will be loading up the truck and moving it. Whoohoo!!!

I'm going to try doing Bridal makeup in the new place as well, as I miss all those years of being a professional makeup artist in the film industry. This will be so much easier as it's four hours of work once in a while and then I can put my energies into my Art.

Here's a pic to make you smile:

I couldn't change the spelling, sorry, lol. Hugs everybody!!

Creative Embroidery- Organic Designs workshop

Well, I'm loving this Workshop mentioned above. Susan Sorrell runs it. (you can find it at Creative Chick Studios).

Here's my lesson 3 completed.

I'm working on Lesson 4 now which is a microbial picture and I think I'll do lots of beads in this one!!

Embroidery has me in stitches!!!

Wow, I realize it has been a long time since I blogged. I'm so sorry.

I want to tell you about the Reggae Parrot Art Quilt I just did. I'll include some pictures for you too. I belong to TAFA, a Textile and Fiber Art Group which is really great. They have information coming up on shows and possible things to get involved in. It has been great.  One of them was See.me.  That's fearlessfiberworks.see.me for my art.

So I entered my Parrot Quilt and some of my other things that I have created for my shop Fearless Fiberworks on Etsy; then other artists comment on them or give them points and recommend you or not.  The prize is to be on a billboard in New York, I believe.  I don't want that, I was just hoping that I could be featured. I managed to get enough recommendations to be featured which is really great.  It kind of gives me an idea about what people like in my work.  Here's the parrot quilt pics:

I did hand embroidery, bead embroidery on the beak and added lots of different fabrics. I created a fern from shell beads on the lower right side of the quilt and did all of the sewing by hand.  I'd love to know what you think of it.

Then I really got into the Embroidery part and decided to try doing an Embroidery on my handmade Felt. I've been teaching myself embroidery stitches from a cool book I bought at Chapters - The Complete Photo Guide to Needlework by Linda Wyszynski.

So, in the middle of the felt I traced a design from a magazine on paper and then sewed through it on the sewing machine for the outline. Then I embroidered it with stitches from the book. One is a Pekinese stitch, very pretty, and they mention that the Chinese women used to stitch this so small and for so long that they went blind. I have to admit embroidering at night by one lamp is a tad hard on the sight, lol.

I then became more inventive and created two dragons from my head on the bottom and a jeweled thing on the top. Here's the pictures:

The dragons are actually a legged dragon on the bottom facing up (with pink beads for eyes) and the one orange one above is a shrimp dragon (both from my imagination) I used beading moderately in this embroidery, but I'd love to do much more. I put a backing on it and sewed the edge with machine sewing.  Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think.

I will definitely be blogging more as I'm going to take a course on line (I'll unveil what it was when I finish the project) and hopefully will learn all kinds of neat things to create.

Wishing you all a Wonderful New Year and I hope you enjoyed your holidays!!! Chow!

Halloween

Well, I hope everyone's ready for Halloween or Samhain as the Celtics or Pagans call it. Pronounced "Sowan".

I've got a small assortment of skin prosthetics at www.etsy.com/shop/Amberdark that I made and painted like: Zombie Skin, Alien Skin, Snow White Hair Color, lots of gelatin cuts I made and painted as well, if you're looking for anything like that. Not much time to mail them though, so it would be a rush shipping charge which I'm looking into.

So, on www.etsy.com/shop/FearlessFiberworks, I've mostly been doing Textile Fiber Art lately and am just working on a project with my new embroidery skills I'm teaching myself.  I did the parrot's beak in bead embroidery and am rather pleased at how it has turned out.  Of course now I want to bead something else on the parrot's head, lol.

I drew it, painted it, beaded or embroidered it and added some fabric pieces that actually worked. I usually feel pretty good about my creations until I post them and I get no response and then it's downhill for me. I need to just do it because I love it, so I'm going to work on that.

Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!!!!!

I just finished my second Textile Fiber Art piece. It is called A Fae Night. I've added a fair amount of gems, beads by hand embroidery, bright ink paint and fabric colours to show the magic and sparkle of the Faery Celebration.

Here's a picture and I welcome your feedback, good or constructive criticism:

Hope everyone is doing well and I'm in the process of creating another Fiber Art piece. 

Better late than never

Here's the picture of my drum carder (it works wonderfully). I've managed to make a few batts, but I'm still learning, lol.

I have so many Alpaca bags to go through, skirting, washing, picking, etc. Right now I'm really into doing an art piece of textiles in many different mediums. This will be a first and I'm really looking forward to getting to it.

I've been quite sick with the flu after going through a harsh set of antibiotics (won't be doing that again) so bed has been my constant companion :)

Talk to you all soon,
Carole :)

Snagged a Drumcarder!

I've been following EBay for a drum carder and found a vintage one in great shape. I bought it and am hoping to get it this week.

I have garbage bags full of different colours of beautiful Alpaca and some Llama wool which I imagine I'll be carding away at. I've been doing some of it with dog brushes and I have three batts done with the help of my husband. Hand picking and then carding is hard work, lol.

I'll show you a pic of the drum carder when it gets here.  Happy Canada Day!!!!!