This summer is a busy time! We have a four day retreat starting next Monday, June 7 with my two favorite Australians at beautiful Silver Bay YMCA of the Adirondacks, with Sachiko Kotak teaching Ori-Kiri Felt, and my sister Polly Stirling teaching Felt Comfort Blankets.  There are 20 participants total, from all over the US and Canada. I am always excited to gather a creative group, but I must admit the pressure is on when I am organizing, especially off-site. I need to remember to bring everything so we aren’t without important supplies or information. That means wool, fabrics, fibers, noodles, bubble wrap, clothes lines, clothes pins, irons, ironing boards, scissors, soap, plastic, pails, sponges, measuring tape, pens, pencils, paper, hand outs, table extenders, table risers, cookies, notes and my wits. Those wits are rare!

When we return from Silver Bay, I will be reorganizing the studio to host a two day workshop, Sachiko Kotaka’s Felting Techniques. Meanwhile, I have to organize the home front to host the instructors between gigs.

Anna will be away during our in-studio workshop, attending the incomparable India Flint’s eco dyeing workshop, A Walk in the Woods at Shakerag Workshops in Sewanee, Tennessee! I’m so envious, but we can’t be everywhere…

I’ve been struggling with my computer skills to update my web site, prepare a class mailing and keep people informed about what we have scheduled this year at the studio and on the road. My wrists ache and I’m sure I’ve left typos in my trail.

The happy news is that Anna and I have lots of really exciting things planned! We get so excited when we brain storm together. We both think in terms of color and tactile sensibilities. It’s wonderful to team up with someone who speaks the same language. All of you fiber junkies know exactly what I mean. Her interest in garments and embroidery are getting my creative wheels turning. We are planning for SAGA, the Smocking Arts Guild of America’s conference. Combining felting with smocking…hmm…..

I started embroidering when I was really young, and maintained my interest all through high school. I was surely the only girl in the history of my West Genesee who wore their own hand smocked prom dress, much to my daughter’s amusement. I’m having a lot of fun thinking of fine detail again.

While Anna is a turbo felter (and general Ever Ready Bunny). I still prefer my T’ai-chi method… laying out is my meditation, and I like to go slowly as the layers evolve and the colors whisper to me. I undo as much as I lay down usually, but I like that option. I admit I don’t do many things quickly, it overwhelms me.

We have posted a new list of classes at the studio with more to come. We are excited about the Boot workshop with Sharon Raymond in February, and our upcoming retreat with my sister Polly and Sachiko Kotaka in June at beautiful Silver Bay. I’ve never met two more instinctively creative women. Polly never stops evolving in her methods and ideas, and Sachiko is the same. Both are real individuals who have a totally different approach to the technical aspects of making felt. It is freeing to work with them as they are not rigid in their instruction. It requires a bit of confidence from students not to be fed every step along the way, but they are skilled at encouraging.

Of course, I have absolutely NO bias what so ever toward my sister. Since she lives on the other side of the globe, it is easy to forget she does have a Scorpio tail. Somehow when she teaches, she transforms into an extrovert. That is something I can definitely relate to. I’d just as soon hide under a rock, but when I teach, something shifts. Maybe it is the passion in the medium of felt that lures me out?

Please bear with me while I unearth the skills I need to learn Wordpress. I hope to keep you updated with the news at Florafauna Textile Studio as Anna and I settle into our new digs at the Shirt Factory here in Glens Falls, NY. Many of you may know me through my prior identity as a feltmaker and owner of Luckystone Feltworks Studio. Well, I am still maintaining my identity as a feltmaker! But broadening things a bit, as I have entered into a business partnership with the very talented Anna Poulos. Together we have formed Florafauna Textile Studio, LLC.

Anna suiting up for more sanding and scraping in the studio!

It has taken hard work to get our new studio space set up for public viewing, but we have had fun along with the exhaustion!

Florafauna Textile Studio before.

Anna and I have discovered we share the same passion for color, and our paint choices express that. We’ve transformed the formerly white studio with colors inspired by our natural dyes- logwood, cutch, lac and cochineal.

After (in progress).

I smile every time I step inside our doors. We were lucky to move into a spacious studio vacated by the wonderful weavers Fritelli and Lockwood, after they relocated to Beekman Street in Saratoga Springs, NY. We gained about 400 additional square feet of space in our new location, which we quickly filled with new work tables, supplies, and a super-duper double stainless steel sink.

I will be teaching classes in feltmaking as before, but with Anna’s exceptional skills, we are adding classes in natural dyeing (and carrying the Earthues line of natural dyes- to dye for!); fabric embellishing; needle work and couture sewing techniques.

We have also opened our doors as a retail shop for textile artists. We carry fibers for feltmakers, handspinners, needle felters, smockers and natural dyers; and specialty fabrics, yarns, scarves, silks to dye and embellish. I know I am forgetting things! We are still stocking our shelves, so stay tuned for new surprises!

Robin

Anna laying out a nuno scarf on her machine embellished silk

Anna embellishing fabric on her Bernina at Open Studio

Florafauna's dyeing area

Florafauna, December 12, 2009 Open Studio Day