Fiber Arts Rag. January Business Meeting Notes Submitted by Chris Vance BIG SKY FIBER ARTS GUILD

Transcription

1 BIG SKY FIBER ARTS GUILD FEBRUARY 2015 Fiber Arts Rag January Business Meeting Notes Submitted by Chris Vance NEXT MEETING Florence-Carlton Community Church fellowship hall for February 28, 10:30-3:00 We welcomed Sheryl Silberman who would be giving a presentation about her MAP experience. In attendance were Ruth, Sondra, Chris, Sharon, Shelley, Suzie, Laura, Marty, Pat, Molly, Pat, Leslie, Margie, Mary, Kathy, Emmie, Libby, Deb, Sonya, Rebecca, Marie, Suzanne and Margie. The minutes from the previous month were approved as written. Treasurers report: There were no changes from the last report. The annual reports have been filed with the Secretary of State office. Credit Union Balance $ Old Business: February retreat: We have enough people committed to attending. If you want to register after Feb. 3rd, you need to contact Suzie by . April Invitational spin-in: Marty will contact Beth to see if she has reserved DeSmet school in Missoula. This is our usual venue. Marty will contact Steve to see if he can organize vendors again this year. Members are asked to donate fiber-related door prizes. Marty brought membership applications and egg cartons for sharing. New Business: Election of officers: We nominated and elected Molly McKinnon to replace Chris Vance as Secretary. Laura Miklautsch was nominated and elected to replace Ruth Plesner as President. Each new officer will serve a 2 year term. Chris Vance agreed to take over the newsletter. Map Grants: We voted to give $50 to each of our guild members attending the Montana Artrepeneur Program this year; Lee Burgess and Joan Contraman. Ravalli County Fair prizes: We voted to donate $125 to the fair for fiber arts prizes. Sonya brings for discussion the idea of donating some money to the Western Montana Fair fiber arts exhibits. A decision was not reached on this. Karen asked if we have a budget line for prizes and donations. Sharon reported that we don t and suggested this be discussed by the officers soon. Sondra brings for discussion: Policy for lending guild equipment. It is decided that equipment will be exchanged at guild meetings so the equipment can be inspected for condition and the borrower can be trained in the use of the equipment and sign a release form. The exchange will be facilitated by the Vice-President. Website maintenance: Heather has been the webmaster for several years and is ready to pass this responsibility on to another member. Rickie may be willing to do this. Ruth will contact her to verify. Presentation: Sheryl Silberman spoke to us about her MAP experience and showed us some lovely pieces of her work, garments and handbags made from repurposed cloth, beads and vintage jewelry. Big Sky Fiber Arts Guild has been featured in the Montana Senior News! Pick up the current issue and read about the guild, it s members and its activities on page 35! Celebrity comes to fiber artists!

2 P AGE 2 HOW TO MAKE FELTED DRYER BALLS Contributed by Shelley Hunter Dryer balls help to cut down on the time your clothes have to spend in the dryer. They help to separate the clothes and eliminate the static. If you do not want to buy them or you want a more natural option, it is simple to make your own. All you need is some wool yarn, or roving, and a pair of panty hose. The wool will mat together in the wash and the fibers will grab themselves, forming a dense, thick felt. The dryer balls are easy to make and will felt more with continuous use. Things You ll need Wool roving (thick, wool fibers) Wool yarn Scraps of acrylic yarn Scissors Panty hose Wool Roving Dryer Ball Split the length of wool roving into a few thinner strands. Wrap one strand of roving tightly around your fingers to begin making a ball. Remove the wool from your fingers and start wrapping around the bundle to continue the ball. Continue wrapping the roving until the core of the ball is the desired size. Do not let go of the ball yet. Wind the wool yarn around the roving ball to secure the ball. Pull the end of yarn under a few strands of yarn and tie off the end tightly. Wool Yarn Dryer Ball Wrap the wool yarn around your fingers about 10 times to create the center of the ball. Remove the loop from your fingers and continue wrapping the yarn to make a very tight yarn ball. Wrap the yarn until the core of the ball is big as you desire. Thread the end of the yarn into the eye of the tapestry needle, push under multiple strands and tie off to secure the yarn. Clip the yarn to finish. Felting the Wool Insert either the wool roving or wool yarn ball into the pantyhose. Cut off the pantyhose about 2 inches beyond the ball. Twist the end of the pantyhose tightly and tie it with a piece of acrylic yarn to secure the pantyhose. You must use acrylic or some other synthetic yarn because this is not supposed to felt. Place the ball into the washer and dryer. The hotter the water and the hotter the dryer temperature, the faster the wool will felt. If you wash the yarn ball with a regular load of laundry, it will also felt but the process may take longer. Remove the pantyhose and wrap additional roving or yarn to the core of the ball until it becomes the size you desire. It's helpful to make them slightly bigger than you desire because they shrink slightly when felted. Place the ball back in the pantyhose using the same process and wash and dry it again. Remove the pantyhose. Add more wool if you want to make the ball larger. If the ball is large enough, it is ready to use. Making dryer balls are an ideal way to use up wool yarn scraps. Use 100% wool or the fibers will not felt.

3 F IBER ARTS RAG P AGE 3 Fiber Animal of the Month I would like to feature a fiber animal each month, purely for fun and to showcase the wonderful variety of fibers and creatures we have here in Western Montana. If you have a favorite critter you d like to show off, please send me a picture and a short bio of the animal. who say it will smell like a wet dog, I say, don t wear it wet. Besides I find a rinse in a week vinegar solution makes most dog down smell just fine. My favorite fiber animal is my sweet dog Ginger. She s a Pomeranian- Papillon mix with red hair and a fluffy tan undercoat. It is collected by combing and has just a bit of hair but is mostly soft and shiny. It spins up with absolutely no spring though so I blend it with some wool. She s also cuddly and makes a wonder alarm dog. Items made with handspun dog fiber are warm, beautiful and fun. And to those Caption describing picture or graphic. Hi ladies, Some of my fellow fiber arts have been asking what I will be teaching this spring and summer. Here is what has been scheduled so far. If anyone would like to register for these classes, I can get them in touch with the organizers. Joan Contraman s 2015 Class Schedule and Class subjects Hamilton-Big Sky Fiber Arts Festival- Friday, June 12-14th * Friday a.m. - Cotton Spinning - 3 hrs. * Friday p,m. - Spinning Down Under - 3 hours Saturday - Button Making - 6 hrs Sunday a.m. - Color Theory 3 hrs. * Sunday p.m. - Silk Bead Embellished Bracelet, 3 hrs. Snake River - Friday, May 15-17, 2015 Blending and Spinning Variegated Yarns - 3 hours, Friday afternoon * Weaving Tips, Tricks an Techniques - 3 hours 9-12 Sunday Tapestry Bag 6 hour, Saturday Log Cabin Spinners - Saturday, May 2-3, 2015 * Spinning Cotton am on Saturday, 3 hours * Spinning Down Under pm on Saturday, 3 hours Power point of virtual tour of Crosspatch Creations s ranch, 1 hrs. Weaving Tapestry Bag on Sunday - 6 hrs. Billings - Saturday, April 18-19, 2015 Dyeing a Handspinners Garden Friday 1-4 pm How to Make Fiber Blends and Spinning Variegated Yarns - 6 hours Saturday * Spinning Locks, Lumps and Bumps - 3 hours Sunday

4 The Big Sky Fiber Arts Guild Invites The Alpine Weavers and Spinners, The Mission Valley Spinners, Missoula Weavers, The Alberton Spinners, The Whitehall Spinners, Montana Association of Weavers & Spinners (MAWS) And Other Northwest Guilds and Friends to a Spin-in, Weave-in, Knit-in, Crochet-in, Hook-in! Any Natural Fiber Activity That you enjoy-in! PLUS: Pot Luck Venders Show and Tell Saturday, April 25, :30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. DeSmet School 6355 Padre Lane Missoula, MT Venders and BSFAG Members Please bring a fiber related Door Prize Additional Information Contact Laura Miklautsch at or jlmik@bridg .com Vendor Information Contact Chris Vance at or christine_vance@yahoo.com No charge to vendors for one table Great opportunity for new vendors to acquaint area fiber artists with their fiber products!

5 Save the dates Conference June Pre-conference with Robyn Spady and more June 22nd and 23 rd, 2016 at the Flathead Lake United Methodist Camp Sarah Anderson Robyn Spady Marilyn Moore Circular Sock Machine, Dyeing, Wet-felting, Knitting Conference Colors: blue, green, and yellow Registration opens Jan 15, 2016 mawsonline.org/conference

6 P.O. Box 811, Stevensville, MT Inc. Big Sky Fiber Arts Guild, PO Box 811 Stevensville, MT Guild Officers Laura Miklautsch, President Sondra Gibson, VP Sharon Hamilton, Treasurer Molly McKinnon, Secretary Michelle Jessop, Program Director Chris Vance, Newsletter February 28 Guild Meeting March 7-8 Robyn Spady s Taming of the Hue workshop, Helena, (see MAWS website for details) March 28 Log Cabin Spin In, Post Falls, ID April Joan Contraman Workshops, Billings. shara@bresnan.net May Flathead Lake Camp Work and Play Retreat, to help reduce cost of next MAWS Conference, hjgolds@hotmail.com May Fiber in the Forest, Eugene, OR. etc.smarlist_136/fiber_in_the_forest.html May 28-31, 2015 NwRSA Conference, Tacoma, WA June 12, 13, & 14, 2015 Big Sky Fiber Arts Festival, Hamilton August Western Montana Fair, Missoula September 2-5 Ravalli County Fair, Hamilton October 16, 17, &18 Camp Marshall Calendar June 23-26, 2016 MAWS 2016, Fibers on the Flathead hosted by the AWSG at the Flathead Lake United Methodist Camp on the west shore of Flathead Lake. June 26-July2, ANWG Conference at the University of Victoria hosted by The Vic toria Handweavers and Spinners Guild. Heather Terrill, Webmaster hterrill@montana.com