So cool curlicues

Ok, I've been adding a lot of blog links lately, and, also, Googling for felting blogs and sites. Tonight I found something cool: a three part YouTube video on making felted curlicues for embellishing jewelry or whatever. The blog is Mary Susan: All Good Girls are Mary. Check it out. The videos are in the Feb 08 entries. She also has an Etsy shop and sells what she makes. Good work, Mary Susan.

Bluff Country Art Tour

Bluff Country Art Tour is coming up April 25, 26, 27, 2008. I will be participating on Saturday April 26th at the Bluff Country Artists Gallery
This is an excerpt from

http://www.bluffcountryarttour.com/

April 25, 26, 27 art enthusiasts can find exciting treasures in the hills and valleys of the Bluff Country region of southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa, during this 8th annual Studio Art Tour. Enjoy the emergence of spring when traveling scenic back roads to the studios of this area's finest artists. Get to know the Artists and watch them in action. Shop for your own unique work of art. Many of these artists only open their studios occasionally throughout the year and rarely share the tricks of their trade. Artists will be demonstrating bead making, wood carving, wheel thrown ceramics and more. Find out about unscheduled demonstrations as you visit the studios.
We are excited to have the participation of several Art Galleries representing many local, regional, and national exhibiting artists. Galleries are located in Harmony, Spring Grove, Lanesboro, and Winona. The Lanesboro Community Center will be serving as a group site for 7 artists to exhibit at a convenient central location... but don't forget to visit the excellent rural studios!

Taking a Breather

It's spring break for the kiddos, so I'm taking a break from "work." Taking a break means I'm thinking about what project I want to start on when the kids go back to school. I need to make a few small felted bowls as samples for Textile Camp at Crossings. I sold nearly all the small felted bowls I had last weekend. I want to play with my Xpression. There are so many possibilities with it using wool, silk, and other fabrics. Crossings will soon post a call for artists for a collage exhibit, so I've been thinking about how I could do a collage. I want to do some larger felted vessels, this time more intricate, using resists and more embellishing. I'd like to take some of these both to Crossings and to Bluff Country Artists Gallery. Oh, and nuno felting-I'd like to try that, too. I have a million "I want to try that" ideas running around in my head. If the ideas would just line up in an orderly fashion, I could get to them all in turn. But ideas are like children. Each one rudely wants to be first. Ha.

I was very productive before the Artist's Clearing House. I had a list of things needing to be done before the show, and I cranked through my list. Now that the immediate pressure of a deadline is off, I find I'm much less able to prioritize.
I have done a little felting, even though I'm taking a break. I started a small felted bowl last week. It is green on the outside and pink on the inside. My daughter took one look at it and said it was a watermelon, so a watermelon it has become. I've needle felted some seeds on the inside, including a few white ones, and added some lighter green stripes on the skin. I may felt a few "melon balls" to put inside. The top edge will be trimmed into points, in the manner some people (who have way too much time on their hands) actually cut watermelon to serve it.
Here it is, a little blurry.