The New Pace of Life...

In the days before I racheted up my felting regime a notch, I had a quiet November, January, and February.  I was very busy those months this year and I am now so flat out that friends have started ringing me to see if I am okay they haven't heard from me in so long.  Wake, laundry, clean, feed, small boy off to school, two hours of phone calls and emails, and then off to paid work.  After that, studio, phone, email, feed, avoid cleaning, stitch, and fall asleep in my chair.  Wake up and go to bed at 1:30am and then repeat.

Our new logo!

Craft in Kerry is off to an amazing start.  Truly, it's time had come.  I am having a hard time keeping up with all the opportunities that are coming our way.  Our craft fair on April 29th is having some teething problems, but I will figure it out.  We are on Radio Kerry for an hour's interview this Wednesday and headed to Dublin April 4th for Meitheal with Failte Ireland to promote the Handmade Sessions, our new craft education venture.  We will be teaching 4 hour workshops for visitors and locals alike from 10-1pm and 2-6pm in a variety of crafts, including patchwork, felting, woodworking, embroidery, jewelry, and much more.  Accommodating 8-10 people per setting, we will be working towards our goal of providing employment for talented craft workers and preserving handmade traditions.  The Handmade Sessions will begin in June and we are hard at work to get all the fine print sorted so we will be ready for the summer season.

New piece on the way to the framer..

In the meantime, I have my own felting workshop on April 27th to get ready for.  Located in Dingle, it is an excellent beginner's felting class.  After getting down to basics on wool materials and how to felt, we will felt a few sample pieces and then I will show how to lay out fibres using a resist to make felted journal covers.  I'm looking forward to it!  And if that's not enough, the lovely Pam de Groot will be visiting Dingle and teaching a 3 day Master Class in felting and resist dyeing.  Pam is Dutch by way of Australia and will be in Europe for a limited time, so we jumped at the opportunity to host her. Day One on Friday, June 17 will be resist dyeing, Day 2 & 3 are mosaic felting of wearables.  Day One can be taken by itself or with Day 2/3 or Day 2/3 on their own.  The fee is €50 for Day One by itself or €100 for Day 2/3 on their own or €150 for the three days.  Pam's work is best seen on her blog http://pamdegroot.blogspot.com/.  She mosaic "tiles" in pre-felted pieces to make beautiful wraps and wearable pieces, made even more beautiful by her resist dyed silks.  The three days together promise to be wonderful and great value.  The price does not include room or board, but I can help people from out of town find a good deal if they need help.  Spaces are limited to just 12 people, so please contact me at sharon1_crandall@hotmail.com.


In the meantime, I actually got two new pieces done this week.  This is a partial shot of the finished panel, awaiting it's journey to the framer.  It's a mix of felt, silk, cotton fabric and machine embroidery.  The weather has been sunny and dry this week, so I've started dyeing lots of wool and it will really show in these new pieces as the hand-dyed fibres really bling up the designs.

Meanwhile, I have marketing copy to write and a small boy sleeping in my chair.  And I suppose there's always cleaning to finish, but I don't think I can face that tonight...

Where Did January Go...?

I usually find that January and February are the dullest months of the year, but that was before I decided to start a Scouts troupe and a craft guild simultaneously while working, cranking out new stuff from my studio, and cleaning (hah!) my house.  Some of those things are going well and some things are falling down the rabbit hole.  Scouts and the craft guild are going great!  House is okay, not bad, but studio is not going well at all....In desperation, I moved a load of stuff back over, to tempt myself into taking up camp and getting stuck in again, but it was freezing and so I unpacked the boxes and hightailed it out of there.  I will be heading back tomorrow, but it won't be for long periods of time until the weather warms up some.  It's just hard to stick -5 with no heat, especially when sewing requires sitting for lengths of time and felting is a wet process that would leave me with even colder hands.  My right arm has also been giving me some grief, something about tendonitis, so I've had to take it easy.  Never a dull moment.

Make a beautiful felted book cover?

We had our first meeting for the craft guild, changed the name to Craft in Kerry due to Google search engines, and are off to a flying start!  We have our first event, a craft fair, scheduled for Friday, April, 29th at An Díseart in Dingle from 10-4pm.  We will have craft demonstrations and try to give it a real family atmosphere, given that two festivals will be taking place at the same time.  We have our next meeting scheduled for Monday, February 21st in the Carlton Hotel in Tralee at 7:30p.m.  Lots to discuss!  Details for membership to finalize, publicity ideas, logo's hopefully will be ready to vote on, and we have an interview on Radio Kerry to get ready for!  Weeshie Fogarty rang me and said he would be delighted to give us an hour's interview on his "In Conversation with..." show on Wednesday nights from 6-7:00pm.  Our slot isn't until March 30th, but we need the time to get press packs ready, start a blog, decide which five members are doing the interview, and get him some background info on our coming events.  Meanwhile, Nationwide was in contact and they are coming to Dingle to film us for the craft fair, so it's time to get organized!  I did get a Facebook, page up and running, so you can look us up under http://www.facebook.com/KateOConor?ref=ts#!/pages/Craft-in-Kerry/172314459478834.

I'm also teaching a felting workshop during the Feile.  It took me awhile to decide on what to concentrate on since by the end of April it will be warmer and a new winter hat will be at the back of everyone's mind.  So, this is what I came up with...

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Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books. --bell hooks

Learn the easy and transformative process of felting, one of the oldest textiles in the world. With wool, warm water, and a little soap and energy, you can create all kinds of wonderful items. We will focus on the process of making felt and then felt book covers that can be used as journals, sketchbooks, or photo albums. They make a wonderful gift, but you may want to keep it for yourself! Materials provided on the day, but please book in advance. All abilities welcome, but preferably age 14 and up. 087-9111793.

Time: Wednesday, April 27th 1-4pm
Price: €20, plus materials fee

Sharon Crandall is a textile artist based in West Kerry. She enjoys making things with her hands and crochets, embroiders, quilts, and makes jewellery. Four years ago she discovered felting and Zing! wool and natural fibres became a passion.

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I know the workshop fee is very small, but it's really hard to fill workshops right now.  In the good old times, I could easily have charged €50 for the three hours.  Any thoughts???