Artisan Felted Fabrics, Garments
As we wrote in this blog last year, the Fourth of July is Lee’s favorite holiday. Besides celebrating our country’s birthing process it’s that time when he reflects on the year just past. This year we are doing our reflection in pictures. It has been a year of great delight, friendship, health and gratitude. Happy Fourth of July to all of our friends, near and far.
Happy Fourth of July. Celebrate safely and please remember all of our men and women in active service. Sandy
One of the best things that has happened to me personally and to our Whispirit alpaca felted garments is the invitation to sell our creations at Handwoven Originals in Santa Fe. This year Handwoven Originals is celebrating its 35th year at the Inn and Spa at Loretto and the shop is filled with a constantly changing selection of New Mexico made wearable art pieces.
The unique gallery is the creative enterprise of three like-minded weavers, JB Pena, Ceil Swanson and Louise Lechner. For 40 years (they had an earlier shop before moving to the Inn at Loretto in 1980), they shared shop duties and responsibilities for keeping the shop open and helping each other keep space to continue their weaving. In the recent Essential Guide to Santa Fe & Taos article about this anniversary, JB Pena talks about the grit and grace of their enterprise.
“We lost our beloved Louise Lechner in 2013. Her spirit still lives in the shop as Ceil and I navigate with a lot of help from our terrific artists and associates that work with us. We still love to design and weave, create and paint. We are ever grateful for our loyal collectors and friends who have supported us through the years.”
Their team works throughout the year to showcase and sell their participating artists’ works. Their well-placed ads are beautiful celebrations of color and design. They work with returning customers, remembering what they like and suggesting new pieces to add to their collections.
What doesn’t show up in the ads or other publicity about this shop is their incredible contribution to the designing artists showcased in the shop. JB, Ceil and Louise have been wonderful mentors, nurturing creatives and demonstrating the balance between artist sensitivity and the marketplace. Alas, we never got to meet Louise.
When I feel that inevitable insecurity of new designs, a visit to JB or Ceil and any of their associates is in order. JB is great about pinpointing the solution to my prototype versions of jackets, wraps, scarves: “Make it longer, women like to cover their butts. Red, black and white are favorite color combinations. Can you put a closure on this? Make the sleeves wider. I like the lining in the sleeves.” Their feedback fills me with the exuberance of knowing that I am onto something. I always leave the shop with ego reinflated and filled with new inspiration.
Everyone working in the shop is knowledgeable about each artists’ work and can tell their customers what goes into the labor intensive handmade creation. They know what makes each work special and worthy of collecting. Because of their passion for each artist’s work, their customers return every year to see the new creations. The shop is a happy, contented place filled with smiles, good will and celebration.
One of the busiest times for Handwoven Originals is the Santa Fe Opera season, which begins July 1st. Lee & I have been busy creating new wraps for Santa Fe’s chilly summer evenings, which we will deliver to the shop this Thursday. If you are in Santa Fe, be sure to stop by this very special shop. If you can’t make it this summer, take a look at their beautiful website and online store and plan a visit on your next Santa Fe trip.
Til next time. Sandy
Like predators, wildfires are part of our life in the Southwest. The Dog Head Fire, which broke out last Tuesday in the Manzano Mountains and continued to rage without significant containment for almost a week, is probably 15 to 20 miles south of us. The plumes of smoke can be seen from every where in the East Mountains.
The fire broke out just as our weather became blistering hot, the humidity was too low to record and winds were blowing hard. It quickly grew from a 25 acre fire to a 1,300 acre fire and and exploded to it’s current 17,944 acre fire. After days of no containment, more humid and calm weather last Sunday permitted the 900 plus firefighters battling this monster to finally get a leg up and “hold the line”. Our “Go Bags” were ready by the front door, animal trailer hitched to the truck, and all vehicles full of gas. As we watched the huge column of smoke expand in size every day our heats went out to those who were being evacuated from the fires path. Some have lost everything except their lives. Others homes were spared by the quirkiness of a wildfire but more often by the quick and heroic acts of fire fighters who brave these fierce fires to hand dig trenches, cut down trees, clear brush and drop fire retardent to protect the homes very much in harm’s way.
Often over the last week, as we kept a wary eye on the conflagration 20 miles away, our thoughts were often about and grateful for the “community” of many that seemingly pops up over night to care for the victims. Teams of fire fighters, including Hot Shot teams, come from all parts of the country. They are bivouacking in tents in nearby fields battling the fire, sleeping a little, maybe a shower, eating and then back at it.
Over 300 people have had to leave their homes and are being cared for by volunteers in temporary shelters in several East Mountain communities. We are in the rural mountains. These evacuated areas are also home to many animals. Dogs, cats, birds, goats, chickens, horses, and livestock have been evacuated to safe areas set up by the public agencies, animal oriented non-profits and good-hearted neighbors.
A lot of work by volunteer groups and agencies done in advance of this fire and the wildfire season to help us all be prepared (how did we know about “Go Bags” and defensible space around our house?) We have particularly benefited from attending programs held by the East Mountain Interagency Fire Protection Association, to teach us how to be ready. Thanks to these agency’s and volunteer groups the fire even has its own Facebook page. We can monitor maps, websites for current information about what is going on and be vigilant.
Thank you to all the people who are fighting the fire, rescuing people and animals, and donating safe havens and funds to the victims. We know fires happen, they are scary, destructive and initially you can feel very much alone. It makes all the difference in dealing with such a crisis when a community of support exists.
Thank you to all mentioned above and anyone not, who have pitched in to help and who continue to do so.
Until next time …. Sandy & Lee
It has been two years since we participated in the East Mountain Fiber Farm & Studio Tour. And, WOW!, are we glad the dates worked for us this year. The Tour occurred this past weekend and it was a smashing success.
In preparation, Lee and I turned my fabric design studio into a Pop Up Shop, which meant putting away collapsible work & cutting tables, the steam press, my project bags of fiber and fabric, sweep the floor (poor spiders…), and created order where order does not normally exist. (Just ask Lee.) While we were at it, we inventoried our processed fiber. Boy, do we have an inventory of fiber, but that’s another blog.
We decided to put garments, scarves, hats, bags and other items created one to four years ago on deep discount to move product. The studio was repopulated with sale tables, racks and other display areas. Danita Coulter did her usual masterful job of cleaning up the barn so that we could showcase this year’s fiber clip. We also put new mom & cria into a barn catch pen so our guests could “ooh & ahh” six-day-old Normandie. (D/D for short).
There were already three car loads of visitors waiting at 10 AM Saturday morning when Lee went down to open the ranch gate. This foretold what was to be a constant stream of visitors both Saturday and Sunday, start to finish, with never a pause in the day. Not even to take a bite of my well-planned, pre-made sandwiches for lunch.
So much product sold we ran out of our special Whispirit shopping bags. We were so exhausted Saturday evening we just couldn’t bring ourselves to repopulate the sales tables and racks until Sunday AM and then the ranch gate was opened and it happened all over again! We have nothing left but a pile of hangers and empty tables where all the handmade vests, coats, jackets and accessories use to be.
The best part of both days was showing old and new friends what we do, how we do it and introducing our newborn cria. Sundance & Atticus (our Great Pyrenees herd guard dogs), always vigilant to strangers on the property, were the biggest winners as they got petted and loved by EVERYONE. Lee was jealous. Our raffle attracted over 100 entries. CONGRATULATIONS to Pattie S. from Albuquerque who won the purple shawl featured in an earlier blog.
My, what a great time. A special “Thank You” to our fellow Fiber Tour participants who worked diligently to publicize and find sponsors for this year’s Tour (especially Bill Herman, Sandra Holzman, Robin Pascal and Ginny Zvoch). Robin and Sandra are the dean’s of this event. Thanks, as always, to Danita, who helped us look so good. And of course, to the many, many people who spent part of their weekend with us, we specially say Thank You!!
Until next week……… Sandy
This week’s blog will focus on the artisans to be found at stops 4, 5, and 6 of the East Mountain Fiber Farm & Studio Tour, which is this coming weekend June 11 and 12. Get your map here.
Stop 4. The Woolshed at Maple Winds Farm
This stop on the fiber tour is owned and run by Victoria and Robert Collins and is truly a hands on fiber producer. Victoria is proud that this operation is literally from sheep to shawl. They sell fiber for all uses, wool, angora rabbits and alpaca from local producers. They feature handspun wool yarns as well as blends. The Collins are dealers for the well known looms Majacraft and Louet and have many commercial products to sell.
Stop 5. Hollywick Farms Alpacas
Kathy and Bill Herman own and operate Hollywick Farms. Their herd of alpacas are used to visitors and have just been shorn. Come meet the alpacas, feel their fleece and shop for roving, yarns, fashion garments and accessories. Be sure to enter Hollywick Farms’ drawing to win a pair of soft and comfortable alpaca socks.
Annie McHale will also be at Hollywick Farms with her amazing weavings. Annie is a passionate and prolific Inkle weaver. She saw her first Inkle loom when she was 17 years old and with the help of a library book and her dad, Annie built her own loom. Inkle looms produce warp faced bands no wider than 6″. Annie weaves straps for cameras, guitars and other musical instruments as well as belts and other personal accessories. See her endless ways of combining colors into patterns and clever use of new materials, techniques and inspirations.
Stop 6. Whispering Spirit Alpacas
This stop is our alpaca breeding and fabric creating location. We have a herd of 30 alpacas and two llamas (yes, you will notice the difference). Stop up at the barn, where Lee will introduce you to the animals, especially our new cria Normandie (born just yesterday) and show you this year’s harvest. See how we skirt the fiber to ready it for the mill. Then come down and join Sandy in the Fabric Design Center (a/k/a the garage). She will show you the equipment we use to make our textiles and will have deep mark downs on our Whispirit designs from this past winter. We will also have several new offerings fresh off the design table and ready for the boutiques. You get first dibs before we deliver. And, we will have felted fabric, prefelts, bags of felted remnant, batts, roving and raw fiber for sale. The purple scarf pictured above will be raffled off at our ranch.
Check out last week’s post for info on the other half of the tour, and join us this weekend! We look forward to seeing you.
