More Skill Sharing - Felt

Making real wool felt

Peter carding raw wool fibres, to untangle them.

 Removing the carded fibres,

Ta-da - part 1

The fibres are laid out in alternate horizontal / vertical layers,

then subjected to much friction and some lathering,

before being rolled up in bubble wrap and ridged matting, rinsed and subjected to more friction.  

Ta-da - part 2 - still to come!

The Gals are Back in Town

Great to be back in the gorgeous Chamber East, Dundee, for Gin in Teacups. 

Good to see the lovely Gin Gals, Laurie and Sarah.

Nice to see familiar, friendly stallholders from Dundee, Fife and further afield, who I  haven't seen since Spring, as I've been concentrating on fairs in the North East over the Summer. 

I've been missing some of them.

 

Setting up the stall felt like the first day of a new school term - unpacking a mix of new things and old stock and catching up on the summer's news. 

On the other hand, it is always nice to meet new people, some of whose work I had seen and heard of, previously. 

Most importantly, it was good to see customers, new ones and three of my best  

who between them bought bags of fabrics, a shirt - selected specifically for him (personal shopping, just part of the service), 

 a pair of mint condition 1970s lampshades and a pair of trousers laid aside awaiting a small alteration.

 Now, another weekend, another fair . . . 

 Next one is Funk Fair at Roseangle Arts Cafe, 132 Perth Road, DD1 4JW.

I wish I could say the lovely Callyanna was one of my customers, I'll have to dig deeper into my wardrobe to look for something that fits her, before I see her again. 

Two Halls full of Stalls.

A quick and very tired round up of today's Vintage Bazaar at Edzell.

Two halls, full of stalls, I like that, it should be our motto from now on. Lovely hall and lovely people - traders, buyers and browsers, lovely weather, lovely stock, but loveliest of all was this . . . 

A lovely, sleepy, two week old baby boy called Cohen. All babies should have matching striped suits and caps, maybe I should have one too. Too lovely.

Back to bizz . . . 

Two young girls - Retromi with their much talked about and admired wooden boxes,with man of the moment, Paul of Fancy That? (I am tired, I just typed in Take That - sorry Paul! Sorry too, Carol, or maybe you wouldn't mind Paul lining up with Robbie and Marc, maybe you rescued him from a life of fame and reality shows, before they made it big - have I got the right boy band? or am I barking up the wrong dreel?)

Two stalls here, not the best view of Evelyn Treasure finder's stall and just visible at the back the lovely Kate Matthews of Quinneys Antiques

Another new - to me - stall, Linda from Friockheim, with some very practical pots and pails and lovely murano glass vases, willow pattern plates, old berry basket and all sorts of useful and beautiful things at very reasonable prices.

Next door, another 'New To Me' - Tea and Design a lady who doesn't mean she'll get out the tea bags when she says 'I'll make the tea.'

Another 'two for the price of one' pic, Lyndsey and Brian of Chic Retro and in front of it, I think 'Dave from Forfar's stall.

 Oh yes, I had a stall too, Rural Reads & thReads

The picture is of fishing boats sailing out of harbour; the one at the front has a Banff registration, the artist is W. Hutton - does anyone know anything about him? I'm not going to sell it, it's staying at home from now on. I realised how possessive I was every time someone looked at it. 

Now I will apologise to everyone in the second hall where my camera never ventured, especially to

Arlene Allsorts, Retro Spectrum, Neil from The Pend,  Anne Grey from Vanity (NTM) and to the other stalls I've missed out including (NTM) Megan's Collectibles from Brechin.

Thank you to Paul for organising the Bazaar, to Carol and to Paul's parents for helping the coo's tail - always behind - folk to pack up and get away. 

      

A Weekend Full of Everything

A busy, enjoyable and very interesting weekend, but not many pix yet!

Friday evening was spent at a leatherworking workshop with Skillshare Dundee's Rose and a group of fellow participants. I have signed up for the next one!

Saturday was the day for the MacMillan Crafty Coffee Morning in Blairgowrie Town Hall. It was a lovely event, which raised over £500 for MacMillan, the organisers and stall holders were very sociable, the visitors lovely and I bought a cereal bar which was almost a meal in itself!

In the afternoon I walked round Blair, made some useful contacts at the Community Market in the Wellmeadow, bought fresh veg there and lace to make curtains from a nearby charity shop. Following leads I found on the tourism stall, I found the Fresh Vintage shop in the town and the handloom weaver across the road from it.

Sunday was the long awaited Solar Panel workshop at Skillshare Dundee. It was excellent and the tutor, Benny, very cool, calm and collected. At the end of the class, we listened to a little music, powered by the panels. I can't wait to get started on my own panel.

(Pix borrowed from Skillshare's FB page)

There was more music to round off the weekend, at Glamis Kirk's Scots Songs of Praise with music from the Strathmore fiddle orchestra. Excellent. Followed by tea and fruit cake - brilliant.