I blogged last year about the benefits of challenges, but I didn’t really have those in mind when I came up with the #WeBeTEST instagram intro challenge. However, as challenges tend to be, I think this one is great for the participants… starting on that first day! The stories that Toronto Etsy Street Team makers have shared, and photos (I particularly loved the workspace, tools, and supplies ones!) and Sunday’s posts about teammates (since it was Valentine’s Day the prompt was: show your love for a teammate – most of us couldn’t just pick one!) have just been so great:
Today’s prompt was maker video, which I believe most of the members have never done, so it was particularly challenging. Today I saw people cutting, spraying, felting, binding, folding, assembling, glueing, wrapping, sewing, painting, polishing, rolling, pinching, shaping, trimming, knitting, crocheting, printing, packaging, a stop-motion, a day in the life, studios, process… These are just so fun! Here are a couple:
Jenny Lee Shee did a video but couldn’t get it onto Instagram so she skipped that step and put it straight onto her Etsy About page! These last two are extra exciting for me since one of the goals was for people to have some material for their About page video, and for 2 teammates, that goal has been met!
Another great point to make is that I know that a few people have joined the team because of this challenge – how great is that? And a few people have created an instagram account and started posting regularly because of this challenge! Check out @bubynoa and her amazing and super soft handmade stuffies – this post (below) from Day 2 name/brand:
Okay, so #WeBeTEST. Check it out if you are on instagram, but if not, I have made a Pinterest board which has just about everything, with the exception of a few on day 1 (I didn’t think to make an automated board until the end of the day) and the videos, which it appears Pinterest doesn’t do, or IFTTT doesn’t do, so you’ll just have to use the instagram link and check them out there. Sorry about that.
In other news, I have another needle felting 101 class scheduled just before Easter (Thursday, March 24, 7-9pm at The Purple Purl) when we will be making this adorable bunny:
In other Instagram news, I did the #MondayMashup #MeetTheVendor account takeover yesterday at @ArtsMarket, which was pretty fun! I captured all of those posts on a Pinterest board as well, if you’re interested. The most popular post of the day was one of Fineghan, a commissioned gift for Fineghan’s family:
The 2016 #100nfornaments challenge is over 1/4 finished already! So far, this one is the most popular of the bunch (and the quickest sold item I’ve ever listed on Etsy!):
And, finally, since I’m having a sale at the Arts Market (10% off everything for the month of February) where I have just filled my booth with hats and more, I decided I would extend that online as well! So there is a coupon code for my Etsy shop for 10% off for the rest of February. Use 10FEB2016 for your discount on all items, of which there are quite a few right now, including what you see below:
I like the accountability factor, the prompts and the routine in challenges.
The 30×30 nature challenge got me consciously outdoors. We live in an extremely walkable neighbourhood. I hang my laundry on the line once summer hits. We have been hiking with our homeschool group for years. Once the weather gets nice our group heads to the beach on a regular basis. So I am already outdoors quite a bit. But during that challenge I became more aware of my surroundings and started having a bit of morning quiet time on the deck. It was a nice addition to my day and I enjoyed listening to the birds and watching the trees fill out. I also moved my work and the boys’ out to the deck when it was feasible. We started eating 3 meals a day on our deck when the weather was nice and the wasps didn’t chase us back inside. Several of these things stayed until the weather cooled down, and now that spring is back we are starting those things again.
The 6 week fitness challenge got me out to different fitness and dance classes 6 days a week for 6 weeks, and I ended up liking it so much that I became a member at the studio. I am there 5 days a week and am still very much enjoying it.
The May_Be2015 creative challenge got me drawing (I now carry my sketchbook and pencil wherever I go) and writing in cursive (something I hadn’t done properly in decades) regularly. It made me think about different forms, ideas, printed photographs, and my creative habits/routine (or lack thereof), among other things.
SaluteTheSun21 got me out to watch the sun rise. Now whenever I’m awake at 5:15am either due to insomnia or because I mean to, I head down to the beach and watch the sun rise. It is an absolutely fantastic way to start the day. A beautiful promise that every day is a totally different and fresh start. My friend who started the challenge decided on day 22 that she did not want to stop, so she is down at her beach each morning for the dawn of every new day. I’ve seen a lot of sunsets over the years but I’ve got to tell you that the sunrise is a different thing altogether. You should try it sometime. Even if you have to wait until fall when the time of day is a little more reasonable.
The common thread? I start these challenges on a whim, and later find that there are lasting benefits and changes with each one.
The wool ball series of ornaments started late last year. I was working away making snowmen when I just got tired of it. I was eyeballing this ball (the snowman’s body) and I thought, “What could I make with a wool ball?” Then I proceeded to make a few things (mostly animals) for my next holiday show and my Etsy shop. I ended up madly needle felting ornaments during shows and in the evenings as well. I was playing catch-up so I stuck to the first few animals that I had created: frog, elephant, cardinal, narwhal, robin, penguin, owl, and panda.
This year I have started early and have time to explore. Because of this 100 day commitment, my sketchbook is filled with ideas – I need content!
About a month ago I was listening to a podcast where the interviewer asked what were the interviewee’s “golden hours” – when a you work the best, you are at your most attentive, and most focussed. I’m not sure if everyone knows their golden hours, but I have known for a long time that I am best in the morning. First thing. It also happens to be a time of day when no one else is up, so it’s a perfect time to get a few things done undisturbed.
I hadn’t been using that time productively. But as of 12 days ago, I do. This challenge has forced me into a routine that really works for me. No email, no social media, just my notebook sketches, wool, and tools, until the job is done. And the job is always a fun challenge. With my sketchbook, I have a visual list of creative possibilities from which to choose every day.
Now I’ve decided that I’ll try to make 2 of whatever it is I’ve decided to make that day (if I have the time before the family is up) instead of 1, to see how closely I can match the first as well as build up some stock.
So the 100 ornaments challenge, by day 10, had changed my routine, just like the other challenges. But it did a few other things as well.
I now look forward to getting out of bed, since I have a creative project to get to.
I’m keeping on top of creation of the wool balls that are the core of each ornament (a 2 step process that needs lead time: the balls are roughly needle felted, then wet felted and need a couple of days to dry) since I don’t want to run out.
I’ve had several people tell me that they look forward to seeing what I’ve created each day, which is such a kick.
After 10 days I did a roundup and asked people on social media what they would add and people did not disappoint (see below). So I have what the marketing folks like to call “engagement.”
I think, with my existing sketches (6 pages worth), the suggestions, and a few of the old favourites (snowmen and Santas), I probably have enough to fill my 100 days.
Added June 15:
What I forgot to mention above is that because I am making something different, and because I am making every single day, I am improving and likely getting more efficient as well. Another added bonus to the challenge!
You know that #May_Be2015 creative challenge that my friend Rozanne had me guest post for? Well, she’s at it again. But this time Rozanne and our mutual friend Brooke are doing a writing challenge: #100Scribbles (100 days of scribbles – free writing). They really enjoyed the daily creative prompt (as did I, although I didn’t partake in every one) and wanted to keep up the momentum, but to concentrate on writing. (By the way, check out the #May_Be2015 Instagram feed – it’s filled up nicely!)
Rozanne put the call out there for people to join, but I thought that my attention needed to get back to my work. So I have tweaked the challenge to be: 100 days of needle felted ornaments. I lack a productive routine, and I need one if I am to get things created for fall (and to list on Etsy and my web shop) and not be in pain with repetitive strain injury, so what better way to get into a routine, but to commit to one for 100 days? So first thing in the morning, it’s up and needle felting! (I am actually going to be making other things as well, but the ornaments are fun and
If you have a favourite animal (or other) that you think might work for my Wool Ball ornaments series, please comment. If you’d like to follow along, check out my Instagram feed, or the hashtag #100NFOrnaments.
I love that I’m not the only one who has taken the 100 days theme and run with it. One friend is doing 100 days of wild edibles and another is doing 100 things that make her day!
Last week I took my boys to Topsy Farms on Amherst Island, Ontario (a short ferry ride from Millhaven, between Prince Edward County and Kingston) to see the sheep shearing. I have known the daughter of one of the farmers since we worked together for the first time at a cafe in Kingston during homecoming weekend of my old alma mater, Queen’s University, in 1993. When I started knitting again, back in late 2008, I made my first ever hat from their wool. I currently use their natural (undyed) wool yarn and roving for my Sheepy Dryer Balls and their (perfectly suited for needle felting) roving for my needle felted ornaments and catnip balls.
I’ve been to the farm many times over the years, worked in the Wool Shed some afternoons, been on some sheep drives, visited during lambing to feed the foster lambs, and done a few needle felting workshops there as well, but I have never made it to sheep shearing. I figured the boys were old enough to behave themselves and even help a little if possible. I just wanted to take photographs and see the process (although I have been recruited to help in my own little way next year. I fed 2 of the roustabouts – my friend and her husband with whom we stay when we go to Amherst Island. Next year I will feed all of the helpers).
This is a little (er, actually make that a LONG) bit of photojournalism for you. I’ve always been curious about the whole process (being a knitter), and maybe you have, too. This post is meant to take the mystery out of the process.
So a week ago Tuesday we went to the farm to check it out. We were greeted in the field behind the barn with some shorn sheep:
(note: click on any photo for a bit of a closer look.)
The shearing takes place in the barn, upstairs. The photo below shows the basic set-up, which was greatly enhanced this year by the observation deck and stairs (to said deck) built by one of the farmers (2nd generation), which mostly kept us photographer types out of the way of the shearers and roustabouts (helpers that are not shearers). A word about the shearers: they are hired professionals that shear all over the province. One of them (the youngest of the 3) goes further afield, hailing from Gaspé, Québec. They were on the island shearing for several days, on 3 different sheep farms. They spent 2 days at Topsy Farms, and we were there for day 2. (Day 1 was raining. The problem with shearing in the springtime is that it apparently never fails to rain the night before or on day 1 of shearing.)
Basically, there’s the skirting table in front (with 3 roustabouts working around it), you see the stairs up to the observation area behind , straight down to the left is the shearing area, and on the left out of the photos behind the wood panels is the second last waiting area for the sheep. To my right (from where I took the photo) is where the huge wool bale bags hang.
The first step for the sheep is waiting. They wait in big pens downstairs, and are encouraged along up the ramp and into big pens upstairs and eventually into 3 little pens with swinging doors, 1 for each of the 3 shearers. So there is a roustabout who keeps the sheep in supply.
The swinging door leads to a ramp outside. Sheep don’t like to get their hooves wet, so these sheep (and the rest) are a little dubious about jumping off the platform into the muck.
Then the fleece gets rolled up and put into the big bale bag clamped behind them. There is another bale bag clamped to the left on the floor where the dirty wool gets swept. That wool is separated and used for things like rugs or things that will not be next to the skin (clean wool is used for blankets and yarn).
And that about all there is to it. Except that sometimes there’s a little excitement when one of the sheep actually shoves its way out of the swinging door into the shearing area. You hear the hoofs right away so the roustabouts know to get there quick and get it back in the pen away from the shearing.
And a little detail about the shearing: they change the blade that moves across on the shearing tool every 15 minutes, and the other blade once an hour (and spend the evenings sharpening). Here’s a bin full of used blades.
And here is the shearing station. Everything in its place and a place for everything. They need to be able to know where everything is to keep the flow of sheep going.
The last thing to do is a sheep drive to get the sheep back to the fields where they have space and food. They were going to try to get them out through this muck (in the foreground of the photo below), but it didn’t work out (as I said, sheep hate getting their feet wet). The photo below also shows the barn where the action was, and the ramp where the sheep exit the barn.
So instead of leading the sheep out of the gate above (shown in the very bottom left of the photo above), they let them out in a drier spot higher up, but there was no strategically placed person to direct them around the corner and down the driveway, they were just supposed to follow the ATV with a feeder attached (they are familiar with the sound of that particular machine and usually follow it around the fields, knowing that it’s feeding time) but they went straight instead. A little chaos ensued. I was there to take photos but ended up chasing them off the lawn and the neighbouring lawn.
This time-lapse video I took on my phone shows shearing in a nutshell. At the end of the video, the roustie takes a blue stick thing and marks the sheep with it. That’s a male lamb and it’s being marked so that it can be removed from the flock (rams are put in with the flock only at breeding time in the late fall).
My sincere apologies to the people to whom I spoke at the October Leslieville Flea and assured I would be at the holiday market. Due to a family emergency I am not able to attend. I will be back in January, however, at the historic Distillery District’s Fermenting Cellar.
In December, I have 2 back-to-back sales coming up in Leslieville. If you follow the blog then you know about the Artisan Social (check out some of the artisans) on Sunday, December 7 from 1pm-5pm behind the Ceili Cottage (through the red gate) at the Studios of the Gilchrist Canavan School of Irish Dance (1301 Queen St. E.).
Also, on Saturday, December 6 from 11am-4pm, I’ll be at the 8th annual Crafternoon Tea down the road a bit (947 Queen St. E.) at the Queen Street East Presbyterian Church (SE corner of Queen & Carlaw), benefitting Nellie’s Shelter and Straight to the Streets. This is my first time at Crafternoon Tea and I’m excited to be a part of a great community event!
Also in shows, last weekend I was down in Niagara at the Honsberger Estate at my first HandMade Market which was a thoroughly enjoyable 3 day event!
Right now I’m back to catching up on custom orders, of which there are a few, like this custom (a newly created design) newsboy cap for a bun-wearer in the Canadian Prairies (made to fit over her bun and her ears, with the visor to keep the snow off her face. I’m happy to say it arrived yesterday and she loves it!):
I also have one more needle felting class at The Purple Purl coming up in December for beginners (the advanced class was last night). While at the HandMade Market some ladies asked if I could teach down there. I am happy to come to you to teach a beginner class if you can rustle up 5 learners (in Toronto, 4 is fine). You will each go home with a finished needle felted ornament of some sort (depending on the time of year and what we collectively decide), along with a felting foam and a felting needle or two (38 gauge), and the skills to create more on your own. If you’re interested in this fun and quick to learn craft, comment or contact me via my website for more information or email me: lynnslids [at] gmail [dot] com.
I am a knitter and a needle felter. My big season is fall – basically September to Christmas. Last year, I attended a LOT of art & craft sales in that period, and managed to end up with a repetitive strain injury in my right arm and shoulder from too much knitting and (especially) needle felting. As you may know, I did the Spring One of a Kind Show. What you probably don’t know is that going ahead with that show was hinged (seriously, I waited to give my final payment) on finding some sort of tool to help with the needle felting part (and some help from my mom with the knitting part) so that I did not injure myself further, and going to physiotherapy to undo the damage I had done in November and December.
What I found after some research was the addi Quick electric needle felting tool, but it wasn’t available in Canada. So I couldn’t get my hands on it to take a look but I watched a few videos and read some reviews and figured it might do the trick. I bought it off eBay from someone in Germany and got through 2 months making all of the things for the OOAK Show with the help of it. It does not go very deep so is not good for making 3-dimensional objects (like catnip balls and ornaments) and you still have to tack your embellishments (including the sheep and mice for which I used it) down by manually needle felting. It didn’t really cut that much time off but it saved my arm from a bunch of work.
If you buy it from an authorized dealer (which I didn’t, because it wasn’t sold here at the time), it comes with a whopping 6 month warranty. I now know why it is so short. Basically, every piece that can possibly be made of plastic on it is, and within a month, I started having problems. But I read in a review (there is nothing in the instructions that come with the tool) to keep it greased, which helped a bit. After about 6 months of use (only 3 of which were heavy usage, I didn’t even pick it up in July), it broke. I took it to my MacGyver-esque mechanically & electrically-inclined husband with sad puppy eyes and he took it apart and had a look (see below). He could fix it but it was only a matter of time before it broke in some other place, he warned. Here are the inside bits, after he had taken it apart (that gold bit attached to the gear is plastic, not metal). See how there is a piece of the red plastic actually broken off? He fixed it with a small piece of Lego to keep it stabilized and glued it back together.
Here I am happily working (embellishing catnip balls with mice) with my fixed addi Quick in August:
Truly, what a relief that he fixed it because I had my busiest month ever in September, thanks to the awesome people of Toronto, who love to buy handmade and local. Thanks, Toronto! And thanks to the Cabbagetown Art & Crafts Sale, Danforth East Arts Fair, and the Etsy: Made in Canada MaRS team.
The repaired addi Quick worked for another 5 or 6 weeks. And then it broke again. This time, though, the gold plastic part where you screw in the needle broke clear off with the part you screw it into attached. There’s no way to fix that, unfortunately. So I admitted defeat and went back to needle felting everything by hand. It took about 48 hours for my repetitive strain injury to rear its ugly head. So I went back to my husband and asked if there was REALLY nothing he could do to fix it (really: nothing.) and did some more research to see if there was anything else out there. Nope, nothing. There are machines you can use to do flat embellishing, but unfortunately those don’t help me.
So my incredible husband started tinkering with our LEGO TECHNIC bits and bobs to see if he could make something for me. It took about 5 or 6 days of tinkering, building, trials and errors, but he did it. It doesn’t go as fast as the addi Quick (which is 2500 depressions per minute), but I’ll wager it will last a lot longer and the repairs are simple and obvious and the parts are very easily replaced.
Here’s a photo my son took of the new homemade LEGO TECHNIC needle felter in action the other night. I was felting a layer of grey over a white ball (filling in the bald patches on my elephant).
A great thing about this is that it’s battery operated, so I can travel with it! I always love to bring work with me to my sales, because a) I can’t sit idle for long and b) people love to see how things are made. And now I can bring this along anywhere! So I brought it with me today to the Leslieville Flea (the last outdoors one of the year, so there was no power to plug into) and entertained people while I worked and then told the story of it. Here it is today:
As you can see, I still have a needle sticking out of the bottom of the felting foam. I still have to tack things down manually, but again, this saves me about 50% of the needling I do for embellishments, which is a big deal for my RSI. Yay for LEGO and technically inclined spouses who embrace a challenge!
Other great points: this is much quieter than the addi Quick. And it uses standard needles, not specialty needles that you need to buy from addi. And, you know, it’s made from LEGO!!! Everyone LOOOOOOVED that part today.
[Update on November 2, 2014:]
Here’s a link to a video of the LEGO needle felter in action, felting an ear on a catnip ball (5.2 MB MOV file):
Production is going well for the flagship Etsy: Made in Canada pop-up market at MaRS (Saturday, September 27 10am-4pm), even though a custom order for a birthday present came up and threw a spanner in the works for a bit with this:
However, there should be lots of hats to choose from, as well as some ornaments, tree toppers, dryer balls, tea cosies, and catnip balls.
For a roundup of all of the fellow artisan profiles I have for EtsyMICToronto, check out the EtsyMIC category.
And today the Toronto Etsy Street Team & 416 Hustler just released the workshop list for next Saturday’s event! Check it out (click for larger image or visit the TEST blog post):
I also wanted to give a heads up about upcoming needle felting classes at the Purple Purl. The schedule isn’t up yet (because we just sorted it out and Jennifer will post it for newsletter time at the end of the month), but I am doing a beginner class making these pumpkins/jack o’lanterns on Tuesday, October 7 (7pm-9pm):
People have asked for an advanced class, so we will be making gnomes with wire armature you can move and position (your choice between male or female). For this class you will need to have taken the beginner class and/or be proficient in making and manipulating simple forms such as spheres and cylinders (legs, stems, arms) and should know how to properly needle and how to control the firmness of your fibre. The advanced class will be on Tuesday, November 18 (7pm-9pm). Call The Purple Purl 416-463-1162 to reserve your spot to either or both classes.
I hadn’t been using that time productively. But as of 12 days ago, I do. This challenge has forced me into a routine that really works for me. No email, no social media, just my notebook sketches, wool, and tools, until the job is done. And the job is always a fun challenge. With my sketchbook, I have a visual list of creative possibilities from which to choose every day.
