Notes on Fibers

New scarves and one of the new 'kats' I'm making.  The scarves are made of silk and Tencel, the bottom left has linen in the mix.  The kats are all made with wool, hand sewn faces and filled with polyfil.


About  Tencel or lyocell I have been curious, I like it and use it a lot. 
Lyocell is regenerated cellulose fiber made by dissolving pulp (bleached wood pulp).  It was first manufactured in 1987 in the UK, as of 2010 it is manufactured by Lenzing AG.  Tencel is a brand name also owned by the manufacturer Lenzing AG of Austria, this company also manufactures in the US and the UK
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) defines lyocell as "a cellulose fabric that is obtained by an organic solvent spinning process", it's classified as a sub-category of rayon.
This fiber shares many properties with other cellulosic fibers such as cotton, linen and ramie.
It is soft, absorbent, strong when wet or dry and resistant to wrinkles.  It can be machine washed, hand-washed or dry-cleaned.  It drapes beautifully.
The closed-loop manufacturing process makes lyocell inherently the most eco-friendly of the naturally regenerating fibers.
I use it as warp and weft, when warping with lyocell you don't have the static that silk presents.  I love the way it drapes, the sheen of the finished piece and it's endurance.  

New work

New work from my studio.  Little jackets or vests made from linen, silk, wool. 

Very busy lately getting ready for a holiday show in St. Paul, MN and Sno-Crush at 

Avalanche  Looms in Avalanche, WI  

A Design Idea

Paint your fridge and add pizazz to your kitchen.  Put some bumper stickers on it to make it even more interesting.  There you go -- an artistic idea for you to chew on.
Here is a photo of my fridge -- which by the way is green in more ways than one.  It's a Sun-Frost and it runs on the batteries that power our house after the sun charges them up.

I wish I had more stickers - but, I'm picky when choosing what to put here.  People know you by the 'artistic' statements you make .

Prairie Grass Weaves

Three grass weaves, handwoven in reppweave design pattern with pearl cotton and native grasses harvested from where I live.  Garrison Keillor was in our town this week promoting the new community radio station WDRT. He shopped at our artist cooperative gallery, VIVA Gallery - and bought one of these. !!!  Thanks very much famous radio man for supporting local art and artists.

Go to VIVA Gallery to see more of what we have.  If you see something you want contact the individual artist by email.  We ship. 

Omaha Fashion Week

My niece, Emma Erickson, graduated from the San Francisco School of Art and Design this spring in the School of Fashion Design.  She participated at N.Y. Fashion Week and this past weekend was a participant of Omaha Fashion Week.  I got to see this fabulous show with my sister, Emma's mom, and a bunch of my sister's friends.  We had a V.I.P. table!  Which meant that we sat next to the runway getting a close up look at all the designer's creations.  It was held under a highway bridge, you see the concrete columns in one of the photos, with the Old Market buildings up against one side. It was a unique venue, the whole evening was fun, despite the fact that it was about maybe 45 degrees and misting -- we stayed comfy and dry at the V.I.P. table.  Emma's designs are stunning. She has worked very hard getting her beautiful dresses designed and sewn, including lots of hand-sewing.  She has found her passion indeed.  I wish her the best.  Find out more here  Emma Erickson.

when you need a little comfort

When the news isn't  great, when there is a heartache, when you'd just like to jump off the spinning earth --- WAIT!  These guys can share your pain, you can tell them your deepest, darkest secrets, they will be your friend no matter what . . .  From left to right, Sherman, Howie, Crumbs.  These 'kats' come from the family 'Kathy's Kats', they are constructed of re-purposed wool.  Each is an individual but, all are loyal, true blue kats, depend on it.

In the woods . . .

I walked in the woods this morning.   It's been a banner year for fungus - everywhere you see big and little mushrooms growing where ever they can get ahold.  This find was the coolest; thought I would never see this in our woods - Indian Pipes!  I've seen them called 'ghosts of tulips past' - I love that description, the scientific name is Monotropa uniflora.