a sign

when i was a rug hooker, and starting up my "island sweet fibre arts" business, i hooked this sign. i have continued to use it at craft fairs. it's portable and i still like the "feel" of it. but it doesn't say much about what i do now. when i'm "off-island" the first question is "what island are you from?" last year at toronto's one of a kind sale i realized i needed a new sign. during slow times at the sale i designed my new sign. it had to say "handspun" and "newfoundland". it had to be made of the materials i now use. i decided on a felted sign - light and easy to roll up for portability. i wanted to imbed some of my own handspun in the felting. i've never felted and don't know the process, but my friend brenda does. so this past week brenda and i got started on it. the first step was making felt "paper" for the text. i pre-carded a mixture of blue fleece. here is brenda laying down thin layers of fleece on top of styrofoam. we also "decorated" with little bits of silk that brenda had brought. the final effect is like the ocean. brenda then put a mesh screen over top and sponged a seaweed "alganate" mixture on top of the screen and let it soak down into the fleece. it took 2 days to dry. i removed the screen. the "paper" was stiff and manageable. i then cut out my letters. next week we'll prepare the background.