Six Years ago today . . .

. . . I was reflecting on my experience at a fiber arts faire.

Biene told me a couple of weeks ago about a fiber arts faire that was going to be in Modesto this past weekend. She was so hooked on getting involved in the experience and the idea of starting to learn the art of weaving, she volunteered to be a floor walker. Basically she got to get in free and do nothing except walk around making herself availabe to answers questions. And of course, not being a weaver (yet), B was clueless but that didn't matter. The idea was to get involved and have a chance to look at all the goodies for hours and hours. The idea for me, on the other hand, was to get myself out of my comfort zone and take a 20-minute drive up the road. In other words get myself out of town and away from my island mentality I am so afflicted with.

Today - six years later - B still isn't a weaver but she has evolved into a very accomplished knitter.  I take pictures of weavers but I'm not weaving, spinning - nothing like that. After two years of trying to knit, I found my niche in crocheting and have a strong preference for working with cotton. I've made purses and hats and am currently working on a multi-colored tableclother.  Square after Sugar 'n Cream  square in pretty pastels, the stacks piling up, the  surface of the dining table disappearing. 

As fiber faires go, this one was probably relatively small but from the moment I walked in I felt like I had fallen into Wonderland. The riot of colors and textures was stunning. I had never seen so much fabulous yarn in one place, many I had never seen before. The colors were jewel-like, metallic, natural, and liquid. I definitely was not in Michael's. I found some beautiful undyed chenille mill ends. I picked up two large skeins and promptly decided I had to have more.

Three Years Ago - the mill ends turned into a baby blanket double yarn strands intertwined with chunky soft blue baby yarn. 

As I walked around touching and caressing the yarns, I came to a vendor booth that seemed to be a little more than all about yarn. I discovered free-form art pieces, book covers, small purses and boxes all made by something called silk fusion. A door opened! I now have the technique to use to make the cover for my Art Journal.

Today - Silk Fusion - what's that about?  I forgot so I went exploring.   I found a recipe for making it and discovered lots instructions for making lots of projects.  Here's one I especially like -  silk fusion   The go-to site for silk fusion is HERE and this also happened to be the vendor that I visited six years ago

TODAY.