Eco-Crafting

As a handcrafter, I always strive to make eco-friendly art. I work with wool and natural fibers. I scour thrift stores for old sweaters and silk flowers which I recycle and re-purpose. I remove invasive plant species like dried teasel flower heads for making magic wands, and European beach grass roots for birds' nests. I make needlefelted wall hangings that celebrate the beauty of outdoor places, and hope that my work will help remind folks of their connections with nature.  My hope is that the things I make will contribute positively to the world, while having minimal impact upon it.

On an outing with my children to the woods this week, I brought along the Lady of the Forest I had just finished needlefelting so I could photograph her amongst the trees for listing on my Etsy shop. As we drove along the BLM road to get to the woods, we passed through this clearcut. I was suddenly struck by the idea of photographing the Lady of the Forest on a stump in the middle of the clearcut. It felt as though this little woolen lady had something to say. The idea and the image said a lot to me,  and I wondered what it would say to other folks out there. I think that art says a lot all on it's own, but when we set it against the back-drop of real life, it can say a lot more.  I'm sure we've all seen a clearcut, and I'm sure we all have our own feelings about them, but perhaps through art, we may see things in a new light, or at least give them more thought.

And here, the Lady of the Forest stands in her home of moss, ferns, salal and trees...

saying something entirely different.

Lady Spring

"My Lady Spring is dressed in green,

She wears a primrose crown,
And little baby buds and twigs

Are clinging to her gown;

The sun shines if she laughs at all,

But if she weeps the raindrops fall."

~Traditional Children's Rhyme

I just finished needlefelting these Spring maidens from soft wool roving. Each holds a pussy willow staff and a basket of Springtime treasures to watch over as the earth wakes up from Winter slumber.

Lady Spring has returned to the land.

Daffodils

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

 

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

 

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

~William Wordsworth



The Root Children

Mother earth opened the underground door and the procession of root children holding flowers made their way up into the warm Spring day.

When Spring starts to come back to the land, and little seeds are beginning to grow up into tender green shoots, I love reading The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle von Offers with my children. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is one of renewal in the cycle of Nature. I was inspired to create this needlefelted wool wall hanging of the little root children emerging from underground to help prepare the earth for Spring.

You can see more pictures of it here on my Etsy shop at:

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/69297936/the-root-children-felted-wall-hanging

Let Spring Begin!

The Snowdrop Fairy

The Snowdrop Fairy

Deep sleeps the Winter,

Cold, wet, and grey;

Surely all the world is dead;

Spring is far away.

Wait! the world shall waken;

It is not dead, for lo,

The Fair Maids of February

Stand in the snow! 

~Cicely Mary Barker

Valentine Faeries

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I've been busy in the craft room making these lovely little Valentine Faeries with wool felt hearts and sparkling wings.

My Own Sweet Valentine

Like the sweetly budding rose,

Freshened by the gentle rain

Like the Evening Star that glows,

Brightest of the starry train

Like a well arranged Bouquet,

Where the fairest flowers combine,

Odours rich and colours gay,

Is my own Sweet Valentine

~Traditional, Victorian-era

You can find them here in my Etsy shop at: http://www.mountainhearth.etsy.com/

Owl Moon

"It was late one winter night,

long past my bedtime,

when Pa and I went owling.

There was no wind.

The trees stood still

as giant statues.

And the moon was so bright,

the sky seemed to shine."

~Jane Yolen

When I was growing up, I loved reading Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. Now it is a favorite winter story of my children, and it even inspired us to go out on an owling walk at our local arboretum led by a professional owler. It was a fun way to spend a cold January evening.

In this beautifully illustrated childrens' story, a young girl and her father go out into the snow late at night to call the owls and possibly catch a glimpse of one. They crunch along through the snowy forest calling out "Whoo-whoo-who-who-who-whooooo!" until a great horned owl starts calling back. Finally, with a lot of patient waiting, silence, and hope, they see the owl in the trees. Yolen says in the dedication of the book that her husband took all their children owling and their grandchildren too!

I needlefelted this wool wall hanging of a young owler going out in the snowy night with her lantern to find the great horned owl. You can see more pictures of it here on my Etsy shop at:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/65805994/owl-moon-felted-wool-wall-hanging

"When you go owling

you don't need words

or warm

or anything but hope...

The kind of hope

that flies

on silent wings

under a shining

owl moon."