Saturday, December 26, 2009

Local Hand Dyed Merino Wool

Hand dyed Merino wool.
dyed by:
Nikki Wheeler
I met Nikki at The Etsy Winter Craft Sale and had to buy some of her gorgeous yummy hand dyed merino wool. It has been wonderful buttery and soft to work with. Nikki is a talented fiber artist who uses paper, felt and lovely colors in her art. This is a flower I felted from her wool.

speckled egg.

needle felted merino wool speckled egg.
hemp. mohair. wool nest.

Experiment.


merino wool, icelandic wool, tulle.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Eggs and Phenology.

Spizella pallida & Molothrus ater.
Collection Burke Natural History Museum.
Collected in 1979 by S.A. Rohwer in Manitoba, CANADA.
Photo by Scott Wilson


Nest of Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus).
Photo by Scott Wilson
Nest collected in the field.
Collection Burke Natural History Museum

The Burke Museum has a small ornithology collection, but their Breeding Phenology of Washington Birds program has some pretty amazing bird egg photography by Scott Wilson, who was able to photograph and help catalog the collection.
Support local ornithology research and programs!


Nesting.

Today I worked on several treasure nests while relaxing by the window.
Kitty was not very impressed with my nest making. Thankfully, she kept very calm and did not disturb my twine spool.Only a few more to go!
Tomorrow I go out into the forest and find some twigs to embellish the nests. I will also use some dried seaweed, harvested by a dear friend of mine. Also, I am speckling the eggs, so i will be studying some eggshells to accurately recreate the look with wool.