Back again! The chores are ...umm... mostly done, but I'd rather blog about my next artist. Her name is Michelle Johnson from Laughing Cloud Studio in Prescott, Arizona. Her website is still in production, but you can find contact information through the link as well as the galleries that carry her work and her upcoming shows. I had such a nice time talking to Michelle. I hope she doesn't mind if I call her Michelle. First of all, I think it's adorable that she's wearing a skein of her yarn around her neck like a necklace. I had to laugh at myself, because I didn't notice this until I was loading my pictures. In fact, I have to confess that in spite of being surrounded by skeins of what I believe were hand painted yarn, I was focused on the fiber. A terrible lack of observation on my part. I think that because I do more spinning of yarn than buying yarn, I get hopelessly distracted by dyed locks of wool.
So lets talk about those dyed locks. The picture in the middle is from my goodie bag. It's one ounce of Wensleydale locks dyed a glorious shade of "Poppy". The color is awesome, is it not? Michelle had a lovely assortment of fibers and colors. It led to a conversation about how different wools take color in their own unique way; some drawing more warm tones from a dye bath while others the cool. By mixing different fibers in the same dye bath, she creates a study of how wool interacts with color. You may pick up a bag of locks that look blue until you inspect it more closely and find shades of teal, green and gray playing throughout. Maybe it was a bit boring of me to buy just straight Wensleydale, but I loved the color of the "Poppy".
I hope I'll run into Michelle Johnson again one day. A trip to Prescott is definitely on my "to do" list. It seems there is quite a thriving community of artists and crafters up there. For now I'll just enjoy my wool locks. I'm planning on exploring Nuno felting in the near future and I think that this Wensleydale will look amazing! See you soon.
I enjoy watching for photos of your hand spun yarns. They are very unique and the spinning with beads skeins are the best. Also, today it was such a treat to see Michelle Johnson's booth at the Southwest Fiber Fest. Michelle is also at Arts Prescott Cooperative Gallery in Prescott, Arizona. She travels to a lot of shows and this is the first time I was able to see all she does at a show. Thank you for your wonderful blog. Rowena Tank, Prescott, Arizona
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