WIP Wednesday #86 @ TN&TN

Friday Feature: Rachel @ TintinaFibres

Today, I'd like to introduce someone from a place most people haven't been.  I'd sure love to visit the Yukon.  Our guest, Rachel, has a quote under the title of her blog by Arthur Ashe,

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

I've read her blog, going back a year or so, and she sure seems to live her life according to these words.  Perhaps it's necessary to do that when you live where she does.  In any case, they're good words to live by.  Her "awesome" life sure appeals to me.

My name is Rachel Rodnunsky.  My blog is Tintina Fibres and is at TintinaFibres.com.  I named it that because, where I live, Faro, Yukon Territory is in the Tintina Trench, a land formation up here.

Faro is a small town of 400 people just below the arctic circle.  To do any shopping, I have to drive to Whitehorse which is 350 km so I often stay overnight when I go shopping especially in the winter.  That is also where the nearest hospital, drug store, dentist, mechanic, and any other amenity really is.  We just have a nursing station here and a small general store.

Yukon-raised Icelandic fleece dyed with natural dyes.

I grew up in Alberta, lived in Europe for a few years, and settled here in the Yukon 7 years ago.  I am a spinner, a crocheter, and a natural dyer.  I learned how to crochet in 1982 or so, when I was young.  I learned how to spin in 2008 just before I gave birth to my 3rd child.  I have been natural dyeing since 2010.  I really wanted to learn how to spin while I was pregnant with my second child and got a wheel but couldn't find anyone to teach me so I put the wheel away until I was pregnant with my 3rd child.  I was determined I was going to learn at that point, as I was back in Canada, but my marriage broke down during the pregnancy.  I had to go to Alberta to have the baby as I needed child care while I was in the hospital and where I live up here doesn't even have a doctor.

Locally harvested goldenrod being used to make a dye bath.

I asked on Ravelry if anyone knew of a spinning instructor in Alberta and was given the name of a woman.  I got my spinning lesson while I was 38 weeks pregnant.  It was spindle spinning as I wasn't able to bring my wheel.  I continued to spindle spin only for the first year of my son's life as it was quiet and he didn't mind watching the spindle.  I then started wheel-spinning but I still have spindle spinning projects to this day and have over 50 spindles.  I have 2 flyer wheels, one of which is antique Canadian Production Wheel, and I also have a book charkha (an Indian portable spinning wheel and you can see it being used here by a grand nephew of Mahatma Ghandi).

In 2010, I took the level one master spinner course at Olds College in Olds, Alberta.  One of the assignments was doing 10 different natural dyes.  I decided to not continue with the program but did complete the 10 different natural dyes and was hooked on natural dyeing after that.

Handspun, crocheted hat designed by me.

I decided like many people to start selling items I have made.  I  sell online but also tried my first craft fair last fall and did really well.  I also really enjoyed meeting people and explaining what I do to people and will continue to do craft fairs.  I teach spindle spinning in the local school and do workshops and demos through the local arts society every summer.

As far as items I sell, my biggest sellers are my hats. I have decided to focus on hats for the future as far as items I make and am starting to collect hat blocks in different sizes.

My biggest dream for the future is to continue doing this as my job.  I collect wild plants for medicinal use and for dyeing. (for example, I make my own lip balm and hand balm)  I work primarily with animal fibres and try to buy from people in the Yukon.

Come visit my blog anytime and see what I'm up to.

WIP Wednsday #85 @ TN&TN

Fibre Art Call for Entry!

Monika here... I know the call for entry job is Jackie's but I am jumping in here if you don't mind.  I was just informed of this last night - there is to be a BIG juried fibre art competition in Edmonton, 2014.  This is being put on by the Focus on Fibre Arts Association.  The categories include EVERYTHING fibre - dolls, quilts, weaving, tapestry, knitting, embroidery, wearables, hooked rugs.  It's for all of us!! ; )  There's just one catch - items must fit the theme.  The theme (omg I can't contain my excitement!!) is PRAIRIES.  PRAIRIES!!  : )))

photo of Edmonton at night that I took while visiting for Thanksgiving 2012

You can view the PDF Brochure Here.

If that doesn't work, you can google Focus On Fibre Art Association - Juried Prairie Show for all the details.  I believe the entry deadlines are a year from now, so get to work!  : ) 

I for one will be heading to Edmonton just to stand in that room and soak up all the beautiful things.  Oh me, oh my.

WIP Wednesday #84 @ TN&TN

Friday Feature: Deanne @ HookingRugs.com

We've run out of people to feature from the sign up list.  Not everyone has been featured because either they've had no time, they've not answered emails or they've not left me any way to reach them.  This has lead to me searching for people to feature.  And what a gem I've found for this week! 

I'd like to introduce Deanne Fitzpatrick who set up and runs a rug hooking studio in downtown Amherst, Nova Scotia.  Deanne lives and breathes her art.  She's gathered around her a group of women who help her do this and she inspires more to take on this form of expression.  You simply must visit her site.  It's like a breath of fresh spring air, down-east style.

Deanne has been rug hooking seriously since 1990 but almost immediately caught the attention of private galleries, the Nova Scotia Art Bank, the Nova Scotia Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Nfld and Labrador and she's even got her work at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Read her story at the bottom of her main page and her interview here:

Deanne Fitzpatrick

www.hookingrugs.com

1-800-328-7756

Amherst Nova Scotia Canada

I think as a rug hooker, artists and business person my biggest dream for myself is to remain authentic and honest about what I do. I want to make rugs that express what I believe or feel at a given time. I want to make rugs that I feel like making. I really do not want to succumb to trends or ideas that I do not embrace inside myself.

Over the past twenty years I have created  kits patterns and designs, and written four books about rug hooking but the real thing that has driven all of this is my desire to make my own one of a kind hooked rugs. It is in my original designs that I find inspiration for everything else that goes on in the studio. So trying to be true to myself as an artist has become the most important accomplishment for me. Every time I have strayed away from this and focused too much on making money, or having my work better known I have felt a bit compromised, almost as if I was not being myself. So making art is the back bone of my business, but it is also the back bone of me, and remains important to me. 

At the studio we try to be as honest, and authentic as we can, and we have learned that people love the truth, and can easily accept seeing it, or hearing it like it is. We are a working studio so if you drop in we might be in a mess, or have a kit half made but we are glad to have you there. For years I ran it out of my house and after we moved the studio to town, one of the things I wanted to keep was that homey feeling in our space. We try to make it welcoming and comfortable. There is always a good chair to sit in, and if we are busy you can make yourself a cup of tea. Hospitality is important to me.

Another place where I try to tell the truth the way I see it is on my blog on my website. The blog is a place where I write what goes on in my life, my art, my studio and my community. I try to update it daily and that update could be about  anything, from a recipe to a story to information about a new product or a workshop. It is a place where I go to tell you about what is going on in the studio, but it is also a place where I go to express myself. That means you might find anything there.

Over the past twenty two years I have grown my business from a trunk in my front room. I did it a little bit at a time, investing what I made back into my business as well as into my own life. It has been a blessing really to have had that opportunity. I love the women who work along side me. They make it possible for so much to get done around here.

I want to continue to write, and create but mostly I want to make rugs that are unmistakebly art because I think in doing that I will remain authentic, and really that is the backbone of a good creative person and artist. We can run a business and make a living doing what we do, but we have to remain true to ourselves and to our art.

WIP Wednsdaey #83 @ TN&TN