Lana Encantada

Feeling Will Chicken

2011-08-25T15:25:00.004-06:00

This is an assignment from the handwork program at RSC to crochet an animal puppet without a pattern. This assignment is for third graders. At first we wanted to name her Sabastian Bock, but she is a girl so David named her Rose Hip. You just start and feel your way through it. I was shocked that I did this with very little thought or brain effort. All the time I've sat talking and watching this beautiful bird was living inside my fingers. Thanks for taking the photos David!

Projects from Rudolf Steiner College Handwork Program

2011-07-26T15:50:00.006-06:00

These are the projects we made to be brought to first through third graders. We made our own knitting needles(first grade) and spindle, so fun. All this wool is plant dyed wool. Of course I made two gnomes. I couldn't come home with just one, my boys wouldn't have approved. These two gnomes are my Sanguine and Phlegmatic ones, air and water. I need to dye some red wool so I can make the Choleric (fire). The blues for the Melancholic (earth). The flute case (which you can learn your times tables on, eventually), rainbow ball and baby bunting were the first we knitted. The horse was fun because of the dividing line (purl) down the back to the top of the head. The jump rope was double finger knitting. I also learned from another student Mari how to finger crochet!

Still have a few other projects to finish up for these grades and invent a few too. Working hard on my sewing basket now, so that I can start everything more organized.

So much more to it than could be explained in written text, hope this all doesn't give the illusion of what we bring to the children as being simple. It is fun to learn, yes! But, every little thing the teacher does along with each project has a deeper purpose in the process of developing the heart, mind and spirit of the child.

Plant Dyeing at Rudolf Steiner College

2011-07-22T15:46:00.003-06:00

I am enrolled in the Handwork Program at the RSC in Fair Oaks. One of the amazing things we did this summer is plant dye wool and silks. This was the second time I'd done this and love it. It was especially great doing it with such great classmates and teacher. It was a bit chaotic with all the people and wool going in and out. I didn't have as much to dye as most people though, so keeping track of mine was pretty easy. We used Osage, Brazilwood, logwood, Madder Root, Black Walnut, Cutch, Indigo, Marigold, and Coreopsis. Can't wait to do this with students and for student someday. Having there materials so rich and beautiful all from plants is beautiful. It seems to radiate that energy while you knit/crochet.

Spring 2011 is here! Wet and Cold, but here at last.

2011-06-04T10:13:00.003-06:00

Here are a bunch of happenings that inspiration is fueling.

Madrone Trail Charter School May Faire!

2011-05-04T09:59:00.006-06:00

What a wonderful way to spend May Faire! This was my first craft show in Oregon, off to a great start. Feeling more inspired than ever to be in such a great community. Can't wait to do the next show with new stuff. Getting the inventory I had out after it being in storage for many months felt fresh. Thank you to all the people who gave loving homes to my gnomes and faeries.
blessed be!

Our Advent Elf

2011-02-25T17:02:00.004-07:00

This is Efa the Advent Elf. I sewed as the days flew to Christmas. I just got around to finishing her hands. Next year I think I'll put little notes in each pocket... like "bake cookies today!", " tell me a special story", "lets go to park", "lets make gifts!".

Christmas Tree Angel/Fairy

2010-12-02T12:26:00.005-07:00

I took one of my kids baby blankets and cut a small hole in it, about a inch and a half. I sewed the doll head in and added arms by also making tiny cuts in the blanket and sewing the hands in. I had these two beautiful white feathers that a good friend gave me years ago and so they finally got a greater purpose. Wings. My son said he was very upset that the angel doesn't have a magic wand....I am working on it! I took some cotton pipe cleaner and wrapped it with that shiny fiber stuff (sold for needle felting in wool) for the halo.

Lumpy Snake

2010-12-02T12:16:00.004-07:00

Christmas is coming! Time to make gifts. This is a snake I made some time ago out of old knee high socks that all had holes. You could easily find socks at a thrift store or free box. Just cut off the foot part and sew them together, I stuffed the inside as I went.
Another way is to crochet or knit in a round all your left over ends and scraps. When we have a party with tons of kids it is almost certain that their will be about 4 to 5 little ones training Lumpy all over the place!

Doll making class

2010-12-02T12:09:00.003-07:00

I just finished a doll making class with a local waldorf pre-school teacher and doll maker. I was so surprised to see how my boys took to these babies. They are so cute with them! One day I was expecting to find them getting into something, because they were so quiet. I walked into the room and they both had all the blankets and pillows around them holding their baby with the calmest sweetest looks on their faces. It went on for long enough to do the dishes, wow!
It is such a wonderful thing to appreciate people getting together and doing handwork, especially when it's for a child. I am so glad to be in such a community.

Beginning A New!

2010-09-22T12:20:00.002-06:00

We have all moved away from the South West just in time! Our allergies are gone and salt water back into our bones.
I have a new office/studio and can't wait to start creating new stuff. As winter approaches, the candles will light and work will begin. Blessings while we all store our nuts for the winter.

Daisy Gnome

2010-04-07T10:51:00.003-06:00

Here is a little Daisy Gnome, I sold her quite some time ago at a craft fair. I hope she is well wherever she is. She is all Needle felted wool.

Birthday Crown

2010-04-07T10:40:00.004-06:00

Waldorf style birthdays usually have a birthday crown and I had seen several. So, this year I made one for my sons. Each match but are different colors. Zane's Birthday comes first so here are his pics, next will be David in his green one. They are made out of wool felt and then I embroidered the Zia symbol on them (the Zia symbol is the New Mexico State symbol) to tell where they were born. I got this idea from a fellow friend and crafter. I was going to put their zodiac symbol and more things on them too, but they looked so simple and beautiful like this, plus who has the time to embroider a ram and a bull? I did make them adjustable, each year I'll just put a different size elastic through... so they can wear them til' they are 18.... hee heee hee. I sewed a cotton back to them, so as to not itch and cover up the underside of the embroidery. Oh, and I guess I should mention it is all hand sewn without machine.
Eventually it would be nice to embroider their birth date and time on the inside with their names.

Needle Felted Bunnies

2010-04-07T10:36:00.005-06:00

I made this tiny little bunny for my mom's friend who makes miniatures etc. I have never before needle felted anything this small (the size of an egg), it was much harder than doing it larger. It came out so cute, we ordered the miniature baskets from Magic Cabin and used this one for the itsy bisty colored wool eggs. Also the other bunny I made for my sons for Easter.
Here comes Peter Cottontail!

Easter Tree

2010-04-07T10:32:00.002-06:00

My son made this tree in his pre-school. It is the most beautiful thing for the table at Easter/Spring. His teachers made the precious little chicks out of wool, which he named piou piou for the sound they make.

leaves sweater

2010-04-07T10:27:00.003-06:00

I finally finished this sweater. I started it 2 years ago, took it apart three times and drove myself a bit more crazy. This pattern comes out of the Crochet Me book. Important! There is errata in this pattern and you have to get on the internet and find the corrections! I used some #2 wool superwashed yarn from knit picks and an E hook to get the gauge right. It needs to be washed and ironed, but it is done. Just in time for this spring fairy to do a little song and dance.

oops gnome hat?

2010-03-02T08:36:00.004-07:00

Ok, I was using this wool that works great to needle felt. I soon found out that it sort of sucks to wet felt, it was smoshy and spongey. I was attempting to wet felt a fairy pod roof and this what happened. Zane was playing with it and lightbulb! I should really get some better wet felting wool and make some kid and grown up crazy woodland gnome hats! Don't ya think?

spring fairies

2010-03-02T08:30:00.006-07:00

Glued and sewed wool felt around this wooden base people make wonderful spring/Easter fairies. The hair I used multi colored mohair yarn and crocheted each a little cap, that is glued on. Then last but not least I cut and sewed little fairy wings. They are the sweetest!

Upcycling because of clothing exchange

2010-03-02T07:56:00.010-07:00

I went to a awesome clothing exchange/party recently. A good friend brought a old sweater to give to me thinking I could make something out of it. The sweater was sentimental to her and she'd had it since high school. I thought it was so cool to have that close bond with a piece of clothing. I started to think about if I had similar feelings about clothes. I did! and not so surprising all of which were made out of natural fibers! There is a connection to the earth in natural fiber. Sun to grass to sheep to wool to your favorite sweater. Plus, all the wonderful memories associated with that sweater... color, smells, the woolly feel.

Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.

Also, at this clothing exchange was a wonderful woman who truly understands the essence of natural fiber. She collects natural fiber clothing that is put in the 'free boxes' at our local dumps. Violette Alby makes amazing improvisational quilts with the old clothes and was telling me about teaching a group on young teens how to quilt at her rural library. This is her website which just recently got up and running. http://earthmothersofinvention.net

Anyway, all of this inspired these braclets and necklaces. Lucky for me that my first up-cycled sweater was green and with spring around the corner I couldn't help making leaves. I cut the cuffs off and cut up some leaves and started hand sewing them on, being careful to leave some give in the thread for the cuffs to stretch. I cut the collar off the sweater and hello! the perfect necklace. On the other necklace I used a alpaca sweater and cut the design around the collar (it's a bit itchy, so a turtle neck with this would work nice).

One more thought about the clothing exchange. It was a potluck with wine, a fire and lots of good friends of mixed ages. Each person stood up and advertised there clothes, when a person wanted a item they just yelled "I want it" or they jumped up or affectionately fought over it. At times this display was very humorous. The clothes no one wanted were put in a pile in the middle of the room, which was free game for everyone. These were all nice clothes, I came with a bunch of nice clothes that I wore after my pregnancy and left with a bunch of nice clothes that fit! No Money exchanged at all! It was tons of fun. At the end the quiltmaker and another lady Jean Nichols who makes upcycled clothes went through the pile, only after that was the rest taken to the free box at the dump.

Valentines Fairies

2010-02-10T10:45:00.007-07:00

I made these little fairies for my sons school. Each child takes one home and several of the parents and teachers each made some too! They have cotton pipe cleaners on the inside with wool roving rapped around the outside, then needle felted. They are awesome cause they bend.

Wool roving braided rug

2010-02-03T18:15:00.001-07:00

I bought some wool roving which didn't wet felt or needle felt good. It was probably good for spinning which I don't do. Not yet anyway! So, I was bummed but shortly after I went to the wool festival in Taos, New Mexico and a woman had braided rugs made with wool roving. Wow, I had made a couple of rugs by collecting scrap wool fabric, they took forever! Well, it took 2 years to finish a small round rug. Unfortunately, we had a leek in the pipes and it got wet, so we put it out on our fence to dry. Our fence faces a Catholic church parking lot and after church it was gone. I still get broken hearted when I think about it. Not sewing the strands together and just overlapping and braiding the roving as I went, this rug in about 4 hours. I have these awesome needles that I inherited from my Great Grandmother May. I think they may be for shoes or leather. I used this one for sewing the rug together it worked great. I may make it bigger and add on more roving when I can afford it. I was surprised at how sturdy it turned out.
I am thinking that it might be cool to make a big chunky rug by using a huge crochet hook with roving. Oh, and I could also felt it too. How soft that would be!

Wood toys

2010-01-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

I made these chairs for my sons gnomes. They were real easy, just slices of branches, a few drilled holes and some glue. The bottom seat part is apricot and the back part is elm. The mommy gnome is carved out of aspen, which is very easy and soft to carve. The Daddy and Mommy are made out of choke cherry wood, which I would not recommend using, it is very hard and I cut myself way too many times even with my leather gloves on. This year we called the Daddy and Mommy, King Winter and Queen Winter.

Bob's sweater

2010-01-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hey hey I finally finished it. It was crazy with my 3 1/2 year old taking the yarn every chance he'd get and playing spider web with it. Not to mention the removal of the stitch markers constantly, which he thought were bugs caught in the web. I am not sure if I'll crochet another sweater until my boys are a bit older. He He I got the pattern from the winter Interweave crochet magazine. I used Berroco vintage wool yarn. I hand sewed the zipper on before I used the sewing machine, so it wouldn't move all over the place and it made it much easier.

wool bracelets

2010-01-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

I crocheted these bracelets as an experiment. I need to try them on a bunch of people cause I am not sure how they will fit everybody, since I sized it to myself. Maybe I need to put clasps on them? One thing I did learn was that if I am going to put them in the dryer to felt them to use a garment bag or pillow case. The green leaf bracelet felted into the yarn some of the dryer lint and I couldn't get it out. To fit good around my wrist I used 35 single crochet with worsted weight yarn.

Totoro!

2010-01-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

I crocheted this Totoro for my son Davey, he loves holding on to the ears...I stuffed it with wool and makes a cozy pillow too.
Here is where I got the pattern. http://heavens-hellcat.livejournal.com/420.html

Pocket Fairy Necklaces

2010-01-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Thinking of Valentines already?
Adults and kids alike really love these. My son always takes the fairy out and replaces it with a rock. What a fun way to wear special treasures. I sell these on my site and at the Fiber Arts Center in Espanola. They are made with 100% wool felt (not synthetic felt).

Acorn Necklace

2010-01-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is a crocheted acorn necklace. It is very cute and would be great for harvest time. Ahh, I'll remember it as my very first sale on etsy! I miss it so much! I need to make another one for myself.

The Phoenix

2010-01-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

A friend commissioned me to make her a needle felted Phoenix, some of the materials were supplied by her. I usually only work with wool roving and minimal embellishments, this was interesting because I had to find ways to use ribbon etc. This piece hangs from the ceiling.

Ho Ho Ho!

2009-12-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday! Here are just a few little Santa's, all needle felted.

Wood carved abuela

2009-12-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

I used a piece of cottonwood that we found by the Rio Embudo. The knots in the wood really told me where the bun of hair and arm were supposed to go. I carved some things out of choke cherry and ouch, it made my hands so sore (hard, hard wood). I learned that aspen or cottonwood is a much better choice.

Face Class at EVFAC

2009-12-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

I taught a Needle felting class on faces! There was 5 students, 3 of which had some beginning experience. I used a lightly needle felted wool batting as the "canvas" but, one could use recycled sweaters or blanket as well. It was a 4 hour class and could have been a bit longer. But, we did accomplish completing the basic structure of the face. I gave out a hand out on some tricks to getting facial proportions correct which should is good reference to have. Each student seemed eager to take their new friend home and embellish them at there leisure. The second photo was taken at the end of the class. The first photo is the face I needle felted and then wet felted to use as an example. I choose doing these as a relief because it seems many of the fiber arts competitions and galleries are not set up for sculpture and don't know what to do with things that don't hang on walls. So, this was an experiment to create a hanging sculpture.

baby dragon

2009-12-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

I got this pattern for $6 Pdf download from
http://www.anniesattic.com

My son loves this dragon!
It was surprisingly simple and easy to read pattern and didn't take as long as I thought it would.

Acorn Satchel

2009-12-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

I made this little nature satchel for a friend of my sons for his birthday. It was a proto-type so to speak, I am still working on my sons version. There are so many cute things for girls, I figured it wasn't fair. This "purse" or satchel is perfect for collecting sticks, rocks, and leaves! My friend was so happy to have this for her son because she was tired of carrying a bunch of rocks back home after their hikes and he loves having a special place to put his treasures.

A Home for Gnomes

2009-12-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

The tree house is not made of wool, but all good gnomes and faeries need a home. This was inspired by the tree houses I have seen in catalogs. I made each piece a little at a time and it probably took about 6 months to finish it and well it still isn't finished. My hope is that when my sons interest and skills build we can engineer together to make a whole village. Being in the southwest it was a bit more work to find the wood. I lived by the beach in the Pacific Northwest for years and at times was longing for the driftwood. But alas, nature provided us with almost everything. I wish I could have cut the platform rounds myself, but I will on the next ones? This tree house brings so magic into the house and will be a heirloom. I loved making it instead of buying it and a added bonus was there isn't too many removable parts to trip on in the night.

Home Made Tree House

2009-12-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

I made this tree house last year for my sons Christmas or rather Santa commissioned it. I was pregnant at the time and didn't feel comfortable using the chain saw or saws all. So I just bought the pine rounds from the hardware store that are used for making lazy susans and used natural cut wood slices that are used for wood burning and for sale in the craft stores. All the other wood including cherry, apricot, pine, cedar root, aspen, cottonwood, and willow I found while hiking and exploring. I used hemp twine to knot together the rope ladders. Hopefully this Christmas we'll add a pully (which you can get at hardware store, used for blinds) and maybe a hammock. This tree house is so sturdy and my son can climb it and I am not worried. It was a great way to save a couple hundred bucks and make something way better!

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Advent Calendar

2009-11-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

I finished sewing all the pockets of the back of the calendar. Here are the Gnomes we made in our hand work circle in there proper places. Still need a few more, but there is still time. It is looking so magical!

Advent Calendar

2009-11-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

With some sparks of ideas from my sons pre-kindergarten teacher, I created this Advent Calendar. I wet felted a big piece of wool batting to use as the "canvass" and then needle felted the design. I cut 24 slits in the wool and sewed squares on the back to create pockets. Then we had a hand work circle with some of the parents and they learned how to needle felt little gnomes that will go in each pocket. Every child from the class will take one home before the holidays. This was so fun and got me inspired to make one for our home to. My sons teacher told wonderful stories of making a Advent Calendar every year, each one different, each one special. The possibilities are endless and so are the possible materials that can be used. After getting started on this project I received my Living Craft Magazine in the mail and right on the cover 'Felted Advent Calendar'! Talk about tuning in " May the fleece be with you". It is such a wonderful thing when people join together as one flock of birds and create, especially when it is for children.

Spring Goddess

2009-11-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

This doll won third place and president choice awards in the doll category at the Fiber Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM this last spring. She is a solid wool Needle Felted doll and bares some resemblance to my friend Rosemary Crawford (the playwright and organic farmer).

Etsy Site is up and going!

2009-11-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, I started my etsy site awhile back and then alas got preggers and spaced out on putting it on vacation. So even though it says I haven't been on vacation I actually have. And now that my little ones are getting a bit bigger, I am back and running. Today I posted two items and will post 2 every couple of days from here on out!
I crocheted this little acorn hat so that it will have a strong beginning, just like my boys.

http://www.lanaencantada.etsy.com

Dixon Studio Tour

2009-11-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

Another sucessful year at the Dixon Studio Tour! Always the first weekend in November.

I had a booth again at the Dixon Elementary school (The Mercado). I loved seeing all the local artists/crafters and all the visiting tourists. Maybe next year I'll attempt to do it at my house, but out in my yard.... we'll see.

www.dixonarts.org

Beginning Needle Felting

2009-11-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Gnomes! Wonderful class I taught at the Fiber Arts center in Espanola, NM. Four hours gave us all enough time to get used to the needle and make new friends. Great new skills for the the four students to enter into the gift giving season. Now they are making some one of a kind cherished wool gnomes for their special loved ones. The Intermediate/Advanced class is coming up Saturday Dec. 5th 10-2pm, where we will create a wool face relief, so we can just focus on sculpting wool facial features.

http://www.evfac.org