During graduate school, where I was studying plant cell biology (actually, some pretty cute sub-cellular structures called “coated vesicles”, cute because they look like soccer balls), I saw some Navajo textiles from the mid-1800’s. It was the yarns, the smooth, lustrous undyed singles, that especially caught my attention. But about 7 years after I learned to spin I was introduced to felting. It was, again, that singles yarn that I had embedded into the felt that transfixed me. It was texture! And all I had to do was felt it into the object to get that texture.

After winning Best of Show at a northern Missouri Sheep & Wool Festival, I pursued felting with a passion, and after another 8 years passed I gave up working in research labs to felt full time. Most of my wool is from Andy McMurry, a local shepherd with prize-winning fleeces. I have the wool professionally scoured & carded, then I dye it. I include yarns, locks, & silk in the dyebath to provide coordinating texture & color. The wool is then felted into hats, scarves, bags, tea cozies & several smaller items. I intend my pieces to be fun & stylish, yet seriously functional: the use of the finished product is suited to the properties of the felt, & the felt is suitable for the product.

Because felting seems somewhat mysterious, I also teach. From a state park set of picnic tables to university textiles classrooms & numerous fiber guild halls, with privately organized groups & in 4th grade classrooms, at a major fiber festival on the east coast, on the west coast, up north, out west & three other midwestern states, & around southern England — I haven’t carted my wool everywhere, but I have gotten around.

My work is always available at Bluestem Missouri Crafts, Columbia, Missouri. My workshops are available by request.