Rough Sketch..

Ok, so this is 'off' a little, in more ways than one. (one?) But this is "the n'ewed beach"

A Zig Wig

Whenever I start to work with a different fleece, that fleece becomes my favorite.. lately, the Ziggy fleece is my favorite! Working with his wool, I really want to make dolls - and use this for their hair. I pulled apart this section, and wondered what it would look like on my head? no photo available on that.. but here's the zig wig:
I spun a small amount of his wool for a scarf and even looking at the yarn, I want to use IT for doll hair too!

My after Christmas project is going to be making little dolls for girls in India. The pattern is on-line, and they are simple little dolls. I have lots of wool set aside for stuffing and - of course, their hair! The little dolls will either get this "doll making" idea out of my head, or it will really give me the bug for it!

But not today.. today: pottery. Focus. Focus.

Custom Pottery Offer

I don't advertise special orders, because my time-line is terrible on getting them out. (and if you've asked for something other than what I have listed on my site, you know how true that is!)

I have been needing to explore new designs to add to the pottery, but it seems to get pushed further and further down the list.

I recently got a request to do angora goat mugs. (ok, so it was July - thanks for being so patient Devon!) I am working on getting those mugs ready along with a few other special orders so they will be ready for Christmas. I will need to make several pots in order to fill the kiln and while I can fill it with ewenice mugs and yarn bowls and a few personal Christmas gifts, I wanted to open a time of custom orders for my readers if anyone was interested.

So what's the deal? I will design a mug for you based on a photo you send, with no design charge - the mugs will be priced the same as the ewenice and sheep mugs (20.00 plus actual shipping charges). I am open to doing any kind of animal - cat, dog, alpaca, goat, elephant, ? (you never know) etc, and of course, your favorite sheep! (I only ask that I have permission to use the design that is created for future use on pottery) I am also open to designing barns/houses/church/buildings, etc. for the mugs too.

Also, with any custom order, Christmas ornaments of that same design can be made for 10.00 (a few bucks savings from what the sheep ornaments sell for on the site)

If you are interested, just email a photo of the subject to flatcreekwoolandpottery@gmail.com along with the size of the mug you would like, glaze color, and any other specific requests on the mug (thin lip, heavy, lightweight, 8 ounce 12 ounce, etc) and I will be in touch with you.
(currently I am using 3 different glazes -a gray/brown, blue and a gray/brown that is oversprayed with blue. You can see examples of these at http://flatcreekwoolandpottery.com/potterymugs.html

In order to have the pottery made/fired/glazed and fired again - then shipped in time for the holidays, I will need to put a deadline of Monday morning, November 21 on the offer.

Hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for the holidays! I am in awe at how fast the year passes - and I wonder - do I still have time to meet my resolutions I made for the "new year" ? Maybe I'll just wait on it and put it towards the next one coming up!

It's a process..

Over the last 4 years, I have really come to appreciate what all goes into caring for sheep and harvesting their product. (isn't wool amazing?)

My goal is to offer exceptional raw fleeces. The first couple of years, the challenge was vm and cleaning the pastures. Oh, and shearing.. yes, that was a big challenge. (not only for the first year..lol) Even though we've continued to expand the pastures, the vm this year was not a big issue. The shearing was much easier this year - teetering on the "i enjoyed it" stage.

I feel better about getting the fleece off with minimum stress on the sheep and myself. Still need a little improving on the second cuts, but that's getting better with practice. We had some really nice fleeces this fall, and a couple of fleeces that seemed to have lived in the holler'. I can't quite figure how one sheep can get matted and filthy while the sheep that lays next to them stays as clean as a show sheep! I had one fleece (from our moorit ewe Sierra) that her belly wool looked and felt like the wool off of a lambs back - I didn't separate her belly wool because it was just too soft and beautiful to toss aside.

But this next picture is the delima for some of our fleeces this year - gummy tips. I've only noticed it on a couple of the fleeces, and I'm looking for advice if anyone has some "gum free tips" for me! I sheared the ewes after they lambed this year and as their fleeces started growing, I noticed these gummy tips. I am thinking that maybe i sheared too early? Possibly before their seasonal wool-break? (however, it didn't seem to early to be shearing.. May?)

So.. I spent a few hours picking the tips off of Alice's fleece.. and by the time I did that, I was invested! I was looking forward to washing and carding and spinning her fleece myself... I still have a lot of wool to skirt, and I'm hoping that i don't get attached to all of them!