Spent a day with my friend Susan Brooks, doing some eco-dyeing on paper.  Susan is a wonderful and generous instructor and shared all her knowledge with me (so much, I couldn't remember it all!) but I came home with some fabulous pieces.

I can't wait to incorporate them in my junk journals and other artist books.  She inspired me so much, I started collecting the things I need to replicate this process in my studio.  Now I just need to find some fresh leaves to work with since all the greenery in Denver is gone.  Sigh!

I was invited by my friend, Barb Stainman, to come to her studio for a few hours and make some felted soap.  Felted Soap?  How does the bar of soap get into that felted fabric?  Intrigued, I jumped on the chance to learn something new.

I have felted before (both by machine and by hand) and found the process to be long, strenuous and hard on my hands and shoulders but felting soap turned out to be fun and easy.  The felting process combines wool roving, soap and hot water, plus a lot of manipulation to make the wool fibers stick together so felting soap is a perfect combination.  The nice thing about using felted soap is that it acts like a wash cloth in that it exfoliates the skin while washing.  Ingenious!  And, you can color coordinate your soap with the color scheme of your bathroom.  Very cool.

Here are the two bars I made in about 45 minutes.  I'll be gifting these to my daughter-in-law and teaching my granddaughter and grandson how to make these as Christmas gifts for their teachers.  I always bring some sort of art project for the kids when we visit them.  It gets them away from their tablets and phones — which is a good thing!

Barb will be selling some of her work at the Holiday Show at the Art Gym in Denver (November 29 - December 20th).  I have my eye on a Nuno scarf she made (gorgeous!) so I know there will be lots of goodies there to give as gifts this season.  We always need to support local artists and this is a good time of year to do so!

Ever since I owned an art gallery, I've been passionate about supporting artists in all media.  Recently, I was able to visit FLUX, a new gallery/workshop space devoted to glass.  The owners, Courtney and Nate, are wonderful, friendly people with a mission for bringing the art of glass-making to Denver.  They have built a wonderful place for people to learn how to make glass objects, for professional glass artists to take advantage of their space and equipment, and for people who like to buy unique, one-of-a-kind glass objects to display in their home or give for gifts.

I participated in their fund-raising event and received a beautiful whisky glass in exchange.  Its now my husband's favorite drinking glass so today, I visited them again and bought a few more to give as Christmas gifts to family and friends.

There is nothing like giving someone you love a unique, made-by-hand gift.  I hope you can visit and support them too!
​