www.FiberArtFest.com

The October Workshop page has been updated.  We have some great workshops scheduled.  This year with the ISBONA Sheep Show, we have a workshop specializing spinning raw Icelandic wool.  It is a four hour workshop well worth the time and cost.  Though this is not a class for the new spinner, it is a valuable experience for those who already spin and would like to expand your experiences.

The other three workshops scheduled are equally interesting in their own right.  If time is short, we have a one hour workshop on how to use the hackle.  This ancient tool was used for changing the way fibers are carded and presented prior to spinning.

The sheep show application has also been posted.  I have not put Pay Pal on the Sheep Show page, yet.  However, it is my plan to do so.

The design of the sheep stalls is complete and we plan on start building them very soon.  They will be 3×4x6.  They will hold two adult sheep or three lambs.

Several of our exhibitors have been struggling to really find a hold on their niche at our festival.  From year-to-year, they have not been consistent with their sales and their message.

To really find out who our festival servers, you need to go back to our mission.

“… to provide an educational venue … for young and the not-so-young … “

You can imply from this snippet that we are working towards serving those interested in fiber arts for the first time.  Certainly, there are plenty of product and supplies for the seasoned artist to review and purchase.  However, it is those who are just starting out that we serve most.  This was truly highlighted at our June 2010 event.  New faces were everywhere.

Advertising went out to places where the artist may not be but those who were seeking more a city farming or homesteading lifestyle.  By focusing our advertising, we saw a jump in attendance and overall sales throughout the festival.  There were still areas that we can improve.  However, overall, year-over-year we did well due to our focus on the new artist, the city farmer and the homesteader.  Those who want more out of life and want that connection back to local agriculture.

These are the type of people we focus on.  These wonderful folk are our customers.

The belief that the June event is over is only further reinforced by how tired I still am after several days of downtime.  The weather did cooperate though it was very hot and humid.  Everyone asked for no rain and it was replaced with humidity instead.  The temps were only in the 80s; but, with the humidity nearing 90%, it felt much, much hotter.

A few minutes after opening on June 12th, 2010.

This picture seemed to capture the growth we have seen over the last several years.  There were over 30 assigned spaces this year.  It was a great site.  As we have come to expect, there were power shoppers looking around right at 10 AM.

Demonstrating how hand made brooms to a young person Three generations of one family petting Moose our Icelandic Ram

These two images I thought truly captured the mission of our festival, passing on fiber artistry and the sources of those skills of years past to others.

With all the great fiber art throughout the entire day, it was hard to find just a few images to include here.  However, these two great pieces shows the amount of work, skill and patience it really takes to care and create these wonderful and often practical pieces of art.

Hand Braided Rug

This rug would easily bring alive a whole room with its brilliant use of shades of red.  The tight weave would allow for many years of use.

Rovings

This is a great example of the many different natural and hand dyed rovings that were available.  This is mostly the basic start of most projects, the roving.  From here, you can do just about anything from knitting, spinning or felting.  You’re only limited by your imagination. 

A Lucet is a 16th century braiding tool.

This was the simplist tool I have seen and be used in fiber art.  Through a series of twists and pulls, using this tool, you can make a square looking, long braid.  The braid is then used for rope, rugs or a variety of other items.  This tool was used back in the 16th century.

One of our great festival friends and volunteer, Pennie Christie, brought her bottle lamb.  This little (or not so little) ewe lamb allowed many people to see how friendly lambs can be when properly handled.  Shadow was great to see by everyone.

We received some great feedback from the exhibitors.  At the end of the day, I made my usual rounds and talked to each exhibitor individually.   In 2011, we are likely to see similar attendance.  With our added customer base this year, we had a couple issues with traffic and lack of bathroom space.  We plan on correcting these problems.  Sales were mixed but attendance was way up.  I am likely to get the approximate attendance from the owner of Side Track in the next few days.   Overall, exhibitors and customers seem to have a good day.

The task list to accomplish before Saturday is not as large as I had thought.  However, everything seems to be taking hours to complete if all goes well.  Getting a flat tire yesterday just about completely absorbed all my day. 

We have tried to expand the advertising again this year and already have received some wonderful feedback.  The multi-media (radio, TV and newspaper) appears to be the best approach.  Now, to refine the mix to reach everyone effectively without breaking the bank is going to be our goal next year.

I am building a set of eight-foot-square stall panels for the June even as sort of a prototype for the stall panels we will need for the October show.  The design is simple and sturdy.  We are going to try it out this weekend and see how it goes.

Thursday night and Friday during the day, I will be creating the final layout for the booths.  I wait to the last possible second to make sure everyone is ready to go.  I start calling everyone personally this evening to determine when they will arrive and finalize any special requests.  So many festivals do everything via mail or e-mail or some other non-personal communication.  It is amazing how much a few minute conversation can put so many questions to rest.

This year we once again have our priceless volunteers doing so much.  Our signs will go out early on Saturday morning throughout town and at the end of the exit ramps.  That’s another map I need to generate.  We will have another volunteer getting exhibitors to their assigned spaces.  In year’s past, we have been able to move people around due to one reason or another at the last minute.  It all works out well in the end.

The weather looks like it is going to cooperate.  I was getting a little worried.  However, for the last several days the forecast has been getting progressively better.  I think we need to be prepared for a little rain.  But, it shouldn’t be a big deal.

Looking through the list of exhibitors this year, I have noticed we have quite a few first-time exhibitors not only to our festival but they have chosen our festival as their first-ever event!  This is truly exciting to me.

After FAAF, I am likely going to sleep for a week and then get the pictures uploaded.  There is always a great number of folks with smiles and fiber to show off for the camera.

Over the next two weeks, our advertising will start.  We have print and radio ads throughout the area.  It is truly exciting to see everything come together.  Our exhbiitor’s listing has grown and have some new first-time exhibitors. 

If you haven’t checked us out on Facebook, please do.  We post snippets just about every day now about one thing or another.  Most of our exhibitors have Facebook pages as well.

We are now on Ravelery.  I have put an entry there for our June 12th event.

Our October FAAF is done.  After talking with several exhbitors, we had a great weekend.  The rain certainly had an affect on the attendance.  However, those who did attend were there to learn and purchase interesting items.  We had patrons in booths up until we closed on Sunday.

The Art Quilt Exhibit, Sheep Shearing demonstration and Sheep-to-Shawl event all went over well.  There were people looming over our demonstrators and exhibit all weekend.  We are looking forward to all our demonstrators returning next year.

By Sunday morning, the owner of Turkeyville came out and talked with me regarding setting up next year’s dates.  October 2 & 3, 2010 is booked.  I have already talked to the shearer and will be talking to the others soon to finalize plans for next year.

We had a great first year at Turkeyville.

Over the weekend, we toured the Turkeyville grounds while there were vendors at the site.  We noted uneven terrain and how people were setup.  This is going to help us assign stalls while noting who needs very flat ground and others that can tolerate being a little uneven.  Being that we’re setting up on grass, nothing will be perfectly flat.

We still have room available and have signed up several last minute exhibitors.  The website was updated over the weekend to include our most recent additions.

Our wonderful volunteers will be running around helping folks get checked in as well as working with the sheep shearing demonstration.  Their assistance for our festival this year has proven to be immeasurable and they haven’t even started working yet.  Just knowing that tasks will be accomplished and that I can hand off things to others has been great.  Not enough can be said about these folks.

We plan on bringing our laptop and air card to update this blog as well as Facebook throughout the weekend.

The forecast for this weekend keeps changing.  The only thing I know for sure about this weekend’s forecast is that the sun will rise and the festival will go on.  I am truly looking forward to meeting everyone.

It is hard to believe that our first two-day festival is less than two weeks away.  I have contacted all the exhibitors one way or another.  Check in for exhibitors will be Friday, October 2nd from Noon to 8 PM and Saturday, October 3rd from 8 AM to 10 AM.  Ideally, everyone will be setup and ready to go at 10 AM on October 3rd.  If someone needs to check in at a different time, we are able to make arrangements easily.

The sheep shearing demonstration is set to go.  We have the pen designed and ready to setup.  I’m going to set it up for the most part on Friday morning.  That way, if I forget anything (like my mind), I will have a quick moment to go and get it prior to the demonstration throughout the weekend.

The Art Quilt Exhibit folks seem to be ready to go.  They contacted me a week or so ago to let me know the number of folks attending.  The Art Quilt Exhibit will be in the remodeled granary / barn on the east side of the road.

The sheep-to-shawl demonstrators are bringing seven people to spin and weave their shawl.  This is truly going to be wonderful and am looknig forward to seeing the final product.

To date, we have about 20 exhbibitors signed up.  This is a great turn out for our first year setting up in October.

We’re on auto pilot now, just waiting for October 2nd to arrive!

It is just about a month until the October festival.  We are already seeing some increased trafic on the website along with e-mails and questions from people.  I received two more exhibitor applications the other day and will update the website in the next day or so.  I received a map of the Turkeyville grounds the other day and will be assigning exhibitors to their spaces soon.  There will be check-in time on Friday (Oct 2) and Saturday (Oct 3) morning.  I will be calling some of the exhibitors to see when the best time-of-day for check-in will work for the majority of people.  Please be sure to thank our tireless volunteers.

The other day, I wrote the press release for our October event.  It was a nice one-page letter to whomever.  I was happy I had several people review it before it was released.  It needed a comma here, a hyphen there.  Here’s a copy of it.  The logo was scaled appropriately on the press release.

FAAF Logo (c)2009

 

 

FIBER ARTS & ANIMALS FESTIVAL IS EXPANDING

Queso Cabeza Farm and Turkeyville USA joining up to bring new festival venue!

After running a single-day event for five years, the Fiber Arts & Animals Festival is joining the Turkeyville USA Folk Art Faire on October 3^rd and 4^th, 2009, from 10 AM to 5 PM on the grounds of Turkeyville USA, just ½ mile west of Exit 42 (N Drive North) off I-69.  Admission and parking are free.

Over the last several years, there has been a renewed interest in natural fibers and working with the land to create useful products.  This second venue for the festival will allow for more demonstrations and artists.  This year there will be an Art Quilt exhibit, sheep-to-shawl event and sheep shearing demonstration.   There will also be several low-cost fiber art workshops for people to learn how to work with wool.

This is a juried event.  Each exhibitor must apply to attend and bring a unique perspective on fiber art.   Along with exhibiting fiber-producing animals such as sheep, llamas, rabbits and goats, some artists are providing short demonstrations at their booths about the fiber arts they practice.  The fiber artistry represented this year includes loom weaving, harness weaving, wet felting, needle felting, spinning wool to yarn using several different methods and rug hooking.  All artists attending are listed on http://www.FiberArtFest.com.

Queso Cabeza Farm was founded in 2001 and started producing the Fiber Arts & Animals Festival in 2004.  The Fiber Arts & Animals Festival was created to provide a low-cost, educational alternative to folks looking for opportunities to work with wool and related products.

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If you would like more information on this event or would like to schedule an interview with Rick Boesen, please call 269.749.9404 or e-mail info@fiberartfest.com.