Making a Gnome Calendar

It has been a crafty summer here at Syrendell!  

We spent an inspired weekend at the Griffin Dyeworks Dye and Fiber Retreat in Castaic, CA.  Camping, spinning, teaching Tunisian crochet, weaving, dyeing, coppersmithing and so much more!  Truly a treat for all people interested in learning more about fiber arts in a relaxed setting. 

Next, we spent 4 weeks teaching, leading and assisting at the Davis Waldorf School Summergarden camp.  Week 1: Knitting, crochet, lucet; Week 2: Spinning, weaving, kumihimo; Week 3: Plant-dyeing, wetfelting, needlefelting; Week 4: Papercrafting and sewing.  Children also participated in gardening and wholesome food preparation.  


Now, we are enjoying crafting at home.  Joey is spinning yarn to earn $ for her upcoming 8th grade trip.  Her yarns are available at www.syrendell.etsy.com and by custom order (email: info@syrendell.com).  Ricky has been helping get our craft/music room reorganized (a thrilling and scary task!).  

Wilson and Mommy created a calendar with gnomes.  This was inspired by one that we had seen made by Mama Roots a while back, one of our favorite Etsy shops.  First, we ordered a wood ring from Joshua Rutherford of Honoring Fallen Trees.  He makes them out of beautiful hardwoods in different colors.  We chose maple.  Next, we selected 12 special little wood people.  We talked about the 12 months of the year, the 4 seasons, and the colors and symbols that represent the seasons.  


Next, Wilson chose colored pieces of felt for each month and matching embroidery threads.  With some embroidery assistance from Mommy and sister Joey, little gnome hats were sewn.  

Wilson painted the gnomes the color of each season and then sealed them with beeswax polish as they dried.  Hats were glued onto the gnomes.  Now, we will play games, tell stories, create math problems, and talk about the months of the year in Spanish and English with our beautiful gnome calendar!

Handwork Felting eCourse! - Starts May 9, 2011

Handwork ECourse from Little Acorn Learning
Felting - 5 Weeks - Only $80!  Starts May 9, 2011
Instructor: Jennifer Tan, MA from Syrendell

Felting is one of the most primitive textile arts. Its origin is unknown, but swatches of felt were discovered in Europe and Asia dating as far back as the Bronze Age. Nomadic tribes had relied on felt's durabilty and versatility to make practical items such as blankets and tents. Created by the massaging of wool fibers in a liquid medium, felt can be shaped into many useful and decorative items. Legend has it that a Christian monk, who was trying to evade Roman soldiers, had found wool hanging from branches and put it into his sandals. After some time, his sweat and water from stream beds as he ran, created felted socks! In the 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, felted bowler hats were very popular. A process that used mercuric nitrate to make the hats was employed, but the poisonous fumes that the workers were constantly exposed to caused neurological symptoms, which may have led to the expression "mad as a hatter."


Jennifer Tan, master fiber artist, in her five week felting course, guarantees you will neither have to become a fugitive of the Roman Empire nor a lunatic ala Mad Hatter to enjoy the art of felting! She will introduce the techniques of wet felting and needle felting where you will create beautiful projects with a wide array of applications. In her course, Jennifer will accompany her teaching with Waldorf-inspired verses and songs.


You will develop a love of this truly magnificent craft long after Jennifer's course is done. She does not guarantee that your family will not go insane from the many felted items you will undoubtedly begin to create!


Week 1: What is felting? (wet, needle, felting sweaters, felting crochet/knit/woven items) Types of fibers and supplies. Carding fibers.
Week 2: Wetfelting - scarf
Week 3: Wetfelting - sculptural (balls, eggs)
Week 4: Needlefelting - landscapes
Week 5: Needlefelting - sculptural (fairies, animals)



This ECourse is 'Work-As-You-Go' Each Week with New Tutorials and Inspiration Posted Weekly for a Duration of Five Weeks. You Check in When You Have Time. No Pressure, No Requirements - Just Suggestions.  To register and see the list of recommended reading, click here.

Dyeing Felt and Silk Velvet

We've been a bit obsessed with natural dyeing lately...way too much fun! As we said in an earlier post, you never really know what colors you will get until you dye them.

Silk velvet generally absorbs dyes differently than other types of silk. Here are some of our little velvet purses that we dyed this past week. They are terrific for coins, shells, pearls, tooth fairy items, or even as an adult make-up bag or accessory. Joey likes the fuschia one!

Light blue = blueberries

Fuschia = copper, Brazilwood

Lemon yellow = safflowers

Peach blossom = madder root

Mustard = copper, turmeric

Mushroom taupe = walnut hulls

Finding high-quality felt is not easy! We found a farm that mills their own organic wool felt and it's SO thick (at least 1/4 in.) and beautiful. Hmmm...maybe a storyboard, or the base or background of a nature table, or a crown? We naturally dyed 18 x 18 in. pieces.

Earth Goddess = part walnut hulls, part copper/turmeric (this once could be the background of a scene!)

Peach/pink = safflowers

Sunshine yellow = turmeric

Lavender/burgundy = copper, Brazilwood

All items are available in our Etsy shop right now. We can't decide if it's more fun to dye up the items or use them!

Felting at Syrendell

We love to felt! All of us do some sort of wet or needlefelting. We use the clover 5-needle tool and we also use single needlefelting needles.

Our wax crayons have been in a basket for months, but they tend to get dinged up. Joey wet felted a nice lining for the basket out of some beautiful merino wool strips.

Lately, we've been needlefelting outfits for finger puppets. Joey has created an adorable series of finger puppets called the "Seasonal Children", featuring Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. She needlefelted some beautiful Math Gnomes with Mommy for little brother Wilson for Christmas. The gnomes sleep at night in a box with felted lining!

During Christmas, we worked on needle felting balls and turning them into ornaments!

For Valentine's day, Joey felted some small hearts out of some pink wool and sparkle angelina fibers that she carded. She added a pin to the back of each heart and then felted a piece over the pin backing to hold. These will be precious gifts for her cousins and friends from her dance classes!

We created an Acorn Family for our Seasonal Spot (aka, "nature table") by wet felting and then needlefelting clothes for the wooden finger puppets. Each family member received an acorn cup hat!

Our sweet Gnomy has boots, beard and hat, felted by Ricky and Mommy. He is often seen in our Seasonal Spot, or near a seasonal wreath.

Everyone enjoys needlefelting fruits and veggies for our little grocery store. After playing "store", we often take the bounty to the wood stove that Daddy built for Wilson for Christmas and prepare meals.

Wilson loves playing with his rainbow wood home blocks. The Acorn Family fits nicely in the house! Wilson helped Mommy felt a bowl and some tiny fruit for the table this week.

Since we love to spin and don't like to waste, all fiber scraps go into baskets. When it's time to felt, the baskets are a treasure trove of colors and textures, just waiting to become something amazing!