Lemonade Day 31: Mary, College Friend, Seeker

. I'm taking the opportunity of this unplanned time off to connect with the many artists and creators in this wonderful city that I love. Come with me on my 100-day odyssey of art and creativity in Long Beach. I call it .

August 1st was Day 31 with Mary, college friend, roommate, seeker.

For those new to my blog, some background; otherwise skip ahead. , learning from the Greater Los Angeles Spinning Guild (GLASG), which has been 'sharing Lemonade,' knowledge, fleece and fibers and loaning equipment. I met Long Beach spinner and at GLASG.  Member Jill Borders had an entire fleece that she passed on to me for my experimenting.  It was but with the guidance of GLASG members and the internet, I learned how to clean the fleece.  These experiences took me to the Handweaver's Guild of America Convergence festival where I met Roy and Henry Clemes of Clemes and Clemes.  Roy kindly offered to help me batt some fleece (align the fibers for spinning) as .  I got 4 batts out of it, but still had a fairly large bag of fleece left to be batted.  GLASG has a loaner drum carder, and I was able to borrow the coarse one last Saturday. Phew!

Today, I write about friend Mary, who happens to have completed very specialized training in an amazing genetics program and written genetics curriculum for high schoolers. She's with me on our visit to the Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse, dye gardener Kathi R., and our shared wool fun.  It was a lot packed into a very short time.  When you meet with dear friends who know you well, you can get a lot done.  Dear friends also know what you want, and Mary brought with me some small Mason jar lids that I'd been seeking for a Steam Punk project I'd like to do, wool fibers she found at a thrift store and some heirloom tomatoes that she'd grown just for me!  She came to help me make stamps, but we ended up doing everything but! I am proud to be able to add Mary to .

Poor Mary, came to do stamps, but I asked her to run a few errands with me.  We went to drop off a grant application to the Arts Council for Long Beach, and I knew that she would be interested in the Depot for Creative Reuse.  Mary is an avid recycler.  She loved it!  She came away with several stencils and a roll of cork.

We then visited Kathi R. to drop off some things, and ended up spending a fair amount of time talking to lovely Kathi about wool, spinning, her eleven spinning wheels, checking out the many spindles and her three... yes three... drum carders.  We oohed and ahhed over her madder.  It looks like weeds, but underneath there are some precious color-containing roots.  We talked about the so-soft-so-long fibers from Mary's Himalayan cat.  She's been saving the fibers brushed from kitty for many years now, intending to figure out something she could do with it.  The fibers are as long as 4 inches (or was that 6?) each.  Kathi suggested she try spinning it together with some sheep's wool as the cat fibers might be slippery.    And we got two bags of lemons.  One for Mary, one for me.

I'd wanted to go to Lowe's to see if I could get any scrap wood out of their end-cut bin, but we decided there wasn't any time left to do this.

We eventually returned and there was not much time left to make stamps, so we tried out the GLASG drum carder instead.  My name is Earl actor Jason Lee believes in Karma.  I, too believe in Karma, and this was Karma at work.

Mary was so amazed at the whole process... I showed her some samples I'd saved of the fleece at various stages of cleaning, the clean fibers, the batts that I'd done at Convergence.  We tried out the GLASG drum carder.  She was inspired by the conversation with Kathi on how to spin the wool from her kitty. 

She left with the bag of wool she'd brought, a memory of an amazing day, a bag of lemons.  And she'd had a few glasses of delicious lemonade!

Penguin Note:  A few years ago, Mary introduced me to a small square of fabric framed, proudly displayed on her wall.  It was a small part of a blanket that had been made by her grandmother.  As I tell the story, Mary's grandmother lived on a farm, and they owned the sheep from which the wool came.  Her grandma had taken that wool from its source, cleaned it, spun it, woven it and used it.  I've envisioned that she helped to shear the sheep also, but whether that is so, given the delicate nature of ladies at the time, is unclear.  It was so precious that each person in the family was given a small square of it to treasure.  I was impressed... It made me want to make something from the source too!

Tidbits, Things, Trails

• I got a communication from Senator Alan Lowenthal's office and am going to the SBDC meeting on Pine this A.M.
• Kathi and I spoke about whether she might want to give a class on spinning wool with a demonstration of various types of spinning wheels that she and I both have. She does!  Now I need to find a place for her to deliver it!
• Mary has completed very specialized training in an amazing genetics program and written genetics curriculum for high schoolers.

Want more lemonade?     

Next up: 

• I am experimenting with ways to make stampable blocks.
• I want to stop in at Retro Row.

Need to contact me?  info@handmadepenguin.com

Trish Tsoiasue writes as herself about creative and maker topics for and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin Blog.