Back on the land...
Returning to Latvia in June was delightful. Jo and Ian were as hospitable as ever, the village of Ergli and the farm were beautiful (if a little dry) and there were two more alpacas, called Freddy and George, to meet. I spent the first couple of days reacquainting myself with this very special place.
A week with Pauline
The three-week sojourn was conveniently divided into three sections. A few days after I arrived, we picked Pauline up from the airport in Riga. She was our guest for a week of ecodyeing, meeting the local people and getting a feel for the countryside.
First and foremost, though, we were felting with the fleece from Jo and Ian's alpacas.
Visiting Riga
After a week of wall-to-wall sunshine, great food from the farm, home baking from the local bakery and a lot of interesting conversations, Pauline and I headed to Riga, where I was to be the tour guide. Anyone who knows me will know just how hilarious that notion is...but, with the help of my trusty phone, I managed it. A couple of wildly different exhibitions (one about Latvian emigrees after WWII and one about Art Nouveau) were an added bonus. A very enjoyable interlude.
Artist's Residency | Working with Alpaca
And finally, Jo and Ian hosted my (and their) first ever residency, giving me the opportunity to work with the different fleeces from their alpacas. This proved to be a fascinating challenge as each animal produces a different quality (and quantity) of fleece...not only from each other but from year to year. I kept a sketch book with notes about the different fibres I used in the pieces I made.
As alpaca is such a luxurious fibre (George, the young cria born last year, is the finest at 18.5 microns), and as there is so comparatively little from each animal (around 1 - 2 kilos maximum), we wanted to concentrate on making wearables (Jo worked with me when she wasn't cooking, saving chicken's lives and baling!). Some fibres felted beautifully, such as Mari and Aggie. Chanel (who is delicious chocolaty brown) hardly felts at all and others, such as Turbjorn, work better when spun.
All of this I discovered over the week, in the belting heat of a Latvian summer. In a greenhouse.
Hard work (and I did have one wobbly) but I loved it.
Thank you to Jo, Ian and the alpacas.
As alpaca is such a luxurious fibre (George, the young cria born last year, is the finest at 18.5 microns), and as there is so comparatively little from each animal (around 1 - 2 kilos maximum), we wanted to concentrate on making wearables (Jo worked with me when she wasn't cooking, saving chicken's lives and baling!). Some fibres felted beautifully, such as Mari and Aggie. Chanel (who is delicious chocolaty brown) hardly felts at all and others, such as Turbjorn, work better when spun.
All of this I discovered over the week, in the belting heat of a Latvian summer. In a greenhouse.
Hard work (and I did have one wobbly) but I loved it.
Thank you to Jo, Ian and the alpacas.
