The ornaments are turning out to be better than I could have hoped for. It's a weird thing...you plan/design...make it, bake it...praying and hoping that you will have a good something to build on. And then, in just a few moments the work and worry is over.

Luckily, in the case of the ornaments, I have been extremely fortunate to have had the first few come out of the kiln and look much better than expected. Of course that then sets the bar pretty high for subsequent work.

These are from the recent carbon painting and obvara firings. They're still drying so that I can finish them with acrylic...and then off to Montana...4 Ravens Gallery in Missoula to be specific.

I do my fair share of fiber festivals and some I like more than others. Sort of hard to think of any of them as "bad"...I just like festivals in general. Recently however, I did a small show "up valley" in Durham, CA run by the Mt. Lassen Fiber Guild. It's called Fiber Fusion and has been going on for a number of years.

I took pictures of some of the critters from the show...the top one is a yak...the last one is very unusual and made by felting.

What a dynamic show. If you are new to fiber this show will help you "get it." There are demos on all aspects of knitting, weaving and processing...just a huge amount of personal "we care" touches shared with visitors.

Because the Guild is so focused on community education, the animals are there as live demonstrators. Normally a fiber festival is a show platform for shepherds and farmers with barns full of animals. But Fiber Fusion has none of the critter show and is all about teaching, sharing and learning.

Family friendly you ask? I should say so...very kid friendly no matter what their age...1 to 89 (or so).