Hooded Woodland Pixie Festival vest!

I Love this vest!!!! So do my customers. It got a lot of attention and sold very quickly. Hand made out of super soft merino wool laid out in an open pattern that reminds me of vines. It has a long pointed hood and leaf shapes laid here and there. I also decorated it with some bright green vintage chenille. What do you think?

Sorry for the Delay

For those of you that are waiting for Part 2 of the Nuno Felted Journal process, do not fear! I dear friend of mine passed away while staying with me and my heart has been heavy. I am now remembering the great times we shared and knowing that he is on a new and exciting journey. My heart is lighter and peace is being revealed once again. Part 2 will be posted this coming week, so be sure and watch for it.

Raise a glass and give a smile to "Chief" aka Terry Hook, the next time you tip a glass of wine, bottle of beer or cup of tea.

Eco-Friendly Abundance in my Studio

I live in a 1.5 bedroom house. The .5 bedroom is for storage so that leaves only the kitchen, which is fairly large, for studio space. Actually it is an open area that would be kitchen & dining area. I have taken over the dining area.


I prefer to use recycled fabrics and embellishments in my designs for two reasons. Cost is one, but the other is I'd rather keep the old stuff out of the landfills AND unless you are buying Peace Silk, the process of harvesting silk is quite brutal. I am amazed at the amount of natural fabrics I find at yard sales and thrift stores. Beautiful rayon, cotton, silk and linen are very abundant. By scrounging materials in this way I can keep my costs down and pass the savings on to my customers. It does however, tend to create a cluttered studio.


My solution is this great storage space. I am attempting to keep the materials somewhat color coordinated but already need another row of squares! I am working towards a studio space separate from the house. How do my hip boots wind up on my felting table?? Well, it is in the center of house activities. A studio, a real, separate, private studio. It's on it's way - that much I am sure of. In the meantime, I will put the hip boots away, install another row of storage space, smile at my abundance and hit another thrift store. Wheeeee!

Can you help? and Hand Sculpted Felt Cloche continues

Can you help? I have created an on-line portfolio in the hopes of winning an arts grant. The more supporters I have, the greater my chances. If you can spare a minute to go to my portfolio here, rhondarogalski.see.me, and click Support in the upper right, it will help greatly. There is nothing to sign up for, but it will ask you to post a link on your page of my portfolio. I would appreciate it so much if you could help spread the word about the work I am doing. The more people that are aware of the sustainability and environmentally friendly process of felting, the more our artists will succeed as well as bringing new artists on board.

Stay tuned for more of the exciting adventure of creating a hand sculpted Felt Cloche. The journey completes today with more photos of the process and the completed hat. Thanks for coming along! 

Hand Felted Cloche Begins

Today I started making the cloche that was a custom order. I took some photos along the way to show some of the steps. It's not a complete tutorial but if you are already familiar with felting then you will get the idea. If you have no felting experience or would like to use a really nice, step by step tutorial, HandiCraftKate offered one on Craftsy. You can get in touch with her to see if its still available. It is awesome!! So, here goes...

 I began yesterday by choosing my materials and today I started by laying out the roving to make the flat felt that will eventually be sculpted into a cloche, or wide brimmed hat. I laid out 3 layers and then decided it needed a bit of sparkle. The woman who ordered this is an entertainer with very red hair, so I don't think she is going for subtle. Since the fabric I will be using for the flower has gold threads in it I decided to sprinkle some gold Firestar on the roving.

Shingling the merino roving

Firestar sprinkled on top

After it was all laid out I covered it with some netting and rubbed until it passed the pinch test. Then I went to work with the sander. I love using the sander!!!!

Rubbing on the netting with a recycled grocery bag

I love my sander <3

After both sides were sanded it was off to the sink for squeezing, kneading & rinsing in the sink, throwing, then repeat all several times.

Rinsing, squeezing & kneading

Throwing - this part can be a lot of fun!!!

I wanted to harden the flat felt a bit more so I threw it in the dryer with a bunch of felted dryer balls for about 15 min. While it was tumbling I began laying the roving on the recycled lace to make the removable hat band.

2 layers of roving on the back

Rolling the cord that will be the ties

 Now to make the flower. I cut out 2 circles from the shirt and one I cut into petal shapes. I laid some roving, Firestar and kid mohair locks then sanded it together. The other circle has roving laid onto the back only. These aren't the best photos but it will be Fab when you see it all together tomorrow!

Fabric with merino roving, Firestar and kid mohair locks.

The 2 pieces of fabric together. It will look better tomorrow!

 All the pieces I made today are drying and resting, getting ready for tomorrow. I will begin by sculpting the cloche which takes quite a while. It will require a lot of rubbing and shaping with my hands. Stay tuned & I'll post the photos when it's all done. Thanks for tagging along as I make and create with Fab fibers :D