I have been a fiber artist for over 30 years, and was a sheep farmer for 25 years. I still have fleeces in good condition from my former flock, waiting to be felted or spun. I work in a variety of media and my main focus is on small bags/pouches/vessels. These are sometimes fashioned from handmade felt and handspun yarn, sometimes from deconstructed antique leather bags and clothing found at yard sales and flea markets, sometimes from antique fur given to me by friends. I also use elements in my work that are woven or knitted by me or by other craftsmen.

On my Felt Series page I describe how I approach making flet. I have three spinning wheels but mostly spin these days on hand-spindles, and use handspun yarn andwaxed cord for bag handles and fringes. I braid cord and yarn for this purpose using a four-strand, Andean chevron pattern. I collect natural material such as animal skulls, bones, and feathers that I find on walks with my dogs, and make use of these items in my work. I also buy beads to embellish my work as well as old earings or pewter and mother-of-pearl buttons. I use no plastic.

I am heavily influenced by Arctic cultures: Sami, trans-Siberian, and the northern Native Americans and Canadians. Elements of the Scottish and the Scandinavian can also be seen in my work, as well as some Tibetan, Mongolian, and other northern Asian cultures. Why I am attracted to cold climate peoples I'm not sure, since I hate the cold. I suppose it's because they bundle up in the material I like to work with best: felt, wool, leather, and skins.

I am passionate about fiber and can sometimes spend hours just looking at a lovely piece. The material drives my work. I use material for my inspiration, so, for example, if I have a beautiful old piece of leather, a really earthy-looking piece of felt, some incredible handspun yarn, I will build a bag around it. In the same way a squirrel skull, a beautiful bead, or a lovely spiral branch may inspire me and be incorporated into one of my works. I sometimes make small amulets which make up a design element on a bag. I don't make "amulet bags" per se (small bags that are necklaces to hold sacred items), but the act of making a art is a ritual in it's own right and the experience is a spiritual one for me, which is why I call them "Spirit Bags".

I also work in collaboration with other people either using their work in mine or sending them my work to use in theirs. I enjoy collaborating, and you will see some examples of collaborations on this website.

The bag, above, is the first bag I ever made, and it is my own spirit bag. It is made of felted wool from my own flock. The front is decorated with a piece of sheepskin, a skin from a pheasant who met his untimely death on the road in front of my house, and a brass sun face. The fringes are wool, alpaca, and waxed cord, 4-strand braided and finished with turquoise pony beads. The strap is rawhide. An Inuit-doll made by Donna Marbet, a puppet maker from Maine, wearing a felt, feather, and leather vest that I made for her, rides inside. It rests on a blanket I wove 30 years ago when studying weaving in Vermont.

The bag at right was made for a friend, Wendy Wright, who is part Lakota Indian living in Maine. It is a pipe bag made of Chamoise leather. A number of elements come from items that Wendy sent me that had meaning for her, and I incorporated them into the bag. The front has a smaller pouch at the top for other amuletic items. Decorative elements include a medal from the Australian Flying Doctors from when Wendy spent time in Australian and stayed with one of the doctors; goatskin; a porcupine claw supplied by Wendy; a bear-paw pewter button; Japanese iris pods; fringes of Chamoise leather and 4-strand-braided waxed cord; bone, wood, ceramic and glass beads. The strap was made from a combination of Wendy's hair and that of a beloved, departed dog of hers, which I carded together and spun.

PLEASE NOTE: Most of my bags are small, too small to carry as a "handbag", but really too big to wear around the neck. They are meant to either wear at the waist (with the strap tucked into or around a belt) or to hang on the wall as you would a piece of art. In my house, they hold things like knitting needles, glasses, spindles, jewelry, etc.