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AN AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
Bunny Love, Fiber Beginnings and a Mini 'Art' Farm
Bunny Love
When you fall in love with a bunny they bring a sweet enchantment
into your life. But when you fall for an angora bunny and their
magical charm, your life will never be the same. So that is how
it all began. ..
As a child I had pet rabbits... Well perhaps they were meat rabbits
that I made into pets! As a young adult I discovered the 'fancies'
and had a brief affair with Holland, French and Fuzzy Lops. Oh
those wonderful lop ears! Then one day I went to a Home Show.
I stopped dead in my tracks! There in front of me were two huge
gorgeous white French Angoras from Czechoslovakia and the
softest most beautiful sweater I had ever seen. A woman was
spinning fluff on a spinning wheel. I stood there mesmerized
for a long time. Soon after, I bought a pair of those French Angoras,
had a couple of spinning lessons and bought the spinning wheel.
I practised for a week on wool and never looked back. I was soon
spinning that angel fluff and wrapped myself in a cloud of luxurious angora from then on.
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Angora bunnies and my spinning wheel have travelled with me on
my journey through my professional career, studies and the vagaries
of personal life . While mainly a hobby in those years, I entertained
the novel idea that a fiber farm would be fun! A FARM!! Are you crazy?!! Well what about a retirement project? !! With a few 'sample' fiber animals? Ok so it would have to be a very small farm. Lilliput! How charming. But farming is farming and you still have to pay the
bills or the dream soon becomes a nightmare. Everyone knows
small farms don't survive without an outside job to keep them going.
So why bother? !! Besides most agriculture involves the production
of food, but since I wasn't about to eat the animals on this farm,
another approach would be necessary.
So began a journey into the realm of ART and AGRICULTURE
with a twist for the twenty-first century: the aesthetic value of the
fiber animals and creative process would be the heart of the adventure. This journey of learning about and acquiring fiber animals and creating fiberart has given me a whole new perspective that I am wrapping up in a new way to share with you my fiber friends.
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Angora I entertained the novel idea that a fiber farm would be fun! A FARM!! Are you crazy?!! Well what about a retirement 'project'? !! With a
few more 'sample' fiber animals? Ok so it would have to be a very small farm . Lilliput! How charming. But farming is not for the faint of heart.
and no matter how small, you still have to pay the
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for the fiber they give us is as much an art form as the
hand crafted products. Producing fine fiber is an art form
because the process engages our senses and challenges
our perception and abilities to improve it, as much as it
preserves something of value from the past in a new way.
Knowledge about genetics and modern management
practices enables us to enhance traditional agriculture
for exciting and challenging developments. The colored
angora goat with its incredible fleece is just one example,
where the shepherd or goatherd must also be an "artist"
to work with and produce the "palette" of naturally colored
fiber. Embuing traditional hand crafted skills with modern
imagination to use fine fiber in new ways for pictorial
and sculptual visual art is yet another. Although using
traditional skills and adding value to fiber farming is
extremely labour intensive, it is also a labour of love
and so the sine qua non of an aesthetic experience.
Organic Connection
In this time of large commercial enterprises, where the
clothing we wear is made from petroleum, we have lost
touch with the benefits of wearing natural fiber clothing .
We have also lost an organic connection to how it is
made as much as to how the food we eat is produced.
So part of the intent of Creature Comforts Cottage is
educational, to help restore an understanding of this
whole organic process. as well as an appreciation
of the benefits of wearing natural fiber clothing for us
and fas eco friendly for the environment. .
Animals with a Job
it as an "mini farm" makes it possible to
focus on this process as an aesthetic, educational
experience for the enjoyment of everyone. Although
they are working animals, the rare breeds of animals
that live at Creature Comforts Cottage are valued
here for their genetic diversity and their fiber, but also
as "pets with a job" that have a unique personality
and character that I hope will be conveyed to you
in this experience. REATURE COMFORTS 'JUST FOR YOU'
N EXPERIENCE OF FIBER ART & ANIMALS
An Organic Art Form
This is a mini farm where the animals are part of thepreserves something of value from the past in a new way.
Knowledge about genetics and modern management
practices enables us to enhance traditional agriculture
for exciting and challenging developments. The colored
angora goat with its incredible fleece is just one example,
where the shepherd or goatherd must also be an "artist"
to work with and produce the "palette" of naturally colored
fiber. Embuing traditional hand crafted skills with modern
imagination to use fine fiber in new ways for pictorial
and sculptual visual art is yet another. Although using
traditional skills and adding value to fiber farming is
extremely labour intensive, it is also a labour of love
and so the sine qua non of an aesthetic experience.
Organic Connection
In this time of large commercial enterprises, where the
clothing we wear is made from petroleum, we have lost
touch with the benefits of wearing natural fiber clothing .
We have also lost an organic connection to how it is
made as much as to how the food we eat is produced.
So part of the intent of Creature Comforts Cottage is
educational, to help restore an understanding of this
whole organic process. as well as an appreciation
of the benefits of wearing natural fiber clothing for us
and eco friendly for the environment. .
as "pets with a job" that have a unique personality
and character that I hope will be conveyed to you
in this experience. Animals with a Job
Maintaining it as an "mini farm" makes it possible to
focus on this process as an aesthetic, educational
experience for the enjoyment of everyone. Although
they are working animals, the rare breeds of animals
that live at Creature Comforts Cottage are valued
here for their genetic diversity and their fiber, but also
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