Wondrous Creatures - Sandra Klink

The poor artist, Sandra Klink, was frying on the tarmac in State College in July. Once upon a time the street had been lined with tall elm trees, but they are gone; killed by the Dutch Elm disease or some such. Some of the other artists featured at the festival claimed to have made pieces from those very trees...

BUT, that didn't stop her creativity and the beauty of her work. She indicated to me that she uses silk scarves which she tears into strips and wraps around metal frames. It seems that Ms. Klink no longer has a web site, but the Central Pennsylvania Arts Festival had a few examples of her work. She had a lot of colorful insects and a few other creatures, as seen below.

The two above examples of Ms. Klink's work are unusual in relation to the rest of her inventory at the show, but they are incredibly playful.

Beauvoir in Biloxi, Mississippi

Beauvoir is the coastal home of Jefferson Davis - the president of the Confederacy during the Civil War. It is here that he wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.

Though the homes/historic structures on the property are quite small, there was once a soldiers home on the property and currently there is the 'Presidential Library.'

 

The main house.

 

One of the out buildings.

The other out building which was used as Jefferson Davis' office.

View from the house to the Gulf.

Here is the library building itself - and inside there are records and muster rolls for Confederate soldiers. I suppose I should check and see what I can learn, as any family members from Texas might be found here.

I had to include this picture because Andrew Kirkpatrick, Jr., fighting for the Union, dies at Fortress Monroe.

And this might be morbid fascination - a death mask. I haven't seen many of these. (How do you suppose they got the plaster out of his beard?)

And who would have thought there would be an over lap of my interest in the Civil War and fiber art... It seems that perhaps Jefferson Davis, a graduate of West Point, came up with the idea to use camels in the American Southwest.

A gravestone for a military camel.

Ok, and finally.... Llamas.... and donkeys, and Shetland ponies, and goats and sheep... these are here to amuse the school children after they have gone through the house and endured the lecture on history. I am including the video I took of the animals chasing a truck in hopes of being fed. Made me laugh out loud, as one can hear. By the way, I was told that the house has acquired a juvenile camel and they are expecting another one soon. I must return soon to meet the new arrivals. How often does one get to be that close to a camel. (Though the llamas were a little skittish.) And can I say...? There is a graveyard on the property for the Confederate soldiers who chose to be buried on site. The tombstones are now carefully arranged, however previously that was not the case. But it made me laugh that the animals are free to wander and contemplate (and poop on) the graves.

One of two llamas

No relation - that I know of.

And finally...

Camel Fiber

You learn something new every day. (Hopefully, I suppose.)

While reading Volume 11, Issue 1 of Wild Fibers magazine I noticed a photograph of camel moms with their babies. (Do baby camels have a name, like kids or cria?) One frequently sees llamas, alpacas, etc., but I don't ever recall seeing photographs of camels in a context of knitting fiber. Maybe I just haven't been sensitive to it in the past, but it struck me as worthy of investigation.

The advertisement is for Weaver Creek Fibers. According to their web site they are wholesale purveyors of luxury fibers. I'm afraid they do not have a terribly long list of locations where one can buy their product, as I would love to feel camel fiber. They will blend the fiber with merino wool or silk.

Camels may be creatures of the desert but they need a downy undercoat to keep the suns rays away from their tender skin. Camel down has been prized for centuries and in modern times was in every gentleman's wardrobe, in the quintessential Camel Hair Coat.

OMG, Camel hair coats really are made of camel hair!

The Baby Camel Down is a warm golden brown and so very soft. This short stapled fiber is prepared in a manner that makes it very easy to spin and will do well, whether spun with a lot of loft or tightly for sturdy garments. It pairs wonderfully with merino and silk in our spectacular blends and will take dye beautifully. Camel down is the soft warm inner down of a bactrian camel with a fiber structure similar to cashmere. The down is usually 1-3 inches long. Camel down does not felt easily. Baby Camel Top has been becoming more popular every year.

I wonder if camel fiber is generally used for knitting, as well as making men's winter coats. I will have to ask around. I notice, too, that they are discussing the use of baby camel fiber, not the fiber from an adult animal. What do they do with all the adult animals? I did a google search on the address, and one cannot tell if they have a lot of land and they are raising the animals. (But, perhaps they are not raising the animals, given that they mention yaks, rabbits, alpaca fiber, too.) I was disturbed by the thought of all the adult animals.... So, I conclude, perhaps naively, that they have a source of fiber from a place that has more 'use' for adult animals.

As I read further, I see them discuss the animals. They indicate:

Bactrian camels have two humps, weigh about 1600 pounds and stand about 7-9 feet tall at the top of their humps. Their gestation period is 370-445 days and give birth to calves weighing 80-130 pounds. Their life span is 40-50 years. Bactrian camels have two coats: the warm inner coat of down and a rough outer coat which is long and hairy. They shed their fiber in clumps consisting of both coats and is normally gathered. They produce about 5 pounds of fiber annually.

What I conclude is that they do not raise their own animals, as the photograph shows animals with only one hump, not two...

I have swiped this image from a google image search.



Ok, I am disillusioned. And I wonder why they would use a photograph of animals with one hump instead of the two humps they discuss in their description.

A baby camel is a calf.