Winter wool

I had another opportunity to teach a wet-felting class.  This one was at the Lander Art Center, and we made Alpaca scarves, using Alpaca wool from local sources in Clearmont and Powell.  I had four gals, and have another class scheduled this week for another 4 gals. 

It's kind of a messy project with all the hot water and soap, but with a cement floor, it's a pretty easy clean-up.  I did have a bit of a disaster, though.  When I was setting up all the materials before class, I put hot water into my crock pot to keep it heated.  I heard a pop, but dismissed it.  Suddenly, water was flowing off the table and onto the floor...lots of water.  One of the gals ran for the mop.  We had a couple other hot pots going to heat water, and we couldn't figure out what was leaking.  Then I took the lid off the crock pot...no water.  The entire bottom of the crock cracked away from the sides, and all the water had run out. Holy buckets!  Lesson learned:  If your crock pot was in the backseat of your pickup on the way to the event, and it's the middle of winter, the pottery is probably too cold to have hot water poured into it.  I don't suppose a person can just buy the new pottery to go into the crock pot.  Dang.