FAST Member Interview- Melisa of Alba Ranch
If you’re a member of FAST and would like to be featured in the weekly interview, visit this thread in the yahoo group to get the questions, then send your answers (and a picture or two if you’d like) to me at merigreenleaf[at]yahoo.com (or a convo to merigreenleaf). These will be posted in the order I receive them.
(4 Seasons wall hanging- see below for info on this)
What is your name?
Melisa K. Morrison
What is your Etsy shop? Does your shop name have a meaning?
Alba Ranch (www.albaranch.etsy.com) Alba is Gaelic for Scotland. Since my husband is born and raised in Scotland and we were living in Scotland when we bought our Colorado homestead, we thought it fitting as it is our Scotland.
Besides your Etsy shop, do you sell anywhere else? Do you have a website or blog?
www.morrison.uk.net/melisablog
I joined our local art council this year and have begun to enter several of the local art shows. During a show, my entries will hang and be for sale. I also do commissioned work for individuals and businesses.
How long have you been making art/crafting? What was the first thing you remember making?
My mother taught me how to crochet pot holders when I was a young child. My art also extends to music and I have been involved in singing, piano, flute and other instrumental work since I was about 5 years old.
What kind of fibre arts do you do? If different from the previous question, what was the first fibre art thing you made?
I spin, weave, wet felt, dye, crochet, and raise the critters from the hoof up. I don’t knit and refused to try to lea to the very horror of the Scottish ladies in my fiber group in Turriff. After attempting to learn how to knit this last year, I have decided to retain my original opinion that knitting sucks and stick to crocheting. ahha I do much better with ONE stick!!
What’s your favourite thing to make?
I enjoy making many different things and don’t think I have a favourite but I do seem to make many scarves all the time! haha
(Click the below link to read the rest of the interview and see more pictures)
(Here’s the info Melisa sent me about Sammi the angora goat:
Sammi the angora goat, is the warp thread for winter white, and some of the weft as well as other kids, but he is all the warp. He is also in the Four Seasons.)
What do you think is the strangest or most unusual fiber arts item you have made or been asked to make?
I think that most unusual fibre art item that I have made to date is my 4 Seasons.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28183840
(See first photo and these)
(Winter)
(Spring)
(Summer)
(Fall)
Article on Alba Ranch in our local paper.
http://morrison.uk.net/albaranch/showdoc.php?document=ccdrarticle.php&menu=fibremenu.php
Where is the craziest or most interesting place you’ve ever crocheted, knitted, felted, spun yarn, etc?
I would say the craziest location for spinning was when I was drop spindling while walking around at an animal swap trying to sell my animals at the same time I was buying more that I did not need.
What is your favourite place to work?
My favourite place to work is all comfy like on couch with my feet up while watching TV, all my dogs surrounding me on the floor, fire burning in the fireplace and candles lit all over the mantel.
What inspires you? Where does your inspiration come from?
Texture. most undoubtedly texture first and foremost and than followed by colour, both of which evoke emotions in me which is when I start to create.
What is your favourite colour? Do you tend to work with that colour, or do you find yourself working with other colours?
My favourite colour is purple followed by white. I work with them both a lot.
Do you prefer a specific type of fibre?
Merino is my all time favourite fibre.
Is there any other kind of art (fibre-related or not) that you’d like to learn?
I would eventually like to learn how to dry felt, needle felt, make goat milk soap and lotions, return to making candles with my essential oils, master the harmonica and the bagpipes. Oh and I would like to get back to my belly dancing as I have been away from that for over a year.
Tell us a bit about yourself- where do you live, what’s your job, do you have a spouse/children/pets, any other hobbies, that kind of thing.
I currently live in Colorado but am originally from Michigan. I met my husband online and when we got married packed up everything and moved to Scotland. It was in Scotland that I learned how to spin, weave, wet felt, dye and started to return to my crocehting. I am an animal nut. I like them better than people most days. I have so many dogs my brother says I am his crazy older sister with 50 million dogs! haha Border collies are my babies but have also branched out into Great Pyrneese. I have angora goats, dairy goats, lincoln Long wools, Wensleydale, Teeseater/Cotswold, and Merino sheep. I used to have llamas but got tired of them trying to kill my herding border collies. We also have chickens and some useless cats as evidenced by all the blasted mice around here! I used to work in the mental health care field both in Michigan and Scotland and also as a lifeguard.
One of my border collies is deaf. I trained her with sign language and she was a certified therapy dog that worked with learning disabled adults in the UK. I also studied and became a holistic therapist while in the UK. I retired from actively keeping an office in town for holistic treatments to the ranch this January so I can focus on my art. I still do treatments on occasion and use all the essential oils and Bach Flower Remedies on myself, family and all the critters.
Tell us one quirky thing about you (or one thing no one knows about you).
I live and work on a ranch, can stick my hands inside of a ewe when she is lambing but I can not touch raw meat. I wear gloves to touch raw meat or I stab it with a fork so cut it up with scissors!!
Do you have any advice for other fibre artists? Have any craft room, storage, or other tips?
Don’t be afraid to try new things, new fibres or new projects.
Tags: etsyfast, member interview
August 15th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Very interesting interview. What a challenge and enterprise raising the sheep yourself and spinning your own fibers. You sound like a person I would love to spend some time with, learning from you. All our lives are so different, yet we meet in fiber, in our art.
August 22nd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
So talented! I love your work. And I love Sammi!
November 17th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I am so far behind the times. wow I hadn’t even noticed that there were comments or a place to put comments at the end of the interviews. duh!! haha
been exhausted in the last few months, only just starting to feel perhaps like I might be getting back to being me again after over a year of feeling like crap.
I have gotten rid of a lot of the animals. Taken on a few angora bunnies. love the bunnies, got rid of all the fibre goats, including Sammi
and figured out I think today that I am allergic to mohair. I have hated spinning it and working with it, and I have recently made some scarves that are gorgeous..trying to make one for me to wear for advertisement and every time I make it, I go eck! and rip it off my neck as I can’t wear it. they all had SOME mohair in in them. I finally finished a merino scarf this week after several days of weaving and it is fine. so hoping my bunnies will also be ok with me.
it is a challenge raising the animals and doing my fibre art..hence I am cutting down my animals so much that I might soon have almost none, but you will get to see more and more of my art work IN my shop instead of just rovings or raw fleece.
Melisa