January 31,1 2016 - sheep 2

In the Spinning and Weaving group, there was a woman who had moved to the United States from Australia.  She had always either lived on a sheep ranch or in a location where she maintained a small herd of her own.  She enjoyed researching wool types and bringing sheep into her herd to create hybridized wool types.

Sheep - print pulled from original block.  Ranger black ink on 400 series Strathmore printmaker paper. 

When she moved to Iowa, she was very outspoken about the inferior wool quality and limited varieties of wools in the US and quickly worked to import some of her prized Australian herd.  I think the Iowa sheep owners, who had also been in the field (no pun intended,) for a long time, were quite offended by not only her need to import, but also her outspoken disdain for the Iowa herd.

Sheep - Daniel Smith black water soluble relief ink and FW acrylic ink on 400 series Strathmore printmaker paper.  Notice that revisions have been make to the block prior to making this print.  This is a later print in the series after 3 or 4 revision.

Although I know these heated discussions were difficult for all of the sheep owners involved, I have to say I learned a lot about the characteristics of wool by listening carefully.

Sheep relief print emphasizing long fibers in the wool - Daniel Smith black relief ink printed on Strathmore 400 series printmaker paper.  Background handpainted with FW acrylic ink.

The handsome sheep here is intended to show the long and kinky-curly strands of fiber that make up a good sheep wool.  In the annual shearing, the sheep would finally be able to cool down in the warm spring days, and the spinners were busy carding, spinning and weaving!

Sheep relief print emphasizing long fibers in the wool - Daniel Smith black relief ink printed on Strathmore 400 series printmaker paper.  Background handpainted with FW acrylic ink.

I was ,surprised to hear recently, that the price of sheared wool is very very low.  I can remember paying seven or eight dollars a pound for raw wool (you get a grocery bag full.)   I wonder if that means the price of hats, scarves, and sweaters will be going down next fall................seems unlikely!

Once again, notice the subtle differences between the first sheep and the last.  These differences reveal the changes made to the original block through the process of printing, revising, printing, etc.