Interview with a Star - Helen Dalmar

Hello! I am Helene Dalmar.

I have been doing all sorts of handicrafting for many years and with great enthusiasm and satisfaction. My major regret is that a day is only 24 hours long, and that a human has got only two arms :) Always in a never ending pursuit of new skills and techniques, I constantly look out for interesting solutions to implement my ideas. I have been practicing felting for eighteen months or so. And I feel that I'm in love affair with this activity forever.

I am fond of the material, and I like the process, and I adore the outcome, of course. And my clients are satisfied too, which is also very important. All this time I've been in constant search - I'd look for new deco materials that'd match merino wool, I'd invent new decorations and new work techniques. As a result, I feel my skills have been progressively improving all the time as well. This makes me rejoice, I shall confess. I only use finest quality merino, which is pretty thin. It allows producing elegant scarfs, airy and easy to drape, yet preserving all the traits of natural wool - the scarfs are always indigenously ecological, absorbing atmospheric moisture, and very warming.

Recently, I have begun to use non-colored merino, perfectly natural, and then I use permitted food colorants to acquire the desired shades. No industrial dyes! Home coloring expends limits for creativity and helps to accentuate my ideas and realize my fantasies. My works are full of charming expression, intelligence, and attraction. To add, they are full of positive cheer as well! They upkeep the owner’s mood and generate enthusiasm in other people around.

This activity is a kind of magic indeed. You approach a stretch of a fluffy and imponderable wool roll, you work a series of manual movements, mysterious as they appear, and – voila! – a miracle is born, all colorful, soft, and worm! The hard mental and physical toil and the intense work concentration vanish away - you just forget of them while you look at the outcome of your labor – an item tender and softish, with glittering threads of silk, all enthralling with cuteness!

Apart from wool work, I do some other things. I produce beautiful decorations made of polymeric clay, which are altogether radiant and indigenously unique, and they can fit any garment you select, be it casual gear, a business suit, or an evening dress. Polymeric clay is an omnipotent material that permits realization of most brave fantasizing.

From time to time, I also make festive cakes; I decorate them with floral elements, etc. made of sugar. For that, I use the skills and techniques learned from clay work.

Very recently, I have fulfilled my long standing dream – I assembled a doll house! I have been constructing it all by myself from scratch. It’s almost complete now. I’m presently decorating the tiny rooms in there. I derive joy and satisfaction from this work aplenty, although working with miniatures is not easy. Never mind, we aren’t here to aspire for easy ways, are we? :)

And another new hobby - flowers of the Thai clay, "cold porcelain"
Dandelions - the first flowers of this series, but it sure did not last :)

I very much want in a day was 24 hours. Or 48 - all have time :)

With love -

Helene