My latest Long Island collaboration is with Justine Moody. Justine is a fiber artist, she works with natural fibers. All of her work is hand dyed and hand felted, and absolutely beautiful. She was born and raised on eastern Long Island and graduated from Pratt Institute. She’s also a really nice lady!
We were both vendors last weekend at the Hallockville Country Fair. At some point, she came over to introduce herself and see what was going on at my booth. Of course I returned the favor, and when I had a moment, I stopped by to see her. I was blown away by her craftsmanship. Her work is stunning.
Over the two days of the event, we visited each other whenever we could. We were both busy, so it was difficult to talk. I noticed Justine had gorgeous felted soaps. I asked where she purchased them. She told me they were from an out of state vendor and although she liked the soap, the company always shipped them wrapped even though she requested unwrapped bars. It was time consuming (and wasteful) to have to unwrap them before felting. The company wasn’t local, and she was interested in using a local soap maker – can you see where this is going?
So Justine and I shot a few emails back and forth after the event. Her soaps are square and weigh more than mine. I needed Brian to make me some new soap cutters to get the shape and weight she wanted. Brian being Brian, was happy to help. By the end of the week I made Justine a batch of square shaped lemongrass goat milk soap.
Justine is happy to have a local Long Island soap maker to work with and I’m grateful for her business. She’s even offered to add Alegna Soap® to her label. I told you she was a nice lady!
What are you grateful for this week?
Yours in Gratitude,
Angela