Dulcey Heller

Light blue and green beaded snowflake, hanging for a Christmas tree.

This year’s snowflake, aka messing around with beads. #beadwork

Soft grey, lavender, and fuchsia yarn in an arch of textile as the start of a wrap/shawl. A large ball of yarn is attached.

I set aside the sweater I’m nålbinding because I don’t feel like doing sleeves right now (I’ve taken out a connection three times.) So, time for a wrap with this Noro wool. It was brought back from Osaka for me, and I have no idea how big this wrap will end up being. Dalarna stitch. #nålbinding

Red nålbinding with a blue stripe

York stitch (nålbinding) developing: ends are felted together at 1. At 2, is one row of blue. From the front, it appears to be two rows, back one row. At 3, I’ve changed back to the red, which covers the top “row” of blue. So every visible row is 2 layers of bulky wool yarn. #nålbinding #nalbinding

A tube of pink-red nålbinding, the beginning of a sweater.

2 100g skeins of Icelandic lopi yarn, about 10” of the bottom of a sweater. York stitch. #nålbinding #nalbinding

A started sweater of soft wine red yarn in York stitch, all parallel diagonal stitches.

The York stitch looks very appealing, and I like its stretch… #nålbinding #naalbinding

Plum, teal, yellow and other yarns, shown closeup at beginning of warp. The thicker teal yarn makes a solid stripe in the hemstitching.

I like the effect of hemstitching with fat yarn. I’ll have to remember that. #weaving #saoriweaving

A twisted soft red wool rope coiled with a wooden nãlbinding on top

Car project: sweater. Ha, hopefully. This is the nålbinding York stitch. #nålbinding #nalbinding

A beaded spiral rope of grey, red, and yellow

I enjoyed participating in the St Louis Park Art Show yesterday! It was a good crowd, and I liked my booth neighbors. I brought a spiral rope to work on while hanging out, and this is the way - I can do something fun and easy to put down, and have some show-and-tell too. #beadwork

Art show table with beadwork and woven items.

I’m ready to go! The St Louis Park Art Show (MN) is today, 10a-5p. I’m near the clock. There are about 90 artists, and an additional group of youth artists. There’s also entertainment, dogs for adoption, food trucks and more. #weaving #beadwork

Thanks so much! It was lovely to weave, and I was thrilled how it looked after washing. It feels so nice.

Dark blue, light blue, grey and white plaid handwoven cotton towel; and a handwoven scarf of soft pink, light yellow, cream and grey. On top is a paper tag with “Dulcey Heller” and a hole punch.

My last thing to do before the St Louis Park (MN) Art Show tomorrow - tagging the wovens! This pink scarf is so soft and light. It’s mostly merino, cotton, & angora. I’m really pleased with the hand towels. They are made with an organic cotton, and feel great too. #weaving #saoriweaving #handmademn

Long icicle ornaments made of shiny, reflective twisted bugle beads.

Multicolor felt balls earrings with sequins and beads.

Two new things for the St. Louis Park Art Fair (MN) on Saturday are these beaded icicle ornaments, and these funky earrings. The icicles are made of twisted bugles, which catch the light well. The earrings are lightweight felted balls with sequins and beads. #earrings #beadwork

Closeup of two woven scarves, with one primarily plum with horizontal stripes of teal and lighter pink, and occasional brighter colors. The other is vertical stripes of dark blue, purple, light grey, and a little pink

New warm winter scarves, ready for the St. Louis Park Art Fair on Saturday! The blue and purple is all wool and mohair, soft and thick. The plum is wool and more, extravagantly long. #weaving #saoriweaving #handmademn

Paper diagram of art show setup, with beaded starfish in a turquoise bowl

Wooden crates, milk crates, sawhorses filled with supplies for art show

Test St Louis Park Art Fair table done, photographed, and diagrammed - and packed away for September 6! To do: finish findings on four items, print one more sheet of tags/labels, a tiny bit of spreadsheet fun - and keep making ornaments (picture later)! #handmademn

Three beaded earrings hanging from a pottery cup. Two are squares of glass hanging from a point with a bail of small beads. The third is a triangle hanging from the middle of one side on a silver wire loop.

My work table, beading some of these perennially favorite earrings for the St Louis Part Art Fair (MN) on Sept 6. The square earring is my design, and was published in Beadwork. The triangle is my design too, vertical tonal stripes on the reverse, with nice movement. #handmademn #beadwork #earrings

Five variegated yarn flowers, with flat round bead centers. Each is of different yarn, with six soft curled petals.

Here’s something fun I designed for the St. Louis Park Art Fair on September 6th - nålflowers! (I can rarely resist a play on words.) The petals are made with Oslo stitch, and a flat bead for the center, made into a pin/brooch. #nålbinding #naalbinding #handmademn

A beaded cubed corkscrew spiral pendant in bright fuchsia purple and gold, with loops on both ends to attach to a cord.

Here’s a pendant I’ve made for the St. Louis Park Art Fair, which will be on Saturday, September 6. I’m going to attach cord to the loops on the end, and make it into an adjustable length necklace. It will stretch some when hanging. I have another shorter one in blue… #beadwork #handmademn

Soft pink, yellow, white, and grey handwoven on a SAORI loom, with weaving shuttles of soft yarns.

Lovely delicate colors in my current weave. One of these two yarns is primarily angora, the other merino. Other fibers join the fun too. 🙂 I am making this for the St. Louis Park, MN Art Fair on Sat, September 6. Beads will be joining the fun too, of course! #handmademn #handwoven #saoriweaving

Stripes of blue, grey, and white yarn reflected in the metal reed of a loom

This was kind of neat; after (finally) getting the loom fully warped, I did a few rows to get started. Then I turned off the light, and looking back in the evening sun coming through the window, saw a reflection of the warp in the metal reed. #saoriweaving

Carved wooden lucet braiding fork with multicolored braid.

New tool: lucet braiding fork.

Also, #weaving…

Cobalt blue, baby blue, light grey, and cream yarn on a warping board in preparation for weaving.

I started prepping a warp today. This is Gist organic cotton, which I haven’t used before. It feels fantastic! I hope to start dressing the loom tomorrow. #saoriweaving

That is bonkers awesome!

Thank you! The join better than the pair of mittens I made, ha. I worked the sleeves and the body at the same time so I’d run out of brown at the same time. (What happens when you thrift yarn…)

Striped sweater in mostly reddish-brown and blue, made in Icelandic wool with Mammen stitch in nålbinding.

Striped sweater in mostly reddish-brown and blue, made in Icelandic wool with Mammen stitch in nålbinding. Yoke detail.

Striped sweater in mostly reddish-brown and blue, made in Icelandic wool with Mammen stitch in nålbinding. Bottom of sweater and sleeve detail.

I completed a big project in nålbinding! This is Mammen stitch in Icelandic wool. I started with a circular yoke, and then added a chain of stitches to create the base for the sleeves and the body. This is about 1000 yards of yarn. #nålbinding #nalbinding

It is! I love their classes and exhibitions.

“Read more books” printed all in capital letters printed by letterpress, with black ink on gold paper, with a background of plaid handwoven fabric in green, gold, brown and white.

I took a fun letterpress introduction led by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and this is what I printed. It was great fun! The teaching artists brought two presses by Provisional Press - awesome tools! (The background is one of my handwovens.) #letterpress

YouTube video by Anne Marie Decker Nalbinding: Dalarna stitch (U) O/U O:U O

It really is! This is the video that worked for me. Have fun. 🧶

A cobalt blue hat on a brown background

This is Dalarna in an Icelandic wool yarn - a bit of a different nålbinding stitch as far as its mechanics, and it creates a beautiful texture. A new stitch for me, and one I’ll definitely use again. #nålbinding #nalbinding

Wild Wonders: The Beauty of Art, Culture, and Conservation – Reid Park Zoo – 2025 This special exhibition features nine stunning, larger-than-life animal sculptures created in the Huichol beaded art tradition.

Huichol beadwork at the Reid Park Zoo in Tuscon. Wonderful! #beadwork