Fiber and Fusion Studio

 

 I rolled into Angela Marion's glass and fiber shop in the late afternoon yesterday.  The first thing I noticed, after her big smile and welcome sign, were the beautiful shawls hanging on the wall to my left. 

More shawls, as I turned to face the wall.   She told me she has been open at this location in Vandalia for eight years.  

We walked together into the next room and I was immediately taken with the display of felted hats. 

Next to the hats was a display of art glass vases, bowls and decor. 

Angela is a talented glass artist.  She explained that she has two glass studios, one in the garage attached to her shop, where she does small pieces, and another that she shares with her boyfriend who does large installations and restorations of stained glass, like for churches or Victorian houses. 

She has numerous glass pendants on display.  

She also offers a large variety of earrings, as well as pendants with chains and chokers.

She hand-quilted the quilt hanging on the wall.  It is a dramatic backdrop.  She doesn't offer quilting classes, though.  She said she is working on the next quilt in her "spare time". 

 

A framed, stained glass tulip.  And a set of three tulips.

Angela's boyfriend painted this lampshade.  I was impressed.

 

Angela explained the name of the technique used for this piece.  Forgive me, I don't remember it.  

This box top is on a leather box. 

 

She offers a collection of glass buckles and buttons that would be suitable for heavy, stable knitted garments. 

Whimsical birds and mushrooms. 

A woven glass bowl.

I'm not sure what this is.  But it reminds me of the piece inside my pie basket so I can carry two pies. The strips of glass are woven.  

Notice the blue ribbon on this bowl. 

Here is an example of a button used on a hat.  This particular technique uses a chemical reaction between the two colors of glass to make the black borders around the blue.  

She attends fiber festivals and sets up a booth as a vendor.  In fact, she just returned from the Great Lakes fiber show in Wooster, and prior to that, one in Franklin, Indiana.  At one of the shows, she purchased a collection of buttons from a Columbus yarn shop that has recently closed. 

Definitely some unique buttons in this group. 

Angela knits most of the samples  in her shop.  She spends a lot of her personal time knitting, to help customers of the yarn shop visualize what the finished garment will look like. 

This scarf resembles the stained glass that she loves. It is made from an Earth Fibers yarn (from Turkey) and the yarn has long color sequences that help to define the color blocks created through short-rowing. 

More display shawls.

 

A knit-along project from the ladies who knit at the shop.

The "Clearance" rack.

Angela is featuring Finull yarns from Norway for Fairisle and Shetland knitting and colorwork.  There are 135 colors, she carries most of them.  She said it is similar to Jamieson, or the "DOMY" yarn I posted about a few months ago, except the yarn is more consistent in thickness.  Jamieson is no longer shipping to the US at this time.  So Angela recommends this wool yarn as a replacement.  

As I walked toward the back of her shop, I was amazed at how many different rooms she has filled with yarn.  She mostly has the different yarn weights in separate rooms, so a shopper can go directly to the room they need to find a yarn for. 

I asked Angela if she could sum up her business philsophy, and it was actually printed on her T-shirt.  She said it was "Doing something you like and enjoy".  Or, Do what you Love, Love what you Do!

I told Angela I wished I lived closer to her shop so I could spend time there with the other knitters making beautiful things.  Angela described how her knitters have supported her through the last few years, which have been fairly difficult.  Angela lost a number of family members to COVID, and then on top of it, suffered a concussion herself while playing with a new puppy.  

No, my camera isn't tilted.  These bins are turned on the diagonal.  

She carries Earth Fibers, Leading Men, Cascade, Berocco, Skacel, Hikoo, Malabrigo, Knitting Fever, Three Irish Girls, and Knit 1 Crochet 2 among other yarns. 

Angela found these clay bowls, which come from a pottery in Seattle called "The Laughing Gnome".  The clay, however, comes from Ohio! 

Angela was so kind to me.  She let me wait in her shop on her day off, while I waited for my husband to come pick me and my bike up, so that I did not have to ride in a windy thunderstorm.  She even fixed me a delicious, steaming cup of cinnamon tea while we waited.  I met her father, who originally came from Mansfield!  Quite a coincidence, and again, what a small world!   

If you are in Southwestern Ohio, be sure and stop in at Angela's shop.  See her website for hours. 

She has "open knit" whenever she is open, although there is a group that comes regularly on Wednesday afternoons.