Caryne Mount creates unique wearable art using vintage kimono fabrics and textiles from Japan, contemporary fabrics, and when she cannot find the exact fabric she needs, she will design and make it herself. She is an award-winning art to wear designer, and recipient of two individual artist grants. She graduated from the University of Kansas with a BA in Art History, is a mom of two daughters, and now lives in Grants Pass with her spouse and mini-Aussie, Ed. Caryne also teaches sewing and textiles at Rogue Community College. 

I’ll make anything out of fabric, or even plastic or metal!

The most unusual and challenging sewing projects are the type of work I like to do. It was inevitable, growing up with an inventive machinist father and a high fashion seamstress mother, and possessing a long, skinny body that’s hard to fit.

From upholstery and tailoring to sequins and spandex, I have fun with a racing industrial sewing machine or sitting peacefully doing exquisite hand work. I enjoy creating fluid three-dimensional forms out of threads and yardage, sculpting fabric to the body for a perfect fit.

The best part—sharing, living with, and wearing original works of art.

With two parents who were artistic, it stands to reason that my twin sister and I would get some of their creative DNA. Even before high school, I was into calligraphy (a lost art with the age of computer fonts) and “doodling.” I discovered yarn in high school and found I enjoyed the textural feel of so many different types. I learned how to knit and crochet. I could make pretty things with it, and it kept my hands busy. Perfect! Then came copper wire. And beads. And fabrics. And papers.

But I’ve always loved working with yarn.

Several years ago, I tried my hand at felting. I knit my bags and hats with wool, and to some I add decorative fibers. Then I felt them with hot water and abrasion to make them thick and sturdy. It’s always a surprise how they turn out, depending on the brand, weight, fiber content, and type of yarn I use. That’s part of the fun, and the intrigue too.I can easily see myself decades from now, sitting in my rocking chair on my front porch, knitting or crocheting!

If you’ve ever sat in a pasture or walked in the woods with a llama, you know the gentle presence and unique individuality of this special four-legged companion. Those same qualities live in the hand-felted llama wool hats that Isabel Gaige and I made over the years from the fiber grown each year by the llamas at Forest Edge Farm.

Working in our studio at the ranch in southern Oregon’s Illinois River Valley, we watched daily the peaceful lives of the Abrams llama herd whose shorn and carded fleeces transformed after many hours into one-of-a-kind hand-felted llama wool hats.

Hand felting is arduous work and takes time. However, the lightness, softness, and flexibility of our llamas’ fiber rendered into shaped felt by loving hands yielded a hat that both protects and nurtures the wearer as well as the creator. Each piece is one-of-a-kind, both because of the designer’s art and because nature’s artistry makes each llama’s fleece unique.

We closed our studio in 2013 because it was time for both Isabel and me to move on to other things in our lives. However, an inventory of the llama hats still waits to bring comfort to new owners. They are available at the Guild Gallery in Kerby, OR, the Visitor’s Center in Cave Junction, OR, and at both the Oregon Caves Chateau’s gift shop and Forest Edge Farm outside Cave Junction.

Hats in all eight styles are still available and I can be reached for inquiries or an appointment to come try on hats at the Gallery or the ranch through Contact Us on this Guild site.