Fibermania

Bad Wonder-Under Day

There is a batch of bad Wonder-Under circulating in the country these days, and I have encountered it both here in California and last weekend in Wisconsin. Frieda Anderson had some in Tennessee and Texas. I wrote to the company complaining about the fact that the paper wouldn't release and they promised to replace my bad stuff with good stuff.
Here's their story:
While we would love to be able to guarantee that our product will perform to complete satisfaction 100% of the time, this is not always possible. You probably spoke with me several years when we had this problem surface. Just so that you understand what is happening. Freudenberg manufactures the fusible web itself. The paper is manufactured by an outside resource. This paper has a silicone coating on it, similar to Teflon. This coating has to be very precise. If there is too much of the coating, the paper and web will separate too easily (ususally before fusing). If there is not enough, it becomes difficult, if not impossible to remove. As you noticed, if left for several hours in a cold environment, the web will crystalize enough that the paper can be peeled off later. This is NOT how is it supposed to work, but at least you and your students can still use the fabric they fused.

Unfortunately, even with the most stringent quality standards sometimes some production may get through the process without us realizing that there may be an issue. Production is spot checked but we cannot check each and every yard that comes off the production line. We recently discovered some new production that was defective in our inventory and thought we had pulled most of it before it shipped out to the retailers. Unfortunately, it is obvious now that some product has made it to the market place.

They told me to return the bad product to the store where it was purchased. I'd like to know how one does this with shreds of paper half peeled and have stuck? This was a big frustration to my students and me, and I felt like an idiot telling them this has only happened to me once before in all the years I have taught fusing.

Of course that was not the only trial we had to endure in class yesterday. You guessed it. We blew the electricity out with too many irons. sigh...
Nevertheless, eventually everything got fused and we were able to recoup the enthusiasm that was originally brought to the class.
Some fabu things were made, and here are a few.

This is not what you think. Really. It is a traced tree leaf, which I found on my lunchtime stroll. It was placed perfectly on this small work, but looks ever so much like a marijuana symbol. Well, this is California...

Award for Best Use of Masking Tape.

And this is for Frieda, sorry about the flash. But isn't it nice to know you are world reknown?


The day ended appropriately. Forget what I said yesterday about staying on my diet, and no wine.