Weaver In Paradise

March Snow

2011-03-03T10:28:00.001-07:00

I finally warped the loom with the alpaca yarn I was gifted. I've woven about 12 inches of a scarf using the brown and tan yarns. And then this happened:

To have a month's worth of snow fall in two days is really a pain. I missed a day's work at school because the roads were treacherous. I was working however.... shovelling, shovelling, shovelling!
In case you are wondering, our snow plow truck is a 1953 Dodge M37. We call him Sarge because he was Army surplus.

Shibori Dye Tank

2011-01-21T02:19:00.001-07:00

The summer of 2010 was very wet and cool. It seemed the only sunny days were those on which I was scheduled to work. I was only able to dye on one day. I am working on making my loom controlled shibori scarves more easily marketable. (I wrote about them here and here) As I am making them now, they are too labor intensive to sell for a price I think my customers are willing to pay. I think if I can dye several scarves at a time, I may be able to sell them for less. To that end, I designed a "tank" to dye the scarves in.

It is a simple box made from plywood and 2X3 lumber.

I lined the tank with plastic and filled it with about quart of black Procion MX dye thickened with sodium alginate. Because I was outside, I took some care and leveled the table. I added the scarves, then painted the tops with brown dye. I folded the plastic on the sides over the top and let the whole thing batch in the sun for several hours.

Simple Cardmaking

2011-01-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

My best friend, GG, spent Saturday and Sunday afternoon with me, making cards in my studio. She mentioned that I haven't updated my blog in a while, so I thought I'd show you what we were doing.

First, I've a confession to make... I am a hoarder of things with possibilty. This includes all kinds of art supplies, sewing and quilting supplies and fabrics, weaving and knitting yarns, wood and building materials, and garden seeds. My justification is that I live a long way from any stores where these things are readily available, so I have to be prepared for whenever the creative urge strikes. And I must also save any of those little bits and bobs that can be recycled...waste not.... my studio is chuck full of possibilities. One of my resolutions is to reduce the hoard. I had a great time making cards, unfortunately the endeavor used only a small handful of stuff from the pile.

The first picture is of cards we made from scraps of handwoven fabric unraveled a bit,scraps of vintage lace,vintage buttons and recycled images from old calendars and magazines.

These cards are from recycled calendar images and different colored cardstock.

These are from grosgrain ribbon and rickrack scraps, used buttons, a pewter placque, and tiny bits of embroidery floss.

A Surprise Treasure

2010-03-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

I purchased a ziplock bag of miscellaneous lace at a yard sale last summer. It looked like bits and pieces of the cheapest kind of lace available at any fabric store. I was thinking I could use it in some of my art or sewing projects. And...it was only 50 cents!
When a student needed some lace to trim a pillow project, I brought him the bag to pick through. "What's this?", he asked me.
When I looked closely, I realized it was tatted lace, hand made of very fine thread that I suspect is linen. Oh, the painstaking labor that went into this! The knots are so fine, I can't see them without my glasses. There are six yards wrapped around a scrap piece of cardboard. Even the bit of cardboard is delightful! Because this kind of cardboard is not acid free, I have rewound the lace around a roll I made from archival white card stock to preserve it.

I was able to tell the students how tatting is done, and they marveled at how anyone would have the patience to make that much lace. I take seriously my obligation to teach about fiber arts to as many people as possible. I love that I have a captive audience of 12 students every week!

Kelp Forest FDC

2010-02-28T00:29:00.002-07:00

I create most of my First Day Cover mail art to participate in swaps organized through the Yahoo Groups "Carving Consortium" and "Eraser Cut Exchange". In October, the US Post Office issued the "Kelp Forest" set of stamps. It is part of a series called "Nature of America" with full sheets of stamps depicting different ecosystems of the United States. This was either the ninth or tenth year in this series. I have been participating in this particular swap for several years, and wanted to continue again this year, so I volunteered to "host" the swap.

It's very easy to host FDC swaps. I wrote an email to both Yahoo Group lists calling for participants. When we had a decent size group of people willing to "play", I sent the names and addresses of all the players to every one in the group. We each designed and carved an image related to the Kelp Forest; printed the images; then addressed and stamped an envelope for each person in the group. All of the envelopes were sent to the issuing post office, in this case, Monteray, California. Then we sat back and waited to receive the amazing art in our mailboxes.

Here is the art from the five people who participated:

Jenny H. G.

Stephanie C:

Roberta J:

Dot W:

and mine:

2009 First Day Covers

2010-02-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

One of my hobbies is carving soft vinyl blocks or erasers to make rubber stamps. I love to carve blocks for mail art, especially First Day Covers. You can read about some of my previous work here and here.

For the Christmas stamp, I made a version of the reindeer stamp and turned him into Rudolph:

The Love stamp that came out last spring was called "the King and Queen of Love". I immediately thought of the kings and queens in playing cards, and made this stamp:

2010-01-13T01:19:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year! I am looking forward to 2010 being a completely different year than 2009. I haven’t been posting much, as my blog is supposed to be about weaving, and I haven’t done any. My main definition of my self is as a weaver, and in 2009, I only wove 10 yards. I was whining to a friend that I didn’t do anything creative all year, when she gently (such a sweet friend, I really needed a boot in the butt!) pointed out to me all the projects I did get completed, though they weren't woven.
Please be forewarned, Gently Reader, that the following posts will be my 2009 completed project redux, none of which have anything to do with weaving.

I am considering what to put on the loom next. Over the holidays, I was able to sell many scarves and shawls I had in inventory. I was grateful to move old inventory out of the studio, and even more grateful to have the cash. Now I have a dilemma: I am almost completely out of scarves and shawls that are my “bread and butter” products, so I should replace the stock. Or do I treat myself and allow myself to play with new fibers or patterns?

Here is what I’d like to play with…..

My daughter gifted me with this lovely alpaca yarn from Alpacas of Montana, a Bozeman alpaca farm. I have to do some research on weaving with alpaca. I am fairly sure this yarn was spun for knitting, so I will have to do some sampling to get everything right. I know I should sample, but a part of me does not want to waste an inch of precious yarn.

The Longest Warp

2009-12-06T21:54:00.017-07:00

This simple, 10-yard warp has been on my loom for exactly a year now. Thirteen months ago, this would have been a day's worth of weaving for me. Then came the broken leg......
It's been a year of travails, my husband has been working only quarter time since last Christmas; the company he works for not only cut his hours but also cut out all of his benefits, including health insurance. I have been barely able to get around since the slip on the ice. My creative muse went on an extended vacation, and didn't even send a postcard. I could go on and on.
And yet, we have had great blessings. Our garden was very productive this year. The freezer is stuffed with vegetables and venison for the year. In spite of the loss of income, we were able to pay down all of our bills and now are completely out of debt for the first time since our children were born. I had surgery in September, and I am now able to walk two miles without much discomfort.
And today, I finished the warp.

Student Work: Jansen

2009-09-22T23:44:00.005-06:00

Jansen was in my sewing class, but he is technically Anthony's student. Anthony taught Jansen everything about the loom and weaving, I only answered a few questions. I also served as cheerleader and goad. Jansen started weaving by jumping into the deep end of the pool: his first project was a chenille scarf at 16 epi. That is a challenge for a beginning weaver! It took a long time to do all that weaving on the Dorothy loom. We tried to decrease the boredom and tedium by changing weft colors, using black, forest green, ruby and gold chenille. Jansen did a great job!

A Few Minutes of YouTube Fame

2009-09-17T13:59:00.001-06:00

Gayle and I were interviewed as part of Dafna Michaelson's 50 in 52 Journey. Dafna has an amazing goal and message. Be sure to see her website.

Student Work: More of Anthony's work

2009-08-19T12:27:00.018-06:00

Anthony continued to show an interest in weaving, but it was time for him to relinquish the Dorothy to other students. I brought in Card Weaving, a book by Candace Crockett. Anthony chose a pattern, and made a warp using 5/2 perle cotton. He did some extra calculations to expand the weaving in width for a belt. We were both surprised and happy that the two sides of the piece are different.
Anthony is not only a good weaver, he is a good teacher. He took his cardweaving with him around the school, explaining the process, and 60 some other students were exposed to weaving.

Student Work : Anthony

2009-08-18T09:13:00.016-06:00

As many of you know, I took a part time job last summer. I am now teaching sewing and other textile arts at a therapeutic boarding school. I absolutely love it!

When my students could not grasp the concept of grain, cross grain, bias and selvedges, I warped up my Dorothy loom and took it to school to demonstrate fabric construction. Anthony became very intrigued with weaving, and finished off the demo warp, weaving rag mug rugs from the selvedges and scraps of cotton fabric we were using in the classroom.

I then warped the loom with gray 2/4 merino/cashmere blend. The sett was 6 epi, plain weave. Anthony did a beautiful job of maintaining an even beat, and 6 picks/inch, and wove two scarves. The fabric fulled perfectly into a soft, luxurious scarf, and everyone in the class learned about wet finishing and fulling. Here he is modeling the two scarves before he gave them as gifts.

Now it was time to up the ante. Anthony loved the chenille scarves that I make to sell, and wanted to weave some too. We discussed the point that 16 ppi would take much longer to weave than 6 ppi, but he was willing to try. I brought in my warping board and some 1200yards/pound rayon boucle’. I showed him how to wind the warp on the board and how to make a chain. He finished preparing the warp all by himself.

Anthony threaded the reed and the heddles and then we wound on the warp. I should have helped him more with that, as the packing paper did not wind on perfectly straight. As the weaving progressed, a few selvedge ends slipped off the edge. We wedged an extra stick under the loose threads, and Anthony continued weaving. Once he was finished with the first scarf, we unwound the warp, and rewound it back on with more attention to the packing. Here he is modeling his red chenille scarf.

I am so proud of Anthony. He picked up the concepts of weaving immediately with only short demonstrations of the various parts of the process. He perservered through all of the frustrations of a misbehaving warp, and tedious weaving on a table loom. His scarves are beautiful and show his care and attention to detail. This is even more amazing when I tell you that when I first met Anthony he was very hyperactive. In our first sewing class together, he climbed out the classroom window and was break dancing on the floor! (he's going to kill me for mentioning this,lol)

Happy Mothers Day to my Other Mothers

2009-05-10T18:22:00.013-06:00

My daughter, Arielle, coined the name "Other Mothers" for all the women in her life who cared for her and gave her love and advice as she grew into a woman. Other Mothers are great, they tell you what you need to know, and because they are not your mother, you hear what they have to say.

I want to recognize and thank the women in my life who cared for me, were amazing role models, and shared their wisdom with me as I grew up and are still mentoring me to this day.
Thanks and orchids to:
Mary Helen Maresh, my maternal Aunt, who has been there for me since day one. She proves to me that you can be a beautiful, powerful, sexy and accomplished woman at any age.

Mary Nebel, who taught me about life outside of the tiny town I grew up in, to love education, culture and classical music.

Glenda Martin, who teaches me weekly about the journey through life.
And to all the Other Mothers who have been in my life, some of them for just a brief moment, others for years. Thank you!

This is a Calypso Orchid that grows wild in the shade of our forest. Tiny and precious, they are also called Fairy Slippers.
Thanks to my dear friend,Gayle, for this picture and memories of a wonderful walk in the Springtime.

Lack of Concentration

2009-03-12T12:45:00.008-06:00

I am calling this sock my "LOC Sock". LOC standing for "lack of concentration". I don't know if it's part of my healing process or a function of middle age, I cannot concentrate on anything more than a few minutes. This sock is one of the very few things I have finished since I broke my leg in January. And it was a struggle. I was only able to knit a few rows at a time before I was bored or unable to focus. To help me maintain my attention, I changed yarn color or stitch pattern frequently. I didn't have a plan, whatever pleased me in the moment was enough. I like how whimsical the sock looks.

Now, the problem is knitting a mate. I have always had what many knitters call "second sock syndrome", where it is very difficult or impossible to bring yourself around to knitting the second sock. As I have said about my weaving, once the design problem is solved for me, I am ready to go on to something else. With this new lack of concentration, it will be even more difficult for me to discipline myself to finish. I have already decided to knit the mate with a similar random pattern. If I knit the top ribbing, the heel and the toe to match the first sock, I think there will be enough similarity between the two that it will look like they are pair. I haven't seen the Matching Sock Police around here lately, so I may be able to get away with it!

Knitting of a Different Kind

2009-01-19T21:48:00.007-07:00

The view from my chair:

I fell on the ice on January 2nd. I have a spiral fracture of my left ulna, just above the ankle. I am on the road to recovery, most of the pain is gone, but I have to spend 4 more weeks with my foot in the air. Phooey. Boredome has set in in a big way. I have knit one pair of socks and am working on another pair, read a stack of books and watched too many videos. Now I am waiting for my bone to knit back together.
I am grateful for my wonderful husband and friends who are taking time from their busy lives to cook and do chores and keep me company.

A Treasure

2008-12-13T09:32:00.019-07:00

I found this little handcarved shuttle in an antique shop in the Baltimore area. It was on a table full of treenware, and my eye clapped on it immediately. As I picked it up, my heart started beating faster. It felt warm and silky in my hand, and I knew I was taking it home no matter the cost. There was no tag, so I took it to the counter and asked the price. The clerk looked at it blankly and said "What is it?". "A shuttle," I replied. The clerk shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'll have to call the owner."

As I shifted nervously from foot to foot, the clerk said into the phone, "It's this weird wooden shoe thing." "Five dollars," he said to me. I handed him the money and he gave me a look that said "what kind of nut would pay five bucks for a weird wooden shoe thing?"

It nestles in my palm as if it was made for me. The finish is silky smooth from years of weaving. I can still see the marks from the carving tool in the inside. The carver wanted it to be beautiful as well as functional and decorated it with a diamond pattern on the top. It was obviously a well loved shuttle as the eye the yarn comes out is completely worn with grooves on both sides.

I have been production weaving for 26 years, and none of my shuttles show this kind of wear, so I imagine it may have been used for more than one generation. Because I know nothing about the origin of this shuttle, I get to imagine a whole story around it. I see a young man lovingly carving this shuttle for the young woman he is courting. She is already a talented weaver with a love for the craft, so the young man knows that a beautiful shuttle will be a path to her heart. They are married, and the young woman weaves yard after yard of cloth for her home and family. She teaches her children to weave, and they carry on weaving cloth for clothing and towels and sheets and table linens. The grandchildren learn to weave, but now cloth can be bought cheaply in stores and the loom is stored in the barn. The shuttle is still treasured, though, because they know the story about how Grandpa courted Nana by carving her a shuttle. It passes down a few more generations until one day, a niece or nephew is cleaning out their old Auntie's house for an estate sale, and see this "weird wooden shoe thing" and throw it in a box with all the other wooden spoons and potato mashers and butter paddles. It makes its way to an antique shop in a jumble of wooden ware, until another weaver finds it and can read the story in its worn finish. It has found a good home and has a place of honor and is loved again.

Blunders

2008-12-05T09:41:00.018-07:00

Do you ever make a really stupid mistake, and when you discover it, you realize you had lots of signs on the way? I hate it when that happens!
I make a line of scarves that are one of my "bread and butter" products. They are a simple product, somewhat boring for me to make, but they sell very well. I use a "dummy warp" and weave warp after warp in different colorways, until I have a nice selection.

I just wound on a warp (using the yarn I dyed in Carol Soderlund's class), and I found it was missing 12 warp threads! I can replace one or two or three warp threads by hanging them off the back of the loom on weighted spools, but 12 would surely be a tangled disaster.

I realized then that I ignored plenty of signs along the way that I was making a mistake. Did I pay attention? Noooooooo..... I have done this at least 100 times and I usually do it by rote.
First sign was when I had 4 empty cardboard spools. I have been using up some of my leftover spools, so just passed it off as some of those I emptied.
Second sign was when I was threading the tension box. The front reed in the box does not have enough dents for all of the ends in the section, so I have to double up some of the threads. When I was threading the dents, I even said to myself,"hmmm, there's enough dents", but didn't stop to consider what that meant.

It wasn't until I had all of the new warp tied to the old warp that I realized there were not enough ends. To fix it,I had to pull each section separately off the beam and chain it. I then rethreaded the ends of each chain through the tension box again with the 4 extra threads added. Feh.... It took two extra hours to put on this warp because of my inattention.

The warp is on, and almost woven off. Here are two scarves woven on the warp- the wefts are two different colors of rayon chenille.

How will CPSIA Requirements affect textile artists?

2008-11-16T22:56:00.011-07:00

I have been reading about the new regulations regarding product safety testing for manufacturers.
Here is some information from the Fashion Incubator blog that boggles and frightens me:
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-product-safety-regulations-that-affect-all-manufacturers/
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/cpsia-requirements/

I know that the government considers me, a weaver and textile artist, a manufacturer.
How and where will I get the certificates of safety for my yarns, beads, fabrics and dyes? What about materials that have been in my stash for years or that I have purchased on eBay? What about fabrics that I have dyed and painted and discharged myself? Will I have to send each piece out to be tested individually? Aaaaaccckkkkk!!!!!

I can't understand the legal gobbledygook in the regulations, and it seems that the regulators themselves are unsure what it all means. From what I can see, unless they exempt the little people like me, I am out of business.

What is your take on all this?

Dyeing Results

2008-11-13T13:49:00.030-07:00

As you may remember, I organized a workshop, "Color Mixing for Dyers I", taught by Carol Soderlund in September. It was held at a fabulous location, Glacier Camp on the shore of Flathead Lake.

First, I must say, if you have the opportunity to take a class with Carol, jump at the chance. I have taken a lot of workshops in my time, and Carol was the most organized and most generous teacher I have ever had. There was so much information given to us, the workshop was really a master's level class. I have never really understood the "color wheel" and how analogous colors and complements and split complements worked. Carol's method of teaching the "Cubic Color Theory" made it all fall in to place for me. And the hands-on dyeing experiments were wonderful.

Secondly, if you have a class, or family reunion, or wedding to organize and you are looking for an amazing location, I can highly recommend Glacier Camp . The location is wonderful, the lodge building is new and immaculately clean, but most of all the staff is helpful, and as accomodating as can be.

I have just finished my sample book with over a 1,000 one-inch sample squares. Before the class, I really doubted I would have the patience to stick down that many little squares of fabric. Instead, I found myself contemplating each color individually and really enjoying how they all worked together. (photo courtesy of Carol Soderlund)

Here is a skein of rayon boucle' I dyed while at the workshop. (sorry about the poorly cropped picture, it shows up full size in my blog editor, but cut off when its published) This was dyed with a low water immersion technique using three dye solutions- a pure dye(in this case,yellow), and two complementary colors. I can't find my notes on what I did with this skein, so I can't tell you how I mixed the dyes. Basically, I mixed up a green and a russet color using the yellow dye and either blue or red dye. In addition to Carol's goal for us to work with low water immersion, and to use her formulas for mixing color, I also wanted to push myself to use earth tones. You know, those colors I am so traumatized by....
I crammed the yarn skein in a 16 oz. cottage cheese container, poured the russet and green dyes down opposite sides of the container, and then poured the pure yellow on top of the skein.

I am really pleased with the results! I was surprised by the black- I thought I would have a dark brown where the green and russet mixed. I love the surprises you get where the dyes interact together. Carol described this as "and then magic happens". And this was the perfect black for the other colors. I always fuss over the black MX dye mixes. You have to consider whether they have a blue or green or rust cast and how that will go with the colors you are dyeing. By mixing your own, it is always correct.

What have I been doing?

2008-11-07T11:42:00.013-07:00

I have been neglecting you, Dear Reader! I am sorry! You are in my thoughts as I scurry around taking care of life. We are having magnificent, sunny weather, which beckons me outside.

I have been working in the garden, digging potatoes and carrots, picking apples, cleaning up the old plants, and generally putting everything in order for the winter.
I am still working on the manure pile that was delivered last spring. I have been spreading it on fruit trees and bushes, and tilling it into the empty beds. I won't really be done in the garden until the snow falls and the ground freezes. I am always of mixed emotions about the end of gardening season; glad that all the work is finished for awhile, but missing the connection with the earth and the fresh food.

Then there is this little project:

Happiness is a full woodshed! A wood stove is the only heat source for our house, and we need about 5 cords of wood for the year. We are actually gathering next year's supply, as the wood needs to dry for a year to burn well. Our wood shed is divided in two- one side is the pile we stacked last year, and are using now. The other side is being filled for next year. I try to split and stack a few big rounds every day. At the very least, I try to put as much in the "green" side as I am taking out of the dry side.

The last big fall project is filling the freezer with venison. Hunting season is open until the weekend after Thanksgiving. We are committed to growing and gathering as much of our food as possible, and with abundant deer on our land,it makes it possible for us to eat healthy, low fat, organic meat. We have also purchased a quarter of a buffalo grown on a nearby ranch. Supplemented with chickens grown at a nearby Hutterite colony, and brook trout caught in the irrigation ditch that runs through our property, our meat supply is complete.

Sometimes, I think how nice it would be to have a bigger, fancier new (fill in the blank....house, car, clothes, gadgets,etc.) Then, something like rising gas prices, melt down of the financial markets, or the mortgage crisis happens, and I am so grateful our house is paid for, we can grow almost all of our own food, and heat the house with wood from our property. Choosing to live a simple life was the right choice for us.

Congratulations America!

2008-11-06T11:38:00.003-07:00

I have never in my life felt such jubilation and hope from the results of an election! My thoughts and prayers are with Barack Obama and his family as he takes on the biggest job in the world.

Back in the swing of things

2008-10-15T15:30:00.003-06:00

Where has the time gone! It's fall here in Montana, my favorite time of year. I am finally getting back to a regular routine after a very busy summer and month of September.
The workshop with Carol Soderlund was AMAZING!! I am still processing all the information and samples we made. I will post soon.
I sat down at my loom for the first time since June. It felt like coming home. Even though my beat is terrible and the selvages are a little wobbly, it is sooo good to be weaving again.
More soon! Thanks for hanging with me after so long without posting!

While I was sleeping.....

2008-08-14T12:13:00.009-06:00

I love it when my brain solves creative problems while I am sleeping. Often, I get ideas right as I am falling asleep or as I am waking. I read that Thomas Edison used to take a nap while holding a spoon over a pie tin. As he fell asleep, his hand relaxed, the spoon dropped in the tin, waking him up, so he could pay attention to the ideas flowing through his head.

I just received this box of costume jewelry from my favorite Aunt. She is in the process of unloading clutter. Most of it is outdated-lots of huge 80's earrings. They weigh a ton. They must drag your earlobes down to your shoulders when you wear them. Not being much into torture in the name of fashion, I'm afraid to try them on! OUCH! I have been wondering what to do with it all. I can see deconstructing alot of it and using it as trim on tassels, or on greeting cards. How about something really outrageous, like a breastplate, formed over my body with plaster casting material, then embellished with jewels! I'm having a hard time deciding which jewels should cover the nipples.

AHEM....where was I!
Oh,yes,.... as I was waking this morning, I remembered this garage sale find.

I am intrigued by images of shrines, and gates, and portals, and open doors. I always wonder what is on the other side. I have wanted to make a shrine or portal with this "find" since I first laid eyes on it. I now have the materials necessary!
I do have to ask myself, though, about absorbing all of this jewlry into The Endless Stash. Aren't I supposed to be reducing the ES?

AVL Fly Shuttle Springs

2008-08-11T12:06:00.020-06:00

Someone on the WeaveTech list is having some pain in her arms from using AVL's fly shuttle. Before I explain my modifications, you need to know that I have been rudely chastised in the past for modifying my loom. I shined it on, because my loom is not a fancy piece of furniture in my living room. It is a tool I have used to make my living. I only have one body, so my priority has been to minimize the damage to it. That means there is wear and tear on my loom. It has served me well over the last 15 years. For many of those years, I cranked out 50 yards of fabric a week. Maybe my modifications won't work for you, or maybe you don't want to change the set up of your loom. Whatever...hopefully you can use the information, or it may give you an idea of your own.

I used to have a Newcomb "Weavers Delight". It's a heavy duty rug loom, in which everything is mechanical. You only have to pull the beater bar back and forth to make it work. One day, the spring broke on the picker strap, so I took it off and tried to weave without it, thinking it didn't do much work anyway. Huh! I could barely get the shuttle across the web. That got me thinking about the fly shuttle on my AVL. Springs could minimize the shock in my arms from snapping the shuttle back and forth. It turned out to work great!

I found springs at the local auto supply. They are quite stiff, 2" long and 3/8" in diameter, (not counting the loops on the ends).

I cut the fly shuttle cord and tied in the springs. They are about 9" from the intersection of the cord that comes from the beater supports (I have an overhead beater) and the shuttle fly box. The loops on the ends of the spring sometimes get caught on the warp, and sometimes on the cables that support the harnesses. By wrapping the ends of the springs with masking tape, there is no longer a problem:

Here is what the assembly looks like:

Note the duct tape on the beater support. The spring sometimes hits there, too, and the duct tape protects the wood. You might also notice the masking tape on the cord closer to the beater support. I am parsimonious, and I think the dacron cord is very expensive when buying it from AVL, so this fly shuttle cord is cobbled together from several other broken ones. The tape covers a knot where two small pieces were tied together.

I also wax the fly shuttle race, the shuttle itself, and the grooves the fly shuttle picker runs in before each day's weaving. That really helps to reduce friction, and effort needed to throw the shuttle. I wear wrist braces, too. Mostly, they serve to remind me to keep my wrists straight in line with my hands, to prevent carpal tunnel damage. Added together, these adjustments mean I can weave for long periods with no pain at all.

I am not using a fly shuttle on the narrow warp that is on the loom in the picture. I just tied up the fly shuttle assembly for this post.

Fun Pillowcase

2008-08-03T16:39:00.013-06:00

I taught my first sewing class, and the students are at many different levels, some haven't even begun to sew yet. To get all of us on the same page and to assess skills, I have decided to take everyone back to basics. The first project will be a simple pillowcase with piping and a separate band. It's so basic that I hope I can keep the more experienced sewers interested with really fun fabric choices.

I sewed the sample from some of my own fun fabrics from the Endless Stash. The orange and yellow check for the piping was already cut to the perfect size! The green fabric has hot pink and orange hands and yellow stars.

Because the Endless Stash is so huge, I have been on a fabric purchase moratorium for a year or so. (Okay, okay, maybe I cheated once or twice when there was a sale or a fabric I just couldn't resist.) I got to live vicariously on Friday, when I went fabric shopping for the pillowcase project. I found some really fun cotton prints. At least I hope they're "fun" fabrics. I am somewhat removed from what teens think is "cool" these days. I am sure my students will quickly bring me up to speed on that subject!

The pillowcase was so quick and easy to sew, and came out so well, I think I will make some more to give as gifts. I don't sew as much as I used to as when my kids were at home; and I am always pleasantly surprised how much I enjoy it when I do.

Honey, I'm Home!

2008-07-31T11:09:00.011-06:00

And have been for a week. Between exhaustion from travel, getting started in my new job (yay, I got the sewing teacher job!!), and catching up on 2 weeks of weeding, mowing and laundry, there has been little time for other things.

I spent a week in Munising, Michigan, my home town, seeing family and friends. I haven't been back in almost 13 years. That was for my Dad's funeral, in January, in a blizzard, so I didn't see many people then. Before that, it was 1989, my brother's wedding. The most striking thing for me, was how small things are compared to my memory of them. My brother lives in the house we grew up in, so I got to stay in my childhood bedroom. It was MUCH smaller than I remember! It was fun to see old classmates and aunts and uncles and cousins. I even had a "date" with my high school boyfriend!

Munising is the gateway to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and the scenery is magnificent. My brother took me out in his new boat for a tour around Grand Island. The landscape is pressed deeply into my memory, but this time I was looking at it as a textile artist. Inspiration was everywhere. Here are a few of the many pictures I took:

This is a view of the west side of Grand Island. The sandstone cliffs are eroding and providing sand for new beaches, recycling on a grand scale of millions of years. The red sand is lighter than the tan, so when it washes up on the beaches it gets thrown high, in bands on top of the tan. Beautiful!
Here's a closeup of the banding in the rock:

I can see dyeing these colors, or shibori.....

This is a formation on the east side of Grand Island. It reminded me of a petroglyph, but is natural coloration, and is huge. Those are full size trees and shrubs around it.

Here's a closeup:

I can see some kind of sea monster, fish, turtle, or even just a bold design, either for carving in a vinyl block, or as a silk screen.....

Wisconsin Bound

2008-07-08T22:07:00.002-06:00

I leave on Wednesday to visit my favorite aunt, who lives in Milwaukee. We will then travel together to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to visit our home town and myriad family and friends.
I will try to post while travelling.

Carol Soderlund coming to Montana

2008-07-04T16:25:00.005-06:00

Sophia Center of Montana is hosting Carol Soderlund's "Color Mixing for Dyers I" in September, so I have Google alert me whenever someone mentions Carol in their blog. Today, Carol Morrisey wrote about her experience in Carol's class at QSDS. Everyone gives Carol's classes rave reviews. Here are a few more:
Russ Little
Tommy the Material Girl
Going to Pieces

I am getting so excited to take this class! As I wrote in another post , this is a dream come true. I am sort of stuck in my dyeing career. I tend to repeat the same color combinations, and have trouble creating the colors I see in my head. I mix colors using the "by the seat of my pants" method, so when I stumble on a color I really like, I rarely can recreate it. I think Carol's class will jump my dyeing skills up by many levels.

We have rented a wonderful log lodge at Glacier Camp on Flathead Lake. The view from the front deck has to be one of the most beautiful in Montana. I know this class will be intense with a lot of material covered in a short amount of time, but when we are ready for a break, we'll be able to just step out the door. Carol's classes usually sell out. She is only teaching "Color Mixing for Dyers I" a few more times this year, and there are only a few places left in them. We still have a couple of openings for students, I hope you will join us!

Reflecting

2008-07-01T10:50:00.008-06:00

Connie Rose’s blog post, No Frills, mirrored several things I have been thinking about lately. I, too, am a “no frills” gal.
On the weaving front, I do have a fancy-shmancy loom- it’s a 1993, 60 inch, 16-shaft production dobby AVL loom. I have the manual, pegged dobby, not a computerized dobby. I dream of switching to a computer dobby, and then stop myself, because I find myself weaving simple twills and plain weave. When I first bought the loom, I played with all sorts of weave structures, trying everything I could think of, and it was fun and interesting. However, I keep coming back to simple weave structures, and find my real enjoyment playing with texture and color. I especially enjoy creating color by dyeing and then seeing how it weaves up.
I am mostly self-taught with books and experimentation, and I like a new challenge. The trouble is, I set up a new color or weave structure warp that is a challenge, weave 6 or 8 inches and see that I have met the challenge, the new color combination or structure works well, and I am done. I want to go on to the next project. I wish I had a mindless, dutiful clone that would sit and weave off the rest of the warp, while I go play with something new. This tendency has resulted in a closet full of UFO's (UnFinished Objects).

I am “no frills” when it comes to my clothing. I imagine myself in all sorts of arty, handwoven, complex cloth garments and jewelry, but the reality is, I spend my life in jeans, a T-shirt and hiking boots. There isn’t anywhere to wear those fancy clothes in the back woods of Montana anyway. I made myself a lovely, hand dyed chenille shawl, and it sat in my closet for several years, waiting for an “occasion”. Not many of those in my life, so now I wear it in the evening, over my nightgown, and it pleases me.

I have had conversations with several people lately about how unprepared for “real life” young people just out of college seem to be. I hate the fact that I sound like my parents, and all the preceding generations, when I say that the younger generation seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. It’s a broad generalization, but it seems to me, many young people don’t have the basic skills of managing their money or have any work skills. I, too, am coming to the realization I am a sort of “folk hero”. (Thanks, for the label, Connie, I didn’t know what to call myself.) My husband, Steve, is included in the “folk hero” designation. We moved out West shortly after I graduated from college and we married. We traveled for months, all over the western states looking for a place we would like to live. We found ourselves in love with western Montana and northern Idaho, found a job and settled in. In a year, we saved enough to put a down payment on 20 acres, built a shell of a house, and had a son. We moved into our house with plastic sheeting for windows, a Pendleton blanket for a door, a wood stove for heat, kerosene for lights, and a bucket for water. But it was ours and paid for with cash. It took us 4 years to get running water, (gravity flow from a spring on the mountainside) and 18 years to get hooked up to the electrical grid.
I milked cows, raised chickens and a huge garden and made as much of our food as I could. Steve worked in a sawmill, built our house, and hunted for food. It was a good life for us- we lived within our means and loved the place we live in. It was very good for our kids. They were (and still are) voracious readers- no tv to warp their little minds. There were some funny consequences. When my son was two, we visited his grandparents, and he spent the visit flushing the toilet and flipping light switches. The high point of his first trip to kindergarten was that he got “store-bought” bread for lunch.
Looking back on it now, it seems a little crazy. Some of it was awful; scraping poopy diapers in the outhouse comes to mind as an example. It didn’t seem exceptional when we were doing it, and only lately, when comparing young adults to where we were at the same age, does it seem special and amazing.
I just had an interview for a job teaching high school age kids sewing, with the possibility of expanding into more textile arts. It seems so right and exciting to have the opportunity to pass on some of my knowledge. I hope I get the job!

Coyote

2008-06-25T22:11:00.006-06:00

I caught this guy hunting in front of our house. I shot these pictures through my studio window and the flash bounced off the glass, so they are not the best quality.
Minutes after I took these pictures, he snatched a newborn fawn out of the deep grass. Last I saw of him, he was heading out at full speed with a screaming fawn and 4 does hot on his heels. I don't know if the does got the fawn back. It's sort of sad that the cute baby fawn is gone, but the cute baby coyotes have to eat, too. I generally side with the predators, they have to work hard for their meals.

Tomorrow, I have two job interviews. I've been looking for part time work for months, and suddenly I have two offers. When it rains, it pours.

Wardrobe Sewing

2008-06-24T09:53:00.018-06:00

I have not done any weaving lately. I need to apply myself more. When I was weaving for others, I had deadlines and I wove almost every day. Now that I have no deadlines, I am completely distractable. I can easily justify these distractions: gardening, lawn mowing.... the list is endless. Yes, all these chores need to be done, but so does the weaving.
My latest distraction is sewing. I am visiting friends and family in Michigan and Wisconsin soon, and I have nothing to wear! The Endless Stash is full of beautiful fabrics just waiting for me to sew into wonderful garments. Unfortunately, commercial sewing patterns do not fit my body and I have to do major alterations. I don't really understand alterations, I just wing it with help from the fitting articles in Threads magazine and these two books:

Fantastic Fit for Every Body by Gail Grigg Hazen
This book has many of my specific fit problems illustrated with the alterations necessary.

Fast Fit by Sandra Betzina
This book has more fitting problems and their alterations than the Fantastic Fit book.

Even with the references, it is a struggle. I am on my third muslin iteration of a pair of pants. I use old sheets for the muslins. When the pants are perfected, I hope to work out a pattern for a simple, short sleeve shell, and a simple jacket. I hope I have enough time to sew the garments before the trip!

Yardage Counter

2008-06-13T22:55:00.007-06:00

Kimberly asked about my yardage counter.
Here are 2 photos of it. The yarn passes from the cone, through the front eyelet, around the wooden wheel, through the back eyelet and then onto the spool. My spool and pirn winder and the yardage counter are made by AVL.

I have read on several weaving lists that you can use a line counter that fisherman use to measure fishing line on a reel. Your local sporting goods or Cabelas probably has them.

Spool Rack

2008-06-13T17:50:00.024-06:00

My spool rack for sectional warping was built by my husband. It is made of 1" X 2" lumber for the frame and 1" x 6" boards for the "feet". Also needed are two 1/4" x 3" carriage bolts, two nails, 26 welding rods and 18 drywall screws.

(the top photo doesn't show the "feet" well, but this side view is on a table and the far side is unsupported, but at least you can see the shape of the feet.)

The frame height is 42", the width is 23", and the depth of the feet is 24". The corners are rabbited and screwed together with drywall screws.
The wire supports for the spools are welding rods driven through very tight holes in the center pieces. The wires are 3" apart, which fits my 2-3/4" paper spools perfectly.

The two center supports for the welding rods sit in dadoes cut in the bottom frame piece. The bottom pivot is a nail driven through the bottom piece and up into the support. The top pivot is a carriage bolt that goes through a hole drilled in the top frame crossbar, and then is screwed into the top of the center support. There is enough room between the wire support piece and the top frame piece to lift the whole wire setup and twist it. That opens it up to allow spools to slide on and off.

When the spools are loaded, just lift and twist the wire support until it lines up with the dado in the bottom frame and slips into it.

I now have great respect for those who write assembly directions! I don't think I did a very good job, but I will answer any questions you have to help make it more clear.

Sectional Warping

2008-06-09T22:21:00.019-06:00

There have been some discussions on the weaving lists about warping reels to make long warps. They seem enormous and must take up a lot of studio space. I almost always warp using a sectional beam, tension box, and spool or cone rack. I thought I'd post some pictures of my equipment.
My sectional beam has 2" sections, so I must prepare a spool for each end in 2" of the warp width. In this example, I am preparing a 6" wide warp, 14 ends per inch.
Therefore, I need 28 ends per section (so 28 spools), 3 sections total. The warp is 10 yards long, so I must wind on at least 30 yards per spool. I make sure I have enough by winding 2 yards extra per spool. Here are the spools ready to go. (my husband built the spool rack)

Here are the yarns threaded through the tension box, and then attached to the sectional beam, ready to be wound on. The tension box is made by AVL. The two little metal harnesses with heddles on the inside left makes the cross. I think it's called a "heck block".

Here is what is left after the warp is wound--less than 1 yard per spool. I wanted to show this picture, because I have heard the argument that sectional warping is "wasteful". Sectional warping is so much quicker than winding a warp on a warping board, that the cost of a few extra yards left over is peanuts. I wound the spools, threaded the tension box, wound 3 ten-yard sections on the beam, tied the new warp ends to the ends of the last warp, pulled the warp ends through the heddles and reed, and tied up ready to weave in less than an hour. I always have lots of uses for short pieces of the warp: fix a broken warp thread; use as supplementary weft for woven shibori; supplementary fringe; gift wrap; or tassels. I never throw it away, it gets used for something.

Painted Shoes

2008-06-06T08:17:00.005-06:00

In my quest for a new artist's identity, I have decided to bring art to as much of my whole life as possible.
These shoes began their life as a drab, khaki-colored eBay find.
They are painted with Lumiere paints. The spiral and diamond wingding are handcarved vinyl block stamps.

Gardening!

2008-05-29T20:24:00.017-06:00

No weaving or dyeing is happening. Instead, I have been gardening. We have had a prolonged wet, cool spring, but the last few days have been lovely! I am at least a month behind in planting the cool weather crops like peas, carrots, and lettuce. My usual date for planting those is April 10th. There was still 6 inches of snow covering the beds then. It may be too late and may be too hot before it's all ready to harvest. I planted anyway.
Seeds in the ground: lettuce, spinach (will probably bolt before it gets big enough to eat), mesclun mix, broccoli, peas, 3 varieties of potatoes, carrots, and onion sets. We seldom have a long enough summer to grow tomatoes in the garden, but I have 6 plants in five-gallon buckets. I still have corn, beans and annual flowers to put in.

Our garden fruit trees and the wild fruit trees are all in bloom. The scent in the air is heavenly!

We are eating the first vegetables from our garden- asparagus and rhubarb. Dinner was wild Alaskan salmon grilled on a cedar plank, basmati rice, asparagus picked 10 minutes before dinner, and rhubarb pie. It's a good life!

I have also been busy mixing sugar water for the hummingbirds. The first babies have fledged, and we have at least two dozen birds at the feeders at any given moment. They're guzzling a gallon of sugar water a day! There are 3 species in the picture: Calliope, Black Chinned and Rufous. They're like flying jewels. Soon the wild honeysuckle will start blooming, and nary a bird will be at the feeder for at least a month.

Shibori Samples

2008-05-26T22:29:00.008-06:00

These samples were dyed last fall. My dye studio (aka: the front yard) is only seasonal, so I have to get the year's worth of dyeing done in the summer and warm fall weather.
I put 1/4" of Procion MX dye solution in a container, and laid the gathered fabric in it. I then painted a second color on the top of the folds, covered the container with plastic wrap, and batched overnight.
The first sample is black dye on the bottom. Warm brown painted on top. I love how the black haloed (or bled) the navy blue color! There is actually more black in the sample than the photo shows. I have a heck of a time getting color right in my pics.

The next two photos are different sides of the same sample. Red dye on the bottom, brown painted on top. This is a good example of the pattern being too regular for my taste, which I spoke about in my last post. I really like the color on the side of the fabric shown in the first pic. I would love a jacket out of this fabric (if the patterning was a little more irregular).
I hate the flip side! I dislike the pink haloing, and all of the tan is dyed pinky red. Yuck! I know that different color dyes bleed worse than others. Do you think making an alginate paste of the red dye would help control the bleeding?

Loom Controlled Shibori

2008-05-25T16:52:00.016-06:00

Woven Shibori by Catherine Ellis is the book I am working with now.

I love the patterning Catherine achieves on her handwoven cloth. I want to do the same, but I don't have the facilities to do vat dyes. I am fairly fluent with Procion MX dyes, so I am trying to replicate the look of fiber-reactive dyes discharged and overdyed with vat dyes using only the fiber-reactive dyes.

I like Catherine's fabric that has several colors. I decided to start with a commercially dyed chenille (tan), and overdye it with other colors after it is gathered.

Here's the fabric on the loom:

The fabric is rayon chenille warp and weft with 10/2 cotton supplementary weft. The white threads will be gathered up to form the shibori pleats for dyeing. In the photo, the supplementary warp is the simple Monk's Belt pattern. I weave four shots of rayon chenille in plain weave, then a shot of white cotton.

On the first samples I wove, I used the plain weave and Monk's Belt in a regular pattern: 4 shots of chenille between a shot of the supplementary pattern, repeated 4 times. The dyed pattern turned out too regular for me.

On the sample warp I have pictured, I varied the length of the supplementary pattern randomly. I haven't dyed these samples yet, but I am assuming the dyed pattern will be a little more irregular.

Here are the samples gathered:
The gathering threads pictured are green because I am using up small amounts of odds and ends for the supplementary wefts.

Shibori on the Brain

2008-05-21T17:18:00.010-06:00

Here are some pictures of the treasure I picked up in the Textile Museum's gift shop. I am sorry about the resolution of the first picture- I can't get it right. The tag on the piece says it is hand stitched, indigo dyed shibori from Japan. It kept catching my eye as I drifted around the shop, and while it was more money than I felt I could spend, I knew I would kick myself later if I didn't buy it.

I have since learned from Karren Brito's book, "Shibori, Creating Color & Texture on Silk", that it is Kanoko Shibori. Kanoko means "fawn spot" in Japanese, and describes the pattern of small tied dots. A great site that explains how it is made is Traditional Crafts of Japan. I love that the fabric was not pressed out after it was untied. All the gathers from the tieing are still there and make a wonderful texture on the surface.

If you are interested in doing your own shibori, Karren's book is a must to own.

Still Playing with Shibori Discharge

2008-05-19T09:29:00.000-06:00

I wish there was some other name for removing color from textiles than discharge. Shibori discharge sounds like a disease I don't want to catch!
But it sure is fun!

Quick Shibori Discharge

2008-05-17T10:09:00.000-06:00

I am still winding white warps and dye skeins. Kinda boring, but I know that great fun is ahead when I get to dye them! I am starting to get cranky, I want to dye so bad, but prefer to have a day's work prepared before I start. I was inspired by Lisa's picture of her discharged black Tshirt in her blog: Dippy Dyeing and Quilting.
Of course, the Endless Stash has several black tshirts waiting just for this moment! I handstitched 6 diagonal lines of 1/2" stitches from shoulder to opposite waist, through both front and back layers,then gathered the stitches tightly, while I was talking on the phone. (Love my headset, great for multitasking!).
I took the shirt outside,and painted the gathered section with gel bleach bathroom cleaner. While I was waiting for the bleach to work, I cleaned the bathroom (more multitasking!).
After 20 minutes, the gathered section was barely orange in color, and didn't seem to be lightening any more. (It got lighter than the photo shows). The shirt was then soaked in a bucket of clean water, then in to a 1/2 hour soak in AntiChlor. Another rinse, then dried outside in the warm sun.
Many dye books and instructions on the internet tell you to neutralize bleach with vinegar. It doesn't work! Get some Antichlor from Prochem, or your pet store (it's sold for conditioning water for fish tanks.) It's very inexpensive, and you only use a tsp. in 2 gallons of water. It will save your beautiful art piece from disintegrating from the residual bleach.

Here's a close up of the patterning:

It was a quick project, less than 2 hours start to finish, and took the edge off my need to dye. Is this an addiction, or what?

Back to Work!

2008-05-15T17:37:00.000-06:00

I am settling in to old routines, now that vacation is over. There's a mountain of stuff do--starting with this little mountain:

That's a dump truck load of "black gold", composted manure from our neighbor's ranch. It all has to be spread on garden beds and around the fruit trees and bushes. It's a big job--I am only good for 8 or 10 wheelbarrows full, and I'm pooped. I am already a month behind in gardening because of the long winter. There are still snowbanks on the north side of the house and in the shade under trees. This weekend is promising to be lovely weather, so I will hopefully get some seeds in the ground.

Now that the snow is gone from my dye studio (AKA: the front yard), it's time to get some warps prepared to dye. I love to dye chenille for shawls. Here is a shawl on the loom from last year's dye season.
I have started winding spools of white chenille to prepare a warp. Very boring, thank goodness for books on CD! I'm listening to the beginning Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich. I love plucky women detectives!

Thoughts on Blue

2008-05-14T09:59:00.000-06:00

I loved every bit of the "Blue" show at The Textile Museum. The first part of the exhibit featured ancient through contemporary functional textiles dyed with indigo. I was amazed by the intricacy and fine threads of all of the ancient pieces on display. I am fascinated with ancient textiles ever since reading Elizabeth Wayland Barber's "Prehistoric Textiles".
Barber's book informed my work on many levels, but the best thing was that it taught me there is "nothing new under the sun". It allowed me to relax in my weaving- I was always striving to create something "new" and different. I realized I was working too hard at trying to design something I thought no one else was doing, when in fact it was designed, probably 5,000 years ago. Humbling, but freeing. Instead, I now weave what I enjoy, which is mostly twill designs with interesting color, and let the work carry me forward.

The piece I enjoyed most was "Shindigo Space 07" by Shihoko Fukumoto, pictured here (photo courtesy the Textile Museum):

I have been playing with shibori, some hand stitched and some loom controlled. The patterns made from the interaction of stitching and dyeing is endless and fascinating. I was completely enamored with Mr. Fukumoto's shibori banners. In fact, they took my breath away. I stood for long minutes trying to drink in the patterns on the cloth. It was impossible to explain to my husband what made these blue squiggles and shades so sublime. It was completely evident to me that this cloth was dyed by a master. I missed much of the rest of the exhibit because I kept coming back to look at it, and it took over my thoughts.

There is a short video about the exhibit playing in an endless loop. I am hoping it will be made available for purchase. On it is a short clip of Mr. Fukumoto demonstrating his process. There is a few seconds of video showing his hands forming the gathers of fabric that will be the resist. He gathers the cloth with his nails, pats it out a bit, and then gathers it again. I could see the mastery in how effortless it looked. That kind of mastery is only accomplished with talent and much practice, the kind that forms "muscle memory". I hope to have that someday.

The other short clip in the video that made me think was of a young indigo farmer. He said that he hoped his indigo would be processed well, so that cloth dyed with it will still be vivid in 50 or 100 years. Will any of my textiles still be around 50 or 100 years from now? I know of some of my handwoven rugs that are 20 years old and still in use. Does it matter?

More Blue

2008-05-11T18:42:00.000-06:00

The trip to Baltimore was colored blue even before we got to the Textile Museum. We visited the SugarLoaf Craft Fair at the Timonium Fairgrounds.
First, a wonderful cobalt blue bowl from Jeanne Scott of Greencastle, Missouri.

Then, an indigo dyed bandana from True Blue. This was stencilled with a paste resist, then indigo dyed.

Carol Soderlund in Montana

2008-05-11T18:37:00.001-06:00

There are still a few places left in Carol Soderlund's "Color Mixing for Dyers I" to be held in Lakeside, MT, September 17-21, 2008.
The registration deadline has been extended to May 28, 2008. Montana is most beautiful in September, and the workshop is being held on Flathead Lake in a beautiful new log lodge overlooking the mountains of Glacier National Park. All of the details are available at: www.sophiacenterofmontana.com
(If the link does not work, please cut and paste the address into your browser.)
I hope you will join us!
Kathy Regier

Blue

2008-05-07T11:54:00.000-06:00

I am back from a two week vacation in Baltimore. I fully planned to continue blogging from there, but the internet connection was so slow as to make it impossible.

The highlight of the trip was a visit to the Textile Museum in Washington, DC. I was thrilled to be there, as I have wanted to visit for years. It turned out to be a perfect museum experience for me. We took the metro into the city, so we didn't have the hassle of crazy traffic (overwhelming for a Montanan used to driving 30 miles without seeing another car!) or finding a parking place. The museum is a very short walk from Dupont Station. It was nice to be in a non-tourist part of the city.

The size of the Museum is also perfect. I easily go in to "sensory overload", and lose my mental focus, so the quiet atmosphere, the small size of the exhibits and the fact that we had the place to ourselves was wonderful. The Museum shop is small but jam packed with gorgeous textiles. I purchased a treasure there that I will show you in another entry.

The featured exhibit is "Blue", devoted to exploring the natural dye, indigo. It starts with a pair of Levi's jeans from the 1800's, continues on through examples of indigo dyed textiles across time and then on to contemporary works of fiber arts.

Some articles from the Washington Post about the exhibit.

Textile Museum's 'Blue' Hums With Mood Indigo

A Color With Many Shades of Meaning

A Perfect Red

2008-04-20T09:56:00.000-06:00

A Perfect Red

by Amy Butler Greenfield was a perfect compliment to

Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd .

It describes the discovery and economic development of cochineal by Europeans during the same time period as Elizabeth's wardrobe was being created.
It is a good example of how scarce commodities have been developed across the history of man. Corruption, greed, politics, subjugation of indigenous owners...it's all there, with parallels to any other scarce commodity. Fascinating, and it always makes me wonder if humankind could ever be persuaded to do it another way.

Spring, What Spring?

2008-04-16T09:27:00.000-06:00

After two days of beautiful, 60 degree +, sunny weather, we're back to business as usual, with windy, cold, overcast days filled with blustery snow squalls. I'm back to burning the woodstove full time.
The birds know it's spring however. I have been surrounded with the sounds of Snipes, Pileated Woodpeckers, Saw-whet Owls, and Varied Thrushes. The Tundra Swans are skeining above on their way to the Arctic. A little Winter wren is singing his heart out in the brush by the irrigation ditch. The Snipe's call is really the sound of air rushing through his tail feathers as he does aerial acrobatics out in the field. It won't be long and I will be hearing the frogs in the pond. (by the way, all these birds songs, plus videos and recordings of just about any bird and animal in North America is available at Cornell University's Macaulay Library, an incredible, free resource on the net.)

It's a good day to stay inside and work on an UFO. I started this shirt, of handwoven wool, four years ago as a Christmas gift for my husband. I hadn't made him a shirt in years and years, so forgot his measurements and just winged it. (I wanted it to be a surprise)
As a result, it was HUGE, and the pockets were under his armpits. I was so discouraged...the pockets' topstitching was perfect, and the seams were all french seamed and topstitched down. Fortunately, it was big enough I could just cut the seams off. It's going to change the armscye and sleeve a little, but he likes his shirts oversize, so, hopefully, it won't be too noticeable. I had to pick the topstitching on the pockets out using a lighted magnifier, the thread was a perfect color match and had sunk down into the soft wool.
The pockets are back on, the topstitching is not nearly as nice. I am going to try and finish today.

Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock"d

2008-04-12T19:31:00.000-06:00

I am enjoying this book very much. Elizabeth must have been as strong as a draft horse to wear the formal garments necessary to be queen. They had to weigh at least 70-80 lbs or more, with all the gold jewels,pearls,furs,and cloth of gold!
I am only half way through, it's a big,heavy book with many pictures to consider and compare, so it's taking a long time to read.
I wonder if I lived in another time and place, if I would still be a textile artist and weaver? The people who worked on Elizabeth's garments were men, except for her ladies in waiting that did embroidery for her. Surely the lower class women were involved with textile production for their families or for sale.

Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd

More Spring Weaving

2008-04-09T09:46:00.000-06:00

After weaving two dark violet scarves, I have switched weft color to a lovely spring green rayon chenille, the color of new grass, almost chartreuse.
It's a new color for me. As a poor student in the 70's, my color sense was traumatized by avocado green shag carpeting, harvest gold appliances and drapes, and everything else "coppertone". I have avoided the "harvest" color palette, orange, yellow greens, and golds, like the plague. For thirty years!
I have been playing with new colors, trying to stretch, and finding the olives, chartreuses, and ambers and golds marvelous.
I just found out that butterscotch is a good color for me to wear! It makes my hazel eyes turn gold.
Anyway, I am loving this new green. Especially juxtaposed against the purples. The textured warp is exciting me, too. I love how the rayon/cotton seed yarn is working. The rayon seeds are popping up from the surface of the weave, and look like shiny beads. The nylon eyelashes are working well, too. I think when the piece is wet finished, the textures will "pop" even more.

Studio Tour

2008-04-08T14:05:00.000-06:00

Bonnie Tarses' 3D weaving studio tour is amazing! I lust after the order and uncluttered workspace she has.
I have a wonderful studio, 18'X24', with an incredible view. However,I have managed to overfill it with yarn and art supplies, so it is very cluttered, and difficult to get a space to actually create the art.
Here is one corner filled with boxes of yarn. This is the overflow of yarn I have. I have MUCH MORE in 2 closets and on shelves around the room.

I feel much shame around this clutter. I feel like one of those clutter makeover people on Oprah. When GG came over to help arrange a space to take photos of my work, I felt anxious, and the more we worked, I started getting pre-migraine spots in my vision field. Accckkkk! I hate the thought that I am controlled by stuff!
As soon as I get this blogging thing figured out, I will set one up to sell some of the stash.

More FDC's

2008-04-04T22:25:00.000-06:00

The US Post Office makes the First Day Cover postmark for each new stamp available for 60 days after the day of issue. You can send an envelope with the stamp to the issuing post office and they will put the special postmark on it. It's much more fun to decorate your envelope with the theme of the stamp to go along with the special postmark. Supposedly, the FDC postmark is more valuable to stamp collectors.

I belong to several stamp carving Yahoo Groups: Carving Consortium, Erasercuts, and Erasercut Exchange.
I have participated in many FDC swaps with the folks on these lists. We decorate envelopes using art that includes at least one handcarved rubber stamp, and the theme of the postage stamp.
Here is the soft block print I carved for the Louis Comfort Tiffany FDC swap last summer:

I love doing these swaps. 2007 postage stamps were gorgeous, and I did several carvings for different issues. Unfortunately, the stamps for 2008 don't inspire me at all.

A Bit of Fame

2008-04-03T09:16:00.000-06:00

My first piece of art in a national magazine! woo! hoo!
It's a handcarved block print of Princess Leia and Queen Amidala that I did for a Star Wars First Day Cover swap. It's printed in the March/April 2008 issue of RubberStampMadness.

Here's a shot of the print.

I love to do First Day Cover envelope art. The Post Office describes First Day Covers as: "First Day Covers (FDCs) are envelopes bearing new stamps postmarked on the first day of sale. For each new issuance, the U.S. Postal Service generally selects one location, usually related to the stamp subject, as the place for the first day dedication ceremony and the first day postmark."
I'll talk more about it in my next post.

April Fool's

2008-04-01T15:04:00.000-06:00

And it's snow joke! We had 2 inches of fresh snow this morning!
This is my garden. That's at least 2 feet of snow covering it. Last year, I planted peas,lettuce,spinach and carrots on April 10th. I'll be lucky to get seeds in the ground in May at this rate.

If I can't have Spring in my yard, I can have it on my loom, so I put on a scarf warp of fresh, spring-like colors. It's a mixture of lavender, a bright, yellow-green the color of new grass, iris blue and light and dark violet. The yarns are rayon boucle', cotton 5/2 perle, rayon chenille, cotton/rayon seed, and a fun, nylon eyelash yarn.

Here's the first scarf, woven with a dark violet rayon chenille for weft. The warp is 20 yards long, so I will have at least 6 more scarves.

Carol Soderlund Dye Workshop

2008-03-31T09:07:00.002-06:00

Carol Soderlund Dye Workshop

2008-03-31T09:06:00.002-06:00

Carol Soderlund Dye Workshop

2008-03-31T08:31:00.001-06:00

I have been dyeing (pun intended) to take a workshop with Carol Soderlund. Carol is one of the premier dyeing teachers in the US, not to mention an accomplished quilt artist. When I looked into the cost of taking a class at ProChem or Nancy Crow's Barn , it was too prohibitive for my budget.

I have been working with "The Secret" for the last couple of years. A workshop with Carol Soderlund is prominent on my dream board. In a flash of inspiration while I was showering (I get lots of inspiration while showering, do you?), I realized I could host a workshop myself, and bring Carol to me! I emailed her...it was scary to me at first, but then I figured the worst thing she could say was "No". But Carol is gracious, and delightful, and happy to come to Montana to teach a workshop!

So the particulars are:
"Color Mixing for Dyers I" with Carol Soderlund
September 17-21, 2008, at Glacier Camp in beautiful Lakeside, Montana. Dye the color you choose, not the color that chooses you! Explore the unlimited number of hues possible by mixing only pure reds, yellows, and blues of Procion MX dye. Each student will build a sample book of more than 1,000 dye formulas on 100% cotton fabric. This book will become an invaluable reference for future dyeing. Carol Soderlund, award winning quilt artist, will teach this popular class. Workshop will be hosted by Kathy Regier, weaver, of Trout Creek, MT. All the details are available at www.sophiacenterofmontana.com .

Please join us!

Hmmmm....trying to upload pictures from Photobucket, and I see they posted them as separate posts. Bear with me while I figure this out!

Starting Out

2008-03-30T12:07:00.000-06:00

I am determined to start a blog...first, to help promote my business, and secondly, to chart my progress as I re-invent myself as a weaver.
I find myself stymied immediately. I created a few paragraphs for the "About Me" section, and I cannot edit it. It is one long, run on sentence, with no paragraph breaks. I have spent hours reading help and "blogging for dummies" to find an answer to the problem, and cannot.
So, for now, it's the way it is.

To practice adding photos:
This cow moose lingered near my studio for several days.