Tonight I had to dye up some socks for the store.
Since I had the dyes out I over-dyed the white motif I'm thinking of using.
the white seemed stark to me, it needed some warmth.
Looks like a sea creature that washed up from the depths,
got me thinking about the nudibranch inspired fabric I dyed up a couple of weeks ago...
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Hmmm
Monday, December 6, 2010
Old and New
Monday, November 29, 2010
What happened next...
Right so when last we left the story I decided to dye the ends in 4 different colors. I experimented last spring with ombres and I thought that would be the way to go, just dunk the ends and let the color wick into the fabrics. I figured that it would react differently with all of the different fibers...
It did!
I didn't forsee it traveling as far as it did in some cases though!
Interesting how it kind of stuck to the straight and narrow path and didn't spread weftwise... or is it warpwise?
also interesting that it didn't disturb the root motif too much.
I kind of like the results,
I think.
Of course laundering the piece after dyeing it made the fraying edges really come apart, but again, it feels more root like and organic so I'm good with it.
I think.
and no, I have no idea what comes next, I will have to mess about a bit more, and see what happens.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Catching Up
OK I have been feeling very tongue tied for the last 2 weeks.
However the project has been slowly progressing so I'm going to try to catch up all the stages I've been passing through in one huge post.
Here we go...
I pretty quickly discovered that I wasn't going to be able to stabilize the weaving while it was on the hoop. So I took it out and began to quilt it onto a backing.
I chose to use a running stitch in soft neutral colors to anchor each square. The work was a bit intensive as each square the direction and color changed. As I was working it occur ed to me that the work might be a wasted effort as I planned to add appliqued motifs of some sort over the top of the weaving. things slowed considerably as I decided what I would like to add. While I was thinking I noticed this:
A piece of dyed cotton gauze I made last spring. I liked the compass like way the motif splays out from the center, it relates to a cardinal direction/time/seasonal theme I had been thinking about.
It also connects to the root idea.
I cut two pieces over the woven work making a root-like mandala. I liked the mandala, it was a neutral color but darker than the background but I found that even though the cotton gauze is quite transparent it wasn't showing much of the ground, so the best solution was to stitch it down around the motif and cut it out.
Much better, the root mandala relates nicely to the grid too.
I've spent some more time quilting the background down now and looking at all of the extra fabric I left hanging off of the center. I'm circling back around to the cardinal directions...
That's where its at, for the moment.
Whew!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Wandering Off
OK So I'm already wandering off on a tangent, but hell, the tangents are where the fun is right?
No, really I WILL get back to the recommended process but I just had to try this.
I have about 40 of these cheapo embroidery hoops and they were just begging to be used for something... so why not weaving?
Of course how will I attach a backing... or will I?
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
New Adventure
Ok so I've gotten myself set up to take jude's Cloth to Cloth workshop!
I'm excited. hopefully it will help me to focus a little better...
I think I will try to revisit thickets as my muse for the duration and see where it takes me.so now I'm off to prep some fabrics for dyeing so I will have something new to work with!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Patterns
Playing with concentric patterns.
The one made of maple seeds turned out rather Victorian looking to me, or maybe Edwardian. As if it was made by some English gentlewoman sitting in her drawing room on a lazy afternoon to pass the time.
I'm not sure if it is done or not. I may break out the birdseed.
The second one is burnt shibori, I am unsure of weather I like this result. My first thought was... not complex enough, I do like the folds though... so maybe.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Done, and some Garden pics
Finished the last small weaving, I am pleased with the way the blue connects the pine needles... sort of lace like.
We spent some time in the yard today stacking wood and enjoying the end of fall
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Ultra -Violet
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Little Loom - How To
Wow! I've been gone longer than I thought. Thanks for all of the comments... I've had a request for some directions on making a little loom so here goes:
First I cut a piece of thick watercolor paper (cold press, 140 lb)
to 1 5/8" by 4 1/2"
its stiff enough to hold the warp threads but thin enough to cut accurately.
then I cut a piece of heavy card stock cut to 1 5/"8 by 4 1/4"
this will be stiff enough to support the warp threads without bending
next I marked 1/8" intervals along both of the short ends of the watercolor paper and cut short slits at each mark
then I stacked the two pieces with the slitted ends protruding beyond the card stock to either end and wrapped the entire thing with duct tape to hold it together
To warp the loom I simply wrap thread around the entire thing going through each slit then tie the two ends together so it will hold tension
that is it quick and easy.
As to what I am weaving with... well aside from the found objects I'm mainly using embroidery floss since that is what I have at hand.
I doubt that this will last very long as the watercolor paper will eventually lose its stiff and no longer hold the threads properly.
However I think the basic design could be modified with more permanent materials so it could hold up over time/use.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Tossed By the Sea
Today I went to the beach with a friend. As cloudy and cool as it was, colors popped and captured the eye everywhere. Rosa Rugosa is no longer blooming but rose hips are ripe and abundant.
Some of the colors were in my personal noncollectable range. This lobster shell glowed in blue, green and rust but would have smelled like a seafood restaurant dumpster in no time, so a picture had to do.
Goldenrod is blooming in the dunes.
A most astonishing blue and red. This really tempted me, I almost broke my rule (nothing stinky), in the end common sense prevailed. The white thing there isn't crab but shark cartilage. There was LOTS of that around. I wonder what is killing the sharks.
In the end the things that found their way home with me were pieces of driftwood.