Here we go again - with the busyness of summer it is hard to find time to be weaverly but. . . . Even though I may not be doing much physical weaving my mind is busy planning projects and I have been looking at weaving projects and reading a bit on weaving history. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to. Weave on!

Comments

Artistry

July tapestry almost done. I've been spending a lot of time on finishing the backs of the tapestries so they can be mounted. Books on tape are good for that part:) Playing with my Indigo Vat, almost ready to dye my 5 lbs of cotton yarn.

tien (not verified)

Pictures! We want pictures!

Artistry

When the sun hits the deck, ready or not:)

Artistry

Here is July"s tapestry almost finished. the bottom is black and the top is snow white, the photo didn't turn out really well this a.m.. There is another 1 1/2 to weave on the top. the slits still have to be sewn up in the middle. This is a color study the second in a series, you can see the first one on my project page. This one I was trying to get the illusion of tilting through advancing and receding areas. without using prospective only color. I think more white areas on the bottom might have helped, not sure. But I'm really pleased with the advancing and receding parts. The tilting, we'll see what it does when it's all finished.....



 

Artistry

Organic Indigo Vat! These are experiments I've been doing this summer. I'll be doing a run of Organic cotton baby blankets this fall. the Indigo vat is made with fructose and pickling lime instead of thiourea dioxide and lye. you get the color by successive dips into the dyebath. It comes out green then turns blue as it oxidizes in the air. I've had a dickens of a time getting level dyeing with the Indigo, so bare with me! Practice , Practice!

waking up the Indigo vat with some fructose and heat. the vat will be good for months. You can see the underlying green.

 

Artistry

Bringing to wake up, you can see the blue bubbles.that is called the bloom. actually the bloom gets alot more bubbly than that. when you are ready to dye to push the bloom to one side and the dye underneath looks green and you dip your goods in there.

the bloom starting,you can see the blue bubbles, good thing.

Artistry

sorry about the dup. here are some samples of the successive dips. all of these are done on kona cotton. the palest is 1 dip 15 seconds, then goes up from there, 2 dips 15 seconds etc. 

Artistry

You know on that tapestry up there, tell me what you think. When I turn it on it's side, it seems to tilt, odd.

sally orgren

but I think you achieved advancing and receding! The gradiations are excellent. (Glad there wasn't a scratch 'n sniff provided when you exposed the Indigo vat. ;-)

debmcclintock

Sally, the best thing about the fructose & lime pot is the lack of odor!

Artistry

Sally, any suggestions on how I might make the illusion of tilting through color alone? I want to study illusions of movement through color. My last color study seems to " hover". BTW, I sprung for Josef Albers interaction of Color ( powell's Oregon) , what a treat. The color plates are fantastic! The there is a whole other volume to read! I'm in seventh heaven. Scratch and sniff LOL.. I can't decide if the vat looks more like a witches brew or a witches skin all pinched and crackly! It is, believe me, magical to see the cloth oxidize.

endorph

love the tapestry - the gradations are awesome - I find color studies to be fascinating. The indigo pot looks scary - something out of a horror movie but the dyed samples are wonderful!

Artistry

Tina, thanks! I hope to get a better picture of the tapestry when it's finished. Yeah, the Vat looks so gross at first, LOL and when someone was first teaching me she said of the bloom isn't that beautiful! Now I don't think it's gross at all, but, I was always one of those kids who liked to play in the mud:)

Woodburner

Just not doing anything new, just the very fine sprang, and the endless bobbin lace. The sprang is nearly finished now. Well, all things are relative, It'll probably take another week of evenings, but it's got to the stage where it's hard to get your fingers in.

I had a weekend away as a mediaeval spinner, and got out of the habit of posting/visiting here, so have just been catching up. So much awsome stuff going on! I particularly love last months TW. I really want to make some more myself, but I also need to get the warp properly set up and woven on the table loom, and in less than two months I need to have my RH set up for a class with pick up sticks . . .

 

sally orgren

I have been doing lots of planning thanks to a break in the hot & humid weather, a beach chair, and deciding NOT to work all day Saturday. Last night I stole some time after 6:30 to do a warp wrap to test my shadow design.

Thumbs up, full steam ahead! Time to drag out the warping board. (And wouldn't you know it, I had three messages on my office phone when I came back in at 7:30 p.m.)

So my question is—when I am retired, will I produce better work because I can complete a project straight through, or does the stop-and-start of having to work these projects around other responsibilities automatically build in time to reflect and improve designs?

crosstownshuttler (not verified)

If you think of it as time to ponder and create, that means you'll have to think of lots of fun things to fill retirement with to create around:>)

Carie

Artistry

Plays well together! I think they will be beautiful towels! I think time for reflection is a good thing too. There is nothing like fresh eyes for a project!

sally orgren

On my latest tablet weaving warp I tried for glitz, but my choice of yarn let me down. I think the glitzy bits on this mill end knitting yarn from Silk City are too spaced apart, even tho' I doubled it. 

I am setting up my looms for a day long demo at the state fair Saturday. Inky and Bandit will be there along with my Structos, the 240 and 600.

Eye-candy warps all around!

endorph

that sounds disappointing Sally - Sounds like fun on Saturday though - looking forward to seeing what bandit and Inky are doing!

Monica Bellas (not verified)

I'm hoping to finish the last towel on this warp tonight.  (I should get busy, I guess.)  I'm looking forward to designing a scarf based on the different colors of water in the North Sea.  That will definitely take some time to figure out!

sarahnopp (not verified)

Today was the beginning of the Thurston County Fair, and I was there with my weaving guild from 10 am until 5:15! The people just kept coming! We usually get a huge drop off in attendance at the home arts building at about 4 pm, but our coolish weather meant attendees were still going strong until after 5. I am wiped.

We do demonstrations on a floor loom, plus have a hands on table loom. We also have a table full of small looms and things, such as tapestry, a spool knitter, and a potholder loom, plus displays of household and natural items possible to weave on.

I bet we had close to 75 "kids of all ages" try out the looms today. One thing I noticed today, compared to my memories from last year, is the parents seemed more interested in letting the kids really explore the mechanics and discuss ways they could weave without a big loom. I will be curious to see if that changes during the week.

We have a great location next to a door, and we are next to a hands-on spinning demonstration too.

Artistry

Well, geez Sally, how come your flops still look pretty good to me? Sorry your dissapointed, but we gotta experiment, right? Question is Bandit a special loom from John Malarkey? Or an adaptation of an Inkle with cards? Curious minds want to know! Good luck with demos, everyone loves eye candy! Monica, you've got my attention! Blues of the North Sea! How Fabulous! I can't wait to see! Saranopp, just want to hop in that booth and weave! It looks so weaver friendly , good for you , bringing the art to the people. This week I tackle a new Indigo Vat, my old one is not " waking up" properly! Also August means a new Tapestry Diary, which I might try tilting again since I've gotten interesting advice from Doanart ( here are Weavo) about how to do this. Will play with water colors first and post the results before weaving. BTW I have 5 lbs. of cotton to dye in the Indigo, yikes!

endorph

this week - well except for thinking about weaving. tomorrow and Saturday I am taking beginning spinning classes. tomorrow is drop spindle then Saturday is intro to the wheel. I am very excited. I am taking Monday off just because so my goal is to try and get a warp wound and start warping the MW.
Group Audience