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Showing posts from November, 2008

Crunch Time

It's always crunch time before a show. My studio looks like a bomb went off. There is fabric, poly fill , yarn, boxes, an ironing board, the sewing machine, and baskets from one end of the room to the other. Phew!!! I have a show at the Holiday Bazaar in Rhinebeck NY this Saturday and as with most shows, I'm trying to finish up some loose ends on projects. The polka dot scarves came off the loom about 15 minutes ago and I did end up deciding that a black weft would be a fun contrast to the charcoal warp so that the 'dots' are visible when the light is just right. I'm partial to dark colors and they seem to be a hit since they are neutral....didn't you hear? Black is the new black;) Here it is: I also have to say that I am growing more and more comfortable with Diana. Remember the satin that I was working on for the pillows to get rid of some of that 8/2 cotton? Well, I wove 7 yards of various colors and barely made a dent in my stash. Too funny! It's

Leaves

I've been trying to think of my next project and what theme I would like to go with. Since I'm most inspired by the things I see in nature I figured that the theme should be 'organics'. Not only does that sound 'cool' (lol....it's the 'in' thing.) but, it would be nice and easy to just hop on outside and get some leaves, right? No. Not for me. It seems each time I think of it, instead of getting up, going outside, and picking up a couple of leaves, I either forget or am too comfortable sitting in front of the wood stove playing Thomas the Tank Engine (better known as playing tracks) with my son. Besides, it's cold out there!!! This has been a battle going on in my mind for almost a week! Well, today there was victory!!! I found the perfect time to get some leaves. A quiet house and the daunting project of altering a shirt (football jersey no less) for a brother of a friend staring me in the face. I thought, "I really should go get some leave

Oh It's On, Baby!!!

YEEEEEEHAAAAAA !!!! I'm so happy:) After fiddling with the shafts, tension, and seating height, I've come to a point where I am comfortable weaving on Diana. As I wove the first scarf, I was finding that I kept missing the latter end of the heddles .....13, 14, 15, and 16. The slight adjustments really helped out and I noticed improvement right away. It's WAY too late for me to be up (oops:) but, I can't stand how happy I am and LOVE the way the second set of scarves are coming out so..... here they are:) The weft is more of a jeweled purple. My camera may have not captured it under this lighting. Here is a close up of one of the 'dots'. :)

Polka Dot Scarves

Well, I'm happy to say that the polka-dot scarves are well under way. I'm only able to weave at this point of my life two nights a week. I'm a full time Mommy and my yarn business brings in the most $$$. I have to weigh it this way until my son goes to Kindergarten in September......and boy oh boy the time sure does fly just like I was warned it would. So, typically I weave on Tuesdays and Fridays in the evening unless I have an 'easy' weave on and my son is shredding papers in the studio for me;) My husband and son went out for a little while on Saturday leaving me home to concentrate on weaving for a hour or two. The Diana is all dressed and I have woven some of the polka dot cloth. As with any new loom, the first project is always the learning project and I usually look back on it and think what I could have done better or should have done differently. I have to say that I was a little nervous about it only due to the fact that the warp that was on the loom was

Elmo and Ike

You know all of that yarn left over after the pieces have been woven.....the extra little bit there 'just in case'? Maybe it's a foot or two or......three:) Well, I a long time ago I used to save it and use it in my spinning....now, of course, I weave it and stick it off to the side until I can find a good use for it. A friend of mine has taken bits and pieces of my work and added bits and pieces of her work to it and we have come up with some really fun pieces.......some purses, some little bags....simple stuff. I am in awe of her most recent fun creations with some of the whites left over after weaving shibori scarves. So.....I wanted to share some of Elmo and Ike's fabulous creations;) Here's to you Holly;) Aren't they lovely? You can check out her Etsy shop by going to www.elmoandike.etsy.com . She has some wonderful wedding items.....and might I add unique......seriously! I'm in awe of her photography which usually includes fresh cut flowers and

Diana

Well, I have been able to weave off most of the 5 yards of fabric that was on the Diana loom. It was 8/4 carpet warp in a 16 shaft strait draw so, I had some options on patterning. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do with the fabric but, there is enough time and planning for that. Last night there was a board meeting for the Wurtsboro Arts Alliance so, I got home pretty late and got to finish planning my first project on Diana. Here is a picture of Tom's warp before I finished.....again I have absolutely no idea what to do with the fabric. I ended up using some rayon in the weft to give it a little shine. (Please excuse the paper on the floor behind the loom....it fell off:) My purpose for purchasing another loom was that I have been amazed my network drafting . I enjoy (fully) the mathematics involved and had a blast weaving some color study towels in a network draft. It seems to me that once I start to work on a pattern or start to plan out the ideas in my head, I fin

Mabel

One of the hardest things in the world to do is take pictures of yourself within 10 seconds modeling your work with no help. I take at least an hour for each 'photo shoot' (ah ha ha ha...that sounds so funny!!!!) and the pictures are never what I'm looking for once I get them onto the computer. The depth of field is the hardest thing to accomplish because I'm focusing on the wall then positioning myself in front of the camera. This creates a clarity problem.....for me anyway. Out of about twenty pictures or so, I may get one or two that I like then have to 'deal' with the rest. Oh....the reason I have trouble with anyone helping me is that I always want to do this when I have a moment when my son is napping so......................I bought someone. She is very quiet with a barbie like shape (keep in mind here that I was never a Barbie kind of kid) and a fantastic poser. Although our shoots have not yet produced the 'exact' image I would like, it is not h