Meditation and Doddleing

So what to these have in common.  I can't do either.  No really.  One of the latest things to do is Zentangles.  Again - go and google it.  It's suppose to be relaxing, just let your mind go and create.

I can't - never had.  But I liked the looks of this little art form and how it's being used.  So I gave it a try.  I have a best friend who lives about an hour's drive from my house.  And after a long dry spell of not seeing each other and having a "girls day", we are trying to get together one Saturday of the month and create.  Wendy was over on a rainy, cold Saturday in February (again with February) and as she is this skinny thing with no insulation, we didn't last long in the studio.  Wendy loves doing art journals and she's a really good artist.  Some of the things she was doing were these Zentangles.  So I thought I'd give it a try.

This one piece took me the better part of an hour to do.  I just didn't know what to do in the empty spaces.  So I went back to the various websites and looked at what others were doing.  My second attempt:

One thing I noticed, I like to work around words and phrases.  Sometimes it's an idea (the mushroom in the first one, hugs and kisses in the next.  One site had the paper in grids and they filled each grid with a different technique.

I really thought the jigsaw pieces were kind of fun and then the lower left corner was "inspired" by a piece of jewelry on a Chinese statue at work.  The final (unfinished) piece is all David Bowie's fault.

I also had to add a little color to it.  After all, magic happens with red shoes.

Why I don't / can't doddle.  Most of the art I do tends to be structured.  Weaving, Spinning, dyeing, sewing, quilting . . get the picture.  Even my "random" stripes in my weavings are structured (same number of each colored yarns on each side).  I don't know how to turn off that side of my brain, or if Ieven can.  But as a decoration with some of the other paper things I do, I can incorporate parts of this art form.

Working with the Other Fiber

Another one of my past times is paper.  Tissue Paper, Rice Paper, painted, marbled, torn, wrinkled . . . .

It's all texture.

My latest "OMG" project (and again in February) is Fabric Paper.  Fabric paper is easy to make using supplies you may already have on hand. The project possibilities of this art are endless. Almost anything imaginable can be created with fabric paper: purses, art quilts, ATCs/ACEOs, postcards, bookmarks,  paper quilts, wall hangings, folders, journal covers . . . .  Just Google "fabric paper" and you have loads of other blogs and websites that have detailed instructions.  But what I did (in a nut shell);

Start off with a light weight fabric.  My first was a light muslin foundation.  I have other light weight polys with lots of bright colors that are on my list to play with next.  I bought a length of vinyl plastic table cloth material to create my paper on.  It measures 11" x 18" so I can make large pieces if I want to.  Using a glue / water mixture, I paint the muslin with the and then added old used dryer sheets that I have stamped color on.  Then that got a layer of glue on it and I smoothed it out with a fake credit card AX sent me.  I have lots of those - knew they'd come in handy some day.  I added a layer of white with gold dot tulle, torn pieces of vellum (from my wedding invites) and this was covered with a piece of white tissue paper.  It needed a little more color so I took a paint brush to some of my stamp pads and added the orange streaks.

The vellum (dark green) pieces didn't adhere well to the rest of the fibers and parts of the final piece of tissue paper torn and peeled away in ares, but I like the effect.  This is one of the classes I will be teaching at the Griffin Dyeworks Fiber retreat in June.  I think I'll play more this weekend.

Catching up with my blog

Sometimes I wonder why I even started  a blog.  It's not like I make the time to write about the stuff I've been doing.  In fact, I've done quite a bit lately and as I don't like to blog during work hours, I'm way behind - so bear with me.  Course blogging also helps me know where I'm at in my fiber growth.

Let's go back to February:

I have a friend, Cindy, who a few years back (OK - maybe 5 - 7 years ago) asked me to help her get started on weaving.  Cindy is the type who always has to be doing something - usually it's embroidery, but she wanted a shawl.  I really don't remember her asking me what she needed, how much etc. but I supposedly told her the whats and hows of.  So Cindy went out and bought a really nice ridged heddle loom and bought two different size reeds.  Now let's jump to last year.

We get the house.  My weaving studio is the garage.  I call people who have fostered my looms for me that I now have room if they are not using them.  Cindy has my 24 inch 4 harness floor loom, so I make arrangements to pick it up (it's been sitting in her storage shed).  While I am there, she asked if I would like her ridged heddle loom (with shawl warpped), because she can't figure it out and it's a big mess.  Those who know me, know I won't turn down a loom.  So I take it and everything gets put in the garage - I mean studio.

February came and I decided it was time to look at the shawl and see what I could do.  The yarn was a nice soft, slightly fuzzy acrylic.  I don't remember ever weaving with acrylic, so this should be fun.   It was also slayed 10epi and the yarn was a thick yarn (more like 8 maybe even 6 epi), plus it was in a 24 inch reed, much to cramped.  I moved it to my large loom and went from the 24 inch wide to something more like 30 inches wide.

I tried to keep to her warp pattern, but missed a few threads in the transfer process. Weaving with acrylic is not much different then weaving with a slightly fuzzy wool.  I had no problem with fraying or pilling, the sheds separately nicer and the acrylic was not extremely stretchy.  I could only weaving on Saturdays as this time of year was a bit chilly and the studio is NOT insulated (yet).

Cindy didn't give me her weft yarn, so I got a Cafe` colored acrylic from Walmart that blended well with her shades of blue, grey, white and brown.  I thought I'd weave a twill pattern to show off her yarns better.  I finished the shawl the middle of March and didn't get a picture of it.  Oh well.  I delivered it to Cindy's house just about a week ago and talkedto her briefly.  She was surprised and said it wasn't what she envisioned, but liked it.  I invited her to come up here and really learn to weave, if she was still interested.

Spinning Fat

Like many of us, after learning the techniques of spinning and then doing so for a few years, I found it difficult to spin anything but fine (not uber or ultra fine, just fine).  Then a fiber friend was doing a "sheep to shawl" type demo at a camp out event and she needed a lot of warp spin (on a drop spindle) so it could be dyed before hand.  So I gave it a shot.  What she wanted was maybe 2 or 3 times thicker than I normally do, so I had to concentrate.  And then I figured out if I split my roving down to pencil roving, I don't have to draw out my fiber.  Made things SSSSOOOOOOOO much easier.

So last week, someone contact the fiber board I'm on asking for people who could spin doll hair.  Doll hair!  I asked for so pictures to look at and what she wants is basically medium to fat singles.  I had some roving I had dyed up and thought I'd give it a try.  I wasn't happy with the first attempt, but once I split the roving down to the correct diameter, it was quite easy.  Now to see if she likes it and can work with it.

Not sure which background looks best - though I am leaning towards the black.  It shows the threads off better.  The top small skein is the first one I did and it was washed and dried while being weighted down to get a lot of the knick out.

I suppose if I'm going to take pictures of my work, I need to get a "photo booth" of some kind.  and probably a better camera.

Guess I'm not a big girl, or . . .

So I sat down and spun up the silk Roberta gave me.  It was only 1 oz. but I took my time and tried to do it right.  Especially since I decided to be a "big" girl and use the wheel, not the drop.  There are a few places the twist is not a tight as it should be, the few thin spots, but all in all - not a bad job.  I debated whether to 2 ply  or chain ply (Navajo ply is not PC mind you) it.  I decided to chain ply from the bobbin.

I should have put it in a ball first.

So there I was, DVD in the machine and I'm happily plying away when, snap!  my thread breaks.  I carefully stop the wheel, lay the chain out over the hooks so I can come back and pick up where I left off, and looked at my bobbin.  I can't find the end.  I know what color to look for (it was in the reds) but I can't find it.  I remembered someone told me how using scotch tape can "lift" the end of the silk.  It didn't work.  I have carefully followed many threads around and around but I don't know it I'm going in the right direction.

And still no end in sight.

Next step - just break it somewhere and try to wind it into a ball.  And it was looking so pretty too.

Happy New Year - I'm going to go play with my loom for a while.

It's just worm spit!!

One of my favorite fiber is silk.  Silk in any form: top, sliver, cap.  Dyed, or natural.  I love the way it spins, the luster, the feel.  But I usually spin it on a drop.  With a drop I have more control and I'm always afraid that if the thread breaks and gets sucked up on the bobbin and Ican't find the end, then what do I do?  OK there are some tricks you can use to try and find the end, but what if they don't work?  Nevertheless, I decided it was time to move up to "big girl" status and use the wheel.  So in went "Casino Royale" (with Daniel Craig - heart be still) and I sat down and relaxed.

The silk I decided to play with is 100% Bombyx Combed Top that Roberta brought me back when she was at SOAR.  She got it from Royale Hare and the color is Pacific Garnet - HEY!!  Royale Hare - Casino Royale.  And January is my birth month - the stone is Garnet!!!  This silk was meant for me to have!!!

The pictures don't show the vibrant colors from dark red to purple to teal blue.  Now, what to do with it when I'm finished.

Another skein Roberta got me was a wool / silk blend from Lambspun.com.  It is 95% Merino and 5% silk.  The color is called Bonsai Pine (I love greens).

I'm also a bit of a magpie and the skein was loosely wrapped in gold and green eyelash yarn.  I love it!! and of course I had to save the sparkly yarn - for some other project down the road.  I'm thinking of some kind of designer yarn for this batch.  Maybe find a dark green silk to ply in it.  Guess I'll have to experiment (oh hurt me.  Make me play with colors, textures and fibers!) By the way - I spun this while watching Lord of the Rings - Return of the King.

My wheel went to SOAR and all I got . . .

SOAR or Spin-Off Autumn Retreat happened the end of October and my friend Roberta was going.  But she needed a wheel that could travel, so I offered the use of my Joy.

My wheel learned a lot and I hope I can learn from it.  And she even came home with prezzies!!!  Roberta got me a couple of ounces of this really nice green and white wool / silk blend.  It spins up nicely.  After spinning up about half of it, I switched over to the silk sliver - brightly colored in red, blues and purples.  I love silk and usually spin it on a drop, but I thought I'd give the wheel a try (since she's been to school and all).  I'll try to remember to take some pictures this weekend.

On Black Friday, I had some people over for dyeing. It was a little chilly but there was about 9 of us.  We had a good time.  We focused on commercial dyeing techniques.  One is called "dust" dyeing.  You take powered dye (in this case Cushing dyes), place it and an equal amount of corn starch in a salt shaker.  blend well.  To use, in a large chaffing pan over medium heat (to start) add enough water to float your fiber (yarn of roving).  you then shake the dye on to the fiber.  Not just 1 colors, but 3, 4, 8 different colors and watch them blend.  Add a good dash of vinegar and the heat should be hot but not boiling.  You don't mix the fiber around, but you make sure all the dye gets in the water, so you end up with a yarn or roving that has wonderful color.  It's not spaced dyed, more of a blended colors.  The fun part is depending on the color you use, you might muddy the colors, some of the dyes are made of 2 colors that "break" at different temps, so instead of getting a green, you get shades of blues and yellows instead.  I need to play more with this method.



Yarns floating in dyes



 

                               

The second technique we did was painting the roving or yarns.  Using Jacquard Acid Dye, you paint the fiber and then wrap it well in plastic wrap and then use steaming or microwaving the fiber to set the colors.  I did some cotton rug warp that most of the colors washed out.  I may not have nuked it long enough.

Debbie left a lot of white on this skien

I was digging through my stash "O stuff for this party and found a lot of thin yarns (silk and / or cotton) and I think I'll ply it and then dye it to see what I end up with.  Maybe I"ll use it then.