9/04/2014

Lots of art this week.

This one was definitely a learning curve. Found some mistakes once it was off the loom. But I learned a whole lot for next time.

More Florida gators blue and orange…

They're all starting to look alike.

And here's a little practice peace with graphite pencils.  I also used a carbon pencil, and eraser of course.  I'm happy with the way this one turned out.

Maybe this post should be called 'Manic Monday'?

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Well gang, it seems I am still in the creative slump that has had a hold of me for about 2 weeks now.  As a result postings are getting difficult. 8~(  

So today I will just post a 'Thank You' note to all of my fans and wonderful on line weaving/fiber art buddies.

I actually received yet another gift from my friend 'Popsicletote' from the Ravelry.com site.  She is so talented and generous.  She actually hand-made me a reed to play around with.  She put it together with twining, and she actually did it on a backstrap loom.  On top of that, she actually sent me five wonderful skeins of yarn, a wool-cotton blend!  It is a fine yarn and I can use it for sock knitting or for weaving, either one.  Tempting to do socks as I haven't had any really nice sock yarn in quite some time.  How did she know that blue is my favorite color?

We often do what is called a Weave-a-long on Ravelry (aka WAL) and usually they have some sort of theme.  OF course there are no weaving police, so often there are wide and varied ideas going on.  The one going at this point is for plain weave.  Either plain even weave, or warp face plain weave.  As a result alot of the gals are doing, and experimenting, using the backstrap for plain weave.  (I have discovered that as far as terminology goes, it is understood that plain weave is neither warp face or weft face, otherwise it would be stated as such.  So here on in, assume when I say 'plain weave' that you can see both weft and warp.)  

And, actually this is what got me started on trying to do some plain dbl wv.  If you recall the pink and blue piece a couple of posts back was the best one so far.  

What I usually do is warp face dbl wv and they are definitely horses of different colors.  I think they both have their place to be used to their best advantage, and at this point I still prefer my warp face dbl wv, and warp face plain weave also.  This may have something to do with the fact that I am still learning how to do plain dbl wv.  Mostly, I think it is the cleaner lines that make me prefer warp face dbl wv.  Plus you don't have to factor in the color of the weft, as it is never seen.

The learning process for the pln dbl wv is how I ended up doing the skull piece I have on the loom at this moment.  I didn't get it just right for pl dbl wv and converted it over to wrp fc dbl wv.  Often when I am learning a new technique I will have to 'adjust' my thinking.  I end up with alot of extra bands that way, and luckily, I have learned to save the warp yarn somehow and I usually even make a envelope bag out of them, so no waste!  That is a good thing.  I would only have so much need of a narrow band, and the little bag's make great give-a-way's.

For now, here are some pictures and my 'Thank You' to all of the folks out there, you know who you are, who enable and encourage our fiber art addictions!  I often find surprises of gifted fiber related boxes in the mail box.  Thank you one and all.

I think she got the thin reed pieces from disassembling a dinner place mat another lady from Ravelry sent to her.  Again, generosity.  The gold trim is one of her hand produced pieces.  I am not sure what technique she used.  Might be weaving, might be braiding.  Trim for our weaving's has become a hot topic of late also.

Sky blue and teal.

 

And how did she know that I am a bag lady?  All the way from Oregon?  Isn't that little blue bag just perfect for weaving tools!

Dana is doing pebble weave!

August 2, 2011

I have kept in touch and collaborated with Dana on Pebble Weave!  This girl is a whiz kid when it comes to this weaving thang!

I've been a very busy little girl!

July 5, 2011

I sat down and made 6 envelope pouch's out of my warp face bands, some were done on a Gilmore Wave, some on a backstrap.  I am ahead of the game when I need to give a gift!

This is the first batch.  the black and white one is my first pebble weave piece.  It was done on a backstrap using a circular warp and is on it's way to Las Vegas, Nevada to my daughter for a birthday gift.

The teal and brown piece was my first 'simple warp float' piece on the backstrap...I disliked this piece from the start, but my friend Carol wanted it.  Yesterday she said to me "I think I will make a pouch out of this for my cell phone accessories."  My response? "Well, I just happen to be getting out my sewing machine this evening anyway, so allow me."  I love the end result.  I especially like the buttons.  My friend Dana's fella sliced a tree limb for me and drilled holes to make them into buttons.  Very rustic, I sanded them a little and orange oiled them for good measure.  I like the way the orange oil made the wood grain show up more.  

The warp teal and bridal white piece with the Greek Key design, I am keeping for myself.  I absolutely love it!  My sewing skills are coming right along.  Thanks you Dana, for encouraging me to sew.

I really gotta work on getting my signature hearts to be right side up. :-(

The little red and white one works great for female...well you know...stuff!  It was the first successful double weft double weave.  The other two, they both started out as double weave.  I still hadn't yet gotten the hang of it yet and when I failed, I simply plain wove the double stranded warp.  It was a way to keep from throwing out the warp, and I think they even made pretty good little pouch's!

Just about the right size for important papers, or make up in your purse.  These three don't have homes yet, but will probably be gifted out to some of the folks who help me with my coming move.  shhhhhh!

And then I plied the wool/silk roving.
For "Tour de Fleece".

Dana is making a scarf out of her own hand spun wool and this isn't really enough for me to do anything with, so I gifted it to her to trim out the scarf with.  Or whatever else she can come up with.

My second 'pebble weave'!

July 1, 2011

I tried all kind of new skills today.  I warped a circular warp on my new warp board.  That little board works like a charm.  I used a new method of lease sticks, also worked like a charm.  I made three sheds, one plain weave, pebble one and then pebble 2.  I only had one tiny mistake...two crossed warps in the same shed, fairly easy to fix compared to redoing the entire shed system.  And here are the results.

Here is the new warp board with my circular warp on it.  Please notice how straight the pegs/bolts are.  Absolutely no leaning (which means consistent tension)!  I warp tight too, so this is a wonderful wonderful thing!

Here you get to see my new 'lease sticks'.  The metal rings make this so much easier than tying bow's with string.  Less waste also.  Another plus.  These are just shuttles that I made years and years ago from Home Depot paint sticks.  Free is good too.

Here you see that I am all warped up and ready to go.  The lease sticks are now on their side and tied to one another.  This keeps my plain shed wide open, very easy to get the sword inside.  You also see string heddles on pebble shed one and pebble shed two. 

I am tied onto the dresser, but once I am off and running my feet will brace the stick that the blue band is tied to.  This is why I did the circular warp.  It is actually twice as long as what you can see on the top.  Now, when I have woven as far as I can reach, I will rotate the warp around so that I can weave some more.  So I never have to roll up the woven part closest to me.  This way when I want to I can brace the furthest bar with my feet and the warp never changes length.  It just rotates around the bars.  This makes me part of the loom and self sufficient.  I won't need to try out what to tie up to a sturdy fixed object (it needs to very strong for those who are not aware), which can be difficult to find at times.

 

Here you get to see my nice clean shed! 

Here you get to see the 'Pebbles'!  My head is gonna bust I am so excited.

Crystal's Birthday and some new backstrap tools.

7/15/2011

Today my baby turns 29!  How did that happen?  I was just 29 myself.  Happy birthday Pistal!  Here favorite color is Eggplant purple...thus the purple font!  LOL

I sent her a little envelope pouch for a little surprise.  She is in Nevada and I am hating not seeing her on her birthday.

Hers is the little black and white one on the left.  My very first pebble weave piece.  She already has it and says she is using it for her sunglasses!  I love that!

I have been making a few new weaving tools of late, getting ready for the big move back to FL.  Trying to make everything more portable.  I even gifted and sold a couple of these on Ravelry!  

They are just hardware lumber, but I shape them by hand all by myself.  

If anyone needs any feel free to contact me via the blog!  I sell them for $1.00 an inch.  So a 10 in. sword costs $10.00 PLUS shipping and handling!

This one is brand new.  I will give it a swipe with orange oil to make that beautiful wood grain show up nicely.

The top one is made from a Home Depot paint stick, as are many of my tools.  The middle piece has been with me for many years.  I couldn't believe how much grime came off of it when I sanded it.  It did take off most of the pretty golden color when I sanded it though.  It is made from Lattice from Home Depot, just like the new one.

Here you see my new backstrap bars.  They are Oak and  all grooved on the ends (with a dremel), sanded and lightly oiled.  Aren't they pretty!

Fooling around with designs on the backstrap loom.

June 20, 2011

I have been so totally stressed that I haven't been able to tap into my creativity at all.  I keep going around and around in circles.  So I just got out the narrow warp that is already on the backstrap loom and with nothing in  particular in mind, started weaving.

I have absolutely no need of another long narrow band, but it is already on the loom and I didn't want to cut it off and waste it.  Everything I try to warp up turns to mud.  So this is what I have going on at the moment.

This band is actually coming along nicely...I am into the last foot or so of it.  


I will be gifting it to my friend Dana so she can use it to tie up to a door knot when she wants to backstrap weave inside the house.

Dana is gonna try backstrap weaving!

Okay...soooooo...once I got the correct type yarn on the backstrap the weaving is reasonably easy.  At least in plain weave.

I chose some #3 in colors of my friend Dana's Alma mater.  Garnet, gold and black.  When she took at look at it she asked me if  it would be long enough for her to use as a 'backstrap'.  I was thrilled, as I am going for my steak cookout, payment for the guitar strap, tomorrow.

So today when I got up, I quickly completed the weaving and made it into a strap for her.  I even have extra dowels.  I am so excited about tomorrow I can hardly stand myself.