Camera Tote for KraftyMax!

Monday, Feb 5th, 2011

I have decided to start dating these posts as sometimes they are written way in advance and then posted later.  

Here is a picture of the first part of KraftyMax's Camera tote.  Now for the second band which will comprise the two sides of the bag.  

Then I need to do yet a third for a strap.  But this is the main body of the bag.  Hope you like it.

The colors are so rich and vibrant!  I even used some of the nylon that she sent and it just shimmers.  I think this piece is going to be quite awesome for my mentor and friend.

Wonderful Friday Feature!

Early last summer I noticed a particular artist's name coming up quite often on my Facebook page.  She is a jewelry artist out of California.  She does beautiful beaded jewelry, wire wrapping and adds in alot of Sea glass. 

She tells me that there used to be a glass factory where she lives and that there is debris everywhere along the water's edge.  She actually goes and collects the glass by hand.  Oh my, a day on the waters edge hunting for sea glass.  Sounds so peaceful.  

She even does alot of work with copper and brass these days.

Well, we started to communicate and she liked my graphite/pencil drawings.  So much so that when I mentioned how much I liked the piece below she offered a trade.  She wanted a piece of 'tattoo' art.  How flattering.  My art on someone's body.  How kewl is that?

Next thing I knew, I was receiving this beautiful piece of wire wrapped teal colored sea glass on  a satin cord.  

Unfortunately life gets in the way at times.  I was in the process of a cancer scare and I haven't even picked up a pencil since then.  Let alone done her piece of art.  I got very involved in my primary art form, weaving.  I am embarrassed to admit this and I want to at least help bring attention to such a trusting and talented artist.  

Take a minute and go by her Facebook page and her Artfire shop.  She just opened an Etsy shop too. You will find a refreshing array of jewelry sure to tickle your inner jewelry aesthetics.  

I will definitely be sending her a piece of 'tattoo' art as soon as I can find inspiration that does her justice.  In the meanwhile, I will just love this beautiful piece of art!

What's on the Loom????

I have started KraftyMax's camera tote.

The first thing I did was try using the nylon!  What a nightmare!  No give, toooooo slippery and very tangely (is that even a word?).  So even though the colors were beautiful, I can't weave with it.  

So I went to plan B.  She said I love blue and yellow together, purple and green together....So I gathered up all of my purples and greens, blues and yellows and just started warping.  I double and triple stranded throughout, and this is what I got.

The tote will be a cube shape and I will lay them in a t shape, sew them together and maybe add a strap.  Actually Dana will do the construction this time.  Love you Dana.

This piece will be the front, bottom and back sides.  

The side pieces will have the same outter edges as the main body piece, but the center will be double stranded 2 tones of green.

New 'Weaving basket'!

Now that I have my and KraftyMax's looms here at my leisure...I found myself, or more accurately my tool basket, over flowing on a regular basis.  So before I started the camera tote for Max I needed to reorganize.

I love the original basket, it has a beautiful vine handle on it that is so cool.  Carol found it for me years ago at a garage sale.  I immediately put it to good use as my knitting basket while I was on my hand knit sock binge.  It has been a knitting basket ever since.  However, since I don't knit any more, I started using it for my tools when I got my Mini Wave loom.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't large enough.

So today I made a new kit.  Carol had also found me, quite recently in fact, a set of 5 rectangular baskets that get smaller and smaller.  The largest one holds my #10 cotton cones and so I made use of the next one down in size.  I placed the very smallest one inside, and then I used plastic cottage cheese containers that we had saved over time, and wedged them around the small basket.  These are for things like the mini blind slats, pencils, knitting needles for pick up and other things as well.

It may not be exactly beautiful...but is extremely functional.  Especially in my already tight space.  

Check it out!

New project!

I got the yarns from KraftyMax today!  I am going to make a box like tote for her new camera.  She sent nylon in BEAUTIFUL colors.  Unfortunately their #2 is a little finer than the cotton #10.  Plus I am not sure how it will do tension wise.  

On the good side, I have lots of purples and blues that match her choices, in mercerized cotton.  Both #10 and #3.  I probably won't be doing any warp floats though with these fine threads.  AAANNNNNDDDDD...My roommate Carol has taken up Chinese Knotting techniques.  Max's logo for her websites is a dragonfly, and we, (Carol and I ) had already decided to use some of the dragonflies on the tote.  Today she did a couple of samples.  

So I have pictures of the yarns and of the dragon fly prototypes.

Here goes!

Dragonflies first!

Please notice that if you look VERY CLOSELY that one of the blue and one of the purple is variegated.

Tonight I will be warping up a little band of this yarn to test it!  Probably a little necklace for 'Wiggles'.  

I will let you know how it goes.

February 16, 2011

For those of you who follow that are fiber geeks like myself, anything from knitting, crocheting, spinning or my own love, weaving, you should consider joining one of the larger fiber groups.

I belong to both Weavolution and Ravelry.  While Weavolution concentrates on weaving, Ravelry encompasses ALL of the fiber arts.  If you can think it up, there is a group on Ravelry for it.  I belong to 5 of them.  Most of my participation is in the backstrap and inkle groups.  Because both of these groups do 'warp face' weaving, which you can accomplish on alot of different looms.  Even a floor loom or a rigid heddle.  

What I am after in these groups is technique information.  Design, warping, creative ideas...these are what rock my world.  Some of these groups are very technical, for those who love that I am happy they have also found a place to gather.  It's just not necessarily my thing.  I like to think outside the box.  Like taking a little picture of a design and playing with it until it is distinctly my own.  I am getting better at it each time too.  I simply could not have achieved such goals without these groups and the lovely participants.  They are warm, considerate and sharing with the time and ideas.

So now it is my turn.  I recently participated in a Weave A Long in the backstrap group on Ravelry, of course Laverne Waddington is the moderator.  I learned so much and had waaayyyyy too much fun as well.  Alas though, all good things must come to an end, as will the WAL in the backstrap group.  March 6th to be exact.  Wiggles and I really hated to see it end...So I got an idea.  

Why can't I form my own WAL.  Not in the same group though as that is not my place.  I certainly didn't want to step on anyone else's toes.  So I started to thinking...maybe I could start up some sort of participation on my blog.  Couldn't figure out how to get a proper 'widget' that would allow people to post in MY blog.  Only I can do that I guess.  Then I started looking around in Ravelry again and discovered that the INKLE group had all but died out.  It needed a jump start.

Since the weave structure is the same as what is usually produced on a backstrap loom, I thought maybe I have enough knowledge to get us going.  SO I DID!

We are having a WAL and you are cordially invited.  Everyone, every skill level.  No big monies to spend, no complicated weave techniques (unless you want to), just alot of like minded people practicing and trying to perfect whatever it is that they feel they need to work on.

Below are my guide lines.  Come join  us.  Ravelry is free!  All you have to do is join.  Then you can come out to play with us!  If not with us, maybe you are only interested in knitting, LOTS of groups for that too.  I am sure they have KNIT A LONGS!  

Stop procrastinating and step outside of your comfort zone.  I did! and I was welcomed with open arms by all.  I would not have cared if only 1 other person wanted to participate.  That is one more person that I can relate to, help or get help from.  You scratch my back and I will scratch yours kind of thing.

Take a look.

I have suggested an all around Weave A Long. All skill levels, all kinds of inkle/warpface weaving.

I would like it to start on March 1st.

1. We would all use cotton.
   
2. I would like to shoot for at least 3 in. width if your loom
   will accommodate, if it won’t do 3 in. just try to go wider than your comfort zone.
   
3. I would like for everyone to try to make a longer length than they have in the past.  Maybe max your loom.
   
4. Any technique you want to do is okay. From plain weave to very complicated. I know several, I don’t have a day job and I am very glad to help in any way I can.
   

Suggestions:

a.  Plain weave
    b.  double weave
    c.  you could do soumak, picots, stripes, 

or  combs.
    d.  You can do inlay, I have tried it and understand the theory, 

even though I wasn't so good at it.
    e.  plain weave is beautiful with crisp cotton yarns.
    f.   Or maybe you just want to work on your salvages and warping techniques. 

We might have suggestions for that also.

I think it will allow us to discover some new techniques, some new yarns and weights. Find out where they are available and their price range. If you want to we can even assemble a little bag, cell ph cover, i pad case. Something that could be made from the strip with simple hand stitching.

I would love to have all of you participate that can. Please let me know. If you need to contact me I am at pandulaarts@yahoo.com. If you want to see the little pouch’s look on my blog at http://pandulaartscreations.blogspot.com/ . You can see pictures of them and a few of my beginner pieces along the right hand side.

DON’T FORGET TO POST LOTS OF PICTURES GIRLS AND BOYS!

Also I am thinking we will end this one on April 15th…unless we are just having too much fun!

Woooo hoooooooo! It's off the loom!

Please keep in mind that these posts are done in advance and so the dates are sometimes confusing.

This piece was completed on January 31st.

I had such fun figuring out how to make these motif's.  Especially on such a large pallet.  I haven't decided what I will do with it except that I will be keeping it.  I want to use it as a reference for the designs.  Laverne says alot of the women weavers where she lives in Bolivia keep scraps for this very purpose.  To help them remember their designs.  

Seems I gifted out everything for Christmas!  Good thing I took lots of pictures or I would have no way to remember!  I have also started keeping a written notebook for this same purpose.  But a picture says a thousand words, right! 

I am very proud of it! 

Next it is a camera bag for my friend KraftyMax!  She sent me some beautiful yarn.  It is 100% nylon though so I am not sure how well I will be able to weave with it.  I am sure it has no give or stretch.  This sometimes makes tensioning the warp difficult.  I will keep you posted.  Pics of the yarns coming up soon.

This one is 44 in. long without fringe, and it is 5 1/3 in wide.

After I posted this on Ravelry I was told that if I were in a country, such as Bolivia, where symbols hold great power, belief and tradition, that I would be asked what they represent.  The story behind them as it were.


I laid awake thinking about this last night, and this is what I came up with.

 I laid awake thinking about what the symbols represent...So here is what I came up with.

Starting at the bottom.

Diamonds are the hardest substance know to man.  This one represents the hardships we all face in life.
Yellow Diamonds are extremely rare, as is the person who faces these hardships with grace.
The next one represents being pulled in different directions and trying to stay 'level', and centered.
The heart of course is love.  We all need it.
The x and the o are tradition, hugs and kisses.
The person represents a holiday.  She has on her best dress and hat ready for a night out on the town.
The dog of course represents unconditional companionship and the last one represents chaos and is there to remind us not walk around in circles.

What do you think Laverne?

UPDATE:

This piece has been tied to my curtain rod above my bed.  It actually looks like part of the curtains.  And I get to look at every time I walk into the room.  LUV it!

February 15, 2011

Hi there everyone!  Just a mighty "THANK YOU" to all of my new followers.  I have noticed my numbers growing again, after a pretty long lull.  Thanks so much for coming along on my journey.  

I wish that blogger let us know when a new follower signed up so I could 'Thank' everyone personally. :o)

Please feel free to participate.  I am trying to find a way to even start doing some events for us on this blog.  Just have to figure out what and how to get the proper widget!

In the meanwhile I will try to keep you partially entertained and laughing a little here and there!

Again "  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart".

Sheep pelt!

I have owned this sheep 'pelt' for many years.  I acquired it when I went on a day trip looking for cotton fields after purchasing my spinning wheel.  I found it in a little roadside teeny tiny flea market kind of place.  Paid next to nothing for it if I recall.  I have used it for everything from sitting my spinning wheel on it, to a chair cushion in front of my tapestry loom.  

Actually, it drove me crazy.  It kept shedding, it was white and would get dirty very easily.  It seemed it was always in the way somehow.  

Then it actually turned gray from all of the use and dust.  I was actually ready to toss it into the trash.  That being the case I decided to try putting it into the washing machine and see what happened...WHAT A SURPRISE!  It came sparkling clean and beautiful.  So beautiful in fact that now I am trying to figure out what to use it for.  Check it out!  Gorgeous!  No felting at all!  Of course I used cold water and wouldn't even consider the dryer.

It reminds me of beautiful smooth butter with all of its hues of cream and pale yellow.  Seems only fitting to own one as a weaver/spinner.

Double Weave pattern...or at least an attempt!

Here I have ventured into the world of charting my own designs.  Please keep in mind that not only do I not usually have a preordained idea of what I want to weave, I certainly don't CHART them.  

This one is 36 warp revolutions wide.  It should make a nice accent strip on a larger piece.  Since I was able to do the 'people' and 'dog' I decided it was time to give it a shot.  No particular end result though...

There are a couple of spots at the top that I am not happy with...it is definitely a work in progress.

What's on the Loom????

Definition - Art - Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. 

Definition - Mind - The human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, and imagination.

And I could not have said it better myself.

Now I will show you my newest ART!  I did a DAWG motif!  I saw one, or at least something that resembled one, in the book "  By Ways in Handweaving",  by Mary Meigs Atwater.  So of course I had to SERIOUSLY ENLARGE it to fit my huge weaving platform.  After I completed it just like the pattern, I then seriously embellished on him.  I actually tried to make him look like Wiggles.  Note the ears that are out to the side and the curly tail.  WIGGLES through and through, actually Lacy too.  Both dogs have those characteristics.  She measures 3 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in.  I love this little dawg.  

I still have about 2 ft. on this warp, I definitely have to do a male 'people', and who knows what else.  Maybe a chicken...so many motif's it's hard to choose. 

First you see the little pattern that gave me my inspiration.  Thank you Mary Atwater!   It is the one in the lower left hand corner.  Sorta like a dog..

Then here you see what I came up with.  I am so proud of myself.I am going to have to be careful or I will break my arm patting myself on the back.  LOL

Finally, pictorials, of a sort anyway!

What's on the Loom????

I made a people in warp floats!  She is 4 3/4 in. wide and 7 3/4 in. long!  Isn't she cool!  Do keep in mind that this is HUGE compared to most pieces in warp float.  Also I was looking at a photo that showed me a person about an inch tall to try and duplicate it.  It took alot of un-weaving and re-weaving to get her any kind of proportionate on a 96 thread wide warp! 

YEAH!  I AM SO PROUD!

I think I will also do a male 'people' in red somewhere on this piece.  

Then at some point an entire piece with different people.  Some in dresses, pants, different kinds of hats, I even want to do a face.  Maybe even a dog!

What's on the Loom????

Last night, Thursday the 27th, was Tapestry weave workshop.  Dana has decided that before we do our cartoon together that she wants to work through a sampler that we found from a 1988 Handwoven Magazine.  

Since I am self taught, this is definitely to my advantage also.  I did use Navajo techniques and followed a graph once a very long time ago.  Got half way though it and found that it bored me to tears to follow someone else's patter.  Half hitched the end, took it off the loom, and a very dear friend of mine in FL, who is a plant freak, uses it (among others I have given her) to sit plants on.  After that I never even tried to follow a grid, pattern or cartoon.  

I have discovered though that I would like to use some of my own artwork in my weaving's.  Yes, some of the designs in my warpface endeavors are my own, but I want scrolls and flowers and such of my own drawings.  

I have used quite a number (most even) of the techniques show in the sampler, but not all.  So we will learn them together.  I see some tapestries coming after that.  

Another thing about tapestry weaving that I didn't realize I was spoiled to, is that mine are always reversible.  Not so with warpface so much, unless you do double weave.  For my purposes, double weave is not so practical.  It takes twice as much yarn, for half as much width and twice as much time.  Since most of what I do are purses/totes/pouches, I don't need the inside, which is hardly seen, to be "  Pretty".   I can, and always have, still use predominantly cotton.  Not so much wool here in southern USA to be found or even used/needed.  I have also discovered over the years that I really don't care as much for hairy yarns.  

I have 2 little dogs, as most of you know, and deal with quite enough hair.  I don't like finding it on my eyelashes, or stuck to my lipstick.  LOL  Plus, alot of the agriculture here in southern GA, is indeed cotton.  Very accessible and inexpensive.  

When I decided to really venture into cotton, I took a day trip.  I lived in FL, and drove to GA, looking for a cotton field.  I had never seen one.  When I found one I spotted a gentleman on a tractor close to the edge of the road.  I got out and shouted "  HEY MISTER",  and he politely shut off his machine and got down to visit.  I asked him if he knew where I could find a cotton gin and he answered "  Just so happens I own one".   KEWL!  He called ahead and I got a tour.  

I actually thought a gin might be about the size of a tractor trailer...NOT.  They are huge barns and they waste more cotton than I could ever spin and use.  I was given 3 huge garbage bags of ginned cotton for free!  This is why I offer instruction for cotton spindle spinning at the art center.  All I need now are students.  LOL  I do indeed want to learn to spin cotton that is usable for warpface weave.  I have often used my own hand spun cotton for tapestry.

Back to tapestry weaving.  Dana's significant other made me some new boards for my loom.  Now, instead of a very large loom and a very small loom, I will have a medium size one that is just right for my space.  I just have to free up a table to clamp it to, since I am Gilmore Wave loom crazed...

Anyway, I have the small tapestry and a large piece on the Large wave that I need to complete and then I will be doing a custom bag for one of my dearest friends, KraftyMax.  Max is actually the culprit to this entire weaving saga of about 15 or so years.  She got me started.  As a result she has my weaving's all over her home, along with my drawings, knitted socks and even some of my very few cross stitch pieces.  

A little side humor...I was in Max's wedding and decided to do her a Wedding sampler.   It is the first thing you see when you open the door to her home, framed and hung with obvious pride.  I even designed it and wrote the poetry on it myself.  I was in the house by myself one day and stood looking at this piece that had been hanging in her home for 11 yrs. and had a terrible revelation.  I mispelled her husband's name......I thought I would crawl under the carpet.  Very upsetting, and she never said a word.  This is a true friend who loves me, faults and all.  Back at ya Max.

Here is a picture of Dana's Sampler!  It is letter perfect!  Now the student becomes the teacher.

What's on the Loom????

I don't recall if I mentioned it, but recently I warped up my little tapestry loom when I got frustrated with the warpface weaving.  It was a bust though, as all I could do was sit and look at it.  No inspiration for design at all.  Remember I don't usually have a pre-determined idea of what I want to weave.  I just let the loom talk to me.

Of all things I had chosen brown tones for the piece, much like the colors in the teeny weeny pain in the arse double weave piece that I ended up cutting off and throwing away.  I guess those colors were really talking to me.  Unfortunately I didn't like what they were saying to me.  So I took the tapestry loom and all of its equipment right back upstiars and put it in its place in the attic.

Then I warped up with the yellow/pomegranate and watermelon warp on the Large Wave loom that you have seen in the last two posts.  Welllllllll...I kind of got stumped with that one after the diamonds started and put it aside and went back to the tapestry loom'.  It still has the brown warp on it.

I have discovered that as easy as it is for me to make beautiful pieces in tapestry, it does require alot more trips to the attic where the yarns are.  grrrrr  More gear and yarns in my very small room.  Remember I no longer have a designated space for my art forms.  This means if I change my mind about colors and such I have to make a trip into the attic.  That is indeed one of the advantages of the warpface weave.  Once warped, there is only one weft yarn, unless you are doing supplementary weft, and even then it can all e one color.  Not alot of different colors as in most tapestry weaving.

I did get some of it done though and I am reasonably happy with it to this point.  

Another thing I discovered is that although I always preferred upright looms before the Wave came along, I now prefer the horizontal.  My tools don't fall out of the weave as often when the loom is horizontal, thus less annoying.  I also discovered that I have something of a style with my tapestry weavings.  The pattern I am doing is not real pattern at all.  It is just happening as I pick up a color I think will look good next.  It has alot of flowing lines, very tranquil, and it requires no real thinking on my part.  It just happens, and I most always love the result.  But it shows itself in alot of my pieces.  When you see the pictures you may even recognize it.  No charting, no following patterns, no warp board, no sore hands from beating the weft (as in warpface weave).  

So why is it that at this point neither one of these forms of weaving is giving me the satisfaction that it did before Christmas?  I think I am a little burnt out.  I was weaving for hours and hours a day before the holidays.  Especially the warpface weaving, as I was learning it as I went.  I had no one here to discuss things with, only my Cyber friends and instructors, so it definitely required concentration.  Now I am left feeling a little flat about the entire thing.  I actually hear my pencils call me quite often also.  Maybe that is the real problem.  I am being pulled by another art form.  We'll see.

Anyway here are some pictures of what is happening on the small tapestry loom.  The large one has been warped for a couple of months and just sitting here looking at me.  It hasn't spoken to me yet though...

So far this is all that I have done, and already the loom is back upstairs and I am back to my warpface weaving.