12/11/2014

Have been steady working on my art, especially since the transmission is out in my car. I have plenty of time on my hands…

So here's the tiny basket.

And on to other things. I have been thinking very hard about drawing a skull on a piece of wood, for selling of course.  Skulls are not typically my thing, I like happier art, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway.  Especially since a friend of mine gifted me some reclaimed wood from the bookshelf.

It'll be great for practice as I do not want to risk ruining a piece of my cedar planking. So here's the first line drawing I came up with.

Be kind, and keep in mind that I am not going for realism. Just representational art. I kind of like the crooked eyes, but he doesn't look as mean as I would like for him to yet. 

I might even Zen tangle him, I'm just not sure what to do with it as yet.

And speaking of Cedar planking a friend (same friend that gifted me the reclaimed wood that the skull is on). of mine found a way to cut some of my slabs for me check it out…

They Measure approximately 13 in. X 9 in. And they were free!!! Even better!

I have also been working on a custom order for a friend of mine.  Christmas tree ornaments and a piece of wall art with her new baby girls feet prints and birth announcement on it for her grandma. I'm going to do that on a piece of cedar it should be beautiful, so keep watching we'll see what happens.

11/13/2014

One tiny basket, one tiny bowl, and check it out I made some Christmas tree ornaments!

10/15/2014

Here is my newest Pineneedle bracelet. 

This is number three of the five that I have to do for a client. They will be Christmas gifts.  Usually I know why making these things for, in this case I do not. Makes it a little harder to try and think of something a little different for each one that each lady may like.

I like the infinity symbol in this one and blue and brown is a very popular combination let me know what you think…

Bell pull

November 30, 2011

I got my shelf that my x made me forever ago up in my room, along with the boat shuttle candle sticks Ms. Carol gave me forever ago.  I love it!  All things woven, including my pine needle baskets!  The one with the buttons is my first ever weaving.  It used to be framed, but the frame died so I used leave it laying around so I can look at it.

On to the current piece...red and green for the Facebook Color Challenge group project.  A new color challenge is posted every two weeks, when I decided to try and see if my arm would let me weave again, it was a red and green challenge.  So I got out all of my scraps of red and green and this is what I came up with.  It is warp face double weave and waaayyyyyyy too narrow.  But I needed something easy and mindless.  I am thinking it may turn into a bell pull when it grows up.  Maybe.  

Oh yeah, and I gave Max's son his skull band and it now resides happily around the neck of his favorite stuffed animal.  Makes me proud, he sleeps with that silly dog every night of his little life.  But I digress.

I decided to try some lettering on this piece as it is kind of narrow for motif.  I used the Bedouin star for a Christmas star and then did one of my little 'wingin it designs' of a Christmas tree.  The letter is "Ho Ho Ho" of course.  Short and sweet.  Here is what I have so far.

It is only 15 warps wide total...small.  Maybe a little over a half an inch.  The bells I bought are a little large...not sure what I will do with it in the end.  

Stay tuned.

Northwest Inkle Looms

November 22, 2011

Today is the first day of starting up my blog again after my car accident and short hiatus.  I will be posting on Wednesday's only for a little while, with maybe a few scattered in between as I feel the need.

To start with, I think you all know that I have recently been forced to move for the second time in 3 mnths.  It really sucked, but I am no pretty much getting settled in...again.  However, per usual, I was having an extremely difficult time figuring out where to hook up my backstrap.  The room I am in is extremely small this time and this was making me very sure my trash picked weaving table wasn't going to fit.

So I decided to try out an Inkle loom and see if this would eliminate this problem from here on out.  I went on line and did some research.  I decided I wanted a full size loom, not an inklette.  I also decided I wanted one with two sides, one of which would be removable for warping.  This research lead me to a site for the Northwest Loom company in Wyoming.  Beautiful handcrafted looms very reasonably priced.  So I went ahead and ordered one.

There was a little confusion on delivery, since I was new to the neighborhood, through no particular person's fault, but it came to me the day after I got into the car accident.  It is/was a beautiful piece with a free belt shuttle as well.  Oak is my favorite wood and it was crafted beautifully. 

I have been in a sling, but did manage to warp it up with my roommate's help for a set of shoe string's for her.  Home Depot orange, ecru and gold (I still have to get aglets for the ends).  Very narrow, plain weave.  The loom was about 34" long though, making it necessary to have a table at the far end to rest it on.  I had thought I would rest it on the floor at the other end from me, thus no need for another table.  I have seen others do Inkle weaving this way, but for me it was a uncomfortable, and it had nothing to do with the car accident, it just felt awkward.

So in rearranging the furniture in my room for the 15th time I finally hit on an arrangement that allowed my weaving table to come into the room.  OMG, what a homecoming.  It was like slipping on my favorite slouch clothes when I sat up to that backstrap loom.  I knew in that moment that Inkle weaving was not for me.  No matter how lovely the loom.  So it has been returned to Wyoming with my most sincere regrets to Mr. Tony.

I put on a practice warp for the backstrap, a little red and green piece for the Facebook Color Challenge group and started up  (more about the actual weaving soon).  Now to get rid of the bulky and ugly tool box.  There is a drawer in my trash picked table...so I brainstormed and came up with what I now call a "Weaving Station".  I laid a handwoven piece in the bottom of the drawer and placed all of my necessary tools in the drawer.  Everything from a mirror for double weave, to my notebook.  Then I took a Russell Stover candy tin my friend Max gave me and put the tools necessary for the actual weaving, pulled my computer chair u next to the recliner as a table, and placed the tin there.  PERFECT!

First we see the tin with the immediately needed tools ready at the hand next to me.  They are sitting on the computer chair which of course has wheels and I can position anyplace needed with one hand.

Here you can see the drawer with my other tools in it.  You can also see the backstrap loom, it is behind the c clamps.

Love this!  I need to trash pick more often.  My roommate and I are even thinking about painting the table with acrylic pain, maybe a woods scene.

And here you can see it being used! 

So for now I am set up again...until another (God forbid) move.  Can't weave for more than a few minutes at this point, because of my shoulder.  The car was t boned on my door.  So the right arm (I was a passenger) is very sore, we removed the staples on Saturday the 20, boy am I glad those things are out.  But I still have alot of pain due to the separation in the shoulder, but hopefully I will be o.k. in the long run.  

Stay tuned friends and I will be letting you know how this little Christmas band turns out.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Just a little update!

So here we go with an update!  There are weavings that I couldn't show before Christmas because certain people were not supposed to see them.  There are also pics of yarn gifting.  Just scroll down and you will get the picture.

First, it's Wiggles, ever watchful and eternally cute!

This is the largest Gilmore Wave loom that I borrowed from KraftyMax.  Here you see it with my roommate's Christmas present on it.  She wanted a band to hang pictures of her dogs!  This one was verrrrrry long.

Here we have the first panel for a '1 skein project bag' for my weave workshop buddy.  I will make 5 of these panels, 4 for the body and 1 for the flap.  Each will be different and she wants it to open on the long side.  We decided mutually that she will assemble it so it is the way she wants it.  She is a graduate of Florida State University is how I decided on garnet with a little bit of gold.  I will post completed pics when it is indeed complete.

Now for the Christmas presents of yarn!  Here we have #10 Bamboo crochet thread.

I also received alot of cotton.  Here you see # 3 mercerized cotton crochet thread!  Lots of yummy colors.

Here we have a combination of #10 mercerized cotton crochet thread along with the #3's.  These are the best yarns for warpface weaving.  I don't have it in me to fight with hairy yarns that stick to each other and make the weaving ALOT less than enjoyable.

 

I think I am set for yarn for a little while!  I am soooooo looking forward to weaving just for the fun of it and experimenting with some new techniques.

Now for the best ever!  Here you see Crystal Pistal's custom made cotton warpface scarf.  She wanted it long and since she is in FL cotton works fabulously!  


She loves hearts and I threw in the X's and O's.  If you look close enough you might be able to see that one of the X's is made up of little x's and o's!  You might also notice that the design is only on one side!  Plain stripes on the other.  You can read more about how I discovered how to do this here!  It is my absolute best piece yet and she LOVED it!

I, unfortunately didn't take pictures of all of my completed pictures.  Somehow I simply forgot to do it. ;-{  But I am told that everything reached everyone on time and all of my family loved their gifts.  Seems to big talk was how much my weaving has changed and improved.  Merry Christmas to me.


I hope that you and yours had a lovely holiday!  Me I am actually just glad it has come and gone.  Lots of fun...lots of work and stress.  


NOW ON TO THE NEW YEAR!

A Christmas present for my sister!

This time I made the scrolls out of the DARK brown  instead of the light brown on the small piece.  The pieces are opposites.  

The first one (from yesterdays post) is 19 inches long before fringe.  This one is 49 inches long before fringe.  Out of a 9 1/2 foot long warp I got about 6 feet.  More waste than usual as I knew I didn't want a 9 foot table runner/scarf.  So I cut off the first piece retied onto the front beam and started again.  I have found that the thicker the fabric roll on the front beam the more difficult a time I have with my tension.  I have also discovered that unrolling the already produced fabric to look at the results of my labor will also create tension problems at times. 

Since I rarely use a chart and make up my patterns as I go...it gets a little difficult to be sure of spacing and symmetry unless I unroll back to the beginning and take a look.  Bad habit!

Anyway I almost wet my pants when I finally got to unroll this piece and look at the finished product.  All my own color choices and design factors.  

I don't think I will be doing scrolls again any time soon.  LOL

I wrote this post on Thanksgiving Day and I also posted pictures on Weavolution and Ravelry.  Later in the day, all fat and happy with turkey, I checked my mail and found the latest post from Laverne Waddington on her blog.  She has backstrap groups on each website as well!


The biggest surprise though is that she has once again, posted pictures of my work.  Click here if you want to read a very interesting and informative blog. 

Here are the pictures.