Tuesday, August 29, 2006
got handspun?
Here is a sampling of scarves made from some of the handspun yarn I designed at Penland. First up: This was alpaca roving, one grey and one white, both painted the same colors. When it was dry I stripped each roving very thin and held the 2 together to spin a singles yarn for the weft. The warp is a laceweight yarn that I chained on the warping board, tied really well, and painted the using the same colors as for the alpaca. This was highly sucessful, and especially nice since the warp was already measured out and just had to be threaded on the loom. I think the colors are kind of anemic, but the scarf is nice and soft.
This one has singles (blended colors) weft, and a painted roving handspun 2 ply warp that I had spun for another project. It matched the singles so well, I just had to use it.
This is a 2 ply corriedale white handspun, painted with reds, golds, and accented with greens. I wish you could see the REAL colors-they are stunning. It is a rich autumnal orangey-red.
This was the most nerve-wracking. I used singles for weft AND warp. I only had 2 broken warp threads, so I was thrilled. I had bits and pieces of yarn, so I chose the largest amount to be the warp, and divided up the rest into 1/4 ounce balls and wove it in large color bands. I will be using singles again for warp.
And the last one is 2 ply light grey Coopworth handspun and then painted with greens, golds, and purples. The color on this one is a rich green/brown reminding me of the forest. Coopworth has a lovely sheen to it too.
And that's all I have spun up. I have lots of little bits, but not enough to make anything. I have lots of spinning to do, but due to a lot of life stuff won't be getting to it until the end of September. See you then!
This one has singles (blended colors) weft, and a painted roving handspun 2 ply warp that I had spun for another project. It matched the singles so well, I just had to use it.
This is a 2 ply corriedale white handspun, painted with reds, golds, and accented with greens. I wish you could see the REAL colors-they are stunning. It is a rich autumnal orangey-red.
This was the most nerve-wracking. I used singles for weft AND warp. I only had 2 broken warp threads, so I was thrilled. I had bits and pieces of yarn, so I chose the largest amount to be the warp, and divided up the rest into 1/4 ounce balls and wove it in large color bands. I will be using singles again for warp.
And the last one is 2 ply light grey Coopworth handspun and then painted with greens, golds, and purples. The color on this one is a rich green/brown reminding me of the forest. Coopworth has a lovely sheen to it too.
And that's all I have spun up. I have lots of little bits, but not enough to make anything. I have lots of spinning to do, but due to a lot of life stuff won't be getting to it until the end of September. See you then!
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Penland
I can't think of a clever title. Penland was absolutely extraordinary. If you love working with your art/craft, please do yourself a favor and take a class here if they offer something that interests you. And it better interest you A LOT because you spend 8-12 hours a day at it. Actual class time is probably 6 or 7 hours a day, but the studios are open 24/7 and believe me, you will want to be there "working". I say "working" because it was so much fun. We decided we were either 1) in some time-warp continuum, because time went by so fast (lunchtime! didn't we just have breakfast? No, wait, that was 4 hours ago) or 2) dead and in heaven. We had a discussion about this prior to one field trip, and decided that if we couldn't leave the campus, like we were on some mobius road that kept bringing us back to Penland, then we were dead. This was my view coming into the back of the textiles building every morning. I love this picture. I may have to dig out my watercolors. Note the open door. No AC anywhere. This will become significant as the week rolls on.
I took a yarn design class from Deb Menz. We spent the first week painting commercial yarn, and unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that. The second week was color blending of commercially dyed top, and then spinning a yarn. She brought 70 colors.
More fiber. I was at Penland when the East Coast was baking in 105 degree heat. We probably only got up to 95 or so. We kept telling ourselves, "at least we're not in glass" or "at lease we're not in iron" . We were only on the 3rd floor in the dye kitchen. Remember, no AC. It did cool down enough at night so you needed a sheet and very thin bedspread.
Here is a miniscule portion of Deb's samples. She has boxes and boxes of yummy yarn.
Here is my painted yarn. I still have a lot of spinning to do for the blended yarn. You can see a few balls of roving to the right.
Penland has a lot of outdoor art work. This is a retaining wall, decorated with ceramic work. Iron railings were graceful and decorated with scrollwork, leaves, hands, etc. It was all lovely. William Morris would have been proud.
There are other smaller works, too. Mrs. Felt Troll visits the castle.
Naptime for baby.
Mr. Troll says thanks for stopping by.
Come back to Penland real soon!
I took a yarn design class from Deb Menz. We spent the first week painting commercial yarn, and unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that. The second week was color blending of commercially dyed top, and then spinning a yarn. She brought 70 colors.
More fiber. I was at Penland when the East Coast was baking in 105 degree heat. We probably only got up to 95 or so. We kept telling ourselves, "at least we're not in glass" or "at lease we're not in iron" . We were only on the 3rd floor in the dye kitchen. Remember, no AC. It did cool down enough at night so you needed a sheet and very thin bedspread.
Here is a miniscule portion of Deb's samples. She has boxes and boxes of yummy yarn.
Here is my painted yarn. I still have a lot of spinning to do for the blended yarn. You can see a few balls of roving to the right.
Penland has a lot of outdoor art work. This is a retaining wall, decorated with ceramic work. Iron railings were graceful and decorated with scrollwork, leaves, hands, etc. It was all lovely. William Morris would have been proud.
There are other smaller works, too. Mrs. Felt Troll visits the castle.
Naptime for baby.
Mr. Troll says thanks for stopping by.
Come back to Penland real soon!Ellen does shibori*
Remember back during Convergence, when I was talking about overdyeing a shawl, but it was not cured yet so you couldn't see it? Sure you do. Here's what I did. First I dyed a cotton shawl in fustic (alum & tannin mordants). Then, I used these automotive clamps that Michelle had to clamp the fabric. I folded and then tried to apply the clamps in a regular pattern. I don't know what these clamps are used for, automotively speaking, but they have square plastic clampy parts with a nice grid pattern on them. They are not the same type of clamps that you would use to jump your battery. They come in several sizes. I think I used 28 clamps. This was dubbed "the caterpillar" by the class. It was awkward to fit into the dye pot, but I circled it up and it just fit under the surface of the liquid.
This is the shawl after curing for a month or so, washed in the washing machine with regular detergent. Some of the folded edges didn't get as exposed to the indigo as I would have liked.
And here are the beads I got for the fringe. It'll be another month or so before I get around to that.
*title suggested by Gail from Penland, who thinks I can also play the lute (I can't).
This is the shawl after curing for a month or so, washed in the washing machine with regular detergent. Some of the folded edges didn't get as exposed to the indigo as I would have liked.
And here are the beads I got for the fringe. It'll be another month or so before I get around to that.
*title suggested by Gail from Penland, who thinks I can also play the lute (I can't).
