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A Knight’s Helmet

A Knight’s Helmet

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Along with the Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guilds 75th anniversary Show in Almonte that Jan told you about here https://wp.me/p1WEqk-hG9 we also had a smaller exhibition at our guild sale with the theme of Diamonds. I told you about making the diamonds here https://wp.me/p1WEqk-his   They needed something to make them more relivent so I enlisted Jan to make a dragon hand. I am sure she will tell you about it.  Then I thought I should make a bowl for everything. That seemed a little boring so I decided a Knight’s Helmet would be much more dramatic.

The helmet needed to be sturdy to hold the shape so I decided to use some Tyrollean wool batt I got before the pandemic, I think. It makes a nice sturdy felt. I think it is a type of Bergschaf. I am told bergschaf just means mountain sheep and not a particular breed. It would be a different breed in different places.

It had this helpful chart on the back.

It is a very nice grey, the batt is fairly consistent and I didn’t need to add many extra bits to thin spots. Most batts I have tried have been very inconsistent in thickness.

Next was laying out wool for the top, bottom and nose peice of the helmet.

At this point, I decided I didn’t want the nose piece attached. it was going to affect the shrinkage in the spot so I removed it and made it a separate piece along with the strapping that will go on later as well.

After that, it was a lot of rubbing and rolling and bashing until it was shrunk to the right size.

then it needed to dry in the right shape. I wanted it to be round. No idea why, it was just what I had in my head as the idea. I found a bowl the right size and stretched it into shape, fine-tuning the edges by using small tugs until the edge was “straight”  Sorry for the bad picture, it was on the dining room table and windows or glass fronted cabinets are the only options for backgrounds.

Next time I will show you the extra pieces being added and the finished piece.

A rare view inside Ashford Wheels and Looms, New Zealand

A rare view inside Ashford Wheels and Looms, New Zealand

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As textile folk, many of you are familiar with the New Zealand company Ashford Wheels and Looms. In fact some may own an Ashford product as they also sell hand carders, drum carders and many other tools and accessories.

They sell all around the world.

Me, I am the proud owner of a set of their hand carders and a drum carder, they are invaluable tools when it comes to my felt making.

Here’s a question:  what have Lego and Ashford Wheels and Looms got in common?  I will tell you at the end of the post.

Back to my story.  You probably have experienced one of those rare moments in life where the planets aligned – a real ‘right place right time’ moment.  This happened to me earlier this year.  Last February, we did a once in a lifetime trip to New Zealand.  At this stage I can’t tell you how many time zones we traversed but, travelling from Ireland, but were a long time in the air and we covered over 18,000km.  I loved every minute of the trip and we factored in time to spend at the Ashford store in Ashburton on the South Island.  So for anyone who has or is thinking about purchasing anything from the store, here’s some photos and a story that might fill in the blanks on your lovely pieces.

I was so excited when our hire car pulled into the car park.  I jumped out and started talking to the first person I met.  By sheer stroke of luck I was talking to the company’s owner Richard Ashford.  My second bit of luck was that he and his lovely wife Elizabeth were about to lead a factory tour for an American group.  He introduced me to the group (which I thought was very courteous of him) and off we all headed into the factory.  The couple’s charisma and energy shone through during the tour.  They were both about to retire from the family business making way for a new generation of Ashford’s to take over the business which has been on the go for over 90 years.  I wish them both a happy and healthy retirement and I want to thank them both for making the morning I spent in their company so warm and memorable.

So if you are the proud owner of one of the 900,000 Ashford products which have been made so far in Ashburton, give us a shout and let us know what treasured item you own.  If you are thinking of buying, the slide shows may well whet your appetite.  Enjoy this rare view inside the factory.

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Stockists are all over the globe.

My next stop was a wander around the store.  Think kid in a sweet shop in this regard.  The only issues that held me back were the fact that there’s only so much that would fit into the suitcase and the realisation that I can buy from one of many stockists in Europe – happy days! Here’s a sneak peak of the interior of the shop:

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I hope you enjoyed these special holiday photos. Please feel free to reach out and tell us what Ashford pieces you own (or what is on your wish list)

Answer:  both are highly successful companies who started out making wooden toys.

Twist 2024; Part 2 – Demos!

Twist 2024; Part 2 – Demos!

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HAPPY HOLIDAY MONDAY to those who are enjoying the long weekend!

Last post we drove out to Twist Fibre Festival, in the heavy rain, and checked out some of the booths. https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/08/23/twist-2024-part-1-shopping/

As you saw, this year there was a reasonable distribution of different vendors for weavers, spinners, sewers/Quilters and yarn for knitting and crochet. for felters I only found one that had felt things (boots and slippers) and two that had tools and one had needles.

DEMOS At TWIST

At 1:45 pm, I arranged with the workshop people to get a table and a couple of chairs for our demo space. it was the best spot for demoing, right outside the main arena, where everyone would pass. Since there was no demo box, which had tablecloths and other demo supplies, I was left with whatever I had in the car and the felt pieces I had brought to choose from, as a display. I went back out to the car, to drop off shopping (we will look at that later) and see what I had to work with.  I found an old sign I had made for the carp fair in 2017. (No idea why it was still in the car)  It was in a plastic sleeve, on card stock. It had our web address, a bit of info about workshops and our name. OK, signage covered? I have a number of lightweight black car blankets to cover stuff in the back of the car, which will work to cover the table.  I also grabbed the bag of felt pictures, the bag of wool I had brought to work from, and 2 of the braids I just purchased. With the walker loaded, I rolled back through the rain, off to set up a demo.

As I was setting up I had people dropping their stuff on the table, to get organized before going out in the rain. So I only used 2 of the black blankets to allow space at the end of the table, in case more people needed to prep for the weather. I set up all the felting I had brought and pulled out the Dragon hand (more about that even later too!) to add the first colour layer. I didn’t actually get much done on that, but I had a steady stream of questions about felt pictures, sculptures, armatures, needles and wool.

French was my favourite class up to grade 7 when our new teacher decided to teach us to read and write in French. I was very optimistic and had a working hypothesis, that I was enthusiastically testing; maybe I am not dyslexic in French! That did not work out as well as I had hoped and was proven to be a false hypothesis. While I was enjoying French, my English teacher was not. It seems my English spelling worsened and I was kicked out of French, by my English teacher….. I have since lost most of the vocabulary I had acquired before my ignominious removal.

So I was very pleased when another guild member dropped by at the end of her shopping as she waited for a friend to finish a workshop she was in. She had a sweet little support spindle and fibre to demonstrate spinning and spoke French! She was able to chat with many more of the people who stopped and was able to answer their questions or translate what I said. I was so happy that she was there to help!  By the time she left, the crowd had decreased and I was able to chat with most of the remaining people.

This was a great spot and I hope they will ask us back next year.

demoing of felting, pictures, and a few sculptures with armatures
It was very busy, and these pictures, as I set up, were the only ones I got during the demo.
Friday demo space, the table was beside the the door going into the area of the Arena.
The demo spaces at the end of Friday are all ready for the Saturday demo teams.

Sunday Demo teams Spinning, Weaving, Fiber prep with a swing picker10.1- 10.3) Demoing Friday afternoon, demo space at 6 pm, and Sunday demo teams

Now should we check and see if we bought the same things during shopping?  What did you select?

braids of fiber, spindles, silk, a small bat of green, a breed study kit from World of wool, 2 bags of locks, a small bag of cashmear, battery pack for EEW6. Book The Techniques of Tablet Weaving.
Friday’s Shopping
close up of braids most are combed top, 2 plastic spindles,
Close-up of Friday’s Shopping
Sunday's Shopping, 2 more braids of top, 2 twist angle guides,2 more of those spindles i got on friday, a pen holder for a note book, extra parts for the EEW6.
Sunday’s Shopping

10.4, 10.5, 10.6)Shopping!! braids, wheel parts, spindles, fibre, Book, Silk, Cashmere and twist guides!

On to The Shopping!!

On Friday: I found 7 Braids of combed top, most were BFL, Targi and a Romni cross in deep tones. Many were dyed over grey wool. 2 large top whirl 3-D printed drop spindles, I was crossing my fingers there would be a few remaining on Sunday since they spun like a dream, holding their spin for an extended period of time.  In the top picture (10.4) you will notice I found the Collingwood tablet weaving book I was about to order, and beside it is a mysterious cardboard box!  That is holding my new battery, it will make my EEW6 spinning wheel free of electric plugs!!  I had purchased a bag of these locks before and liked them enough to get 2 more bags this year! I was intrigued by a breed discovery pack from World of Wool (I was inspired by the upcoming workshop on Sunday), a green batt, a small bag of cashmere from the Black Lamb, and a small bag of grey/silver silk that may wind up on the dragon hand.

On Sunday after the workshop, I finished my shopping. First I was off to find 2 more of the spindles I had liked so much, then off to look at a couple more braids of combed top. (Batts are easier to needle felt but the colours!!! I could not help myself!!!)  Yes, I did cave and get a braid with Merino, bamboo and silk, it was the colour! and it will likely hang out with one of the spinning wheels. I found 2 twist angle guilds for the spinning wheels to share. I went back to get info on how to hook the battery up to the electric spinning wheel and also got an extra parts bag, just because I had not seen them available anywhere and it’s good to have spare parts when you need them. Lastly, I also found something for Ann, she has been looking for one for a while but she will tell you about the item in the paper bag (no it isn’t a knotty nostepinne!!)

Although my shopping skills are not up to Carlene’s ability, I did try my best! I hope your vicarious shopping has inspired your next felting, spinning or weaving project!

Thanks to Glenn for carrying loot and wheels on Sunday (he did not shop, since there was a serious lack of blacksmithing related items at the fibre festival, maybe he will have more luck next year? He did enjoy a nice day of reading a book.)

Still to come: Twist 2024; Part 3 – Breed Study Workshop, but first a quick trip to an impressive tapestry exhibit! that will be for next week! Have a wonderful long weekend for those who are partaking!!

View of finished cowl multicoloured hand dyed with procion dyes wet felted onto margillan silk
Rethinking old sayings

Rethinking old sayings

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My American Aunt, Rose (born in Ireland but she lived her adult life in the US as a religious sister and kids’ teacher) used to have a phrase about nice things.  They were ‘for special occasions and bonfire nights’. I suspect it was from a time when folk had one good outfit in their wardrobe but it’s a phrase that has stuck with me and, while the saying sounds fun, it has led to me not letting go of beauty, storing them up in boxes or in the wardrobes for that ‘special occasion’ to come along.  As I get older I have come to realise that every day I get to be on this beautiful earth is a special occasion and so it is time to get out the glad rags and let loose!  I am finally applying this simple principle to my fibre stash; so in this post I want to talk about some of those gorgeous samples that I made during the various dyeing workshops I have taken over the past nine months.  I wrote about them in my last three posts and you can find them all here if you would like to catch up with them. Adventures in colour Part 1; Adventures in colour Part 2; Dyeing to Eat.

I have to confess, it took a while for me to brave using the results of the workshops – the special occasions and bonfire nights phrase was stuck in my head and I was afraid I might ruin the samples (silly!).  In the end, I decided to simplify things and just play.  I started with a little weaving.  Some time ago I bought a small loom, nothing fancy, it cost less than €13.00.  It’s from Sostrene Grene, it’s a great shop for reasonably priced bits and pieces and it now is online.  Their website is here

Here is a photo of my little loom.  It’s great for playing as I watch TV:

Wooden hobby loom
Small wooden hobby loom with pen included in the photo for size perspective

 

As I did not have specialist thread and as this was just a play, I set the warp up using cotton thread.  Then I got to work, using some of the fibre and yarn which I dyed during the natural dyeing workshop last November.  I also used a cotton yarn for the background of the piece.  Here is a photo of some of the hand dyed fibre:

The final result for the fresh nettle dye. I love the variety of tints!

Here is the result of my first play:

Hand dyed (natural dyes) fibres were woven on a small hobby loom. Background is cotton yarn and highlights are provided with wool skeins merino and linen fibres. beige and yellow colours
Background is cotton yarn and highlights are provided with wool skeins merino and linen fibres.

Next, I decided to use some of the yarn which I dyed during the Procion dye workshop.  At this stage I had purchased proper warp thread and I decided to use a metal hoop for my base. I used a small nylon ring within the hoop and I set this off centre when I was setting up the warp.  Again here are some photos of the fibre and thread used.  I love the vibrancy of these colours!

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And here is the result.  I plan to add nylon fishing line to this and hang it as a mobile.

Hand dyed (procion dyes) fibre woven onto a circular hoop. Autumnal orange colours
Hand dyed (procion dyes) fibre woven onto a circular hoop.

Next, it was finally time to be a little brave and use one of my favourite fibre samples.  This is merino wool which was randomly dyed in the dye pot.  I loved the result as it reminded me of photos taken of deep space by Hubble. Here are two photos of the fibre sample I made.

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I felt I might ruin the effect if I didn’t felt it carefully.  So my layout had to be simple.  In the end I decided to make a cowl with it.   The sample length was 60cm and it was quite thick so I divided the fibre lengthways into two equal bundles being careful to keep the colours intact.  I took the two bundles and stretched both out very thinly width wise, again being careful to maintain the colours.  As the fibres were going to run in one direction I decided to use the nuno technique to stabilise the piece. I used margillan silk for this purpose (measurement length of sample x 2 by the width of the stretched fibre).

Then I cut a resist which was the same length as the sample.  I wrapped the silk around the resist as it was to form the base of the cowl.  I wet this to keep it in place (margillan is so light it has a habit of wandering!).  Then I carefully laid the fibre on top of the silk. (Tip: the start and end of each of the two lengths of fibre were not placed at the edge of the resist to avoid any possibility of creating a ridge).  I wet the piece down, rubbed and started rolling. (lots of rolls to encourage the fibre to go through the silk).  Once this was done I started fulling the piece.  Here are some photos of the process:

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And here are photos of the finished piece.  I am pleased with how the colours have kept their integrity and it has not become a muddy mess!  All set for the cooler weather.

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Next, I took some silk fibre which has been dyed in the same pot.  Here is a photo of the fibre:

Front view: Silk fibre. I can’t help thinking about Hubble when I see this photo!

This time I set it onto a black background.  I was so pleased that it adhered well to the fibre but the black did not destroy the colours.  This was probably helped by the fact that I did not fully felt the piece as I intended to frame it so I knew I could stop my process whenever I found it aesthetically pleasing.  There’s lots of texture in it which I am pleased about.  The black background definitely reminded me of deep space! Once rinsed and dry, I set to work doing some free motion embroidery. Lots of little stars.  I then added some silver seed beads for a little starry sparkle.  What do you think?

Hand dyed silk fibre (procion dyes) wet felted onto black merino free motion embroidery and silver beads for the stars
Mixed media: procion dyes were used on silk fibre which was then felted onto merino. Machine embroidery and hand beading introduced stars to the piece

Next, a quick update on my more recent dyeing exploits.  I attended  wedding recently and I needed a cover up which would tie in with my dress.  I did not have time to felt a piece but I knew that I had some light wool fabric which would be perfect if dyed.  Previous samples from the Mexican dyeing course I attended confirmed that I could achieve the colour I wanted from avocados.   I prepared my fabric (scoured and used an alum mordant) ate the avocados and then I dyed the fabric.  I threw in a little prepared merino and silk fibres too to see what might happen.  Once dyed, I hemmed the wool shawl.  I am delighted with the result.  This is one piece that will not be kept for ‘special occasions and bonfire nights’.  Here is the result:

woollen fabric which has been dyed with avocado skins and stone and made into a wrap. colour is light golden brown
Handmade wool fabric wrap (dyed with avocado skins and stones) natural dyeing

Then I decided to use the merino and the silks which were dyed in the same pot to make a flower.  The colour achieved was a lot lighter but I am pleased with the result of the experiment:

hand felted and beaded flower (dyed with avocado skin and stone) colour is pink tinged brown
hand felted and beaded flower (dyed with avocado skin and stone) Merino and silk fibres used Natural dyeing

Finally, every year, there is a local collaboration between two of our neighbours a farmer and a food producer (we live in a rural area).  They grow a field of sunflowers which members of the public are invited to pick and make a donation either online or through their honesty box to the local hospice charity.  It is always a popular event.  I picked some sunflowers this week and they are now looking gorgeous in my sun room.  I took off the bottom leaves from the plants before placing them in water.  I decided it might be fun to see if I could extract dye from them.  I also made a little pigment.  Unfortunately, the photos do not fully do justice to the beautiful green tones I achieved from the dye, but I thought I would share them anyway:

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I know I am not alone in my need to behave like a squirrel and hoard my treasured items.   I am so pleased that I have taken a tiny percentage of my mine and transformed them into something else which in my view are aesthetically more pleasing.

Now it’s time for you to share.  Are you a hoarder too?  If so, what do you hoard and do you ever think about transforming some of your stash?

Happy creating,

Helene x

 

Textured art yarn made from locks on a skein winder
A bit of this, a bit of that

A bit of this, a bit of that

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Hello! The writing of this blog post comes to you on a day where I am quite sleep-deprived, so you will have to excuse my possibly being a little off my writing game…

Allow me to start by showing you some art batts I created a little ago. I love art batts in general, there’s so much texture and colours to look at. I do so enjoy the batt-making process as well, looking at all my fibre and deciding what goes where, and how much… Anyone else feel this fascination when creating textured fibre sandwiches?

Speaking of textures, I recently spun an art yarn using some Leicester Longwool locks in their natural formation and I swoon every time I look at that texture…

Textured art yarn made from locks on a skein winder

This will become a weaving of some sorts, I am handing over the yarn to a fellow Edinburgh guild member so he can create some magic. I told him I wasn’t sure whether I was handing him treasure or a lemon (I believe textured weaving is new to him and I also have some plying inconsistencies on this skein), and he replied saying he would think of it as a pomegranate instead. I thought that was quite funny.

It is one heavy skein, as you might attest by the silly photo I took of it on my head.

Eleanor holds a massive skein of art yarn on top of her head

Finally, I also have news on my needle felted raven! The photos aren’t the best, forgive me, but this chap is almost complete. Unfortunately my customer didn’t like his blue eyes (a colour only present when they are young) so I have ordered some new ones to replace these. Once I do that I think he is complete. What do you think, is he finished? Would you change anything? Feedback welcome.

That’s it for today, let me know your thoughts and have a lovely week!

Working on my new blending board.

Working on my new blending board.

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I finally bought a blending board. I have wanted one for a while and was hoping for a second-hand one. One finally showed up, Yay! Patience pays off, well, it’s more being frugal(cheap) than being patient. I wanted one because rolags are my preferred preparation for spinning. I took it to the guild one day, along with a big bag of fibre some sari silk and some sparkle.

I started with some purply blue and lilac purple. I added some pink and purple sari silk. I think it’s called royal robes. I think I added some sparkle but not much. Here it is on the blending board. I added more of the blue-purple on top before rolling it off.

purple and pink fibres on a blending board

Here is what the rolag looks like

And here it is spun up as a single. I will wind it off and ply it.

Next was some red with yellow sari silk blend and some pink sparkle

This is the rolag

Next is some dark blue-green. It’s one of my favourites. I have some dye in this colour called mallard green. I don’t think that’s what World of Wool calls it though. I forgot to take a picture of it until I had taken one rolag off. I get 3 from the board per colourway. I was enjoying myself, hence forgetting to take a picture. It looks like I added some yellow and a different green. I am not sure I haven’t spun it yet.

At this point, I was having too much fun and I forgot to take any more pictures until the end. Here are the rolags all together

The light blue and the light purple are pretty close to being opposites. I just switched the base colours.

You saw the blue/purple and light purple above but I have also done the light blue light purple one. I am not very fussy about it when plyed. Partly, I think it is because “baby” shades are not colours I like much. This mix looks muddy to me.  I was trying to go outside my usual colours.

I am currently working on the opposite one. I like it well enough in the single, it is much less even on the colour split so I think it will be nicer when plyed.

I don’t know if I will do the red or green next. First I have to finish this one and do the plying.

 

Anniversary Cake in English and French with the invitation in between (there was a French version of the invitation too)
OVWSG 75th Anniversary Party and Tapestry Project

OVWSG 75th Anniversary Party and Tapestry Project

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Happy July 4th to those to the south of us.

I apologize, I have been a bit busy lately with Guild work.  Our 75th anniversary party was on June 22nd. My main job was to add 10 years of Photos to the slideshow, which I originally made for our 65th anniversary.  I also volunteered to felt one of the squares in the tapestry project which I had started to tell you about in a previous blog. (https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/02/17/square-16-ovwsg-tapestry-project-and-template-transfer-method/)   Another job was Name tags, but I will tell you more about those later.

For the tapestry project idea, I spotted another group online, that had broken an image of Starry Night by Van Gogh into sections, and then each person recreated their square in their own medium. Ann and I searched for an image. Our criteria was:

  • a recognizable image of Canada. (not a new work that is not recognizable when broken up into pieces and then reformed in representational sections.)
  • an image that breaks up into interesting sections. (all or mostly sky, water or a monotone homogeneous colour image will not produce interesting pieces to work on for the participants.)
  • not too cluttered an image that would make it hard to recognize when separated into parts
  • an image available in a high enough resolution we can work with.
  • if a square is not completed we would have to have a backup image to replace the missing spot.

After looking at many images, Ann chose a view of the parliament building, from the back of the building, in the fall.  She cropped and blurred the photo and divided it into 24 squares, with each ending up 6 inches by about 6.25 inches. Ann Printed out each square to the exact size needed and gave each participant their project. Our goal was to make a representation of our square in whatever medium we favoured. A few of us chose felt, but we also had various types of weaving, spinning and knitting. I was hoping for basketry too.

You may remember that Ann gave me the bottom of the Parliamentary Library, well that makes sense, I have been the guild librarian for a long time (I joined at the AGM in 1988 or 1989, where I volunteered to help with the library and was elected librarian. I did warn them about that little spelling problem, but they were unconcerned until I made them a subject catalogue. It was not in English or French but in my native dyslexic. We used it until I finally put the whole collection into a database.) But, back to the square.

I went back and looked at a less blurred image so I could see the buttresses more clearly. As you saw before I chose needle felting, and used the template method to transfer the image to a good felt base. I worked between the two images (Blurry and Less Blurry) to create my Squair.  It looked very messy as I worked on it.

pictuer in felt with reference pictures of bottom of Canadian parlemtal library1) Images I am working from bulldog clipped to coroplast in the background with the image I am felting in the foreground on a thick wool pad.

It got a bit better. I hope you can start to see the architectural buttresses a bit more clearly now.

pictuer in felt with reference pictures of bottom of Canadian parlemtal library2.1) ready to hand in my image. On the Left, the image Ann gave me, in the centre the felted representation, and on the Right the de-blurred and pixelated image.

close up of felt with original image checking size its close2.2) close up of felt with original image checking size it’s close

If you were curious, Here is a shot of the back. I was working on my 1.5” thick wool pad, I think it was the 8”x10” size.

back of the felt image showing the amount of wool push through has occurred2.3) the back of the felt image showing the amount of wool push through has occurred.

I was well-supervised by moose, as I worked on this. He was very supportive and carried the picture, wool pad, references and the fibre for me.

partaly 3D moose is getting a bit scruffy from ware.3) Moose looking a bit scruffy from all his hard work carrying fibre, reference and the felting for the tapestry square project

Ok, we are now caught up to where I handed in the Square.  The next we will see it will be after they have all been assembled and unveiled at the 75th anniversary party.

So let’s go to the party!! Don’t worry I have your invitation and just to tempt you further here is a preview of the 2 of cakes!

Anniversary Cake in English and French with the invitation in between (there was a French version of the invitation too)4) Anniversary Cake in English and French with the invitation in between (there was a French version of the invitation too)

Come in and don’t forget to sign the guest book! If you are a member of the guild, select an odd sheep name tag in the studio and then meet us in the Unitarian’s room.  There are a number of displays, a make-and-take table, demonstrations of weaving, spinning and felting as well as the Cake and punch we should check out! OH and you can buy your own Moose bag, there on the table beside the great wheel, you can’t miss them!

Since we are just inside the door let’s take a quick peek at the make-and-take table, Liane was organizing this. There was; a tapestry loom set up to try, mayonnaise lids drop spindles, small popsicle stick looms to needle weave with, CD weaving looms to make coasters and wet felted acorns to make.

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5.1– 5.3)  Make and take table

This spot was quite busy most of the party and seemed quite enjoyed.

The next table over was a display of work by Grade 10 students (from Lecole Secondarie Catholique Beatrice-Desloges in Orleans) in the School Outreach Program, run by Carmen Deschenes, one of our guild members and Daniel Cote, the school’s art teacher. The guild provided a floor loom and guidance on how to use it. This looks like it may be an ongoing project. The students were interested and each designed a woven project. One wanted to weave a representation of water so wove in wire to allow the wave to hold its shape. These are a few of the pieces that were in their art show on display today.

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 6.1- 6.4)

If we move a bit further around the room Ann Sunahara put together a display of the Bertha Grey Haze workshop on miniature overshot patterns. The 100-inch loom team wove coverlets showing some of the patterns from the workshop, one of which was on display. Alison brought her 4 harness Saori loom and wove one of the patterns. There were also samples from the workshop and the book the workshop was based on, which is in the OVWSG  library.

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7.1-7.4) Miniature Overshot Display from the Bertha Grey Haze Workshop

Next was a mysterious covered item, we will come back to that when it’s time for the unveiling, and then the slide show that I had been working on for months. There are now 921 slides! I promise I will not show you all of them!! I tried to select a few I thought you might enjoy.

covered tapestry and slide show8.01) a mysterious item is draped with a handwoven coverlet waiting for its time to be unveiled.

watching the slide show which was running on a loop throughout the party.8.02) watching the slide show which was running on a loop throughout the party.

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 8.03-8.13) a few of the slides from the slide show

If I can pull you away from the slide show now, I was felting in the corner but didn’t get a picture of myself (I have not figured out selfies on my getting ancient Lumix camera). On the other side of me, there was a Great Wheel demo. It was a bit crowded so let’s see if we can sneak in for a peek.

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9.1-9.2) great wheel demo

The Guild was selling moose project bags and showing off some of the door prizes, many from Louet Canada (it’s their 50th anniversary this year!).

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10.1-10.2) moose bags and prizes

If you have your moose bag now, let’s go look at the samples from various workshops the guild has given.

samples from workshops of teh OVWSG11) Some of the Samples from workshops given by the OVWSG.

There are samples of weaving, felting, basketry and Spinning workshops given by the guild on this table. After you have checked them out there are two cakes sitting on the next table.  Jean will do the cutting in a moment, then we can try a piece.

Cake, Cake sliceing and Punch12) Cake and punch at the party

Lets take a look at the demos, there were floor and table looms, fibre prep, spinning and Felting.

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13.1-13.2) lots of interest in the Demos

Ok, we still have a few minutes before the unveiling, so let’s follow one of the tours up to the 100-inch loom room and the classroom! We can also take a quick peek in the studio too.

Studio tour and Name draft of OVWSG name 100 inch tour Classroom tour14.1-14.3) Tours of the Studio, 100 inch loom room and the Classroom.

Excellent! We made it back in time to see the unveiling!

speaches before unvailing tapestry15.1) Quick speeches  then it was time to find out what was under the coverlet

we had a surprise guest, Michael is the curator of the Almonte Textile Museum. He and Carl Stuart do the Unveiling15.2) we had a surprise guest, Michael is the curator of the Almonte Textile Museum. He and Carl Stuart do the Unveiling

close up of tapestry15.3) Close-up of the tapestry

names of who did which square (Text over transparency of tapestry image)15.4) names of who did which square

admiing the tapestry15.5) Admiring the tapestry

There were 24 members, who each made a square, using a technique of their choice. There is; Weaving, Tapestry weaving, Hand spinning, Hand Dyed, Felted and Knit Squares.  The team who did the mounting of the blocks were; Liane Thiry-Smith, Moira White, Paula Smith, Wendy Birkette Willbond, Annie Jackson, and Carlene Paquette. I hope Carlene will be able to tell us more about this part of the project. (ok, I may be the only one who gets excited about mounting and framing.)

The last of the door prizes were drawn and then it was time to wind down the party and put everything away.

drawing the last door prize16) The last of the Door Prizes is drawn

Before you head out, let’s take one last look at the tapestry project.

a closer view of the squares17.1)  a closer view of the squares

I wonder if I can find the image Ann had us working from. Yes! (Thanks Ann) so you can see what we were working towards for each square

this is the image Ann selected so you can see what we were working towards. a blurry vertion of athe back of the Canadian Parlement building in awtum 17.2) this is the image Ann selected so you can see what we were working towards.

 Thank you for joining us for our 75th Anniversary Party, it was a lot of fun and a lot of work. I am looking forward to celebrating the 80th but luckily we have years to recover before we start planning again! If you are in the Ottawa area, in the Fall of 2024, check out the Almonte Textile Museum where the tapestry will be on display. The Anniversary Comity has more planned for this year, I am looking forward to seeing what project we are working on next!

Spinning some very dirty wool

Spinning some very dirty wool

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Last time I told you about our demo at the Log Farm shearing day. When they seared the first sheep they brought over the fleece and laid it out under the tent so people could see it. I used some dog brushes to make small rolags from the fleece and then used my drop spindle to spin some yarn.

Being me, I didn’t take any pictures of the carding or rolags so when I went to the guild I took a bit from one of the fleeces still waiting for a new owner and made some more and both Jan and I took pictures.

 

a drop spindle and some small carders and some dirty wool

You can see all the debris from carding, so much falls out. Then my sort of rolags. The dog brushes are small so it’s hard to make a real roll.

a drop spindle and small carders and wool rollags for spinning. and a lot os little bits of dirt that fell out of the wool while carding

 

I added the wool to the yarn on my spindle, then I plyed it and wound it off to be washed.

 

a drop spindle with dirty wool spun on it

A nice close-up so you can see how dirty it is.

close up of dirty wool on a spindle drop spindle and dirty skein of wool.

At the demo, people had lots of questions about how to wash it, when to wash it and did we have to wash it. The answer to when is at any stage along the way or not at all. I don’t suppose a fisherman in the North Atlantic is too fussed about his waterproof sweater smelling sheepy.

About how to get it clean.  These fleeces are dirty and full of hay bits and other dirt. Carding them takes out some, spinning it takes out some and washing it takes out more.

I wash in a dishpan with Dawn dish soap. It is a good degreaser and most of the dirt is stuck in the grease ( lanolin).

Here is the water after the first wash

a tub of dirty water will wool soaking in it.

and the second wash

second wash of the wool , less dirty water

Then I rinsed it and let it dry. Once it was dry I shook the skein over the dish pan to see how much more would come out. I was surprised by the amount that just shook out.  There is hardly any debris left in the yarn and what there is would pick out easily as you were knitting or weaving.

Little bits of debis shaken out of the clean dry skein

 

Here is the result, with a small amount of unwashed yarn I kept for comparison.

clean skein of wool with some dirty wool for comparison. close up of some clean and dirty wool.

 

Spinning in the grease is enjoyable on a warm day. The lanolin helps it slide. It’s not so fun on a cold day when the lanolin gets sticky and doesn’t like to slide. Washing fleeces is not one of my favourite things but a little yarn is fun.

 

 

 

 

Leafy Seadragon

Leafy Seadragon

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Several of my recent posts have been about the work that was being created by members of the Waltham Textile group for our Making Waves Exhibition. It’s been about six weeks now since that took place so many of our readers will have already seen images, and possibly the video, but if you haven’t, and you’re interested, you can view them on Facebook or Instagram.

Something else I had wanted to make for the show, but didn’t make time for, was a felted Leafy Seadragon. I discovered so many weird and wonderful sea creatures while researching for the exhibition but this species is in a category of its own!!

The ethereal looking Leafy Seadragon has leaf-like appendages that provide camouflage for this delicate creature
Image source: Treehugger.com

Leafy seadragons inhabit rocky reefs, seaweed beds, and seagrass meadows in waters off the coast of South Australia, where they have been adopted as the state’s marine emblem.

These timid creatures grow to between 20 and 30cm in length.  They use their ornate leaf-like appendages as very effective camouflage to blend in with their surroundings, becoming almost invisible to the untrained eye.

Belonging to the same family as seahorses and pipefish, Australian leafy seadragons are generally brown to yellow in body colour, while their spectacular appendages are typically olive-tinted and provide near-perfect camouflage in seaweed. Depending on the age and health of the individual some Leafies can also change their colouration if they need to.

The leaf-like structures are not used for swimming. They move very slowly using their pectoral and dorsal fins which are so delicate they are almost transparent.

Image source: @animalfactfiles


So I thought I’d have a go at making a Leafie this month and I’m hoping there will be space for me to display her as part of my submission to “Water“ – the 2024 Lincs Textiles Exhibition in Lincoln Cathedral at the end of August. Our work will be on show in the Chapter House at the Cathedral so if you are in the vicinity it would be lovely to see you there!
I know these creatures are normally pictured horizontally but for aesthetic purposes I’m using artistic lisence and hanging mine vertically! So, would it be wet felted and stuffed or needle felted? I liked the idea of wet felting the body but decided against it as I didn’t think it would provide enough support for the appendages.

Photograph of wire armature for a 3 dimensional Leafy Seadragon

Best to start with a 1.2mm galvanised wire armature and needle felt the body…..but what was I thinking when I switched to 0.5mm aluminium wire for the appendages? I was thinking I could form the leaf shapes using that wire and fill them in with painted lutradur……what I wasn’t thinking was that they would twist and bend and drive me nuts all the time I was needle felting the body! That wire was making the whole thing too fragile and too difficult to work with so it had to go!

It was replaced with 0.6mmgalvanised wire which, being retro fitted, would now require careful poking and anchoring to ensure they all stayed put! This also meant the leaf/seaweed shapes would need a rethink. They wouldn’t be outlined with wire, as I’d originally intended, because the replacement wire was far too stiff for that. But at least it was easier to work on now!

I began adding detail and colour to the head. When I was happy with that I moved on to wet felting several boney spikes to attach in rows along the back, front and sides and then needle felted colour to the body.

Next the new wires that will hold the foliage were wrapped with fibre and I made flat felt to cut up for the leaves.

This is where I’m at right now. There’s more foliage to add and the de-fuzzing to do so I’ll include a photo of the finished dragon in my next post. In the meantime I just have to share some inspiring Leafie sculptures I came across online.

I was blown away by the beautiful design and detail in these first two which are the work of artist Ellen Jewett Ellen says “Each sculpture is constructed using an additive technique, layered from inside to out by an accumulation of innumerable tiny components.  Many of these components are microcosmic representations of plants, animals and objects.  Some are beautiful, some are grotesque and some are fantastical.  The singularity of each sculpture is the sum total of its small narrative structures.”

In addition to her life as a professional artist Ellen operates a small scale animal refuge with the help of her partner on their Vancouver Island farm.

Image source: ellenjewettsculpture.com
Image source: ellenjewettsculpture.com

I also like this one made by Australian artist Dean Fox using recycled copper and brass on natural rock…… “I am much inspired by the beautiful environment of Kangaroo Island in South Australia where I live. The beaches and bush alike are a constant source of ideas and materials. During my working life in the building and metalwork industry I learnt the many skills I now employ in my creative work. I work in metal, copper and brass and may incorporate found objects and natural timber into my work.”

Image source: deanfoxsculptor.com

Mine is still very much a WIP but in my head I’m already working on a more abstract version for Leafie number two which may or may not involve fibre.

 

Eleanor Shadow vending booth at Tangled Galashiels 2024. There's a table in the middle with fibre and yarns in wire cubes, plus one yarn rack on either side and a large basket on the ground
Becoming an in-person vendor again after 7 years

Becoming an in-person vendor again after 7 years

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For those who read this blog but aren’t familiar with what I do, I sell fibre and hand dyed yarns under the brand Eleanor Shadow. For a while, I was happy simply doing my thing of selling online only, until I moved to Edinburgh and started receiving emails via my site from people asking to come to my shop and buy in person.

I can’t allow customers to come into my studio for contractual and insurance reasons and so had to turn people down, which made me really sad. I hate disappointing fellow fibre lovers! This turned out to be a great thing because it lit a fire in me to start vending again in person. Enter Tangled Galashiels, a new fibre festival that two lovely ladies named Naomi and Samira decided to create near the Scottish Borders.

I had been to Tangled last year for their debut and had a lovely time, accidentally buying two fleeces in the process. When I found out they were taking applications for this year, I decided to apply.

 

Instagram post by Tangled Galashiels where I am seen with three friends at the door, just having bought two fleeces and smiling broadly
From left to right: my friends Si, Liz, me and Lisa. Just look at our smiles!

 

Having not done any in-person vending in years, I was slightly apprehensive about the whole endeavour. My friend Liz was super supportive and offered to help me out in any way possible, which included the most important step in this whole thing: transportation. I can’t sell if I can’t get there with my wares, right?

Well, my application was unsuccessful! I was obviously sad, but also very relieved; this meant I wouldn’t have to do any prep and overthink things. I was off the hook for potentially feeling stressed for 6 months as I got ready for the occasion! Life went on.

Six weeks before the event, I receive an email from Samira – one of the vendors had to cancel, would I like to take their place? Panic. Mode. ON! What to do? If I was already convinced I’d be stressed having to get ready 6 months ahead of time, how would I feel with having only 6 weeks? They gave me a few days to decide, so obviously I agonised over it, asking my friends what they thought, asked Liz if the offer of help still stood, asked my husband if he was willing to put up with a frazzled wife and fibre in the flat everywhere (ok, more than usual)… Everyone was super supportive, so I had no excuse to say no.

After replying positively to Samira and questioning my sanity, I got to work. I ordered more yarn and fibre, planned my dyeing schedule and colourways, prepped my marketing and watched videos on festival vending for booth ideas. If this sounds like a well organised me, trust me, this was done with a lot of sighing, swearing and wanting to dig a hole and disappear.

After six weeks, I was ready! Things just slotted into place: the stuff I had just about fit Liz’s car, my husband was my trusty sidekick, my ideas for the booth worked out almost exactly as I had envisioned, and I still had time to do last-minute adjustments on the first day.

Eleanor Shadow vendor booth at Tangled Galashiels 2024. Leonor is standing in front of it, smiling, waiting for the festival to start

Luckily I didn’t have time to feel nervous, I just went into meeting-and-greeting mode, talked to people and was grateful when they bought something from me. Some of the things I thought would fly off the shelves weren’t too popular, and some I didn’t think would garner much attention sold out!

Most of all though, I was so happy to hear people say nice things about my fibre. Being a one-woman band hidden in my studio means I don’t often get feedback on my work, so having fibre-loving strangers telling me they loved my sense of colour or my yarn bases was just soul-lifting.

The event was only two days, perfect for me to get my feet wet and not get too overstimulated. By the end I was exhausted but oh so happy! I loved the whole experience and couldn’t have asked for lovelier people to have met, talked, or sold to.

Now I’m looking into refresher driving lessons (I’ve never driven in the UK and am unaccustomed to driving on the left) and car rentals. I might just start applying left, right and centre to all the fibre festivals!

Tell me all about your experience at yarn festivals, be it as a vendor or buyer – I’d love to hear it! Thanks for reading.