curved wall of mettle and glass, of Ottawa city hall gallery. the class panels are horizontal bands of clare and frosted glass, the clear giving hints of the exhibit inside.
Egils Rozenbergs Tapestry Exhibition (Ottawa, 2024)

Egils Rozenbergs Tapestry Exhibition (Ottawa, 2024)

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As I write this, I am just back from the private tour of the EGILS ROZENBERGS’ (Latvia) – Signs of the Time exhibition, arranged for the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners guild. His work is monumental, and striking.  it is well worth the trip down to the New City Hall on Elgin St. (there is a parking Garage underneath the building. Use the Elgin Street entrance. As with much of Ottawa at the moment, there is construction and road work near the other entrance.) for those who find it a bit of a drive, let’s take a peek at the exhibit while it’s here! (Although you may want to come back for a second viewing when you have more time!)

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1.1-1.3) City Hall Art Gallery – peeking through the windows and looking at the tapestries

The exhibit’s public Opening and artist tour is on Thursday, August 29, 5:30 to 7:30 pm the Tour begins at 6 pm. The exhibition runs from August 29 to November 24, 2024, at the City Hall Art Gallery (110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Ontario)

The new City hall is actually an old building, the old teacher’s college (Normal School), built in 1875 and the expansion of a new wing in 1990. Besides city offices, there is civic space, including multiple gallery spaces.  We are heading to the gallery behind the grand piano in the atrium.

I arrived about half an hour early so have time to check out some of the architecture of Ottawa city hall.

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2.1-2.5) Looking around the atrium of City Hall before the gallery opened.

I wandered back to find 2 people waiting for the talk but didn’t recognize them. They were the Tapestry Artist himself and his Canadian weaver friend, who would help him as a translator. Moments later, the Latvian Ambassador and his assistant arrived!

The artist is on the Left and the Ambassador of Latvia is on the right. both are standing in front of the City Hall Art Gallery3.1) weighting for the Gallery to open for the talk. The artist is on the Left and the Ambassador of Latvia is on the right.

The rest of the tour group arrived, as well as the gallery manager and we all went into the gallery.

We had a good turnout for a mid-day, mid-week time. Besides the local guild members, there are a few people you might not recognize; The Latvian Ambassador and his assistant, the Gallery manager, the Artist and his friend, and a fellow weaver who was also his translator (he did a fabulous talk in English). You might also spot Michel, Director of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum!

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Exhibition Egils Rozenbergs' tapestrie book and 4.1-4.2) Stepping into the gallery you are greeted by the monumental tapestries, which were striking, even more so in person. / The show catalogue, the book on Egils Rozenbergs ($40.00) and the visitor book.

Egils Rozenbergs is an internationally known weaver. He gave an overview of his education and then a bit about the focus of his work. He told us how he started as a painter, then he switched from painting to the new department of Textiles, with a focus on large tapestries for exhibitions. Since his scholastic training,  he has worked as a Textile artist. He was selected to weave a tapestry for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark as a present from Latvia. He has also had 2 of his designs picked by the French Goblin Tapestry Studio.

He had selected tapestries representing some of his older series of work as well as his latest series. This new selection marks a shift in his source material (the type of “yarn” fibres he uses). His early work used Wool/ Linen and Copper, moving to Wool/Linen and Polyester, and now shifting to Polyester, Polypropylene, Nylon, and Acrylic.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries with the tour listening to the artist Egils Rozenbergs in front of one of his new tapestries5.1-5.2)He said his opening remarks and overview of the exhibition in front of his newest tapestries (his Transfiguration series), then answered some of our questions. / his translator friend, on the far left, is also a weaver.

We asked him quite a few technical questions; details about his loom, his warps and even weaving techniques.

He had a large horizontal loom similar to our 100-inch loom but only uses 2 shafts. (I was able to find the full picture that was used in the show promotional material, showing the loom he uses here: https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.hk0UBNJtxNtcQhIuT3o3vwHaE8?w=302&h=202&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.3&pid=1.7 )

There were questions next about if he was using a flying shuttle to compensate for the wide weaving width (that needed a bit of translation). No, he is using a manual shuttle and a tapestry technique for the pattern weft. Occasionally he had a friend weave with him, like we do for the 100-inch loom. I was wondering about what EPI he had set the warp. He could tell us how many warps in 20 centimeters which Ann S. quickly did the math and told us that it converted to 5EPI. That led to a follow-up about the visual difference between the wool ground and the new work with VHS and cassette tape (he had an ingenious way of adding twist as he wound balls for his weft! But I should not give away his secret, you will have to ask him when the exhibit travels closer to you.)  the PPI was greater in the newer weaving one of which was woven in plain weave where you can see both the warp and weft. The other tapestries were all weft-faced. One of the tapestries had a gradient in the ground, we found out he is using multiple strands of yarn, in different colours. He is switching out and in colours, as he weaves.  There was a question if he used a cartoon under his warp. He said he makes detailed drawings about 12×15 inches of his designs then graphs the design directly to the warp, making marks (drawing) on it.  He mentioned he sometimes frames and sells his preliminary drawings, as well as the tapestries.

He took us around the exhibit telling us about pieces he had selected.  These are made mainly of wool, Linen and Copper. He had been able to find coated copper (so it would not tarnish, he pointed at a tapestry from 2004 which was still shiny copper). I tried to remember everything he was saying and take shots to show you and the guild members who could not attend today.

In the area to the Left of the entrance, there were representatives of 3 of his series themes. The first represented the signs found in the Latvian beach sands near his home. This series was called Signs in the Sand which he has returned to over many years. The work on the Left was Morning Light 2004 Wool Linen and Copper, and on the Right, Sparkling Sea, 2016  Wool Linen and Copper.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries close up6.1 -6.3) Close-up of sparkling sea (R) from the Signs in the Sand series the copper seemed to move and shimmer like light on sand in clear ripples of water.

I was very impressed with both pieces (even if they are invoking water).

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries close up Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries clsoe up6.4 -6.5) Close up of  the left

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries7.1) this tapestry was from a series called Scars.  I don’t seem to have the proper title.  It had a lovely graphic rhythm. I think some of the symbols or marks were from ancient graves.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries close up7.2)   this was a close up. you can see the multi strands of the pattern weft, and how he is changing strands within the group as he weaves. The background is a solid blue.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries7.3) The other tapestry from this series was at the entrance to the exhibit. Signs of the Time, from the Series Scars, 2020. Wool, Linen and Polyester.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries8.1)  This tapestry represented the series of Mexican masks it was very striking too. The copper grabbed the light and reflected it back, making it hard to get a truly representational shot. This also gives you a good idea of the size of the tapestry and a suggestion of the size of the loom.

There were two tapestries from the Paris series, one was Rhythms of Paris 2012,  Wool, Linen and Copper. On a blue background, suggestions of the Eiffel Tower.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries9.2)  The second piece was based on shadows on the ground in a park in Paris. (the top of a metal gate)

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries10.1) This one is from a series of frames that support haystacks. I found it particularly mesmerizing.

Egils Rozenbergs is showing his book in front of one of his tapestries10.2)  At this point the Gallery manager reminded us that there was a book available of his work (it will go very nicely in the Biography section of the Guild library, once the guild pays for it.)

We wound up back in the main section with his newest series. It is based on the changing technology and Transfiguration. Are you seeing circuit boards?

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries close up11.1-11.2) This one had a plain woven background so you can see the warp showing through. Two Suns, from the series Transfiguration 2016 Wool Linen and Polyester.

Egils Rozenbergs' New tapestries12) these 3 are also part of the Transfiguration series. Notice the background on these 3,  old tapes that were joined together and twisted to create the ground weft.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries13.1-13.3 ) This is a close up of the tapestry on the far Left in the last photo it was called the Old Lady who walked along the sea from Transfiguration 2017 Polyester, polypropylene and Nylon.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries14.1-14.2) Nothing is like it was Before from the series Transfiguration 2017,  Polyester, Poly polypropylene, Nylon  and Acrylic

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries14.3  (on the left) This piece was hung further away from the wall so you could look behind it

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries14.4) behind the back of the tapestry

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries 15.1-15.2 Transformation Series the end of the tour

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries exhibition Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries electronic sign outside city hall gallery15.3-15.4)  A couple of last shots of the gallery space

Egils Rozxenbergs’ presentation and explanation of his work were inspiring. I want to go out and felt a landscape a really big one! His repurposing of tape to weft was very effective and the coated copper got me wondering where I put my bobbin of fine cotton….  I hope if this exhibit travels somewhere near you (or you are visiting Ottawa before it closes) that you will grasp the opportunity and go see it.

 

 

 

Shepherdess and sheep coming along.

Shepherdess and sheep coming along.

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The deadline is getting close and I need to get done. As Jan will tell you soon it was Fiberfest weekend in Almonte. a small town close to where we live. I was on the demo team for Sunday. So I planned to work on the shepherdess and sheep as my demo project. First I had to get the shepherdess some clothes. Not too hard you think or at least I thought.

 

I forgot to take starting pictures but here is the shirt and skirt ready for final fulling.

felt shirt and skirt ready for fulling

 

 

And this is the shrinkage after fullingfelt shirt on resist showing shrinkage felt skirt on resist showing shrinkage

The skirt was fine but the shirt was way too stiff. so I made another using a lot less wool and felted it along with the cloak.

For the cloak, I decided to use some prefelt I had. I cut the first side a little bigger than the resist then folded it around and basted it into place. This seemed like the best idea to keep everything in place.

grey prefelt stitched together at the seam

And here it is shrunk

cloak on resist showing shrinkage.

I liked it and it fit well except for the hood. I didn’t like it at all.  I thought for the hood I wanted, it would be best to do it separately. do more cutting and sewing. and shirt number 4. I don’t remember what was wrong with shirt 2 but shirt 3 would have been good if I hadn’t cut the neck too big.

And finally, all the parts of the clothing are dry and ready to move on to the next steps.

For the next post, I hope to have the shepherdess all done and a colourful flock of sheep for her to tend.

Sunset on Little Bitterroot Lake at Kiwanis Lodge.
Annual Art Retreat

Annual Art Retreat

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I went to our annual art retreat over Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30 – Sep. 1) at the Kiwanis Lodge at Little Bitterroot Lake near Marion, MT (USA). Luckily my husband is a Kiwanian so we are able to use this lodge once a year. I got there a bit early and while waiting for the others to join me, I took a few photos and gave Edgar a swimming lesson.

Kiwanis Lodge at Little Bitterroot Lake

This is the lodge, this side faces the lake. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, no smoke (August is usually fire season around here) but cold enough at night to need a fire in the fireplace.

View of Little Bitterroot Lake looking from shore with boat dock towards the lake and mountains in the distance.

Here’s a view of the lake. Even on a holiday weekend, the lake wasn’t busy and we even saw 8 loons swimming about. Edgar, my dog, has short legs and a very dense body. He’s not overweight but weighs fourty pounds. When he has tried to swim in the past, he had a really hard time keeping his head above water. He just sinks. So we bought him a life jacket and I took it with us to the lake. (Edgar got to go to the retreat for the first time because hubby was going to Missoula for a UM football game.)

A mixed breed dog (Edgar) wearing a life jacket and swimming in the lake with a branch in his mouth.

After a few tries, he got the hang of it and was eager to have me throw the stick so he could swim out to get it. Needless to say, Edgar had a good weekend.

Two buckets with indigo vats and one bucket with clamped fabric soaking in water.

Our main art activity this weekend was indigo dyeing. Both Paula and Louise set up an indigo pot on Friday and then we dyed various fabric, clothing etc. on Saturday. Here you can see the two indigo pots and some clamped fabric soaking in water in the pink bucket.

Louise (on left) and Paula (on right) working with indigo vats.

Louise (left) is putting her first piece of fabric into the dye vat and Paula (right) is getting rid of the “bloom” on the top of her indigo pot before dyeing. I have personally never made an indigo pot but they used the directions that are available on Dharma Trading Co.

Louise (left) holding soaked fabric about to be put into indigo pot and Sally (right) looking on.

Here Louise (left) is explaining to Sally (right) about how to use the indigo pot and getting her fabric ready to put in the vat.

Indigo dyed fabrics laying out on plastic. One piece just taken out of vat, it is green before oxidation will turn it to blue.

The coolest thing about indigo, in my opinion, is that it comes out of the dye pot green and then when it hits the air and oxidizes, it turns blue. The longer you leave the fabric in the dye bath, the more blue it will end up.

Here are a few pieces drying on the grass. The one on the right was rust dyed first and then put into the indigo.

Paula brought some clamps and different shapes of wood, which once clamped on the fabric, resist the indigo. You can see the results of some of those in the right hand photo.

Sunset on Little Bitterroot Lake at Kiwanis Lodge.

It was a wonderful weekend and we enjoyed some gorgeous sunsets while sitting out on the porch.

For those of you who wish they belonged to an art group (felting group or whatever), my suggestion is to start your own group. If you meet someone who might be interested, ask them to join a group. All the people in your group don’t have to be felt makers. You can learn so much from creative people who enjoy other media. So don’t be shy, just ask others that you know or meet and start up a group of your own. That’s what I did and now more than ten years later, we are still going strong.

The Mother of Invention

The Mother of Invention

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There’s a proverb I like: “necessity is the mother of invention”. Apparently it started with Plato. I’m going to test it today in two ways. Firstly, I’ve had a lot of sales and exhibitions recently and I haven’t made much new work. I’m writing this while stewarding an exhibition. So, as my blog is due and I’ve nothing new to show you (necessity), I’m drawing on some work I did earlier in the year and reflecting on that (invention). Secondly, it was actually the need to create a lot of pictures quickly (necessity) that led me down the different style of pictures (invention) that I’m going to talk about.

As I’ve covered in previous blogs, I had a large exhibition to fill in April/May this year so had a big push from January to March to make lots of new pictures. As all wet felters will know, wet felting is not a quick process and there’s no mileage in trying to hurry it. So, as well as making my usual style of pictures, I had a think about the quickest felt pictures I could make while not skimping on the quality of the felting. Quicker pictures would also allow me to offer them at a slightly lower price than my other work.

Nuno felting (which is including fabric in felt) with patterned fabric is a quick way of creating colour and pattern as it bypasses complicated and time-consuming wool layout. And now that I can print onto felt (again covered in a previous blog) that’s a comparatively quick way of introducing images. 

This was my first picture. 

Square wet felted picture with patterned grey fabric on the lower half, two blown trees towards the top left on a white background with wisps of grey cloud in the white sky
“Monochrome Tree #1”

The fabric was a lovely fine wool scarf that I had bought (as always) in a charity shop. I have the solid beech frames made for me in batches in advance so I knew what size I was aiming for. I used a commercial prefelt of merino wool and silk  – again trying to minimise the layout time and it’s also lovely to work with. There are plenty of legitimate, free-to-use images on the internet. Sourcing, scaling, printing and transferring them to felt is quite time consuming, especially as I only planned on using each tree once for this first set of pictures, but I’m sure I will come back to them.

Monochrome Tree #2
Two square wet felted pictures similar to the previous one but without the clouds and with a dark line at the top of the fabric
Monochrome Tree #3

For the next (and subsequent) ones I decided to make them slightly smaller than the frames, leaving a small border around the felt. I added a line of recycled tapestry wool at the top of the fabric, just because I liked the look of it, and decided against patterning the sky. 

I then fished out some black and white silk scarves from my charity shop finds and used those instead of the wool scarf. 

Square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones but with a crow shape in the top left hand side of the tree. Swirly grey and white fabric
Monochrome Tree #4 with crow
square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones but with patchy lined fabric
Monochrome Tree #5

I added a crow silhouette in the tree on the left picture. A bit fiddly but I liked it.

Square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones, using the same fabric as #4 but with two trees instead of one
Monochrome Tree #6 Two Trees
Square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones but with a flowery patterned black and white fabric
Monochrome Tree #7

My next experiment was to switch from black and white to coloured silk, tapestry wool and trees.  

Square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones but with yellow and green patterned fabric and a green tree.
Green Tree #1
square wet felted picture similar to the previous picture but with a different shape of tree
Green Tree #2

When I was printing on Green Tree #1 I accidentally pressed a fold in the corner. It came out with a hot iron but I didn’t remember to photograph it again afterwards.

After I’d made these two, it occurred to me that I could double the width of the wool and fabric to make two pictures at the same time, cutting them apart before printing on the trees.  Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner? Super-speedy. 

Continuing with the limited colour palate, I chose a silk scarf that was red / orange with some colour fade across the scarf. 

rectangular wet felted fabric with orange / red silk felted in, covering just over the bottom half of the fabric. There's a variegated line of red/orange wool yarn felted across the join between the silk and the white wool background.
After felting and before printing

When the felting was finished I wasn’t sure I liked how much the white fibres showed through the red / orange silk. The previous fabrics had either been partly white or were light coloured so the movement of the white wool and silk fibres through the fabric had been less visible. 

As I contemplated this, I decided that I liked the long rectangular shape for a change.  I happened to have some frames that were more or less the same shape and proportions….and so “Red Trees” became a double-width landscape with two trees. 

Rectangular wet felted picture as in the previous image but with two orange/red trees printed in the top left of the felt with the bottom of each trunk touching the yarn line as if growing from there
“Red Trees”

That wasn’t where I thought I was heading but it’s fun to take an unexpected turn,

I have now sold more than half of these pictures, and I’d say they’ve sold slightly better than other work. I’m a little ambivalent about this. I like the new pictures but I don’t feel as much for them as my usual bird, beach and/or water pictures. I suppose that shouldn’t matter. They have definitely attracted a slightly different audience. When I get back into the studio I will be making some more. Not because of their speed as I’m not now under the same pressure, but because people seem to like them and I’ve enjoyed trying something new.  I think I will stick to the monochrome fabrics but try out some different colours. Having a group of different strong colours like the red and green might make a good display. 

And so, it seems, on this occasion, that necessity was indeed the mother of invention. I made a new line of work and I have a blog to post! 

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

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One of my best customers for my 3D-printed felting tools, a fellow felt teacher in the US, asked if I could make a smaller version of the wand tool for making jewellery. I had previously investigated making the wand longer and narrower towards the tip but the tips kept breaking, I don’t make a lot of jewellery or small items so the idea was abandoned.

I mentioned the request to Mr TB who suggested a couple of possible solutions for the fragile tips. He printed 2 of them for me and I have been testing them this week. I may be biased but think they are pretty good, I have been using them quite aggressively and they are still in tact and working as I had hoped.

For the tests I decided to make set of felted rings. Normally I use a bundle of pencils held together with an elastic band but this maker pen with a tapered barrel came to hand first. Pencils / pens are ideal because you can alter the size of your ring by adding more pencils to the bundle, then remove them one by one as the felt fulls and the ring shrinks down.

Wrapping wool around the pen before adding soapy water and gently rubbing
Once the felt was starting to shrink I transferred the ring to the tool and fulled the inside of the ring
This is how much the ring shrank, the inside of the ring was wide enough to stretch around the widest part of the pen at the start
Looking for more pens to make a larger ring I came across this beaker instead…

I made a small felted ball to finish the set and make a pendant, which layout do you like best?

The fulling tool just needs a couple of minor tweaks and a name (any ideas?), another round of testing and it will be ready to join the others.

Apologies for the poor quality of these photos, they were taken in my current studio (the garage) and the light in there is awful. The new studio is coming along well though. Another month and the floor will be tiled, the kitchenette and shelving installed and all my fluff moved from the garage to its new home 🙂

The rest of the reno is progressing too, our new kitchen is half installed, the bathrooms and deck are nearly finished and this week the builders are putting in a retaining wall.

The house and garden 2 years ago
The house and garden this week – spot the difference?
The studio with new deck

In between painting and moving garden plants I have not had much time for felting so have been getting my “fix” through teaching…

A private, beginners bag class…

These ladies know how to felt in style – home made G&Ts! 🙂

Mosaic felting at the Auckland Creative Fibre retreat…

I also had the pleasure of teaching a felted pod class in collaboration with Deaf Aotearoa last month but I’m afraid I forgot to take any photos. This was a wonderful experience and I have no hesitation in recommending teaching this way if you get the opportunity, most of the participants could lip read but we also had a sign language interpreter with us. The hardest part for me, was trying not to talk while demonstrating, I am so used to explaining what I am doing with my hands I had to keep checking myself to explain first, so everyone could watch the interpreter and then demonstrate with the wool.

I’d better get back to painting…. happy felting!

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!!

Progress Made

Progress Made

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I am making some progress. I refelted the cut diamonds

 

They are now in a bag waiting for me to work on the diamond project.

I did more work on sheep and shepherdess.

Jan made me a wire shape or the shepherdess for me.  Then I wrapped it in some waste wool and used a felt ball for the head. than wrapped that in Corriedale.

Once I added wool it was not stable enough to stand. So I asked Jan about adding a piece of wire front and back to stabilizers. so she took it and started working on it. We added a ball in the bottom but then I decided she was too tall for the sheep I was making, and she cut the ball in half and squashed her down. Jan added a snail tail that stabilises her well. It will be covered by her cloak.

I have been putting sheep together. I make the parts separately. Long snake to cut into leggings and ovals for heads. I made some flat pieces in the 3 colours for the ears. I cut them out but I want to felt them some more.

After I add the ears to the sheep I will add the curls like the orange sheep on the right. I also need to make some clothes for the shepherdess. I think she will be a brunette but I don’t think she will get a face.

Lastly for today, is why felting small things and holding them with your fingers and talking to people is not a good combination.

 

 

Detail of ice dyed silk scarf in blues and violets.
Ice Dyed Scarves

Ice Dyed Scarves

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My dyed scarves have been selling at Northwest Handmade in Sandpoint, ID. So I needed some more since we are heading over that direction next week.

Aluminum pan filled with silk scarves, ice and powdered dye in blues and violets.

I only had 8 scarf blanks available and I knew I still had green scarves at the gallery so I decided to do four in blue/violets, 2 in orange and 2 in deep red. Since this method has an unpredictable outcome, I went with what I had. I put a wire rack in the bottom of the aluminum pan, place the soda ash soaked silk scarves on the rack and cover with ice. Then the dye powder is sprinkled on top. I was doing this outdoors as it can get messy but didn’t take the wind into account.

Aluminum pan filled with silk scarves, ice and powdered dye in reds and oranges.

Thus I ended up with some blue/violet on the right end of the red/orange pan. Oh well, we’ll see what happens. I left the pans out in the sun and the ice melted pretty quickly.

Here is one of the scarves from the blue/violet pan. I decided to call this set Perseid Meteor Shower. This is what the scarves look like after rinsing out, washing and ironing. It’s always such fun to see the patterns appear when you iron. I really don’t care for ironing but I enjoy this process much more than ironing a shirt.

This scarf is from the more orange side of the orange red pan. I decided to call these two scarves Campfire Memories.

Ice dyed silk scarf in reds and maroon.

And the last scarves were on the red + drifting blue/violet side of the pan. I decided these looked like the red rocks in Glacier National Park so that’s what those two scarves are called. I found that naming the scarves helps to sell them as it gives them a bit of a story.  Now to stock up the gallery!

 

‘Reflections of Summer’

‘Reflections of Summer’

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Here’s my attempt at capturing the essence of summer in a textile piece for the third quarter challenge.

‘Reflections of Summer’ is a needle-felted sunhat brooch (pin).

needle felted brooch of sunglasses for sunhat

I took a scrap piece of felt then drew a life-size pair of sunglasses outline on it, also marking out the division between sand, sea and sky.

outline of sunglasses on a piece of scrap white felt

I filled in the frame with loose fibres then outlined it with wool yarn.

needle felting the frame of the sunglasses

Using loose fibres, I needle-felted yellow, turquoise and blue to represent sand, sea and sky then white fibres for the sun.

sand, sea, sky needle felted design

I formed birds and a boat using a thick white thread.  I had planned to stitch some sparkly beads to the frame but it looked naff so I just added a few white stitches instead.

boat and birds stitching in white

Then came the tricky job of cutting the white backing felt away as close to the needle felting as I could.  One slip of the scissors and it would be goodnight Vienna.

My sunhats have had some whacky additions over the years. For a bit of fun, I made a Carmen Miranda hat for Annie …

Carmen Miranda hat

… Annie got her own back by persuading me to balance the sunhat brooch on my nose 😊

Lyn wearing the faux sunglasses

 

My Crochet Hexagon Blanket – Worth the Wait

My Crochet Hexagon Blanket – Worth the Wait

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One of my first blog articles for our Felting and Fiber Studio Color Touches My Soul was about my love of color.  I showed my crocheted hexagons, and discussed how I went about choosing colors. Your acceptance of me, and my post, meant a lot to me, and I have felt rather embarrassed since. Many of you asked how I planned to join the hexagons together? Seemed like a reasonable question…how hard could it be? More difficult than I expected is my response!

I knew exactly, how I wanted my blanket to look. I wanted them joined together, with a nice size (maybe 1 inch) border between each, and a braided look would be perfect. In my mind, I was thinking of a Fisherman’s Knit cable. I started my search on Pinterest, and discovered the most of their recommendations were for sewing or crocheting hexagons together. If there was any discussion of a border, it quickly morphed into a post about joining Granny Squares. Not the same at all! I persisted again, and again…, AND am I the only one that gets sucked into their web of madness? What starts as a few minutes, ends up being 3-4 hours, and still no information about joining my hexagons together. I also have an account with Ravelry. I searched there for “crochet join hexagon,” in fact I checked again just now, and still nothing that looks like my join. If there is a border, it is actually the final row of the hexagons…and then they crochet or slip-stitch them together. I actually paid for a couple of those worthless patterns. Then, I would end up giving up for a while. I had a black IKEA zippered bin under the bed style bin, where my hexagons waited, for me to get my (you know what) together. Every time I uncovered that bin, in a fit of organization, I would start my search again.

I am a knitter first and foremost: I crochet on the side.

I may have mentioned, in my original article, I am self taught in crochet; one of many things I’ve figured out over the years. I can read basic, well written patterns, but once they start going “into the weeds” as I call it, I am in trouble. (For a long time, it was end of the end of row turns, that got me. I couldn’t keep the edges neat, to save my life.). But, after a few videos I understood the concept – it’s like us trying to verbally explain left or right leaning, add on stitches, to a beginning knitter. A video is so much better!

Fast forward to about 4 months ago. I occasionally watch a podcast with Norwegian knitwear designers Arne & Carlos. Arne was showing how to repair a granny square blanket…and I spotted the border. 

 

 

It was closer to what I wanted, than all my other failed attempts. So again, I purchased their $7.00 pattern. Maybe I could use it, to figure out how to make it work for my hexagons. It was close…but not going to work as their pattern stood. However, I studied the general idea they used to make their “braid” between the squares. They started by crocheting a picot edging, around each square, in their border color. Then in that same border color, they crocheted 2 sides of 2 different squares, together. It was the crocheting together that added the braid look. Hmmm (my wheels were starting to spin…) I wonder if I could do something similar? So I grabbed 2 hexagons, and decided the only place a picot was possible, was in the blank spaces, between my double crochet clusters. 

 

1/2 of Crochet hexagon, stitches added on edge
In this photo you can see the single picot between the clusters. (Don’t focus on the corner just yet) Now, notice a single chain stitch, before and after the picot.

 

If you are not a crocheter, this may be a difficult concept to grasp. But in the simplest terms; I crocheted a picot into the empty space, and chained one above each cluster. The corner is the starting place, and it’s basically just a loop. I took a picture, and tried to insert words, to tell you what I did. If you are a crocheter it should make sense. I joined my yarn with a slip stitch, chained 3 stitches, then made a slip stitch in the same corner space. That made a loop [you will make a loop at every corner of the hexagon]. Next you chain 1 (Ch 1). I zoomed in real close, so you could see my exact stitches.

 

Zoom in view of crochet work, pattern words super imposed on photo
In this zoomed in photo, I superimposed my “pattern words” directly above my stitches.

 

 

 

After the chain 1, slip stitch into the space, chain 2, slip stitch into the space. In crochet terms that would be shown as sl st, ch 2, sl st. That grouping of words, makes the picot, then you follow with a chain 1. 

Join with a sl st in corner, ch 3, sl st, * ch1, [sl st, ch2, sl st, in the empty space] to the next corner. Into the corner, [sl st, ch 3, sl st] and repeat.

As I said, I am not a pattern writer, but I’m thinking that should be pretty close if someone wants to try it. If anyone reads this post, that is an actual crocheter, please let me know if I am close. I am really thinking about creating my own “paid for” pattern…even if I only sell a couple, it would cover my expenses getting here. lol!

So, after you’ve crocheted this pattern around each hexagon, the assembly is quite simple. Now, if you are thinking “easy for her to say…that’s a lot of hexagons!” I get your point. But, watching TV, I was able to get about 10 done each evening. And they are very small, so I threw them in my purse; did them in the car, at doctor appointments, and visiting my mom. I got really quick at edging them.

3 crochet hexagons clipped together.
I used clear clips I had in my shop, from Cocoknits, to test out hexagon placement. (They are basically hair clips, and they worked perfectly.)

So in the above photo, you will notice the yarn I chose to edge them is very neutral. That’s because I wanted all my colors “that give me such joy, and healing” to emerge prominently. And…I am a yarn dyer, for goodness sake…I have enough yarn to fill a small shop: I should be able to find something! I am so excited to tell you, this is my bare Donegal DK weight yarn. It is perfect, and I have no worries about running out, matching dye lots or anything else. I have enough crocheted hexagons for another blanket, so I’m all set for that one too.

I know assembly is your next question – it’s a piece of cake! If you’ll notice my clips are holding matched up sides…like quilt pieces. Think of the picots as notches, that fit together. I lined the edges back to back (picot to picot) and chain crocheted them together. That’s what makes my Fisherman Knit looking ridge. OMG, It’s a Miracle!! 

Chain Stitches close up.
Zoomed out a little bit.
A whole crocheted afghan
This is my blanket folded, as my umbrella wouldn’t allow me to spread it fully

It makes me want to cry, it’s so beautiful! Many of the yarns are my own hand-dyeds, but several are from friends I met at Fiber Shows. I can look at my -FRIENDSHIP BLANKET- and tell you who dyed the different yarns, and stories of our times together.

If you want to make a blanket of your own, using all your beautiful scrap yarns, or…if you want to purchase my already curated packages of 5 or 6 gorgeous DK mini 20g skeins…in colors that will make you feel so very happy, please reach out to me or check out our Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/theyarnandus.

Please note: if you are from anywhere, in the world, I can ship to you. If you purchase from me directly, without Etsy surcharges, I can offer an immediate 25% off of your purchase, and that could cover a good bit of shipping. If you want enough yarn to make an entire blanket, I would be ever so grateful, and do my best to cover your shipping. 

Thank you for being so patient. Some things take time, to get them done right. This is the best thing I’ve accomplished for Felting and Fiber Studios, and it’s the highlight of my creative life…because, like my article said, it Touches My Soul.

With much love and gratitude,  Capi