I love creating things!!!

I promised photos of my Jacquard sample travel bag. So here it is... I am using it every day already to carry my STUFF to and from work and my yarn projects to knitting. It's exactly what I wanted and needed!



The lining..


A detail... Can you see my initials??? S W H ???


These are some photos of a small bag that I made from another piece of fabric from my Jacquard workshop.

Pune's gift and Words of wisdom from O

I am one lucky lady... In less than two weeks I am flying to Dubai to see my oldest son Erik and meet his lady friend, Pune. I can't wait... It will be such an exciting adventure. I promise lots of photos and a quest to find textile treasures! I never imagined visiting Dubai... Though I must admit I've been very intrigued with the exciting things happening there. I wanted to make a couple of things... something special for Pune and a large bag to carry my Stuff on the plane. I'll add more about the bag in a later post...


I decided that a light weight handwoven shawl would be perfect. To weave the shawl I alternated the Queen Anne’s Lace from Henry's Attic and a 10/2 cotton from Webs in the warp using the Ms and Ws draft on page 36 -#154 of A Weaver’s Book of 8 shaft Patterns edited by Carol Strickler. Changing the draft created 2 larger blocks against 1 block. I used Henry's Attic's Rapunzel which is natural cotton with a ply of stubby rayon and my handspun silk as the weft. I had a small ball of spun Bombyx silk in my stash and plied it with some silk hankies I spun up for the project. There was some Bombyx left over so I plied it on itself and added a shot of it occasionally to integrate it into the woven fabric. After washing the finished shawl became very soft and drapey. I’m very pleased. The actual color is somewhere in between the ones captured in the photos. Finished size is 22x74 plus 8” fringe each end.

Detail...


I took these excerpts from an O Magazine article. They do a great job explaining why it feels SO good to create!

Make Something...

"...creative work causes us to secrete dopamine, a hormone that can make us feel absorbed and fulfilled without feeling manic.
...
Research indicates we're most creative when we're happy and relaxed and conversely that we can steer our brains into this state by undertaking a creative task. To get a dopamine "hit," make something that pushes you to the furthest edge of your ability, where you're not only focused but learning and perfecting skills.
...
The aftermath to a creative surge, especially one that involves a new skill, is a sense of accomplishment and increased self-efficacy -- which psychologists recognize as an important counter to depression.". O Magazine, Feb 2012. P44.


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Weaving for Art Shows

I promised to add some pics of the weavings I created on a cotton/linen warp on my 8 shaft Schaht Mighty Wolf. I wanted to capture the essence of the aesthetics of Japan and the minimal abstract qualities of the Bauhaus. My thought was to create two long narrow panels using my handspun yarns for the weft and bits of Japanese kimono fabric from my 2005 home stay with a family in Tokyo as accents. The first one I completed, I call Marshland because the colors and textures and movement of the marshes are an ever present reality here in coastal Georgia.


The second is not quite finished but I call it After Kandinsky (one of the Bauhaus Masters). It's much more abstract and plays with shapes as well as the textures of the handspun. I will share the "before" here... But I'm not quite happy with it so, I'm going to do some playing with it...


The last is After Albers. Josef Albers was one of the few Bauhaus students who later became one of the teachers (Masters). He is known for playing with color and line and shape and his most popular and best known works are his Homage to a Square series that he did after his Bauhaus years. But before this he drew and painted several line images. Most weavers have heard of his wife, Anni Albers who wrote several books and taught with him, when they emigrated to the US, at Black Mountain College outside of Asheville, NC.


The framing and display of these weavings was a real challenge. I did not want to display them hanging on a dowel rod! I wanted them to be woven art pieces. I think of cheap hanging printed towels when I see woven pieces hanging from dowels. Sometimes weavers are fortunate to find interesting free form wood pieces or antique pieces or items from other cultures to hang their work on and that works. But I wanted my woven pieces to be framed. And that became a challenge... The two finished pieces had two different resolutions. For Marshland I added black ultra suede fabric by sewing it to the finished tapestry to mimic the borders on ukiyo-es. I, then, stretched it using 11x28 stretchers. I found angle molding strip for the outside frame that I had Home Depot cut to size and then got my hubby to help me cut notches into it to have them fit at the corners… No easy task! I spray painted the frame with gold… Again to mimic the ukiyo-e look. For After Albers I wanted to create a line drawing on the 8-shaft twill fabric that I wove. I stretched the handwoven cloth over and around the edges of the 9x9 inch canvas stretchers. Then I stitched into it with black wool/mohair blend yarn. I outlined the small square with stitches and then created a warp of the yarns and needle wove into it to create the woven square. I did not like the edges of the woven piece showing on the stretcher so I added some black ultra suede to cover them… Right side against the stretcher wood, a piece of cardboard the size of the wooden stretcher side stapled down on top of the cardboard. Then I folded the ultra suede over the cardboard and pulled it to the back of the stretcher and stapled it. it created a nice frame effect, but I wanted a mat-like look. I purchased some 1/4 inch plywood and had Home Depot cut it 13x13 and spray painted it black. I tacked it to the back of the stretchers with 1/2 inch brads. because I wanted the piece to stand out from the wall I covered 2 inch by inch foam core pieces with some ultra suede and hot glued it together and to the back of the piece. I am still thinking about an appropriate solution to mounting After Kandinsky! Displaying handwoven art pieces is ALWAYS a challenge! viewed 7 times - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy New Year!

I am embarrassed that I have not posted for so long. I have been busy creating... Mostly knitting for grandchildren for Christmas. I guess I have kind of put blogging into the background.

Wabi sabi for me means a kind longing, like homesickness, for things loved. My grandkids and kids are so important to me and living away from them can be really hard sometimes. Oh, don't get me wrong... we love our new life in Savannah and especially enjoy being able to go to the beach in shorts and a tshirt to soak up the sun... and walking under the spreading live oaks dripping in Spanish moss... BUT there is absolutely NOTHING in the world like a grandchild's hug! - and those great hugs from your children. Skype and FaceTime certainly help, but you can't send those hugs through the Internet. At least not yet! They make your toes curl and your heart skip a beat! They are a taste of heaven here on earth! So I guess you can say... part of my search for wabi sabi... is found through family!

The heart ache was getting to me for those hugs, so I convinced my dear hubby that we needed to go get some hugs!!! We took the sleeper train out of Savannah Christmas Eve as I had to work at the SCAD's Gutstein Gallery that afternoon. We arrived about 5:30 Christmas night into Boston where we were staying with daughter Kim and her wife, Laura and their daughter Maja.

Kim fixed dinner and we sat down to relax and who should arrive, but... not Santa... But Kjell and Charlene and little 4 month old Ollie who looked huge to us as the last time we saw him he was brand new and his knees were still curled up to his chest! What a wonderful surprise as we didnt expect to see them until Monday, but they made a special Xmas visit from their home in Providence, RI. Ollie's a happy baby boy and came in his wool sweater that I had made for him! Oh... my heart was singing!!! What a wonderful Xmas.

Better yet.. Kris and hubby Bobby and our other two grandchildren Abby (almost7) and Chelsea (5) came for a full family gathering the next day from Albany (unfortunately Erik in Dubai and my brother Jeff in Berlin were missing,) but it was wonderful! A very very merry Christmas, in deed!

Let's see... What have I created?

I started making a sweater for me... That I wanted to wear with a handwoven shawl to some of the many the holiday parties we were fortunate to enjoy with our new Savannah friends.

Then I went into Swedish Yul Tomten production. Using an Alan Dart pattern, I created - if I don't say so myself - adorable Swedish Christmas gnomes. Each grandchild received a Tomte of their own and a book by to go along with it. My next project is to make a tiny one to sit on my spinning wheel of my own handspun yarn.

Then I knit fair isle sweaters for both Ollie and Maja (now 16 months) And matching mittens and hats. I used a cute Norwegian helmet like hat for the pattern that I found for free on Ravelry, but unfortunately the one I first knit for Ollie was WAY too big and he has a big head. Maybe he will be able to wear it when he's 12!!! I measured his head and made adjustments and knit him a smaller one! The smaller size fit Maja perfectly too!

I designed and knit some items for Abby and Chelsea as I heard a secret from Santa that they were getting new American Girl dolls. Abby wanted the Hippy doll Laini, so I knit her a turtle neck sweater to wear with the jeans I bought on Etsy...and for Chelsea's Kit doll I made a poncho and slouchy hat to go with her Etsy skirt set. The best news was that they fit!

In the train station waiting for the hour late Amtrak, I took out my #15 needles and my first handspun art yarn I had created during the Jazz Turtle workshop last May. I rolled into a soft ball and knit a simple hat top down to make sure I had enough yarn - I had JUST enough. I only had about 18 inches left - and it fit - warm yet light for cold wintery Boston. (though the weather was quite mild when we were there.)

So that's about it... My current project is on the loom... A light airy cotton shawl for our oldest son, Erik's partner, Pune as a housewarming present. You see, I have more hugs to collect... I'm going to spend my next big, bad birthday in Dubai with oldest son Erik and Pune and their 2 pups in their 37th floor apartment overlooking the city!!! So think of me on that long, long flight the night of February 4th! I'll be back home a week later very tired, but grinning from ear to ear!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S HUGS to YOU!!!