Lookin good

The Fiber Guild of the Savannahs annual Show and Sale is now open during the month of April at gallery S.P.A.C.E. - Savannah's Place for Arts, Culture, and Education at 9 E. Henry Street. I must say - "It looks fantastic!" Debra Zumstein, SPACE's director, did a beautiful job organizing the movable walls to enhance the collection of fiber pieces our guild members created.

Here is an article about our show in the online Savannah newspaper...

http://savannahnow.com/do/2010-04-07/fiber-guild-savannahs-keeps-traditional-art-alive

ps. the slippers are my handspun, felted slippers with my mother's earrings as buttons

Here are some photos of the show and some of my pieces...

some of my handwoven clothing

2010 Vancouver Olympic woolen Haori

handwoven cotton/linen skirt & top

Ode to Obansan Vest of kimono fabric pieces

four handwoven scarves and a mobus

cardboard woven bags

Jacquard woven pieces from Montreal workshop

PHEW!

PHEW! I completed this haori just in time for our FIber Guild

of the Savannahs annual show and sale at the gallery S.P.A.C.E.

took it over there yesterday with my other items for the hanging,

but I needed to take it home to do some finishing touches -- like

sew the front binding on! I delivered it this morning 3/31 and the

show is up and looking wonderful! The opening reception is

April 9^th–4-7pm and the show will be open the entire month of

April.

The colors of this haori were inspired by the 2010 Vancouver

Winter Olympics. I watched as much of the events as I could and

at each venue banners of blues & greens flew in the background.

My favorite LYS, Wild Fibres was having a moving-down-the-road

sale. I picked up wonderful wool blends in a variety of blues

& greens and I was all set. I used the same threading as Peter’s

haori & tied on a navy worsted wool warp (instead of Peter’s

more earthy brown) to the original warp. I added a couple inches

on e.ach side to accommodate my more ample girth and I was good to go

I worried that I would not be able to finish my haori in time for the show, as took it off the loom and washed it last Saturday. I was able to start sewing it Sunday and with work, volunteer events, dinner out with friends and a great Tour of Savannah Homes… I finally finished sewing it together Tuesday morning. Enough was completed to reserve some wall space in the show and today (Wednesday) it’s happily hanging in the show. PHEW!

my inspiration

Seeing Old Friends & Meeting New Ones...

My wonderful friend Peter, now has his haori (kimono jacket) and it looks like something he has been wearing forever! What a treat it was to see him slip into it and beam! He wore it the entire day that I visited my old middle school where I taught with Peter for many years. I finished the haori just in time to take with me on my trip to Albany, NY to meet and escort my Japanese friend Kenji, fellow art teacher from Tokyo and his two co-workers Keiko, a high school English teacher who I met in 2005 and Rieko, Kenji's young replacement at Gakugei International School. Kenji now teaches art education at the college level to future teachers at Yokahama National University.

Who knew 4 years ago, that the art exchange between our students would be so successful and that it would continue to a new generation of students and teachers?

I met Keiko in 2005 and spoke with her for about 5 minutes before boarding a bus about to leave the high school where she taught English in a suburb of Tokyo. I had traveled to Japan with a group of 20 American teachers as guest of the Japanese government for the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund scholarship program. I told Keiko how disappointed I was that I would not have time to meet a middle school art teacher with whom I could develop an art exchange. She gave me her business card and said, "If you have any trouble, please let me know and I will help." This was in November and over February break,when I had time to sort through the memorabilia from my journey I found her card and wondered if it could actually work. I wrote her a note and within a week she had emailed me back with the wonderful news that she had found a teacher in her school who would enjoy creating an art exchange between our students. A few days later Kenji and I were communicating by email discussing our first exchange.

The rest is history -- over the next three years (before I retired in Jan. 2009 and Kenji went on to teach future teachers) we created experiences for our students, their families and our communities. This trip of theirs to Albany was in hopes of continuing the exchange even though both Kenji and I had moved on. Peter and Rieko are now working together and Keiko still is extremely helpful as translator to make the communication work well. An article was written for the Bethlehem Central website.

Rieko, Keiko and Peter discussing pop-up books created by Rieko's students illustrating Japanese myths and fables written in English.

Kenji, Keiko, and Rieko outside of Bethlehem Central Middle School with their huge suitcase full of Rieko's students' pop-up books and art teaching materials they brought to share with the teachers.

Video of an interview of Peter and art supervisor Melanie about the value of the art exchange with Gakugui International School.

Peter and Rieko with the projects their exchanging... prints from Peter's 6th grade students and pop-up books from Rieko's 8th grade students. The prints will be on display in Tokyo during their Annual Art Show at the school.

Peter and Rieko present a DVD of her students reading their pop-up books during a BCMS faculty meeting.

Rieko and Keiko visiting Traci's 8th grade art class.

Our Japanese visitors getting a special tour of the New York State

art collection of NY artists in the Empire State Plaza including

Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline.

Kenji and Keiko enjoying a special tour of the New York State Senate Chambers in Albany's Capital Building.

What a wonderful time we all had and what a special treat it was to see old friends and meet new ones. It was a melancholy time when I had to leave my three special friends at the bus station so they could continue their journey to Boston and then on to New York City, each for a few days visiting with museum personnel about museum education, before flying back to Tokyo after a very busy week!

A wonderful bonus to flying up to Albany from Savannah was having the chance to stay with my daughter Kristin and her husband, Bobby and my two adorable grand-daughters Abby (just 5) and Chelsea (3 1/2). I even got to have them all to myself for a night to make cookies, read stories and play with Groovie Girls and My Little Ponies!! HEAVEN!

Earth Toned Haori for Peter

My good friend and former fellow middle school art teacher, Peter has been after me for years to weave something for him. Now that I'm retired, I finally had the time! He sent me the measurements from a short kimono jacket (haori) that he has had for years and I designed the haori. I had some wonderful 100% wool from the Canadian woolen mill, Condon (which burned down several years ago) in my stash and because Peter is such an earthy person, I decided to create the jacket in earth tones.

on the loom

My goal was three fold: 1. to create a warm jacket, 2. to explore the possibilities with weave structures on my 8 shaft loom 3. to create an interesting design. The weave structure in wool created a very warm fabric after fulling. I was able to create a unique draft using a demonstration model of FiberWorks Bronze translated for my Mac with the CrossOver program (thanks to Syne Mitchell of WeaveZIne for the suggestion!) The design is a basic kimono design with a sampling of twill variations weave structures reflected in the 32 inch wide warp.

I reinforced the edges before I cut with a multi-stitched zigzag.

I covered the raw edges with a single crochet stitch. Sleeves & bottom edge.

My biggest challenge was coming up with a front band that was not too thick. I wove enough to create three 5 inch strips, but I worried about the thickness... so I purchased some medium weight twill fabric the same color as the band and lined the front bands which created a comfortable texture on the neck.

I wanted some way to close the front and remembered the braided himo which closed the vintage haori's I purchased in Japan. I looked on YouTube and found a video which explained the technique for kumihimo (Japanese braiding.)

I cut a 4" circle out of cardboard and cut 12 notches in sets of 3s across from each other.

I then cut a hole in the middle about 1" in diameter.

I labeled 6 of the notches ABC and DEF on the other side.

I cut 8 pieces of wool yarn about 20" long - 4 dark brown, 2 medium gray and 2 white and tied them together with an overhand knot. I made a 2nd overhand knot about 1/2 away from the 1st -- then stuck the fringe end through the hole.

I put one dark brown yarn in each left hand notch and the gray yarns to the right across from each other and the white to the right in the center notch.

To braid you take the right hand yarn in B and cross over the hole to F -- then move A to C. Next take the yarn in D and move it over the hole to B. Then turn the circle loom to the LEFT and repeat... then LEFT and repeat ... the LEFT and repeat around and around. If you have to stop - make a loop tie in the one where you will start again.

Eventually you get into a rhythm and it goes pretty quickly. I created a 12 inch braid in about an hour.

I made loops on both sides of the front band about 16in from the center back and reinforced them with half hitches around and then put the one knot through the loop and fed the rest of the cord through. (Easier to show than to write! Sorry)

I'm taking the jacket to Peter this weekend and can't wait to see how it fits! I'll take pictures!

Finding Balance

I can't believe that it's February all ready! The weather has been cold (for the South) and wet here in Savannah since I think... Thanksgiving! We're ready for steady days of sunshine and 60s or 70s again!

I've been working part-time at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) since early November as a docent (part greeter, educator, school ambassador) in their galleries. Most weeks I've worked 2 full days and 2 half days. Though I love it... I'm hoping to cut back a bit -- to 2 full and maybe an occasional half day, as needed. I'm finding that though I am surrounded by world-class, inspiring artwork, I'm not finding the time to weave as much as I'd like. So... hopefully February will bring fewer hours of outside work... and more hours of weaving. Of course, when the weather changes... I'll want some beach time, too! Alas.. so many wants... it's just finding the right balance...

I'm in the process of warping my loom for a short kimono (haori) jacket for my former art teaching colleague, Peter. I'm using some Condon dark brown wool warp that my dear friend Cindy gave me many, many years ago. I have been using Fiberworks PCW version 4 - Bronze to create my draft. It's been very addictive playing around with the multitude of possibilities... and I think I've settled on a variation of point twills for 8 shafts. The CrossOver program that Syne suggested on Weavezine has allowed me to use this PC program on my Mac very successfully. I am just trying it out now... but think I'll have to purchase it as it's far too much fun! Anyway, I've wound the yarn from 8 skeins to balls and wound the 32" wide x 4 yards of warp sett at 10EPI and threaded it through my 10 dent reed and am ready to begin threading the pattern through the heddles. I'm hoping to get it done to take to him the end of February -- and yes, I know... February is the shortest month!

I finished my felted handspun slippers! I spun the yarn and skeined it many years ago - so long ago that I've forgotten when I did it (it's all about using the stash, right?) I had one skein of dark almost black and one of a medium multi-shaded gray natural wool plyed yarn. I found an adorable pattern on Ravelry called French Press Slippers and easily knit the bottoms of the dark yarn and the sides from the lighter yarn then stitched them together. But... they were humungous! I had added some rows for my extra large feet, but I think my gauge was off.

As I don't own my own washer, I used the condo's and unfortunately there were not enough controls... so they didn't felt very much. So.. I took to the bathroom sink... and hand felted them with some success. It took about 3 different sessions of about 30 minutes each of wringing and adding hot tap water and soap and scrubbing... but...they were still far too long. I then tried the condo's drier and I was getting closer, but they were still not right. I then came to the realization that the only way to make them fit was to take an inch out of the instep and then lace them back together.

The inspiration for lacing came from an exhbition of Contemporary Aftrican artwork in one of SCAD's galleries where I work. An artist by the name of Nicholas Hlobo does very unusual fiber pieces which combine cutting into paper and then lacing it back together (like in football stitches) with seam binding. He also uses rubber in his work. Here is a slideshow of his work.

Anyway... it worked and I now have comfy, warm felted wool slippers that fit beautifully. I stitched on some silver star-shaped earrings instead of buttons that were my mother's old clip ons... so I keep her memory close! (How wabi sabi!) I know these slippers will get lots of wear as they are just the right size now and keep my tootsies toastie.

Happy New Year!

I have lots of ideas bouncing around my head for projects for 2010! I can't wait to get started!

But first, I'd like to share some of what I have been doing since I last posted:

I completed colorful sweaters for my adorable grand-daughters -- Abby and Chelsea who live in the frozen Northeast! My LYS had a display of yummy colors of wool yarns that caught my eye. I decided to knit striped cardigans - in warm colors for Chelsea

and cool colors for Abby. I used a Lion Brand free pattern I found on-line as a starter and changed the stripes using Fibonacci's number sequences (1,1,2,3,5,8...) to create interesting stripe sequences. The challenge was to make the stripes match at the sleeves. I also decided to make the closure a separating jacket zipper instead of buttons. It was great to see the girls in their sweaters when we visited early in January!

While taking the train from Savannah to New York State I realized that I didn't have a hat to wear when we walked around New York City to the Museum of Modern Art. I had brought along several things to keep me busy including some 2 oz. of handspun singles I had spun at our January Spin In earlier that week. The fiber was delicious -- a combination of alpaca, milk, bamboo, bunny, and sparkle from Roo at Moonwood Farms. So I started my hat... and was pleased to finish it before we arrived in NY. (Of course, I stayed awake most of the night to finish it!) I must admit it came in handy keeping my head warm against the breezy cold air.

MoMA was marvelous! I wanted to see the exhibit of the Bauhaus Workshops that was going to end January 25th. It was all I had hoped for and more. Seeing Gunta Stolzl's African Chair up close, was thrilling as I had seen it in so many books I had researched while writing my book Woven: a Bauhaus Memoir about the Bauhaus weavers. There was a fascinating movie taken in the masters homes in Dessau during the Bauhaus years and Moholy Nagy's Light Space Modulator gracefully moved and cast wonderful reflections on the walls and ceilings as it did when I saw it several years ago at its home at Harvard's Busch Reisinger Museum. (His original film can be seen here.) The exhibit took me back to my trip to the Bauhaus sites in Germany where I had seen some of the pieces. The exhibit had so much MORE... and was displayed so beautifully. I was happy that I had ordered the book on the exhibit so that I could refer back to the experience as photos were not allowed. I spent some time in the hands on workshop where they had lots of texture materials available for participants to create their own tactile artwork based on Johannes Itten's classes from Vorkurs, or Preliminary Studies classes.

While in Albany, I completed a woven bag for my camera on a cardboard loom and have started to felt some handspun French Press slippers I knit from a pattern I bought through Ravelry. I used some of the yarns I'd dyed with Koolaid on beige wool which created muted colors. The tapestry design incorporates geometric designs and 2 shuttle columns.

I realize that I never posted the images of the scarves I created on a charcoal tencel warp that I mentioned in my last blog entry... Here goes:

handspun milk fiber, cotton and handspun silk weft

silk/cotton blend weft

silk/cotton blend weft

handspun white bombyx silk & sparkle novelty black weft

Mobus scarf of milk/cotton blend, silk/cotton blend & handspun bombyx silk weft

Christmas is Coming!!!

This is what its all about!!!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Gee, it's been a while since I blogged. While discussing Christmas at my LYS last Tuesday night, I mentioned the Advent Calendar I made (and just shipped off) for my grand-daughters 3 year old Chelsea and 4 year old Abby. I know, I know... Advent started Dec. 1st... but better late than newer and the girls will have fun putting 10 or so on the tree. My Knit-In buddies wanted to see pictures and someone suggested I post it on Ravelry. Since Ravelry is only for Knitting and some Crochet and Weaving... I decided to share through this blog.

How to:

I purchased some felt (2 large pieces of dark green (tree) and cream (background), smaller pieces of red, bright green and yellow felt, circular velcro pieces (3/4") and wooden circles (1 1/2") from JoAnn Fabrics. I cut a variety of 2x2.5 pockets and sewed them around the border with black thick cotton. I also sewed the tree to the center and then put the pre-glued velcro circles on the tree. In order to make sure they stayed put... I sewed one stitch in each one in the center (tricky with the glue on the back but a piece of soap to run the large pointed needle through helped.

With acrylic paint, I hand-painted each of the wooden circles different colors and then when dry painted different symbols of Xmas on each one. When done I put the other side of the pre-glued velcro on the back of the wooden circles. Then, I painted the numbers in order on the colored border squares -- black paint on the yellow and white paint on the green and red. Add 2 dowels in a hand-sewn channel top and bottom... and voila... an Advent Calendar. Advice... start before Thanksgiving to get it to your loved ones on time!

I have been weaving several scarves on a 30 epi tencel warp... five down and I think, one more to go on the 7 yard warp. I also have been knitting colorful sweaters for the a-fore-mentioned grand-daughters. I'll mount photos soon... I promise...

Life has gotten rather busy now that I'm working part-time as a docent (part greeter, part educator, part school ambassador) at 3 different SCAD galleries. SCAD, as some may know, is a really fine "university for creative careers" and stands for Savannah College of Art and Design. I absolutely love being surrounded by art and artsy folk and having the opportunity to talk with visitors to the galleries. SCAD was one of the reasons we chose Savannah as our retirement home. The university has restored many of the downtown buildings giving them purpose and vitality. It's been a few more hours than I expected lately, but should calm down once the students are back after the holidays.