Fiber Musings

Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Category: FO Page 15 of 48

Katazome Workshop

By

On 2 Oct, 2012

In FO

I just realized that I never posted about the wonderful Katazome Workshop I took with Karen Miller. Tien did a nice write up here and here because I’m too lazy to cull through my pictures and put words together. Instead, let me show you 2 of my finished items from the workshop.

Paper Cranes

As you can see, I didn’t ensure clean contact when I applied my paste and the paste “leaked” under my stencil and caused some blotches. This was about 6 or so layers of indigo paint (powdered indigo in soy milk). The center had a few fewer layers of indigo but additional layers of red pigment painted on.

Chrysanthemums

I had fun layering on colors. I started with the pale yellow/gold as an all over color before adding the layers of purple, orange, red and green.

I plan on making pillow covers with these.

And just for fun, I’ll leave you with a different sort of cranes that Lyn made in class.

Lyn’s Cranes

It’s a wrap!

By

On 6 Jul, 2012

In FO, Sew, Weave

First trim attempt (aka sample)

Here’s the tubular to flat trim from the inkle on the previous post. I wove exactly to the length I measured, plus 1/2″ on both the tubular and the flat portion. Unfortunately, even though my measurements accounted for take-up on the loom, it didn’t account for the take up while tacking it onto the sketchbook cover. I ended up about 1″ short.

Back to the loom. Since I had only spun a small amount of the dark red in the stripe of the trim. I had used up all I had on hand.

Yes, I could have carded/blended more of that silk and spun it up. I just didn’t want to wait the extra day that it would take from start to setting the twist and waiting for the new threads to dry. So, I warped on again with just plain blue purple.

This time, I started with the flat ribbon portion of the trim and wove it to the length of the sketchbook plus 1.5″, then I wove the tubular piping until I ran out of warp. This ensured that I had enough to go all the way around the sketchbook.

I also made the flat ribbon portion a bit wider by not pulling the weft taut. This is harder to keep a clean edge but it had a better drape. The first ribbon was very firmly woven.

Specs: 20 ends woven on the Palmer Inkle Loom with spindle spun tussah silk of unknown origin. Finished length is approx. 61″, which maxed out the mini loom.

Here is the finished sketchbook, in all her glory. The third time is definitely the charm. (Version 1: submitted to CNCH Gallery. Version 2: added stabilizer to the back of the handwoven fabric.)

CNCH Gallery Submissions

By

On 18 May, 2012

In FO, Sew, Weave

Beggar's Bag (click to enlarge)

CNCH starts tomorrow. I’ll provide a report next week. In the meantime, here are some eye candy on a few of my submissions. Drop by the gallery and take a look if you are in the Bay Area this weekend!

The bag on the left is the Beggar’s Bag for the Traditions and Innovations Gallery.

Draft: Floral Dance Star Variation (Anne Dixon)
Warp: Borgs 22/2 Cottolin (natural)
Tabby Weft: 8/2 cotton (natural)
Pattern Weft:  assorted handspun handpainted BFL singles (purchased at 2011 Whidbey Island Spin In from Island Fibers, I think)
Construction: all hand pieced, even down to the zipper and  lining.

I definitely learned quite a bit on this project. Even after re-sleying, I think the sett is still too close. I found out later in my research that I should have sleyed it for a loose plain weave. This is why I had to go to a 8/2 cotton instead of cottolin for weft. It’s a good thing too since I ran out of natural cottolin.

Return to Sender Yarn

Return to Sender Batt

On the left is my Return to Sender skein, blocking on the skeinwinder. On the right is what the batt looked like before I started. The fiber is 85/15 BFL/tussah, dyed with natural dyes by Mary Finley and Roger Salter of Dreamy Goat Design Studio.

I split the batt into pure colors, and stripped out the mixed bits as my “in-between”. Spun the colors in progression as a fine single and plied it with an 80/20 “black” BFL/tussah (SOAR 2009 ? special — Bend, OR). You can see that the black BFL toned down the colors quite a bit, but still quite nice.

Weight: 4 oz. (2 oz. RTS, 2 oz. black BFL)
Yardage: 1,012 yards
Plies: 2
WPI: 44

I have one more gallery submission for the Return of the Return to Sender (yarn spun for the 2010 CNCH), but I forgot to photograph it before sending it on. I used an alternate treadling to Floral Dance with my 2 ply yarn and turned it into a sketchbook cover. Probably subliminal. I’m not that happy with the cover. I will likely re-do it after the conference.

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