New York Skyline Update

I have been quite busy recently and have not had much time to post on this blog, but one of the things I have been working on was some swatches for the Computer Design Study Group design exercise I posted about earlier this year.

The studies I did on the computer were bases on a section of the New York Skyline, as seen on the right.

I particularly liked the small grey block effects of the window in the top to middle section. I also liked the relationship of the colours, the greys and browns with a little of the blue and turquoise (copper roof!). Another thing that struck me were the vertical oblongs.

With the computer I used a number of effects:- mosaic, wave, stained glass and combinations of these.

The mosaic effect gave me more of the block and vertical block feeling and concentrated the colours, which really brought home the colour proportion exercise we did earlier. I decided to "lump" some of the colours together, so that I ended with just 4 main colours:- sky blue, turquoise, a marl grey and a marl brown.

Lumping the colours together gave me proportions of 48% "Rustica" (marled brown with has the red browns, in as well as the dark and lighter browns), 24% "Silver" (marled grey), 13% "Fauna" (turquoise) and 5% "Sapphire" (sky blue). These yarns were purchased from J C Rennie (Smiths of Peterhead). They are a machine knitting yarn, but weave beautifully.

I warped my rigid heddle loom at 14 epi in a log cabin effect of blocks of 1 Rustica and 1 Sapphire x 4, 1 Fauna and 1 Rustica x 4, 1 Rustica and 1 Fauna x 4, (I Silver and 1 Rustica x 4, 1 Rustica and 1 Fauna x 4) x 2.

My first swatch (on the right) was woven as threaded.

Swatch 2 (above) was woven with 1 Rustica and 1 Sapphire x 4, 1 Fauna and 1 Rustica x 4, 1 Rustica and 1 Fauna x 4 and 1 Silver and 1 Rustica x 20. I wanted to try to capture the larger vertical blocks with this swatch.Swatch 3 (above) was woven with 1 Rustica and 1 Sapphire x 4, 1 Fauna and 1 Rustica x 4, 1 Rustica and 1 Fauna x 4 and (1 Silver and 1 Rustica x 4 and 1 Rustica and 1 Silver x 2) x 3. I wanted to try to capture the small blocks (the windows in the original) with this swatch.



Swatch 4 (above) was woven with 1 Silver and 1 Rustica x 4 and 1 Rustica and 1 Silver x 2 repeated the length of the swatch. I felt that the small repeat of 1 Rustica and 1 Silver x 2 was too small.


Swatch 5 (above) was woven with 1 Silver and 1 Rustica x 8 and 1 Rustica and 1 Silver x 4 repeated the length of the swatch and I feel this gives a much better representation of the square blocks and vertical blocks.

I have begun to develop this, using the waves and mosaic and wave computer manipulations. More to come!

Drop Spindles

Yesterday I was at the Derbyshire Guild Open Day, in Derby, UK.

Although I am a member of the Guild, I had been invited to sell my natural dye extracts. Also at the event was Michael Williams, a wood turner and fine woodworker from Sheffield. He was selling his drop spindles, niddy noddies, nostepinnes, diz, lucets, tapestry frames, amongst a lot of other lovely items.

I love spinning with a drop spindle and purchased a 25g spindle. Well, it is the best drop spindle I have ever used! I have been using my Bosworth for the last 5 years which, up until I tried this spindle, I loved.

This top whorl spindle spins like a dream, and goes on and on for ever. Before I knew it, I had spun quite a bit. It would be the perfect spindle for a beginner, they would not have to worry about it spinning back on it's self! In fact while I was trying it out and waxing lyrical about it, a lady who was a beginner purchased one, too. A little while later, I was watching her across the room and she was spinning beautifully. I just had to go over and congratulate her!

I also purchased a nostepinne and a diz. I ply with an Andean plying bracelet and thought the nostepinne would be a useful tool to make my yarn into balls. The diz, is something I haven't used before, but the Online Guild held a workshop last month on spinning the Bowmont Fleece and we were given the instructions for using one, so now I have a chance to try it out.

Ammonia Vat II

Well, it seems to be fermenting nicely, now! It's starting to smell very ripe and the colour of the liquor is beginning to change colour, towards a green. I have waited so long for this to happen, that I am beginning to get rather impatient. But I must not wreck the slow process by diving in with some yarn I want dyed blue! I must, I must be patient.

Ammonia Vat update!

Well! What can I say!!

I have only just posted the last post, if you see what I mean. It's been a draft for several weeks! I made the vat as described, but it wouldn't ferment! (Lots of exclamation marks, going on you will see, that's how frustrated I've been!!!)

I tried stirring it every day, to move the sediment from the bottom. I have "fed" it more sugar, more yeast. Not to mention that it is sitting on a heat pad to keep the temperature constant, as it had been rather cold here in Derbyshire in the UK.

Jim Liles book, The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing - Traditional Recipes for Modern Use, suggested that if it hadn't become active in 2 - 3 days it may never do so! Well, I didn't want to abandon all the effort, not to mention, indigo and ammonia, I had put into it. So, I have given it another chance, adding more sugar every day and more yeast over the last two days and Hay Presto! it's started to ferment. I suspect it was because the temperature has risen, here, over the last few days, to be rather unseasonly warm at night. This despite the heat pad, has maintained the temperature a little more consistently.

Let hope this continues, as I have usually used a yeast and washing soda vat, and only used this one because some one said they liked it better! It has been a very good learning curve, though!

Indigo Fermentation Vat

I have been busy organising my work room over the last week, so haven't had much time to do any real "work" such as weaving, spinning or dyeing. But I need to make an indigo fermentation vat so that I can dye some yarn next week. I have to start now, as it takes about 48 hours to work, so that it will be ready for Monday.

It's the ammonia/yeast vat that I am going to make and this is how I am going to do it:

• add 5 tablespoon of powdered Yeast and 5 rounded tablespoons of Sugar to 5 cups (200ml) warm water and leave for 2 hours.
• at the same time dissolve 5 level teaspoons of Indigo to 2 and 1/2 cups (500mls) Ammonia.
• After the 2 hours add the indigo and ammonia to the yeast-sugar mix in a large container and fill to about the 2 1/2 gallon mark. Cover with plastic wrap and use a rubber band to seal. (The fermentation can burst a rigid seal.)
• Leave to sit for several days in a warm place.
  

Sock Yarn

I have finally spun the wenslydale fibres that I dyed in the Monday Class a few weeks ago. I am very pleased with the result, so I am going to give the hank to my friend Rhiannon.

She has been helping me pack my dyes, so the hank is a reward for her hard work. When she makes the socks I will post the picture for you to see. In the mean time I am going to knit (or weave) a scarf in the hank I dyed at the same time, so it will match!

Pure Tinctoria Workshop

I had a great time on Saturday at my local guild of weavers, spinners and dyers, in Derbyshire. I ran a natural dye extracts workshop with my Pure Tinctoria Dyes. Each participant dyed three small hanks with one of the dyes, then modified them with iron water, copper water, citric acid and washing soda. They all went home with 70 colour swatches!

See them on the right.

The only colour we didn't have was blue. I use a fermentation vat for indigo, which takes about 48 hours to work and it doesn't travel too well. As you can see the range of colours is fantastic, I just have to add the indigo range to the swatches, so watch this space for the results!

Monday Class Part 2

I hope you enjoyed looking at the work of my Monday evening students, here is the next instalment!

Here is the space dyed yarn that Hazel produced.

On the right are the lovely reds and purples of Ann Broome's dyed tops.

On the left Lesley's second batch of fleece bubbling away.


These images just give you a flavour of the work that has been produced over the last two Mondays. I will post more images when the students have produced something from their skeins.

More soon.

Monday Class

The Monday spinning, weaving and dyeing class have been following the design workshop I developed for the Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. I encouraged them to use the ideas to develop a range of colour to use in an acid space dyeing workshop. I am so pleased with the work that I wanted to share it with you all.

This is an image from last weeks class.

Bottom fibres are Wenslydale and the hank above were both dyed in a similar bath by me!

The hank above were fibres dyed by Lesley, spun and plied with itself.

The little centre pull ball in orange was spun with beads, also by Lesley.





The bottom two hanks on the right were fibres dyed by Hazel. The bottom one was spun and plied with itself and the one above, spun and plied with a white singles.
The fibres at the top left were dyed by Anne Warwick.








The image on the left is Anne Warwicks design, colour study, dye record book, fibres and yarns.


I will post more of the results later, please call back to see them!

Rhiannon's

I have been rather busy lately, so not able to post so much.

Anyway, I went off to a trade fair in Birmingham, UK, with 3 friends. We went to help a friend who has a fabulous shop in our village, Willington, Derbyshire. It's called Rhiannon's and is a wool shop, chock full of lovely Colinette yarns. Rhiannon wants to add to the range, baby wool and a solid palate of colours, so hence we went to Birmingham. More about her new range in a later post.

Rhiannon is an inspiration to us all as she only started knitting just over a year ago, opened her shop in April 2006 and is now on a mission to get the whole of the Midlands knitting! She came to my spinning, weaving and dyeing class in October 2005 with the intention of learning to spin by Christmas that year. She took to it so well, she needed to do something with all that yarn she was producing, so asked her mum to teach her to knit. Now, the internet is a wonderful place and looking up knitting on Google, Rhiannon found that fabulous world of yarn and hasn't looked back. She is now on her third pair of socks!

Go Rhiannon!!!

More Design Excercises with Paper and Paint

Proportions
Mm, well now, what do I mean by proportions? Most of you choose a picture because it inspires you in some way, whether it's colour, texture, shapes, a combination of one, two or all three elements. Whatever is the trigger, it's very often the picture or section as a whole that is pleasing to the eye.
So if we look at just two of the elements, colour and texture, and work out the proportions of these, and if we stick to those proportions in weaving, knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc. we will have a very pleasing end product, whether we worked in stripes, checks, blocks or pictorally.

Stripes
Once we've worked out the proportions of texture and colour from out chosen photograph or painting, we can work on producing stripes. A series of stripe sequences can trigger all sorts of ideas in weaving, knitting and crochet, not to mention all the other textile crafts.

This series of stripes can be developed into a collage of stripes with texture as well as colour and even wrapping.












Opposite you will see a page from my sketch book. I have developed a series of stripes from the New York Skyline photograph. By working out the proportions of colour and texture I have produced a series of stripes, the last one has been developed into a yarn wrapping from the yarns (on the right) that I chose to match the colours in the original painting I did.

The yarn wrapping can be used as it is, as a stripe sequence for a piece of weaving or, if turned vertically, as a design for a scarf to knit or crochet, for example.

Those spinners amongst you, could try blending the basic colours, blue, yellow and red with black and white to spin a series of yarns which have much more life than those dyed the exact colour you want! More about this later!

Why not have a go.

Looking at Texture

All seems to be going ok with the Computer Design Study Group, what a relief!

We have been looking at texture over the week-end, using an outline drawing of the original picture we chose and basically "scribbling" with our pencils. It seems so strange at first to scribble, trying different pencil strokes to represent texture, but once you let go, it can throw up all sorts of ideas, especially if you transfer some of the ideas into collage with white or grey paper, only.

The New York Skyline doesn't to appear to have much texture, we aren't close enough to see the texture in the bricks and concrete, but some parts felt like pleats, and the windows gave quite a textured feel.

Mm, quite a bit to be looking at after all!

I couldn't resist this Fibre Geek Questionaire

1. Do you raise fiber, animals or plant, or are a fiber user only? If you raise animals/plants...what do you raise?

I once raised silk worms, great fun, but too stressful as they die!! Also have a long haired cat, whose fur is lovely when spun!

2. What's your favorite fiber & why? Which fiber do you like the least & why?

I love wool, it's warmth in cold weather, it's coolness in the heat, how it shrinks and reacts with other fibres.

Linen is my least favourite fibre, I don't like spinning with wet hands!

3. What's your worst habit relating to your fiber?

MM, now, what can I say, too much fibre or yarn, not enough! Not enough hours in the day, week, year to spin it all! I could go on and on!

4. In what ways does your fiber habit make you a better person?

I would be so grumpy if I didn't have me spinning, weaving or dyeing!

5. How would your life be different if you had to give up fiber?

Oh, dear, oh, dear, I would be so bored, no friends and very, very sad!

6. What tools, yarns, books or gadgets can't you live without?

How long have you got?!! My looms, my spinning wheels, my drop spindles, my dye pots, my complete library, MY CALCULATOR!!

7. What was your first fiber project?

This was when I was eight, I was given a small rigid heddle loom for Christmas and I wove the first piece from the instruction book! And subsequently all the other projects!

8. Do you have any fiber mentors? Who are they and why?

My friend Gill Bourne, if she's not got the answer, no one has! and my friend Jane Deane.

9. Are you a member of any guilds? If so, which one(s)?

Derbyshire Guild of Weaver, Spinners and Dyers and the Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers

10. What's the most exciting fiber project you've undertaken?

Late last September I was asked to write a book on Creative Spinning, for Gaia, a division of Octopus Publishing. The dead line was extremely tight so I asked my friend Jane to help. We finished the manuscript and projects by the last day of November and it has had it's technical edit, so we are now waiting for the proofs.

11. How many people have you mentored? In which fiber arts?

I teach a class every Monday evening during school term time, so over the years I have mentored quite a few people. At present I mentor a lady who came to learn to spin, who ended up teaching herself to knit and now runs a wonderful shop on knitting, weaving, etc.

12. Do you consider fiber crafts to be functional or artistic?

Definately both! Just because it's functional, doesn't mean it can't be beautiful and just because it's beautiful, doesn't mean it's not capable of being funcional.

13. What, mainly, do you make? Do you keep, or give away, most of your projects?

I used to give a lot away, to friends and family, but now I am trying to earn a living!

14. Are fiber crafts an avocation or vocation for you?

I have been weaving since I was eight years old and spinning since I was in my mid twenties, so I guess it's a vocation!

15. How many people are you committed to being a mentor for in 2007?

At present, just the one, but who knows!

Computer Design Study Group 2

Well all seems to be going well with the exercises I have posted for the group. There has been some lovely positive feed back for the photographs I chose and those taking part are really happy with the content of the exercises.

Exercise Two was to look at the chosen photograph and using the simple shapes from the last exercise (basic tracing skills!) colour them in with a paint medium they were happy and familiar with.

I took the New York Skyline photograph and using a mask, cropped an area I liked. I then sized it up and drew the basic outline of the image, which you will see on the left.

Here you will see that I have used water colours to "colour in" the picture! The test colours are in the right hand margin of the sketch book. These two exercises are really easy to do and give you a feel for the colours, even if they are not quite accurate. For those who are frightened of paint, they can use coloured pencils or even collage.

I hope this will help anyone who is interested in designing of any sort, not just weave!

Computer Study Group

Hi again.

Well since I last posted, I have been roped in to tutor the first few exercises of the new group, as my poor friend, who was to tutor, has had to drop out this time due to family problems.

Talk about a baptism of fire!!!

It's one thing teaching to students in a classroom, but it's a whole new ball game, tutoring online. Still I have given them 5 pictures to chose from and their first exercise. So keeping my fingers crossed, all will go well.

Here is a sneak preview of the photographs I chose, I done hope there is something to inspire everyone.

Sample 2 Sunset

Sample 1
Fruit and Veg

Sample 4
New York Skyline

Sample 3
Slate Roof





Sample 5
Ripple


Bye for now.

New Computer Design Group

Well, some exciting new. The Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers has set up Computer Design Study Group. It's a result of the hugely successful CD workshop that they ran this month. I have been using the computer as a design tool for quite some time, but it's always interesting to discover new ways of using a familiar tool.


My present design is based on a beautiful medieval manor house in North West Leicestershire, which I visited recently. It's stone work and timber frame had me completely enraptured, and rather stupidly I had forgotten my camera, so I had to buy one of these disposable jobs so that I could try and capture the feel of the building. I now have a selection of odd photographs of walls, windows, timbers and stonework to play with on the computer.

More to follow!!