Sherri Woodard Coffey

The Sonia Delaunay exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt looks wonderful—at least from my computer. The link will take you to a slide show about the exhibit. Some of the designs are on paper and some are printed on silk. And what about those swimsuits! The Hand-Eye magazine Facebook page has been featuring some of them. This one is my favorite. It’s gouache on paper, which makes me think (again) about doing a little designing that way. Even her driving caps (above) look cool! The blurb says that they are silk and wool embroidery on wool. Not sure how that works…they look knitted to me.

Usually I have a scale model of what I am going to weave and just count inches, sections, or whatever during the weaving. When doing these swirly pieces, however, I feel the need to have a cartoon, a life-size drawing of the piece. Below is the to-scale drawing of the weaving plan on graph paper, including notes on colors. At the right is the actual cartoon drawn on Vellum graph paper.

I have a new adaptation that I plan to weave, based on a geode slice. As I started to enlarge the drawing onto graph paper, my frustration level was increasing. So, off the drawing and I went to FedEx Office. The nice young lady there quickly scanned the drawing, went to her computer, enlarged it by ten times, and sent it on to the giant printer. In no time, I had my 3 x 5 cartoon of what I am going to weave. This process costs $0.75 per square foot. Quite exciting and no frustration! Previously, when I have had a cartoon done, we have inserted the actual drawing into the printer, and many mistakes were spit out. This scanning and working on the computer first is much better! Let’s hear it for technology!

but over sixty skeins of yarn are weighed and labeled, ready to dye! These are the yarns on hand that I forgot I had when I place the order for the new 100 pounds of yarn. So, the tree picture above really does belong with this topic. A friend gave me some of these plastic plant tags, and I’ve used the last of them. A little research, and a box of a 1000 of these can be mine for less than $30. These come from Gempler’s, a place I had never heard of before, but I think I’ll give them a call. I can not only write the weight of the skein, but also the dye formula on these labels. Previously, I have used masking tape (satisfactory except for dark colors) and homemade labels from milk cartons and Tyvek. I like these plant ties best, so, a phone call.

All of the new yarns are stored away in their containers, but since I’ve got all these weighed skeins ready to go, who knows when the bins will be opened. There may be a dyeing frenzy around here!

I ran across the work by a photographer somewhere—don’t remember where. Her name is Michelle Bates. I especially like the section in her portfolio called Graphics.

Within that group there is a section called Urban Oases. This section includes nature in an urban setting. I’m pretty sure that the picture that first caught my attention was the one of tree branches and shadows, something I’ve been photographing myself. There’s also a great picture of roots, another subject of mine. The photo below is of the tree branches in the snow.

The pictures in Graphics section were taken with a Holga camera, and, no, I had never heard of this before. Click on the link to find out more. From what I read, I am guessing that one would need to get these photos processed in a darkroom. Where does one find those nowadays?

It is said that the wind on the prairie drove some pioneer women mad. Maybe I’m there. The wind has been relentless this year, not even dying down after sundown. Hoping to find references to that phenomenon, I did a cursory research on the issue. I found one listing that looks interesting, a book called Pioneer Women: the lives of Women on the Frontier. Mentioned are several things I had not considered before about how dangerous the typical women’s clothing of the period could be. I had never thought about the possibility of a dress hem catching fire. Nor did I think about the hoops that were fashionable being caught in the wind. Now wouldn’t that be a sight! Hoops were removed and rocks tied to the hems, causing bruising of the shins.

The Teresita Fernández installations at the Modern Art Museum are very nice. I wish there were pictures of my favorite, an installation reminiscent of a scattering of small stars floating on the wall. It wound its way around the room which had a door through which just a glimpse of Martin Puryear’s Ladder for Booker T. Washington could be seen. Would have made a really nice picture, but …oh, well.

Here’s what one hundred pounds of yarn looks like. My estimate is that each of those bags weighs five pounds, since a rough count shows that there are twenty of them. Nothing slow about me! This is the first time I’ve received yarns bagged up like this from Henry’s Attic. At the bottom of the photo, below the paper, is how I have always received them in the past. Gee, wonder what today’s goal is? I’m just hoping they’ll all fit in the containers I have for them. It’s somehow comforting to know that there’s this much yarn available, since the dye gods don’t always smile, and I have to dye more.

Above is a picture of a box that I store the yarns in. In my studio are three closets along one of the walls. Two of those closets are used mostly for weaving. Three of the above boxes fit on the floor under the bottom shelf in each closet. They came from the Container Store.

Currently washing some yarns that were dyed at 50% of the regular 1% dye formula. They look nice, just not sure how they’re going to fit in with the rest of the colors. Pics tomorrow, when I can actually walk through my studio again.

It is time to buy yarn again, so I placed an order with Henry’s Attic last Wednesday. I think this company is probably the only company on the planet that doesn’t have a “real’ website, but I love their yarns.

I started using Crown Colony 2-ply, 1040 yards to the pound, after trying many yarns. If it’s good enough for Mary Zicafoose, it’s good enough for me, although I’d still like something a little finer for using 3 strands for blending.

I placed an order for 110 pounds, 10 pounds of which is for a friend. One hundred pounds of yarn is a lot of yarn. It arrives in a box that is really big and awkward to carry, so I leave it on the porch and divvy out the yarn to its various storage places. The last time I bought yarn (in July, 2008), all of it wouldn’t fit in the usual places, so I put some in the antique blanket chest, then put a reminder on my computer calendar about its location. When the reminder popped up, I couldn’t remember whether I’d already accessed that yarn or not, so off came everything on top of the chest. Lucky me! It was still there, so I was set for more weaving. Currently, I have been weaving up bits of yarn from different sources that are in the storage containers, so I’m pretty sure there will be enough storage in the closets. Although, the previous order was for 91 pounds, not 100 as is this one.

When I first started buying Crown Colony, I just assumed that all the skeins weighed 1/2 pound, but then had problems with reliable color repetition. Out came the scales and the discover that there are big differences in the weight of each skein. But it’s still better than winding my own skeins.

In the category of living dangerously, I also bought some silk to play around with. Kidding about the living dangerously part, just in case my smile isn’t visible.

Yarns rewound and waiting for a basket

Locker baskets waiting for yarn

I’ve seen pictures of James Koehler’s studio before and am always enthralled by the shelves of yarns. A recent post (with pictures) by Rebecca Mezoff reminded me again of how gorgeous those yarns are. I was thinking about those as I rewound partially used balls of yarn. How did he decide the grouping of the colors? With some of my yarns, I can’t decide to which group they belong. Red? Orange? Should I look at the dye formulas and use the color that has the highest percentage?

My studio: The purple chair is used at the ikat measuring table. An Elfa shelf is planned for above the windows for holding finished pieces.

My friend has recently started renting studio space and her production has increased tremendously. I think about that and wonder if the same would be true for me. Then I run up against the dyeing part. As things stand now, I can start my dyepots, set the timer, and go back inside to weave, checking on the yarns while they simmer. I also wonder if the presence of other artists would make me less focused and more social, thus not getting as much work done. On the other hand, being around people might be a plus. Nevertheless, I probably won’t be moving out of my studio anytime soon. Just the thought of packing up all that stuff is a huge deterrent.

I saw a link from Cynthia Morris about bookstores from Trazzler. Wow! Take a look at some of these inspiring stores. I’ve always loved bookstores and the books that are in them. Recently Rebecca Mezoff posted about a bookstore find in Portland—her find is also in the Trazzler article. Maybe I’ll have to take a trip there, although the desert is calling my name. So, while visiting Rebecca’s blog, take a look at her pictures of the Arizona desert. Wonder if that’s anywhere near Tucson? Also wondering how hot Tucson will be in July, which is about the soonest I can get there.

I cut the latest “swirl” off the loom, and now the loom sits naked. Always something weird about that. But this is going to be dye week.  Yard work week. Cleaning out the detritus week. I’m finally to a somewhat normal (whatever that is) time as relates to my executor duties. I plan to reclaim my dining room table. Already I can see that this week has too much to do.