Blog - Page 9 of 100 - Sherri Woodard Coffey

From the sublime to the ridiculous

Flowers and more flowers

I don’t get out much, so I’m easily impressed. Not really, but I had time to kill before my haircut appointment, so I wandered around in Joann’s yesterday. My intention was to see if I could find a barrette to attach some beaded embroidery to and to see, if by some strange chance, if they had some silk to dye. Lucky me–I found both! But on the way to the silk, I saw these fabrics and could not resist pictures.

Two types of “flowers” in the same fabric

Reminiscent of flowers

Flowers

I guess these must be for weddings, but who knows. So, we go from the sublime to right across the aisle and the ridiculous. For some reason this struck me as an interesting juxtaposition.

Cow

The reason

I did find some silk dupioni. There was some confusion though because the bolt had one price and the sign for the section said 30% off. When I asked the cutter to check the price, she brought up a price that was $5.00 higher than the one on the bolt. She gave me the bolt price, though, and cut me two yards. I took a picture of the bolt end because I began to wonder if anything on the bolt is truth. But the good news is that with a coupon, I got the two yards for the price of one!

Dupioni bolt

Wallowing and warping

As to the wallowing I’ve been doing–it has stopped. It’s time to end this and get going. The studio is cleaned of its bits of ikat tape and yarn. The warp is out and waiting for me to start measuring. Now if I could find my newspaper in an accessible place each morning, life would be good. Oh, and if the coffee pot was still alive. Guess I’ll just have to adjust!

NOT sleep and spice dinner

Right now, tired is my middle name. Actually, that’s not quite accurate–it’s no-energy. My energy has lagged for weeks not, not the usual day here and there. My low thyroid is fixed and is now back to normal. In order to cover all the bases, my doctor also ordered a urinalysis and a sleep study, just in case.

Oxymoron?

This is what was NOT happening

Let me tell you, “sleep study” is a misnomer. Sleeping does not happen during that long night. I slept for three hours maybe but won’t know for sure until the report is submitted. The technicians placed sensors all over my body, in my nose, in my mouth and in my hair. The ones in my hair were different than the rest, but didn’t realize until the next day that the technician used wax to adjoin them to my scalp. Huge globs of wax! The technician told me to use the hottest water I could stand to get them out.

After the study ended at 5 AM (yes, 5 AM!), and I drove home, had coffee, and read the newspaper. Then I washed my hair. Afterwards, realized another glob remained. Back to the water faucet. I ended up washing my hair three times. All that remained was going to the grocery store (spice dinner on Sunday), and trying to stay awake.

Finally, at 9:00 PM, I decided that it was safe to go to bed. Sleep, glorious sleep! It was wonderful!

Green beans and shitake broccoli noodles

Spice dinner

Our latest spice dinner was Sichuan–really good. Even though my sisters, mother, brothers-in-law, and I always enjoy the company, we don’t always enjoy the food from these dinners. For this dinner, we had green beans (because green beans just say Chinese, right?), pork tenderloin, and shitake broccoli noodles. Isn’t it funny that Chinese food seems “normal” to most of us?

A bit of a confession

A small confession:

This is a confession. Not a big one, although I do feel a bit guilty–sometimes.

Part one:

I seldom go to check my mail in my post office box. When I do go, I quickly sort through whatever is there, trash part before I leave the building and put the rest on the car seat beside me.

Part Two:

The second part of this confession is that I seldom clean off that seat, unless forced into it by circumstances. The second part of the confession is really what nags at me a bit. Just a bit.

UCC Paraments

Yesterday I was taking the car in for inspection and a good vacuuming and wash, so I cleaned off the seat, putting everything in a plastic bag to trash. I was surprised to see what looked like a handwritten envelope, but we get all kinds of advertisements that look like that nowadays. They are really computer generated, so I looked more closely at this one. Turns out it was real, and I found the most delightful surprise inside! A card with my picture and one of the paraments on the front and inside were many signature and a thank you.

And finally, the moral:

The moral of the story is, of course, twofold: check my mail more often and clean out the car more often. Not that I’ll pay attention to the moral.

The best part:

My car is inspected and found fit for the road. It is washed and shiny clean. The license tags are just waiting for me to show proof of insurance, the inspection proof, and money. The money part seems to grow in size each year (this is not part of the best, just a fact of life).

Geometry, knots, and jail

Geometry

Sacred geometry?

A few rabbit holes have led me astray this week. A Facebook post by Jan Austin made me check out knotted tapestry, specifically by Anne Jackson. Then I had to look up knots, because I know nothing about knots, except the kind you use to tie the hook and/or lure to a fishing line. So half-hitch and two half-hitches will need to be practiced–someday. I can barely keep up with soumak, much less all the kinds of soumak, and so far, I can’t tell the difference between that and the half-hitches. That’s where the practice comes in, as diagrams just don’t do it for me.

more geometry

And then there’s the sacred geometry and fractals in photographic form. Take a look at the photos. They’re much better than mine!

Finally, we come to islands of color, which is a feast for the eyes. Last, but not least, I received a Google Alert email about this posting. Even the name is spelled correctly, but the middle initial is wrong. I better not travel to Oklahoma!

A continuation

New-to-me ikat book

A continuation of the previous week around here–doing a lot of reading, thinking, and not much else. However, I did get a new ikat book, which I like very much, so far. There are a lot of Japanese words, only a few of which I have ever heard of before, but the instructions are very clear.

Ikat knot diagram

There are many diagrams, including how-to and traditional designs. They show clear steps and are easily understood. One thing in particular I could have used before: the one below is a diagram about enlarging a circle for ikat.

Enlarging circle diagram

One thing I have noticed with all ikat books, when talking about weft ikat, they match up the pattern by letting any excess of weft hang off the selvage. Of course, that will not work for weft-faced tapestries. Those selvages have to be near perfect, the warp must be adjusted before weaving. Another method included in this book is to tie a section, but to to adjust the weft so that the section becomes a diamond or some other shape. That means that there are huge amounts of weft hanging off the right and left sides of the selvages. That’s just not going to work for weft-faced work. If you were going to sew the fabric, say a light weight cotton, would you want those weft sections hanging off the sides? Maybe I just don’t understand yet and need to read some more. Always possible.

There is also dyeing information, which I don’t think I need, but maybe at some point I’ll want to read about traditional and synthetic indigo dyeing.

I do like this book, though, better than others that I have. Definitely worth a thorough read.

What is there to say?

Carder

After a stomach virus last week, I’m slow to get back to doing anything. Actually, if I’m honest, it’s been that way for a while. No energy. Ideas floating around in my head, but no will to do anything. Frustrating! Instead I’m reading lots of books that are easy-to-read mysteries. In the daytime! I haven’t done that in decades! It’s fun, what can I say?

So, why is there a picture of a carder at the top? Good question. I am now the proud owner of this carder. Why? I’m not sure, but I’ve wanted to do some spinning and dyeing, so this may be the start.

I did find my other ikat book that I mentioned last week. These ikat books are low on color and high on black and white photos. However, this last book gave me a good idea for designing. I’ll say more about that after experimenting. One of those ideas that’s not being implemented–yet.

Now I’m heading to the studio. Yes, I am. Before anything else comes to mind. There’s a clean up to do out there, a loom to warp, yarns to ball up. And another mystery to listen to on the iPod.

By the way, my current state is what we always called the doo wah didlies. Here’s an old song for you, but they have a different meaning of that term.

It’s all about the tape

Rolls of ikat tape

I wish I could describe what ikat tape is…Maiwa says it’s poly, but I’m not clear on what that is. All I know is that I can only find one source for it, it’s expensive, and because that source is Canadian, there are other expenses added to the cost. That’s a lesson I learned the hard way. I ordered one roll, but by the time all the other stuff was added to it, that roll was damned expensive. And by the way, the postman knocked on my door to have me sign papers, since the package “came for across the sea.” Now, if I order, I order multiple rolls, as many as the current budget will allow. I’m lucky that a friend gifted me with some tape she was no longer going to use. Thank you, Wendy.

Because the tape is thin, it really does go a long way. You can also easily split the tape for smaller sections. Since a local weaver is doing a first ikat project, I decided to look into buying tape again. Still the same ol’ source and no other that I could find.

This also made me drag out my ikat books, or at least try to find them–still missing one. In the books, they show that you can use different materials for tying, including kitchen plastic wrap for long sections. I think trying those other materials will involve a lot more practice for me, although in thinking about it, maybe that doesn’t need to be so tight because you wrap string around the whole section, making really tight ties at the beginning and end of the section. What do you think? would too much dye seep in? In the picture below, I tied an itty bitty piece of a section and decided it faster for the moment to continue in my usual way. You can see it third from the bottom, right side towards the center.

Ikat section 1 do-over

Years ago, I posted a video from You Tube showing a woman tying ikat. The video is silent except for the sound of the squeaking ties. I found it fascinating, but I still wonder what kind of material she’s using.

And speaking of alternative materials, I received a Uline catalog (do they ever stop sending those things?) with some possible wrapping materials. Will have to think about that.

In my search I did find some interesting sites to explore:

Strands of Silk you can see sections tied with string and other with just tape. Also a cartoon to guide with the design.

Andrea Schewe’s worktable blog Southeast Asia pictures and description of ikat tying and weavings

Backstrap Weaving Many interesting pictures of designs tied and untied, finished weavings, and an experiment by the author. I really liked the pictures here. There’s also a video.

And then there’s the exchange rate for Canadian/United States dollars

Canadian/United States exchange rate 6/28/2016

Two weeks in June, part 2

Shirt one

Shirt one results

Last week was the week of tie dye. I had some Sabracon dyes, and that’s what we used. Maybe someone could tell me the difference between Sabracon and MX fiber reactive dyes–in practical terms, not chemical terms. The magenta looked great while wet, so the boys used a lot. Too bad it washed out to look pink. I think they were too thrilled with their results to care, but I have a thing about pink. I don’t like it. This was my first time to do tie dye, so it was all a grand experiment, including the socks they wanted to do.

Shirt two

Shirt two results

Socks one

Socks two

Two weeks in June

Going to the movies

I always seem to be behind when we go to the movies, that is, until we get to the box office. ;)) On our way to see X Men. I actually enjoyed it, but then there was Captain America. The younger of the two had not seen it, so we went. Waaay too long and really not good. The older one disagrees with me there. These are the kinds of things I’ll be doing until after the 20th. Today is a tie dye day, something I’ve never done totally by myself. We’re even doing socks!

I made sure that all the ikat sections were labeled appropriately and laid them out in order. The one at the bottom is the first section. Somehow it got really tangled up and I can no longer get its parts in order, so I’m doing that section over again.

Dyeing next

Ikat cartoon

This is the very last section of the cartoon for the current ikat piece. Yes, I cut the cartoon into pieces, probably a sacrilege, but it makes it easier for me to handle. You can barely see where I label the section in the bottom right. This happens to say #5 bottom right. Each section is numbered and labeled in this way. A lesson learned the hard way, as all good lessons are. When I taped this section down, I discovered a mistake. Can you see it?* So I untaped it, fixed the mistake, realizing at the same time that section #4 has the same mistake. I measured and wrapped this section, then put #4 back on the board and fixed it. Now I get to do the dyeing. I think I will do that tomorrow. And I really should clean/organize the studio. I always leave a mess of cut off bits of ikat tape during this process. Those bits stick to my bare feet and get tracked all over the house. I still haven’t done the finish work on the pieces pictured last week, and I’m about to run out of time. I will have two house guests for ten days, so my time will be limited. Not sure how much blogging will get done during that time.

Cartoon mistakes

*Notice the right and left angles and the space between the angled line and the sides. There’s more space on the right than on the left. This won’t be able to be fixed after the dyeing is done. The design is set with ikat.