Needle Felting

This is a close up of the needle felting. First time I’ve done this. When I get the piece finished, I’ll post a photo of the whole thing–probably weeks from now since pics won’t be made until I have several pieces ready.
Maybe I’ll try some wet felting on something as an experiment. I know that felt rugs are made in other cultures. Hmmm….

Not Much

Today was a gloomy, icy, cold, rainy day. I had a fire and worked on my list for the day. Really kind of a dull day, both inside and out. I normally enjoy these cold days and weaving with the fire going. However, today I was not working in the studio, but on the dining room table. I found it difficult to settle down and did a lot of stuff on the computer–necessary stuff, but still …

Choosing Work

Stage West, a local theater in Fort Worth, asks artists to to hang work in their lobby. Three to four of my pieces will be hanging beginning January 29. What to choose? Which ones do I hang? I really don’t think that my work actually GOES with the theme of the play during this time, but what do I know? There is mention of something supernatural in this play. Would Peruvian Mask be suitable? All My Exes…? Decisions, decisions.

Goals for Today

Today’s work went pretty well. I did the needle felting on a piece that I finished months ago and started weaving the warp back into the body of the piece. I like the needle felting. It kind of blurs the edges and gives a softer effect. I don’t have a photo of the whole piece, maybe something to think about setting up here at home. As it is now, I wait until I have several pieces finished and then take them to a photographer. Takes a whole afternoon, but the pictures are worth it. If I did it myself, I’d probably need a better camera and lights with diffusers. Not sure I want to go there. It was cold and icy today, so I didn’t attempt to go out and dye. But I did get all the skeins weighed and labeled. Also got all the formulas in my dye sheet, so it’ll be a go as soon as the weather improves. I did not get any yoga in, though. Maybe tomorrow…

Goals for the Week

 

I’ve read and heard several articles/commentaries on art just in the last few days. This morning when I awoke waaay too early, I clicked on the radio to check if that icy weather had really come in. NPR was broadcasting a piece about mural painting during the depression. Well, I couldn’t go back to sleep then! The picture above is a study for one of the heads in one of the murals. From what I’ve read, there are more than 50 murals in the Justice Department building.
Yesterday I read an article in the NY Times about how hard times and a depression improves design. Also yesterday, I heard a program on our local public radio station, KERA, about how art instruction improves critical thinking and test scores. The art instruction was not the craft kinds of things that we always did in elementary school, but involved looking at works of art and thinking about open-ended questions. Here’s the link to the program. Interesting how certain topics seem to come in groups or clumps. Which in a roundabout way, brings me to the topic of design. I have both a design book and a color book that I have been thinking that I need to work my way through. Maybe spend an hour a day working on those.

This Week ….

However, the goal for this week is to get the next major dyeing project going. First the yarns have to be weighed and labeled. Each of the colors for this piece involve using three dyes, whereas I mostly just use two colors for my colors. That in itself makes this dye project a little more complicated. I developed a spreadsheet long ago to help calculate all ingredients for a dye job based on the weight of the yarn, but I do have to input the weights and names of the colors to be used.

Second goal for the week

The piece on the right was cut off the loom on Saturday. It’s the purple weft-faced ikat that I mentioned earlier.

I have six pieces that need finish work done on them. Count ’em, SIX. See all those out-of-control warp ends in the picture to the right? That means needle weaving the ends in, steaming, pressing, and photographing. This is my least favorite part. I’m doing to do some needle felting on one of those six and think I’ll start on that today. If it goes well, that will be fun. The good news is that I have six pieces to add to my inventory, something I’ve been working very hard to accomplish. No need to go to a show without inventory. And it’s funny–everyone I tell about doing Main Street Arts Festival asks me the same thing, “Do you have enough pieces?” This is a very slow process. It’ll probably take me two weeks to get the dyeing completed. Even though I use really big pots, I can only have two going at once. That translates to two colors per day.
Personal Goals

I really want to get started with some yoga again. And then there’s all the stuff around the house. Call the roofer, work on the clutter, stay caught up on regular household stuff, and cook good, healthy meals. I have the continual goal of planning menus and then actually following through with them.

It’s good to have goals!

Words

I’ve been toying with words, like so many others, and am having a hard time deciding. Last night the word reveal came to me, along with embellish. I’m still rolling them around on my tongue and in my head, since other words have also sounded right. To me reveal is probably like clarity, but more. I’m hoping that I will be able to reveal to myself what my next steps should be and why I still have so much trouble with certain things. I’m pretty happy with the path that I’m on, but still think that it can be embellished. Not sure that word feels right. I tried abundance, but … I even wanted to try wealth, but that seemed so crass. On the other hand, do I care if other people think that? Maybe accomplish would be better. Will have to think more, try out more words, maybe have a drawing!

Finally!

I tried the drawing, but just couldn’t get into it. I’ve gone back to release and have added courage. To me, release means a freeing from fear, from experimentation, old anger and resentment, and maybe even hidden agendas. Then you have to have courage to face all of that, to act on the knowledge, and to try new things.

Happy New Year!

New and Old Years
I know there’s all kinds of gloom and doom around us, but I feel really positive about the upcoming new year. Not sure where this comes from, but I’m grateful for it. I have looked back on the previous year and have a nice list of accomplishments. Lots more weaving is getting done, but that needs to increase if I’m going to build up that inventory to where I want it. I still have a stack of pieces that need to have the finish work done–the part I hate! But I have a couple of friends who have volunteered to help in order to have the opportunity to learn. There are also some ideas that are kind of “out there” that I want to try out. All in good time. I DO have a couple of pieces that I don’t like on which I may do some surface design–one with dyes and one with felting.
Word(s) for the Year
I’m not quite ready to actually declare my words for the year. I think I need to make myself sit quietly and say the words to myself and see what happens. From experience, I know that my spirit is able to speak to me when I allow it. Therein lies the problem….

In Conclusion
Even though the economy has me a little spooked, I am excited about the two shows I have coming up this year. I have been doing some things for the business side that are proactive, which is pretty foreign to me. But this is what I want to do with my life, so I’m going for it!
Now, if I could just get this next section of weft-faced ikat to weave up like it’s supposed to!

Websites and Weaving

Purple yarns tied and ready to overdye.
The bottom of the weft-faced ikat part on the loom

Website Portion of the Day
Today I worked on websites–my guild’s and my own. Thankfully, I had some help because this website stuff is a whole ‘nother language. Turns out that I had no index page on the ftp. But it’s done now, revised, and online!

Weaving Portion of the Day

Then I got to weave. Started the weft-faced ikat part today. That always goes a little slowly at first, just to get the design to line up correctly. I had to take out the first few rows then rewind the weft from the opposite end. That did the trick, and it’s working now. I only got about six inches done today, but tomorrow I’ll be able to start right in first thing in the morning.

Setting Intentions for the Year

I’ve been thinking a lot about choosing a word for the upcoming year as a way of setting an intention for the year. This is to take the place of New Year’s resolutions, which I gave up years ago. But I like this idea of having a single word to set the tone for the year and kind of use as a mantra. The whole idea came from Christine Kane, so check out her blog. The problem, though, is choosing THE one word. I think I’ve narrowed down my choices to two–release and clarity. If I can’t make the final choice between the two, I’ll go with both.

Tomorrow is the day I get to weave again. Yeah! I also have a to-do list a mile long. Since I have a tendency to try to put too many things to do in a single day on my list, I am making a master list and choosing 3-4 items from the list for the next day. But first thing tomorrow I will build a fire in the stove and weave. After a few hours of weaving I can get out the list and start checking them off.

One thing I have done in the last week is to make an inventory of my accomplishments for the past year, and I feel pretty good about that. For a list of questions to jog your memory, check out Alyson B. Stanfield’s newsletter. I’ve accomplished more than I realized in the way of making art and taking care of the business of art. So, I am acknowledging myself and celebrating, a la Alyson.

New Weavers

I was amazed at how well the boys did with the weaving. The Wolf Pup is a direct tie-up loom, so they had to use two treadles at once for plain weave. Above is Zane, who is five. He talked to himself as he wove. “One and three, push the yarn, bubble, BEAT.” Look at the delight on that face! He’s loving the weaving, especially the beating part.

Here we have a wayward yarn. I love Beck’s concentration.

It takes a village–gotta get that beating done! And where are those treadles?

They’ve left for home now. I’ll find bits and pieces of toys for several days in all the nooks and crannies. I am very grateful to have so much time with them this year. Love hearing those sweet voices saying “Grandma.” I’ll miss them, but …

Now I get to return to my own weaving. Plus, I have to dye yarns for a commission piece. I’m really looking forward to this project, as it will have colors that I don’t use very often. I just hope that we don’t get icy/freezing weather while I’m trying to get dyeing done.

Great Time

It’s amazing how much little boys can mature in six months. Astoundingly, they have showered and gone to bed when told. The older of the two likes to read to his little brother before the lights are turned out. They have been sleeping in their sleeping bags in one big chair–their choice. We’ve done lots of activities while they’ve been here, but what they like most is weaving. Yeah! I am astounded that the 5 year-old understands that each row in paper weaving has to be opposite of the one before it. The older of the two has been weaving on my Baby Wolf, just his size. I let both of them weave on the big Cranbrook–with a little help from Grandma.

Today we drove to visit their great-grandparents. I have a big family, so there’s LOTS of people there. It can definitely be a little overwhelming and very noisy. All the children did a really great job, playing with their much older cousins, their baby 2-year-old cousin, and carefully holding and touching their one-week old cousin. I’m really going to miss them when they leave Saturday, but I’m hoping that I can entice their parents to take a short vacation this summer with my offer of babysitting services.

Exciting Weekend!

This is a really exciting time for me. My daughter and family are driving from Charlotte to visit, about a 1000 mile trip. They will be visiting for about a week, so I’ve planned many things for the little boys and me to do together–probably way more than we’ll have time for. I never decorate the tree any more, just wait for them to do it. The ornaments get a little higher each year as they grow taller and taller. This year we’ll have time before Christmas to make some ornaments with cookie cutters and the salt/flour dough that you bake in the oven. Then we’ll paint them. I hope that works out. Kind of scary to think of using paints with 5 and 7 year old boys. One year we used glitter and construction paper. I had glitter around the house for a year.

I also got a Klutz book called Artrageous. If you’re not familiar with Klutz books, they’re great. Each one focuses on an activity with very clear directions and includes all the materials needed for the activities. Last summer we used the potholder one to weave. The boys really enjoyed it.

I hope we will also have time to watch the birds. I’m getting my feeders out for the first time in ages. The finches really look pretty in the winter. I used to keep the feeders filled religiously, but that kind of fell away when I got the current loom. I can no longer see out and watch the birds as well as I could with the previous loom. Yesterday I saw a platform feeder that suctions onto the glass of a window. I may have to get one to try out. It looks kind of like this one, except that it has metal thingies below that help support it.