Category Archives: Art

Mirrix Loom

Mirrix Lani

Mirrix Lani

Weaving with embroidery floss

Weaving with embroidery floss

For years I have been looking for a small, portable loom. I’ve tried many, none successfully, that is until the Mirrix Lani. I love this loom! It’s only 8 inches wide and I’m not sure how wide it weaves yet, but this is fun. I’m using embroidery floss, which works great with the 14 epi warp spring that comes with the loom. And embroidery floss comes in soooooo many colors, which can then be changed by combining other colors in the same weft. I’m using a tapestry needle to weave the small warp on the loom, since I don’t have the shedding device on this loom.

I have recently become a dealer for these looms, so let me know if you would like to buy yourself a Christmas present. Or a just-because-it’s-Thursday present. Or just because.

sherri@sherriwoodardcoffey.com

Whatever

Smoke

Smoke in situ. Weft ikat, 60 x 28 inches

I keep hoping I will have something to say and then could write. This is what happens when you don’t do anything, go anywhere, live life on the edge. I really can’t put my finger on what I’ve been doing, but it feels busy. I have a bit of warp left on the Cranbrook, so I’m weaving some small pieces. Trying (again) to weave wedge weave on one of them. Not very successfully yet, but I’m persevering. The problem is that there are so many ideas floating around in my head, I don’t know where to start. And the house/outside tasks have gotten out of hand. Then there’s the mammogram, flu shot, etc. It was nice to go to the guild meeting and see people, something I need to do more. Working on it, Boss.

Ikat experiments and more

Grocery shopping

Grocery shopping

No, this picture has nothing to do with ikat, I just like it. This is the painting on the refrigerated box for a drink that I don’t remember the name of. Judging from the picture, it must’ve been a fruit drink, right?

Left: cartoon, Right: weaving

Left: cartoon, Right: weaving

So, ikat experiments–You can see it all in the above picture. I’ve recorded the info on the  cartoon; the cartoon is 6 inches, the woven is 2.5 inches. The yarn was measured in 1/4 inch increments for this experiment, so it makes since that this ratio is more than double the ratio for 1/2 inch measuring. The other cartoon with all its angles is not turning out very well. Maybe those need to be measured in 1/8 inch increments, something that I will have to think long and hard about.

spinning and roving

spinning and roving

…and then there’s the spinning. About a pound of Romney roving rests on the floor beside the spinning wheel.

Circular-warped Mirrix

Circular-warped Mirrix

… and the newly warped Mirrix, warped in a circular way without the use of the warp bars. Another experiment.

small pieces

small pieces

… and the small pieces I wove, oh, maybe a year ago. I trimmed them and dumped them in water. Next I’ll hem and stitch them to a canvas. Another experiment….

 

 

 

The weekend and less

Yarn

Yarn wall

Gosh, I really wish there was something exciting to relate! Alas, there is not. The weekend was full of driving. There was a family event way up in the northern reaches of Texas, 30 miles from Durant, OK. Toll roads all the way–a love/hate relationship there. After our guild meeting, I hit the road, following wherever the GPS took me. Since owners of Fiber Artz are retiring, they were selling out everything. Naturally, since I would be in Bells, Texas at Willowood Ranch, I decided to drive the 30 miles farther north to see the sale stuff. And buy. And buy I did. After all, 1/2 price. Someday I will have to start spinning again because I bought roving.

Drawing

Drawing for experimenting

Ikat-tree

Drawing for experimenting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding my way to Willowood Ranch via narrow tree covered country roads was a nice drive. The ranch is wonderful, quiet, peaceful, and beautiful. Quiet except for the auto racing that began at dusk. It was relaxing to visit with family around a table with plates of barbecue. It is Texas, after all. Plus, I am hopeful that my brothers-in-law have helped me solve my ikat ratio problem. After I dye and weave the above experiments (yes, I know, they are not very attractive), we’ll see if the ratio holds true. And what’s a Texas ranch without a cow over the fireplace?

Cow

Fireplace

 

Mishmash

©Sherri Coffey-Keeping Count

Keeping Count, hand-dyed wool yarns, weft-faced ikat, 35″ x 65″, ©Sherri Coffey, Wall Gallery

It’s always interesting to see tapestry in the Wall Street Journal.

More Martha Stewart Made in America artists/craftsmen:

  • Ceramics: Ayumi Horie  Her website here. I love the whimsical characters on her pieces.
  • Ceramics: Romi Hefetz Website here. Simple, colorful, creative designs. I like seeing the everyday items that are inspiration for some of her work.
  • Jewelry: Stvdio Brooklyn Website here. Again, simple creative designs.

Practice, practice everywhere

Student doing some weaving on the Mirrix loom #weaving #tapestry #mirrixlooms

A photo posted by Sherri Woodard Coffey (@sherriwcoffey) on


So, trying something different here–embedding code from Instagram. Didn’t even know one could do that! Lately, I’ve been digging out all my itty bitty looms to experiment with. I have several and can no longer find directions. Thank goodness for the internet! Plus, I have been practicing on my Mirrix. And I need to practice, practice, practice! I’m just not as good on it as I am on the big loom. That is going to change, but it’s really hard to keep on practicing when I don’t like the way it looks.

©Sherri Coffey-Prairie Rain

Prairie Rain

Speaking of Mirrix, they are in the finalists for the Martha Stewart Made in America awards. There are lots of finalists to view and vote for. Evidently, you get six votes, so scroll through them and vote. Among the finalists are several weavers and other fiber folks. One of them is

One of the things on my list for this week is some ikat experimentation. I need a mathematician! It seems that I should be able to work out a ratio between the cartoon and the ikat that I tie with the actual woven piece. So far that is escaping me. And, since I’ve got some big projects in mind, I would like to get this down. On the piece that I just got through weaving (similar to the above Prairie Rain), I doubled the size of the cartoon, thinking that since I was tying in 1/2 inch segments, that would be appropriate. Wrong! I ended up with lots of tied and dyed yarn left over. The cartoon ended up about 108 inches. Since I was measuring my weaving, I stopped at 60 inches, after using approximately 66-70 inches of the cartoon amount. The experimentation will involve measuring the yarn in 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch segments and seeing how much is woven with each group. I am really hoping to get good information from this. Not all motifs have a place to just stop like the most recent piece. Some have to continue to finish the image. Plus, I also don’t want the motif to be squished. More practice. Sigh…

Nothing much

Walkway into BRIT. I love shadows!

Walkway into BRIT. I love shadows!

It seems that there’s not much getting done around here, but when I look back, I realize that’s not true. September 12 was Fall Gallery Night, so there was work to be done there. Fort Worth Weavers Guild had their biennial show at CAC, so that had to be hung. The Fort Worth Art Collective had a pop-up at BRIT, so work had to be delivered and then picked up at the end of gallery night. Plus, there’s weaving to be done, and somehow, real life gets in there too.

American Beautyberry-Callicarpa americana

American Beautyberry-Callicarpa americana

The grounds at BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) are covered in native plants. Above is American Beautyberry. It’s so pretty this time of year. So, as I walked in, not only were the shadows from the walkway beautiful, but so were the plants. The grasses are in full seed-head mode. Too bad it’s hard to get good pictures of them with a phone. But the shadows–look at the ones on the pillars of the entrance, which I didn’t even notice until I saw the picture I had taken. The ones on the walkway were sufficient for my eyes. BRIT is located near the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, so as I was leaving, I had to take a picture of the plants at their entrance. I have no idea what they are, but I suspect some kind of lily. Is this the year I finally join one of the many garden clubs that meet there? Plus, I’ve been mulling over how to hang a couple of pieces that are horizontal. My first plan didn’t work. More on that later too.

Fort Worth Botanic Gardens

Fort Worth Botanic Gardens

48 inches woven

48 inches woven

So here’s where I start for the day. I’ve been trying to get 10 inches woven per day. Sounds like a puny goal, doesn’t it? Even though this ikat weaves much faster than tapestry, it’s not like just throwing a shuttle back and forth. Each of the design motifs has to match up before beating. With ikat, a new motif pops up, and it has to begin in a place that will maintain selvedges. Sometimes, sections have to be rewoven just to maintain those selvedges. At first, as I was weaving, I kept notes on the measurements and compared them with the cartoon measurements, hoping to find some sort of formula to use in planning future projects. Maybe a mathematician could do it, but so far I can’t. My next project, to finish off this warp, will be purely experimental ikat. More about that later. And speaking of warp, I’ve got some ideas about warping going around in my head. I need to take some pictures and get opinions from you. Will it work or not? That’s for later too. Right now, I need to finish what’s on the loom.

What’s going on in your world. Weaving? Personal projects?

 

 

 

A studio notebook

Smoke-the weaving has begun

 

Ikat Notes Studio

Ikat Notes Studio

Notes on measuring ikat

Notes on measuring ikat

Something new for me, a studio notebook. While measuring ikat on the board, I weighed each ball of yarn before and after. Then I wrote down the section number and how much yarn was used, hoping I would have a pretty accurate way of knowing how much dye to use. On the right is the weight of each section. I then plug this information into my spreadsheet to get all the dye formulas I need. The left side has notes made while doing the measuring part. You can even see my note from a phone call about a new crown! Exciting stuff, this! This method is working well for the dyeing, so far. At least I think so.

Smoke in progress

Smoke in progress. By the way, the top picture is more color accurate. The color is charcoal, not black.

I am now weaving, the fastest part of this process. I normally take some notes when I start, but usually on a notecard.

notecard

notecard

I record the date started, how I began (as in twining, knots, etc), so that I can end in the same way. Sometimes tapestry takes so long, I forget what I did in the beginning. Even though it’s not visible in the picture (the pen I used is almost out of ink), I also recorded the width in the reed, the width of the woven cloth with and without the temple. I’m really trying to get a handle on the ikat part, so as soon as one of the design motifs is done, I am going to record the size of the woven one to compare to the cartoon one. So, while I am writing all of this on my notecard, (duh!) it occurred to me that I should be using the same notebook with the measuring notes.

Any hints you could share about your record keeping? Do you keep a record of weaving notes? Or other project notes? What’s your method?

Sequence of events

Ikat tied and laid out in order

Ikat tied and laid out in order

The last batch of yarn is ready to be rinsed and untied. It takes me about an hour and a half to untie a section. I use my seam ripper to slit the tape under the knot, then unwrap the ikat tape. This needs to get finished or I need to find a neater way of doing things. The towel is there because I usually do this while the yarn is still damp, hoping to not have so much compression of the yarn. Not sure it works.

Ikat leavings

Ikat leavings

 

Dyeing

Yarns in dyepot

Untied

Untied

Balled up and ready to go

Balled up and ready to go. And, no, these yarns are not different colors.

Today’s task–start weaving, adjust the warp width multiple times until I find the “perfect” width, then weave another header and start weaving. And then there’s the bit about a visit to the dentist and a chipped tooth.