Personal Archives - Page 4 of 10 - Sherri Woodard Coffey

Category Archives: Personal

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!

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.

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.

What’s next?

Peppers in the grocery store

I had to include the picture of the peppers because they make me smile, even though I had already posted it on Instagram. Aren’t they beautiful? I was tempted to bring some home just to look at, not being overly fond of peppers, but they were $5.00/pound. And I’d want a bunch to look good, so…

I took a workshop at the Kimbell Art Museum last week related to Japanese printing, although I’m not sure the actual printing actually had anything to do with Japan. We did go into the Asian room and look at all the beautiful screens and looked at slides of others, but they were painted, not printed. Then we had a wooden block and objects to glue onto it to make our printing block. There was a long piece of cotton taped and pinned to the table, so that once we had our blocks ready, we used a brayer to spread paint onto plexiglass. Once the brayer was filled, we rolled it onto the blocks and printed.

Printing block

I wanted a random pattern because there’s no way I could get everything to line up, which would frustrate me no end, as that perfection demon sits on my shoulder. Notice how some of the block prints off the “real” fabric. Also notice that the printing looks black, although you can see from the block above that it’s really a dark red. Oh, well. Wonder if it will change if it’s washed.

Cloth pinned on table

Below is just the fabric. I see there are a few empty spots.

Cloth printed

Maybe I should have done something like this rug in a Target ad, or the other black and white ones designed by Nate Berkus. I really wish I could include a picture here, but don’t want to violate any laws.

My neighbor took much more care, not only to make her block, but in the printing she uses too close-together colors. Nice job!

My neighbor

Next weaving?

It’s time to decide what to weave next. This is a part of a cartoon for a weaving. (Ever notice how when you take pictures of paper, it never looks white?) I made the lines right angles but can’s decide if it would be better if they were woven at a different angle. The right angle part was to just keep it simple. Thoughts? Advice?

And now for real life

Off the loom

The goal has been completed! It has been cut off the loom. (Green is not my favorite color, so I’m a bit conflicted about this.) Now comes the actual finishing, but for now it rests. Now comes the real life part of my existence. For the next two weeks, taxes must be done. That will be my major goal, obviously, but the brain just cannot do that all day, so there is other catching-up to do–mowing, weeding, planting, studio cleaning, life, etc. And yes, finishing this piece is on the agenda, but first I have to clean off the dining room table, my adjunct studio. That’s the place where the Crazy Monkey is residing for now, all my dye samples, and various other stuff relating to weaving and finishing.

In the midst of all the things that have to get done, there are some things that are good for the soul. One is to have lunch with friends, also on the agenda this week. And weaving–I’ve tied on and started a couple of interim pieces until I have time to get to the “real” work I have in mind. I also made a trip to the big box store for lots of pipe and stuff to make a loom. This is something I started years ago, but walked away. More on that next time.

And now for an image that makes me smile…this is my Kleenex box that sits on my end table. Every time I glance at it, I love it. Maybe adapt this for ikat???

Kleenex box

Hodgepodge

A yard in town

We had a huge hail storm here last week. The ice falling on my roof woke me around 4:30 AM. Actually, I’m not sure if it was the storm or the fact that the ceiling fan was not whirling that work me. The electricity was out. Then the hail came. I went back to sleep. Because of the storm clouds and no electricity when I got up, the house was dark. I read the newspaper (without my morning coffee) by flashlight. Then I decided to go to town, as I could do nothing around home. The streets in town were covered with leaves and other small tree stuff. Very surprisingly, the yards looked like they were covered with snow. After buying coffee and reading a bit (the bad thing about e-readers is the battery that might not be charged). I needed to go to the grocery store, even though the power was still off, so that I could prepare the gravlax for our monthly spice dinner. I left everything in an insulated bag with lots of ice and waited. Finally, around 3:00 PM the power came back on.

Listening to books while weaving does not completely stop the mind from wandering. Ideas for other weavings, stuff that needs to be done (aka the to-do list), stuff I want to do (aka run away and/or get outside and plant), the news, family, etc. I am well into the second piece, averaging 4-6 inches per day. Not bad. I weighed my remaining yarns and have determined that I will need to dye more H and G. There will be more about that in my newsletter this month. And also about gravlax. Sign up here.

Screen shot

Total change of subject–a new favorite artist: Jill Powers. The piece on screenshot above is beautiful and it really is quite large–52 x 47. I would love to take her workshop in April, but there are no hotel rooms available. Silly I know, to consider going to Boulder for a one day workshop, but see above about running away.

The hailstorm destroyed my lonely bluebonnet plant and its lonely flower bud, so I’ll have to make do with what I find along the highways. We do love our bluebonnets and other wildflowers here in Texas. Blame it on Lady Bird.

Short trips for wildflowers (with pictures): http://www.star-telegram.com/living/home-garden/article66911077.html

The wonderful wildflower farm in the hill country: http://www.wildseedfarms.com/bloom_update.php

Random thoughts

Wildflowers (detail)

I have a full week of dyeing ahead of me. My spreadsheet is ready, skeins are labeled, dyes are on hand…time to get started. The mornings are a bit cold for it, but oh well, the colors need to be dyed.

Greens spreadsheet

I have finally decided it’s time to make that appointment to visit the doctor. I am just not feeling very energetic, and that bugs me. Now which came first, not energy or no healthy diet, but that has to be addressed too. So, healthy menus have been planned with the hope of freezing extras. I’ll let you know how that goes. I plan, but then don’t want to cook or eat what I’ve planned. I think rigorous discipline is needed. Wonder how long it will take to develop and if I have enough time left to actually do that? Anybody have any hints?

a picture of the reed

A couple of weeks ago, the program at Fort Worth Weavers Guild was on the ondule reed. I only knew vaguely what it was, so this was an interesting program. One of our members, Margaret A, has begun what seems to me as an in depth study of fan reeds, experimenting with different reed configurations, setts, weave structures, the depth that the reed is held as it beats, etc. She has compiled a very nice notebook with samples of all her efforts, some more successful than others, as would happen naturally with experiments. I always admire the many different and talented weavers out there and the kinds of weaving they do, even though I don’t want to do it. A couple of sites that may be interesting are: http://byrios.blogspot.com/2010/04/weaving-with-fan-reed.html and http://peggyosterkamp.com/2011/01/fan-reeds-fascinate-me/. A more informative site is here===>http://www.woolgatherers.com/FanReed.htm.

An example of the weaving from the above reed

I was looking at some handmade weavers tools by Alexandra Iosub on Etsy and saw some nostepinne. Now I’ve seen the word before and knew it had something to do with preparing yarn, but not what exactly. So naturally, I looked it up. The low tech way of winding a center pull yarn ball. Hmmm And just in case you wondered, here’s how to pronounce it. Isn’t the internet a wondrous thing?

The mess before the organize

Cartoons all piled up

This was on my task list for the week. I’ve been struggling to keep all my cartoons organized in some way, to no avail. They’ve been rolled. They’ve been cut up and rolled. Enough already! It was driving me nuts! So I dug them all out and started folding, clipping and writing what each one is. Then I placed them in a large multipurpose bin from the Container Store.

Multipurpose bin from Container Store

And here’s the result. Tah dah!

Partly organized

Containers for freezer and cabinets

Do you ever start a project and find that it becomes gigantic and all-consuming. Another of my plans for the week included de-cluttering a room in the house a bit at a time. And I thought I knew where I would start, go next, etc. No where on the list in my head was the kitchen, but that’s where I started. First with the freezer. I did a Google search for organizing freezer drawers, the off to the Container Store I went. My freezer has a drawer and a sliding shelf. There’s an ice maker, but don’t use it, so that drawer came out. On the shelf I placed clear plastic bins to separate frozen vegetables and fruits. A couple of smaller ones are used for already cooked things in bags, like beans and lentils. (It’s pretty much impossible to cook for one after cooking for several. I think I’ll write a cookbook.) In the drawer I put two tall shoe boxes (without lids) from the Container Store, which leaves room at the back and sides for other things, like the huge ice pack thingy and frozen cheeses. (By the way, those plastic bins like the shoe boxes come in all sorts of sizes and are handy for many things.) But did I stop there? Of course not! I moved on to the upper cabinets where I keep envelopes of seasoning things, yeast, and teas. Part of the reason to even go there was the teas. I could never find what I wanted. More Container Store shopping for some handled storage baskets and a narrow pantry bin.

After all of this, I’m still in a mess. You know, the part where you empty all the cabinets and create more mess than you had before. But it’s getting done, bit by bit.

Doing any organizing? Good fridge or freezer suggestions?

A belated happy new year-it’s been a really long time

Proseco, pineapple juice, splash of Campari

After having a houseful of people for ten days, it’s taken me a while to get back to normal, whatever that is. Plus, before that I was sorting and cleaning. And I don’t whatever came over me, but I bought a jigsaw puzzle. Working these things is not one of my better skill-sets, so I think I’m going to pack it up and put it in the closet. Enough already!

Movie poster puzzle

Teeny lantern

Besides making the “art” books from the last post, we all made itty bitty lanterns, using handmade paper and battery-operated tea lights. I didn’t even know there was such a thing! Each lantern is different and pretty. I got the directions from Helen Hiebert and her 25 Days of Paper 2015. Her whole website is worth a look, beautiful papers from all kinds of places.

Yarn samples from Pro Chemical

Now, I’m beginning to worry a bit about getting back into the studio. Maybe it’s because it’s time to warp that darn loom again. No matter, it’s got to happen soon. I have a commission to do, which requires a warped loom and some dyed yarns. The commission project is going to be lots of different shades of green, so I’ve been going through all my dyed samples and skeins on hand, trying to figure out what combination might work best. That’s when I decided to buy yarn samples that show all the possible colors available in both PRO Washfast and Sabraset dyes, while also buying a couple of green dyes to try out. And I actually labeled them the kind of dyes shown and the year. Maybe they’ll still make sense to me a couple of years from now.

Next up–the frustrating saga of trying to get a cartoon enlarged.

What’s on the loom? What are you stitching? What are you doing?