Personal Archives - Page 9 of 10 - Sherri Woodard Coffey

Category Archives: Personal

Who do you admire?

Who are the people you admire? What’s the first name that pops up?

I haven’t thought about this in a long time, but today I was listening to a recording about creative blocks. One suggestion, before getting to the actual blocks, was to be clear on what your idea of success is for you. Who are the people you admire? Used to be, that when I was asked that question, my immediate response was Margaret Mead. I’m not even sure how I knew of Mead, except that I have a vague adolescent remembrance of reading something about her or by her in a magazine. Later, I could even tell you what I admired about her, even though I didn’t actually know if it was true. I admired her independence, or what I perceived as her independence.

Back to the recording–I have now added Georgia O’Keeffe to my very short list, and again, I think it is because of her independence. And again, I’m really not sure how independent she really was. To me, living in New Mexico the way she did, away from everything, persuing her art, seems independent, even though we know she had relationships and people visiting her in the desert.

Fact of the matter is that I really know practically nothing about either of these women. Maybe it’s time to change that–read a biography, watch a movie. I’ve put on my wishlist a DVD from Amazon about Georgia.

Who do you admire? I don’t know what it means that the first names that pop into my head are dead, but so it is.

Links:

A series of unfortunate events

The colors of the piece that needs its finish work finished. 😉

Friday did not go as planned. Nor did Saturday. The plan had been to finish the finish work, take a picture, and plan for September. Instead, events went differently than planned, starting on Friday, and ending (I hope) Saturday afternoon.

My car is a 2006 Prius, which I love. There have been absolutely no problems (knock on wood!), even though it’s got somewhere around 130,000 miles. It’s been to NM several times, and lots of other places. And now for the saga….

Friday, after leaving a yoga class, the car showed an unusual display, but I thought that I had not done my usual whatever-it-is-that-I-do before starting the car. Move forward to afternoon…I take my mother to the doctor, we go back to her house, I work on her computer issues for a while, go outside to leave, and I can’t get into the car. I thought it was just my key fob needing a battery, so I called the Toyota folks, they directed me to remove the emergency key and unlock the door with it. When I started the car, I got that same strange message from the morning, so I called the service department again. They told me that the message sometimes comes on when the battery goes out and that I should get a jump charge. Jump start? That is the first time I had heard of a second battery! A starting battery! After the jump, I was able to drive home. I backed the car into my carport, you know, just in case. Yep, next morning it was even deader than the day before. My driveway is almost invisible from the street, a kind of country narrow gravel kind of thing, with trees on both sides. Two service tow trunks later, my car was jumped and on the truck to get its new battery. An expensive weekend, but if you amortize the expense over the 7 years of life the battery gave me, not very expensive at all.

Sunday was then devoted to the finishing, steaming, photographing, planning for the next week, and NOT going to the movie at the Modern Art Museum. Oh, and laundry, the usual housework, etc. I am already behind for September, but hey, I am taking yoga again!

The dyeing blues

Color-aid box

Not the color blue…colors that I want to dye. I’ve got a project on the loom, using the colors I have, although they aren’t totally what I want. So, in an effort to try and match the colors, I took the RGB colors and went on a web search for find color chips. Well, if I’m not going to buy a Pantone set for bunches of money, it’s back to the drawing board. A couple of the skeins that I dyed were tied with an orange yarn. I love the color that resulted from the over dye of turquoise and blue. Maybe that’s where I should start. But as I have been writing this, I remembered the Color Aid papers. Gonna give that a shot. Then some of those skeins of orange and yellow are going to get over dyed. Oh, and just as an aside, it’s really hot here. My dye room is like a sauna–really.

Color-aid paper practice

Later–I got out my itty bitty set of Color-aid papers and searched for the right colors. I was able to find some that are pretty close. Let me clarify why I wanted to do this. I took my very simple design and added color to it on the computer. The printout did not print the colors as accurately as I wanted, and it is hard to take the computer picture and match it to my yarn samples. That’s why I wanted “chips” to carry around with me. I was able to do that with these colored papers. Here are the matches I came up with, although the photo of these colors is not spot on. Those blues look more purple-y than in the picture. There are 314 color chips in this small set–that makes for a lot of sorting through for just the right color. And these sets are not cheap. This small box of 2 x 3 chips is $34.50.

Goals for the week:

studio hours-20
clear brush by driveway
dye more yarn
steam press one more piece

Washout!

Ready to steam/press.

This week is going to be a great week! It’s so nice to feel good! Do you ever feel grateful for feeling good after a spell of not feeling good? That’s where I am right now.

Last week was pretty much a washout. After a night with coughing spasms, an appointment with the doctor seemed in order. Now have allergy stuff AND a cough, along with no voice–isn’t it amazing how exhausting having no voice can be? All of this goes along with the fact that the to-do list went no where last week. I did get invitations for a party designed and mailed, though. A couple of things that I had planned to go to were laid aside because I was afraid I’d cough too much.

So, main goals for this week:

Steam and press two pieces
Dye yarns
Clean studio–Does anyone else make a huge mess in the studio? I seem to like to have all the colors I’m considering out on the floor so that I can see them together. Now it’s time to put them back, roll up and label the cartoons used, and just general cleaning. Amazing how much lint and dust is generated during the weaving process!

I can’t believe I’m actually posting this! How embarrassing!

What’s your process in the studio? Do you make a mess? Are you one of the neat people? It’s funny, the whole time I have been feeling bad, I’ve wanted the comfort of going out and weaving–not chicken soup–weaving!

Well, darn!

Wari magnet

As today is the 22nd, I am already behind, knocked out by a summer cold or allergies, can’t tell for sure. Better now, but it sure affected my bottom line, task-wise. Mainly only a yucky cough left.

First, last week’s to-do list, and it’s not too bad overall.

July 12-18-I knew this list was too ambitious

–Finish piece on loom – Done
–Clean studio
–Do finish work on two pieces (not my favorite thing to do)–Started
—Clean off table, sort and put away stuff currently on table—required for the above
–Begin dyeing yarns for next piece
· Plan colors
· Weigh yarns
· Print spreadsheet with formulas for each batch
–Set alarm—didn’t need to, just started waking up earlier
–3 hours yard work—only 1 hour
Extras:
–Design—worked a little on designs
–Socializing—visited with friends
—One thing that was not on my list except in my head—plan menus and actually cook—Done!

July 19-25 This week I have some family obligations, so I’m not sure about my list, but here it is. And my lists start on Friday, contrary to the calendar, but that means I have already lost two days with the darn cold. AND I plan to get back down to the Wari exhibit one day this week.

–Clean Studio—2 half-days

–Continue finish work-~~One~~ piece down, 2 more to go. Then there will be the steaming.

–Dyeing

–Wash yarns-Obviously this should be ahead of dyeing.

–Clean dye pots

–Yard work—maybe I’ll just aim for 2 hours??? A gradual improvement :))

–Continue gratitude journal

Extras

–Decide on next piece and tie on warp

–Put the drafting desk together so I can stand to do some chores (dreading this one–you know, some assembly required)

Goals and the to-do list

Struggling with goals and being accountable has been a problem the last couple of years, so I have decided to take a Master class with Lisa Call. I have some goals that I want to accomplish, but feel frustrated with breaking those down into small bites. Overwhelming! One of those goals is a certain number of finished pieces by April 30. I can get in the studio hours to finish, but everything else falls to the wayside.

One of the things that I knew needed work on, in addition to the everyday stuff, is being able to critique art—my own mostly, but it applies to all art. Well, only the art that I like! I need to know what is in the art that makes me like it. Turns out that critiquing art is a component of this class.

Just throwing the shuttle until it’s finished. Cut it off Tuesday.

From the goals that I have, I make a weekly to do list. This is where things start falling apart for me. They include studio time, yard work/summer exercise program, designing, dyeing, and socializing. Each week those vary, according to what’s going on. For the studio, it’s mainly logging in the hours weaving, and being the nerd that I am, I made a spreadsheet with increments of 15 minutes. Writing it down in a notebook just wasn’t working. I am fairly liberal with what I call studio time, though—finishing work, dyeing, designing. This other stuff like writing falls under another category, although I don’t know what to call it. Here’s what my lists have looked like for the last couple of weeks.

This week—July 12-18

—Finish piece on loom

–Clean studio

–Do finish work on two pieces (not my favorite thing to do)

—Clean off table, sort and put away stuff currently on table—required for the above

–Begin dyeing yarns for next piece

Plan colors
Weigh yarns
Print spreadsheet with formulas for each batch
Set alarm
3 hours yard work
Extras: –Design

Last week—July 5-11

~~25 hours in the studio~~ Yep, did it!
Get ready for guild sale on Saturday—Done
Go to docent tour of Wari exhibit (this is my socializing “chore.”)—Going next Tuesday. Will have to work really hard to not back out.
1 hour of doing yard work 3 times—Only did one hour. I have to get up really early because it’s so hot right now, so setting alarm is on my to do list for next week.

I did get more socializing in this week—visited with friends.

Two things on my list are causing angst: yard work and socializing. The yard part I understand, but the socializing? Frankly, I am pretty content to stay at home and do what I do. When it comes to getting out the door, which involves dressing appropriately, well, I’d just rather not. But I’m working on it! And besides, it rained this week. Obviously too wet now.

Yesterrday I planned to new set of yarns that I’m going to start dyeing–grouping the skeins by weight and assigning colors to each group. This afternoon will be spent on finish work, not one of my favorites, but I’m grateful to have some pieces that need finishing! Studio time to log in. Yeah!

Next week? Finally get out in the yard? Cut brush? Haul it away? Stay tuned…

A constant surprise

You know those scratch-off thingies your sometimes get for earning prizes? That’s what my weaving is like, except in reverse. As I watch this black and white sections grow, it’s like a little surprise with every pass. Keeps my attention! However, getting to this spot was very frustrating. I think I took out, redid, and cut off about a dozen times. Not really, but it seemed like it. The problem is getting the ikat section to fit the warp, and since the ikat is already dyed, it’s the warp that has to change. Finally, today, it worked. I had to start at the other end of the ikat yarn, though. Now we’re cooking!

And speaking of cooking, I went to the farmers market on Saturday and picked up a few things–cantaloupe, blackeyed peas, and blackberries. As I was shelling the peas, I wondered about their nutrition, so I looked it up. Even though there are recipes for fresh blackeyes, there is not nutritional information available. Only for the dried peas, which I really don’t like. Interesting. Anyone else like fresh blackeyes?

June

Gosh, it seems like a long time and not long enough. The boys went home yesterday. It was really hard to send them off, but now it’s time to get back into some kind of routine. It seems that everything we did was hot and sweaty!

One of the things we did while they were here is ride the train to the Dallas World Aquarium. The creature left is one of the many pictures I took. The boys wanted one last trip to Benito’s before heading to the airport. They waited for me outside as I paid the bill. Waiting for me with newspapers in hand was a joke for me.

On the way home from the airport yesterday, I took a detour to buy an olla, which I’ve been trying to find for a couple of years.

I dyed part of the ikat yarns while they were here, and my night hours are spent cutting the wraps off of those yarns. I put them on a towel because they’re still damp. This ikat tape makes a mess, even though I try to be careful. You can see just a couple of the bits that get scattered (marked by the arrows). Multiply that by about a thousand. There’s still one more section to dye. I decided to dye them in sections because of probable dye lot variations. My evenings in the near future will be spent cutting off ikat tape–a mindless activity to be done while watching a movie.

Question–does anyone know of a way to convert treadles on a loom to treadles for a standing loom? Maybe there’s an engineering type out there that can think of a way. I really wish there was some way to stand and weave on my Cranbrook. I get really tired of sitting!

Not today!

Sherri’s Summer Exercise Program is underway, but not today. Yesterday and the day before, I cleared brush and made a pile. The picture of this pile does not do it justice. In the picture it looks really small, but my body tells a different story. And I am no where close to finishing this job. But not today. Today is a studio day–weaving and wrapping ikat. The ikat section that I’m working on now is going pretty fast or I’m getting better. The biggest problem is keeping up with the order and orientation of the various sections. My cartoon for the final product was broken into three sections, then each of those sections has been broken into smaller more manageable sections. So, there’s 3A and 3B. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D. The number 3 sections are finished and I’m working on the 2 section now. The reason that orientation is important is nothing will match during weaving if you don’t know where to start. I seem to start at the bottom and work up. My start is on the left bottom, so a written Tyvek label is attached giving the section and orientation: 3A, bottom, left. At the top is another label: 3A, top, right. The labels must be of some material that can withstand the dye pot. And maybe, just maybe, if it’s not too hot (or whatever), I’ll go out and work some more later to day.

Not much

There’s really not much to write about around here. I’m still wrapping ikat, weaving, cutting the weeds and brush, etc. My mother got to go home–she and her dog are very happy about that. My sister took Dandy to visit her at the rehab center. As soon as he got out of the car, he knew where he was and could hardly stand it until he got inside to see his “friend.”

I have set myself a goal of getting nine new pieces done by April, 2014. I have no idea if that can be done, especially since the whole month of June is pretty much shot as far as weaving is concerned. But to actually feel enthusiasm again is so nice. I could hardly wait to get home today and start my studio hours! Maybe I can hire someone to do finishing???

Have you ever thought about getting a sari cleaned? I hadn’t either. Here’s an interesting article about that. I actually don’t understand why labels always say to dry clean silk. The cloth has been around for a lot of years before dry cleaning.