Tools Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Sherri Woodard Coffey

Category Archives: Tools

Mirrix Loom

Mirrix Lani

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

Why didn’t I think of that?

Fall on my mother’s hill

Although it’s 95 here, I am sure fall is coming. At least the mornings are cool. And I love fall. It’s also the season for all the grasses. I never really appreciated grasses until I studied the prairie system. The other day I was driving along a neighborhood street and saw one pink muhly plant in the flowerbed. Beautiful! All the grasses are showing off right now.

Pink Muhly

Unknown grass

So, my plan is to get in a bit of outside time in the mornings. After all, I did NOT resist the bag of 100 daffodils at Costco. Funny…I have no volunteers to help me plant them either.

In the why-didn’t-I-think-about-that department–I’ve been doing a bit of spinning and not really enjoying it. In fact I was thinking of selling my wheel and getting another one. As they say, duh! I suddenly remembered that this wheel has three ratios. I switched to the middle one (I was spinning in the largest one), and what a difference it made. That pound of bluish roving may go faster after all. Then I can move on to the burgandy-ish pound. Then I can start on the undyed churro roving. How great is that!

A studio notebook

Ikat Notes Studio

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. 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

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?

In praise of power tools

Hanging boards cut and painted

For years, I have been cutting the hanging boards with my jig saw and doing a very poor job of it. I could never seem to cut really straight. The top of the board might be cut exactly on the line, but the cut would angle as it got to the bottom of the board. Then I used a hand miter saw. Better results, but a lot of elbow grease.

Miter saw

Finally, I got an electric miter saw. I can cut angles with it, but I don’t. Straight edges, that’s it so far. Works like a dream.

I’ve been gradually making my life simpler with better power tools. Battery-powered power tools. The miter saw has to be plugged in, but my drill and sander don’t. The drill has had some heavy use lately and did not run out of juice. I then put the drill battery on the sander and sanded some boards. Still had juice.

Drill and bits

Sander

Mowing my lawn became quieter this year. I bought a new battery powered mower. I really hesitated since I mow quite a bit, not because I have a manicured lawn, but to just keep the weeds down. The mower is so much easier to push around. I still have the old gas powered one for the really rough stuff, but regular mowing is done by battery power.

Kobalt mower

And then there are the weeds in the hard-to-reach places. Gas string trimmers have never been my friends. In fact, they hate me. Won’t start, string runs out or catches on something–anything to make a simple job take three times as long to complete. Enter the battery powered string trimmer and brush cutter. This tool has attachments that can be added by removing the string trimming part and replacing it with something else. After using the brush cutter, that string trimmer may never be used again. In full disclosure, I do use the brush cutter while wearing boots, just in case.

String trimmer

Brush cutter attatchment

What are your favorite tools? Do you get lost in hardware stores, browsing all the myriad of choices?

Getting there

I ordered the black ones second from top on the right from Jerry’s Artarama.

I finally just sucked it up and bought frames for the small pieces that I’ve been working on FOREVER. My friend Carol told me about floater frames, but when I looked at them on Dick Blick’s website, I just couldn’t see spending that much money for these pieces. After more days of not being satisfied with any of the solutions I’d come up with, I did a web search and finally decided to buy some from Jerry’s Artarama, not knowing if I’d ordered the correct size or if these linen-covered canvases would even fit the depth. They arrived today, and this is a totally doable solution–for now. What really sold me on these frames–besides the cost–was that they come complete with hardware, everything you need to hang the picture (or whatever). There’s even a video of how to use them. So, once I get these pieces into the frames, I’ll post pictures. This is still a total experiment, but useful information if I want to weave other small pieces.

Scotch masking tape

Totally unrelated to anything, I found this on the counter at Office Depot. Yes, I know they put those things there for people exactly like me who may make an impulse purchase. As one who laments the death of the cloth tape measure that was so easy to tape on a weaving in progress, I couldn’t resist. It is totally useless for weaving, but I liked it. Years ago, I got some really narrow adhesive measuring tape in the fishing department of an outdoors store. I placed it on the beater close to the reed. I had to use two tapes to go across, so I started each of them in the center so that the larger measurements would be on the outer edges. This way you can see the width of the warp in the loom easily. Of course, being slightly OCD-ish personality that I am, I count warp threads anyway. Scotch has a PDF of cute ideas for using their tapes here. You know, things to do in your spare time???

One day, the loom will be used again, after finishing all these small projects in progress. One day. Sigh.

Well, look what came in the mail

Sarah Swett’s book is handsewn

Sarah Swett has written and produced this small book about weaving a bag on a box. You can buy it here. I love her drawings and you can see more of them on her blog, A Field Guide to Needlework. Clever name, right? I’ve actually tried weaving on a box before, not very successfully, but after reading this small book, I’m thinking maybe another try is in order. It seems there are remedies for the problems I had with this type of weaving.

Inside the envelope Was a postcard with a picture of the very first weaving I saw of Sarah’s. I remember being astounded at the range of color she achieved with natural dyes, the detail, vitality, and energy in the piece. I still think that.

Energetic postcard

In my effort to become more observant, I have been taking a lot of pictures. I’ve driven by this sculpture a million times and decided to take a picture this time. I especially wanted to get at least part of the pink window with the red sculpture, which is in front of the studio of Rebecca Low, the sculptor.

Rebecca Low’s studio

Taken using the remote shutter

While shopping in Target the other day, I picked up a Bluetooth Remote Shutter. All you have to do is put the battery in, turn it on and pair your phone with it, turn on the camera, and push a button. Voila! A picture is taken. There’s not one on the Target website, but the one I got is very similar to this one at Amazon, except no wrist strap. Lower price too.

Below you can see my project for,the week–putting the table loom together. I really wish the directions were better, or that there was at least a list of parts with pictures. This really will probably take the week. Why did I decide to do this?!!

Ashford table loom in pieces

Tools and stuff

Weavers use lots of tools. I remember a male visitor to my studio looking around, saying “You get to use lots of good stuff.” Yes, we do. Lots!

Cartoon, but not at the correct angle for the project. Soon! Does this make you dizzy to look at it? It does me.

One of the things tapestry and ikat weavers use is a cartoon. I usually take a small drawing to FedEx to get it enlarged to the size I need, and that’s where a problem sometimes happens. The employees don’t always know how to do that, plus they don’t want to listen to what has succeeded in the past. I spent over an hour on Saturday trying to get an enlargement and still did not go home with it. Later in the afternoon, I girded my loins (what does that really mean anyway?) and went to a different store. There the guy actually did what I told him about and I got a perfect cartoon. Plus, he gave it to me! As in free! I was afraid I would have to draw the whole thing myself, which then leads to the next design tool: large graph paper. Acquiring this meant a trip to my local art store, Asel Art. At first we couldn’t find a roll of this paper, and then when we did, it was much shorter length than what I have bought in the past. But that’s okay because this stuff is expensive!

Leaving my local art store. I thought the signs were interesting.

So now I have my enlargement and a way to make my own enlargement. It’s time to get to work, especially after two weeks of doing nothing in the studio or the rest of the house and yard. The list is a mile long, but studio time is plugged in. Yippee!

And the winner is … and grayscale again

The first ball of yarn on the new Nancy’s Knit Knack’s ball winder. I love it! No grinding of plastic gears. This skein was 253 g and wound on easily. You can also get a motor for the winder, which I had rejected because of my tangled hand-dyed skeins. I’ll try a few more skeins on this hard worker and possibly reconsider that decision.

The piece that I’m currently working on is made up of green and blue yarns. Below are small pictures of the work, first in color, then black and white. I think it’s interesting that the 4% blue square is still visible in black and white, but the 2% blue is not. Which only means that the value (or tone) of the two colors is very close to the same of is the same. I admit that, not being an art major, I don’t know a lot about this, but there are resources online. Here’s one that I thought was good. There is a previous post about value and some tools to use, but I think Photoshop wins overall.

Two shades of blue, green background. 2% blue on right. Combination of 2% blue and 1% blue on left.

Two shades of blue, green background-black and white. The first section of blue disappears.

Preview

4% blue on green background

4% blue on green background-black and white

Ball winders

Progress was made on the current piece, but then a small disaster struck. My knee, which had been getting better, decided it didn’t want to do that. The earliest I could get an appointment with an orthopedist was next week. Back to the chair and ice packs. Weaving stopped, which brings me to ball winders.

I have had the same plastic ball winder since I first started to weave. It works, but my current weaving involves skeins that are about 1/2 pound each and hand-dyed. No matter what I do, they are more tangled than “store bought” skeins. That plastic ball winder works really hard and the plastic gears click and grind. I’ve been trying to decide on a new ball winder, and indecision means that no new ball winder comes to my door. I tried out the Strauch from Mohair and More during Fiber Fest. I like how sturdy it is, especially compared to the plastic ones, but wasn’t crazy about the orientation of the handle. So I did nothing with my decision-making. But now, because I am winding bunches of big skeins, the issue raised its ugly head again. Research again. Looked at comments on Ravelry and Weavolution. Fricke was mentioned (I had forgotten about them). And I took the plunge, jumped in with both feet. Nancy’s Knit Knacks to the rescue, or at least I hope so. It’s on its way! There is the option to put a motor on this gal, but with my tangled yarns? We’ll see.

Let’s weigh in on our favorite tools. Ball winders? Skein winders? Swifts?

Habits, photography, beaters

My photograph

Habits, photography, beaters–now there’s a combination!

In reference to my post about habits, there is good news. My morning walk has become enjoyable! Instead of keeping my eyes forward to the distance goal for the day, my mind has started wandering, often to design and weaving. Yippee! Years ago, I walked five miles daily. One of the best things about that was going out for my walk with some sort of problem in my head and returning home with the solution.

Professional

This is a picture (left) taken with a good camera, but you can see how dark the picture is at the top, but especially the bottom, which means I need to learn about lighting. As I think about this, the top part is because I was blending yarns from different dye lots. There’s a really bad picture–taken with my phone–on the Habit post. It’s not the phone’s fault that the picture is so bad; it’s that I played around with editing it, and the original disappeared. Monday I got a professional photo made (right). Find differences? What do you think? Better? Not worth it? Chime in.

My new beater from Weaving Southwest arrived, and not a minute too soon. I am experimenting with weaving two small pieces at the same time, and this beater works better for this than the loom’s beater. I love the weight, the length, everything about this beater. The old one is very beat up after being dropped on the floor too many times. I even glued a tine back on, but not successfully.

Do you see things graphically all around you? I do. Things like shadows, lines in a building under construction. Sometimes I detour to take pictures. Yesterday I saw a huge concrete wall being propped up with tall metal rods

Tornadoes Possible West Texas Snowfall

which crisscrossed each other. I loved the pattern, but unfortunately, while driving 65 on a busy highway, stopping for pictures is not possible. These small pieces are based on something I (we) see quite frequently on TV, in the newspaper, in social media, etc. I have no idea if they will be successful or not, but I’m experimenting with the rest of the warp on the loom, before I put a new warp of linen on. What everyday stuff appeals to you graphically? Keep a list and let us know.