Up for air

Thank you for weekends and public holidays, whoever invented them. It gives me time to catch my breath and to create.
A few weeks ago, I had a 5-day weekend and managed to get something on my loom. I have upgraded my 2 shafts (harnesses) Saori loom to 4 shafts. I did a lot of things that were new to me. I put the new hardware onto the loom (it now has 6 treadles). I wove with silk, in both warp and weft. I put my warp on to the loom from front to back. I was very satisfying knowing that I had enough time and did not have to rush! I enjoyed the process.
I used my new toy, the Saori cross box to keep my threads in order while I sleyed the reed.

I turned the reed setup around so that the chain of warp threads was at the front of the loom.

I threaded my heddles from the back of the loom and then wind the warp around the back beam.

I have never woven with a silk warp before and had some tension problems. There is almost no stretch in silk. Wool is a lot more forgiving. 

I started weaving and thought, this pattern does not look like what I had in mind. Maybe the variegated weft made it difficult to see the weave structure. There was a nagging feeling but I could not pin it down. Halfway through, I checked my tie up. I had done it correctly with the treadles but had forgotten to fix it to the same sequence at the shafts. Duh!
I liked the pattern though and decided to run with it........... 

I love the look and feel of the silk. I had enough warp for 2 pieces. The second one has a single solid colour weft and a straight forward twill weave structure. It looks and feel so different.

These are both Christmas presents so I will show images of the finished items next month.

Fragments

It does not seem like more than 2 months had passed. I have been on the looms a bit this winter. Probably the most that I have woven in a long time. All 3 looms had warps on at one time or another.

There was the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show - Kaz and I took our looms there and had 3 days of intense fun with lots of people weaving on the Saori looms. Many of them trying it for the first time.

There was the trip to Wangaratta and Beechworth - my mum and I went for a weekend and saw the exhibitions at the Wangaratta Art Gallery and the Old School House Gallery. It was great to see those red dots next to my pieces!

There was the Olympics and I signed up for one of the challenges on Ravelry. I wove a baby blanket for a friend. Her baby girl was born last week.

There was a commission.

There was a young convert who came to weave on my loom and made her own fabric.

There was a football scarf long overdue (finals are this month and Spring is here), and I tried to make it not look like a football scarf!

There was craft camp, but that is another story.

It seems like I packed a lot into the last couple of months. Maybe the latest project on the loom is a reflection of how I feel...... a bit fragmented.

They called me an artist.....

First, they accepted 2 out of 3 pieces submitted.

Second, they asked if it was possible to use one of the images for the promotion of the exhibition.

Then, this week, I received a note to say that the gallery would like to purchase a couple of my pieces.........

I am so excited you can not wipe the smile off my face.

Meltdown - stress inhibits creativity

After weeks of dealing with appliance service people, I was really pleased with myself that I only took my Saori loom with me to craft camp. A piece of equipment that does not require electricity, does not make a lot of noise and is calming and straight forward to use.


Warning, there is a bit of ranting here, so you can skip to the photo at the end if you prefer.


First, my microwave oven stopped. It happened at the same time as the light bulb in the oven blew. The latter was easy. A trip to the supermarket, new bulb, self installed. The microwave, however, took 2 trips to the repairer to get fixed properly.


Second, my fridge stopped. The repair man came, charged A$200 and ordered a new  temperature sensor part. Apparently should take 2 to 5 business days. Two weeks later, there was still no parts, rang them multiple times and I got answering machine each time. I left messages but no one called me back. I complain to the distributor. Hah! Part arrived. Finally, took time off work to wait for repair man. Texted to say estimated 9am arrival, 11:45am was the actual arrival time. Wrong part ordered! Still non functioning fridge after 3 weeks. 
Finally, decided to buy new fridge to avoid dealing with these people. They stressed me out! Do they think that because they are the 'authorised service agents' that I have no choice but to use them!?
Well, maybe but new fridge is the other choice.
I love my new fridge. The service was much better. Delivery was made within the time frame specified and they moved my old fridge out onto the kerb for hard rubbish collection. 
I also have other appliances of the same brand as the new fridge so I know that their service calls can be nominated within a 2-hour window, and they answer their phones.


Third, my telephone stopped working. Needless to say, I learnt my lesson. I bought a new phone and dropped non-functioning phone off for recycling.


In that whole month of electrical appliances meltdown, my level of creativity was zilch. Things that I have woven did not really work to expectation, sewing had to be unpicked and re-sewn.
Now, all that bad energy is gone and the creative mojo is back. I had fun and calm in the last couple of days. My loom enjoyed its first trip out of the house since arriving from Japan. Much happier now.


A glimpse of my creation at craft camp:

Now, if only I can get Blogger formatting to work better, but that will be too much to ask.......

Still experimenting with more of the same.........

I have been experimenting more with the combination of silk stainless steel, felting wool and non-felting alpaca and alpaca/silk yarns. I am getting to understand their behaviour more and so can control the outcome better. 
Here are 2 scarves that I have submitted to the Scarf Festival at the Wool Museum in Geelong.

Scarf 1

Scarf 2

 .........and some more sampling/experimentation for a submission to another exhibition.

on loom

after washing

Textile treats

I want to share some textiles treats that I have received from my textile/weaving mentors.

Their works are inspiring, their comments encouraging and their generosity amazing.....

I am continually learning so much from them.

Saori scarf from Kaz, at Curious weaver.

 Woven sample (large one) from Meg, at unravelling.

Textile postcard from Neki, at a movable feast.

April Spool's Day

Meg has suggested an April Spool's day post of bobbins and pirns. Here are some of mine:

From left to right:
Le Clerc's plastic ones, the Swedish cardboard ones, Saori clear plastic ones, timber ones in various sizes and bamboo ones. The last 2 types are for my Japanese boat shuttles.
However, being April Fool's day, the joke is on me as I don't actually have a bobbin winder that the timber and bamboo ones will fit so they have not really been used yet......