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I know I need to make more shawls before the Roycroft Winter Show. I also have a special order for a shawl and three special order scarves. While I was waiting for final input from my customers on the special orders, I decided to make a rayon chenille shawl.
I’d seen some gorgeous weaving with many different colors of yarn, offset by black. I’d not done anything like this, and wanted to give it a try. I ended up with 16 different colors, arranged in a prism fashion. I used 8 strands of black in between each color. (Next time I’d use less black – perhaps 4 strands between each.)
After I got it spread out on the back beam, it was clear to me that my colors needed a bit of adjustment. The orange was way too bright, and there was too much purple.
I was okay simply removing several of the purple threads and having the shawl be 8-10 threads narrower. At the other edge of the shawl, however, I thought that while the orange was too bright and overpowering, I should have had more of the red. So I wanted to insert as many red threads as I removed of the orange. I also wanted to get rid of a few black threads from the right edge; I wanted it clear that I intended the width of the black selvedges to be different, and if they were too close in thread counts, it would look like I’d made a mistake.
After making all those adjustments, and having a few broken threads, here’s what the back of my loom looked like. Pretty ugly.
The final result of the shawl is a bit more subdued than I had envisioned, but that’s part of the reason I’d make the bands of black narrower next time around. Other than that, I’m happy with the design. (I’m also happy that the photo shows the sheen of the rayon chenille; that’s usually quite hard for me to achieve. I shot this one on my bathroom counter. I’m going to try the next one there.)
I also enjoyed being a bit random in my planning. I had no preconceived notion of how wide I’d make each color band. I simply picked all the colors first and set them out in the order I’d use them, and wound as many wraps as I thought would look good. This is different than my usual very planned methodology. It felt good, and I’ll do it again.
Your turn: has changing your methods brought you successes?
While I was at the Letchworth show, as usual I was weaving on my rigid heddle loom. This time I chose two shades of blue. And since it’s a three-day show, I warped the loom for two scarves, figuring I’d have enough time to weave both while I was there. I planned on and warped the loom for scarves with checks of the two colors.
The mohair was working well on my rigid heddle, as always. But about 3/4 of the way through the scarf, I got an idea. What if I cut the first scarf off, rethreaded the loom, and did the second one as a log cabin? I’d never done log cabin with mohair, and these two colors had enough contrast that I thought it would work well.
So I did just that. Here’s how that scarf turned out after wet finishing.
I like this one, too. I am, however, amazed at how different the two scarves look. Same colors, same quantities of each color, but what a difference!
The checked scarf really is bold in its appearance. With just a glance in it’s direction it waves and says, “Hi! Here I am!” Conversely, the log cabin scarf is much more demure, quietly batting its eyelashes and waiting for you to notice it.
I like them both for their own beauty, I just didn’t expect this contrast in overall appearance.
Your turn: what’s surprised you lately?
Back in September I went to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival. I’d wanted to go for the last few years, but had always done a show the same weekend. This year I decided not to do that show. (Not because I wanted to go to the Fiber Festival. I decided that show was no longer the best venue for me.)
It was a lot of fun and I’m glad I went. The Festival is really targeted to spinners and knitters, not weavers, but I couldn’t resist buying stuff anyway, even though I couldn’t weave with it. Before I got there I’d been thinking that I was not likely to see many coned yarns or other weaving supplies, so I had developed another plan. I’d sold three of my braided scarves at the Clothesline Festival, and only had 2 left, so wanted to make some more. I was hoping I’d find some cool stuff to braid with, and I wasn’t disappointed.
On the way home from the Fiber Festival I stopped at the Alfred Knitting Studio, knowing that they often have some really cool stuff at deep discounts on the front porch. Again, I wasn’t disappointed, and got things that would coordinate with the Fiber Festival purchases. The next day I stopped at Joann’s and picked up some bulky acrylics. Although I almost never work with acrylic yarn, I had made an exception for my last braids, and was willing to do so again. By mixing acrylics in the braids I’m able to make them at a really reasonable cost, and the people who want them don’t seem to care – they’re buying them for the look & the price, not the fiber content.
When I had a few minutes in between making all the jewelry, I made six more braids. I’m happy with all of them. I also had fun giving them names. Usually my weaving is named based on the color yarn and weave pattern, so that if I need to recreate it I can. The braids? Each one is different and I won’t pretend I can recreate it, so I name them things I like.
I called the first one Dappled Forest.
This one is Early Snow in the Hills.
Here’s Storm Clouds.
And Fit For A Queen. (My least favorite name. I couldn’t come up with anything better.)
Now for Snow in Autumn.
And finally, Fall Hillside.
I finished making all the jewelry on Monday, so decided that I had time to weave one more shawl. I have very few large pieces left, and have already had two customers tell me they’re interested in my shawls, so I figured people would want them at the show, too. I chose one of the lovely Tammy’s hand painted rayon chenille yarns and went to town. The warp is made from her variegated colorway she calls North Shore with a broad stripe of rather vivid green (she calls it Forest, but I don’t think so) along one side. The weft is her solid Eggplant.
Your turn: how are you spending this gorgeous long weekend? (Notice I assume it’s both beautiful weather where you are and that you have a three-day weekend. Sorry if neither of those is true for you.
I’ve finished making jewelry in preparation for the Letchworth Arts & Crafts Festival. I hit my target numbers for bracelets and exceeded it in both earrings and necklaces. Here are the remaining necklaces I’ve recently created.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I decided to continue with my earlier pieces and make some more necklaces with center dangles. While none of them are exactly alike and I have to make adjustments for every one due to bead size, weight, and color, once I’m in a mode it’s easier for me to stay on it than to switch gears entirely. So I made a necklace with some nice poppy jasper I had.
Then I decided to slide sideways into a necklace with a different kind of dangle. This is made from gold coral. (I believe it’s dyed.)
Sticking with the coral, I made also one that makes a much bolder statement. The coral is so lightweight, this necklace is surprisingly light around your neck. It will be just perfect for the right person.
After I put the coral away, I was going through one of my drawers for the next inspiration, and came upon some beautiful, large, horn rondelle beads. They were just the ticket for a whole different type of necklace. Pairing them with a variety of agates for a big, chunky necklace seemed the right move. I added a thick handmade copper toggle clasp, making it so the necklace can be worn with the clasp in the back, the front, or on the side.
Now for the pièce de résistance. In the spirit of full disclosure, I admit that this wasn’t the last piece I made; I’ve been saving it to show you at the end. Every year the Letchworth Festival has competition. Artists and crafters can enter two pieces: one in their category (in my case for this show, jewelry), and one in the annual theme. I only entered a piece in the theme category one other year, as I never had anything that struck me as appropriate for it.
This year’s theme is harmony. Several days ago as I was sitting at my dining room table (where I create the jewelry), out of the blue I got an inspiration. The old duet between Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder started playing in my mind; you know the one – Ebony & Ivory. I sang it through mentally a few times without thinking about it, just enjoying the old classic song.
Then the lightbulb went off! When I got rid of that ancient, broken player piano that sat in my damp basement for years, I purposely pulled off the ivory from many of the keys. I had that ivory sitting in an old peanut butter jar in my cupboard. I could use that ivory and some onyx to make a necklace in the harmony theme. It would have been ideal if I had also saved some of the ebony keys, but I didn’t.
Initially I thought I’d create a rather literal interpretation of a piano keyboard, but as I got into the design, I changed my mind, and made a necklace more loosely based on a keyboard. I’ve only shown it to one other person at this point, and Margaret loves it. She’s such a good friend she’s not necessarily objective, though. So here’s the big reveal.
I have no idea how it will be received at the show, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter because I’m happy with it.
Your turn: have you ever won a prize because of your work?
I’ve been making bracelets and necklaces for the past week, and have made great progress. The necklaces photograph better than the bracelets, so that’s what you’ll see here. In some cases the bracelets coordinate with the necklaces, in some cases there’s no connection between the two.
I had three lovely, tear-shaped pieces of turquoise. I had previously considered making them into three different necklaces, but now decided to use them all at once. It would make a much bolder statement, and would use up my stash quicker, to boot.
In stash-busting mode, I scanned my separate drawers of gemstones and decided to use some garnets. I had an idea for a necklace in my mind, and it took me some time to work it out, to get each strand to hang at just the right level, but I’m quite pleased with the results.
As long as I was working with garnets, I moved onto some stunning green garnets. A much simpler design, this one didn’t take as long to make.
Last night I moved to carnelian. An even simpler design, one that works well with the 12mm rounds I had.
This morning I went to my fiber arts guild meeting. When I came home I sat down to make more jewelry, and made two varieties of what I’m calling a snowflake necklace – sterling silver and Swarovski crystals.
I’m whittling down the number of pieces left to make – only 6 more necklaces and 10 bracelets to hit my target numbers.
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