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The Final Four

I have only 1 day left to complete the V7N photo scavenger hunt. I decided I was letting the acceptable slip in search of the elusive great, so here are my final four acceptable interpretations.
unbaked bread
A few weeks ago I made a challah, just in case I needed a photo for bread. It wasn’t my best bread, as it stayed in the oven a few minutes too long so was a bit too dry. Oh well.

school bus
My sweetie drove a school bus for a dozen years or so, so I know exactly how important, and challenging, that service is. Out here in the sticks, kids from kindergarten through high school seniors are on the same bus, for upwards of an hour and a half a day. Try controlling the chaos in that situation. He managed to excel, doing it in a way so that he was the bus driver everyone wanted to have.

cemetary
I am not a woman who visits the graves of my family in cemeteries. I do, however, stop by one near my house on occasion to appreciate its beauty. I always gain a sense of calm, of peace, when I’m there wandering among the stones or sitting under a tree.

deer
I shot these three deer in my yard, only about 30 feet from the house, munching on grass and leaves. I can only imagine that to them, life seems rather random. Which of their fawns will survive its infancy, which be taken by predators? Which adults will be killed on the road, or in the fall by hunters, or starve during a hard winter? Which weird lady will let them eat whatever they want in her yard, which chase them away with her shouts or let her dogs out?

Whew. Glad I’m done. I have GOT to get back to weaving, and to updating my website. But right now, I’ve got to go substitute teach for a high school technology class. 😉

April 29th, 2011 | Category: Life - As I See It | 3 comments

Roycroft Renaissance Artisan

RALA logo
I am prouder than proud. I was accepted to be one of an elite group of artisans, the Roycroft Renaissance Artisans.

Many people know that Elbert Hubbard was very influential in the promotion of the Arts & Crafts Movement. As a way to create a geographic home for the American artists and craftspeople mastering their creative forms, Hubbard founded the Roycroft community in East Aurora, NY in the late 1800s.

Almost 80 years later, in 1976, a group of dedicated people formed the Roycrofters-At-Large Association (RALA). Since then RALA has accepted applications from artists and crafters who have both shown a level of skill in their field and are committed to continued growth. The application process includes slides, actual work samples, and written information.

As I said, I am extremely proud to be able to call myself a Roycroft Renaissance Artisan! I was just noticed a few days ago, and am amazed that they’ve already updated their website to include me along with the other paper, fiber, & weaving Artisans. I will definitely be participating in their summer show, and probably the winter show, as well. You can find details on the RALA website or on mine.

To maintain my standing, I will be juried each year for the next five years, demonstrating that I’m expanding my weaving skills, using new techniques, new fibers, creating new designs. I gratefully accept this challenge.

I really need to make some changes to my website now, minimizing the jewelry (I was only juried on my weaving) and putting the logo on each of my weaving pages!

Your turn: who recognizes the value of your work?

April 26th, 2011 | Category: Weaving | 4 comments

Waning Moon

I finally captured my dark photo for the V7N photo scavenger hunt. It’s not exactly the moon I wanted, but we’ve had lots of cloudy nights, so it is the moon I’ve got.
dark moon
This picture was taken just before dawn, and the moon was not only behind the trees, it was also playing peek-a-boo with clouds. Those clouds moved in over the 45 minutes of my morning walk – it was perfectly clear when I started, and mostly cloudy by the time I finished, so I was lucky to get a moon shot at all when I got back home to my camera.

April 26th, 2011 | Tags: | Category: Life - As I See It | One comment

Hearts, Hearts, and More Hearts

After I finished making those 4 lovely heart patterned handwoven baby blankets, there was a still a bunch of warp left on the loom. I thought I had enough length to make two table runners, side by side. I didn’t want just plain hearts, so I varied the treadling a little and made hearts that were right side up and upside down.handwoven heart table runners

As it turns out, three assumptions I made about these runners were wrong.

  • I don’t like the modified hearts as well as I liked the original pattern.
  • I didn’t have as much length on that warp as I thought.  I wove right to the end, and, once hemmed, these ‘runners’ will only be 22″ long.  Hardly runners at all.
  • I thought it would be efficient to weave two runners side by side.  WRONG!!!  There’s no doubt in my mind that I could have woven two runners one after the other much more quickly than I could weave the two next to each other.  Part of that was because I was constantly picking up and putting down a shuttle, but part of it was also because I had difficulty paying attention to 4 selvedges at once, forcing me to go more slowly.  And they’re still not up to my usual quality.

C’est la vie.  Live and learn.

Anyway, I did like those little hearts, and thought they’d make sweet bookmarks.  So I measured more threads & warped the loom up to do a dozen or so bookmarks while I still had the treadles tied up as I needed them and was in the treadling pattern with my feet.   Simple, right?

NOT!

I’d just woven over 200″ of these hearts, and knew just how I’d moved my feet and my hands, just how tight I’d made the warp, just how hard I’d packed in the weft.  But nothing was right on the bookmarks.  Now matter how lightly I beat, the threads packed in too much.  The pattern was very foreshortened, and not at all what I wanted.

I went to the ever-helpful and skilled folks who log onto Weavolution regularly, and got some helpful information & suggestions.  For these bookmarks I ended up simply using a bit heavier weft yarn, including some of the leftover carpet warp from last weekend’s doubleweave workshop.

handwoven heart bookmarks

I got them all woven up and off the loom this morning.  14 bookmarks in all, in a variety of colors.  I think people will like them at my shows this season.  Plus, now I know how to plan better for next time I’m doing a warp this narrow.   Setting the warp threads much closer together should solve the problem.

completed handwoven hearts bookmarks

On to my next project – some of those luscious variegated cotton flannel baby blankets, using the doublewidth technique.

Hope you’re enjoying the spring holiday!

April 24th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Weaving | Leave a comment

Photo Hunt Continues

I’m continuing to work on the V7N photographic scavenger hunt.

We had a lot of rain the last few days, so I spent some time down by the creek taking lots of pics to get one that really turned me on.

water

I used a slow shutter speed to catch water as it rolled around and tumbled over a log that had fallen into the creek. I like the mix of clarity of some water droplets and the turbulence of other parts.

April 23rd, 2011 | Category: Life - As I See It | One comment
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