Aug 21, 2013

Painted buntings and inkles



On the inkle, I have abandoned the dancing warrior. The floats were horrendous long and I was having a hard time translating the Peruvian warp draft to the Bolivian. So I went back to a known Peruvian draft and modified it to the width that I already had on the loom. 

In the garden:
This morning we saw this colorful little fellow
You are probably saying ... uh what am I supposed to be looking at. Well, it's a painted bunting. See his little blue-green head and salmony-orange chest? No? Well, here...
Now do you see him? I have never in my 40+ years in South Florida ever seen a bird like this. But there he was, chowing down on the sorghum seeds out back. Which gave me the idea to maybe plant some wild bird seed out back. 

And speaking of chowing down... here's one of our baby caterpillars eating his little weight in milk weed. I guess the leaf under him is the Caterpillar Rest Room

Here's the results of all that yummy milkweed

Here's the sweet potato I planted just a short week and a half ago. So it's good to clean out the veggie draw in your fridge once in a while. 

Aug 14, 2013

Good weave reads

In the Loom Room:
Finally got the Kessenich threaded and now the tensioning begins. No matter how many times I do this, it's always a little stressful. Maybe that's not really the word... more like very focused. There, that sounds better.

Jerry helped me thread the heddles... him at the back of the loom. I'm one of those people that warp from front to back. You know, what's the diff? Whatever way you feel comfortable, I always say. If there are any new weavers out there, I'd like to recommend this book for warping:
It is marvelous and very easy to understand and follow. The title made me laugh though, the first time I read it. I immediately thought of the old Eric Carmen song, ... All Byyy Youuurself.... don't wanna warp.... Aaaalll By Youuurself, anymore

And speaking of good books, I just got this one through interlibrary loan. I have just started reading it and it's very interesting. Let you know how it turns out.

Check out these neat-o charts in the back of the book. 

Bought this glass frame at a yard sale for $ .50. It's a 12x12 and I'm going to clean it up and paint it and all that good stuff. I go to yard sales almost every Sat. and see so many unwanted little frames. Sad really. This little frame is calling for a mixed media piece. Something unfortunate happened to me a couple of months ago in the painting realm of my life and I sort of lost heart in it for a while. All I'll say is, always get your money up front when you sell a painting. Anyway, I'm feeling better and have an idea of what I want to do. Collage mixed media, I'm thinking.




Oh yeah... sing it Eric 


Aug 7, 2013

With the rain comes...

GREEN. Lots and lots of green. The ferns have pretty much taken over the back part of the lot.


The new butterfly and veggie bed is looking more full. Beans in the back




And new sweet potatoes 

This is some random sorghum. I think the birds planted it... if you know what I mean. 

And the older butterfly bed 


In the Studio:


I was feeling a bit under the weather last week so I haven't gotten much done in the studio. I am however, ready to tackle block weaves again on the Kessenich. I'd like to work with a back ground of black and try to make the blocks colorful in descending size. I saw how I wanted this in my head when I was just about to fall asleep the other night, so I'll see if I can make it come out like my dreamy vision. I mapped it out on graph paper to see if everything would fall into place. I don't always trust my math.

Working at 6 epi, single, with floating warp.

These will be the colors... not a great picture.

On the inkle ... working on a pebble weave band. I have warped using the European method, according to Ms. Atwater. It's the way I learned and feel most comfortable with. This pattern is called the Dancing Warrior

 And you can see his little warrior feet starting to dance!

And last... I decided to dress up this block weave sampler with an inkle that I did not too long ago in the checker pattern.