These didn’t get posted as quickly as I intended….I made the mistake of tackling some boxes in a room off my studio, and now I am buried in stuff that I have no idea where to put!
I have opened Pandora’s box, and now my carefully organized studio is a sea of knitting, spinning and weaving materials that is far vaster than I can handle! There just isn’t enough storage room for all this stuff! What to do?
Meanwhile, my two scarves are finished and cut from the loom. I decided to hem them rather than have fringe, and now I’d like to do a little beaded embellishment at the hem….for this I need to find a local bead store, and I need time to do the beading. Here they are after a hand wash, hanging to dry from a birch tree in my front yard. I wonder what the neighbors think when I dry handspun skeins and dyed projects.
It feels like it will take months for me to unbury myself from the chaos I’ve unleashed by opening all those boxes!
In fairness, it’s not all fiber related. The chaos includes a lifetime of printed music from my performing days, a set of dishes that I could not squeeze into the kitchen or dining room when we moved in last year, several lifetimes of photos that include our kids plus both sets of parents’ photos (they have both moved into assisted living facilities and now there stuff resides with us!), my father’s ridiculous collection of DVDs and our collection of music CDs which are no longer necessary. I’d like to give Bob the task of dealing with the DVDs and CDs, but his plate is already laden with other chores. I think it’s all up to me, and there will be no weaving or knitting until I get to the bottom of all this stuff!
And, naturally, all I want to do is weave! I’ve come home from NEWS so inspired! My dyes have arrived and I’ve made plans for the last of the warp I made for trying this technique!
During the conference I bought the book Custom Woven Interiors by Kelly Marshall.
I want to weave almost every item in the book, but I’d like to start with this rug!….as a runner in the kitchen and a smaller version for the two Dutch doors in my family room.
And meanwhile…. there is all that inspiration I got from the exhibits at NEWS. Oh yeah, that was the point of this post…. here are the photos.
From the Instructors’ Exhibit, this is Dianne Totten’s wonderful collapse weave jacket. It is done in the manner of ‘shibori on the loom’ with extra warp and/or weft threads that get pulled to create the pleats. Then the fabric is treated with something that keeps the pleats in even after washing. I hope to take a workshop in this technique someday!
This is the back of Barbara Herbster’s large wrap. I have done a lot of scarves and shawls in this technique of supplemental warp with ribbons. I wouldn’t mind getting back to it!
I thought this was a great combination of items together! A matching set of double woven blanket and pillows with the wonderful ply-split woven vessel.
There were wonderful household linens in the static juried show! These were the items that inspired me most! Look at the dragonfly inlay in this tablecloth! It is a picnic set with wine bottle holder, silverware wrap, and matching napkins!
I love the overshot inlay on the corners of the napkins to match the table cloth!
The colors in this rep weave table runner and placemats are terrific….better than this photo shows. They were woven by Barbara June Gordon.
A loom woven shibori hand bag!
This transparency of a lady slipper is a gem. There was a larger transparency that won an award, but this small work is the one that won me over! Look at that great woven border!
And THEN there was the fashion show!
I am intrigued with this beautifully woven and assembled handbag!
Great use of color and stripes in this vest. It looks like it would be flattering on almost anyone.
This is an amazing piece, woven with horsehair and feathers and attached to a leather strip which fastens around the neck.
This jacket was woven from some lovely materials that I have now forgotten! Hemp perhaps? and linen? It is called “Birch Bark Jacket” and the materials and woven technique make it a perfect match to its name!
It was woven with an undulating reed!
And this is the piece de resistance, designed and woven by Barbara June Gordon! The woven structure creates all the fitting in this top, and trust me, it fit the weaver perfectly! She was brilliant to model it herself so we could all marvel at her skills. It is an amazing feat of color, structure and fitting perfection!
Now you can see why I wish I’d never opened that first box. I’d rather be weaving!
