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ArgoKnot
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Putting Inspiration to Use

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Today I am working on the warping assignment for my upcoming class at NEWS (New England Weavers’ Seminar).  The class is called “Freedom of Expression,” and it will be taught by Sarah Saulson from Syracuse, NY.

Here is the class description from the NEWS catalogue:
“In this dyeing and weaving workshop, we will have lots of spontaneous fun painting warps with fiber reactive dyes, after the loom is warped. This wonderful technique allows weavers to work with color and pattern in a loose, free, expressive way, creating large-scale abstract forms and opens the door to a variety of surface pattern techniques, including stamping and stenciling. We will paint enough warp to explore the possibilities of the technique, and for a scarf. We will learn how to mix our own colors working from primary colors/hues.”

The class materials include bringing an image to serve as the cartoon, or at least as the inspiration, for our warp painting.  I am having trouble narrowing down my images to one or two.

I have been taking lots of photos of my garden recently, but I would NEVER think roses should be my design inspiration.  All that pink and green would surely set my teeth on edge….far too cloyingly sweet for a  handwoven fabric! Then I happened to see this fabric on Cally Booker’s blog.  Just goes to show that I should never say ‘never.’

Here are some of the images that I may try to explore in dyeing a warp.

A Kasuri dyed panel that I’ve had for years

A large painted plate

Several wood block prints, including the nasturtiums I’ve been playing around with for a tapestry design

It might be quite nice to have bright blue and dull blue/green mixed with saturated oranges and golds.  But what would I use for weft??

The purples, greens and golds in this image really appeal to me.


Clearly, I’m intrigued with the possibility of combining blues with a range of orange/golds.

My warp is a natural colored silk from my stash.  It is has a beautiful sheen and a slight slub, and it is somewhat finer that 20/2 silk.  I am hoping that 30 epi will be a good sett for it.  If not, well….. I may have an unfortunate experience. There is not time to sample!….and I realize that is a BIG risk.

I was not able to get good lighting in my studio when I took this photo.  The silk is not this golden.

I am taking a break at the half way point in making the warp.  Now I can get back to it.

Summer Solstice

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When inspiration strikes it bombards us in many forms and from any direction. …

The past couple of weeks have been full of inspiration for me, starting with the beautiful full moon on the summer solstice, which rose just shortly after dark.  It may not have been quite as amazing as this moonrise, but almost.

 

The heat is on now and my garden is flourishing. My roses are at their peak…the subtly changing colors as the light shifts through the day keeps delighting me and distracting me from weaving! There are green tomatoes and plenty of nasturtiums to stuff with cream cheese and herbs or to garnish salads.  These are the salad days.

I was on hold this morning with customer service for a publication and the ‘muzak’ was classical piano.  I think I was listening to Brahms….a piece that is so famous, if only I could remember what it is.  It is haunting me with its beautiful melody, and I don’t know how to identify it…

Also this morning a friend of mine shared some links to the works of contemporary mosaicists. Wow!  For years I’ve had my mind on a couple of mosaics from classical Rome with some ideas brewing for interpreting them into tapestry.  These newer works are off the charts!  If mosaics inspire you, take a look at Mia Tavonatti.  Her work gets my pulse racing…

So today I have been working on my last pear hoping I can finish and move on to more exciting projects.

I Love a Parade!!

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Gosh!  I can hear Ethel Merman singing this song, and it’s not a good thing to have stuck in my head!  Still, who doesn’t love a parade?

Is all of New England like this?  I just can’t believe how many parades there are up in this area and how enthusiastic everyone is about them!  It sure makes me happy.  So, this is how Bob and I spent a perfect Saturday in June.

It started with a ride on the Essex steam train, which took us up to Haddam for the start of the Haddam Bridge Centennial parade!

I’ve never seen a parade come across a bridge!  It was great fun!  I’ve now seen the Moodus Fife and Drum Corps at numerous parades in this area.  They are terrific!…and they have a wide range of ages in the group, from what looks like high school students to retirees! ….men and women!

Next over the bridge was the oldest car in the area.  This looks like a horse drawn carriage that was fitted with some kind of motor and a tiller for steering.  There were about 30 antique cars in this parade, and they were all beautiful!

There was a ceremonial opening of the bridge, and isn’t it pretty with its fresh coat of paint?

When this bridge was built in 1913, it had one of the longest opening spans.  On this June day in 2013, the river was very swollen with spring rains and the current was running hard.  The local ferry at Chester was not running due to the high waters.  The dock was under water, and the river currents were ripping by at more than 5 knots!

There were festivities all through the town of East Haddam, and we spent some time enjoying the views of the river and the Goodspeed Opera House, which is celebrating its 50th year.  This is a postcard New England town, and when it’s decorated for a celebration it is just breathtaking!

We crossed the river and boarded the Becky Thatcher steamboat for the second half of this great trip.

It’s hard to believe that the banks of the Connecticut River are still so rural and undeveloped.  In our area the river passes through hills called the Seven Sisters.  At the summit of the Seventh Sister is Gillette Castle, an eccentric dwelling built in 1853, by the actor William Gillette who played the role of Sherlock Holmes on stage for many years.

On the western shore on top of another hill in Deep River, is the Mount St. John school for boys.

In Deep River we got back on the steam train for our return to Essex.  I loved sitting in the parlour car with comfy swiveling wing chairs!  I didn’t want to leave!

….and this was just the first half of our beautiful Saturday in June.  We then drove across the Haddam Bridge on our own wheels to visit the Salem Herb Farm. 

I met my friend Jody who works at the farm.  She grows a large field of garlic at her own home, and now is the time of year when she cuts the scapes in order for the plants to use their energy toward making bigger garlic bulbs.  The scapes are good used like chives, only with a powerful garlic flavor.  Jody loves using scapes to make pesto, substituting scapes for basil.  I thought that was a wonderful idea at a time of year when scapes are plentiful and basil is not quite yet!  So last night’s dinner was scape pesto on linguine with a salad of local lettuce and hothouse tomatoes….a delicious way to end a beautiful weekend!

In Full Swing

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Everything seems in full swing now…. I am making progress on projects I missed all fall and winter, and at last (!!) I’ve connected with the interest groups in my new area: weavers, knitters, dyers, and lace makers!  It’s all very exciting and inspiring to me.

Earlier this week I met my oldest friend at the Lyme Art Association while she was dropping of her sculpture “Daughter” that will be on display as part of the upcoming exhibit by the Hudson Valley Art Association. Right nearby was a bronze bust of Robert Frost done by Jose Bascaglia. Exciting works! My friend also has a piece in the National Sculpture Society’s exhibit that is traveling this summer (Lea Ann’s piece is “Virga,” the first image on the page).

It was a soft green drizzly day , and LeaAnn and I decided to walk through the grounds of the Florence Griswold Museum where the gardens were in soft focus.

On my daily walks I pass a certain fence that is about 100 feet long and bedecked in this lovely candy striped rose.

Later in the summer this same fence will serve as support for about a million sunflowers.  The sunflower seedlings are already up!  And to add to the ambience there is a huge lawn just beyond this fence border that is home to a beautiful yellow barn and two Weimaraners who are often out frolicking on the lawn.  There is always something beautiful to see at this spot along my walk!

And in my own garden this summer I have a passion flower vine growing in a pot.  The first flower opened this morning!

Surrounded by so many flowers, it’s no wonder I’m thinking about them for my next tapestry.  I am halfway through the final pear in my ‘Trail of Pears,’ so I’ve been designing the next tapestry.  I’m intrigued by a still life based on a woodcut of nasturtiums in a bowl.

I am enjoying taking this pot of nasturtiums and putting it into an environment….perhaps with a window behind and some curtains, the edge of a table…. we’ll see.

Mid-Spring

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Is there anything with as much promise as mid-spring?  My gardens, my projects, my whole world is all hope and possibility.

I’ve completed pear #4 in my ‘Trail of Pears.’  Each pear has brought  harder color decisions, and #4 caused me to call on the advice of both my husband and younger son.  I had every shade of gold in my yarn palette out and none of them worked.  Chris helped me let go of my preconceived notion that the pear had to be in the yellow family.  That pear is a tan that I would never have considered if not for Chris. Now it’s finished and soon the background around pear #5 (the final pear) will be finished as well, which will mean making the final pear color choice.  I plan to be at my Wednesday Group class next week so I can get some input from all the weavers there.  Whew!

When I’m not weaving the pears I’ve been spinning some silk.  Does anyone remember Carol Weymar who called herself the silk worker. I can’t find her anymore! I used to buy her handpainted silk roving, so I have a little collection of them.  I always wanted a bit more than 2 ounces from her, but she never had more than that of any given painted way.  I took this as a challenge to me to learn to spin finer, hoping to get 1,000 yards out of that 2 oz.  Well, I still can’t do it!

So, to the latest colorway which I will call ‘mid-spring’ (all the colors of a spring garden, except blue) I am adding a strand of luscious 50/50 merino/silk.  The merino is a warm natural color, something I might call ‘almond,’ and the silk is a shimmering white.  Spun together I’m getting a lovely shade of cream and I hope it will be stunning plied with the 100% painted silk from Carol.  I’d like to start plying right now, but I will force myself to let the newly finished merino/silk set overnight.  Boy, I can’t wait for tomorrow!

It’s 90 degrees outside today, one of those abnormally hot spring days we sometimes have.  My basement studio is a cool respite on a day like this, and the view cool and green.

Have I mentioned that I live on the edge of a large nature preserve? May offers up so many beautiful sights there…. lady slippers are in bloom and we found a robin’s egg on the ground! There are dragon flies everywhere, and the hummingbirds arrived.  I’ve seen eagles soaring above our house.

 Yes, it’s all hope and promise around here.

 

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