Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Learning To Spin


It is damp and grey here and I have a bad cough. So I am using this time to learn to spin on my new spinning wheel. I am reminded of learning to bake bread. As a young woman, I was determined to make all the bread for my family. When I brought some to my Mother (the master bread maker)to try, it was a bit heavy and she said, "Never mind. It will make good toast." While reading up on spinning wool, I read that your mistakes can always be used as "Art" yarn. So that is what I feel like I have been doing--making bread for "toast".

I am grateful to my Mother and Father who taught me that all things are possible. They made materials available to me and encouraged me to try things. So, I grew up knowing that I could do anything if I wanted to bad enough. Well I might not be a Master, but I could certainly learn to do it. Practise makes perfect.

So I will keep spinning and learning and having a good time. Maybe eventually, I will make bread that doesn't have to be toasted!
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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Reflecting

Reflecting
5"x5"

The large blue piece in this composition is
a reflector
 that fell off my mailbox into the road
 where it was run over a number of times.
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Friday, December 10, 2010

From A Pear Tree


Isn't this cool.
 I am so pleased.
This is a piece of cotton,
 solar dyed in a jar of bright colored Bradford Pear leaves.
The fabric was in there a couple of weeks.
Most days the sun shown in,
 but not all.
 I can hardly wait to sink another piece of fabric in the jar.
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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Beaded Scarf


A silk and wool Nuno felted scarf with square sequins and beading.
Have I lost my mind?
I almost decided to bead around the edges!
Thank goodness I came to my senses.
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Friday, December 3, 2010

Rinse and Rinse Again

This is the yarn I dip dyed in indigo.
I rinsed and rinsed
but
I should have rinsed again!
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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Into the Wild Blue


Playing with indigo again.
I was surprised that the dye in my ice bucket "vat" was still good. The yarn was aqua to begin with and I dipped some of it the indigo. I am anxious to roll it into balls but it is not completely dry yet. I also dropped a ball of white pearl cotton into the vat. It is definitely not dry yet.
The fabrics are both cottons.
On the blue and white one, I used a "school" glue resist. The other was folded, dyed, dried, folded and dyed again and then stamped.
 Now what?
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