Yarn Bits

Vat Dyeing

The last couple of days I have been finishing the dyeing processes for my woven shibori scarves.  The final process in some cases is vat dyeing.  The dye pot holds a combination of water, vat dye powder, lye and thiorea dioxide.  One must be extra cautious when working with this combo, so in addition to the usual mask for mixing dye powders and the usual rubber gloves, I also don protective eye goggles and heavy duty rubber gloves that are shoulder height.  The extra gear is to protect from any potential splash with the lye in the mix.  I have never had a problem, but have always worn the extra goggles and long, long gloves.  This dye mixture will discharge the colour it hits and drop in the new colour which kind of cool.  If you simply want to discharge leave out the dye powder.  The vat dyes themselves will not discharge.  This fact came in handy as a couple of the scarves I did not like the combos of colour and simply put into a discharge bath and all but the vat dye discharged.  I was much happier with the final result.

New Sites Found

I have found 2 wonderful, exciting websites to explore and, in one case, to interact with.  They were both discovered through reading my latest edition of Fiberarts magazine.

www.fiberscene.com   a huge collection of various textile artists which I have only begun to explore

www.digitalthreads.ca  digital artworks from Canadian artists and the Textile Museum of Canada.  This is completely interactive site where you can play for hours.  I'll have to return.  Kai Chan's work requires a substantial amount of time to fully explore.

Have fun!!

Woven Shibori Scarves

It has taken an incredibly long time to complete just seven of these scarves. I used 2/16 Tencel for the warps and 2/10 for the wefts and just love the finished "hand".  Now that all have been woven and gathered and, in some cases, dyed a background colour, I have begun the final dye processes and was able to complete 3 of the scarves today.  Gathering threads are out and these 3 scarves are all washed and dried and ready to go.  I should be able to finish the rest this week.

As soon as the Just for Us Originals Show  www.just-for-us.biz   is finished on April 5th, I want to set up my new, smaller Weavebird www.leclerclooms.com   for the very first time and give it a try.  I think I will design a couple of woven shibori scarves with a twill background and an overshot pattern and perhaps not have the shibori for the entire length of the piece.  It's a design idea I'd like to try out and then perhaps use for a wrap down the road sometime.  I also want to try a discharged black Tencel scarf and also, using the black Tencel, dye some scarves in a vat dye which will supposedly remove the black and deposit the new colour where it hits.  It's worth some experimenting, I think.  I'll keep you posted.

Loom for Sale

Hello everyone.  I've been completely out of the picture for a whole week now with a very nasty virus, fever and total lack of drive to do anything other than sleep.  I guess my body needed it, but I'm sure behind with quite a few things, one of which is this blog.

I had a request to publicize a loom for sale and said I would be happy to post it here.  Nancy Newman is wanting to sell her 45" Weavebird and all its accessories.  Here are the details.....................................

16 shaft LeClerc Weavebird 45" production loom, includes bench, 1" sectional warp beam, spool rack, 30 spools, counter and tension box, dividers and sectional warp beam guides and $750. Weavemaker Computer Software Program for MAC.  Total new would be $8,872.00.  All pieces less than 4 years old.  Asking $5,800. or best offer.  Talk to me!!  I need to sell this.  Contact Nancy Newman  905-852-4772  or nancy@nancynewman.ca

This is an excellent loom.  When I downsized earlier this year I traded my 45" Weavebird for another one, only smaller, which fits nicely into my home studio.  This is a good deal for someone looking to try a computer assisted loom. 

Woven Shibori

This is what I'm working on at the moment, some woven shibori scarves for the Just for Us Originals event on April 5  www.just-for-us.biz   As mentioned in a previous post, the weaving is finished, but now the real work begins.  These are a couple of the scarves that I have dyed before gathering up the fishing line supplementary wefts.  Looking closely you should be able to see the glistening of the fishing line.  I did find some that was a dark gray colour in Florida that I thought might be easier to see as I weave. I found it at a Pro Bass store so you may also be able to find it here.  The colour helped a little, especially when I was weaving in natural light during the day. I don't always dye the fabric before gathering it up, but for this series of 7 I want to try and make each of them quite different in colour as the patterning from the shibori will all be similar. I'll keep you posted with phot os as I go.

Shibori Progress

Well, I have finished weaving my shibori scarves and amazingly, I have 7 scarves when I only planned for 6.  I must admit, I always allow plenty of extra warp. I have run out of warp for projects in the past, during my early days of weaving. Now begins all the fringing, gathering and dyeing.  I usually dye each piece a minimum of 3 times using various techniques and dye types.  Some of the pieces I plan to dye before gathering and some I will go straight to gathering up the fishing line and then begin the dye processes.  Sorry there are no photos today, but I promise to get some as I go along.

On a completely different subject, I have found some additional websites for you to explore.  Try these when you have a spot of time to indulge yourself.  I have only glanced at them, but plan to go back and study them in more detail as time allows.

http://www.creativityjournal.blogspot.com  the amount of information here is amazing  This URL doesn't seem to want to work from here, but try typing in this address from your computer, outside of this blog.  It is worth having a look at for sure.

www.colour-journal.org  an online journal launched by the Society of Dyers and Colourist, UK

Website Adventures

I was lucky enough to get a subscription to the  UK magazine "Selvedge" for Christmas from Don.  It was on my suggestion, I must admit, but it is a great read and gives a little insight into what's happening across the sea.  As a result I also get their newsletter and from there discover a few interesting sites.  This time around I found a site   www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com  What intrigued me to investigate further was a picture of fabric covered thumbtacks.  On this blog there are complete and simple directions for making these tacks.  We all know how many bits and pieces of leftover fabrics we have stashed away.  Here's another unique use for them.  This graphic artist also has some really neat fabrics for sale.  There are links from this site to many others as well.  Have fun.

I just drove over to Hamilton this morning to deliver postcard invitations to the Just for Us Originals event on April 5  www.just-for-us.biz  See a few posts back for more talk.  There is a business in Hamilton called "The Pearl Company Arts Centre"  www.thepearlcompany.ca  The building was formerly a costume jewellery business, hence the name.  Barbara Milne, co-owner and curator at the Pearl, organizes 'art bus tours' the first and second Friday evenings each month in and around Hamilton.  Don and I were on one of the tours last summer and enjoyed it immensely and will definitely do it again. Being old Hamiltonians, it was interesting to wander through some of the areas that are becoming part of a developing arts scene there.  Barbara was kind enough to take some postcard invitations to the Just for Us event to drop into the grab bags that she hands out to all the tour participants.  Thanks Barbara.  It's always just as much work to get the word out about these events as it is to plan the event itself, so we are grateful for any help we can get to spread the word.

Typical Day

Last Friday was a pretty typical day here at the home base.  I was weaving, working on a series of woven shibori scarves that need to be finished soon to display and sell at the Just for Us Originals event on April 5.  I talked in more detail about this day in the last post.  www.just-for-us.biz  I'm now weaving number 5 of the 6.  It's the gathering, dyeing and the ungathering that has to happen after the weaving is finished that has me worried.  Don was busy winding skeins for handpainting.  Yarns Plus is showing and selling at two knitting shows this spring, one in late April and another in early May.  Luckily I have been knitting some samples in preparation for these events. Using our 3/5 Tencel, I now have 4 pairs of socks and a 5th pair underway.  I think I can borrow a handknit shawl that used our finer 2/10 Tencel and I have a few knit scarves with showing the finer yarn, so we're getting there.

I attended a luncheon and lecture by Sally Melville at the Burlington Art Centre this afternoon.  Sally is a fabulous speaker.  Today's topic was "Creativity", what it is and how to get it and use it.  Sally is an author and an avid knitter, but everything she said could easily be transferred to weaving as well.  I recommend that you get a hold of some of her books.  I have one of them which I think I have referred to in a past blog--"Book 3: Colour  the power and the glory", but I'm going to try and find some additional ones as well.  She had wonderful examples of her knitting designs with her to share.  Congratulations to the Burlington Weavers' Guild for a truly enjoyable and inspirational Sunday afternoon. There are two more lectures hosted by the Guild, one by William Hodge on June 1 entitled "The future of the Fibre Arts" and another on Number 2 by Arthur Greenblatt who is the executive director of the Dundas Vallery School of Art.  His topic is "The Unpopular Image of the Artist in the Popular Culture".  You can reserve tickets ($35.) by calling Eleanor Roberts at 905-637-1788 or Lesley French at 905-639-9544.  I certainly found it was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.