Weaverly

Callaway III

Callaway, Again

Snake Journal Just Posted in Etsy Shop

One of my favorite books ever, the Snake book, is now available on Etsy. Is there a herpetologist in your life? Or someone who appreciates exotic pattern? Or a lover of Lampas? This might be the perfect gift for any one of these folks. It's a small blank journal (4 1/2 x 3 1/2") with lots of pages and fits comfortably in the hand.

Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia

Some photos from a trip to Callaway Gardens for a photography workshop. The topic was nighttime photography. My night results were puzzling, but in the daytime I hit my comfort zone. Over the next few days I'll be posting some of both. Meanwhile, the Department of Weaving reorganizes and regroups. Stay tuned.

Snake Book, Part One

The fabric was a jacquard wall hanging in its previous life. The weave structure is lampas, and the imagery is based on a photo of a beautiful snake in the Greenville Zoo. I coated the back of the fabric with acrylic matte medium, and after it had dried I could cut and bend it just like leather. Here it is cut to the shape of a wraparound book cover. I've glued a strip of leather inside to reinforce the spine area, and when it dries in a few hours I'll be punching and stitching. There are many such pauses in the bookmaking process. Choices, choices. I can either put another load of laundry in the washer, or set a batch of bread to rise, or weave a couple of feet of cloth, of go grocery shopping, or pay bills, or tear down paper, or read a book…

Pine Mountain, Georgia

At Callaway Gardens

Sent from my iPhone

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Yikes! Another crepe scarf. Here's a screen shot of the draft in pixeLoom. Three repeats are shown:

And here's the finished scarf The weft a rosy pink. No floats longer than 3, so it is a little tighter weave this time. 

Autumn In My Neighborhood

This is the best autumn I can remember. The leaves linger on here longer than in past years, it seems. Every day brings new colors. Saturday I went for a long walk. Saw some great trees.

My neighbor was out with his leaf blower. 

I don't usually think the transformers are interesting, but with the evening sun behind them they become magisterial. 

I think this guy doesn't realize Halloween is over. Time to go back where you came from, sir.

No sooner does neighbor Tony take down his Halloween decorations than he is putting up the Christmas ones. Good grief, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But it does look like this will be an exceptional display. The see-saw Santa is new.

You never know whom you'll meet on an afternoon's walk. Here's Larry! I haven't seen him in ages.

Pillows Completed

The pillows I showed in progress here are now finished. I hand stitched the final seams a couple of nights ago while listening to Mozart. The haphazard meeting of the stripes at the seamlinesjust called out for a photograph on the spot, without special lights or background. Observant viewers will notice the Simon & Garfunkel album on the upper left.

These pillows are long and narrow, 14" by 24". I used polyester pillow forms purchased online for stuffing. Some day I will tell you the story of how the carton of 12 pillow forms compressed into one small cardboard box for shipping arrived on my doorstep, and what happened when I opened the box.

 

Two New Books

These books were completed a few months ago. I've been dragging my feet about listing them on Etsy, because—frankly—I love them so much I didn't want to part with them. They both have jacquard-woven covers in lampas weave, with handspun pattern yarns. The pages are Frankfurt, a paper made in Germany by the Zerkall company. It's a heavier weight paper, and feels divine. As for the covers—what can I say? They look good, feel good, and function unobtrusively. But it's time to let them go. If you're looking for the perfect gift for one of the creatives in your life (yourself, perhaps?), you might take a look at these.

The first book (labeled 007) sports an abstract doodle in handspun hand dyed wool and alpaca. Click to enlarge.

The second book (labeled 006), also has a lampas cover. The imagery is based on a photo of bare-branched trees. One of the pattern wefts is handspun wool, and the second pattern weft is orange commercially spun cotton. Warp for both is black cotton and peach silk.

The cloth for both these covers was woven on a TC-1 (jacquard) loom. The books are available for purchase in my Etsy shop.