Weaverly

Trains: A Collaboration

Bruce has amassed quite a collection of train photos and I suggested that we collaborate on a one-off handbound book on this subject.

I prepared a Photoshop layout in which to "drop in" photos, so that we could print two folios at a time on a single sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 paper (front and back). Bruce supplied me with 72 of his gorgeous black and white train photos on disk. I winnowed these down to 69, composited the photos and title page onto the layout, and Bruce printed the composites on his Epson printer on Aurora Fine Art Natural, a heavyweight matte paper from Red River Paper. The result was six signatures of 3 folios each, or 72 pages.

For the cover, I wanted something elegant and understated, so as not to detract from the photos, and selected black Tyvek. I machine stitched undulating lines on the cover material in shades of white and gray thread, to suggest train tracks. I then glued the Tyvek to boards, and for the endpapers I selected aubergine drawing paper to pick up the aubergine cast of the toning Bruce uses on his prints.

 

 

 

 

Here's a spine picture, showing the coptic stitching:

 

…and of course there's a little jacquard slipcase to protect the book in Bruce's briefcase during journeys to and from Photoshop classes.

 

Finished size of book: 4-1/2 x 5-3/4".

 

Open Studios

Twenty-six years ago I signed up for Open Studios, and the experience was less than wonderful. First of all, my newly-installed computer-assisted dobby loom failed (for the first and only time in its life) during a weaving demonstration in front of 30 people. I know that all looms have their good days and bad days, but I was disappointed that this loom chose this particular day to fail. Second of all, one of the visitors to my studio suffered a health emergency, and the rest of the afternoon was spent in seeing that she was taken to the appropriate medical facility. It was not a good day. After that, I was never very enthusiastic about taking part in another Open Studios day, even though my friends always report that it's a great thing to do. I do, however, enjoy visiting other studios, and yesterday Mimi and Catalina and I made the rounds. 

A four-year-old tends to focus on certain things in an artists' studio:

 

At another studio she found a secret cubby-hole under a staircase, complete with children's books, and she entertained herself there while we looked at Art.

 

I saw lots of art, but for some reason my favorite impression of the day is of the beautiful light streaming in through the windows of this particular studio:

 

Maybe next year I'll sign up for Open Studios.

A Broom of One's Own

I enjoy reading about writing. Some of my favorite books about the writing life are Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott; On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Steven King; The Alberta trilogy by Cora Sandel; and A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf.

Now I have another favorite, from a suggestion by Tommye in her blog post of Sept. 27: 

 

It's called A Broom of One's Own by Nancy Peacock. Nancy is a wonderful writer who supported herself as a house cleaner while writing her first two novels. She writes convincingly about finding time and space for one's art, and about listening to the authentic voice within. This book is by turns hilarious and deeply touching. And Ms. Peacock crafts a darn good sentence, too. I found myself reading parts of it out loud to anyone within hearing distance. Thanks, Tommye, for recommending this.

Winterthur

After a frog-strangling rain, today dawned sunny and brisk, a perfect fall day, and a good day to visit Winterthur, the DuPont museum and gardens in Wilmington, Delaware.

 

 

Here is some ingrain carpeting, a type of double weave:

 

The gardens were in full fall splendor.

 

 

 

 

And in the late afternoon, four tired photographers made their way to Chesapeake City, Maryland, at the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, just in time for the last rays of sunset over the canal.

A Vegetable, a Collage & Another Book

An interesting design activity is to find patterns in sliced fruits and vegetables. The direction of the slice makes a big difference. I've used apples sliced crosswise as a source of imagery for jacquard weaving.

 

A few nights ago I sliced a red cabbage while preparing dinner, and the lengthwise slice produced this tree image (click to enlarge):

 

Switching gears—here's a collaged photo from my trip to the Transportation Museum:

 

…and finally, yesterday's book:

Old Sock Monkey (AKA Minkie) turned up in the background and kinda stole the show. He's a story for another day.

Let's All Go to the Fair

What do you do on a beautiful fall Saturday? Go to the fair! This fair is the Trillium Art Festival in Travelers Rest, SC.

For pattern seekers, the outstanding booth was this one, Pysanky (Ukranian Easter Eggs) by Steve Saxe (click to enlarge):

 

To add an audio dimension to the experience, these birdhouse windchimes were fun:

Night Gardening and a Change of Plans

A book I really enjoyed at BookOpolis is the work of Cynthia Colbert, entitled Night Gardening. Here's the carved poplar cover:

…and the spine in longstitch over tapes:

…and finally, a little video of a cooperative bystander turning the pages of Cynthia's book: 

 

According to the label, the materials used are paste paper, waxed linen, carved poplar, milk paint, laser printed on linen/cotton stock, illustration board & book cloth.

And now for the Department of Best Laid Plans. I did actually go down to the studio yesterday morning and turned on the dobby loom, and when I opened the first shed, there was a loud clunk and a cable connector broke. A replacement is on the way. Meanwhile, I had two choices: start another warp for loom #2, which is at the end of its current warp, or paste up a cover for another book. Guess which one I chose. 

BookOpolis

Yesterday Mimi and I drove to Asheville to see BookOpolis at the Asheville BookWorks. What a great event! In spite of the terrible weather, BookWorks was packed from wall to wall with artists and art book lovers of all ages. There were demonstrations of printing, paper making, binding, and woodblock carving; participants were encouraged to print and bind their own small book; and there were books, books, books to admire and even pick up and examine. Here is just a small sampling of what we saw: 

If you're in the Asheville area, you can still see the exhibition until October 2. 

Tapestry Weavers South

If you're anywhere within driving distance of Anderson, SC (or even if you're not!) a visit to the Anderson Arts Center will be well worth your while. From now until October 16, Tapestry Weavers South is featured in a juried exhibition. Twenty-two weavers are represented, some by several tapestries each, in this breathtaking exhibition. The work is beautiful, and the galleries are spacious and well lighted. I loved this show! Check it out.

Apples & Honey

To all my friends out there in Cyberland, I send New Year's greetings.

• May all your relationships be round
• May all your pixels be square
• May all your colors be fast
• May all your warps be strong

And may you have a year filled with joy and sweetness.