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Here's a particularly good catch. The structure appears to be just a basic warp tapestry (a double weave with multiple warp colors and a weft consisting of a dark, a light, and a binder), but I love the composition. It really brightens up a waiting room. Click to enlarge.
She said "Bring dessert" but I didn't have anything in the house, so I bought these. They smelled exactly like watermelon.
In other news…I bought a set of cards for tablet weaving 48 years ago. I brought them to the hospital with me when I went into labor. I thought I'd have plenty of time for weaving. Whatever was I thinking. The cards are so old that they have turned brown around the edges, but they are still perfectly functional. They have Lily Mills and Mary M. Atwater imprinted on the front. I'm using them again for some tablet weaving experiments. Tapes for bookmaking? Perhaps.
Must start taking control of those edges.
bonanza (bəˈnanzə)
a large amount of something desirable: the festive feature film bonanza.
ORIGIN early 19th cent. (originally US, esp. with reference to success when mining): from Spanish, literally ‘fair weather, prosperity,’ fromLatin bonus ‘good.’
Monday brought a bonanza of jacquard sightings. Here, without further ado, may I present:
And as if that weren't enough pattern, there was also the elevator:
And this indecently extravagant tree at the front door:
In spite of all the cold weather, it is evident that the trees are about to erupt into buds, blossoms, and leaves, and if I want to restock my inventory of pictures of bare branches, I'd better be quick about it. On my Sunday morning walk I took these, being careful there were no approaching cars as I aimed my phone up into the sky. The neighbors are accustomed to seeing this strange behavior, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious.
In spinning territory, the bobbin is enjoying a splash of color.
And in the department of the absolutely gorgeous, Bhakti sent me this link to photos of the installation of her latest jacquard work. It is so beautiful. If I lived anywhere near New Jersey now, I would go immediately to Princeton to see this.
Seen on my walk. It appears every spring for a few days. I stop and enjoy.
Finished weaving the red book cover. The background is handspun red Corriedale. Lampas.
Life and art go in tandem, if you're paying attention. At lunch yesterday, I saw this display at the Mekong, my favorite restaurant. Working in series drives the artist to perfect the object in small increments through constant repetition.
Back in the studio, the Group of Six posed for their semiofficial portrait.
The view from the top is much more interesting, I think.
Then there is the scene stealer. She always begs for more attention.
First, the incredible camellia outside my bedroom window. It's actually two very tall bushes intertwined, a white and a red (isn't there a fairy tale about that?). I can see its lower branches from my studio, and the upper branches from the bedroom. First the white one blooms, then a few weeks later the red one takes over.
Here's a rare jacquard upholstery sighting in a waiting room. I almost missed it, as there are only two chairs with this pattern; all the others are leatherette. Really made my day.
It makes more sense to process several spines at once. I've cut six strips of leather and am gluing them to the insides of the covers. After the glue dries, the sewing guide holes get punched.
Then I use the same templates to punch the signatures.
After the sewing, I glue the wrapping cords inside the flap.
After the glue dries, wrap 'er up!
I needed a new sketchbook just for me, and set to work on a stack of signatures made of pale gray Stonehenge paper. The cover is very plain, just boards covered with unryu paper. This will be a working book. For the binding, I used coptic sewing with an added tab. The tab is a scrap of handwoven cotton twill fabric backed with two layers of fusible interfacing, for strength.
The endpapers are peach Canson paper, and the first and last signatures have a narrow wrapping of the same peach paper. These wrappings are glued to the endpapers after the binding is sewn, to stiffen up the connection between signatures and covers.
I needed a way to indicate the front cover, as front & back are otherwise identical. Scrapbag to the rescue! A wee bit of jacquard.
And a closer look…
Six book covers in progress. After cutting the fabric from the loom, I coated the back with acrylic matte medium and let it dry. The shapes were cut from a cardboard pattern, and the next step will be to paint a fine line of acrylic medium around the edges on the right side to control ravelling. More to come.