Weaverly

Cut Off

Flash! Off the loom this morning and whisked out to Ampersand House for a snapshot:

Five and a half yards of cotton/lyocell. I had originally thought table napkins, but perhaps it would rather become a Japanese style jacket. I'll see what it feels like after wet finishing. It's a wee bit stiff right now, but that may change.

There's definitely some iridescence, which really surprised me, as it didn't appear while the cloth was on the loom under tension. But outdoors in sunlight it showed up. A nice surprise.

If you're looking for a really good book to take on vacation (or for your staycation), I have a recommendation for you. I just finished Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children and loved it. Here's Meghan O'Rourke's review to whet your appetite.

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Color Added

Into the Round

Quindecagon

Quindecagon. A polygon with fifteen sides and fifteen angles.

When friend Nicki first laid eyes on this quindecagonal house, it had lain empty and derelict for several years. First built in the early Sixties, it looks somewhat like a yurt.  Nicky had the vision to know its potential, and she hired architects Willy & his partner Jennifer to design a renovation. The finished result was unveiled at a reception yesterday. The radiating roof beams come together in a central skylight. It's full of natural light. It's a gem, inside and out. It will be featured in a local publication later this year, and I'll be sure to point you to the link.

Neighborhood Fiber, One Stop OS, and a Flash of White

On my walk this morning, two fiber objects met my eye. First was a wicker chair put out for trash collection. Biodegradable fiber. Second was a metal fence interlaced with vinyl strips. Could we call this triaxial weaving? In any event, probably not biodegradable.

Here's a heads up on One Stop Open Studios, a fun Greenville event. Metropolitan Arts Council assembles a conglomeration of work by artists who have participated in Open Studios in past years, and all the pieces have to be 12x12. I'll have a new jacquard piece in this show.

One-Stop Open Studios Retrospective Exhibit
April 26 – May 27th, 2016
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 14 | 6:00 – 9:00 p.m

Now for me new warp in jeans twill. Naturals and earth tones, with a flash of white. Two cones of bleached white, languishing on my shelves for years, will finally see the light of day. I don't usually like bleached white, but nestled as an accent among natural yarns, they will be fine.

Grids and Ungrids

Grids. When you first notice them, suddenly they are everywhere. This is a small part of Catalina's model horse barn. She constructed it of popsicle sticks, thousands and thousands of them, with only a glue gun. Click to enlarge. The amount of telling detail is astounding.

This morning's first look out the kitchen window revealed another grid. I see this one every day as I make breakfast, but this morning, with a sheen of ice, the deck had another layer of reflections, revealing a third grid overlaying the first two.

I went outside with my iPhone to get a closer look, and gosh darn it, the ice was slippery!

No bones broken.

Happy New Year to all. 

 

Two Old Textile Mills

Two of South Carolina's defunct textile mills are near my home. Yesterday we visited the Brandon Mill, which is being renovated into apartments. This pictures was taken from inside the Greenville Center for Creative Arts, housed in part of the old mill complex. We now have a new art school! The GCCA also contains beautiful studio spaces and an art gallery. 

Today we drove to the old Woodside Mill, near Spartanburg. One hundred years ago it was the largest cotton mill in the U.S. under one roof. This is all that's left of it today.

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End of Warp Decisions

Black on Black

In Which We Compare Aspect Ratio

The bumpy sample is finished. Because the weft yarns were relatively bulky, the aspect ratio of the design is elongated. This makes little difference to me when I use geometric designs--it only becomes important when recognizable real world images are used. So I just barrel along. First, here is the elongated sample:

Then I began another sample, same file, with yarns of smaller grist. Here you can see difference in aspect ratio. The gray sample is more compressed vertically:

The second secondary weft is metallic in the new sample - it shows as little sparkly donuts, or fireflies if you will. I found it difficult to photograph; I wanted you to see the sparkly effect, but it doesn't show up well here.

Time to call in the big guns. Thanks, Bruce, for the following photo, with all the sparkly goodness:

These days I feel like shouting, "Your 24-hour lampas station, all lampas, all the time." But I do get outdoors once in a while. I present for your enjoyment the dappled shadows outside my studio door. Any resemblance to lampas is purely coincidental.

And then of course there is always an escape to Ampersand House, which in this season is adorned with roses and gardenia. Good to take a break and do some reading here.

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A Bigger Piece

Compare and Contrast

3 Wefts

Day to Day Life in River City

Maggie thinks she is a human. Her favorite brunch is bagels & lox.

Last night we got some sleet; nothing to compare with weather in the Northeast, but they do close schools here when the roads are icy. This is what my backyard looked like when I was making the coffee this morning (that's the roof of Ampersand House in the background):

Then as I settled in for some morning warmup weaving drafts on the computer, I looked out the front window and saw this enthusiast photographing the icicles on my poor camellia bush:

Click on any of these to enlarge.

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Know When to Fold Them

Destruction

The old Miami Herald building, soon to be no more.

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Circles

Little Shirts

Home Repairs

Downstairs I am cleaning up the studio again. After each frenzy of activity the mess is worse, by record levels. In sports terms, I am always exceeding my personal best. Or personal worst; it's a toss-up.

Meanwhile upstairs Mark is putting in a new door. When he took a break to pick up his kids, he thoughtfully taped over the openings to keep the cool inside. Beautiful!

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Restricting Granite Floats

Tearing Paper

Fairy Houses

Gathering Trees

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.

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Trees & Books

The Wonderful, the Beautiful, and the Unbelievable