Cinderella meets Sleeping Beauty…..
This is an amazing blend of Art & Craft and IS a working spinning wheel!!!
Click on this link Andy Paiko Glass Spinning Wheel to see it in action.
It is spellbinding!!!
Alas, this wheel is one of a kind and has already been sold, but if you’re lucky enough to be in Washington, D.C. before 3 Feb then you can see it in the Craft Futures exhibition at the Renwick Gallery.
Posted in Interesting stuff | Tags: Art, cinderella, paiko, renwick gallery, sleeping beauty, spinning wheel
My Festive Exchange bag arrived today!!
It was made by Brigitte Liebig a weaver from Germany – near the Swiss border.
The ‘walls’ are woven with cotton warp and handspun linen weft and the towers are woven in a shadow weave pattern to represent the very narrow spiral staircases in three of the towers. She used commercial fabric for the sky (blue) and the bottom/base (brick pattern)
Her inspiration came from a visit to Castel de Monte in South Italy. The guidebook suggested taking a photo from the ground of the inner courtyard up to the sky.
Posted in Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving | Tags: architecture, clothing, fashion, style
I spent this week getting my loom warped and ready for weaving.
I’m using a simple frame loom with nails to hold the warp.
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1. The nails are set so I will have 8 warp ends per inch (8 epi)
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2. A support devise holds the heddle bars. Since the weaving starts at the bottom and moves upward the heddle bar support is only clamped to the frame this way I can move it higher when needed.
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3. Next I looped string around every other warp thread.
Using as second bar I looped the remain warps.
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4. When the heddle bars are in the neutral position the warp is at rest.
When I raise a bar, the heddles lift every other warp thread creating the ‘shed’.
This way I don’t have to lift each warp individually = weaving is much faster!!!
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5. Now let the weaving begin……
October was a sad time with the death of my mother-in-law, Gertrude Margaret Marion Gruber (1927-2012).
Marge was gentle spirit and an amazing fiber person – knitting, embroidery, and sewing many of her own outfits as well an amazing Santa suit, plus so many Halloween costumes.
November was spent on the road with storytelling events and getting ready for the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild Holiday sale so again… not much time to be posting. Here’s a look at the new scarves & purses. If you’re still looking for that ‘one-of-kind’ gift for the holidays…. let me know!!
At the Holiday Sale I had a blast giving a 2 hr felting demo:
If you have group that might be interested in having me come and talk about felting and fibers…. let me know!!
The final days of November were spent making a small bag for the annual ‘Festive Exchange’ with the OnLine Guild. This is something fun for our members to be part of, to show off our love of all things fibre, and especially to get to know a few more members of the guild better since we come from all around the world. This year’s theme is a Bag.
I made a bag for knitter, spinner and dyer (natural dyes) who lives on Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Since she lives on Prince Edward Island and I’m in Michigan, the water and waves of the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes were my inspiration with different shades of blue and the froth of whitecaps. The button reminded me of a compass rose from the old nautical charts.
To make the fabric for the bag I wet felted carded wool fibers and used a variety of wool and synthetic fibers as embellishment with wool yarn representing her knitting and spinning and a bit of red to for her dye work. The bag is long enough to hold knitting needles or maybe even a drop spindle.
The bag that is coming to me is being made by a weaver (floor loom & tablet) and Kumihimo braider who lives in Germany near the Swiss border. I’ve just gotten an email letting me know that the bag is on it’s way here = I’m excited!! I’ll post a photo once it arrives.
And now December begins…..
Working on finishing touches for items to have at the AAFG Holiday Sale THIS Saturday – Nov 10th (10a-4p) at Washtenaw Community College. I’m doing demos = Felting (10-12) and Weaving (12-2).
AAFG Holiday Sale is coming up on Nov 10th (10-4 at Washtenaw Community College) so I’ll be weaving & felting from now until then! Over the next weeks I’ll be posting some of the items I’ll have at the sale.
This week I’m working on ribbon scarves.
This is AMAZING!!!
Spider Wranglers Weave One-Of-A-Kind Tapestry
This article has more details
Spider silk at the V&A – A tangled (and exquisite) web they wove
Posted in Interesting stuff
Today’s plan is to do the finishing work on the 2 tapestry samples I wove this spring and summer. I need to weave in the loose ends on the back….
…sew up the slits on the sides of the green pot, cut this one off the loom, then weave in the loose ends on the back.
My current tapestry project is to weave a ‘Green Man’. The Green Man is an ancient symbol of nature and is found throughout the world.
I’m starting with a painting (used with permission) by Andrea Gruber
I figured out how large I wanted to make it = 17″ x 22″
With the help of fellow fiber artist – Anne Flora – I dyed the wool I’ll be using for the weaving.
Every weaving tells a story.......
adventures in fiber
a little stitching, weaving, writing & hiking
Bringing the outside in
a dialogue for storytellers and story lovers
a self-taught artist discusses acrylic painting, photoshop and the creative process.
Artist | RN | Art Educator
Follow me as I weave along the way
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Barbara Schutzgruber - Storyteller & Weaver 