Got a few new things going on here. I received this award from Charlotte and I am grateful for it! Charlotte is a weaver in Norway and I always love to see her pieces. Seeing her posts also makes me reminisce about a summer I spent in Stockholm, Sweden.
With the chimney gone, the next project was a new ceiling. We talked about a number of things and agreed at least to leave the existing ceiling in tact to contain the blown insulation in the attic. So we were back and forth with how could we work with the existing ceiling or how could we cover it up. Finally in exasperation, James said, "Why we just take 4' x 8' sheets of bead board and cut them into 4 foot squares? Then in Peavey fashion install them in an alternating pattern?" I ran to do some "sketch" ups on the computer and in 10 minutes it was decided. I think it's turned out well and I'm excited to see it with the joints caulked and a final coat of paint.
With taking off Intersecting Sine Waves off the loom, there are new opportunities there! I now have Peter Collingwood's book, so I pulled it out for inspiration on the finishing. I chose a twined edge since it did remind me most of sine waves (pg 503) and then a four-strand square sennit (p 496) for protecting the warp. Again it reminded me of the sine waves the way the strands come in and out. I'm excited to be able to "quote Collingwood" and I've almost decided I may do a set of samples of these finishes just to be able to see them in real life.
I have decided to warp the loom for the mat for Dakota's picture. The last time I warped this loom it was for 8" wide and I recreated the leashes "fresh" so to speak. That's where I create the leashes for the first time. The loom is warped and the leashes are fed around the back warps as seen to the right. If I'm really smart, I will create these leashes for the maximum width of the loom. I was really smart last time....Ultimately, I am a lazy creature. I don't want to recreate those leashes. So I've been playing with ways to reuse the leashes on subsequent warps. In my first class, it was mentioned that one woman used paper clips to connect the leashes to the warp. I came home and played with "Figure 8s". These worked in principle, but I found they were weak and tended to stretch each time I pulled the leash. So I purchased some split rings. It's essentially a really small key ring that I got from Fire Mountain Gems.
I placed one on the end of each of leash just like I'd put a key on a key ring.
Then I added the back warp that I'd like to control with the leash. And here they are connected, not getting tangled and seem rather strong compared with the figure 8s.
Now I am limited to a particular epi, but I technically could make one of these leash units for each epi. For now I am not venturing from 8 epi, so I'm covered for a while without having to create new leashes for this loom.
Here's the progress thus far on the mat. It will be 8" x 8" square and the picture if 4"w x 5"l. The picture will be off center horizontally and vertically. The grey block between the two scrap pieces of warp sticking out is the hem for the opening for the picture. It's rather simple since all I am doing is blending yarns for a vertical change in color. The yarn spun from Dakota's fur is so fragile, I thought I better keep it simple.
6 comments:
That's a great ceiling treatment!! It looks good already...and caulk and paint will only improve things!
Very timely to see you setting up your loom for a new project. I got a free tapestry loom at a spring guild meeting, and I'm hoping to warp it for some tapestry weaving on the beach in a few weeks. I'm hoping to teach my nieces and nephews different weaving things, and since I have that tapestry loom, a tapestry piece springs to mind!
The Dakota fur is certainly precious. It's looking great so far.
Sue
the split ring is a good idea Jenn, i'd never have thought of that.
Dakota's mat wil be very special and bring back lots of good memories. Maybe you could add a neutral colour very fine wool yarn as well to help support it. cheers, Kaite
Your new ceiling is really beautiful, what a good idea. I am looking forward to seeing more of the mat, I love those grey colors.
Sue - "Ceiling Treatment" - how perfect that's exactly what it is... I look forward to seeing what comes from the beach. You could incorporate shells in the weaving.... Lesson 21 here may be of help http://svam.org/education_lessons.html
Katie, the neutral coloe support is a good idea. the white is close to his yarn. I've been working hard to have no other plain white in the design, but I had not thought of blending white with DKA yarn. Hmmmm... As far as the split rings - it's all about not repeating work. I'd rather spend the time weaving.
Charlotte, I'm glad you like the ceiling and the mat. We'll see how it all goes!
Oh Jennifer, the new weaving piece is a marvel already. Such a good idea with the split rings! I know how special that piece will be. Enjoy the process. You make me want to try tapestry again, but I am loath to set up the Barbara loom for that. Maybe some day a little frame will come my way.
LOVE the ceiling treatment. We have been tossing around something for our upstairs bathroom since with Gene's long showers I have to regularly wash the ceiling for a bit of mold. I would imagine that the beadboard with a sturdy bathroom paint would be quite serviceable. The room is going to be wonderful.
Theresa - Thanks for the encouragement. You may be able to get a textured paneling that is waterproof for the bathroom ceiling. We have bathroom that we took off the sheetrock to get back to the existing beadboard and simply caulked holes and painted. it's worked, but long showers could be an issue. I'm enjoying the mat also, but I do confess a few tears still come. The looms I use are really easily made. We soldered the joints, but you could also use an epoxy adhesive. Plans for them are available at:
http://www.brennan-maffei.com/Loom.htm
Post a Comment