Experimental Spinning

Picker fluff!

Yesterday was my Experimental Spinning day which I was looking forward to. Being a very busy weekend for the guild, it was a very quiet meeting. We still had fun using the picker and I taught how to spin on a stick, which proved very popular. I have really come to appreciate the joys of spinning on a stick as it can produce a very softly spun, light and fluffy yarn. It is also very gentle and meditative.

I wanted to pick a dyed fleece that I've had for some time and am very happy with the result. The picker is turning out to be a very useful piece of equipment. Traditionally, a picker opens up fleece in preparation for carding. In particular, fleece that might not be in the best condition. However, we've discovered that it does open up fleece nicely, but also mixes up coloured fleece in a random, but still keeping staples discreet. I'm going to spin mine up as it comes and call it 'Picker yarn'. I don't know what I'm going to ply it with, but seeing as I have 200gms, by the time I get round to finishing it, I should have some idea.


Liquorice Allsorts scarf


AND, last night I finally managed to come up with an idea for my liquorice yarn. A combination of dropped stitches and yrn has created an open scarf, which should mean I have enough yarn, but it still relates back to liquorice allsorts, sort of!

We're off to the beach for the rest of the long weekend, finishing and spinning are the orders of the day.

HWSG Exhibition

After a magnificent lunch with friends at '312' in Drummond St. Carlton, and some running around organising my baby boy, I headed off to the HWSG exhibition entitled 'Home Furnishings - to dye for', which is being shown at Steps Gallery in Lygon st. (just down from Trades Hall). I had been looking forward to this as I knew that the work would be good. I came away, however, slightly disappointed and have been wondering exactly why.


There was some terrific work: I particularly liked a picture, I think it was 'Smoke', and a beautiful roll of Curtain Material, which should have had a title, a great teapot cover, and of course, works that I already knew about: particularly, 'Woman in a Mini Skirt' jewellery tree, and the series of 'Bottle carriers'/Hot water bottles both by friends. And thinking about these, I have come to a conclusion about why the overall disappointment.


Usually, the hanging of a guild exhibition is very good and enhances the works, and also gives a cohesiveness to the overall exhibition. I don't think this happened this time. Small works should have had more space in which to shine. These can be treated as works of art and given their own stands. The wall hangings were hung like paintings, each separately, but without any apparent connection to those around it, and why do we insist on putting cushions down low or on the floor! these are also worthy of either hanging or plinths.


Having seen two exhibitions in two days, each, almost at different ends of a spectrum, both suffered from being too practical in nature, losing too much of the art. For me, it suggests that I've moved on from both and I should start seriously thinking about an exhibition of my own.


Anyway, the work in both is well worth seeing, and I might try and catch them again before they finish.

A new graduate show!

Last night was the opening of this years RMIT Diploma of Art graduate exhibition. I have been making a point of going each year. Usually I've known alot of the students, however, there were only a couple that I knew. It is always good to catch up with staff, some of whom are fellow graduates.

It is an interesting exhibition this year with an emphasis on the practical, rather than the pure art works. This probably reflects the changing staff. There was also not a huge amount of weaving, though, the future looks good with apparently some very good weavers still studying.

I did know the winner of the Studio Textiles prize, Lynne Johnstone, who has also been a long part-time student. Her work on display all used rust and she created some beautiful fabrics. I think I saw the germination of this process having dropped into a class where they were experimenting with rust. It's a fascinating process, full of the unexpected.

My other favourite, for its' subversiveness was a young man who screen printed the usual guns, skulls, etc. and then got his mother to make them up into a quilt. An ordinary, simple block quilt!

Alot of beautiful machine knitting and lots of cushions! It's always good to go this show, as I can feel inspired. Some disconcerting news is that next year it will be a Diploma of Textiles, Fashion and Clothing, rather than a Diploma of Art. This may definitely put a more Industry based take on the work and sadly lose the purely artistic.

I did manage to finish knitting my silk scarves, and weave the last woven memory hanging. Lots of work to be done on my textile pictures. The knitting machine should run hot!

Getting to know my knitting machine!

I've had to start a new set of work. This is a bit strange as I haven't finished any of the other works yet. With next week being the week before the market, I will spend that time finishing off what I can, and, hopefully, I'll have a variety of work to add to my market stall.

So I've started working on another set of textile pictures, this time working with the textures and ideas around the 3D5S trip to Melbourne Cemetery. Working in the same way as previously, I'll use the knitting machine to create fabrics and add them to a canvas. I've found a slightly different shape at riot: a long rectangle.

The back fabric is going to be more textured and I'm trying to master Lace knitting on the machine. It's seems just like Tuck knitting but with an extra bit on the machine, that I don't really know what it does! Anyway, I achieved a very nice pattern and will easily be able to do three.

I also would like to use up some handspun scraps. (Is any handspun a scrap!) so I need to use them by weaving them in on the knitting machine. I haven't done this for quite some time, and I'm not sure I'm doing it correctly. It is however, virtually impossible to find any information on this technique, if your own instruction manual feels slightly inadequate! I'll get there, but I must go in search of a really good technical book for my machine!

Silver jewellery & silk scarves

I spent yesterday playing around with Precious Metal Clay in a lovely class full of friends. This clay is moulded just as you would any clay, but when fired parts are obviously melted away and you are left with pure silver.

We all made at least two pieces: a lovely filagree heart or round shape; I made a heart! and, a flat shape with texture, which I turned into a round not quite bead that I'm going to use to add to a very special bookmark for the owner of my borrowed and hopefully soon departing weaving loom.

Over the weekend, I did manage to dye the rest of the silk and wool in red/blue/purple shades. Not actually as striking as the green, but still successful. I have made a start on that scarf. I'm knitting the middle stitches combining with the wool. The edges are silk only, but as an added bonus, instead of knitting straight rows, I've done a couple of short rows so that hopefully it will have a little flounce.

The green scarf I was happy with, in the end. I started by doing a thin angled scarf. (K2tog at the beginning of the row, Increase 1 at the end of the row. Knit back.) I started playing around with this, making a larger end, and finally, I pulled it all out and went back to the original idea.

I

Heavenly silk!

I did manage to cut up enough silk for two scarves.

The first is already dyed with yellow and blue. Some old Supracen dyes from college. Best result I've had for some time.

I've decided to use wool with these two as I think that they need a bit of extra bounce. I have spun some fine (well almost fine!) merino top and for this I plied it together before dyeing. The second I'll keep separate and dye together and only use the wool for the central part of the scarf.

This weekend is 'clean house weekend'. Hopefully, I will be left with a packed sunroom and beautiful house.

Sidetracked again!

I do have a serious addiction to buying magazines. Not your trashy (cheap!) 'woman's magazines' but textile magazines, fashion, various art magazines, design magazines and even music has managed to appear in my collection. I'm also considering resubscribing to Spin-off and Handwoven, having got over being a bit jaded with their repetition and a certain lack of innovation.

A design magazine, 'Lino', that I discovered relatively recently has a new edition out on the shelves. The padlocks are on the front cover, and inside is an article by a couple of weavers. The first weaver had the same basis for some of her work in the 'nature vs nurture' and this is her response.

This is mine from the Old England Sculpture Award. I was quite surprised to see this reference and I loved her other pieces as well.

I've also been trying to knit a scarf with my liquorice allsorts yarn. I thought it would be easy, but it's proving a challenge! This is where I've got to trying 'all sorts' of different stitches to get the right effect. I think I'm happy with this one, except it's a very stiff fabric, so I'll try it on larger, (I'm already on 7.5mm needles)!

Should be cutting up silk fabric!