Cramjar dyeing

Saturday was Experimental spinning, however, as there was a very interesting 'secret' event happening at the guild, it was a very truncated meeting.

The topic was cramjar dyeing and I managed to give it a try on the Saturday morning. I did two dyes, one so we could see the finished product and the other to show how I'd achieved the effect.

Essentially with cramjar dyeing you want the yarn, fibre or fabric to soak up all the dye. To aid this I first wet the skein, damp but not wet. I did the dyeing in thirds with three different colours. I mixed the dye first, making sure it was well mixed. (Always difficult for me, as I just want to get on with the dyeing, but I was patient!)

The first third is easy as there's no possibility of mixing with anything. Subsequent thirds are more tricky, so careful pouring and gentle squeezing to distribute the dye. We're trying to have minimal mixing, which obviously doesn't happen. Then the last third was the same.

I then heated my beaker, very gently, so it wouldn't burn, then rinsed the skein.

The second beaker, I'm experimenting with 'solar' dyeing. As it's the middle of winter, this hasn't been easy, so I've had it in the car and sitting on top of the ducted heating vents. I do this for several reasons: one of my favourite guild members, who is no longer with us, used to solar dye everything and I'm honouring her memory. The other is just the idea of minimising my impact by not using electricity. (There's a lovely article on www.knitty.com with further references for making solar ovens)

I'll have to take the skein out soon. See what happens, hope for the best!

Painting

I've been working on my sculpture, nominally titled 'Watching'. The proposal to Woollahra needs to be sent off on Wednesday, so there will be pictures for tomorrow. Love the sculpture so far, have found it difficult to do all the paper work, but it is coming along.

I have been to painting. It's still not finished, but only a bit more to do. I'm happy with it, for a first attempt in a long time.

The use of colour in painting is where I fall down. It's used to suggest shadow and depth in a way I'm still not sure about. This painting has come more easily than usual, a very helpful teacher is good. We'll be trying fabric next!

Gifts

I had been wanting to go to the Art Deco exhibition at the NGV International, and a friend, who had been said that it was fantastic, made me so determined, I went on Wednesday.

It was fantastic. It covers an amazing array of articles from jewellery to clothing, ceramics, paintings, textiles, even a car and the front door and stairs from the Strand Hotel in London. All were fabulous pieces, well presented with a really good use of modern technology scattered through the exhibition. I particularly liked that they had scanned one of the sketch books of a designer, and you could, electronically, look through the book.

Most of this has come from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, with the Australian experience woven into the exhibition. It gave it breadth and relevance. The pieces were exquisite, some of the jewellery.....well all of the jewellery was amazing. I only managed to go through the exhibition once....it's also large, so I don't have a favourite piece. Worth a very long visit, or repeated visits.

Note: Art Dec 1910-1939

NGV International. 28th Jun - 5th Oct 08 (Cost: $22)

I also received a beautiful gift in the mail, in exchange for some information, for which I had already been rewarded, so a double bonus. Lewis Harper made this yarn wrap measuring instrument which includes 1/2 inch and 1 inch lengths, beautifully woodturned in pittosporum. I love it. Give him a ring if you want one!

Note: Lewis Harper - Woodturner

Phone: 52784606

Painting classes

I started painting classes yesterday. Fortunately, I haven't finished the picture, so none is appearing on the blog. I am likely not to finish, as this seems to be how I work, in any medium. But I am determined to improve this aspect of working. Next week, I'll work on it, and, attempt to finish.

I am happy with the class, the first thing she bought in was some Balinese puppets to paint, so she has won me over already. She offers enough advice, but is not overly hands-on.

I have just received the Jul/Aug edition of Selvedge. It has a stunning cover, hot summers are evoked and the magazine is full of Indian block printing. Wonderful pictures. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that there is a little too much selling of product, so I'm going to have a good look at this issue to ensure I'm still getting the articles. I know that there is a promotion of artists in this, but from the distance of Australia, currency exchange and postage, don't encourage the use of the artists showcased in this way.

I did love this article on the lei. Aren't they beautiful, and not your tacky tourist form. Really beautiful artform.

There was also an article on photographer Tom Walker. I don't know the name, but as he's done alot of work with Vogue I did recognise one of the photos.

I've always been attracted by the Princess and the pea fairytale and I love this version of it. Made me think of why I like it, searching for the perfect princess is not really something that I would want to promote. But are we sure she's a princess....or just some very savvy female who's worked out the game! I also love the shabby sheek of the photo.

Journeys

What a busy boys weekend. Both boys started their Spring tennis season (misnomer!), one with a good win, the other with a devastating loss. Saturday afternoon was spent making a huge banner for our youngest to run through for his 50th game on Sunday. This was successful as the banner disintegrated in a most satisfying way and the team won. Friends and family finished a most satisfying weekend.

However, I have been working. I have two weeks to get a good photo of the progress on my newspapers, totems and eyes piece. This is a short time frame and I will send off as much as I have.

I've been given some already shredded paper, which I'm spinning up. Because it is quite short, I'm using a cotton core to spin over. This has made joining easier, if not always neat and it's spinning up fairly fine (for newspaper) and fairly quickly.

I now have my totems. Originally, the base was to be larger and the poles shorter, but, I've just taken those I found at Reverse Art Truck and was playing with the arrangement and I liked the tallness of it all.

So, I'm on my way. Eyes will come and I think I've worked out how they will attach, but more on Totem poles another time.

Finger painting on a Sunday

3D5S explores all sorts of topics and this month was fun, colourful and allowed us to explore our inner child. We were finger painting.

It is alot of fun and you can create all sorts of effects. The only problem is the coloured hands, which do wash out, and fortunately no-one asked!

STOP PRESS: Flora Fauniensis has returned from Bendigo and new knitter attended Rosann SnB.

The train to Bendigo

Had a great day, taking the train to Bendigo for the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, with friends, knitting and provisions. It will definitely be on my list for next year, though I've taken two days to catch up on my sleep.

My walking partner (we walk every Monday morning and our youngest sons are best friends) picked me up at 6am...a little early and wet for both of us, but making it into Southern Cross station with plenty of time to meet up with two more friends was worth it.



My friend is not a knitter, but had invited herself along for the train trip and the adventure, so I wasn't sure how she would go spending the day with avid fibre people. Well, I'm not entirely sure when it happened, some say somewhere around Kyneton, but spare needles and wool emerged (of course we had spares!), and by Bendigo, a good inch of garter stitch had been completed. So captured was she that 3 beautiful skeins were purchased, one for a scarf and two for a larger project. The trip home proved she was a natural, stocking stitch, rib, mastered and explanations of charts, yrn, understood.....she's a natural. I thing I've convinced her to come to the local SnB at Rosanna on Tuesday.



The show itself, was terrific, meeting up with all sorts of friends, checking up on my wool comb technique (will have another go soon), found out a bit more about cashmere and mohair (I love the passionate breeders who are always willing to talk and explain and generally be enthusiastic), animals galore, including this very beautiful Llama (who just knew he was beautiful!) and I did make a few purchases.

I picked up a large Tunisian Crochet hook from Lewis Harper, hand-dyed Silky wool and 1kg of 22 micron top from Virginia Farm Wool Works, hand-dyed merino top from my friend Charlie at Ixchel, some Gotland Lamb top to experiment with and some yarn from Glenora.


The Woolcraft was terrific, my favourite being the Water nymph who presided over the Fashion parades.


Never enough time, but I think next year I'll make it a photographic exhibition and get a few more pictures of animals, displays, and more!