Green

Scarf #2!! I am on a roll..hopefully it will continue! Scratch that..I will make it continue. This one is 11" wide, 80" long, with crammed and spaced warps. Both warp and weft are the same bamboo material..and it is officially my favorite material to weave with! Winding and combing and threading the bamboo is like a dream..virtually no knots, no broken/snapped warps..OMG all you weavers need to try. And it is also super soft and has a nice, almost linen-like drape to it.

The stripes in the warp(vertical direction) didn't come out as noticeable as I had planned...I switched back and forth from 30 to 15 epi, thinking the 15 epi would be pretty loosely woven. They are noticeable when held up to the light, but otherwise are pretty subtle when worn. Perhaps if I didn't pack the weft as tightly? Who knows..I like the outcome, but am going to keep trying to get to the image in my head!

Stripes-s-s-s

First Pocosin project! It is really nice to get back into the swing of making things. Total, this scarf took 10 1/2 hours..not too bad! It is 12" x 80"...the warp is linen and the weft is bamboo. It is a balanced twill, with small stripes of twill going the opposite direction..which didn't come out as obviously as I thought they would, but I like to think that subtle details are always nice :) PS sorry for the myspace pic..I will find a model next time! hehe

Pocosin

YAY I finally have something fun to blog about! So I moved to Columbia, NC on Tuesday for a 3 month residency at Pocosin Arts. I was given an apartment, some space to set up my studio stuff, in exchange for working as project coordinator for events that the school hosts. Everyone here is super nice and accommodating and they have all made me feel very welcome! Here are some pics of where I am..

the apartment!

the living room..

the dining room..

and the bedroom!

the office

the studio space! and apartment door on right

all my things!

Bags!

At the beginning of the summer, Molly and I started working on a project to design and make swag bags for Design Ethos (a graphic design conference that SCAD hosted). The bags are made out of spare canvas from a shop in Savannah, and the straps are made from old banners from a museum in Savannah. All locally recycled/reused. After a ridiculous amount of cutting (by Mol!) and sewing and sewing and sewing and sewing...we finished and delivered the bags a couple weeks ago! We are keeping our fingers crossed that another job making similar products will come from this.

Oh hello again

Woah been bad at posting! Here are some pictures of a quilt I just finished for Maia in exchange for some jewelry she made me and my sister. It's lap-sized (if that makes any sense) and is mostly made out of purchased material, but the blue fabric I dyed with indigo and the grey wool is from a sweater that Maia shrunk. My favorite part is the little pocket! I like how the different weights of fabric quilted..the best part is taking it out of the washing machine once everything has been sewed and seeing the different textures. I am getting better at stitching the binding on..and I owe my choice of red accents to Molly!

Wood Turning 101

The lathe! Set up with bowl #1 (attached to left side)

Instructor Warren giving some useful tips to Maia!

This is what I look like when I'm turning! A nice action shot, check out those flying wood chips.

The first finished bowls!!!

Pretty pumped about wood turning..we were completely covered in wood shavings and chips for the whole week! Also note the really cool head gear.

Some pens!

You start off with pen blanks - little blocks of wood or resin that been drilled through the center, and a small metal tube has been glued to the inside of the blank

The blanks get pushed onto a mandrel, and get squeezed between the head and tail stock of the mini lathe

This is what it looks like when I am turning a pen! Lathe is spinning, and I used various turning tools to shape the wood into whateeever I want!

A turned pen before it is taken off the lathe..this one was made out of palm.

The first three that I made!! Hurray!

Last week I took a mini-lathe class, mostly concentrating on pen turning. It was pretty fun, and you feel kind of special writing with a hand made wood pen! The second half of the week I learned to turn bowls on a normal sized lathe..which was way messier and way more fun! I'll get pics soon!