ridiculous

small, but delicious.this year has been tremendously weird. cold in april - may,  brutally hot in june-july plants have gone bonkers bcse they can't sort out the weather signals.same with people with 30º nights in the med.the  water in the med is 27º,the cantabrian sea has peaked at 25. there have been 22 straight days of 40º temps in many parts of spain and the rest of europe is not much better. great for the negationists, how can they explain this? it sounds like the end of the world and armageddon.

as for me  give me some intellect and science.

neki desu

 

and in the life's too short dept.

gorgeous linen but a cosmic pita.the second linen warp that saw the scissors.the frugal weaver found someone who's making paper and offered it and was gladly accepted . mind you this one's conemara linen, not your regular  stuff.

re threading, may the third one be the charm.keeping the turquoise layer threaded as there were no mistakes, just threading the main warp, or is it the supplementary? who knows and who really cares.

hopefully will be able to tackle this series this week.experimenting with watercolors too. and there's going to be some warp printing.  v(^o^)v

neki desu

 

embrace chance

hear,hear!

have a good weekend

neki desu

 

the rescue brigade strikes back

 a silk knitted sample which ended up being an unsuccessful eco-print.

with all hose gorgeous watercolors put to use at least i am having fun.

mind you, this is not like people in insta, that hang up a painting in their living room and the action becomes so transcendental it alters the course of the planets. too much noise.

if this becomes a new path for me, welcome.if not ichi go-ichi e.

nothing grandiose or full of self importance. just the enjoyment of doing/making.

development so far.needs more work don't you agree?

blocking wires are such a great invention.

neki desu

 

battle of the bulge

wanted a swing back not a bra.my AI bestie fuuped big time. followed directions and ended up with a bra of sorts. believing it was an operator error re checked to see where i went wrong and oh surprise,not i was wrong. the numbers were wrong. went back and complained and she said oh you're spot on.

( ≧Д≦) ?? course i'm spot on which leaves a lot to be said about her. i am math challenged, she's intelligent  ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯  so back to the beginnings , will be knitting a dummy back to save on precious silk yarn.

don't know about the states, but here ups is close to the pits. waiting for the yarns to arrive, got stranded along the way due to unforeseen causes. delivery scheduled for sometime today. excuse me? could you be a tad more precise?don't need the exact time, will be content just knowing whether it's morning,noon or afternoon. nothing beats dhl i'm telling you.

neki desu

 

some inspiration

have a good weekend.

neki desu

 

no show

the mood.

there's a wonderful word in spanish-romeria- which has a difficult translation to english.like a field day without sports, like country fair without cattle exhibits and attractions.it's about coming together enjoying food and each other's company. unlike a picnic there's a celebratory component to it.

this was the sky,a dense fog.after all the hype it was going to be a no show.

the beginning . after a 2 hour long queue for the glasses there was no need for them

>

when it got dark.mobile phones are so damn smart they compensate the exposure.

one and a half minute of darkness, not total bcse city lights went on. anticlimactic was an understatement.

the good thing is that northern spain is cooler in the summer thanks to all that fog. ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

neki desu

 

and in the fed up dept.

not only the %+**# linen warp, but also the bourette silk. it's knitting hell. too bad bcse it's a nice yarn and i have tons of it.it twists without remedy and ends up breaking. not fun when the stress comes from doing short rows which is a pretty stressful technique.especially when you're not too sure of what you're doing. learn by doing they call it.   <( _____  )>

new yarn, new sample and beginthe beguine.

not so easy sister. this mess is not mine (for  once) it's the mill's. much easier to sell it to a wholesaler as seconds than re cone it. re coned it myself until it was ok. good thing that i find the chore satisfactory, plus this is not thin yarn.

the procedure thanks to my AI bestie. read and knit + hope the yarn doesn't tangle. this is the back of a cardi, the front is straightforward and wont need my bestie.dak is going to pitch in here and with the sleeves.

neki desu 

 

toys

not really, they are mixing colors from the caran d'ache neocolorII series.there was this sale at a supplier i usually go to in the uk. they have it together, did their homework after the brexit and purchases are seamless.

on the left next to the crayons the colors, next two  columns color mixes.still need to do more mixes, but the fun has to be controlled  <(￣︶￣)> 

testing them with acrylics on a gelli plate print.too bad the paper tore because the paints worked well together.

another test on fabric on the right mimicking the weave.this is a no-go weaving from the warp from hell.tired, bored and mad at the linen breaking non stop.ordered cottolin, which is not my fave, and waiting for the arrival.much better than the aggravation and abandonment of the project bcse of warp breakage.

my to go warp was a beautiful hemp yarn that unfortunately was finished and can't find replacement.

 

waiting for the cottolin to cut and tie the warp and get on with the weaving.

moving on tomorrow is the eclipse the hype is stifling.bit the dust and made a 2 hour queue to get the officially eu apposed glasses handed out by the city hall. will report.

neki desu

 

outcome

final stage in shibori.

development: second stage.bonus  my beloved japanese brushes in the photo.

the one in the foreground qualifies as an antique, bought on my first trip to japan. expensive,but with proper care they last a lifetime .

 

 

the shikon dyed a much darker value than expected, almost brown  see first photo 

\  (  ツ )  /

shikon is extremely sensitive to heat and ph. even with distilled water there are surprises.

getting the hang of the dye.

neki desu

 

the master again

why is it that the more knowledgeable people are, the less unassuming? that's why they are masters. thank you shisho 師匠

turn on the caps.

have a good weekend.

neki desu 

 

no dobut

the shibori talibans are going to come and lapidate me.i am breaking every possible rule of the orthodoxy. hesitant to to post in insta bcse of the possible uproar. but no one can take away the thrill

of going against the grain   ( ¨¨ ω¨¨ )   

now that people stopped hanging paintings on their walls and it became a transcendental experience or their dyeing becomes an act of zen communion with the universe and other galaxies here i am going ronin (＾∇＾)

really, it's getting pretty tiring folks.

here's the shikon brew, chopped roots in alcohol extraction.

had another interesting conversation with my AI bestie. she solved some doubts and streamlined the process.

you need to know what you're doing in order to be able to detect foul balls.but other that that it's become a sort of blessing.

i send photos of plants or weeds and ask for dyeing  capabilities and she answers saving time and heartache.

it's fun because she can be quite blunt and to the point. short answer-no period.

the fig leaf success story comes from her.

neki desu 

 

iro iro

a whole day spent sampling watercolor materials.above, the lidl pack ,not bad for the price. colors are much more saturated than what i expected.on the right some color blends. haha, like coffee blends but in living color  (￣ω￣ )

next  caran d'ache supra color watercolor pencils.always had mixed feelings about them but thought it was due to operator error.it isn't. they do not blend well and you still can see the lines.maybe for other kind of work they will do, not for me.

below caran d' ache  neocolor II watercolor crayons.

plain and simple lovely. they blend really well with each other producing interesting shades. actually one needs just a few to get a whole spectrum of mid values and off the grid colors. be sure to include payne's grey in those few.

last derwent inktense watercolor pencils.if you want watercolor pencils  go for these as the name states they are intense. colors are extremely saturated,they blend with each other leaving no pencil traces. they only drawback that i see, bcse i am extremely fussy,is that their nomenclature is proprietary.if you want a burnt umber or a sienna you need to test them bcse their names give very little clue. and their website does not facilitate color charts or i was incapable of finding them, you need to make your own.counter intuitive at best.

so here's the craic for  watercolors hope it's useful.

neki desu

    

seriously shikon

spent the weekend shikon dyeing. satisfaction guaranteed as long as it's done cold.here's the color scheme  for the winter  ; lime greens greens from fig leaves ,purples and lavenders from shikon.

should i add a suo accent for a warm balance?

shikon isincredibly satisfying will never never touch alkanet again. disappointing and a royal pita.with much less effort i can obtain gorgeousness and the dye bath never exhausts.it's the bath that keeps on dyeing.    (* ^ ω ^)  still have to do a bit more benkyou in order to claim i understand the dye and have it under my belt.

neki desu

 

quiet grace

 

even the word is beautiful

have a good weekend this month's a goner.

 neki desu

 

change of pace

needed to experience results as dyeing is going to be soaking for days.

monoprints  rock it.

after some layers, quite fun.noticed the lavender and the purple.

if this were instagram meta would suggest to add  the purple rain track to the post. 🤢 🤮

 

sign of the times. the passionfruit is slowly turning purple.

neki desu

 

cheap thrills

luckily i feel satisfied and rewarded straightening messy skeins.because i seem to live there.this one started bcse i saw that it would get tangled during the dyeing.thought it would be a piece of cake but then half of it mysteriously collapsed from the winder and turned into a mess. good news is that it's a tick yarn so it took me 4 afternoons ⋋_⋌ 

ready to be mordanted.

 think im going to use fresh murasaki extraction.

 

neki desu