a movable feast

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

some beauties

'NUFF!! i've been spending too much time on line lately with the shop fronts and that has kept me from doing things that are much more satisfying.i've kept this on the back burner too long and today's the day.A table runner with an unbleached 20/2 cotton and linen warp. The linen will be chained in a fibonacci sequence with a 6 cotton end separation.i envision a lovely progression from unbleached linen to gold to brown mirrored in the middle. The linen is Bockens 16/2 and was bought in Helsinki last summer. The unbleached cotton is from Lunatic Fringe picked up during a visit to my sister in Florida.

The wefts... we're talking beauty here.

Take a look at the gorgeous Haitian cotton. At the risk of sounding like a travel guide i t was bought in situ during a trip to the island.i hoarded back 5 or 6 huge kilo skeins through customs under puzzled looks from the officials. Those were the days!

This yarn was very popular in the late 70s for upholstery. It presents some inconveniences as veg matter has not been totally removed and it can color the resulting fabric. But i don't care. Wabi-sabi here, the beauty of imperfect things :)
The yarn is very loosely spun with very tightly twisted parts resulting in curls and flocks and kinks. An autumn color tow linen will blend the warps together.
The sett will be pretty open something like 8 ends x cms.to take advantage of the yarn texture.
But we shall see if it works as soon as i start weaving. As the late Ed Franquemont used to say "weaving is more like jazz than brain surgery"

neki desu
view CCLicense

Monday, March 30, 2009

stretching it with a little help from my friends

i'd like to thank all of you who left messages on my birthday. You all certainly contributed to making it a special day. i tried answering everyone personally, but i couldn't get hold of some of the addresses :( Sorry .Thanks again for your good wishes.

The birthday turned into a birthweekend. Not that my mother would have enjoyed that :) Friday night after a great meal (which i won't detail because i don't want to stir jealousies LOL!) we headed home for la piece de resistance.
As part of birthday traditions in my household i opened a good port for the celebration. And being a port drinker what best than a Niepoort 1983 vintage. i still remember my trip to Porto the patterns,the shops, the atmosphere and my disappointment at not being able to visit the Niepoort loja. But the visit to Gaia in itself was a pet fantasy come true.

Saturday was also spent wining and dining. And on Sunday i dedicated the whole afternoon after brunch ( more eating, gosh these people just eat!) i treated myself to -what best?- studio time.

A whole afternoon of r+d testing these pigments that i had bought in Japan years ago, new fabrics and products and developing new design lines for my on line store fronts at Artfire and Etsy.

Great weekend indeed, even enjoyed the rain!

neki desu

view CCLicense