A Week with Original Thinkers

Realized that I had not yet posted about my wonderful adventures with Jean Littlejohn and Jan Beaney - aka Double Trouble . I was fortunate to attend one of their rare week long retreats here in the US. On their website they state their philosophy of teaching as "Our aim is to give students the confidence to design and create their own unique work". They sooooooo live up to this.

They gave us exercises and then we proceeded to do them. They would come around and check on our progress. They brought and shared examples that they had done which utilized bits from the exercise so we had concepts, ideas for application and examples of execution. What was really wonderful is that no one in the class proceeded to get the same result. Some student pieces were so out of the box and wonderful that it added quite a depth to the class. Also each of us in the class came from quite different backgrounds and had different focuses for our art.

Each exercise was designed to give us a tool, concepts about creating additional similar tools, and a jump start for a project. In the past I had looked at their books - mostly at the pictures and little bit at the words. Now I am reading their books and seeing how they applied and developed the concepts that they shared in the class. The books may be "thin" in pages and contain lots of pictures - BUT take the words to heart. There are layers of advice contained within them.

These 2 ladies have taught college level textile arts for 30 years. They produce art constantly with several showings each year. The don't accept that there are rules unless they have played with all the possibilities. That is what the class and their thinking is all about - the possibilities.

Will have to let the ideas percolate for awhile. Sorry no pics - nothing is finished and I am not comfortable showing unfinished work. I will tell you that we played with natural fabrics, creating our own block stamps and using them, gold foil transfer, various stitches, soluable fabrics, scrim (similar to cheese cloth), silk waste, yarns of all types and sizes, threads, poly sheer fabrics, The Embellisher, #14 Chenille needle, lots of layers, and our imagination/interpretations of things in nature. I am not sure I will ever look at objects, shapes, nature in the same way again.

The Project

This a a very well wrapped front and partial back of my Elizabethan Pouch Project. Well wrapped due to weather constraints :)

About a year ago some friends pushed me to do a historically documentable project. After a number of false starts and several rounds of consultation with my friends this is the result. The inspiration is a purse dated 1600 and shown in a magazine published by Lanto Synge as editor. It includes a very detailed photo of the center of the original and a to scale photo - 6"x6" of the purse. Today the purse resides at the Burrell, although I did not know that when we went to visit in 2007.

In January, I finally started a process of working 5-6 days a week on this piece of embroidery. Mornings were reserved for doing "business" and afternoons and evenings for stitching. The back will only be braid since the cost of materials and time is high. It will have twined braided cording around the opening, finger loop braid pattern drawstrings, coiled loops for the pull tabs and the tassel holders, and silk tassels. Thank-you to Jacquie Carey for showing me how.

I learned a lot on this journey. I would do some things differently and will apply that knowledge on future work.

The piece was presented at our medieval organization, the Society for Creative Anachronism, Kingdom of the West March Crown Arts and Sciences display. After the peerage meetings, I was honored to be offered (and accepted) entrance into the Order of the Laurel - the highest arts/sciences honor we have for the organization. The ceremony will be at our Beltane event with celebration to follow.

In the next month or so, I hope to finish the project so I can wear it for the ceremony. I also planned a treat for myself - a class with Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn. My brain my have whiplash but it is all fiber and therefore all good.

Catching Up with This and That

On the Stitching front -- I am working on a BIG project. It is big in that it takes - bloody forever to get the work done. It is a small project in size - the whole thing is 6" x 6". The medium is seed pearls (in the truest form - 1 - 1.5 mm) and bullion on silk with various padded levels. It is quite the learning experience. I will blog more about it and the process of working the piece when it is done.

The frustrating part is my mind is going a million miles an hour on designing some new multi-fiber pieces. I don't do well with Visual Journals, but will probably resort to one just to get some of these ideas out of my head so I can keep the forward momentum on the pearl/bullion project. My muse sooooo very much wants out to play!

My guild meets next week and we get to play with Nancy Nehring and her Dorset Buttons. These are a Victorian button style that probably has its roots back in Renaissance times. It uses a ring which is covered and then decorated with needle lace techniques. Should be fun and no we are not doing them in single silk ply thread so sanity will be maintained.

Was asked to give an evaluation of the Cosmo threads by Lecien. The quilting shops have adopted the threads for decorating quilts with embroidery. It is slowly seeping into the regular embroidery world. My bottom line is - like the floss better than DMC - the quality of the colors and the handle of the thread is a treat. The 2 ply spools, hmmmm, I rarely use 2 ply so it will have limited use for me but does make a lovely outline stitch. Haven't tried the pearl cotton yet, but think I will enjoy it. I use pearl on Temari balls (for which it has numerous followers in New Zealand and Australia), some CQ, and for teaching needlelace techniques. The price is higher than its competition, but I don't mind paying more for better quality working materials. After all if it is worth my spending time working with them, then I want high quality materials.

Treating myself to a couple workshops this year. Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn are coming to my area and I was fortunate to land a place in their 5 day workshop. I am looking forward to expanding my mental horizons as well as my techniques. Then down to the LA area for a fiber retreat through Griffin Dyeworks. Don't know what the classes are, but I really don't care. Bjo Griffin will be there with her dyepots and there is so much fun and knowledge to absorb that the classes will only be a bonus. Lastly we are going to Costume College again. This is where we met in 1996 and we periodically make the trek back.

The muse is tugging at me now, so off to note stuff in the Visual Journal before I plant myself back in front of the sewing area. Think about 4-5 hours for 1" worth of work.

2010 in Fiber

It has been an interesting fiber year. Learned lots - good and frustrating, but overall really fun!

Fiber should be fun in my opinion. If it isn't then find something else to do with your time and energies. Each technique is not for everyone, but if it adds to your knowledge... At least that is why I try lots of new things. Some come easier to the hands, but each adds to my knowledge base in different ways.

Not a lot of embroidery this year. I find that the energy that goes into administrative work is the same that goes into a project. I've planned lots of embroidery projects this year, but that seems to be a different part of the brain for me.

Drop Spindle Spinning - finished off one skein and worked on a 2nd. Took the 2nd half of it around with me to a couple damp events... sigh... now I need to pull strips and do a bulky since it seems to have felted itself. Need to learn plying next. Will probably just knit with 2 threads for the skein I finished or do something that calls for finer yarn.

Felting - loved doing the needle felting project at the beginning of the year. Bought some roving to do more at some point. I have some very (as in way tooooo heavy) felted wool that might make up into a nice bag with needle felted design - hmmmm

Weaving - card woven silk trim for my newest Viking. Also did some weaving in the round. Not all the pieces are here since they were gifted earlier this year. Fun and mindless - good for going to meetings and keeping the fingers busy.

Knitting - loved the knitted bag project. Learned lots! Have most of a 2nd one done. Will felt them at the same time when the 2nd one is done.
Finished knitting my hat and wore it in Alaska. Kept my head nice and warm.
Finished 1 of the medieval socks and am about 1/3 through the 2nd one. The first sock fits well - hurrah!!
The lacey knit shawl has been on hold. It takes brain power to do the pattern right.
Finished by first scarf (not shown) -- tired of yarn overs and fighting with a "fancy" yarn.
Knitted the first of 2 fingerless mitts. Working my way down in size of dpns, adding in stitches, and adapting patterns to "fit" the yarn and me. Finally got the knit stitch cast on to even out nicely.

Naalbinding - finally finished my hat. Also did a hat for Will. He loves wearing his -- all nice and warm. Think I will try to do matching fingerless mitts for my hat.

Thank-you to all who helped hold my hand through the learning processes. Having fiber in my hands makes for a happy me. Will be looking at Stitches West and other events to grow my knowledge (and stash :).

Hope to do more stitching in 2011. I am signed up for several fiber and stitching workshops. Also have several projects mentally designed that I'd like to make and perhaps teach (CQ in particular).

Wishing you all a happy healthy fun and creative 2011.

Hiatus Due to Busy II

Knowing that August/September would be very busy we decided to schedule a vacation in later September - a cruise. San Francisco to San Francisco - 10 days - the Sea Princess - doing the inside passage of Alaska. Yes we have done this before - but 10 days - no cooking, no laundry, no bed making, no airports, entertainment - or not....and beautiful scenery. Took about 600 pictures which I will distill into webpages for our website - bayrose.org in the next few days.

Sept 19th had us sailing out under the Golden Gate bridge. Cold and beautiful! Not a sight to be missed!!! Saw sea lions and seals.
Sept 20 - cruising -- 9 am was fiber get together on at sea days :) They were also doing ceramics at sea so made 2 plates and 2 bowls to go with the other heraldic plate I made last cruise.
Saw a humpback whale. They had a naturalist on board who gave wonderful lectures about glaciers and wildlife.
Sept 21 - my birthday - thank-you all for the lovely wishes - cruising. Discovered the espresso bar on board the ship.
Sept 22 - Ketchikan - walked about town. Had a good cup of coffee --- finally! Saw a red jelly fish!
Sept 23 - Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier was real treat. It had calved the day before so there was a beautiful piece of blue ice to be seen! The salmon fishery was fun and the salmon bake - yummy - despite the rain. Lots of bald eagles around but none actively flying or fishing.
Sept 24 - Skagway -- walked around town in the AM. In the PM we took the narrow gauge railway up the mountain. Passed through autumn into winter - the first snow of the season! And it was serious snow. Came down to find that a major storm had come in and was expected to do gale force winds and 100' waves. The Captain cancelled our sail of Tracy Arm Fjord (really the only part we had wanted to do) and we made fast (22 knots) south around and into the Canadian inland passage to avoid the worst of the storm.
Sept 25 - cruising - the early AM was rocky since we had to pass into the Pacific to get into the inland area. We also had lots of fun getting pilots on and off the ship. Seems we needed 2 to get through some areas which are a bit dangerous - even for our size ship. Pretty - cold - rainy. Finally managed to finish Will's naalbinded warm hat (day late!)
Sept 26 - cruising - saw dolphins. Lots of pretty scenery.
Sept 27 - Victoria - went to a Butterfly Garden and Buchart Gardens. AMAZING! Need to been seen to be believed. Pictures do not do either justice. Also celebrated our 13th anniversary - which was Sept 7.
Sept 28 - cruising
Sept 29 - home -- beautiful to watch the sun come up over the east bay hills. Came under the Golden Gate in the dark :(

We were very lucky in our table mates. The food in the dining room is MUCH better than the buffet. Also in the dining room they will make all the necessary accommodations for dietary issues. The food quality has come way down over the past 10 years, but it still is quite decent. Only 1 meal was what I would call excellent, but then I am spoiled. I should also say in all fairness that it is amazing all the meals that are prepared for over 2000 people - passengers and crew - in the 3 galleys.

Our table consisted of 6 regular and 4 "anytime diners". The other 2 couples that made up the regular diners were interesting and nice people. They also liked to dress for dinner, so we were easily the best dressed diners. One of the gentlemen was someone who was fascinating in his own right, but was always interested in what others had to say and thought. They also were one of the most gracious couples I have ever met. There is a lot to be said for graciousness and I am sad that it is a rare thing in this most modern world in which we live.

We knew before we left that my car battery was dead. Something about not driving it for long periods of time. Fortunately it did start when jumped and seems to be back to normal. Will's mini required servicing before being back to normal.
We also knew the insta-hot water dispenser was dead - new one ordered now.
We also knew that the computer on the ovens was dead. A new one was ordered that the repair man installed the new one and refurbished the stove top burners on the 30th.
--- how come it all comes at once??????---

Oct 1-2 was my Region meeting and stepping down as EGA Region Director. The meetings went smoothly and I was given a lovely present. It is easy to leave the office, only because I know I am leaving it in really good hands. Of course I still have other EGA projects to handle.


After the meeting, I made the mad dash drive to Oct Crown. Will was wonderful, taking my display up to the event for me. Since my current major embroidery project is on hold, I opted to do a basket of "practical items" - Spinning, Weaving - Circular (mini pouch that I also dyed the yarn), Weaving - Tablet - trim on my newest Viking, Dyeing, Naalbinding - Will's new hat, Knitting - Pouch, and Embroidery (stockings). Then dashed back to take Jane out to dinner.

Jane Nicholas came to do 2 workshops for us. I love hosting her. She is so gracious (there is that word again :). Will picked her up at the airport on the 1st and entertained her for the evening. I love having that man as my partner/husband!!!!! On Oct 3-4 I took her workshop and on the 5-6 I merely acted as Teacher helper. I always learn so much listening to her. Yes plans are underway to have her hopefully teach here in the San Francisco Bay Area next year again!

Then 2 days of selling items from the 2010 Seminar at a local boutique/harvest show and our "final" 2010 Seminar Committee meeting. We still have many items to sell (sigh!).

This week is a bit of recovery, putting up and doing the display at PIQF and being a celebrity.