PROGRESS REPORT 28

A L I S A

I have three puppet heads and three puppet bodies. I have zero time to work on them now because of a large amount of spinning homework I have to do by the end of the month. Right now, I would rather be working on my puppets, but I must push on with homework. My one indulgence during homework time is that I still go to the weaving studio. These little guys will have to keep smiling at me from my desk as I spin… I'll reunite with them first thing in February! 

J E N N E

My worktable today.  Felt, Felt, more felt, designing, stitching, planning.  Little dolls, Chinese New Year decorations, lots of little things for celebrations this year.  The word for this year is INTENTIONAL and in the realm of my craft its focusing on what is relevant to our lives and what makes my heart sing.  Looking forward to the first warp of the year on the loom this weekend, making lots of real food, and making by hand the little things.  Happy new year!

PROGRESS REPORT 19

J E N N E

Finish what you start...9 years later.  I handspun the green and pink and white yarn in 2004, and started this little sweater for a little girl who just started 6th grade this year.  Ahem.  I have made Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket many times in the past, but in this one I lost track of where I was and it sat in a box for a very long time.  Lately I have been super busy with the daily tasks of life and not able to do anything in the studio at all, save for pick up on projects that I can work on where I could figure out where I left off and work on around my daughter.  With a little improvising I finished this sweater which is more like a short sleeved vest now for my daughter (yes, the intended recipient is in 6th grade!)  but I feel really good about at least getting this project off the needles.  Finish what you start.  To celebrate I started a few little felt strawberries that M is going to help with "do the stuffin's" and little leaves on top.

A L I S A

I spent a whole week last month at the Haliburton School of the Arts.  This year was all about spinning silk, exotics (camelids, pet, bunny, etc.) AND dyeing with indigo. Learning about indigo blew my mind! It is the dye that has THE most superstitions, secrets, mystery and value (historically) in all the world in all time. I guess I'm including woad in this factoid too… So, my class cooked up 7 different indigo vats. My partner and I had some trouble with our vat at the outset - it wasn't blooming and the PH was really off. We decided to try it anyhow and it worked so well. I've worked with indigo before minimally, but after this class I can totally appreciate the magic and mystery surrounding indigo dyeing because it IS magic! In Japanese culture, a kimono is often dipped first as a symbol of good luck. So, I dipped a paper kimono in my vat - perhaps that's why it worked???

PROGRESS REPORT 17

J E N N E

Sashiko has become the work of the summer. I spent a week working on clothing for my daughter and I decided to make a dress with sashiko stitching on the bodice. With sewing you have transformative powers in your hands, in your needle and thread.  You don't have to follow a pattern to the letter or use the fabric as is.  I have been trying to use up everything in my fabric stash and in this case made a new fabric out of a cut of denim that honestly doesn't match the rest of the pieces of the dress. (Look carefully at the skirt fabric, its more teal and the back has darker pieces.  Maybe only I can see it, I spent years scrutinizing shades of color in my last job and years of printing color in the darkroom)  Add handstitching, or block printing, or any sort of surface design is a way to make something imperfect more imperfectly perfect - a sort of wabi sabi magic that I am completely embracing right now.

A L I S A

I've been taking this six year long course through the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners Guild in hand-spinning. It runs for 10 days a year in a beautiful place called Haliburton at a beautiful school up there. It is much more than hand-spinning though. I've been learning all about the properties of fibre, both natural and synthetic dyeing techniques, construction techniques and, of course, all aspects of spinning on a wheel. I'm going into my fourth year this year and I'm finishing up some homework. Homework for this course is pretty intense and very specific. The planning portion for each project is much more in-depth than anything I would do for work outside of school. This picture represents a fair amount of hours of work in fleece selection, spinning, weaving and crochet. It's going to be an angora goat puppet! I will post more pictures here as I progress….