Unwrapping and Warping Delilah

You may remember back in March I helped my friend and old college roommate, Amy, get her loom up and running again.  So, she came out to my house a few weeks ago to give me the kick in the pants I needed to unwrap my loom, Delilah, and start in on my weaving for the Friends of the Porkies donation.  Delilah has been hiding behind boxes in the mess that is currently my studio.  It helped just to have the deadline of Amy coming over to try to have some semblance of organization in my studio.

Amy wound off her warp and balled yarn for her next weaving. (Tencel from Forma)

I wound off my warp and realized that I needed to dye 

at least one of the three to get the color range I wanted.

3 warps, ready for triple weave

Through the reed.

I'm so thankful that my Macomber loom lets the back beam down so 

I can sit close to the heddles to thread them.

Warp all through the heddles.

Once the back is tied on, this is how I pull the warp through and get all the snags out.

Tied up nice and tight, it feels so good!

The test to make sure there's no threading errors. First try, no issues. Yay!

Also, this is my 300th blog post.  Seems crazy, I started blogging 7 years ago, I have received my one google check (ha ha), sold some pieces here and there after posting new work, and I use this as an archive of my own work which comes in handy all of the time. My life has flipped upside down and then right-side up again. I never planned on living back in Michigan after leaving for Colorado in 2004, but here I am, loving Lansing and all the friends I've made here, getting back to my art-focus after ditching it for a bad life-choice. 

Fall Form Bracelet

Fall Form Bracelet $120.00

I'm really happy with the finished product of this bracelet.  Outside of just playing with upcoming Fall colors, I decided to go with a form that I've been considering for quite a while.  I originally started thinking about it when I made these yellow tiered pod earrings.  As I stitched pods together, I thought about how they would drape around other forms.

I've worn this piece around a number of times already and I'm really happy about how it maintains its shape around my wrist.  I initially thought about going with a lobster clasp for the bracelet, which is my go-to clasp.  However, it was important to me that this shape maintain all the way around.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy stitching the snap into this was, and how seamless it appears when being worn.

Snap detail

I always leave all my threads on until the pieces is together.

Shaping up.

"Vintage" snaps (36 for 29 cents!)

Fall Colors Bangle Spin-Off

Bangle 1/2 inch wide $75.00

Earrings 1,5 inches long $40.00

When I was working on my first Fall 2015 bangle and earrings, I noticed a colorway at the beginning of one of the earrings that I really loved.  I took note of it and when the first set was done, I started right in on the next bangle.

Bangles $75.00 each

Playing with colors, without drafting a pattern  can help me relax into my work and figure out what I want to make with these particular colors.  I'm happy to be able to create again and slowly get back into my beadweaving and also my handweaving.

This is the beginning of one of the earrings in the first set that led me to the second set.

I've also been thinking I could do a square pendant, much like THIS ONE that I made for Liisa back in 2013.  Or I could do it without the edging like this Peach/White one.

Bangle Bracelet with all the Fall Colors

In this summer heat we have been having, I am dreaming of fall and winter.  So naturally I start looking at the fashion forecast for fall and holiday colors.  I then pour through my beads and make a collection of them to work off of for the upcoming season.

Bangle Bracelet 1/2 inch wide

$75.00

Earrings 2.25 inches long

$50.00

 I started with the navy and pink from the netting bracelet and earrings that I just made.  I have started making leaves from the various sized seed beads that I have, but I really missed making my beaded bangles.  So last Monday night I pulled color rages from my collection of delicas, poured them into my largest palette and decided to just use all the colors. I wasn't in the mood to graph something out, so I started with small stripes and alternated them.

I know when I decided to move into the alternating, I was thinking of my friend Kathy's beautiful double-weavings that she has been working on.  I was hoping to have a bit of that weaverly feeling in this bangle, which I think was successful.  I'm considering doing this same bangle with a few less colors, wider.

It has also gotten me thinking about what colors to use and some future bangles to graph out.  I may even visit some old patterns with these fresh colors.

And of course it always feels good when you get a magazine in the mail and the colors on the front cover about-match what I'm working on!  Thanks Pottery Barn!