At the beginning of October I taught a workshop up at Interlochen for thier adult programming classes. This time we worked in 2-drop peyote stitch to create bracelets.
Here's my student's fantastic pieces:
I always encourage my students to start going with one color and we can switch, start talking designs and color play once getting the stitch down. Stripes are the easiest to play with and count, but I also love the random movement shapes in the lavender and read bangle and the check design that plays out in the grey and yellow one.
I actually used the check design in the Bugle Bead variation of this stitch that I made after I taught this class.
I was teaching two-drop peyote stitch at Interlochen at the beginning of this month. When I get the class going on the stitch, I start talking about the various ways this stitch can be used. I feel like every time I get going talking about this stitch, it gets my creative juices going as to how I should be using this stitch.
One of the ideas that I have always talked about is integrating bugle beads in with this stitch. I finally decided to do so.
The check-patterning is actually inspired by one of my students from this class. Once she got the stitch down, she got right into playing with alternating beads.
Bugle Two-Drop Bracelet $55.00
Finishing this bracelet was a little new for me. Due to the wide spacing of the bugle beads, I couldn't stitch in loops as I normally would. I found this gunmetal slide clasp in my supplies and figured out how to attach it. I'm really hapy with how this turned out.
I feel like I've been working on this necklace for forever. I tried a few different add-ons to it, but it's so busy with color already that I needed to keep it simple. The original necklace of this kind of design I had accent beads in, but I like being able to do wrap this one differently.
I really like this style, you can tie it after slipping it on:
Or do kind-of a braid with it too, it tends to wrap around itself while wearing it.
This necklace is $200.00. I plan on bringing it to the Lansing Art Gallery for their upcoming Holiday Market (unless it sells before then, you can always contact me if interested).
I've probably been getting about an hour a day in on this weaving. The detail in it makes it hard to sit for much longer than this, but I'm pushing on. Usually pulling more hours over the weekend.
I got my header on.
I've been playing with texture of yarn and creating texture with the woven layers moving in and out of one another.
It started to get really difficult to see the cartoon underneath. So I pulled it and added more sharpie marker lines.
I am VERY pleased that I finally got the triple weave system down. I was letting the warp that I wasn't using float at the back, but now we're all in!
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.
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.
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.
