Oh What An Angled Web We Weave

I couldn't resist that name for my post, since Scotty and I both used the phrase, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave..." over the weekend, in reference to different people we know with complex lives. But the name here refers to the fact that I moved my loom to be at an angle in its location, so that I have room to maneuver my arms to weave a 30 inch warp. I haven't woven this width often, because it is hard on my upper arms...so we'll see how this project goes. I'll tell ya, getting old ain't for sissies!

This is a photo from my warp painting session last Friday, with my cartoon and color swatches. Just below is the silk warp, after steaming and before drying.

And the last photo shows the sleyed warp waiting to be threaded. As I mentioned last week, only one of two projects on this warp is painted prior to weaving.

It's interesting to me that I'm in a green and purple dyeing phase. Without realizing it until last Friday, most, if not all, of my recent dyeing projects have been with similar colors. Actually, there's something I like about that, because the palette keeps changing ever so slightly and I enjoy seeing the variations on this theme. Green and purple is one of my very favorite color combos, so I may as well go as far into it as I can!

Incidentally, the pattern for the painted warp was one of my texture photographs from a couple months ago, manipulated and recolored in Photoshop.

Hit The Ground Running

I've had busy days "at work" this week, moving projects forward. Today I did some dyeing experiments with acid dyes, working with different percent stock solutions and different depths of shade, to get more successful outcomes with direct dye application and painted warps. Yesterday I got a 720 end, 7 yard silk warp (24 epi) wound up in bundles, and tomorrow I'll paint two of those yards for a first large piece. I also got 1500 yards of 20/2 silk put up into skeins to dye, to use as weft with the painted warp piece. I'm planning that it will be a woven shibori, as well.

The other project on this warp will be heavier, with doubled warp threads (12 epi) and a heftier silk weft. Also woven shibori. Possibly painted weft.

It feels good to be working on a larger scale, mapping it out at this point, anyway. There are a lot of things I know, things I've learned in my fiber work over the years, that I haven't really put to use yet. Waiting for the time and place. Yearning for the freedom from the confines of a smaller, narrower (read: scarf) space on which to work. And I'm learning that I love the risk taking of trying new things: a different brand of dye, or a different class of dye, or different percentages of dyes, new-to-me ways of applying dye, etc.

I've been thinking a lot about the process of what I'm doing, have been focusing on staying in the moment with each activity, embracing each little part of it whether it be winding warp threads or making skeins, or measuring dye powder or steaming samples. Because I've had such an orientation in the past on getting to the finished product that I haven't before allowed myself to appreciate each part of the getting there. I do like these times when in the back of my mind I am strategizing how to do things, what will work, what the probable outcomes will be. It helps that I am a visual person and I understand at a visceral level how a lot of things fit or work together.

I submitted images and info to two national shows this week, and I'm feeling good about it. It's a good thing to put myself and my work out there. I feel elevated beyond the plane of local artist just by taking this step.

The Texture of Water, Part Deux

I'm tinkering this morning, but I need to get going...I slept late this morning -- 6:00 a.m.! This is actually a good time for me to get up, but it's probably the first morning in about 10 days that I slept this late until waking up. There's something about the 4 o'clock hour that's lately been rousing me.

Anyhow, more later...

The Texture of Water

Manipulated, solarized ocean foam

I'm in gathering, or circling, mode. When I circle, I cast a mental net around ideas and thoughts, and gradually pull them in closer, to assimilate and germinate, before taking concrete steps toward bringing something to fruition. I'm moving toward the art I intend to be doing next, a little bit at a time, preparing in this area, gathering materials over there, pulling information and inspiration from the places I've been storing it, waiting patiently for this time.

It feels comfortably linear, but I know it's not. There are a lot of things going forward at once, numerous balls to hold in the air. And I've always resisted the process being like that, but it is. So I'm learning how to go with it, not feel like I have to master one element before moving on to the next, allowing myself to be open to all things at once, to accept lack of closure and completion.

As I walked the beach today I saw myself picking up shells and beach stuff that was less than whole and complete, less than perfect. Stuff I might not have picked up before because it was partially flawed in some way. Today I felt okay with disintegration, with the ongoing process of formation and transformation.

Post Script -- the image shows surface design at its most elemental.

World Wide Press

Dear new friend and uber-weaver Meg Nakagawa ran stories about me and my art in two of her several blogs this morning, New Zealand time -- which actually makes it WEDNESDAY morning there. Check them out here, and here. Thanks SO much, Meg. I'll hop over to the Morris Graves Museum of Art, a short 7 blocks from my house (!), to check out and photograph Tim Wraight's work for you. What goes around comes around!

Newly Listed Treasures

As I said I would in my last post, I've just listed a number of new items at my Etsy shop -- two handspun, handwoven items for the home, a couple handspun, handwoven scarves not previously listed online, and several handspun, handknit items. Check 'em out!

Marketing My Art

I've suffered a lot of disappointment lately in my efforts to market my art locally. This really doesn't come as any surprise to me, nevertheless it is a drag when so many people genuinely love your art but they don't or won't buy it. It's not that we don't have art patrons in Humboldt County, but my feeling is that they support the already-established local artists -- probably 95% of those being painters -- rather than spreading their money around more equitably to the numerous artists in the area.

For years Eureka-Arcata has been in the very top few "Best Small Art Towns in America," according to author John Villani, and that may be so for the folks visiting art towns or choosing to move to one. For artists, however, my area is fairly overrun. Don't get me wrong -- there is absolutely amazing art being made on California's North Coast. There are just too many artists here for many of us to make our living marketing to the non-artists in the area, or the relatively few art patrons (AKA local wealthy folks).

I think there might also be an element in the mix here of making art that is different from what other artists make. Without a doubt, it is the wisest thing to make your own art, do your own work. But I suspect there are a lot of buyers who'd rather buy what other people buy -- the followers of trends or hot artists -- than experience new work and support less-well-known artists.

I experienced this phenomenon A LOT when I was making and selling beaded jewelry. People loved my work -- it was unique, well crafted, evoked images from early artistic and cultural movements, was well presented, and not really overpriced. But it WASN'T precious metal, gold or silver, and most people who could afford my art preferred precious metal because everyone else was wearing it! Also, wearing my jewelry would have been a bit of a fashion risk for some women, because it was different, and few people really wanted to be different even if they said they did!

I know the economy these days isn't good, and areas like Humboldt County, being rural and heavily dependent on industries that are largely dying, can be considered to be in pretty bad shape. But I prefer to focus on the fact that there are more rich people in the world than ever before and THEY are who I want for my market anyway. Plus the fact that technology is making art more available and accessible to a younger, "still up and coming despite the economy in general" buying public.

So I'm taking my marbles and going to play elsewhere, by and large. I will still focus on local shows and exhibits, when I can set them up or when (and if) I am invited to have one. But I'm not doing Open Studios here any longer, not sending out vast numbers of expensive postcards to would-be buyers who never show up to invitational events.

I will apply to national exhibits and shows, regional or national galleries, market my website more heavily, post other textile pieces at my Etsy shop, and continue looking for new venues and opportunities to show my work to a much larger audience...the buying audience.

First Finished Skein

This is the first finished skein of the new yarn I'm spinning -- 350 yards of merino/alpaca plied with hand dyed silk hankies. I have a few ideas in mind for what to do with this yarn when it's all finished...I might weave a light blanket of a plaited twill design using handspun chocolate brown silk as the other yarn...I might knit it up into a vest, something I've been wanting to do for myself for a few years now. I have another yarn I did about a year ago, with different materials, although it reads very similarly to this yarn, color and weight wise. I might use both yarns together to make something. So we'll see what happens.

Finishing one skein at a time is a fairly new thing for me. In the past when I've done a big spinning project, I would completely finish one ply before moving onto the next. In other words, I might spin 1800 yards of one singles, holding my hands in the same position for near days on end before switching activities. I just can't do that anymore. With age and the potential for arthritis-prone hands, I've got to move from one activity to the next with some regularity, or else I suffer non-spinning days when I can hardly move my hands. So now I'll spin a bit of one ply, spin a bit of the next, ply them together and finish off one skein. Then start over again. Just one of those things I'm doing to take better care of myself as I age.

My yard sale yesterday was a success, although I still have a lot of stuff to offload. I'll be taking a bunch of stuff to my current favorite place to donate stuff, Miranda's Animal Rescue, a few things I've posted at craigslist locally, and some I'll save for the next yard sale, probably in August. What I really love about having yard or garage sales is that I love being playful with the folks who come by to look at and buy stuff. It's rare that someone walks away empty handed. If they're interested in something, I darn near make sure they leave with it. Although I always have my stuff priced, I'm always negotiable and I make deals for everyone. I want to move the stuff but part of the whole thing is that it's FUN. I always meet a lot of interesting folks and my neighbors come out of the woodwork to see what's going on.

Anyhow, this coming week is for getting back into the swing of my art. Stay tuned!

Silk Hanky Dyeing Day

I dyed three ounces of silk hankies today, to ply with the merino/alpaca I've been working on. All the instructions herein work equally well for silk caps, which are essentially the same thing, only bigger than hankies. These are photos from the process...

Here's one hanky laid out on plastic wrap, painted, and ready to be rolled up in the plastic for steaming. I painted the entire three ounces, one at a time, each rolled up in plastic, and laid each one as it was finished in an old vegetable steamer I use for setting dyes.

After they're steamed for 20 minutes, and after cooling, I unwrap all and rinse in tepid water, squeeze each one out, and lay them staggered on a terry towel. I make a second layer of the same thing, then roll the towel up tightly to blot out excess water. Then I hang them to dry. Today was beautiful, so I hung them outside, out of the direct sun. On cool damp days I hang them inside to catch the heat from my heater.

When they're fully dry, I stack the hankies in such a way that the color variations are spread throughout the whole stack -- i.e., the painted hankies have different amounts of each color on them so I make sure those variations are spread out so that one section of the subsequent yarn will not be significantly different in color from the rest.

How I spin them is that I will take the first hanky off the top of the stack, peel off one cocoon layer to spin, then put the rest of that hanky at the bottom of the stack. This way I'll get one layer from each hanky, one at a time, so the colors are rotated throughout the whole spinning project.

I have a few bags of hankies and caps left at my Etsy store, and I probably won't be ordering any more for a while. Go there now if you're interested in picking up what's left and giving this wonderful and fun process a try.

Reconstruction

That possible studio space I looked at the other day was beautiful, with gardens and a killer view of Fortuna -- but the price was near what I'm paying for rent right where I am. And honestly I wouldn't want to have a studio in a place that wasn't conducive to my creativity, so the entire plan of my giving up my home, although well intentioned, began to look less and less like a viable alternative.

So after spending the evening looking at our options, the gist of the matter is that I'm not going to be leaving Eureka after all, and Scotty will be moving in with me in the next few months. BeeGee, for one, is going to be a much happier camper staying put.

I'm still having that humongous yard sale this Saturday, though. And although I admit to retrieving just a few things I'd thrown in the sale pile, the rest is going and it feels wonderful. And there'll likely be more on the pile by Saturday morning. I've gotten the hang of this "letting go of unnecessary stuff" thing. There's more open space around my plants, on my bookshelves, in my studio. So now I have more than enough room for Scotty to claim space of his own in our future home together.

Late yesterday I reorganized my work studio and it's a lot nicer now, more room to breathe and work and be inspired. Tomorrow I'm planning to dye silk hankies to spin up more of that plied yarn I wrote about on Sunday. The possible drafts for my next weaving are just waiting for my final selection. And I'm hoping to dive soon into that box of goodies I purchased recently from Dharma Trading.

There's something about big change, though, that I think I find exhilarating. Maybe it's because I'm such an organized person, and I like orchestrating the logistical facets of change. I hope it's not a reflection of some deep-seated drama queen part of my psyche that I don't normally relate to. I've never liked the idea of playing my life out on the world's stage or drawing a lot of attention to myself. So even changing my mind about something after an initial decision has been made, or going off in the opposite direction to the one I've been moving in, initiates a certain amount of anxiety inside.

Anyway, it's all good, and I'm feeling stronger for my willingness to go with the flow, whatever that might be.

Yarns I've Spun & Loved

When I was tapering off spinning wool from raw fleeces and beginning to dye and spin silk yarn, I made a number of 2-ply yarns where one ply was medium to dark gray natural wool and the other ply was a brilliantly dyed silk. I haven't done this in a while, because I very rarely use raw fleeces anymore -- and, as I've learned from fiber suppliers, the naturally colored merino and corriedale sheep, which are the only kinds of wool I'll spin anymore, are culled and all the white ones sent off to be processed and DYED, so commmercially processed naturally colored merino or corriedale wool roving or top is virtually impossible to find.

But -- I've recently run across a merino/alpaca top in a natural brown/gray that fits the bill perfectly. The first photo shows raw fiber on the left and the merino/alpaca top on the right. You can see that they're close enough in color to work for my purposes.

The next photo is a yarn I made several years ago, charcoal gray merino plied with dyed magenta silk.

And this next photo shows samples of yarns I did a number of years ago using this technique -- those are on the left -- and a sample I just did up this morning on the right, showing the merino/alpaca blend plied with silk hankies I dyed a few weeks ago.

I love this technique because the gray really tones down the bright colors that I probably wouldn't use alone. Here's one last photo of a scarf I wove a few years ago out of yarn I'd spun thusly. The gray fleece in this case was a New Zealand roving that was quite a bit browner than the charcoal fleeces I used more recently.

Well, that's the creativity report for the day. A bit later I'll be looking at a possible studio space in Fortuna. (It hasn't escaped me that I'm moving to Fortuna -- possibly to find my fortune?)

Natural Dyeing Day

A bunch of us from my guild got together today at a member's home and spent the afternoon dyeing with natural dyes -- indigo (blue), cochineal (red), madder (orange) and osage (yellow). It was a gorgeous day to be outside dyeing and we had a lot of fun.

These are the skeins I dyed -- from left to right: 20/2 silk noil yarn dip dyed with madder and cochineal; 20/2 silk noil yarn dip dyed with indigo and cochineal; 20/2 silk noil yarn immersed in madder, then indigo, then osage; and the skein on the right was handspun tussah top that I had dyed before spinning a while back, in a kind of drab rust color, and today I overdyed it with indigo.

Anybody remember that experiment I did a couple months ago, dyeing tencel and bamboo with acid dyes, and the dye washed out of the handspun yarn? Well, these three skeins above, left of the indigo overdyed silk, are those very skeins of tencel, bamboo, and tencel and bamboo plied together. I dyed them today with cochineal and indigo.

You're Invited to a Virtual Weaving Exhibition

You're all invited to view the Small Scarf Virtual Exhibition (SSVE) of weavers from around the world, happening online now through June 27. Each weaver has created small scarves (approx. 6" x 60") that are beautiful in both color and technique.

Begin your tour by visiting Meg Nakagawa, world-class weaver in Nelson, New Zealand, then follow this link (also at the bottom of her SSVE post) to continue your virtual trip around the globe.

We hope you enjoy the exhibition!

Committed to Change

I had an offer today I almost couldn't refuse -- except the momentum of my coming move and the excitement of doing everything in my life differently are propelling me forward unabated. My landlord essentially asked me to name my price for monthly rent -- he SO wants me to continue living in his house. I feel honored and tremendously grateful for his kind gesture.

So, of course, I have been checking in with myself about the move, and rechecking in with myself, looking at it from as many angles as I can grasp. And the bottom line is that I am ready for something new in life. And I don't have to have the answers or a visual image of how life will look in, say, three or four months from now. Somethings I know, but others I don't. And for maybe the first time, that's okay with me. How refreshing. I'm trusting in the Universe. It's all good and it's all going to be new and different and wonderful in its own way.

Just like being here has been wonderful...but it's also been kind of overwhelming, too. The house is big, 1700 square feet, and doesn't get cleaned very often anymore. I do keep it tidy, but vacuuming and floor washing are seldom done these days. And the yard, this beautiful piece of heaven in the center of town, requires a lot of upkeep, tons of cutting back, bi-weekly mowing this time of year, and it just never stops. It's a lot for one person to manage.

And Scotty and I really do want to live together and see where life takes us from here, together. So I'm committed to this change of life. I'm just kind of amazing myself because not long ago, imagining what's happening now was virtually unthinkable. I feel different inside. And this is a good thing.

Magazines

Most of the magazines I've gravitated to on my journey have been non-commercial, by and large. I really hate the mass media magazines with their tear-out advertising offers, multiple subscription blanks, sometimes unrelated come-ons, and the worst of the bunch, those scent strips that smell up your whole house the minute the magazine is brought in. There were some publishers that would offer to send you scent-free editions but that, I believe, is a thing of the past. At least the last time I checked, it wasn't possible. So I unsubscribed.

Anyhow, the periodicals I've taken have generally been art or garden related, or Buddhist. But I've decided to let these all go. If anyone is interested in any of the following magazines, contact me by email and I'll give you a price you probably won't be able to refuse -- shipping additional, of course.

• Bead & Button and Beadwork (many years of these since I ordered numerous back issues when I started subscribing; all issues are from the 1990s)
• Garden Design (one year of this, 1998-99)
• Shambhala Sun (including a couple issues of Tricycle thrown in; recent issues)
• Ladies Home Journal Needle & Craft (hasn't been published since the late 1970's but has wonderful home crafts, knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc. designs -- I've got several years of these)
• American Home Craft (same genre, same timeframe as the Ladies Home Journals, above)
• Country Living Gardener (I've got a couple years of this, from the mid-1990s)
• Threads (six issues only, from possibly 15 years ago)
• Quilters Newsletter Magazine (six issues from about 10 years ago)
• Ornament (many years of this; many of the issues have had wearable art photos removed but still have tons of incredible jewelry designs, historical and ethnic articles about personal adornment; issues are largely from the 1990s)

I am, of course, holding on to my FiberArts, Handwoven, SpinOff, Knitters, and Vogue Knitting.

Anyhow, I'm on my way to the recycling center, again! Another Jeep-load of paper to let go of.

The Value of Stuff

One of the reasons I think I've held on to stuff for so long is that I wanted to get good use out of it. Is that a concept from the Great Depression, or what? Who imparted that bit of wisdom to me? (my mother, is who!) Now I'm sure the better use of something that hasn't been used, or was used and won't be again, or was never right to begin with, is to simply be rid of it. The Value of Empty Space...empty space physically AND psychically.

Yesterday I cleaned out two full drawers of a 4-drawer filing cabinet. I dumped entire folders of articles and information I know I don't need anymore, without even going through the folders again. I know what's in 'em and I don't need it. I've already carted off eight or ten big grocery bags of paper to the recycling center.

I'm just recalling a time thirty years ago when I threw away early journals, and sold or gave away things that I probably wasn't really ready to let go of yet. But my motives were different then. And I later pined deeply for some of that stuff because I was still building my sense of self and apparently that stuff had had its place in my schema. The motive, then, for letting go of it all was that I'd hoped to be done with painful parts of my history that nevertheless came along with me until I really DID work through them, years later.

It's different this time. I am comfortable with myself, I love myself and who I am, and I want to be free to do things differently. I don't need the detritus that's propped me up, any longer.

Open Studios again today and tomorrow...I have a much better feeling about this weekend than last. Likely because I don't have that sense of desperation that has been driving me for so long.Thank God for that!

Pack Rat-ism

Well, I never considered myself a Pack Rat before, but I'm rethinking that. In my own seemingly small ways, I qualify for the club...

I have groovey stationery that's been around since that word was in vogue...books that I was sure I'd get to again or perhaps for the first time, some dating back 20-25 years...clothes I'm sure I'll wear again, even though I haven't worn them in a dozen years...my sacred collection of cute greeting cards purchased specifically to save -- for what? -- old journals from times past that I really don't want to read about again...photos of people who's memory I'd rather not keep...cool art papers I still haven't used but have been schlepping around for up to 20 years...framed pictures I don't have on the walls...old calendars with wonderful flower photographs...

Oh, then there's my collection of shopping bags from neat stores (Nordstrom being one of them, although I'm presently 250 miles from the nearest one)...periodicals and magazines I haven't referred to in 10 years although I thought I might again (Garden Design, Ornament, others)...

Well, you get the picture. OUT!

A Break From Artmaking

I can't believe I'm really doing this, but I've put a major move in motion. In this moment, I'm in a lot of fear. But I know it will pass. I just have to remember that I really can't afford to live here anymore, and that's reality. When I get overcome with fear, groking practical reality is a good thing. Helps to clear the mind.

I did want to show you this piece of art cloth I made a couple years ago, in a felting class. This was my only exposure to felting and I'm sure I have more in my future. Probably more for me than for you, though, I feel I need to post this photo as a sign of my intention to get back to artmaking ASAP. So here it is...

So my days right now are being filled with sorting through things, posting and selling books and CDs, photographing and posting at craigslist a variety of other things I have to sell, gathering together stuff for a yard sale later this month. What amazes me is that once I begin to let go, all that stuff that I thought I needed to have loses its hold on me. It has no meaning anymore. And I wonder why I've held on for so long.

Sales

I'm letting go of a huge inventory of really great books and CDs, and I've got them all listed at Amazon.com. Check out my Amazon storefront here. I don't have many art books in the mix, but a lot of other wonderful books I read over the years and have been collecting...but now it's time to let them go.

Ditto for the CDs. For many years I was building collections of Jazz CDs, Bluegrass, Cajun, Western Swing, Swing, and rock from MY rock era. Other than the rock, I've slowly been selling off the others. Most of them I haven't listened to in maybe 10 years. Probably time to let 'em go, eh?

I sold two major pieces of my art at Etsy today, and I'm totally stoked! I've sold a lot of fiber and yarn there since the end of 2007, but this was my first sale of finished work -- two scarves, one of them a woven shibori, to the same buyer. Honest to God, I was beginning to wonder whether anyone in the world was looking at my art seriously -- as in, something they would actually buy. Below is the piece that sold...tomorrow it leaves for its new home in Missouri.

I've had a hard time of it lately, what with North Coast Open Studios last weekend essentially being a bust for me (and many other artists, locally, from what I've heard). So today's sale really juices me up again for this coming weekend's Open Studio, as well as sales from elsewhere. Now I KNOW it can really happen, it's not just something that happens for other artists! I feel like I've made it into a club, of sorts. Wow!

Deconstruction

As I move forward toward the making of ART CLOTH, I've been running across the concept or the technique of "deconstruction" -- as in taking something apart after it has been put together. "Breakdown" is another word I'm seeing used in the same or similar context. How appropriate for me these days, because I am in the process of deconstruction in an entirely different domain -- my whole life. More on this in a moment...

A number of years ago a good friend at the time gave me a card that reads:

the most visible creators i know of

are those artists whose medium is life itself.

the ones who express the inexpressible --

without brush, hammer, clay or guitar.

they neither paint nor sculpt -- their medium is being.

whatever their presence touches has increased life.

they see and don't have to draw.

they are the artists of being alive...

When I think of myself as an artist, as I am, I know at a deep level that the art I create isn't about a particular medium I'm using, but that it is about expressing something inside of me that over the years has been brought into being in a variety of forms. I am truly an artist of being alive. Even though there are times when I feel the victim of what life has brought me, there are other times when I feel the mythic quality of my journey as an artist of being alive, when I am really connected with the larger perspective of what I'm doing here on planet Earth.

I'm in the process of a change of life, and I think it entirely appropos that now that I am well beyond a year past the moment of menopause, things are shaking up in my life at the root level and of an entirely different magnitude. (I should say here that I am feeling my way through the verbal articulation of this change as it's happening, and I am looking and talking about it from a different perspective as well, on A Crone's Chronicle, my personal blog. So check that out, too, if you're interested in following my process.)

More later...I've got to go out for a few hours. But I've lots more to say, so stay tuned!

Spring Into Summer

There's a big SPRING INTO SUMMER 20 percent off sale on all fibers and yarns happening at my Etsy store, now through June 21. My inventory is limited to the quantities on hand at Etsy, so check it out now before all the fiber goodies are gone!

To purchase at the discounted prices, place your order with Etsy as usual, but don't pay yet. When I've received notification of your purchase, I will send you an updated PayPal invoice with the discounted prices. Once you've paid that invoice, your order will ship out.

Thanks, and Enjoy!