Do you have what it takes to be a Designing Weaver?

One of my favorite art groups I belong to is Designing Weavers.  It is the one group that really inspires me to do more creative, more intricate, more professional... well...inspired to do all together better artwork.  I come back from meetings hyped and inspired and my latest creations clearly have been influenced by the group.

Anyway, once a year we jury a few new members into the group.  Now is your chance to come visit a Designing Weavers meeting and see if you have what it takes to be a Designing Weaver.

Here is the press release with the details...

____________________________________________________________________________

Membership Period Opens for Designing Weavers

Designing Weavers is currently seeking artists who:

·       Enjoy sharing their joy of fiber with others

·       Whose fiber creations have a sense of style and expertise

·       Who wish to take a professional approach to their art

·       And want to be challenged to take their work to a higher level.

Designing Weavers, a nationally recognized group of fiber artists, is a vital organization with a long history of encouraging excellence in the fiber community.  All members are juried into the group and actively participate in the organization while striving to improve their individual level of creative achievement.   Designing Weavers began in the early 1970s with a small group of women coming together to share their knowledge of weaving. The group continues to be a strong force in the art and design community and contains a number of nationally known fiber teachers, artists and designers.  Check out our current members at www.DesigningWeavers.com.

One benefit of membership is the camaraderie with other respected fiber artists, many of whom attribute advances in their work to inspiration gained from the group dialogues.  The members’ interactions often provide insights into methods of meeting artistic challenges and discovering new ways of working.

The yearly project offers opportunities to grow and develop as an artist.  Hearing how other members approach a new work, make plans, develop the piece, overcome difficulties met along the way, and create a display mechanism is very inspirational and fuels their collective creativity.  Honing personal presentation skills among friendly colleagues and getting constructive feedback is an added benefit. 

Designing Weavers continues to be dynamic by encouraging individual development and providing opportunities to showcase the group’s collective work.  The stability and strength of Designing Weavers comes from the accomplishments and commitments of the diverse membership.

Do you wonder whether you have what it takes to be a Designing Weaver?

Come to a meeting and find out!

Fiber artists interested in joining Designing Weavers must visit either the April 23^rd or the May 28^th meeting and provide a short introduction to their work.  The meetings are in the evening from 6:30 – 9pm with an optional dinner at 5.

After attending one meeting any fiber artist who wishes to be considered for membership beginning the following year (commencing in September of each year) should submit a short resume of his/her fiber art experience along with samples or photographs (not slides) to the Membership Chair no later than June 30. Regular meeting attendance is required throughout the year in order to maintain membership. Meetings are held in Los Angeles, CA, nine times a year.

If you are interested in joining please contact Carollee Howes, the current President of Designing Weavers at howes@gseis.ucla.edu.   

California Fiber Artists - 10 years of extraordinary art

I belong to a great artist group; California Fiber Artists and I just finished putting together our new Marketing Portfolio for 2014.    The portfolio is hot off the presses!   Take the preview and check out the wonderful work the group does.    It never ceases to amaze me - the diversity and beauty we can achieve with fiber.

In addition to our portfolio you can check out our work in person at the following two venues:

Family of Flower Beetles
part of Best of the Best

In Monroe Washington

California Fiber Artists present WILD an exclusive exhibit designed by CFA for the Saaski Gallery.

Where:               Saaski Gallery
                          17161 Beaton Road SE  
                          Monroe, Washington 98272
Exhibit Dates:      March 13th - May 31st
           

In Carlsbad California (a great spot to break off the 5 freeway between LA and San Diego!)  California Fiber Artists present Best of the Best commemorating 10 years of extraordinary art!

Where:             Front Porch Gallery
                        2903 Carlsbad Blvd, Carlsbad, CA 92008
Exhibit Dates:  March 30-May 25th
Reception:       March 30 from 2-4pm
Gallery hours: Wed-Fri: Noon -6pm and Sat/Sun: 11am-5pm

A New Project with High Twist Yarn

My sample...yes I sampled!

 The minute I saw this black and white yarn I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  But more on that later...

I began with the thought this would be a fairly simple project; just eight feet of yardage woven in plain weave.  Straight and lovely edges would be a must. The final size would be critical since I would be creating a frame for another piece of art.

The yarn is a high twist yarn...a very high twist yarn...in fact this is the yarn with the biggest twist I have every seen in my life.  Without any tension it simply curls around itself or around anything nearby.  That makes doing anything with it a battle.  Even turning the skein into a ball of yarn was a chore.  Measuring out the warp was a nightmare with all the ends continuously twisting around itself.  Warping was another formidable battle but once on the loom under tension all seemed well.  All the things I knew about weaving didn't seem to work well with this yarn.  But I adapted and am happy with the initial results.

This is the first time I will be weaving across the entire weaving width of my Gilmore loom.  It's 32 inches wide.  The only way I have found to make it work is to stand up and weave.  My arms are just long enough to throw my biggest boat shuttle across the warp and catch it on the other side.  A couple more inches in arm length would be quite useful.  

I have always cuffed up my sleeves of my shirts and jackets and never thought twice about it until I went to golf school where I learned I had shorter than average arms for a woman. I was being custom fit for a set of golf clubs by a couple of golf pros (men of course) who were having the toughest time getting my golf swing to work with any of the women's clubs.  They kept telling me to stop bending over so much...I kept saying I couldn't hit the ball unless I bent over...  Finally one of them suggested longer clubs.  The other argued it was my stance...  When they finally swapped me over to those longer men's clubs it was a miracle... my posture improved and the golf balls went twice as a far.  Great clubs....but I gave up golf entirely once I retired from the corporate world.  Now I weave.

I wove the first bobbin worth of weft today on the new warp.  I have to check every shed before beating to make sure there is no twisting of the yarn so its a bit of a slow go.  I was able to get 7 inches of material from one bobbin...it's the longest bobbin I have - 10 inches.   So at that rate if I weave one bobbin a day, it will be done in two weeks.  Not bad!  

So now I have three things to do every day... weave on my Gilmore, weave on my big Shannock and work on refinishing my counterbalance loom.   Lot's of stuff happening this month!

Day one:  the first seven inches...

Beetles in the Wild

I am excited to have two species of my woven beetles in the WILD exhibit at the Saaski Gallery in Monroe Washington.  I do love beetles and love capturing them in fiber.  

Below is a photo of one the two species at the exhibit - a dragon beetle from Thailand.  This is my interpretation of the Dicranocephalus wallichi wallichii woven with rayon and metallic sewing thread.  It is mounted on zebra hardwood.

Dragon Beetles 

WILD is an exhibit by California Fiber Artists so it is packed with fabulous pieces by a couple dozen artists.  If you are in the Seattle area March 13th - May 31st do check it out!

Where:    The Saaski Gallery
Address: 17161 Beaton Road SW, Monroe, WA
When:     March 13th-May 31st, 2014

Arm Knitting

Look!  Here is my latest project... it is not woven... oh my it's knitted!

 I did not knit until I was 50. No knitting until I was 50 had been my mantra for many decades.    I actually started blogging to document my tumbling down into the rabbit hole of knitting.  Would I change from a weaving diva to a knitting knut?

Well, if you had been reading my blog way back when you would have seen I gave knitting a good shot yet in the end I simply was not a knitting knut.  It took way too much concentration.  I really was looking for something I could do while watching TV at night.  I failed miserably at the knitting/TV thing.  I could knit or purl with wild abandon.  However, anything requiring any concentration; like a pattern or counting the number of stitches...ah the mistakes would outnumber the correct stitches...I couldn't even do that simple pattern...(hmmm what was it...two knits, two purls and repeat over and over again.)

My First Arm
Knitted Scarf

Anyway, one of my face book friends said she had watched a fun video on arm knitting  which for some reason I watched.  Check it out if you haven't seen it done before. The instructions are right on. 

I was intrigued.  Knitting without needles.   I promptly went out and bought some thick bulky yarn as recommended in the video.  There was none in my extensive stash. This is yarn I would never in my wildest dreams have purchased for any reason.  And would have never known what to do with.  Now I know at least one reason...

2nd Scarf - going for less bulk
 and more color contrast

My first attempt at arm knitting took about fifty minutes with the TV on and included multiple watching of the YouTube video. Once I got knitting it was quite a hoot!  Knitting without knitting needles.  You just move the yarn from one arm to the other and end up making these huge loops.

 I didn't make my scarf as bulky as in the video.  Wearing anything that thick in Southern California will bring on a fever.  After completing one I was hooked.  I tried making them less bulky and more colorful by incorporating yarns from my stash.  Next I added some left overs from my silk tie project and then hit my bead boxes.  My favorite is the orange one above with pink clay beads that pull down and distort the knit.

I know there is something 'out of the box'  I can do with this concept of arm knitting besides...it will come to me eventually.

Weaving with Camel

Weaving in my studio

I am all ready for Christmas so I decided to warp my floor loom with some new yarn that Santa brought from WEBS.  It's a perfect concept; weaving by the Christmas tree with Christmas music playing in the background and a fire in the fireplace.

I have three cones of camel yarn which I received a couple of weeks ago.  Never woven with camel before.  Never touched camel before.  I don't even know if I am allergic to camel... seems a bit itchy... way different than the silk and bamboo yarns I have been weaving with for years.

I have both the warp and weft done in camel.  The warp is one shade.  It seems a bit hairier than the other two cones.  Not sure how any of this yarn will work; nor do I have a clue what to do with it.  I don't like just weaving for the sake of weaving so for now, I will assume this warp could turn into a runner.

Closer

This is a 'sample' warp; so I get to play.  I have no set pattern in mind. It's set at 12 ends per inch in what I believe is a huck lace set-up.  It's the same tie-up I used for some recent scarves.   I just went from two threads per dent to one.

I have woven over a foot so far trying out the three yarns as weft.  It does have a nice drape albeit itchy.  

And the colors are quite calming...a perfect pre-Christmas weave.  



PS  I plan on weaving a few more feet then see what a wet finishing will do... more later.

And even closer...
. 

A Bubbly Bug

My Bubbly Bug

This is a fun piece I created for the remnants exhibit, an exhibit of California Fiber Artists at the Harrington Gallery in Pleasanton.  I was challenged earlier this year to create a piece using bubble wrap.   And this is what I came up with!

It started with a photo my husband took at the UCLA arboretum of some ladybugs.  And it has morphed into a pixelated fiber creation of bubble wrap, men's silk ties, plastic fruit bags and old thread.  I created it in several layers if bubble wrap which I ironed together melting the plastic.  I later cut and collaged the three layers together and ironed the piece for the very last time.   See below on how each layer was created.



Do check out the exhibit if you are in the Pleasanton area...

remnants

An exhibit by California Fiber Artists at the Harrington Gallery

Firehouse Art Center

Pleasanton California

November 6th-December 18th, 2013

Colored fruit bags were cut up into small pieces
 and  dropped on top of the bubble wrap then melted.

Thread circles where placed inside
the bubbles of the bubble wrap

Men's silk ties were cut into circles
and put inside the bubbles

The Year of the Ladybug

It's the Year of the Ladybug! 

This is my favorite project every year...selecting a beetle species and weaving small specimens to put under glass.  This year I selected the friendly and popular ladybug.     Each one is slightly different in pattern, background color, warp color or simply that unruly warp catching the shuttle every once in awhile.

I just finished placing them under glass and now they are ready for the Designing Weavers Exhibit and Holiday Sale the weekend before Thanksgiving.  If your are in the Sierra Madre area stop by and sale hello to my ladybugs.

When:  November 23rd & 24th
Time:   10am-4pm
What:   Designing Weavers Exhibit & Holiday Sale
Where: The Sierra Madre Women's Club
             550 West Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre

Huck Scarves Just off the Loom

Just off the loom...

I always have a warp for scarves set up on my eight harness Gilmore loom. Sometimes I find it relaxing to simply throw the shuttle across the loom with wild abandon and not worry about which shafts are up or down or what dot of color goes where.

Here is what just came off...it is somewhat of a stash reduction project...or at least an empty the spool project.   I ended up with six empty spools which is good.  But there are many others in a variety of colors.    If I recall correctly its some sort of a huck variation...

I am vacillating on what type of warp to do next...I could simply tie on another warp which would allow me to do more huck or plain weave or sit on the floor and change the tie-ups and get something different...or I could start at the beginning again and do a series of those broken twills.  I really liked how that broken twill would pleat up and keep its shape.

Not sure what to do, so I will probably punt and simply work on my pelican tapestry.



PS  I am typing this while walking on my treadmill.   I've set up one of those treadmill desks for my computer.  It's quite amazing how easily you can do stuff as you walk along slowly on the treadmill.  I may try a bit of taquete on my tableloom and see if I can do that too while walking.  More later on that....

Dye Day - Silk Scarves

Lemon yellow to black

My weaving guild had a dye day last Friday and Saturday and we dyed silk scarves with Procion dye.   There were big mason jars filled with prepared dyes in lemon yellow, golden yellow, two blues, two reds and a #44 black.    We had ordered a significant number of silk scarves and were free to do whatever with them in whatever colors we wanted to create.  There were tons of jars in all sorts of sizes, brushes, rollers etc.  We had a steamer set up on a camp stove and a crock pot for steaming.

I wanted to explore the gradations between yellow and black.  I am supposed to create a piece in tints & shades of yellow and I am a bit embarrassed to say that I am not quite sure I can recognize a  shade of yellow from a shade of orange or a shade of yellow green.

To the right is my first piece.  I must admit the photo makes the piece look fairly ugly on my computer screen.  Yet in person, it is my favorite scarf.  It is pale and delicate in a beautiful yellow.  It is definitely a keeper.

I pinned the habotai silk scarf which was soaked in vinegar to two 36" x 12" stretcher frame so I would have more control over where the dye went.  Using lemon yellow and black I made a variety of gradations and painted stripes in the resulting colors.  I was simply mesmerized by the gradations.  Since it was warm this scarf was quickly dry so I did not have a lot of blending of the different gradations of color.  I also experimented in a couple of places with putting kosher salt on wet spots to add a different pattern to the piece.

Here are gradations of golden yellow to black.  

I next switched from lemon yellow to golden yellow and watched the avocado greens emerge in the gradations with black.   The scarf with circles used a flour resist which worked quite well.  I squeezed out the flour and water mixture out from a ketchup bottle and dyed the scarf with various gradations of golden yellow and black once the flour mixture was dry.  In two other pieces I painted a beetle on the scarf in black.  On the first one the scarf was wet and the dye spread while on the second one I let the scarf dry and painted the beetle on with a thin brush.  The last one  - the one on the left had a background from my leftover dye that had soaked into the table cloth on my table ... and then I started to use some colors which were just lying around whispering to me to use them up.

There were perhaps a dozen of us dyeing in a variety of colors so there were lots of jars laying around with 'unkown' colors.  I picked up a few and created the scarf below.

On Saturday we were cleaning up and threw all the greens into one jar.  I checked the color and had to make these two scarves in the remaining absolutely unreproducible fabulous green.

Quite a fun time....and I see more gradations of yellow in my future.

Collaborative Color Wheel

One of my weaving groups is going a collaborative project which began with the development of a communal color wheel out of scraps of paper during one of our monthly meetings.


We all brought small pieces of paper in each of the 12 colors of the color wheel and sorted them out into the 12 piles of color.  We had over 15 people there so there were a lot of scraps in a lot of different hues, shades, values and tints.

Next we broke into small groups re-arranged the colors back and forth between piles until everyone was reasonably happy that the papers were in the correct piles by hue.

Next we made quick small collages in each color. Everyone could select what ever color segment they wanted; take whatever scraps from that segment that they wanted to use and glue them however they liked.  Some colors were more popular than others and ended up having far more collages than others.

Here are the collages in each of the twelve colors of our color wheel and the resulting color wheel accomplished in less than ninety minutes.

Here is our communal color wheel of collages
with a little help from Photoshop.

I took the leftover scraps home and decided to play some more....

Here is what I came up...

Here's the color wheel based on all our leftover scraps of paper.   Brilliant!

Tie On a Warp - how much faster?

Weavers are an odd bunch,  They have odd habits, save odd bits of stuff, wear odd shoes and wonder odd things.  One thing I have often  wondered is how much faster tie-ing on a warp would be over simply starting a fresh and threading the heddles.   It is obviously faster - but by how much? This is probably not something the majority of the world has wondered about, but today I have the opportunity to check it out.

I have the end of warp I used for slap bracelets which I would like to continue to use and tie on a new warp.  The warp is on my Purrington 8 harness table loom.  I have done this before so it's no big deal. It's just a lot of knots to tie.  I would like to add another warp of the same size next to it so I can weave two slap bracelets in the same pattern at the same time.  I moved the existing warp over so in the end the entire piece will be centered in the reed.  So my existing warp is ready to tie-on.

My Purrington loom read to warp

I am going to put on the new warp first and time how long it takes.  Then I'll work on the existing warp. It should take longer since I need to go through the reed as well as the heddles.  I am interested in how much longer.  So in order to find out, I must get off the computer...

Pick Three!

Designing Weavers is having an exhibit at the Escondido Municipal Gallery to compliment the annual fiber and book art exhibit going on August 22-September 29th at the gallery.   In the past I have exhibited in the West Coast Fiber Book Art Exhibit but this year I simply ran out of time. So it's nice Designing Weavers will be able to have an exhibit along side.  

If you check out the postcard for the exhibit on the website you will notice Deanna's California Spring Sprang is on the postcard.  This was her 'exhibition' piece created during our color study of tetrads.  Congratulations Deanna! 

Anyway, this afternoon I need to select three of these nine beetles to show and get them in the mail.  They are each eight inches square mounted on aluminum.  The photo isn't the best; tough to get them all in the photo, appear square and be clear. This is the best I could do with little time, a headache and photo shop.   It's tough to pick since each is unique and each is special to me.  I'll probably select those that haven't been on a trip lately...

You'll need to check out the exhibit if you want to see which three I select.  Or wait until I go to the reception, take some photos of the exhibit and show them here. 

More about Me and My Beetles

I was interviewed by a docent, Debby Thompson about my piece in Small Expressions at the Long Beach Museum of Art.    If you would like to hear and see more about my piece, my studio and me check out the YouTube video she created based on the interview.  I think she has done a wonderful job.  What fun to have a hobby like video and to be able to combine it with a love of art to meet, interview and share  in depth insights of artists showing at the Museum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mXiLJnYkJk

 Enjoy!

As you know I have one of my woven beetle pieces in the Small Expressions exhibit at the Long Beach Art Museum.  

In late May, I received a call from  Debby, a docent at the museum who was interested in making a video about the piece I had woven for the exhibit. Her hobby of making videos dovetails perfectly with the art and artists she has met at the museum.  She has done a number of YouTube videos about artists showing at the museum. I said, 'sure come on over'.  She spent perhaps an hour or so touring my studio and interviewing me and then went home and put together a wonderful video.

Here is the video she did about me, my studio and my beetles :  Nicki Bair: The Inspiring Weaver 

Small Expressions

Mr. & Mrs. Wallichii

One of my favorite species of beetles, the Dicranophalus wallichii wallichii beetle  is showing in the   Small Expressions exhibition being held May 10th-August 12, 2012 at the Long Beach Museum of Art in conjunction with HGA's Convergence® International Fiber Arts Conference, July 15-21, 2012. 

These two beetles, one male and one female, are flower beetles (Dicranophalus wallichii wallichii) woven in rayon and metallic sewing thread.  The title of the piece is Mr. & Mrs. Wallichii.

Long Beach Museum of Art

 This week I checked out the exhibit at the Long Beach Museum of Art and was extrememly happy with the pieces selected for the exhibit, how it was hung and how my piece looked.  Although there were not a lot of pieces in the exhibit, each piece had its own space allowing the viewer to get up and personal with it without being distracted by its neighbors.  


I always wonder about how my pieces will look in a museum setting since the light in my studios is not the best.  Although I have ott lights all over and never weave at night, sometimes it is a surprise to see how much more colorful and bright they are in a different setting. I visited the San Diego Guild on Mother's day weekend to give a talk about my work and the influence of my Mother on my work and again was surprised how much better my beetles looked under better lightening than that in my studio. 

First Quarter Recap

Christmas Balls Filled with Unwoven Thread

Taqueté Weaving Rule #25: Never re-weave unwoven thread.   

It's the end of the quarter and I spent this rainy morning filling glass Christmas balls with fiber.  The fiber is the sewing thread that I took out due to some sort of error I discovered while weaving taqueté.  Fixing mistakes is fairly simple with taqueté -put the heddles into their relaxed position, pull the threads out from each side, cut them off and start over with new thread.  I never re-weave with those threads - that would be so time consuming!  Plus, how else would I fill my empty Christmas balls?

I seemed to have been quite productive this quarter - 13 Christmas balls!    One specific beetle piece contributed at least half of the bounty.  At this rate I may have enough by December to fill an entire tree.  We shall see...

Pushing Through the Static

I have been running up close to my entry deadlines for exhibits.   Looming deadlines certainly raise the pressure...not a good thing when working with fine threads.  Usually I have things all ready to go quite early, not this year due to an extra special wee project that visited in the early months of this year.    But more on that later...

Beetles Resting

I have been planning a piece for the Glamour, Glitter & Glitz exhibit sponsored by Complex Weavers; the deadline is March 23rd.  Fortunately, the entire submission can be done on-line and happy be happy, my weaving just came off the loom.

There was some question as to whether it would be finished or simply chopped off the loom.   Static electricity made its first appearance in my studio and seemed to live continuously in my warp.    I have never had this problem before in all my years of weaving.  And naturally, I had a most complex weaving scenario going on, weaving three pieces at one time with four warps, seven shuttles and fourteen spools of rayon and metallic thread.  It seemed all threads would simply hug the warp, any warp, every warp...grrrr.... lots of messes, errors and re-do's.... spritzing every couple of passes seemed to help in the short term.  What would have really helped was a nice marine layer to roll in and fill our canyon with fog.

I am glad I simply pushed through the static and got this done. I want to thank my DH for sticking in there with all the consternation and swearing coming out of the back studio.   In the end, I think the three pieces will look absolutely exceptional once rested, trimmed, tweaked and mounted.

And for my color study group - voilá - a tetrad!