weaving – Page 2

May 14, 2013May 11, 2013

Mandalas

I was looking around on Etsy the other day, when I discovered MandalaArtByCloe. I was immediately drawn in by the bright colors, and contrasting designs of these mandalas.

The artist, Cloe lives in Amsterdam. Her hand woven mandalas are inspired by the ancient mandalas of Tibet and Mexico where mandalas have been used for their calming effects on the mind.

The icing on the cake for me, is the knowledge that a portion of every sale is given for the support of a Tibetan family and their guesthouse in Nepal.

Go check out her website Art by Cloe!

May 10, 2013

Warp & Weft = Life

My dear friend and mentor, is currently working to complete her master’s degree in social work. It has been her joy to find ways to use the fiber arts in her work.

How setting up the loom parallels to life

By Kim Hanes

Good evening…I was thinking throughout the week, as I was in and out of families lives how our lives are like a weaving. The warp is the “strength” of each weaving. It is the foundation. Just like our families and our community is our foundation. If the foundation is strong, then the weaving is sturdy. It is the same for us. If we have a strong foundation, then we are able to be more resilient.

In contrast, if our ” warp” in weaving is not strong, our weaving will have holes, and is weakened. In life, if our foundation is weak, it easily breaks, and we have gap. Sometimes I experience individuals that break easy.

The weft is like the lives we live. The more colors and texture we have, the more variety we we have in life, the more beautiful the overall weaving becomes. However, if we do not have enough fiber, the weaving is never finish. In this circumstance, it is hard to even visualize a final project. I have found that within families it is quite similar. Without enough resources, such as friends, money, food, etc, it is hard to visualize a goal. Working as a social worker in people’s lives, I can walk with them to seek more resources, teach them how to develop positive friendships, and find mentors. I then see them start to set some goals. The weaving develops into a beautiful piece of fiber art. As we unravel life together, there are many lessons that lie in a ball of yarn.

April 18, 2013April 17, 2013

A conversation I had . . .

My mind has been racing with projects. I’ve been waking up early, eager to start. My days have been spent trying to make my hands keep up with my ideas. I love these times in my life when my inspiration seems to be a bottomless well to draw from. Everything else is abandoned as my mind is distracted with art. I can’t help it.

I had the following conversation with my husband:

ME: You know, if I didn’t have to eat, or sleep, I think I could work on these projects for DAYS without stopping.

HIM: (stopping to look at me in my eyes) Is this like crack to you?

ME: YES! Yes it is, and I am addicted

note: The yarn above is one that I made by unraveling a woven fabric that I had from Tibet. I plied 3 strands together to give it strength. It has been a long time since I sat behind my spinning wheel. It felt so good – like having tea with an old friend.

April 5, 2013April 4, 2013

Beach Stones, Driftwood, Blue Skies

In my studio recently, I have found myself being drawn to raw, natural fibers that are sturdy, strong, and coarse. My hands have been reaching for hemp, silk, and fibrous handmade papers. Inspiration has been drawing from my beach stones, drift wood, and bright blue skies.

It’s April, my children are on Spring Break, and the weather has been warming.

In response to these early stirrings of spring, we packed up for the day and drove to my most favorite place on this Earth – the Lake!

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I love coming to this place anytime of year. The summer, of coarse, is fantastic with the soft, sandy beaches, and cool water. The cooler weather of fall makes hiking the sand dunes MUCH more enjoyable, and in the winter, there are amazing ice flows. Springtime, however, has come to surprise me. In recent years, I have found myself spending more and more time here in the spring. The beaches are,for the most part, empty of human beings. There is sand EVERYWHERE. Every year, I am amazed at the amount of sand that the winter winds bring. If you come early enough in the year, the park is almost unrecognizable and half buried in sand. It is this phenomenon that I can’t get enough of, because along with the sand comes all sorts of treasures. I could spend days combing the beach for colorful stones, driftwood, beach glass, and bones.

As I walk the shores, my mind just swims with ideas of things to make. “This could be an awesome necklace”, “These should be tied into a dream catcher”, “This is so straight, it could be added to a weaving”. I collected quite a pile of colorful goodies before my kids were done.

Their hungry bellies were grumbling, and they informed me, the beach just isn’t fun if you can not go swimming. So after 4 hrs of beach combing, we went to go hike the dunes. I guess 4 hrs is long enough. Although, I am secretly plotting another trip someday soon while these guys are in school. shhh! 4 hrs is not really enough for this momma.

April 2, 2013April 1, 2013

Weaving Home

I have been enjoying reading Spirit Cloth, the blog of fiber artist Jude Hill for some time now. Last week she wrote a blog post that spoke to me.
She wrote:

I did this small weaving , maybe , well, too many years ago to remember. And it was a little cloth made to be what I imagined home to be like… some place out in the middle of no where. Some where, where living a simple life and breathing clean air and growing food would just be the way it is. I gave it to Mom and Dad long ago, because they imagined that too. Although they never really got there. They made the place they lived in as close to it as possible. Built a life on a dream. That worked for them.

I live in a nice place, but I know I will leave. Mostly about the cost of living but also other things too. I am thinking of doing a series of little tapestries depicting this place. Keepers of the sense of it. Before I go. I still have a lot of bits of hand dyed wool. Going grows closer. I figure, if I live long enough, maybe a few more of these with a sense of where I end up might be nice as well. Because weaving has a bit of home built into it for me. And weaving yourself into a place really says a lot about Home . Woven right in, Unraveling, Reweaving. Holding together in the most basic way. I hope that when I go, I will have sheep. Or find them nearby. That would work out real fine.

March 20, 2013

Happy Spring

This is a wip & a bit of a sneak peek at a project I am doing. It is a reflection of my thoughts on spring & my desire to see MORE green.

March 15, 2013March 13, 2013

Winter Weaving

I did a little winter weaving on my portable loom. It felt good to sit down on a cold, snowy day & play with some of my stash yarns. This little weaving was inspired by the fresh fallen snow & the Magnolia tree in our backyard.

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This weaving loom can be found in my Etsy shop

January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

The Tribute Series

In my own personal journey with handcrafts, there have been two influential people who have brought me to the place I am at today. To these two people, I am eternally grateful for their gift of time while teaching my hands the skill of knitting. I have felt honored as they impart to me the traditions of the craft, as they walk beside me in support of every knitting endeavor I’ve taken on. In response to this gratefulness, I would like to host a series of blog posts in tribute to handcraft mentors. I know I am not the only one who has had the privilege, and the benefit of having this kind of mentoring relationship. In these posts I would love to offer you the opportunity to pay tribute to those in your life who have played a mentoring role in teaching you handcrafts. Whether it be your mother, grandmother, a good friend or unexpected teacher, I want to meet them. I want to read your story & learn about the traditions that have influenced your own handcraft work.

The first post in the series will be my own tribute to my knitting mentor. After that, I will post the stories that I receive from you in tribute to your mentors. It is through these relationships that have made the traditions of handcrafts so meaningful, & rich in history. Let’s honor the time old traditions of passing down the skills of handcrafts together!

For more information on how you can participate, click HERE.

The first 4 people who send in their story & have their tribute published on The Fiber Nest will receive a gift to give away to your mentor or keep for yourself!

Feel free to contact me with any questions ~ I love to hear from you.

November 21, 2012November 21, 2012

Twining

“Twining” is a verb meaning to wind or spiral around something. It is a term to describe an old method used in creating baskets & bags. In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fun to share a historic handcraft that was used by the Native Americans & probably the Pilgrims as well.

made by the Nez Perce

Many artifacts have been found all over the world showing us beautiful examples of how this technique has been used in many different cultures. It is a simple technique that both children & adults will enjoy using. It can be used in making very basic items or elaborate artful pieces.

I was introduced to the skill of twining this fall at a historical reenactment. A woman was making a bag & was kind enough to show me how she was making it.

To start with, she had looped a piece of twine the size she wanted the bag to be & secured it. This was to be the base of the bag.

Then she cut pieces of twine to a length that was twice the size she wanted the finished bag to be. She draped these pieces over the initial loop to create her warp.
She cut enough pieces to go all the way around the loop laying the pieces side by side.

To make the warp stay in place, she simply started to twine the weft around each pair of warp strands, twisting the weft after each pair.

She continued to work the weft in this way until she had gone around the bag several times. Then, she would create a gap & start again an inch or so farther down. I really like the look of these bags that she was making & think they would be great market bags. They look to be very strong & durable.

I had hoped to make a twined bag myself & post a tutorial for you. However, with this being my first twining project, it is looking a bit rough. A tutorial will come later.