That last post generated some feedback, so I thought I'd let you in on what I DO do, rather than sketchbooks, per se...I make 3-ring binders or notebooks for various things. I have a binder with raw silk swatches and tons of info on acid dyes, primarily ProChem Sabraset dyes. I refer to this extensively whenever I use acid dyes. Included in this notebook are pages of colorways I've downloaded from numerous places, magazine photos, catalog photos of available colors of towels, for instance... Read Full Story

Meg asked me whether I was using my "down" time to sketch ideas to make later, so I've been thinking about my idea generation process. I know lots of artists use sketch books and I think it's a wonderful idea. My problem is that I want the sketch book to look like its own finished product (is that being a perfectionist, or what?)! When I think of sketch books I think of all the wonderful collage books I've seen, or books with really cool drawings by people who can actually draw, or beautiful... Read Full Story

Those of you following my personal blog know that I've been out of commission lately with a bad back. I've been in a heckuva lot of pain for the past several days. It's been nearly impossible for me to sit for more than a few minutes (I'm standing at my kitchen counter as I write this but even now, my back is aching), consequently I've been laying down reading most of the weekend. In other words, no weaving, very little knitting, very little spinning. And I haven't even been reading my art... Read Full Story

Whew! This was an enormous project, but here's my new afghan, doubled and blocking, completely obliterating the 3' x 6' blocking board underneath it. One hundred percent handspun yarns here, probably about 70% wool and 30% silk. From an acorn grows a mighty oak!Gee, I hope I don't succumb to PPD - post project depression -- now that this baby has been birthed. No, I'm thinking of all the other stuff I can get to now!Which reminds me that the light is on over my loom, awaiting my return... Read Full Story

I just finished cutting this linoleum block which I intend to use to stamp on fabric. I did try it out with ink, hence the turquoise color. The design is from a macro photo I took of one of my recent woven shiboris, which I then transferred -- albeit roughly -- onto the lino block. I really enjoyed cutting it. When I first started college and was an art major, I totally loved my printmaking class. So it was fun to do this again after all these years. I only wish, now, that I hadn't let go of... Read Full Story

Today I set about organizing the new art supplies I bought recently, and gathering stuff I've had for a while that I want to work with now. I also reorganized all my dyes and assists, by dye class (acid, natural, fiber reactive), have all my discharge and thickening supplies in one place now, and can pretty much lay my hands on whatever I'll need to do what I want to do. This evening I started tinkering around with stamps that I'm creating to use on fabric. Yesterday I bought some beautiful... Read Full Story

This is "Sunflower" multi-colored merino top, one of the many spinning fibers -- some brand new -- now listed at my Etsy shop. I just received a huge shipment today and everything is good to go.Hope you'll stop by. Spin the fiber this summer, knit it up this fall! Read Full Story

The weaving on this new piece is coming along fine, despite my anticipatory concerns. Here's a photo of the first 20 or so inches. The photo is at kind of a weird angle because I took it of the finished cloth on its way onto the cloth beam. The weaving space where I'm working is fairly shallow for this width of warp because I'm winding onto the cloth beam every couple inches or so. So it doesn't look like there's very much done up top. I also finished spinning the tussah silk today, that... Read Full Story

I redyed my weft yesterday -- overdyed the apple green with an off-black -- and it turned out just right. I have about two inches woven thus far, and yes, my arms and back already hurt from the 30" weaving width.One thing that I know doesn't work for me is using a long shuttle. In my weaving history, I've rarely used one. Holding this long shuttle in my hand and drawing out more weft and maneuvering the thing within the Schacht's short depth of space between the front beam and the beater is... Read Full Story

So I started weaving this morning, and with close to an inch done up, I realized that I much preferred the color of the waste yarn header as weft, than the apple green silk I dyed the other day. So I ripped it out, reskeined a bobbin's worth of weft yarn, and now have the weft skeins soaking for a dyeing do-over. Which I'll do this morning.I've learned recently that if something isn't really right now, it won't be really right later. And I'll just hem and haw internally until I take the... Read Full Story