Monday, April 28, 2014

Thursday, April 17, 2014

[----]

I was really tired of the unruly dangling shafts of my George Maxwell floor loom,
so I finally decided for a change and ordered new ones - they have a nice sturdy metal frame
and I also splashed out on some new texsolv heddles!

It was well worth it - weaving is so much better with the new shafts!

george maxwell loom

george maxwell loom

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

o-oo --- ooo- o -- -o-- o-oo --- --- --

I had the seat of these Danish chairs re-woven in paper cord by a talented weaver friend
- thank you Tony! -
You can find her website here

...and I also finished a sample scarf on the newly refurbished George Maxwell loom,
just to make sure it worked ok. And it does!

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Monday, April 14, 2014

one proud aunt

my niece is going to be a weaver, no doubts about that!!


adele

adele

adele

Thursday, April 10, 2014

the law of buttons

states that:
"no matter how many buttons you have, you will never find six of the same when you need them"


bottoni

bottoni

bottoni

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

turmeric

Adele is a very active girl,
and this comes with the usual load of washing to do.
Sometimes a woollen pullover can get stained. So what do you do?
Dye it with turmeric of course!

I know turmeric is not as colourfast as I'd like but it's not going to be a problem,
she will grow out of it before it can fade significantly (I used no mordant)
-- but it was the only thing I had ready at hand! --
the result is a really intense colour, I am very happy with it.

This is more or less the procedure:
- dissolve the turmeric powder in lukewarm water
- bring to the boil for at least 30' then leave to cool
- when the dyebath is at room temperature add the object you want to dye
(this is very important especially when dyeing with wool:
it doesn't like sudden changes in temperature - it might felt)
- let it rest (I usually leave it to soak overnight)
- bring to the boil and let it simmer gently for 40'
- leave to cool
- rinse gently (for my last rinse I added a splash of vinegar)

yellow

yellow

yellow