Weaving!

My loom is up and running!  Having a lot of fun with it learning the different weave structures and how the wool behaves in different patterns. The possibilities are infinite.

Daughter 1 took some lovely artistic shots of  my very first sampler:

Learning all about ‘twill’ and ‘point threading’ and ‘tabby’. A whole new language .

Since weaving this  I have woven another 4 samplers and at the moment daughter 4 has a sampler going too. It takes longer to ‘warp’ the loom ( i.e. thread  the loom for weaving) than it does to weave!

If you are interested  the sample above is 100% NZ wool. I have been weaving with wool as it is apparently the most ‘forgiving’ for beginners. : )

Also happening since I last posted – two concerts and NCEA level 2 exams.  And print class. And made the Christmas cake…

Only 1 month till Christmas.

Rx

Comments

Hi everyone,

I realise a lot of you are new to the blog world so a quick tutorial about how to post a comment -

Firstly click on ‘comment’ at the bottom of the post.

Then when you have commented you need to ‘verify’ by typing the word prompt you see in the space provided.

Then give yourself a name e.g –’ Rachel1’ or ‘anonymous’.

Then click ‘publish’.

The comment will publish.  And I will get an email telling me someone has left a comment on my blog.

You can read other people’s comments by clicking on the ‘comment’  on any blog.

Good luck : )

Rx

Yes I’m still here!

Sorry for the long time since I last posted. A lot had happened. Firstly I dropped my laptop and that took 3 weeks to get fixed, luckily just the screen needed replacing so I didn’t lose any of my files.

Secondly we went to Christchurch for a holiday ( I booked it before the earthquake). We had a lovely time with great weather.

This is the church (Holy Trinity Avonside) where my parents were married many years ago. It has suffered some earthquake damage and they will not be able to use it for a year.

We also went to Hanmer:

Hot Pools

And the lookout above Hanmer

And the family on the beach at Kaikoura

While we were in Christchurch we arranged the transport of my loom back to Wellington. And I have spent the last few weeks getting the necessary missing parts . I have it just about ready for my first ‘go’.

It is a bit tricky as I am a complete novice and the loom came with no instructions!

I have also been to Printmaking classes again this term and am enjoying making woodcut prints.

A finished three colour reduction print:

And some work in progress:

Lastly if you’re in the neighbourhood I am playing in a concert this weekend with the Kapiti Concert Orchestra. We are playing 'Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf’ , Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony , Little Suite for Orchestra by Arnold and an Haydn Trumpet Concerto.

The Concert starts at 4pm and is at the Paraparaumu College Auditorium.

Have a great week

R x

P.S. I would like to know if anyone  reads my blog!

If you want to you can post a comment by clicking on the ‘comment’ at the bottom of this post and then when you have commented click ‘publish’.

Cheers

Printmaking

Some woodcut prints:
A three colour reduction print

A two colour print

And a little native New Zealand Bird – A male stitch bird etching two colour print.

And a different colour

And some sewing. (haven’t quite finished the sleeves in this shot):

The fabric is a very light cotton voile made using this French pattern from Citronille. It’s called ‘Selma’.

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My print class has finished now but I am thinking of enrolling in an ‘open studio’  class next term . That is a class where there is no tutor but people can go in and use the studio and printing press.
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The Kapiti Concert Orchestra has started rehearsals for our next concert and one of the pieces we are playing is ‘Peter and the Wolf’ by Prokofiev. – yours truly is the duck!  The concert is early November – details closer to the time.
Off to spend some time in the studio now as I have a free afternoon – finish my blouse : )
R x

Weaving

Hubby is very supportive of all my endeavours and last weekend bought me this on Trade Me :


It’s a small beginner’s loom (6 treadles and 4 heddles) but at the moment it looks like this:

etc.
i.e. it’s in bits with no instructions! We are not picking it up for a few weeks or so as it’s in another city. At least I have an idea of what it is supposed to look like! Should be fun putting it together and trying it out, though I imagine it will take a while.  : )
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I have been enjoying my printmaking and at the weekend daughter 4 and I had a lovely time making prints together. No pictures yet  as she took them all to school for ‘news’.  I hope to post some pictures of them in the next few days.
R x

Printmaking

Some collographic prints from last weeks class:

First a print of the plate with no colour:

Then a print with colour added:

A different plate:

 

And finally some sewing :

A pretty apron made from linen and cotton prints from this book:

 

We are making woodcuts at print class this week and in a few weeks time I’ll be able to show you my etchings! : )

R x

Printmaking and a catch up

It’s been a while since I last posted. We have  had a Year 12 ball
Daughter 1 looking gorgeous!
Daughter 4 had a birthday party:

The theme was “Crafts” and the elder daughters made a mural which the party goers decorated.

You can see some of my hand printed cloth being used as a table cover!

9 years old! yay!
I have had two printmaking classes. Nothing to show from this week as we were making plates to print from next week . But these are samples of overprinting and ‘ghost ‘prints from last week.

I used leaves, lace,fabric and various other things to make prints.

And lastly I am playing in a concert this weekend.

Hope you have a restful weekend.
R x

Printmaking

I started a course last night on Printmaking. I  learned how to ink a plate properly and how to ‘Pull’ a print.  I made stencils using torn and cut paper. We used just the three primary colours.  Colour order of printing was yellow then red then blue changing the stencil each time.

After each print was pulled I made a ‘Ghost’ print using left over ink on the plate and manipulating the stencil:

As you can see it is a much paler print as most of the ink comes off in the first pull. 
Can’t wait till next week : )
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I have  been doing a ‘Hot Yoga’  beginner’s class- info here . Which is great. And no I was not very flexible at the start but after 3 classes I can already notice the difference.  I love the warm room to stretch in. It suits me but I can see how some people would not enjoy it.
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Daughter 4 is turning 9 next week. Party this weekend  and the theme is ‘Craft Extravaganza’ . Also Daughter 1 has her year 12 ball Saturday night !
A busy time : )
Rx

Some new recipes

Night and Day cupcakes from Nigella’s book ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking’ (Though I have an older copy). Little chocolate cakes with cream cheese topping and grated chocolate. They were a big hit with the family.

South Island Cheese rolls – recipe found here . An easy recipe using cheese and onion soup. Apparently they are popular in cafes in the South Island. I quite liked them but not such a hit with the kids – a bit too ‘oniony’!

A finished project and more underway

Well,  a combination of a wet couple of weeks and a cold going through the family means some projects have been finished and some have had to wait their turn.  I finished crocheting the ‘Granny Square ‘ blanket and sewed it up this weekend . A total of 19 balls of wool and at least 12 colours I think. It looks good on the couch in my lounge :

It’s great for snuggling up under by the fire !  When you crochet the resulting garment is twice the thickness of a knitted garment so it’s toasty warm.
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I have managed to spend a little time in my studio and made these two books from a couple of recycled whiskey bottle boxes.  They turned out quite well I think – I used my new ‘corner’ punch to round the corners of them . Each has about 30 pages of lined, graph and plain paper. Simple pamphlet binding.



Hubby  has already grabbed one – said he will use it for ‘tasting notes’  : )
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I also have made a new screen and have some fabric printing underway :

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And I found this book in a second hand shop and have ‘warped’ my loom again and am experimenting with ‘texture and pattern’ in some sample weaving :

I was really please to find this as the publishing date was 1980 and I don’t think it’s in print any more!

Hope you are keeping warm where ever you are.
R x

Quilting and more macarons ….

A quilt I have been working on – my first attempt at hand quilting . I quite like the effect ( I want the stitches to show)
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A macaron failure. I tried to make vanilla macarons but the mixture was too thick . They ended up more like meringues. However they still tasted ok when I filled them with a lemon curd and mascapone mixture : ) .
I bought this book at  'Bookfeast'  in Petone :

And my first attempt from it didn’t work either. So I’m going to have a go making the chocolate ones again . (the family is enjoying all these baking tests!)
I bought these macarons from one of my local French bakeries but they don’t look like the ‘Luxemburgerli’ or the ones from the book above, and they tasted like Chocolate Brownies.

When I get the recipe and technique right I’ll let you know ..
R x