No Regrets-left. My last years list of resolutions is completed and things ended and new things begun. The future is here and everything else is the past.Last years epiphany has now become reality.

Epiphany-Comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization.

New resolutions-To set new goals or mile markers towards finishing goals. Create a New updated list of goals personal and professional; establish stepping stones or goals for achieving what I want. Let t go of those things I no longer need or want with out reservation.

I do have real  resolutions. Mine are to let the past stay in the past because it's over and done with and keep on moving. Get rid of  the Detritus in my life and just be me-a tapestry weaver.  Find more weaving time by saying no.  Become the storyteller I want to be and do it. Do more teaching in my studio. And, last, But not least a whole lot more journaling and writing at least 30 minutes a day. (Reflected images at the coast!)
Supposedly this can become a habit in just 22 days. Not sure how seriously I am taking this, but it’s worth a try- Anyway, I am reading a book called

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don't, and How to Make Any Change Stick by Jeremy Dean. Discovered on a site that Tommye Scanlon recommended on face book Brain Pickings that’s a  great read in itself.

Thanks Tommye!

 

In December Cathie Beckman came to weave with me for  several(4) days. It was a great time. One on one teaching is wonderful. both of us learned to watch the negative and positive spaces as the dining room chair morphed into Georgia’s Chair.
The bottom sampler is one
I wover while Cathie was weaving on her piece to show several different techniques that we partially covered among other things. This Spring I will travel to teach a workshop in Cincinnati and visit again with Cathie.

 

 

Spencer and I spent Christmas at the coast at Yachats. Doing those things we love to do. Chene’s favourite perch to watch the trail along the rocks. Chene and I wandered for hours along the rocks and a trail that has been in existence for 15,000 years give or take. Spent time at the Purple Pelican looking for rug samples and pop up book at my favourite book store in Bandon.

It gave me a chance to think and journal and take pictures that I hope to use in tapestries someday.

AND, Finally to the weaving part.

 I am happy with the progress I am making on this piece. It will eventually be 12 inches by 12 inches. This is basically a memorial piece about my Dad’s life. He died a year ago December 6th. Any way, If I am lucky it should be finished in two weeks. Tax season is up on us and I weave longer hours when Spencer is doing taxes.

Another Thank You and explanation!
Rebecca Mezoff sent me one of her Grandmother’s Marian Mezoff for my collection of bobbins. They are way  large to work with on any of the looms I work on, but I really like the shape of the barrel. It’s concave rather then curving out. I have been thinking about doing a smaller riff on the bobbin. What I like is the way my fore finger naturally rest in the concave area. I think it’s a more natural and better ergonomically for arthritic fingers. Notice that the fore finger rides naturally to the side and not on top of the bobbin. Anyway,  what I meant to say is -Thank you Rebecca for the gift of your Grandmother’s bobbin. (you can see more of Rebecca’s blog post about her Grandmother at http://rebeccamezoff.blogspot.com/) I am going to talk to my bobbin maker and see if we can come up with a scaled down version to try.
Beatriz Nutz has written an article  that is being published even as I write on bobbins and such things ”Weaving Pictures. 15th Century Tapestry Production at Lengburg Castle.Archeological Textile Review; issue # 55. I am excitedly anticipating what she has to say about an historic find of bobbins. Haven’t seen the article, but I understand it has pictures of me using bobbins.
Materials in this new piece.
I have been switching back and forth and combining sewing thread and embroidery floss.
     I have discovered that
I can easily use 6 threads in my weft bundle at 20-22 epi  and not have any trouble covering. The main thing I need to watch for is that embroidery floss has a slightly more matte feeling in the weaving. After the debacle with the the silk embroidery floss I learned that using shiny things in tapestry is difficult effect because of the small length  weft that can be seen at any given time before plunging behind the next warp. I have been experimenting with changing and floating the silky threads over 2 warps. Haven’t decided if I like the effect. Have also been experimenting using floating soumack on the surface over two warps. This is a bad photo of both the long jump soumack and the silk/rayon going over two warps and under two warps
   It’s like the difference between old  mercerized sewing thread and more modern sewing threads. The cut off for old style seems to be in the 70’s between the old processes and the new processes of fiber and technique used in producing dressmakers threads. This is purely anecdotal information based on my weaving.  The older threads-prior to the 70’s- are slightly shinier and silkier then the matte like effect and coarseness of the modern dressmaker threads. In the modern threads one needs to be aware of the loft in the spinning of the thread. A fuzzy dressmakers thread even on the same spool can have areas without loft that can completely change the value of the thread as the light inter-reflects in the loft—making it appear lighter or darker when woven depending on the amount of fuzz or lack of fuzz. 
One of the things  have noticed when using embroidery floss is cost. I had to make a trip Joanne Fabrics when I ran out of the greys I was using. I am still suffering from sticker shock. A skein now cost 40-45 cents- a very large jump from the 3-5 cents I paid up until  I was in Academy in the early 60’s-I know I am really dating myself.
I rarely buy embroidery floss new. I have discovered by hanging out at estate sales I can buy it for almost nothing still in the boxes and skeins that it came in originally. Right is a picture of my last score this weekend at an estate sale over 300 skeins of rayon and cotton embroidery floss for around 20.00. I could have waited a couple of hours and possibly gotten it at 50% off put was to afraid someone else would purchase it.
PS grey is probably the hardest colour to find at estate and garage sales. 

Another 2-3techniques I have been using a lot  in this piece is actually a combining of two techniques lacing up the slide of a slit. Note note dark blue vertical line between cab and trailer and silver greys around the mud flaps)
Lacing up a slit
Cavendoli knotting---I know that some will say this isn’t cavendoli knots, but this is what is described in Victorian needlework book form the 19th century, but the name is unimportant. Normally this knot goes up one warp and creates a twisting ridge that can be moved to the back and stitched to keep in place or be fine enough to stay between two warp threads.
First lacing up a slip. It has a tendency to be toothy depending on how fine of a lacing thread one uses.

start with a larks head


wrap around warp every pass or two. The size of the vertical lace line can be varied by the amount of threads in the wrap. Usually as a slide tooth, which can vary  by the amounts of passes between the wrap or lacing thread.
Cavendoli knots on one warp

If you look closely you can see the ridge on the left side of the knots going up this warp. I have straightened because it has a tendency spiral. This can be pulled to the back and stitched in place. It makes a nice solid line up one warp that will not slide up and down as a regular wrap around the warp thread does. Compare to diagram of the process above. note ridge on left of in diagram. My camera sucks for taking close ups! Think it’s time to gift myself with a close up lens.
Combined Cavendoli and lacing
To begin it is larks headed under the first pass and the cavendoli is done on the first warp on the edge of the next pass. Again the line of knots can be sized by the amount of wefts in the knotting bundle. The knot can be made small enough that the line or ridge can be made to fit within the distance of half of the space between two warps and then stitched in place just as you would stitch in the ditch to close a slit. IT creates a very fine line up the edge of a slit.
Silver
I am back to working on my silver. I am revisiting some partially finished pieces, because my goals have changed for the box I was trying to build. I am going do a filigree box instead. So what you see are the pieces from the box, the start of a necklace and bracelet made of Malachite and Brazilian opal, and a small broken silver and amber spider that I am repairing. I have finally had the time to actually build a small corner place to work on silver and arrange it into a usable space.
I have spent part of the money  I inherited from my Dad for some tools I wanted and needed and a proper jewelers work space.
Last things to do are fix my chair and buy another fire extinguisher. This is a place I don’t have to put things away and out of sight before a piece is finished. Before you ask-no I haven’t taken up the piano. The piano stool; holds my repousse’ dish. Makes the process easier because it turns and will stand between ones legs.
Enuff-I am seriously into my weaving time.
tell next time!
kathe

Endings and beginnings new goals, new resolutions

Too little- Too late

Back to this for a day or two

Two days of work and the 2^nd piece in my time trilogy is done-Two Little Too Late. That’s the name of the piece not my attitude. It didn't happen today too busy working on the blog and FFP books with Pat so it's another days. It's all of that end of the year stuff that always seems to be one more thing.   It will be great to start the new year with a new piece. 

 My goal is to finish it by Tuesday-now Wednesday- and start the third part of the trilogy and have it done by the end of the month so I can enter both in a juried show. 

blue sky all day a rare treat in
 Oregon in the winter

The third part is smaller, but in many ways will be harder for me to design, because of the nature of the images.  Designing and weaving broken things is something I have never done before. The proper perspective of the unifying broken  nautilus/earthstar is going to be difficult study in  perspective. An acid eaten destroyed flower is going to be hard. I have a tendency to want to flatten and stylize images because I like flat or no true backgrounds-just the images.
     I think it might be a genetic memory thing-if there is such a thing. I am also trying to design a bracelet that incorporates a small tapestry with silver spiders. It’s really hard for me to balance the images of the tapestry design with the silver and not make one dominate the other.  I am beginning to think I need to incorporate the top of the hand space into the bracelet and have a finger ring chain hold the whole thing in place so that I am dealing with more than a bracelet. I can see I need to do some real sketching on paper to make this happen. I need to start working on my focusing statement and 20 things I know about the piece to clarify the image in my mind.

Waiting

For the last two weeks I have been waiting, thinking, evaluating, making lists in my head and waiting for the new year. I love new years! I love list and setting goals. I have always been fascinated with new beginnings and leaving the old behind-sort of like a day of atonement for the soul and a new beginning all rolled in to one- an assessment of what  has worked and  what doesn’t work. I can be amazingly pragmatic when it comes to goals.

Yachat  Christmas day

Resolutions and all that Stuff!

 Last year was pretty much a great year even though it started out ominously with my maybe  or maybe  not  health problems and  being extremely ill-or not depending on which Doctor I listened to. It turned out for the most part to be not. On the other hand the optimist/cynic that I am, perhaps-gr, it was a good thing. It made me realize how finite things can be and how many things I still want to accomplish and my  need to create and redefine my  direction.  

Waiting for the rain to stop!

I pretty much managed to come very close to finishing all of my last year’s resolutions. Several have had to be refined/redefined and several are ongoing, and often difficult for me to do because of the involvement of others who haven’t always understood the need or why the need. 

 Writing my blog- I am not sure if it is actually helping my shyness or just that I enjoy the discipline of writing the blog-either way I win. So continute the every two week writing. Schedule blog writing on the 1^st and the 15^th of every month.

Finish the Between blog for resumes, work, workshops etc. and set it up to function as my web page. Stop waiting-Because my other web page is a dead issue.  I need one I can handle  for myself with my limited technical expertise.

Change the name of my studio from Morningstar to Between Tapestry et al  so it reflects me  and my reality and not my Grandmothers.

That is all that it has grown
since before Xmas. Doesn't it know
it's suppose to be blooming for my next cartoon?

Another is/was  weaving at least half day- five days a week- Don’t much care which days, just that I do 5 days a week.  Learn to say this is my weaving time. I’ll call or write you back later in my FFP time=leave a message. FFP is in the morning.

Weave one hour a day that is solely devoted to samples and mock ups. I hate weaving samplers, but would find small samples an easier  to travel with and pack. The biggest resolve not to give away mockup’s as gifts as I have done in the past.

Grampa reading Xmas books!

Finish moving the studio upstairs and ffp downstairs. Getting FFP out of my tapestry  space and down stairs. With the computer and FFP staring me in the face it’s difficult to discipline myself to ignore the computer and the e-mail it generates each day and the tapestry questions that I get from people who read my books. I love answering the questions don’t get me wrong, but once I start one thing leads to another and my weaving time is gone.  Finish designing my space and buying the furniture that I need to implement my goals. It will be easier for Pat too.  I find it amazing with her knee that she even attempts the steps to the second floor.

Waiting for me and missing the rainbow

Write at least 1-2 hours a day on new projects that deal with tapestry.  Learning to remember that my focus  in writing is tapestry and all that it entails.

Schedule a given morning for silver and do it. Right now I am waiting on a shipment of silverwire. I started this resolution by buying 3 ounces of silver wire at the inflated price of 31.00/36.00 Dollars an ounce! I wish I had brought last summer at 21.00 an ounce! Finish the box for miracles! And move on!!! Stop waiting for new skills and changing the design every time I learn a new silver skill!! Finish it and move on! even flea market silver is becoming to expensive to buy on spec. 

Terminally cute!

 Being consistent with training Chene and practicing with Chene. Making sure that I stay on tract. It’s easy to forget those 12-17 minutes a day of repetitive commands until we both have it right.  Sometimes that is the hardest goal. Realize that sometimes it’s teaching others that there is a correct way to give commands and over talking it doesn’t work. He’s a dog not a toy that his cuteness engenders in people-a  very smart energetic dog!   Both Chene and I enjoy walking lazily down by the river both doing our own thing. At other times he’d rather cuddle then work so would I.. Relying on his cute looks to get him what he wants and me wanting just a couple of more minutes of work and then the training time is gone.  By summer he should be ready for agility and I can take him anywhere and he instantly obeys the proper hand signals and commands. So his and my trainer says.

Catching the curl

Still waiting

Finally caught the blow hole in the photo!!!

AND the big resolution-one which requires an attitude adjustment on my part and nt realizing I am it. Knowing that my Father needs not only help but my advocacy for him in dealing with others, doctors, caregivers  and family members. My attitude has had to change from will you please to-- you have to do this now and why should we do this! Doctors seem to hate that they can’t fix everything and keep coming up with Hail Mary! plays and last resorts without considering what they may cost and cost the patient. Children always seem to  think they know better than their parents even if the parent is 86 or maybe because they are 86. I am grateful that Marge taught me all of this before she died by example.  Things hoped for and/ or  promised may not  always be worth it in the end or possible. They are what they are Hail Mary’s and away for the care giver to assuage their guilt in not being able to do anything.  Dignity and respect are important commodities that we often strip away from the elderly as they age. I watch Doctors and nurses talking over my father and ignoring him as if he is nothing and can’t possibly have an opinion that is worth listening too. Determined that if his views differ from theirs that  they have to be right and do it their way, therefore, I should step in and make him do it their way.  (that's a terrible run on, but so appropriate)  Aging is an interesting conundrum for everyone involved-especially if it involves a conflict of philosophy(s) and not inflicting one’s own philosophy and point of view onto the views of someone else. The “I know better then you” and  what you have ever wanted is hard to step around and or balance sometimes when dealing with the aged. It’s a fine line between protecting and a benevolent (?) dictatorship. So, I'll try and do it better.

And, of course, I have a few  very personal goals that will never be anywhere, but in my journal.

finally caught the top of the wave!

What I learned from the last years resolutions. Some times it seems like the whole world is conspiring  against me from keeping  my goal(s). When that happens I try and journal and figure out why and what and how important the thing keeping me from weaving and goals are. Journals are a good thing! Sometimes it’s knowing  what to let go of in a finite life span.  Redoing my studio which is/was one of my goals has made me realize a lot of things and helped me rid myself of a lot of stuff that I will never do and will never again be part of my life-painting, basket weaving,  and floor loom weaving. So let it go.  I don’t need to and I don’t have to do that stuff to be a  good tapestry weaver.  It’s made realize that the most important things in my studio  are tapestry weaving, working with silver to incorporate it into my tapestries and boxes,  teaching, writing and, punch embroidery, print making and maybe a few more perfleches of silk paper.  It felt so good to give the stuff away and remove it from the studio.  Getting rid of old attitudes at the same time, such as I don’t have to be the one who always shares and makes concessions to reach the end goals. I don’t need to paint my Marquette. Even after all these years I still heard the  faint whisper of my art instructors from the 70’s and early 80’s. I don't have to be able to do every textile technique other then tapestry perfectly.  I am learning to define what my personal goals are-again. If one lives long enough everything goes around and comes around again especially a changing life.  I am no longer willing to should have, could have, would have in defining the directions I want to go.

.

My next step is to write the steps that it will take to accomplish these goals and schedule the steps.  I do the same goal setting that I teach in my classes in real life and it still works. 

The last is from Joesph Campbell  "find your bliss and joy, hang on to it and just go for it". I would love to have a chance to have more time to visit with Joesph in the same setting looking over the hills in San Francisco as the sun went down in the early 80's. Several evenings we talked for hours. The geeky between and the man that understood and was fascinated by betweens. Yes, I know he's been dead for several dozen or more years!

Life is good!

cheers and all. 

kathe