A Sign of the Times

Well, Blogger has a new interface - another new technology to have to adapt to. We are having to deal with so much that I would never have used now that we are not so social.

But that is not what I was going to post about - but it is Covid related:

I went for a walk today, masked of course, and came across two cars all with no-one in them. 

I presume the masks were emergency ones, in case the driver had forgotten to bring one. 

Fortunately, it is beautiful weather at the moment, encouraging us to get out for our daily exercise while adapting to mask wearing. 

Spring is on the way! 

Making face masks

Today we had to start wearing masks anytime we are out of the house. So far, we have been using masks purchased from the pharmacy but they are one or two uses only, so that is going to get expensive. And the temptation will be there to say that they look ok, so why not keep using them?

Having heaps of fabric offcuts, from my previous quilt making, I decided that I really should get to and make some of my own.

My first attempts have been using the pattern provided by DHHS. It is a fairly simple pattern and even takes into account the fact that people may not be able to access some fabrics. So it is based on using what you have.

However, I have also done a little bit of 'research' and found some articles that recommend using synthetic fabrics or cotton/poly, cotton and silk. Here is one. Here is another.

Having some silk that I have collected over the years, I decided to use a piece as the outside layer. (I met someone in the park yesterday who had used silk and it looked good - and she seemed to be breathing ok, always a consideration).
I had some bits of synthetic organza and used that in the middle, not wanting to have three layers of thick fabric. Then I used part of an old doona cover for the inside layer, cotton of course.

Cotton at the top, silk at the bottom.

The second iteration is using a quilting cotton that I got from GJs Discount Fabrics. I bought quite a lot of it because I thought it would be good for sky and cloud images. I didn't use this piece but used something very similar in my Spot the Difference piece.

I had read, in one of the many articles that I have browsed, that batik fabrics are good - I think that might be because it is thinner and may be easier to breathe through. This fabric is very like batik.

I found some silk chiffon (suggested in one of the research articles, apparently it is good for stopping some aerosol particles) that I had used in my eco dyeing days, it is very easy to breathe through. So that is the middle layer.

Once again, I used the left-over fabric from the doona cover for the inside piece.

The advice has been that if you can see through the mask, it isn't thick enough but I can't see through three layers!

There has been a rush on buying elastic but I was able to source some today - they would only sell me 3 metres but the mask needs 40cm so that is ok - so far.

Now I will have to go for a walk and try them out, see how they go. I don't think it will be a very energetic walk, I am expecting them to be less breathable than the bought masks. They should be ok for shopping expeditions and visits to essential appointments, where I won't have to be very energetic.

One thing that I have thought about, we could save the elastic from the single use masks and use it on the homemade masks. So I'll have yet more 'stuff' that I haven't thrown out!

20/7/20

I was reminded of the date today - after I had commented that I had no idea it was Monday. What strange times we are living in.

Anyway, not much to report. I have been working on my blackwork again - was going to write 'beavering' but it is more like 'struggling'. I am doing a sampler for my course and we are up to the shading stage. I have done one bit that is shading according to the threads used, one that is by the pattern (which I repeated because the first one just wasn't right) and am now working on a combination.

I have pulled out the first part several times, to the extent that I am worried that I might be damaging the fabric, so I have pulled out the first iteration and am ploughing on with the pattern and different threads. I am not going to pull it out even when (not if) I find mistakes.

It was necessary to draw the designs on graph paper , partially to get an idea of how to sew the shapes and not have to cary the thread too much across the back. Turns out the drawing and the doing are quite different things!

I have to have a magnifying glass as well as my glasses, that I don't use for anything else, as the fabric is of a smaller weave than I have been using and is hard to see. So I am having a rest now.

We are about to get to the stage where we design a shape and put in shading from dark to light, then work out what pattern to use for the shading. Sounds easy - but now I am not so sure, I have struggled with the sampler, so am less confident. But I have been doing my doodling for ages, might try to use one of those patterns in the near future, maybe try for something a bit more abstract.

Someone sent me a link to some interesting blackwork that is connected to doodling/zentangels, so I hope to be inspired by that. But it won't be any quicker as a process, I expect.

It's been a while

I missed June! How did that happen?
Well, we were in lockdown and then we weren't and now we are again. All very disruptive and confusing.
I have continued on with the Blackwork class. Have I mentioned how slow doing blackwork is?? And how still you sit?
I have found out and now will have to schedule some exercise and stretching times into the day, try not to sit too still for too long. It is a bit like the reminders you need to get off the computer. Only I don't have that really annoying program that you can put on that turns off the screen every 15 minutes. That didn't last long on my computer, I can assure you. 15 minutes passes in a flash.

Anyway, I have got as far as lesson 4. We are working on shading, varying the darkness from dark to light.
First, we were asked to do a sample that used varying thicknesses of thread and to do the variation across curved lines.
Then we were asked to do one that used one thread only and the variation was through the density of the pattern.

I designed my pattern on graph paper and then tried to make it have less density as it grew. But I think I chose a pattern that was too large, so I had to finish it a bit before I would have if I weren't doing a particular task with set measurements (i.e. it had to be over a set number of threads across and down).

I drew it rather lightly so I could rub it out, it is surprisingly hard to draw accurately across each square. 

Also, as I sewed, I could see that I needed to put some extra elements in and doing that made the design denser but needed more room to lighten it up.

And another thing, both examples have mistakes!! I couldn't work out how to unpick them easily so decided to just note them down and try not to do that sort of error again. I'm sure I'll find a different way to make errors.

All learning - which is why you do samplers.