Three in One

 We had a piece of German cake recently - Stollen, I think it is called. 

There was one little piece left. I noticed a face with a tongue sticking out. 

Then I noticed another face, on the other side. 

Then ... another face, on the third side. Maybe a rhinoceros? 

To top it off, I was cutting some broccoli stem and saw a lovely pattern. 

I am being entertained by food!!

Random pictures.

 I almost missed the date: 3/2/23. 

Picture taken yesterday : bird dropping face. 

Plus a good Fibonacci design in a sunflower. 

Didn't wait!

 I looked at the scarves in the jar and thought about a post I had done in the past, mentioning that some of the flowers had rotted and marked the fabric. So I only waited till today, not three weeks! 

They looked quite purple before rinsing. Breath held before rinsing. 

I rinsed the scarves and hung them up to dry. Then it rained! So I brought them in and noticed that the velvet scarf felt a bit gritty, maybe I hadn't rinsed it properly. I even used detergent this time. They are now hanging up under cover. Still purple although I am wondering if the velvet one has turned a little greyer - but that could be the darker light, due to the clouds. Wait and see. 

Now that I see the photo, I see a dog's face, of course.  On the lefthand side. 

Is that an angel I see? 

Three weeks into the new year!

 Well, it is 23/1/23!! How time flies, whether you are having a great time or not. 

I have been dealing with the summer holidays, post Christmas and New Year and feeling a bit tired. But nature doesn't take much notice. The hollyhocks are blooming and dropping flowers. 

So I have been collecting them. Today I put them in a jar with some fabric that I had soaked overnight with alum.(I used one of my past posts, which doesn't have all that much information.)  One is silk and polyester, so I am not sure how well that will go. The other is a chiffon silk. Both are scarves. I put then in a jar with the flowers and left them in the sun. Not sure what will happen, hope I don't waste the two scarves!! 

The water had taken some colour, not so sure about the fabric. But I will leave it for a week or so, the weather is going to be quite warm/hot, so that might help. 

On another note, I have been doing a free online course with Textile.org. It was called Stitch Camp and was about colouring some fabric and then doing some stitch on it. I am way behind - it was a 5 day thing, so it doesn't matter that I am behind! I will try to do some more stitching. It is just a random sort of thing - for me, at least. 

I will try to do 30 minutes a day (which it was advertised as needing) and see what develops. It is not my usual colours (if I have usual colours) but I was away and didn't have much choice. Not to worry, it is relaxing, when I get myself to give myself time to do it. Not sure what I will do with it, will try to just enjoy the process.  

Decisions, decisions!

 I cut the tapestry off the loom today and braided the warp ends. I have yet to put some fabric on the back, might not do that, depending on how I decide to mount it/finish if off. 

The yellow warp has meant that the warp doesn't show as much as a white one would - I tend to have it showing a little at the finish, not so obvious this time. 

I also have to decide which way up I prefer. I took photos of the 4 orientations, will give it some thought. 

Pretty sure I don't like this one. 

This is the orientation it was woven in.

Almost finished.

I hid in the house with the cooling on this afternoon and worked on finishing off the small tapestry. I have finished the weaving and the hitching off, now it is loosened on the loom so that it can 'rest' and be ready to cut off. 

I'll cut it off tomorrow and see if one of my ideas will work. I have done some areas that might be able to be pulled down and loosened, to give a bit of texture. But I have also experimented with doing a cotton sewing thread hitching off and I am not sure if that will grip too well for this technique to work. Time will tell - as long as I don't botch it up and have it half-textured!

My ruler tells me the piece is straight but my eye disagrees. Another thing to check once it is off the loom and tidied up. There will be a couple more hours of work to go - it isn't finished when you stop working on the loom!

It doesn't have any relation to what I thought I would come up with - probably because I didn't really have a good idea of what I was trying to achieve! I enjoyed the process though, so that is a bonus. 

Back to the tapestry

I have gone away for a couple of days. I brought my loom with me - fortunately it is not very big and is fairly easily transported (works best with a car!).

My back has been sore, so I have not woven for a few days. I am still a bit stiff but I have taken breaks (and put on some Deep Heat creme!!). I didn't do much but it is approaching the top. Great excitement. 

I am still making up my story. Some colours keep tying to dominate but others keep intruding. I'll have to decide what to do about the top part - it's the next part!!! Worry, worry. 

It is soooo not what I had envisaged - if I actually did envisage anything. I am not a very visual person, which I find surprising as I like textile art. But I don't see what I am thinking about, I have to see an image and then adapt it, usually. It is usually from a photo I have taken, sometimes from a drawing (but I don't draw much either). 

This time I only had a vague idea and drew some lines on a piece of paper. It was going to be a shaped tapestry but, as I went along, I couldn't see the point, so now it will be a square (as much as I am able to make it regular).

I have tried a coloured warp and had thoughts of allowing it to show but that hasn't eventuated. Fortunately (?) I have plenty more of the yellow warp so can experiment some more. 

I didn't bring much stuff with me, so will have to make do with the colours I brought. It is freeing, in a way, I don't have to stress too much about what to use.