Thursday, March 31, 2016

Birthday's, Blues & Barn Looms.

After our influx of new men weavers in early March, we were then inundated with projects featuring the color blue. Another new student from Brooklyn - Renata (Ray) Mosci - came up for the last two weeks of March to work on Saki Ori, huck lace linen and an alpaca throw. Fortunately on her second day here, March obliged us with one of the beautiful 60deg. days so we were able to set up the indigo vat outside and get all the fabric dyed for her project. Dosia also experimented with dyeing her already woven rugs in the indigo vat with some amazing results!
Another highlight of March was that we celebrated 5 of our local students birthdays with two great potluck lunches. The first was for Jerusha Fox and Jen Eger (sorry no photos of that one) and the second was for Emily Falta, Ada Schenk and Linda Gabrielson. There was no shortage of desserts for either potluck which is always a good antidote to the crazy weather this time of year. And then to top off the month, another one of our "for sale" barn looms had headed off for a new home in Brooklyn. Ray was so enchanted with the one that she worked on during her two week stay that she decided to take one home with her. It's nice to know that yet another barn loom now resides in Brooklyn!
Dosia's latest creation -
A warp faced rug dyed with Indigo.
More of the same warp.
A beautiful day for dyeing Indigo!

Ray getting ready to weave her Saki Ori.


Ray planning the next color sequence.
Ray's finished rug and mat inspired by
Saki Ori.

A Birthday Lunch!

The three birthday girls - Emily, Ada and Linda.

Ray sorting through the parts of her newly
acquired barn loom.

Ray and Drew washing and oiling the loom before
disassembling.

Jerusha's 8 yards of beautiful blue
wool/silk fabric to be made into a suit.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

March, Men and Maple Syrup

March has stayed busy with new students and surprisingly we have had a "male" streak. This month started off with our first work study student of the year, Drew McKenzie, from Monkton, VT and he has been weaving some amazing things in his short time here. Starting off with the Scottish Wedding Throw he then moved on to using Scottish tweed yarn to weave a scarf and his current project is a fine cotton/linen fabric to make a shirt. Down the list is a hand spun, hand dyed tartan blanket which Norman is going to supervise the making of. Drew has already told us that he never wants to leave so it may be that we have to be creative in finding him a job! Next of our new men, was Jeff Priest, from South Burlington, who also wanted to weave a throw but not in our typical colors of blue and white. He (or rather, his wife!) chose a beautiful coral and grey Maine Line mixed with white in big bold bands. It was stunning when finished and if he didn't have to work a real job, he would be here on a regular basis as well. Former student, Amy Danielson's husband Bill was our other male student this month and ostensibly he only came along to watch the warping that Amy was going to do for their new loom. But there was no holding him back and he took to warping like a duck to water.

 And did I mention maple syrup?? Sugaring season is in full swing in a year where everyone was dubious that we would have any runs at all…. with this crazy weather that we had this winter. But in fact, the sap started to run and has not stopped….keeping my trim weaver, Sue Carpenter, chained to the sugar house and the St. John the Divine gallon that she was supposed to be weaving sitting forgotten on the loom.

Our new work study student, Drew McKenzie,
weaving the Scottish wedding throw.

New student, Jeff Priest, weaving a throw using 3/8 Maine Line.
Amy Danielson's husband Bill, learning how to warp.

Drew's second project - a tweed scarf.

Close-up of Drew's scarf.

Drew's cotton and linen shirt fabric.