Spring Stuff

All the seedlings are growing fast and strong.  The product from my new seed supplier yielded a stunning 100% germination rate!  I'll surely have extras of tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers to sell near the middle of May if anyone is interested.  They are all heirloom non-GMO.

And my indigo from Rowland is busy indi-growing.

Of course, weaving is underway...

We planted six plum trees last weekend.  They'll be trained to grow in an espalier cordon to save space.  This weekend we need to move the grape vines closer to the house...if the weather holds.  And get the garden ready.  And clean the garage.  And...

Two miles per hour...

Studio progress has been slow, but it's progress just the same.  The pace seems to be picking up with the promise of warmer weather...as it does every year.  Both looms are sleighed.  Now on to threading, etcetera.  The wide weaving (above) has spent three years moving steadily through the planning stages...including a false start in late 2013.  I need to complete two 5'x12' warps on the biggun' before I can assemble that piece.  The smaller loom (only a measly 3'x9'...) will provide a component for an undeveloped piece.  In an effort to increase productivity (and to guarantee studio time) I've given myself a weekly quota of two hours (minimum) on the loom(s).

This season's Shibori class wraps up next week.  Above is a small corner of some yardage I reworked (...it was first dyed seven years ago).  This class has yielded a nice little bunch of yardage that will be finding its way into some home-brew clothes for the Helper Monkey.

Speaking of classes...Praxis is opening in a few months, and I plan to offer a painted-warp weaving workshop there in June.  Keep an eye on their website and Facebook feed for updates and conformation on the opening festivities.  Also, I'll be doing another joomchi workshop at the Morgan the first weekend in June.

Past Due

I have been more than remiss in keeping this up to date recently.  Frankly, I would rather be doing other things than sitting in front of this glowing machine...so it hasn't been a priority.

Some additional photos from where we last left off...

The one below is a student's work...

...And more of mine.  We were very fortunate that Kevin finally brought me a bucket of often-promised walnuts.  With all the good rusty iron in the pot we had juicy browns and blacks.

Indigo seeds arrived from Roland & Chinami, so it must be time to start thinking about the garden.

The helper-monkey had a fiber-tastic birthday and Christmas.  Here she is (sans two front teeth) working on her first weaving!

Rich & Juicy

Been doing some botanical transfer prints with my Design 1 students.  Their results were pretty good...never less than interesting.  For myself, it yielded my best prints yet.

The pink is from fresh beets, but it faded dramatically after drying.

Above, preparing a piece of silk.  Below, a very full pot of soup (brake disc for scale).  I had to keep ladling juice out the whole time it percolated.

I have no idea where the green came from (below).

Such juicy results.  The more rusty metal in the pot, the better...more of everything really.

Many delays.

I held off on posting while I wrapped up the bathroom renovation.  Not that there was a lot of studio time available anyway, what with the Fall semester getting under way and all.

At last my schedule has opened up, and I can get some enjoyable work done.  The large loom is ready to be dressed, and a pair of very large weavings with painted warp will be under way soon (after two years of planning and procrastinating).

Many books have been made or are in the making.  Some with papers printed under Velma's tutelage, some printed solo.  Some from joomchi, even.  I'm fond of the stationer's binding.

Above and below, machine-made kozo pages, ogura lace cover, machine-made pre-printed kozo tapes. I like the wrinkles, so they stay.

Below, joomchi pages (good hanji from Paper Connection), cheap kozo tapes.

Lastly, a medium-sized fellow assembled from several odd joomchi samples.

Oh, and the indigo rallied, yielding about a bushel of fresh leaves.

Everything is Awesome.

Dyed some more bundles last week to finish off the silk habatoi I had.  The colors on Thai kozo are way darker wet than they are after drying.

...But the silk loves to take color (below).

Michelle and I ran another batch today, this time on Rives BFK and Arches Cover.  The heavier papers show off more of the color.

I'm going to have my first-years do some of this when we get to the book-making project...along with joomchi and shibori.  I figure since there's no longer a place in the school to practice these sorts of techniques I might as well integrate them into my Design classes.  This is going to be awesome.

Maximum Overdrive

The summer posting schedule has been sparse, but should be moving back to weekly updates.  Home renovations are eating up so much of my time that I'm finally forced to set aside one day a week for "office" work...there is course prep and studio work to take care of, after all.

Also, I willingly gave up a significant portion of the past few weeks taking two amazing workshops.  The first was a contact printing class with Velma Bolyard.  The results were fantastic!  Plus it was so addictive that I had to cram in a day dyeing bundles at home.

Above and below, habatoi ribbon wrapped in Thai kozo...with steel wool, Brazil wood, elderberries, chrysanthemum blossoms, onion skins, and nasturtium blossoms.

That was followed by a four-day workshop with Velma and Aimee that covered the entire process of paper-making, various binding methods, jiseung, and an assortment of paper treatments.  Below is the pile of fresh indigo leaves I shared...unfortunately the conditions weren't optimal for nurturing a fresh-leaf batch.

After the workshop wrapped I was so keyed-up I had to practice a few iterations of the structures we learned.  Below is a slot-and-tab structure in cotton.

Above is a stationer's binding in progress.  Below is the page insert with cloth tapes.  So fun!

There was also the reception for the "Revive & Renew" exhibition at the Morgan.  I sold a small piece on opening night (yay!).  There is a great catalog available, if anyone is interested.  The show includes myself, Aimee, Velma, and other great artists.  It's worth stopping by if you're in the area.  And don't forget...the 2014 CIA Faculty Exhibition opens August 28th!