Selective progress

Still nothing up on etsy, but I have been busy working on things.  Some chain maille, some spinning, and some illumination. Genuine evidence of the previously posted green yarn

Also illuminating progress

There is an arts and sciences display event happening soon (november) in the area, and there are several challenges to the populace.  One of which is to make a scroll blank.  One of my stated goals for AS50 is to make 50 scroll blanks.  They won't be done by november (I start student teaching next week) but the smaller challenge is getting me off my duff and working actively on progress.  

Technology can be wonderful

I just discovered how to link my etsy store to a page in facebook that is independent from my personal page.  Theoretically this blog post will also repost itself there now too.  I guess I have no more excuses to delay populating the store with the stuff I have made for sale.  I am focusing on getting things ready for christmas sales.  I am spinning up yarn, and making ribbon origami ornaments.  I finally figured out how to arrange the hanging loop.  Hopefully there will be pics soon.

scatterbrained but moving forward

I have been experiencing hobby adhd.  A little spinning, a little inkle weaving, a little paper and ribbon origami, etc.  You get the idea.

I have a thought.  I may be fairly sporadic about posting, but I have yet to receive a single comment.  Please feel free to leave comments :-)
enjoy

Been busy

I have been spinning and I have also rewarped the inkle loom. The white yarn pictured below was spun as singles a long time ago, as was the bulk of the green, however I spun the remainder of the green and plied them the other day.  I pulled out the antique clock reel and made skeins of plied yarn.  I made the white mostly so I could free up the bobbins. The white is corrieadale and the green is Rambouillet by a touch of twist purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. It spins as long draw beautifully.

wheel in foreground a clock reel in background of last pic.

Other handspun includes:
flickr pics

Sprang

Sprang. The original stretchy fabric.
This is some of the sprang work I have been doing.  The yellow and the purple are both of wool, and the blue is of cotton.  Wool is MUCH nicer to work with.  The nature of sprang plays a lot with the twist in yarn, and the cotton has no natural spring of its own.  By the end I was basically working with collections of singles that weren't staying together very well.  I kept doing ply-split spranging and then having to go back and fix it.  These are all the simplest pattern.  Alternating rows of
1F (1B 1F)rep 1B
2F (1B 1F)rep 2B
which makes no sense unless you have any experience with sprang.  Basically sprang is a continuous warp around the dowels in the pic above giving a front layer of threads and a back layer.  Your hand is placed between the layers and 1F means that 1 thread from the back is brought Forward, and 1B means 1 thread from the front is sent Backward.  repeat, placing the small sticks (dpns) in the place where your hand was and spreading apart (1 up and 1 down) to create the new shed of front and back ready for the next row.

I can't believe how long is has been since I posted!

I have not been idle.  The embroidery I needed to finish, was finished.  I got my journeyman status in the aAthena's Thimble guild.  Everyone was to nice and helpful.  I have mostly been baking bread for the SCA lately, rather than fiber crafting.
Unfortunately, I can't go to Pennsic this year, but hopefully next year will work.  Most of the local activities are Pennsic central at the moment, and I have had a strange schedule, so I haven't been playing much.

In terms of crafting, however, I purchased an inkle loom (Finally!!!) at crown tourney.  Since then I have made several straps.  hopefully I will figure out how to get the photo from the phone to the computer wirelessly.  There has also been fun with kumihimo and chinese braiding.  I have even been exploring sprang to good effect.

Much embroidery progress

Oops--I didn't mean to wait so long between posts, but I have been working diligently.  Hopefully pictures will follow shortly, but I have finished the stitching on the hardanger project.  I still need to cut it out.  I have also finished the stitching on the blackwork project.  I still have ends that need to be dealt with, but the silk ones need fraycheck or they will just slip out of their knots. 

I have made a decent start on the brickwork piece.  I have decided what all of my colors will be.  I find myself doing a lot of picking back stitches that I missed a count on about 10 min to an hour ago, but count really matters in brick stitch work so I really need to fix it.  I am starting to have enough done that the errors are a little more obvious-the difference in the length of a short gap that is a thread too short or too long versus the same error on a longer gap is much harder to see.  (I hope that made sense to people other than me :-) Anyway, today looks like a slow day at work and as I have permission to embroider I will probably do what I can to start the free embroidery project of the Athena's Thimble Owl, which will be my fourth project. 

Happy stitching

I have been busy, just not posting

As I have stated before, I am trying to achieve ranking in Athena's thimble guild of the East Kingdom.  Specifically I am trying to achieve the rank of Journeyman.  That means you need to achieve at least working knowledge in 2 and competence in 2 of the 12 categories of embroidery as listed by the guild.

• Applique (inlay and onlay)
• Blackwork (blackwork, speckled blackwork)
• Canvaswork (needlepoint, Florentine)
• Couching and Laidwork (excluding metallic threads)
• Counted Thread
• Free Embroidery
• Lacis
• Metal Thread (including couching of metallic threads)
• Needlelace (reticella, tenerife, punto in aria)
• Openwork (hardanger, hemstitching, drawn and pulled work, cutwork)
• Padded Work (stumpwork, quilting variations)
• Pleated Embroidery/Smocking 

To that end, I have a solid start on the blackwork, also on the openwork (hardanger), a bare start on the counted work, and barely a twinkle in my eye for the free embroidery.

Blackwork
I have 1 pattern row all but complete, mostly just waiting for a short tail of thread to be left over from another pattern strip, the second pattern row is the leaves and flowers as pictured in an earlier post.  I am now almost done the involved leaf row, and one of the two border rows is done, but the other is not yet started.

Hardanger
The kloster blocks are finished, and the cutting, interweaving and dove's eyes are all done.  I need to decide what I am doing in the center and finish the edging, then cut it out.  I have discovered I REALLY DISLIKE the outside corners of the border in buttonhole stitch.

Brick Stitch
This is barely started, and I need floss in a color that will go well with the colors I have chosen for the main piece.  I have discovered that most of my thread choices of dmc rather than multipacks of cheap stuff are in the blue purple and green family.  Guess what my favorite colors are?  lol  I have nothing in the gold family, and very little in the off-white family.  This is the pattern I am following, using maroon and dark blue for the motifs, probably gold for the dots and a cream color for the bars.

Other
I will probably be doing free embroidery here-make a pattern or cartoon for what you are doing and follow or fill in with various decorative stitches that are appropriate (or fun).  I think I am going to use this to make the guild symbol and wear it as a favor denoting my membership in the guild.  That way I immediately have a use for it.

All of this is important at the moment because on the 29th of March, there is an event called mudthaw, where there will be a panel for athena's thimble.  I am hoping to have all four done by then, or at least done enough to get rankings.  I somehow think that I won't quite make that deadline.  I am also baking for the cooking thynge on the 12th.  I seem to become the bhakaili bread baker.  I have volunteered for the honor, but it does take work.

There has also been a bit of scribal progress in the time since my last post, but I have not taken pics yet.
Hopefully pics will be forthcoming--depending on the cooperation of my camera.

got some good help

I am starting my second scroll blank.  I well and truly jumped in the deep end with this one.  I just got a copy of leaves of gold in soft cover for $15 (normal price is 75).  Dancing ensued.  Then studying.  Then sketching.  I am now trying to do a scroll blank in the style of p59.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/naomikatepp/5450250119/" title="IMG_2396 by naomikatepp, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5299/5450250119_8a13d8b529.jpg" width="270" height="360" alt="IMG_2396" /></a>
First I sketched the version in my workbook so I could get used to the format and the shapes involved.  Then I drew it freehand on the bristol board.  Next up: gouache.  I had questions about the order of color application, but the nice people on the EKScribes yahoo list were very helpful.

I may sketch out several scrolls before I really play with paint as I need to get a few supplies from dick blick to make it a lot easier to paint.  I do have the 2gal size ziploc bags to store and protect the work in when I am done or not working on it at that moment. 

The serarate blog post is another version of the example I am imitating closely.

The sketches are on my flickr page but flickr is being stubborn about letting me post them here without uploading them, and I am not on my personal computer at the moment.

IMG_2399

IMG_2399
Originally uploaded by naomikatepp

this is the exemplar for the scroll I am talking about in the next post.

pics finally!!!

T

The first pic above is my first scroll blank.  There is a little shading left to do, but only a little, so I am waiting till I wet the paints for something else first. The second pic is a scroll done in marker.  I showed off the progress to someone who knew the son the lyrics are from, and he told me that the first two words are missing.  I kind of lost steam after that.  I realized that in its current state it makes a good example of the order of construction.

This blackwork embroidery is from the blackwork archives.  this is my first project.  I need to figure out how to do better joins.  It is a challenge when the design is supposed to be two-sided.  But I am making progress.  I still keep making mistakes that I don't notice till much later.  It really is annoying.  I don't like unworking--I know no one does.  At least if you notice the problem before you backtrack, it is easier to undo.

These are needle tatted flowers.  The green ones have extra picots.  The white ones are smaller because they are made with smaller gauge thread.  The red ones on the upper right are beaded.  In general they are either going to be earrings for sale or event tokens.  I am really frustrated that tatting and needle tatting are not period for the SCA. I have fun making them though, so I won't stop.  I just found a potential stiffening compound, but I haven't had a chance to try it.  There are a lot of video tutorials on youtube.  Just search for needle tatting.

There are many more pictures on my flicker page, including close-ups a plenty.

so many crafts, so little time!

I am frustrated by this lately. I want to get to the point where I can teach classes in various subjects in the arts and sciences. I am focusing on bobbin lace and maybe blackwork. I have just started blackwork, though I understand it well. I may not have much of a portfolio, but I have the willingness to teach, which is rarer. I need to do a fair bit of research into when and where it appeared as well as put together a syllabus for a potential class and a catalog of visual examples. For bobbin lace it is a bit harder as any class I do would be focused on the hands on rather than the historical implications apart from a brief history and an overview of the various 'schools' like torchon. I also need to put together kits that are affordable. I would love to have maybe 3 cadillac kits-real pillows, probably 2 dozen bobbins, pins, thread, and a few starter patterns and a manilla folder to make your own prickings as well as a comprehensive list of links of patterns and resources.

Recently I was looking into tatting, specifically needle tatting, only to find out that apparently it is out of the SCA period. I am still happy to teach a class in it, but I am not sure of the interest I would find.

Progress. I have all but finished the first pattern band of the blackwork and have started on the second. The second pattern band is made up of three rows. 1 and 3 are simple, but row 2 is decidedly not. I have done 6 leaves out of the row which is only about 2 inches. I had 'fun' with the first row of the pattern. I got about 2/3 down the row when I realized I had made a major mistake in the 6th repeat of 29. Even worse I just found out that I missed another stitch in the middle. I think I will stop the leaves and make something up under the 'broken' pattern rather than undo the entire row. I hope I have no more such surprises, but Murphy seems to be inordinately fond of lurking around me especially when doing needlework.
pics soon.

Progress

Between the Noismakers event on Saturday and the A&S meeting on sunday, I have had a highly scadian weekend. I got quite a bit done. I took a class on painting a scroll, and the instructor was very generous with supplies. I left with a significantly better gold paint than I own, a palette, a brush, and an example of pergamenta which is a delight to work with. I also have a much better understanding of acanthus leaves and shading. I made a bookmark in class--not finished shading, but first coat done. I immediately made a scroll blank once I got home. Also not quite finished, but 1 down (almost) 49 to go.

I also started my first blackwork embroiedry. I am almost finished a band about 16 inches long and less than an inch wide in a simple pattern using holbien stitch. The pattern is simple because there are no diverging paths.

No pics of the scroll yet, but they will be forthcoming.
also I am significantly further along in the blackwork than it appears--my boss lets me stitch at work if there are no customers and we had a slow day today. so I started on sunday at about 3pm. I am hoping that by tuesday at the same time I will be done the first band.

Where have all the photos gone?

I am trying to compile a list of the places on the web where I have squirreled away photos. Once this is done, I will try to update the pictures to document my progress and generally my explorations in the arts and sciences-among other things.


Picturetrail

Visit My Trail


Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/naomikatepp/


Photobucket is not cooperating with me, though I mostly don't use it. It is only the 2 versions of my SCA device-which I have registered, but not yet received my AoA in order to wear it.

Let me introduce myself

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Alianora la Tesserande (a fancy French way of saying Eleanor the weaver).  I am located in the Barony of Bakhail in the East Kingdom (greater Philadelphia area) I play with all things fiber related.  I spin, weave, knit, crochet, quilt, cross stitch, and bobbin lace.  I am taking advantage of this challenge to learn more about bobbin lace, to learn blackwork embroidery, and to have fun with calligraphy and illumination.   I just learned about the challenge a month or so ago, and my head is spinning with the possibilities.

As it stands, I am considering a few plans of attack.
I want to complete 50 scroll blanks.  I also want to see the Tyger Signet's face when presented with a stack of 50 blanks.  :-) 

I want to try some new crafts and offshoot crafts.  I am especially interested in advancing my knowledge of surface augmentation and hand stitching-hence bobbin lace and blackwork.  I am considering using this portion of the challenge to try for a membership and ranking in the The Keepers of Athena's Thimble, which is the Embroiderers' Guild of the East Kingdom.

While it isn't Arts and Sciences, generating my own armor and ammunition to become a combat archer for the Barony of Bhakail certainly feels like a sufficiently crafty endeavor that my progress to that end will be tracked here as well.