Woodland: inspired beauty, mystery and love of nature

It is that time of the year again. The boots are coming out with the soft woollens and cosy knits. I have to admit I love this time of year. I often find renewed energy and focus to buckle down on projects that perhaps I have neglected to the warm sun and light evenings.

Is it because of the colors I see in nature that I tend to turn my wardrobe into browns and reds? I cannot really say, but I find even in my weaving I want bold rich earthy tones.

 

This year I have found myself thinking more of the woodland theme and so I have made two particular pieces which reflect my love of the woods and also the mystery and romance it still holds for me.

The first is a badger inspired hooded scarf.

This hand woven hooded scarf is made from wool and alpaca mixed yarns in stripes of grey, black and cream. It is very cosy and soft because of the alpaca wool mix. In addition the hood is lined for extra comfort with lovely, soft, black jersey knit fabric to help combat cold. The lining also adds more 'structure' to the hood so that it gathers nicely when down and it holds shape when up. To the ‘brim’ of the hood has been added another layer of stiffened liner so that it does not fall and keeps its shape. All of the features to the hood makes it a little more 'damp proof’ for British Winters and makes it a unique piece to add to your wardrobe.
I am donating 10% from the sale of this scarf to stop the badger culls in the UK.
I really wanted to capture a bit of the spirit of the badger in this piece. I kept thinking of something which could be practically worn, but would also be a good representation of this popular totem animal.

The second is a Little Red Riding Hood inspired hooded scarf.

This handwoven hooded scarf is made from cotton and wool in 4 shades of brilliant red. The dark red wool is vintage, hand-spun wool from a lovely batch I purchased from and estate sale a number of years back; it has an amazing deep scarlet color and lovely roughly hewn texture while keeping the softness of wool. I added 3 cotton yarns to the mix in additional shades of red ranging from fiery to soft because I wanted the fabric to have the rich yet varied look of a garment woven a long time ago. I really wanted to create a practical yet romantic rendition of a hood for Little Red Riding Hood.
The hood is lined for extra comfort with lovely, soft, deep red jersey knit fabric to help combat cold. The lining also adds more 'structure' to the oversized hood so that it gathers nicely when down and it holds shape when up. The ‘brim’ of the hood has been stiffened with another liner so that it does not fall and keeps its swooping shape. 
I added a little silver wolf charm hanging from the tassel in the back as a small detail to round the piece off and add to the romance of this piece. I again wanted to have a piece which really is practical and yet ultimately is closely tied to the magic and mystery of the fairytale.

Both pieces can be found in my Etsy shop or in a special showcase page on FB. 

Inspired by something you have seen? Message me on FaceBook.

Beauty's Rose a weaving project for Stevie Nicks

A dear friend brought to my attention recently a competition on Talent House (collective of artists and competitions for artists to show off their work). The competition was to design a shawl for Stevie Nicks. Never have I been more excited to start a project!  So I did some research and pinned some ideas on Pinterest. Then I got going.

After I wove the main piece of the sample I decided on I took it off the loom and started planning out the details of the embellishments I planned on making to the main body of the scarf.

lace roses I tried out to see if I would like them

I planned one thing and then another... then tried something else and then something else again...
Time was getting short and finally I changed my mind one last time and decided to embroider using stumpwork techniques (which was nearly back to my original plan of needlelace work).

From there is all started falling into place.

These are so picture of the finished sample:

The following is the write up I did for the piece:

Beauty’s Rose

This shawl is inspired by fairy tales, dreams and enchantment. I imagined this piece after reading how much Stevie Nicks was inspired by fairy tales. I decided to take our common love of the tales and create a unique piece using my additional passion for traditional cottage crafts like weaving and embroidery, which often play an important role in fairy tales.
Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite stories as I love the romance and purity of the message in the story. The idea that beauty can be found in everything really was a theme I took to heart.
The shawl catches the dark mystery of Beast in the handwoven black cotton threads. The soft and voluptuous threads are woven in stripes of alternating weaves. In between the woven horizontal stripes the threads are loose and open, this gives the shawl freedom of movement. Not only does the piece flutter like a crow’s wing, but the occasional glimpse of flesh (or color) as sections open and whisper across the arm and back hints of a great secret beneath.
The delicate beauty of the rose Beauty requested from her father in the fairytale has been recreated and hand detailed with rich deep red and green embroidery threads. The vibrant lush colors of the embroidered roses and leaves are the visual foil to the darkness of the shawl. They soften the darkness while making it all that much more imposing.

As a whole the piece weaves a picture of romance and love and  which I think is what Stevie Nicks embodies.

The piece if created will be 18” x 66” woven in black cotton with horizontal woven stripes alternating with ‘open’ sections of vertical threads. There will be three lines of hand embroidery running the length of the 66 inches: one half inch line of rose buds and vine; and two one-inch wide lines of roses and vine with leaves.

If you'd like to vote for my submission and to see the other submissions please do.

Other pieces of my finished work can be found in my Etsy shop or join me on FB if you want a chat or to see more process photos.

Getting Ready for a Strawberry Tea... (Preparing for special auction to benefit Breast Cancer awareness)

A group of us are making up a few items to auction off to benefit Breast Cancer Care.

So many of us have been touched by cancer of one kind or another. As we all know it's important to do a little something now and again to help those in need. After chatting with a few of my friends who also create beautiful items we decided to run a little auction. Link to the online event.

This is one of the items that I have made for the auction....

A woven jute square with crocheted edges.

I tied the corners up with bright red coarse wool and added a heart.

White spotty heart as made by JellyBean Home Gifts

 This is the finished basket. 

5x5x1.25inches. 

Ideal for keys, buttons, change, and other small bits and bobs.

Finished little basket.

 If you'd like to see other trinket baskets and scarves I've been making pop over to LoomyBin. I have lots of lovely woven items to inspire and delight.

In the Silence I've Been Gathering... (flowers and textures)

(all of these pictures are currently on sale 3for2 at LoomyBin)

In the silence I've been gathering... 

Flowers from a woodland walk...

Lovely textures from Caerphilly castle.

To check out more of the prints for sale check out 'Photos for Sale' album on LoomyBin. 

With every purchase made this weekend also receive a voucher for 10% off a handwoven item.

June 10th: You!

 I am the sum of my parts. Some parts are my girls, but the parts that are more me then them...

June 7th: Bright

One of the best things about weaving is being able to work with color. I love bright beautiful colors.

In this picture are some of the cones I recently pulled out for planning stages of projects.
The Aqua and Cream cone closest is a one of a kind mix of wool and super soft soya proteins. It is one of the last few cones of a lot I bought which were a special trial. I will be sad to see it all go because it's wonderful to work with it.
The cone behind that is a Royal Blue and Black cotton and linen mix. I am a sucker for linen and cotton mixes because the designs they can create are so pristine.
The cone behind that is a super fine bright green lambswool. The cone laying down in a lovely deep yellow orange fine cotton.
Colors and the fibres associated are key for me and what I do. They shape the pieces I make in subtle and not so subtle ways (i.e. the certain patterns do not look good with certain fibres, likewise certain color combinations are best kept simple in design while others love to be intricately mixed).

Some of the patterns and colors I've woven over the year.

If you'd like to see more of what I'm working on pop over to LoomyBin. I always love to meet new people and find out what they think. I also have an Etsy shop.

June 1st B is for.... (Beads, Blue and Beginnings)

I just started working on another bright piece with beads.
I love beads...little shimmery bits catching and reflecting light which you can hold in your hand...

I'm going to call this scarf Glorious Day; bright sun in the turquoise blue sky.

To see more of my work pop into LoomyBin; I love to meet new people.

May 30th Tool

See my lovely new tool? I just got it in the post today.
A gorgeous handmade little square weaving loom. EEEeeeeeEEE!
I got it from Planengrain who has lovely weaving items as well as some other really beautiful items...https://www.etsy.com/shop/Planengrain
Guess what I'm doing tonight...

Pop around and see what fun things I make with it at LoomyBin.

May 27th and 28th Can't Live Without and What You're Doing Right Now

There's a lot in this picture, as a weaver, I cannot live without...well, I could ;) but these items make my life easier.
Loom- love piece of golden wood with a reddish tinge
Apron- made from bright red cotton canvas..this is my second one as the first one I made wasn't quite right
Tape Measure- fibre glass and flexible so I can wrap it around with the scarf on weaving
Strings- in this case lovely super soft cotton in bright colors
As a weaver all of these things have become essential to my practice. They make the process one of enjoyment and an expression of joy and relaxation.

I'm still weaving this in between playing Lego, cleaning, taping, gluing, FBing, twitter, blogging, planning, doing laundry, doing dishes, wiping bottoms, turning off lights that have been turned on... I'm a little behind ;)

To check out some of my other woven items pop over to LoomyBin

May 26th Fave Thing to Do on a Sunday

... Enough said...

Tho I do like weaving too...


To see more of my weaving projects pop into LoomyBin

May 23rd PJs

I can often be found weaving in my PJs. I do the most weaving in the morning just after Thing1 and Thing2 get up, before we're 'going,' and in the evenings after they've gone to bed.

One thing I've learned is when I'm starting a project it's best to be in these black ones and not say any of my stripy ones... The number of times I've grouched about colors or patterns not looking right when I've worn stripy PJs ...

May 17th Season (Spring)

I love looking out in the garden. There are so many different Spring flowers growing. Often it's flowers that inspire me the most because of their beautiful colors, shapes and textures.


Here's a few flowers from my garden which may inspire you.

If you want to see some of my scarves inspired by flower pop over to LoomyBin