Thoughts on my final fibers final...

First of all, it's REALLY WEIRD to think this is my last final for fibers...ever...

I am working in a group with two other girls for my final. I'm kind of excited about it. :) The basic premise is creating a fairy tale, child-like garden using fabric and paper alterations and weaving techniques. I don't have any images or anything to post because we haven't started anything yet. This is more of a brainstorming session for me.

One of the things we've decided we want to do is weave a cloque piece that will resemble moss. So we'll be using wool and silk in greens and yellows. We're not really sure how much we need just yet. I've done some simple calculations using the weaving calculator I discovered a while ago at Haley Studio. It's not exactly how I do my weaving calculations, but it gives me a basic idea of how much yarn I will need and all that stuff. It's super handy. :)

So I've done some calculations for the woven moss. We're also planning on sewing flowers out of fabric. My mom lent me this book a while back (which I returned...and now I need again) called Fabric Manipulations. It has all kinds of cool looking stuff in it. I'm probably going to borrow that again and find some versions of flowers. One of the girls pulled out her Anthropologie catalog and we looked through that for some ideas. In the March issue, there was a snake that was woven out of paper. It was pretty cool looking and we'd like to make something like him. We've each done some sketches but nothing is certain yet. I think we're all scared of being too forceful about what we want. But we're communicating pretty well so far so I think that's good. And when we've sat down and talked about it, we all pretty much want the same things and are all willing to incorporate things that the others want. It's a big project, but I think it'll be beautiful if we can pull it off. :)

I can't wait until I have more concrete ideas/pictures/thoughts to share with you. Be looking forward to it!
~JoAnna

After a rather long absence...

Yes, I've been gone for a while. Sorry! I've got 18 hours this semester, had spring break a couple of weeks ago and I've been sick for the past few days. :( I am determined to write about SOMETHING though!

First of all, a follow up to my last post. I attempted dyeing a warp using the Jacquard Pigment dyes. It...didn't really work...Well it did, but I'm not really satisfied with the results. All the colors (green, purple and blue) kind of muddied together and turned grey-ish...Oh well. The main thing is that I am not sure it'll remain colorfast. These dyes, since they are technically pigment, need to be heat set. I tried that to an extent, but the yarns were really wet and weren't drying. So my plan is to warp as normal, weave as normal and then when I take the scarves off the loom, I'll put them in the dryer for a while and THEN wash them out. :) Hopefully it will work.

Oh also, I attempted dyeing a ball of yarn. I think it would have gone better if I hadn't tried to scour it in the washing machine (haaaa...), had paid better attention to the directions and wound the ball LOOSELY instead of very tight and dipped the ball instead of pouring dye onto it. Lessons learned.:)

Okay. This picture is from Craftzine.com. I found it while stumbling. I have been planning on starting an "herb" garden for a while. This is just one idea I had for how to go about it. I was talking to Ben's mom the other day about herbs and she said that they actually make good house plants. I may also just buy some pots or a big pot and plant them in there. :) I'm super excited but it's not happening until we move because I don't want to try to move even MORE plants across the country. Anyway, this post is brief, but I'm getting sleepy and need to rest up to get better! :)
 ~JoAnna

Dyeing warp yarn non traditionally

I'm in search of way to dye a cellulose warp (i.e. plant fiber. Cotton, linen, rayon, etc) I'm completely determined that I don't have to buy Procion MX dyes. De. Ter. Mined. However, I have yet to discover how this is possible...

I would like to try the Jacquard Pigment Dyes that Dahrma Trading Co. carries. Mom has some of these so I may try that sometime soon.

From my understanding, Kool-Aid dyeing doesn't work on cellulose fibers. Boo! :(

This idea has been in my head for a long time. I'm not really sure what my aversion to buying Procion dyes is about...I just don't think it's necessary. I want to try it with something else.

It would be great if I could find something to use from my kitchen. That's why I went through my natural dye stage.

Anyway, I don't know anything, I haven't found anything for certain, but I want to figure this out. :)

I posted a question to Weavolution (I believe it was in the It's a Good Day to Dye group forum) a while ago asking if anyone had tried the pigment dyes on yarn. All I got was, "No. But it wouldn't work because it would alter the hand. Read the disclaimer/instructions/information on the website." Then how does it NOT effect the hand of the silk scarves that my mom dyes by hand using the pigment dyes? I might actually have the time this weekend to do this! I hope so. I'm supposed to be working on dyeing this warp right now, but I don't want to interrupt the demo in the surface 1 class.

I should go work on altered fabrics. :)

~JoAnna

Looong week

It's been a loooong, busy week. It's hard to believe that I've been on BREAK! :) I wove up a total of 6 scarves this week. Oh my...My back is soooo tired. But I'm proud of them and I think they all look good. I'll try to post pictures soon. I've gotta finish twisting the fringe on the last one.

I still have some homework I have to do before next week, but I don't think it'll take long.
~JoAnna

Aaaaannnd I'm...back...

Oh my. I know I'm being ridiculous, but I discovered that since I've been using WordPress (which is really only about a week) it's been driving me away from blogging. Well...I've been trying to learn to read signs in myself better and I know for a fact (When it comes to weaving anyway) if something is driving me away from weaving, I have to figure out what it is and deal with it. In weaving, that can mean throwing an entire warp away. In this case, it appears to mean that I use a (perhaps) inferior blogging website. I'm a creature of comfort. I like things to be comfortable. For whatever reason I find blogger more comfortable.

Hopefully this will be my last mental blog breakdown and switch...At least until I need a website for my studios. Which I don't think is going to happen for a year or two...The point is, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Thanks for bearing with  me.
~JoAnna

Cool Tools

I recently ordered a fringe twister from Yarn Barn KS and it came today!
I gotta say, I'm beginning to get some pretty cool tools. It's exciting. Recently I've gotten:
A mini end feed shuttle (Oh the ordeal that was!!)
A ball winder - A Royal (brand) from a thrift store for $3 bucks!
A fringe twister - It's gonna save my poor fingers!
Ben is currently working on building me a bobbin winder. We looked at the one at school and he took some measurements and then made the wood part in about an hour or less. (probably less) It's made out of Mahogany. Umm...Amazing. I'm so excited. Anyway, he glued it up on Sunday night and then he's gonna give that part and the plans to his dad so HE can do all the mechanical stuff. Perhaps soon I'll have my very own, handmade bobbin winder. It'll be really pretty.
I also have a handmade warping board which I prefer over the LeClerc ones that we have at school. The pegs are closer together and the whole thing is shorter so it doesn't hurt my back to wind warp off.  Here are some pictures of all the tools that I mentioned. :) Enjoy.

~JoAnna

Busy little bee

I have been soo busy lately! Sunday Ben and I went to the craft center. He worked on wood stuff (a chair) And I wound off warp...for, like, 4 hours. haaaa... But I've got some fun projects coming up.
A painted/dyed rayon scarf warp.
A pattern scarf set in M's and O's. (which may lead to a larger M&O project)
An itty bitty scarf or scarf set(?)
MORE RAYON BOUCLE SCARVES!!
I washed the boucle scarf on Sunday and it came out SOO soft!! I LOVE rayon. :) Ben said it looks like it would be really rough, like burlap but then it's soft. I love that. It's such a conundrum. And it was super easy. It's only 10 epi/ppi. I have some red boucle yarn as well and I'd like to try that. I was going to tie back on to the warp, but it pulled out when I cut the scarf off. It's okay though. It won't take long to get it back on there. I may try it a bit wider this time...I don't think more than 7 inches though. 70 ends should be quick to get on there.  Okay...72 ends. That's easier to divide. And two ends won't make it that much wider. Oh man! I can't wait!
~JoAnna

Knitting like a crazy woman!

I Really AM knitting like a crazy woman! :) I finished one today and just started another about a half hour ago.  Here are some of the hats I've done. The orange/yellow/red ones aren't recent. They were some of the first. I'm not crazy about them, but that's okay. :) They're still nice and warm! I also did some needle felting on one of them. The ones that are HUGE aren't felted yet. And I only have the liner in one of these right now. But they're all works in progress and I'm happy with them.
Just thought I'd show you some of the things I make. :) I have another one, but I couldn't get a good picture of it. The green kept looking too yellow. I'll try to post it later.
~JoAnna

The big decision

Alright. I think I've finally decided...

I am switching over to my WordPress account! I have imported all of my posts from Blogger so everything is still there. I like the idea of being able to further customize my blog. It will probably take a while for me to get used to the interface, but I think it will be a good switch in the long run...

I know, I've been though this whole thing once before and I totally chickened out and didn't do it. But I think I'm doing it for real this time.

Here's the link: joannaruth.wordpress.com
If you're following me here, PLEASE continue following me there. I believe it's still possible to follow it via email updates. I haven't entirely figured it out yet, but please don't let that inhibit you from staying up to date with my posts. I think I remember reading somewhere that you could add it to google reader among other things, but I can't remember where that was...haha. I'll find it and work out the kinks. :) I just wanted to let you know I'm moving. I'm excited and it will be good.
~JoAnna

Where am I gonna put all this??

Yarn. It's wonderful...Aaaaaand it's taking over my apartment. And while I love that, WHERE AM I GONNA PUT IT?! These are pictures of all the yarn I've ordered since December.
-6 pounds of Tencel
-15 Pounds of Rayon
-Goodness knows how many skeins of worsted wool!
Oh my. I have a lot of work to do!!

~JoAnna

More hat

I started knitting another hat last night. I refuse to believe that people don't need hats in the summer. :) haha. Kidding. But this way I'll have an inventory built up for when it gets cold again.

I haven't done much with my boucle scarf for a while. I had used some rayon in the weft and I didn't really like it. I felt like it took away from the bumpiness of the boucle, which is the whole point! So I pulled it out and tried weaving with the same stuff in the weft. I like it better, but now I think I beat it in too hard...I need to get better at just placing my shots instead of beating the crap out of it.

OH! Weaving on the cloque (clo-kay :) sampler was fun! I really enjoyed working with the wool. It was weird for me because I always keep my tension really tight, but with the wool, you have to keep it loose or else it will just keep stretching. And since it's a wool/silk combination warp, it's even worse if you keep the tension really tight because the wool will stretch and the silk won't. Eventually the wool will become so stretched out that even if you have the tension as tight as it will go on the silk, the wool will be droopy and loose.

I am planning on weaving my sections of the two linen warps in class tomorrow...ick. I HATE linen. It's just...terrible. Hopefully I can get it overwith quickly.

Lauren was telling me a few weeks ago about a lovely wool scarf she made out of wool using a canvas weave. It's really pretty. But Jeanne said when she saw it, "Canvas weave should only be done out of linen." Well...I disagree. My canvas weave shawl was beautiful. :) And so was the wool scarf!

Anyway, I think I'd like to do something with Tencel soon...And/or rayon...Oh and I really want to weave my Dune scarf... :) Yes, sci fi nerd. Love it.
~JoAnna

Sale!

I made another sale today!! I'm so proud and really happy! One of my friends from the clay dept. wanted to buy a hat (I think I mentioned this in another post somewhere) anyway, she stopped by the fibers studio to check out the hats I already had made and look at the yarn I had too in case she wanted to pick her own colors.

She picked one that was already made/felted. I just have to sew the liner into it. :) I'm so happy! It'll look cute on her. It's fun to give/sell things to friends. I plan on lining it later today or maybe tomorrow. I have a test in my psych class tonight that I'm supposed to be studying for, but I'm just so excited that I made another sale! :) I wanted to share.
~JoAnna