How lucky am I? Kaye made two baskets and gave them to me. The one above is from our local cushion bush picked when they were out in bud and the one below had kangaroo grass added for a sculptural effect. I love them
And this one below I made myself at our basket making day at Rocky and Margy’s. I know there is jasmine and honey suckle vine as the main components. I was very impressed with myself but I had a lot of help.
There were a few of us. More than in the pictures. We gathered at Rocky’s and Margy’s place. A great shared lunch to get the creative juices flowing and then outside to make baskets from various vegetation found there on the farm. And we didn’t let the drizzle hinder our progress. We were lucky to have four very experienced basket makers – Margy, Kaye, Rocky and Jill.
Jill, Georgie, Kaye, Annie and sorry but I forget her name.
And here is Kaye amongst it all – her favourite place.
I was feeling fairly crap by the end of the day because of chemo side effects so didn’t get the images I would normally get – like the finished products!
But I have ended up with a basket that I will treasure. I can still take a photo of that and post it in the future.
Finally getting around to posting images of the woven creations of other students. These items were exhibited at the Hamilton Sheepvention Show early this month and will also be shown at The Royal Melbourne Show. The majority of fibre used was alpaca, being part of a deal done with the Alpaca Association and SouthWest TAFE here in Warrnambool.
First off the ranks are three scarves woven by Jeanette Tollerbond.
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And two wraps also woven by Jeanette.
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The next four items are by Georgie Crow. As a matter of interest the bottom wrap in the second image as well as the wraps in the final two images were all woven on the same warp.
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The next four are a variety of knits by Jill Hunter.
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And last but definitely not least are items by Rocky Blair. Rocky has used alpaca fibre from her own alpacas and felted it to produce these hats with the final image being a skirt and wrap woven on the same warp.
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And to conclude, I must thank our stunning model who suffered all types of indignities without complaint for this photo shoot.
The display at Hamilton.
While waiting patiently for our commercially spun alpaca yarn to arrive we have easily kept busy on other projects.
Here is Georgie weaving a beret on cardboard. In the background you can view our revamped room. Much more civilised now. Oh and BTW, Georgie has a sore knee. She isn’t really that lay back.
And Jill and Rocky hand spinning alpaca fibre.
Jill is the most productive, spinning and knitting beautifully. Below is a wee bit of her hand spun alpaca yarn.
And Georgie was unable to wait. She warped up with an unknown from the store room and used hand spun alpaca by Rocky for her weft. Georgie is experimenting with lace weaves for her alpaca project.
And I stole some fibre that had been dyed for another class. I walked past it, saw the colours and couldn’t help but take just a small bit to spin up. I love it. On the bottom left is the single thread and on the right is the plied result. Should have pinched the whole lot.
Jill again. More hand spun alpaca yarn. Beautiful stuff.
And another ebay mistake! I bought quite a large amount of tussah silk from some guy who was destashing his weaving studio. It looked luscious so I bought a kilogram of the stuff. This is the photo supplied on ebay.
Here is what I got. Very beige with no sheen and it sheds. I hate shedding. When will I learn? I’ve washed it and whacked it but it still sheds, otherwise it could still have been used in some project .
Another day with Rocky – I have now learnt to use a carder. I have spent the last week spinning whenever I have had time. Mainly a relaxing activity, but interspersed with the f?*! word on occasion. It can be very frustrating during this learning stage. I rediscovered my bad temper a number of times – not attractive. Using carded fleece cut down on the ugly bits.
This is my first hank of yarn, washed and dried. I am feeling quite satisfied and proud and wanting to keep doing more.
While I carded away in the sunshine, Rocky worked on her tapestry which she is also studying through TAFE.
Her current assignment involves weaving curves. Southwest TAFE are renowned for the tapestry weaving course they offer and have been doing it for many years. It is also one of the courses they offer off campus.
I really needed to learn a new craft like I need a hole in the head. But Rocky, a spinner from way back, came to my place today and began the process of teaching me how to spin. And of course I love it. Now the aim is to get the raw fibre, spin and ply it, dye it and then weave, knit or crochet into a finished piece.
To complete the whole process I will have to seriously look at growing my own fibre. Might start researching goats that produce cashmere. Murray will be thrilled.
My initial efforts with corriedale fleece from a roving. Next I am trying alpaca fleece from one of Rocky and Paul’s alpacas.
We were hoping to spin in the sunshine but the sun was uncooperative. We have another day planned for next week.
I know how to stave off Alzheimer’s disease – keep on working out design drafts for weaving double cloth.
Every time I make a mistake I know I probably won’t make that mistake again as it takes much time and brain power to rectify it. Well, that’s the theory. The first half of this weaving is my practice piece.
This is the top cloth showing (excuse incorrect terminology). Once I began weaving it soon became obvious that I had threaded the heddles incorrectly in one area as the honey comb pattern was all out of wack where I have circled. Solution – pull the offending warp ends from the cloth and re-thread the heddles correctly. Am pleased to say it worked.
This is the back cloth. I shoved the camera under the loom, pointed skyward and hoped for the best. And it worked too.
Rocky at work. You can see that space is at a premium in this room. It is very challenging reaching the looms at the back.
Rocky’s work in progress. Those loose threads are going to be cut and ‘eyelashed’ for a 3-dimensional effect.
I had a wonderful five days at the workshop organised by SouthWest TAFE and led by India Flint – learning how to colour cloth with ecologically sustainable dyes from plants.
India is a r(eco)fashion designer, writer, feltmaker, cloth colourist & costumiere.
Jill was there.
Rocky and Sue also.
And Judy as well. Judy teaches textile subjects at SouthWest TAFE.
We went in search of plants. We felted. We experimented. We watched pots boil. We got excited about opening bundles of cloth.
India Flint
A small selection of our resulting work.
Admiring a completed “landskin” by India.
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