Making My Own Combed Top For Spinning

I didn't know what I'd blog about today so how I thought, how about something really different from my usual subject.  I recently started combing some wool from my stash of fleeces.

Here is Athena when she was younger, about the time I got the fleece off her. She is a Shetland sheep whose fleece is a color called Moorit, a shade of brown.

This is a basket of fleece that I am working with.  The lighter tips are where the sun has faded her fleece. From this point you need to do something to the wool to prepare it for spinning. You can choose to card or comb the wool. To comb the wool you need a pair of these deadly looking combs. The tines are very sharp.

Here I have taken the locks of fleece and lashed them on to the wool combs.  There are many layers of locks here. There are all placed on the same way, with the tips out and the cut end away from you.

Then the comb is  turned sideways and I take the other comb and with a sweeping motion  the wool is transferred from one comb to the next.  The noil and trash remain in the comb. Then I pull them off and throw that part away. The wool is transferred back and forth between the two combs several times before it is done.

Then the comb is turned again so that it can be pulled off into what is called combed top.  

A small piece of the wool is pulled through what is called a diz to make the top. This is just a small hole in a piece of wood.  This particular diz has several sized hole to make different size top. I end up with one long piece of wool. The feature of top is that all the fibers are parallel. I will be able to make a smooth worsted yarn from this preparation.

Then I take it and wrap it into a circle and pile it into a basket.  When I get a good supply then I will sit and spin it into yarn. I plan to make a 3 ply yarn from this top and knit a gansey type sweater. I don't have a pattern picked out yet but maybe something like this.  Of course it will need to be a bit bigger to fit me.

Some of you may think that its a long process and you would be right. But you see I get enjoyment out of every step of the process. There is a certain pleasure about having control over every step of the process. when I am finished I will have an incredible garment that you just can not buy anywhere. It will provide me with years of warmth and pleasure so its worth all that time to me.

What do you do in your creative life that bring you so much satisfaction?

If you liked this post I would love it if you shared it with friends and other contacts.

Kate

Sketchbook Skool Storytelling

Sketchbook Skool has started again. I took the Storytelling course this time. My instructor is the lovely Koosje Koene from the Netherlands. She is the co founder of Sketchbook Skool along with Danny Gregory. She has a wonderful blog and lots of videos and classes on drawing, you can find it here. I always enjoy her Draw Tip Tuesday short videos.

This is my first drawing for Storytelling.  We are supposed to create a recipe.  This is not something I normally do but it was quite fun.

Our second homework assignment is to create a manual or set of directions.  Here I describe how to use a 3 x 5 gelli plate.  I started this in pencil and then went over it in pen and erased the pencil lines. Then I added watercolor and some colored pencil.  I think it is a fun illustration. I think it tells a little story.

Kate

A Trip to Craters of The Moon For Research

In working on my novel I felt the need to go back to one of the areas I am using for a setting in the book. Since it is only 2 hours from home its something I could easily do. So on Saturday I headed out on an excursion.

This one view of the landscape all kinds of lava rock and a very un-hospitable terrain. 

This show some of the more smooth rock from the Pahoehoe(pa-hoy-hoy) lava flows. You could easily walk on this. When you look closely it looks like petrified wood.  My characters would love to be traveling on this the whole time but they are not.

There are lots of ridges and valleys where you could get your foot stuck.

Here is some more of the Pahoehoe lava where is forms like ribbons or ropes. Some areas easy to walk on others not so much

We took a tour to Indian cave, here is our Ranger guide who told us all about lava, caves, lava tubes and the wildlife there. It was very informative.  I ended up taking lots of notes to refer back to.

Here I am in the cave. The climbing was a challenge. I used my hands sometimes and could really feel the sharp pointy rocks.  You could easily cut yourself on them.

This is a section of the cave that we climbed out of. Then we walked over the lava fields in areas of varied difficulty back to civilization.  It made me see that I need to make it harder on my characters. Walking across this terrain is not easy. You couldn't do it fast.

Here is a short video I took of the landscape we were walking to get back to our car. Those wooden poles are like cairns to lead us on the correct path.  I learned a lot by going back here and really experiencing what it would be like to cross terrain like this.  It will help me in writing about my characters journey.   Now another setting I'll be using will be the steppe country of Mongolia. I won't be able to take a trip there so the internet and reading will have to suffice.  I am excited to get back to my characters Caitlin and Torin,  Celtic like warriors who are on a journey across a hostile land. What bad things happen to them only time will tell.

Kate

Following Van Gogh

I am taking Jeanne Olivers course Studying Under the Masters, the portrait version. We begin with Van Gogh.

This Justine Waddell, isn't this just a lovely painting. The colors in this are lovely. Part of me wants to try this.To really capture his work you need to use oils which I do not have.  Not sure if I want to jump into that quite yet, but we'll see.  The reason I love acrylics is the cleanup. I don't want to mess with linseed oil and turpentine.  I have learned there is a new oil paint out there that cleans up with water. Maybe I will have to put some of those oils on my Christmas list.



I have always loved Don Maclean's song Vincent, so here is some of his art along with the music. I also loved the Dr.Who episode on Van Gogh. It makes me cry everytime.

This was an exercise in using the patterns that Van Gogh used in his sketches  Lots of simple lines and cross hatching.  Values and textures all created with varying lines.  Not the easiest thing to do but a great exercise.

This was called the Knitting woman, even though there are no knitting needles in sight. Drawn in pencil and then watercolor. I had a little difficulty mixing the browns to come out right. As with anything we want it to be perfect the first time, when it may take years of practice.

Watching Jeanne Oliver, my instructor show all these Van Gogh images was great.  So I headed to the library and brought home some books. I'll be studying Van Gogh for awhile. In the course they cover one master a week, not nearly enough time.  I am going be immersed in his brilliance for awhile.

I did discover the difference between looking at the images on line and in books.  So much better in the book.  Now of course seeing some paintings in real life sounds like it would be amazing.  Ah something new to add to my bucket list.  Now I have another reason to go to New York City.

What artists inspire you?

Kate

A Colorful Doorway

For Sunday Sketches I decided to play with color. This doorway was drawn in pen and then I used InkTense pencils and water and then pen again.

Check out other sketchers here,

Art Journaling Wisdom - My version

My good friend Connie Hozvicka held a 10 day free workshop called Art Journal Wisdom. SHe invited us all to impart our own wisdom.  I think what I do daily on the blog is to do that very thing, impart what wisdom I have gained on the art journey that I have been on. So for this project I will share this piece and what kind of wisdom resulted from it. I think that every page in a art journal brings wisdom.

This page incorporates several things I have been working on.  The word stencils I created using my Scan n Cut machine. I have been wanting to make word stencils for awhile and these two were the first ones I tried.  The second piece is the scrap of paper in the center between the two pages. I made that earlier this week on my 3 x 5 gelli plate.  The colors seemed to go with what I was doing so I glued it down on the page. The third thing is that I have been exploring using warm colors.  I can easily do red yellow and orange together but have been wanting to move beyond that and add some cool colors to them. Since green is the first cool color on the color wheel I chose turquoise to experiment with. After taking a picture of this I thought of this is not done at all. There was more that needed to be explored.

This is the finished page, at least for now.  My favorite quote of late is That no painting is ever finished, you just stop at an interesting point. My artist friend Pauline Agnew told me that. The same holds true for a journal page. right now its at an interesting point so I am stopping. Other bits of wisdom. I always experience an ugly stage, where I look at what I have done and think YUCK, what was I thinking.  I believe the yucky stage is just one part and you need to stick with it to find the gem underneath.  Secondly go with your intuition.  I personally do not like at with bent heads, but here I have a bent head women in this spread.  That is how she appeared in the background so I just went with it. When I went back to the painting and added the trees, I thought ah,  just what it needs, of course she'd be in a forest. I think I am the lady on the left and the other women are my painting tribe. They represent all those women I've met in classes online and have come to call friends.

To some up my Art Journal Wisdom

1. There is always a yucky stage just keep going.
2. Follow your intuition.
3. Take risks, add that color you are not sure about. If it doesn't work at least you have learned something.
4. If something isn't working be brave and try something new.
6. If you are stuck, try putting on some music, or go outside for a little bit and come back to it later.
7. Stand instead of sitting, or put your journal on an easel.
8. Mix things up, if you always add circles to your pages pick a different symbol and try that.
9. Embrace the mess, if you still don't like it, turn the page and move on.
10. Let go of your expectations and accept your page for what it is. Its just a moment in time, how you felt on a given day.

I am linking today to Art Journal Wisdom and Paint Party Friday

Kate

Scheduling For Creatives

Occasionally I like to share on the blog articles that have gone out in my newsletter. Sometimes these are about creativity in general and other times are more from my own personal experience.

Scheduling for Creatives

For most creatives having a schedule is counter productive to any form of creativity. A schedule seems to put limits on us. Creativity flows when there are no limits, when there is time to explore many different avenues.  I am no stranger to the idea of schedules.  When I can't seem to get to my own creative projects I think "If only I had a schedule, I know I would get more done." So I would try a schedule, but then I would balk at such schedule, saying "NO" you can't make me. I've tried schedules where I devote the entire day to one project, and schedules where I treat it like a school day, or massive to do lists.  It works sometimes and other times it dismally fails. I needed to find another way.

I found myself in this predicament this year. I had committed to finishing the first draft of a novel. Then I hired a writing coach to get me on track. Still it was a struggle to get my writing done.  I fought it every week. Here I was paying someone to help me and I wasn't taking advantage of it. I was becoming very disappointed with myself. So I got back to the schedule idea and this time I found something that would work for me. Something that had flexibility worked into it.

On the night before, I write down my schedule for the next day.  I do this in hourly increments from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. A typical day might look like this.

7:00 breakfast, shower etc
8:00 email, facebook
9:00  Write
10:00 coach client
11:00 work on website
12:00 lunch
1:00 write
2:00 art time
3:00 walk dog
4:00 write
5:00 Check emails, FB etc
6:00 dinner
7:00 Art time

Now the flexibility comes in when I don't do what I said at any given time. I may write at noon instead of 9:00 but that is ok as I have given myself the freedom to switch anything around on any given day.  I have 3 writing session but I may end up writing only once. There are so many things that can interrupt what I plan to do. Somehow, knowing there is a schedule helps me get back to it.

Now will this idea work for you? I don't know, it depends upon how you work. Its something to try if you are stuck.  If it helps I would love to hear about it.

Kate

Fun With A New Supply

I have been waiting for this small gelli plate to be available on Amazon. Its a bit overpriced so I wanted the free shipping.  I have been collecting plate sizes with the idea of teaching a class at some point.  I started with the 8 X 10, received the 6 x 6 as a gift and bought the circle plate awhile ago.  I won't buy the biggest one because it is way too much money.  I think if I want a big one I will make it myself.  This small one is great for tags and printing on small pieces of paper.

I went through a test the other day and made a bunch of prints. The green and red one was hardly blended.  It looked like balloons to me so I pulled a print right away. The dark blue one has its ghost print underneath it. I like how different they look.

Here is another group, some I like and some I didn't. The real gaggy ones I didn't show.

This one using a birch tree stencil is my favorite. The hardest thing with the small plate is not to keep running over it to the paper.  I need a lighter touch or a smaller brayer.  It is fun though, and its quick to make some backgrounds for tags or cards.

What fun supplies have you been playing with this week?


Kate