Rhinebeck, NY Sheep and Wool Metal Working Class updates for 2018

 There is a lot to be said about inspiration. In today's world, there is no shortage of online inspiration. Maybe it is a generational thing,  but I love the intimacy of curling up with a magazine (or book), especially on a cold night. As I am just back from teaching at Rhinebeck I wanted to add the Jewelry Artist Magazine which I find to be an invaluable resource for all levels of jewelry makers. In every issue is at least one nugget of info that makes it worthy of reading. The informative articles and their equally informative photos  teach and motivate at the same time. All this for the price of a year's subscription!
Blog On!
Leslie

Return to Rhinebeck - All the Sources for Supplies & Inspiration, Updated!

   The above photo is a collection of rogue cable needles that take just a bit of time to make and are perfect for giving to your knitting friends,
 As I head back to Rhinebeck to teach my metal work for fiber artists classes I thought I should update the info from this blog two years ago.
   Wire: Allcraft 800-645-7124   Allcraft
       I use their bronze wire which they call Nugold for it's warm look and cost effectiveness. When hammered it holds it shape. I also use copper, which is not as strong and nickel which is super strong but should never be worn directly against skin due to the high percent of possible allergic reactions. The most popular gauges are 14 gauge, 12 gauge and 10 gauge. They also carry tools and other jewelry supplies.  I have found them helpful for recommending products. I usually get my order quickly. Tell Tevan I said "hi".
   One Huge Jewelry Catalog: Rio Grande
     What can I say to prepare you for the jewelry catalog from heaven/hell. A great resource for beginners (though more than a bit overwhelming) as they show many items for comparison in any category and the pictures are great. I live in MA so shipping from the southwest can make an impact on my decision. They also have a packaging and display catalog along with more craft supplies. And they are the only source for the Propolish Pads, item # 337020. I have never seen anything that shines metal like the little white squares.
  Your Local Hardware Store. Really! You can get a great  and easy to keep up finish with #0000 steel wool.   I have found wire  and once a hammer to get me through when I was in a state of desperation.
Inspiration:
  Nothing beats the next two names for that: Alexander Calder and Mary Lee Hu. Just putting either of these names into Google or Pinterest will guarantee an internet rabbit hole worth the dive.  They are vastly different in their style so who knows who else might show up.
    Pinterest and Youtube Tutorials: 
 https://www.pinterest.com/jashley79/
 I offer this one to give you a taste of the potential.
Blog On!
Leslie

My 50th High School Reunion and Darlene Love in One Weekend!

  I predicted that this weekend would be the most surreal of my life. Usually I am able to express my feelings yet I am still processing what it felt like to see people from my childhood,  many with no  other point of reference but graduation day.  I am grateful to Nancy Newcomb Dail  for making the trip from Maine so we could go together. Picture a pack of students lined up at the starting line of  a race and when the gun goes off so do we. Fifty years later we are at the starting line again as the event was held on the campus of Thayer Academy. Notice I did not say the finish line.  Spiritually I not sure there is one. Both the campus and the faces looked familiar enough to trigger an avalanche of emotions and memories. By Saturday afternoon I am home feeling sorry/glad to have the event in the rear view mirror. It will be curious to see if the resolutions to stay in touch hold.
  Saturday morning I was invited to a Darlene Love concert by my friend Sue. My ETA to Cape Ann solidified,  I am off late afternoon  to Lynn Auditorium to see and hear an icon sing some of my favorite songs from that time. For a short time I was in a girls doo wop group. I know those songs. But there is Darlene Love on super high spiky heels and sleeveless tops looking and sounding great. Graciously she gave her backup singers time to shine on their own.
  Blog On!
Leslie

A Sad but Inescapable Truth About Myself

 For most of my work life I crafted and sold from a front room shop in my house.  The radio was either on WGBH, a public radio station,  or WUMB, a 100% folky station out of  U Mass, Boston. I worked, I listened, I sang. All in concurrent equal measure. Then I moved to my new place. No retail. No interruptions. Almost complete privacy. AND the computer was right there to keep me in touch with my new etsy store. It was just a click to YouTube,  another click to discover the endless crime dramas and I was in heaven. Didn't I work better? Didn't it help to be reminded of how lucky I was? Didn't I develop the ability to deliver the Miranda Rights in a way that would impress  the most  seasoned of cops or perps? (police slang for perpetrator)? But today I crashed into the reality that watching anything is a way of evaporating momentum and focus. So now I begin a process akin to peeling of good quality duck tape from skin.  Stay tuned for progress reports.
 Blog On!
Leslie

Soap Hammock "Pattern"

What do recipes, directions and most suggestions have in common? My inability to heed them in general. So here is the gist of how to make these soap hammocks. Basically they are pockets made of fast drying materials like linen or crochet cotton. Make a rectangle that will hold the bar of soap when folded in half. Open designs are best as the airiness allows for quick drainage. The photo on the left is actually gymp which being plastic drains the best. I loved it as a kid and on a trip to Michael's  saw the new generation of colors. I had to have some!  Seam the sides and add the ties. These are crocheted but "I" chord is a nice choice too.
    I am working on a lace knit pocket done in pale pink linen which I will post when it is finished.
 Blog On!
Leslie

To Lisa Grossman, The Vintage Sock and a New Creative Direction

  
   The January 15th, 2008 blog by the Yarn Harlot changed my life. I am just being truthful. The blog shows her efforts to inlay the knitted one inch leaf into the toe of The Vintage Sock, an amazing design by the amazing Lisa Grossman. I read that blog post and was drawn in by both the design of the sock and the running description of the process which actually takes up several days of postings. At that time I was a studio jeweler making the usual rings, earrings, bracelets  etc. in unusual ways.  I had just started doing shawl pins. The Yarn Harlot is describing the laborious, glorious process of lining up the stitches of both the toe hole and the leaf. She is sounding pretty proud until the knitting gets dropped and the slippery, straight needle falls leaving those perfect stitches to their undoing ways. Like a stone skipping on a placid pond my brain goes; slick straight needle, options, won't fall out, curvy necklace! And the cable needle necklace is born. Truthfully the first one looked like a Klingon war weapon. Since then the concept and the design have morphed beyond any projection I could have made.  It also set in motion my meeting Lisa a few years later at the MA Sheep and Wool Show which was the start of a too short friendship. All this from reading that blog. Thanks Stephanie! I owe you big time.
Blog On!
Leslie

Button, Button, Who Made the Button? The Resources:

  I am off to Rhinebeck to teach a button making class this coming week.
Here are sources for materials:
     Wire: Allcraft   800-6457124    www.allcraftusa.com
 Allcraft stocks all kinds of wire. For my classes I use mostly bronze, which they call Nugold, copper and some nickel. I caution people not to wear nickel next to the skin as the potential for an allergy reaction. Repeated exposure can trigger a reaction. I mostly use 16 gauge, 14 gauge and 12 gauge
  
   Wooden Discs: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShauneilSupplies
  These are not shown in the above picture. The shop carries nicely finished blank wooden discs which may be drilled and decorated in unlimited directions.

   Metal Shapes of All Kinds:  http://www.metaliferous.com/index.php
 Also not represented but a true inspirational site . There is no way to describe all the metal shapes that are just waiting to be buttons or whatever  you envision. You will definitely have fun here!

  Solid small felt wheels    riogrande.com 
 In my experimenting I looked at the small hard felted buffs used with  motorized hand held tool like a Foredom in a new way. These small dense discs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They have a single hold in the center that allows for attaching to a project with a bead and cotton embroidery thread. I have not gone too far down this road so I recommend taking them off to wash the garment. What is neat about them is the ability to use a sharpie for decoration.
  A caveat here: Give your credit card to a trusted friend when you first get the catalog. Give yourself  a few days to think. After more than forty years of making things I still find this catalog overwhelming.
 I will continue to update sources  as I go further down this road.
  Updates: INSPIRATION!
    For inspiration that makes you feel like you could do interesting and usable things there is no one like Alexander Calder.    If I had this past weekend to live over I would have sent a list of websites  for inspiration and motivation. This one would have led the list. I followed up with a search on Pinterest using the search words: Alexander, Calder, and Jewelry. I am headed back there the minute I post this update.  
  Second on the list is someone completely different, Mary Lee Hu.   
Where I find Calder's work motivating for it's simplicity I find Mary Lee Hu's work motivating and humbling for it's skillful use of wire.
    Blog On!
    Leslie

The Queen of the Quick and the Cheap

  What is more motivating at any level of proficiency than a successful completion of a project.  It has yet to be proven to me that 100 times the effort equals 100 times the satisfaction. Teaching has reinforced my love of easy and quick projects. A trip to A. C. Moore has reawakened my love of gimp. How could I put the two together? With a crocheted circle done with a large hook (here I used an "L"), that's how! Literally done in minutes I now have a pot scrubber workhorse worthy of keeping or gifting. The large sized hook makes for large sized holes that rinse clean of cling-ons, not to be confused with Klingons.
Blog On!
Leslie

A Crocheted Jute Orchid Pouch

  I am Orchid challenged. I have three that were blooming  brilliantly, the state in which they were received,  then never more. All my reading and asking brought me to realize that they needed air for the roots and maybe food. I happily invested $ 4.99 for the food. Then took up my crochet hook and natural jute twine and made this pouch which now hangs in the window over the sink where it can drain.
Blog On!
Leslie

The First Tomato of the New Year

I am not claiming a Christmas miracle as I could not deal with the line of believers snaking through my house. This plant was in a pot from the beginning of it's germination as I can not trust the soil around my house. It was just poking along until I brought it in and gave it some fertilizer from the vermiculture bin in the cellar. Amazing things started to happen. As the tomato got heavier I had to place it on the spinning wheel hub to support it's heft. Three cheers for the worms!
Blog On!
Leslie

Blame It on the Wensleydale

Well that and the craftivist, Casey Jenkins.  I had intended to make these merkins as joke gifts for Judy and Rose. But watching Casey's YouTube video really propelled me to follow through. Her willingness to follow through with her vision which is public, pubic and lasts for 28 days is admirable to me. And at this point there are almost 4 million visits to her video and several response videos including a quite funny parody.  There can be no better reason to free myself from open studio hours and special orders than to have fun, follow my creative directions  and  maybe motivate others to do this same.
 There is no pattern for these. I crocheted them from my single ply handspun wool and then put in the Wensleydale which could not have been more perfect if I had bought it for the project!  But if you wish directions for a Valentine's  Day gift go to this site.
Blog On,
Leslie

Demonstrating Rugmaking and Wool Spinning at the Whipple House

    I have driven by this house for many years and never expected to spend a day sitting on the lawn spinning wool. RoseAnn is shown here making a standing wool rug. Behind her is my favorite travel wheel, an Ashford Traveler. Next Sunday we are at Appleton Farms.

Successful Self Diagnosis #1

 Ok, I am older now so I guess that is what is behind my being more aware. This morning I noticed that I was experiencing black spots in my vision. Floaters (which are common with those of us who are nearsighted)? The beginning of Macular Degeneration? Turns out they were fruit flies. Treatment? Clean the kitchen.
Blog On!
Leslie

Tweaking Elizabeth Zimmerman,

 My favorite knitting writer!
 My fiber friend, Virginia who is guzel36 on pinterest, came for a visit. Our trajectories of interests overlap and part company  much like the weaving that interest both of us. For some reason having her around boosted me to try something that has been in my mind for some time: Elizabeth Zimmerman's round shawl from her "Knitter's Almanac".  She wanted me to start the center of this knit till you drop shawl on dpns. I didn't think she would mind if I crocheted until I reached the required number of stitches and then picked them up with Denise Knitting Needles. I started out with size 8 then to size 10 and now I am committed to size 11 until the end of time or the end of this project, whichever comes first.  Color wise nothing is a certainty.
Blog On!
Leslie

Return to Auntie Zaza's

  This time I went with RoseAnn Hunter who was teaching two classes that day on her Shaker inspired rug making techniques. Each class made ornaments to solidify the lesson. From there they could make rugs, or clothing embellishments or....more ornaments!
   I tagged along just to be able to spend more time there and brought my new (used, thank you Internet postings) Ashford Traveller. I love the easy of transport and the onboard lazy kate. I also brought a few tools and wire and made "stitch chasers" which are like orifice hooks but can be used to rework a dropped stitch.
  I spun the above wool rainbow to show other knitters/crocheters that the "pot of gold" is potentially within our fingers.
Blog On!
Leslie

Auntie Zaza's and me.

   On the road to Aunty Zaza's in North Easton where I will be tomorrow from 12:00-6:00.
 I will be demonstrating and teaching one on one mini lessons. The photo shows a simple cowl tab that snugs up the top to hug the neck while leaving the rest to slouch  below. A quick and easy first project that will double as a shawl pin when your cowls are hibernating this summer.
  The cowl is hand spun by me from black alpaca/sari silk which bought from
Painted Spring .
 Blog On!
Leslie

New Year's Resolution Gone Awry

  For years now the sea shanty group I sing with has performed at Rockport's New Years Eve celebration. It was a particularly frigid night and as I headed out I remembered  my resolution to take better care of my skin. I am not fond of comercial preparations so there was no long standing go to product available. In the refrigerator was a bottle of some kind of oil to put on my cats' food which promised better fur in return for remembering to use it. I put several drops in my hands and applied it to my face. A few more drops for my hair and I was good to go.
    I am standing next to Alexander during our performance when he leans over between songs and whispers, "I wish I knew who brought the fish". It took a bit of thinking to realize it was me.
  Fish oil, good for the insides but not a good  choice for the outsides.
Blog On!
Leslie

Spinning for Peace

 Long before I learned to spin I was mesmerized at fiber festivals when I saw someone at a spinning wheel. Perhaps it was the hypnotic combination of smooth repetitive movements, shifting color and the fact that right before my eyes fluff become yarn. Once I learned to spin I remembered the same feeling from my pottery class with John Semple in the mid 1960's at Thayer Academy. There are so few times when you experience the feeling of a material being transformed right in your fingers through movment: lump of clay on a potters wheel  becomes a bowl, wispy wool on a spinning wheel in now yarn. I found it so calming that I wanted to share the experience. So I started spinning publicly.
 A few days ago I realized a goal of spinning at the Kaplan House, a twenty bed hospice facility in Danvers, MA. I took the volunteer course this past Fall which helped me understand the fullness of where I was. I set up in a beautiful sitting area and spun for about two hours. I brought a basket filled with soft colored roving for a pleasing visual rest stop. I talked to staff and visitors who were curious and will be back next week.
Blog On!
Leslie
 

Jean and I Make a Scarf

 

 

 

   I now understand how someone can spin wool just for the sake of spinning. You don't need a project in mind to motivate a session of sitting at your wheel. So I found myself with a fair amount of yarn when I met Jean, a weaver for five years,  at a dance at the Lanesville Community Center. Here is the scarf, brought to me today by Jean. Now I am psyched to spin more and pass it on to Jean for more projects!

We hope to donate it to the center for a fundraiser.