Eri Explorations Exhibition | Silk Weaving Studio

Very pleased to be coordinating this annual exhibition for the Silk Weaving Studio and to be creating pieces for it. This year, our group invitational show is showcasing Eri silk. It promises to be eclectic and interesting with 13 artists featuring visual art pieces, hangings, 3D work, and an array of knitted and woven garments. 

For more details: Silk Weaving Studio Upcoming Event

Mixed Media Painting on Linen Canvas

While on the topic of linen,  I'd like to share with you the work of Karen Bagayawa whose paintings are done on hand made linen canvas.

Upon discovering Karen's paintings a couple years ago, I fell in love with the stunning colours and texture of her work, but little did I know that Karen's paintings involve the lengthy process of weaving her own canvas with unbleached linen.

A visit to Karen's studio during the recent Eastside Culture Crawl captivated me as she shared her weaving and painting process while we walked around her creative space. Here's a window into the richness of her work! 

Flax to Linen to Threads in the Garden

Linen has to be my favourite plant fibre for zillions of reasons and for years I have been in awe with this wonderful bast fibre.  The tiny flax seeds will grow into long stalks of up to 1.5 meters with beautiful blue, violet or white flowers that will follow the sun's direction and close up at night. What I revere the most though is the devotion one gives to the processing by hand of such fibre before it can be spun into linen threads.

When ready, the plants need to be collected and hung to dry.  Next the seeds are removed - a step called "rippling" - and saved for next year's crop. After the stalks are rippled, they are bundled and prepared for "retting" - a rotting process that breaks the outer coating of the plants.

Once the retting is done the fibres are dried again before the stalks are first broken to separate the bast fibres from the inner core of the plants, and then scraped to remove the remaining straw off the stalks - a process called "scutching".  The breaking can be done by hand, though a tool such as the "flax brake" quickly becomes handy, while the scutching is done with a wooden knife and scraper.  One last step before the fibres are spinnable and that is "hackling" - the combing of the fibres through finer and finer hackles (different sizes of comb). The hackling process releases the spinnable fibres and it usually takes several passes to produce a good spinning fibre.

I don't know too many people who grow flax themselves - let alone spin it into linen.  A few years ago, I came across The Linen Project - a regional initiative in Victoria - now regrouped under Flax to Linen. It was then that I scutched and hackled some fibres while getting a better understanding of what it really means to process bast fibres.

More recently, I was delighted to meet Julia Ostertag, PhD candidate at UBC. As part of her research project, Julia grew flax this past season, processed it into striks and learned to spin her own linen. Julia's devotion to her bast fibre is inspirational and I am pleased that she invited me to assist her with her spinning and workshop.  It is not every day that one gets to spin local flax into linen - it is rather an honour!

The spinning is part of Julia's research - "an art and garden-based exploration into the history and contemporary practices of school gardening to better understand the relationships between land and teaching".

The public is invited to view Julia's installation and participate in her research process. To read more about Julia's project visit The Orchard Garden.

Opportunity for contemplation

The Little Green Dress Projekt by local artist Nicole Dextras is a stunning creation. Nicole happened to be at the garden when I visited the exhibition - allowing for a fortuitous conversation on the project, the process and the materials.

The aim of Nicole's project is to promote awareness on the enormous impact the clothing industry has on our environment and the need for change. For these reasons, the dresses are entirely created with organic materials. By the end of September, The Little Green Dress Projekt will feature 21 dresses all made of botanical material left to decompose back into nature.

If you are in Vancouver, don't miss the Earth Art 2012 exhibition at the VanDusen Botanical Garden - only 10 days left.  And if living far away, take a detour to Nicole's dresses online.  There's much to contemplate!

An abundance of sage for colouring

Inspiration from the Garden

Salvia officinalis - our culinary sage bush of 7 years

Solar Dye Magic

 Three concoctions (left to right) - sage dye liquid, sage dye liquid with

old copper mesh (previously used to repel slugs in the veggie patch) and 

sage dye liquid with rusty bits of iron found in the garden's soil

Colour Wonders

Dye colour liquid only on all fibres - no mordant

dye with copper (top left), dye on its own (top right)

dye with iron (bottom)

Weaving Beyond Cloth

For a few months now, I've been taking part in The Urban Weaver Project - an environmental art project led by artist-weavers Todd DeVries and Sharon Kallis.  Sharon and I met three years ago - when attending her Autumn shade retreat workshop at MOPARCC - and she introduced me to blackberry vine as a weaving material.  Since then Sharon has been working on some amazing projects in our local communities and abroad - and the Himalayan Blackberry is only but one of several species on her list of invasive plants for weaving.

The Urban Weaver Project has been a great opportunity for me to learn more about "invasive" species and to get involved in the harvest and preparation of these plants for weaving.  I have learned a tremendous amount from Sharon and Todd's teachings on traditional weaving techniques using English Ivy, Himalayan Blackberry, Flag Iris and Miscanthus giganteus.  The Stanley Park Ecology Society offers a great guide with the descriptive of these "invasive" plants.  As a permaculturist, I rather label them as  "opportunistic" species, but that's a different post all together.

The Urban Weaver Project also included Master Class Technique Exchanges with other local artists.  I feel very privilege to have learned new skills from Haida weaver Giihlgiigaa (cedar),  Squamish spinner and weaver Sesemiya Tracy Williams (cedar and fibre), and traditional wheat weaver Brian Jones.

Since June, the field-house at Maclean Park has been a second studio space and to be part of a new community of weavers has invigorated my own practice.  The Urban Weaver Project is soon coming to an end with our final celebration this week, but the field-house at Maclean Park will continue to offer community projects.

To all these wonderful people,  I dedicate this page "At The Urban Weaver Studio".

June, July ... December

The other half of 2011 has been filled with lots of new knowledge and wonderful fibre moments.

The Maiwa Symposium - with the quality of its workshops, lectures and events - certainly was a highlight. I was privileged this year to assist Michele Wipplinger  with her workshop and learned a lot about colour theory.  I also learned that banana is a great reducing agent for the indigo vat. Who would have thought?  Well ... Michel Garcia did and his workshop INDIGO: The Organic Vat was simply fascinating.

Beyond indigo, my explorations with the dye pot continued on the back porch with carrot tops, peonies, roses, rhubarb and much more from the garden.

All the while, the knitting needles were clicking away and small projects took shape.  Socks, hats, wrist warmers were created and gifted along the way.

As for my time at the loom, it has been quite exploratory. Jumping from colour to lace, to texture and hand spun yarns. My various lengths of cloth are so different to one another, showing openness and tightness at the same time. The dress form is now ready to be draped, and ideas are forming around the design of these cloths.

Fibrations and a couple of SAORI-kai (gatherings) were  also a source of inspiration this fall. And more recently, some time spent on Salt Spring Island.  

My latest piece "Soft and Textural" was woven at Saori Salt Spring. Intrigued by a few weft variations and the effect of the comb reed, I first learned these new techniques and then played with lots of texture while weaving with a soft gentle touch.  So many variations ... so much more to discover. 

Happy 2012 Fibre Explorations!

The Wondrous Work of India Flint

Shortly after taking Charllotte Kwon's Natural Dye Workshop at Maiwa, I discovered the stories and tales from the prophet of bloom - the words and muses of India Flint.  It is with great enchantment that I peruse India's blog - always discovering treasures and detours on and off the path of natural dyes.

To put it simply - I absolutely love India's work, especially her eucalyptus dyes and regional approach to dyeing. I can't wait to take a workshop with India one day.  Hopefully down under where the gum trees abound!

But for now, I shall experiment with India's book at my side. A great source of inspiration, Eco colour is full of stunning images and information to guide me through my dyeing adventures - starting with plants and flowers from the garden.

Saori Chime, Design Workshops, Lau Niu Weaving

And what exactly do the chime, workshops and lau niu weaving have in common?  San-gatsu - the month of March.

It all started with the completion of Maddy's Saori Wind Chime - a second window - also inspired by the elements of nature and unique to Maddy's connections to those elements.  Each piece was created in the likeness and reflection of my first Saori Wind Chime, but with colours, thoughts and additional inspirations that resonated with Maddy. Thanks to Maddy for this wonderful opportunity and to Stu for taking such great photos.

In the footsteps of the commission, followed the weaving of 4 meters of cloth for Marie's design classes.  I first met Marie on Salt Spring Island last year.  I fell in love with the garments and designs she presented to the Weaver's guild as part of the "Designing Women" series.  And so with great excitement, I left for Marie's classes at Knotty by Nature in Victoria. 

  

The Saori-kai and design classes were most inspiring and energizing as we all shared our weavings, ideas, and inspirations.  On that weekend, I forgot my camera at home, however Terri has some great photos on her blog of both the Saori-kai and the Saori Design Classes.

 I find the Saori design process to follow hand in hand with Saori weaving.  In all of its creativity, the cloth speaks for itself, and as it gets folded, cut, tucked and sewn, further beauty reveals ... coming together ever so nicely.  My 4 meters of cloth has become a tunic with asymmetrical lines on one side and fringes at the back.  It's nearly finished ... I'll post more pictures soon. Thanks to Terri for this photo.

And from Saori to lau nui weaving, the month ended in Hawaii where I saw this beautiful basket made with a small section of a single coconut leaf. It was a nice traditional ending to a busy weaving month of March!

A Colourful Thrum Project

" Painting with Thrums " is my latest piece of weaving and the inspiration for this project came from the desire of exploring what it would be like to weave an entire piece of fabric with mostly thrums of different lengths and colours.

In my post Treasuring Thrums, I touched on colours and textures with a couple of photos: a colourful warp created with the longest lengths of thrums and the weft thrums at the start of my weaving.  I did not have to weave very much to discover that the blending of colours was going to be the true essence of this cloth.

Several more threads of fine silk and silk/wool blend got woven together; nests of tangled yarns found their way into the cloth, and knots from the warp ends were added for texture.

And like watercolours on a painter's palette, a multitude of colours were blended together and woven in the warp.  I nearly made it to the end of the warp before running low on thrums.

A perfect opportunity to explore a different finish. I'm not sure yet what will become of this new piece of cloth, but for the moment - one thing is certain - I keep on treasuring thrums!

A Saori Wind Chime

My Saori wind chime came together before traveling to the Oregon Coast ... and only recently was it installed outside near by our kitchen window.  In creating this visual display of colors, my desire was to weave several Saori pieces that would dance in the wind.  What I did not expect is the glowing of these colors in the morning sun.

The weaving part of my project was inspired by the Tibetan prayer flags fluttering in the wind, and so I chose to weave with the five colors representing the five elements of nature: blue symbolizing sky/space, followed by white for air/wind, then red for the fire element, green for water, and finally yellow symbolizing earth.


I very much enjoyed creating this piece and really like that it is now part of nature.  The weaving is very colorful when basking in the sun and dancing in the wind ... it is also a gentle reminder for more kindness, compassion and peace for ourselves, others and the earth.

Spinning Artsy Yarn

"Thick and Thin" ~ I simply love the beauty and irregularity of thick and thin yarn ... especially when it finds its way into my weaving!  Inspired by the yarn of Carmen Craig-Martin from MelonHead Knitwear, I signed up in June for spinning classes at Birkeland Bros - my local yarn shop.

Hand Spun - first hank

 At the end of our first class, Carmen had us spinning on the wheel and to my enchantment - I was spinning thick and thin. Well ... I was spinning exactly what a beginner at the wheel spins - flukey "uncontrolled" thick and thin yarn!



Hand Spun - 2 plys

Though in love with my first hand spun, my learning process was to spin more consistently so that I can eventually spin beautiful "controlled" thick and thin yarn. And to spin a more consistent yarn ... spinning and more spinning is the secret!



Hand Spun  - ply with alpaca

Spinning - I did .. and lots of yarns - I got. I am still working on  the control of my thick and thin .. though I quite like the uniqueness of each and every single hank I've spun so far.  I am excited with the idea of weaving with my own artsy yarns!

My Saori exploration continues ....

I have just returned from a very refreshing weaving retreat to Saori Salt Spring with Terri Bibby.  Our time spent together was inspirational in many ways and I learned a lot from her, and also from Jill who came from California to study Saori with Terri.  Jill currently teaches sewing classes from her studio Heartgallery and will soon be offering Saori weaving workshops.

For four days, I fully immersed myself into weaving and really embraced the Saori approach to weaving.  Terri shared with us the philosophy of Saori and stories of her recent trip to Japan - there's great photos posted on her blog.  Needless to say ... I can't wait to travel to Japan and visit some of the Saori studios!

Back to Salt Spring Island - Terri shared with us some weaving techniques, Saori clothes-making ideas, and much more.  I was encouraged by her guidance to learn from my own experience and to develop my unique creativity.  I chose to learn and create a three dimensional scarf by weaving a "cool cross scarf".  Wow ... very "cool" indeed!  The scarf is woven flat, but comes off the loom in three dimensions ...  I will post some pictures soon.

In the meantime, if you are interested in three dimensional weaving, Terri is teaching a class this weekend at Knotty By Nature Fibre Arts.

Nature ... a source of inspiration

Today, while gathering lavender, I sat in the garden and watched the bumblebees dance between flowers. The vibrant yellow of their bodies was such a beautiful contrast to the dark purple of the lavender flowers. And as I bunched up the sprigs of lavender to dry in the sun, a multitude of greys and purples suddenly revealed themselves.