Just when I thought my dollar find Acacia was not long for this world, it started to bloom.
Month: November 2015
Slat Book and the Bead Loom
Last night I was looking through some work in progress and saw a bead loom. It was a gift that I never used, but thought it might come in handy for something, some day.
A bead loom is basically springs attached to a wood frame. In my limited use of springs, it makes sense that a larger spring would work when weaving thicker fiber.
Something that did occur to me when removing the piece from the loom, it would be a good idea to place a rod next to the spring and wrap the fiber around the rod before placing in the spring.
After quickly trying my idea, I found that there was a need for clamps to the hold the rod in place.
Back to the weaving experiment: I strung the bead loom with some nettle and started weaving. I used cream wool, nettle, and Tecoma pods.
The result is exciting because it might be the solution to my slat book problem. I plan to use Pandorea jasminoides parts, stitched with a letter in code.
Slat books typically use regular shaped pieces for each of the slats. The Pandorea jasminoides parts are a variety of widths and lengths. I really like them because they bring to mind shields.
If I were to use a similar weaving process, I think it just might work. I plan to try using three strand of nettle on each side leaving the central section of the Pandorea jasminoides parts open for easy reading of the code. Well, maybe not actually easy reading. It will be code.
Slat Book with information about the plant materials and code posted on September 17th, 2015
Slat Book with information about glycerin and code posted on October 11th, 2015
Serendipitous events can result in great ideas.
Or, discovery makes making art so much fun.
Agave Update
This is a photo of the agave next door taken on November the 9th. Often there are a dozen or more doves perched in the top. And the agave has quite the tilt.
This is how it began. One of the first photos taken of the agave on March 24th.
Potential New Art Material–Tecoma stans
I have been watching this plant for a few months.
When I first saw it there were thin bean-like green pods. I thought that they would be a possible art material. Curious about the pods. How would they change with age?
The reddish-brown speckled pods bring to mind young birch branches.
Hope to weave them with wool and cotton fiber. Unfortunately, they are quite fragile. In the past I would have used hot wax to make them more usable, to give them strength to withstand the stitching and weaving processes. Thinking about giving them a soak in glycerin.