Happy New Year

Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all.

A very senior RAF man once said to me on finishing a meeting and saying Goodbye,  'May all your antennas meet their specs'. I wonder what the translation into weaving/textile terms is.

'May all your weavings come out as you planned'?

Doesn't have the same ring somehow and yet people don't write specifications for weavings, at  or least not often.

'May all your textiles have the WOW factor'

Hmmh. Anyone got any ideas?

Now is the moment for New Year Resolutions. There was a nice article in the Guardian yesterday about NYR which said that not achieving the NYR was not important. What was important is that you still believe you are capable of change/improvement. I am resolved for go for a walk more often. It ought to be possible to get out of the house for 30 minutes every day. 

Ellen Carrlee, the Alaskan conservator, lists 10 projects to be accomplished in 2011 which I think is an attractive idea. Mind you, her list includes items like 'finish cataloging the basketry collection'.

My list goes as follows

1. Finish dyeing for the second multicolour warp and get it on the Megado. The ghost warp is waiting. This will be a jacket.
2. By end March, I need to weave samples of Donsu using the gold paper thread I have from Japan. This is for the CW Japanese Textile Study Group, Needs the Megado. Also needs designing
3. Finish off Summer and winter samples currently on Kombo.
4. Multiple cloth fabric for concertina book. Needed for Malvern Exhibition end of March. Can be done on the Kombo. Need to check that I can screen print on the cloth - and need to design it. This may be too ambitious.
5. Make concertina book 'In the Event' by end March. I have done a lot of design for this. Again Malvern Exhibition
6. Yellow scarf for October 2011 Exhibition in Greenham. This is designed and will be log cabin in two shades of yellow with a few additional violet threads in warp and weft. Have found the violet yarn. Need to dye 100 gms each of the two yellows. Weave on the Voyager
7. Three cushion covers for October 2011 Exhibition in Greenham woven with yarn dyed with natural dyes. Goose eye twill on the warp which will be indigo dyed. Each cushion a different colour of natural dye.
8. Weave up the high twist yarn I bought last year. If it works, do another scarf for October 2011 Exhibition in Greenham (Too many scarves)
9. Caladium leaves in Diversified Plain Weave. For the Leek Museum Exhibition (Midland Textile Forum) in September 2011
10. Make some books using Keith Smith's book on Coptic binding  

Of course Annette Lucas will want a few things making in her class! And the Kennet Valley weaving course starts up this month. The improvers are doing lace weave this year and I thought of doing a lacey wool scarf on the Voyager which will be back home shortly. Funny how much I have missed it. I can do a scarf on that in two or three days.

In the immediate future, I must investigate the unfinished projects lying around upstairs.

I have finished binding Pinocchio. The cover was printed on Photo Glossy II paper on the inkjet and is protected by a sheet of clear acetate. This is inset on grey board which is covered with black bookcloth.

The endcovers are black and white handmade marble paper. I had a lot of trouble trying to line this paper. Being handmade, it is smudged on the back. I eventually gave up on the lining paper and carefully selected sections of paper where there were no smudges on the back!! All this was accomplished using the nice bookbinding equipment I was given at Christmas by the family.

The only photos I took at the V and A yesterday were of a collection of Mughal windows. Here is an example. I have in the past done a weaving based on one of these. Might add that to the project list!!!