Verdi Operas

It's 200 years since Verdi was born and I have just realised that Radio 3 is having a fit of Verdi complete-itis. When I drove home on Thursday evening, it was to the accompagniment of Simon Boccanegra from Milan - Placido Domingo singing no less. 20 years ago, it was not performed at all. In the last few years, I have seen two productions. Yesterday evening it was Il Trovatore from the Met. It made the process of changing all the heddles round much pleasanter. I was not even cross when I dropped a shaft on the floor as I tried to re-install it. The shafts are all properly kitted out now and I have started winding on. 

Michael, by the way, was not very keen on Verdi as a whole but he did like Simon Boccanegra and he would travel halfway across England to see a production of Falstaff. He was totally against Puccini and I had to threaten him to get him to Turandot which I happen to like. Threats, by the way, consisted of 'Very well then, I'll go by myself'. It worked every time.

Yesterday was the Bookbinders AGM and we took a load of stuff from a deceased bookbinder's studio to be sold. Most of it was taken. On a personal note, I suddenly realised that a guillotine was actually a greyboard guillotine!! so no more cutting covers out of greyboard with a knife!!! I am pleased. It will take A2. Now all I have to do is to find it a home! I also bought some nice Japanese paper and a bundle of handmade paper.  I have not done a lot of bookbinding lately and I am missing it. The bookbinding class starts up next Wednesday and I have work to do before that. Must get on!!!

When I stayed with Ruth and Robin this week, they had uncovered various things from their container of belongings from Kuala Lumpur. Some of them are shown above. These are antique wooden blocks probably for printing wax on fabric for batik but suitable for stamping on fabric. The biggest is about 6 inches square. They have all had a good scrub and maybe this week I might have enough time to play with them. The other thing they found was two rolls of Chinese paper which I bought in KL for lino-cuts. Again some day soon!! There are still things missing but then they have not got halfway through the boxes yet!! What is missing are two wooden stands for draping fabric over, very nicely ornamented with carving - from the Chinese Market in KL and a beautiful brush holder. from the same stall I have no idea what I can use this for but it is beautiful.

 

 

This is the sample which contains three stiff pieces of paper in place of the enamels. The silk is a bit too dense and I shall weave the next sample with half the number of grey silk wefts.

I have done more than half the work needed on changing heddle counts on the Kennet Valley loom. I ought to be able to finish that today. Tomorrow I am going to see The Hobbit but might start the warping up.

Both computers are still not functioning. An engineer has been commanded to attend on Monday!!

TRAUCHLED!!!

Trauchled mean being bothered, flustered - and that is me. Apart from dealing with the workshop of a bookbinder who has just died, I had the plumber round replacing radiators. this week. The best part of a bookbinder's workshop is now in my garage along with a whole lot of builder's materials. He starts on Monday to insulate a bit of the house - along with the gasman who is installing a new boiler. 

And I desperately need to get at least one of the 12 shaft looms warped up. When I started on that job on Wednesday, I realised that I changed all the heddles round last January because it was set up for Diversified Plain Weave this time last year. DPW needs lots of extra heddles on Shafts 1 and 2. The current warp needs equal numbers on each shaft - about 60 and several shafts have less than 50 so I have to have a major change round. A job I hate. I did have the brains to inspect my own 12-shaft loom  (which is the other loom I have to warp up) and discovered it was kitted out with 50 on every shaft. I was at Handweavers Studio on  Thursday and took the opportunity to buy 600 Tex-Solv heddles so that there will be 100 per shaft.

On Wednesday evening I drove down to Ruth's, stayed over night  and went up to Handweavers Studio for 1030 on Thursday. Complex Weavers ran a one-day course given by Jette VanderMeiden. It was called 'Up Tied Up' and it was about how to weave anything on a straight draw by altering the Tie-up. She is a very good tutor and had us  doing examples the whole day. I drove home that evening because of Bournville classes starting up today. 

In amongst all this, two of my computers are on the blink. I settled down to trying to sort out things this afternoon. I started on the Sony  laptop, went on  to talk to Sony and decided that I would use PC Callout because  it would cost about the same and, more important, PC Callout will come here while Sony wanted me to send them the laptop.  Now to deal with the other one. The two which have gone down are the Internet/email ones. The laptop is functioning nicely - except for Internet/email which does not function at all. The other one is functioning sort of but badly and it does not like photos in my blog so there will not be any today. I am told there are four copies of one photo from earlier in the week. I cannot see any of them and so cannot remove the extra.

I have finished a sample on the Megado. It is for Michael's enamels. I printed out a picture of each enamel on stiff paper and inserted them into the weaving. All very fine and good - but it will not work with enamels because I can bend the paper but I can't bend an enamel. So I cut off the sample and finished off the hems properly. I was so fed-up that I nearly cut the warp off  and threw it out but decided 'No, I'll think about it'. One solution would be rewarp completely and insert the enamels sideways. That has several disadvantages not least that I think the current way is stronger. But driving to London brought the solution and I can see how to make it work. I have decided to make another sample though - just to be sure.

So the jobs for the weekend are

- reorganise the heddles on the Guild loom

- wind on the warp and warp up

- weave some samples

Well I can always be optimistic. I think it may be Monday evening before I get round to weaving samples on the Megado.

So Much For Textile Work

This is a needlecase made out of a scrap of left over weaving - by Cally Booker. I had not thought of using up scraps like that. A good idea, especially for selling at exhibitions.

On Saturday I agreed to provide drafts of various items, scarves, cushions and on Sunday I spent all day looking for said drafts. In particular, I was not expecting to find anything about the cushion as I made them years ago for my sister. But I did find the data, type of yarn, sett, what weight of yarn needed etcetera. And dated September 1982. 30 years old. Dorothy says they are holding up well. They look okay to me.

The warp is horizontal in the photo. The back is plain and the front has two blue and white boucle stripes. The first and last are woven with the back forward and then the body of the cushion is woven with a gap along the lower edge. You create fringes when it comes off the loom, sew Velcro to the insides of the side opening, push in a cushion and there you are.


I am having trouble with getting Google to deal with photos and I suspect that there is a photo of Cally's weaving - but I can't see it. I hope other people can see it.

Starting Off the New Year

Yesterday I managed to attend the Kennet Valley Guild meeting and a performance of Berlioz's Les Troyens. This was a High Definition broadcast from the New York Met in our local theatre complex. Fantastic. A cast of hundreds, all singing their heads off! It started at five and lasted five hours. So I went to bed singing (in my head). 

The result is that today is the first day of the New Year I have been at home with no commitments to do anything outside the house.  And my New Year resolution is to finish off as many projects as I can as quickly as possible. I have all sorts of good ideas I would like to carry out but I must finish off some of those underway. It is all complicated by going to London  on Thursday to attend a one-day Complex Weavers class at Handweavers Studio - and I will take the opportunity to inspect their yarn!!

But the immediate job is to deal with the post and send out several emails arising from yesterday's Guild meeting. And I have not unpacked since returning from Dundee. So that's today gone.  Maybe I will get some textile work done so that I will some photos. Maybe!!

Back Home

The photos above are of Cally Booker's new Studio (see her blog here - very nice. The room is large - and high and the heating, lighting are included in the rent so you don't get any nasty surprises. I visited this yesterday morning and then had lunch with her. Her house is only a few minutes walk from the studio block.


I drove home this morning and have tidied up a bit. I have computer trouble - I can't get at any attachments which is a pest. I have thought of a complicated way to do it. Sigh! But at the moment I must make sure I have collected everything together for tomorrow which is Kennet Valley Guild day.

Happy New Year

A Happy and Prosperous New Year. Or in the local patois 'Lang may yer lum reek'. Translated as 'may you be able to buy coal so your chimney produces smoke'.

I am in Dundee where we had a quiet and very odd New Year. On New Year's Eve, it was extremely wet so we decided to spend the day textiling. One of my Christmas presents was a bottle of decolorant and I wanted to try it out. I used it above - on the left - on space-dyed cloth. Then used the same stencil to put on coloured versions, dark blue and orange. Not sure what will become of this - it would make a good book cover.

 And another piece using an Okinawan stencil with decolourant (the white bits) and Permaset textile inks. Again this might make a good book cover.

This piece, like the others, started out as a spaced dyed piece of cotton. The colours here were blue, purple and bright yellow (at the top and now cut off). It seemed a bit messy when I ironed it off but Dorothy persuaded me to pin it up on my design wall. The more I looked at it, the more it seemed like a landscape with a waterfall. So eventually I cut out the outline of the mountains at the top, begged a white and blue dyed piece of cotton from Dorothy and pinned it up again. Then I stencilled and painted trees on it and added threads to enhance the waterfall effect. When I get home, I will machine pine trees on it. So much for only doing weaving and bookbinding and not doing wall hangings! The work extended on to New Year's Day and we found ourselves cleaning up at 0930 last night.

Today I must get on with warp winding for Kennet Valley Guild class. I have wound about two thirds of one warp already.

Earlier in the week we went through to St Andrews Museum where Dorothy's Embroiderers' Guild has a big exhibition. A very talented bunch with a lot of stuff. They have 60 members and there were 220 entries. Here are a very few

This bowl is about12 inches across by Nancy Poole.

By Pat Cowieson

I liked the hydrangeas best. Most effect with minimum complexity