Monday, December 19, 2016

December 2016


May 15, 2016, the Fleece to Throw Competition was held at the Art of the Peace ArtFest Symposium, Camp Tamarack.  The above picture shows the Fried Fibre Fanatics from Lake Saskatoon: Mae, Marion, Lorraine, Chanelle, Lynn and Shannon.


And the winner of the competition is the Wild Woolly Wonders of Fort St. John: Kathy, Rene, Mary, Norma and Cheryl (missing from picture.)  Both teams reported having much fun and it was a good community outreach for PCSW.  Kathy did a great job as the greeter and Public Relations person for PCSW for this event.



The prize ribbons, red and blue, were woven by the late George Henn of Beaverlodge and we were happy to use them and remember George.

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Rene, Jill and Melinda, Jill's daughter, traveled to Shetland for Shetland Wool Week in September.  They gave a short talk about their trip that included travels to Ireland and Scotland, to the North Peace Spinners and Weavers at our October meeting.

 


This is Rene's sample of knitting from a workshop at Shetland Wool Week, knitting with the colours of Shetland.


 Participants of Wool Week were given a hat pattern and encouraged to make it and wear it to the conference.  This is Rene's hand spun and knit hat.  Jill is wearing her hat in the picture above.


This is Jill's husband's new Shetland sweater.  


One of Jill's socks knit from wool purchased in a supermarket south of Belfast. 

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I met Elaine (above) and Rosalie at the Juan de Fuca Seniors' Centre craft sale in early November in Victoria, BC.  I love seeing other weavers' work and we had a great chat.  Weavers always have so much to talk about.



Peace Country Spinners' and Weavers' activities:
  •  January 7, 2017 Celebrate Distaff Day with the North Peace Spinners & Weavers at the North Peace Museum, Fort St. John. 1:00-4:00.  Bring your own spinning wheel, equipment and fleece.  Spinners are welcome to dress in Medieval style or other costumes or not.  Or just come and watch.
  • April 22, 2017 PCSW Spring Conference. Kiwanis Performing Arts Center 10401 10th St., Dawson Creek. 9:00-5:00. Please register early to receive warp specifications and drafts to prewarp the loom and weave the first sample. This will be a Round Robin style weaving experience. Also, Fibre Share participants will bring finished pieces and do a presentation of their experience.  Member: $45. Non member: $60.  See registration details in the December newsletter.  Registrations are to be sent to the Treasurer.
  • Fall 2017 workshop - Fort St. John.
  • Remember to find Peace Country Spinners and Weavers on Facebook. 
  • For more information contact peacecountrysw@gmail.com

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Saturday, November 19, 2016

November 2016

Recently Kathy attended the class on sewing saori weaving on Salt Spring Island.  This is the first saori cloth that she wove.  The pictures show the front and back and one of the many variations on how to wear this poncho.  The poncho is stunning.

 See Terri Bibby's blog at http://www.saltspringweaving.com/blog/



Here are more pictures of the Saori Workshop held at Lake Saskatoon in September.  It is deemed a success with lots of enthusiasm for saori weaving






















Peace Country Spinners and Weavers activities:
  • December 3, 2016 North Peace Spinners' and Weavers' Annual Sale at Artspost,  10320 94th Ave., Fort St. John. 10:00 - 4:00.  The sale includes the North Peace Potters Guild and the Arts Council's sale of Christmas decorations.
  • Spring 2017 workshop - Dawson Creek. Deadline for Saori box projects.
  • Fall 2017 workshop - Fort St. John.
  • Remember to find Peace Country Spinners and Weavers on Facebook. 
  • For more information contact peacecountrysw@gmail.com

Happy Spinning and Weaving!

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

October 2016



Shannon has moved to Edmonton.  We are hoping to see her at some of our workshops.  She is wearing the shawl woven by Cheryl, our gift to Shannon from PCSW.   "Until we meet again!" 

The Saori workshop was quite a success.  More pictures next month.



Jill's hand spun socks.



Remember summer?  A few more pictures of our North Peace Spinners' and Weavers' dye weekend at Charlie Lake.
Mary's felted green man on her deck at the cabin.







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Layers of Love
The Wearable Arts of Clarissa Rizal and Sho Sho Esquiro
October 19, 2016 to February 19, 2017


Artists Sho Sho Esquiro (Kaska Dene/Cree) and Clarissa Rizal (Tlingit) create exquisite one–of–a–kind pieces of hand crafted visual art in the form of couture fashion, clothing and ceremonial/dance regalia. This exhibition uses clothing to call attention to women as precious beings, intimately connected to family, history and territory.

The exhibition is guest curated by Miranda Belarde–Lewis (Tlingit/Zuni) an independent Curator, living and working in Washington State.
                                         


Bill Reid Gallery
639 Hornby St. Vancouver, B.C.
http://www.billreidgallery.ca

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Peace Country Spinners and Weavers activities:
  • Spring 2017 workshop - Dawson Creek. Deadline for Saori box projects.
  • Fall 2017 workshop - Fort St. John.
  • Remember to find Peace Country Spinners and Weavers on Facebook. 
  • For more information contact peacecountrysw@gmail.com

Happy Spinning and Weaving!

Friday, September 2, 2016

September 2016

This summer the North Peace Spinners and Weavers held a dyeing weekend at Mary's cabin on Charlie Lake. We dyed with brazil wood, avocado, mixed flowers, indigo, walnut, goldenrod, pineapple weed, oak twigs, dyers' camomile and weld.


 Cotton premordanted with tea, tie dyed in walnut husk dye. 

Mary and Debbie

Indigo dyed wool

Sheryl and Granddaughter Emily

black hollyhock

Dyers' camomile.

Rene and Jane

Some of us camped over the 3 days.

Rhya starting a new project.

Dyeing is a serious business. Chemical dyes were used for special projects.





Avocado



Emily is an enthusiastic dyer.

Marjo relaxing on Mary's deck.

Laura Lee, our Fort St. John area rep.

Leslie, showing one of her pottery bowls and some of the ceramic buttons made by members of the North Peace Spinners and Weavers.  Leslie facilitated the button making workshop.  She is a gifted potter and a fibre artist.  She is moving away this month and we have greatly appreciated all of her contributions to our Fort St. John guild.  We shall miss her.


Very productive dyeing days.

Cheryl and Alex discussing the indigo dyeing process.

Cheryl's work with the indigo dye pot.

Jill and Emily starting to dye skeins of wool.

Indigo dyed wool, cotton and silk.

What may seem like making a mess usually turns out beautifully.

Alex and our tree of yarns.

 Cotton mordanted with tea and dyed with natural dyes.

Tapestry yarn over dyed with natural dyes. We learned that tapestry yarns are not necessarily rinsed well after the commercial dye process, presumably as it is assumed that they will never be washed.  There was a lot of fugitive dye in the bright orange and yellow yarn which over dyed the rest of the yarns in the alum mordant bath. With foresight these yarns were kept separate in their own alum bath and did not affect other yarns in the dye process.


This is one of the articles found in the Peace Country Spinners' and Weavers' newsletter Threads Along the Peace, received upon becoming a member of PCSW.  Marjo provided pictures to go with this article which can be seen in the newsletter.
 
Tell me aboutMordants – Marjo Wheat

Why do we need mordants when we want to dye something?  How do we use them and can we do without them?  Here are some answers to these questions.

A mordant is a chemical that helps dyes stay in a fibre.  The term, mordant, is from the French word, modre, which means to bite.  So mordants make the dye bite into the fibre.  In Casselman’s book she says: Mordants are simply metallic or mineral salts which, when added to the dye bath, enhance, intensify, or change the colour of the dye bath and make the resulting shade more fast to light and washing. There are a number of chemicals that can be used as mordants. 

Some include alum (aluminum ammonium sulphate or household alum, and aluminum potassium sulphate, a more poisonous relative), ammonia, urine, vinegar (acetic acid), chrome (potassium dichromate), iron (ferrous phosphate), and tin (stannous chloride).  Of these, household alum is the safest to use although it does not produce the same shades as its poisonous cousin.  Vinegar is also often used if colours tend to run in the wash to try to avoid this happening, but it is not a strong mordant. Urine (human and animal) has been used through antiquity as a mordant which has always been available. It also improves with aging and was collected from chamber pots in the past and kept in a barrel until the right amount of ‘ripeness’.

Other mordants used in the 18th and 19th centuries include wood ashes, blood, lye, tree galls, and clay.  Fresh twigs of the Sumac can also be used as a mordant.

All mordants should be handled with care.  Always wear a mask and gloves when handling chemicals.  Keep exposure to ammonia, chrome and tin to an absolute minimum, as they are very poisonous.  All tools used for dyeing should be kept only for dyeing, and whenever possible, dye outdoors on heating sources also used only for dyeing.  Portable propane stoves are very useful for this.

There is no one mordant that is superior to others, each works in a different way and will affect the textile being dyed in a different way.  There are four main ways that mordanting can be done, by pre-mordanting, by simultaneous mordanting, by using the pot as mordant, and “saddening” or “blooming”.  In the last one, dyed fibres are treated after dyeing to change the effect of the dye, or the colour of the dyed fibre. I will give a brief summary of the first two methods:

1.    Pre-mordanting – or treating the fibre with mordant before dyeing.  For this method, dissolve the mordant in 1 liter of boiling water, stir well, and then add this mixture to at least 4 gallons (18 liters) of warm water.  Stir well, then add up to one pound of thoroughly wetted, skeined yarn.  If dyeing fleece, put it in a mesh bag.  Cover the bath, and then heat it until 200⁰F, a bare simmer.  Process for 1 to 1.5 hours, and let cool.  The fibre should be rinsed and dried, or used immediately in a dye bath.

2.    Simultaneous mordanting – This is when the mordant and dye are in the same bath.  If using dye plants, cook it out, then strain out the plant material.  Dissolve the mordant in boiling water, then add it to the dye bath. Stir well.  Put in the thoroughly wetted fibre which has been in water the same temperature as the dye bath.  Cover the dye bath, and raise the temperature to 200⁰f and keep it there for an hour.  Then remove the fibre, rinse and dry.

Some dye materials don’t need a mordant and will provide a fast dye without other added chemicals.  Some lichens are in this category and can provide a whole other article on dyeing.  Happy dyeing!
For this article, I used:
Karen Leigh Casselman, Craft of the Dyer. + Rita Buchanan, A Weaver’s Garden.    

Peace Country Spinners and Weavers activities:
  • September 10-12, 2016 Lake Saskatoon, Peace Country Spinners' and Weavers' workshop, Saori Weaving. www.saltspringweaving.com
  • Amigurumi Crochet workshop.   
  • Remember to find Peace Country Spinners and Weavers on Facebook and become a friend. 
  • For more information contact peacecountrysw@gmail.com
Happy Harvesting! Happy Spinning and Weaving!