Ready In Time For Christmas

Done! And with five days to spare even. My goal was to have this weaving ready to hang on our front door by December 1st.

 

The plan was to hang it between our front door and the storm door in lue of a traditional wreath since the space doesn't have a lot of depth. My husband and son think I should hang it inside. That way it won't be temptation to a thief and we can also enjoy it more indoors than something that hangs outside where we ourselves would only see it occasionally.

The Saori style weaving is lit with a string of 50 very tiny battery operated lights. I poked them through the weaving from the back and then secured each and every one with a discrete yarn tie. 

The battery pack that powers the light string hangs hidden behind and is supported by the large candy cane. The lights can be turned on once and will cycle through a 6 hours on, 18 hours off, repeating pattern, or they can be turned on and off at will with the push of a button. 

Better Safe Than Sorry

I was cautioned by an experienced spinner to do a plying experiment before committing my entire 4oz ply of Recycled Sari Silk to being plyed with the Blue Faced Leicester wool. She was concerned that the two very different fibres would react differently when the yarn was set -- the wool perhaps shrinking while the silk did not. That would, of course, end up with the silk creating loose loops like boucle. 

I had already started spinning the BFL so I decided to spin it all and if the plying experiment showed combining the two was a big NO then I would just ply them back on themselves. 

As it turned out my little plying test was a resounding success! The two different fibres played very well together.

The silk ply adds sheen and little specks of colour and the BFL adds some loft and softness. 

This is great news since I have other colours of Recycled Sari Silk matched with BFL that I still have to spin.

Sari Silk by Longdraw

 When I started spinning this recycled Sari silk I was prepared for a wretched experience. I don't like spinning lumpy preps and my past experiences with spinning recycled Sari silk blended with wool was torturous. 

Not too far into this spin I made a very helpful discovery. Sari silk actually spins quite nicely when spun by itself using a long draw technique very close to how I spin cotton. I spun through all 4oz of it today.

I have 4ox of Bluefaced Leicester wool that is dyed in a very similar green. I'll spin it up separately and then ply the two together.  

Packing Up Until Spring

With the cooler weather we've been experiencing lately it is getting harder to find a day warm enough to spray rocks with a base coat  

and then apply several coats of UV sealant when they are finished being decorated.

so I am packing up my paints until spring brings warmer temperatures.

The last three blue rocks, and about a dozen others, have yet to have their sealant applied.

 

A Timely Gift

 As the weather turns a little colder and we head into fall and winter it's nice to tuck one's toes into cuddly warm slippers.

These were a very generous gift from a dear online friend. These one-of-a-kind slippers were handmade by The Bag Ladies of Sequim WA from recycled and re-dyed wool blankets and clothing. They have a cozy fleece lining and a durable out-sole. So comfy!

I love them!

19 Large Mandala Stones

18 of my first 19 large Mandala stones have now been given away.

I kept my favourite, (the blue gradient, second row from the top, second from the left), to use as a reference for future attempts at something similar.

All of the others made a trip north with my husband and were given away to family members.

Mailing them would have been expensive. Rocks are heavy!

I hope everyone was able to choose one they particularly liked.

 And now I can make some more! The great thing about this hobby is that the rocks don't have to clutter up indoor space. They can be left as accents in the garden since they have been treated to be UV and weather resistant.

I Surprised Myself!

I didn't know I had this in me.

When I started this mandala I had no idea what direction it would take. I drew guideline circles and divisions in pencil and hours later this had emerged. 

It's not perfect, but I find the imperfections add a certain charm and a human touch often missing in a world where so much is mass produced by machines.

Structured Doodling

Oh no! Another hobby in the making! 

This one is an offshoot of the mandala rock painting, but it also seems to be every bit as addicting! I sat down yesterday with the intent of spending "just a few minutes" playing with a Helix Angle & Circle Maker to experiment with dividing circles evenly for mandalas. The next thing I knew I was drawing a mandala with little doodles. 

I thought I was finished after a few minutes when I got this far, and I left it sitting on the kitchen table.

But as the day wore on, and in between other activities, I kept coming back to add "a little more". It gradually got more and more detailed and a little larger in diameter. 

Those penciled concentric circles and wedge shaped divisions provide a guide for placement of repetitive yet simple doodles. resulting in a more organized structure, symmetry, and a look of complexity that really was not difficult.

Here it is before I erased the guidelines.

I don't even know what I would call this activity. It's not "Zentangle" which, according to my brief research has rules that are followed, recommended tools, and set patterns. It's not strictly a "mandala" in the traditional sense either. I've come across "ZenDoodle" in my research but ZenDoodle is less structured. I'll call this ZenMandala until I find some word name that is a better fit.

Unusual Specimen Stand

My eldest grandchild found this dragonfly lying on their lawn and saved it for me. It's in excellent condition, but with the wings raised he can't easily be placed under glass. 

My solution was to prop it in a weighted plastic aquarium plant so now it can sit undisturbed in a doll's roombox. 

My Favourites So Far

I've lost track of how many mandalas I've painted on rocks so far, but of them all these are my favourites.

They are by no means perfect and there isn't much special about the layout so I think maybe it's the colours that are calling to me.

The shiny sealant makes the finished rocks difficult to photograph. I'll have to remember to take photos before adding the sealant that allows the painted rocks to be left outside in the garden. 

Rock In Red

Today's effort at dotting a mandala on a rock. I've done quite a few mandala rocks in the past couple of weeks. This one is not one of my best pieces, but I wanted to show my struggles.

There's numerous things about this one that didn't go as well as I would have liked, "swooshes" being one of them. I keep giving in to the allure of adding swooshes since they add so much to a mandala -- usually. But in my case they turn out so terribly that they end up disappointingly irregular.

Here's what swooshes should look like!

https://youtu.be/-XKxQ4nkdAY?t=33

Planter Update

Those who dropped in to the blog mid-July know that this is an experimental year for our new half barrel planter. I'm back with an update.

The yellow "Canna Cannova" (the tall Calla lily in the back) took off with a vengeance, as did the unidentified vine, to the detriment of some of geraniums and trailing purple flowers. I've even thinned out that vine a little!

Here's a photo of what it looked like when first planted, so you can compare the Now and the Then.

 

If the Canna Cannova doesn't survive the winter it will definitely be on the top of my list of favourites to buy again next year.

Dot Mandalas

I've been rather absorbed lately in a meditative new hobby. I find it so engaging that I lose track of time.

It takes a steady hand, some idea of pleasing colour combinations, and an eye for spatial alignment, 

but luckily it requires no real drawing skill.

These are "dot mandalas", and although I have painted these on ordinary rocks, mandalas can be done on various smooth surfaces. 

These final two photos are of my earliest practice pieces, done on poster board disks purchased in a pack at a dollar store.

I'll have more mandalas to show in the future. I'm not anywhere near finished with this obsession yet!

I've already got four more painted, but they aren't sealed yet.

Early Morning Paddle

Minutes from our home the Hope River slough provides a suitable waterway for kayaking. 

It's convenient for an early morning excursion.

We were out there by 7:30 AM and even with a enjoyable hour and a half of paddling,

 --- we were back home in time for breakfast.

The 7th York Pinafore

Yet another York Pinafore, my seventh! What can I say -- with the forgiving fit and large pockets they are *that* comfortable and practical to wear.

I also wove a detachable Inkle band that matches for my medical information tag.

For anyone interested in weaving Inkle bands here is the pattern I created using the generator at raktres.net

Beautiful BC

A day kayaking on Lightning Lakes.

Barely a ripple.

Pure bliss.