New fibers to spin

We are back from Pennsic. I'll write all about it later this week. I was excited to be able to buy a few new fibers to spin. I've come home with hemp, musk ox and guanaco to spin. Can't wait to try them!

my pewter hoarde

Remember when I was carving a mold for pewter casting? Last night I cast my pieces. Now I see why it is worth spending the time to make a "perfect" mold. I cast 36 little coins in less time than it took to carve the soapstone mold.  And in another hour I could have doubled my count. But, since my intention is to give the coins as tokens at Pennsic A&S, I think this will be enough.

 

(I don't know why the computer has rotated my image, but I can't seem to fix it.)

Where does the time go?

It's hard to believe that in just over 2 weeks we will be on our way to Pennsic. I've been working hard to get my class ready. I will be presenting my research on spindle whorls, and hopefully people will be interested enough to give some of them a spin. When I am not working on my handout and outline, I've been making a banner to display by my tent:

These are my arms, which were approved since the last time we went to Pennsic. As an added bonus, I paneled the piece at Northern Region War Camp, and was given competency in applique. The next time I try that technique it will be a much smaller piece! (I received competency for the laidwork pillow as well.)

Also at War Camp, I took a class in spinning flax on the wheel. Happily for me, I was the only student. Henna was an excellent teacher. This was my first experience with a wheel, so I spent a long time just learning to treadle at an even pace. And to keep the wheel moving without thinking about it. It's harder than it looks. I learned how to properly dress the distaff and the correct technique for drafting the fibers.

Although I don't own a wheel, I think I will be able to translate these new skills to the drop spindle. I am anxious to get started.

A & S Project for Pennsic

It has been 3 months since I began spinning thread for the embroidered pillow which is to be a gift to the King and Queen of the Midrealm from the King and Queen of the East. Today I finished. I am very happy with how it came out. Here are a couple of detail pictures:

I like the way the chain stitches and French knots add texture.

The border was adapted from a mosaic design in the Byzantine church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.

Here is the finished pillow:

All of the thread is my handspun wool. It is embroidered on a linen ground.

What I learned:

• Gotland wool does not make good embroidery thread. That was all I had in purple, so I tried it. It spins a beautiful thin thread, but it does not pull nicely through the fabric. It tended to tangle and/or pull apart. Therefore, there is less purple in the piece than I originally intended. It was too frustrating to work with.

pewter casting

There is a reason why I call this blog meandering - today I learned a new skill, totally unrelated to spinning. My friend Ignacia is teaching me pewter casting. I've barely scratched the surface (no pun intended) of all there is to learn, but I think I made some good progress tonight. I am making little wool comb tokens.

First I carved a circle, then I scratched the design into the soapstone. Everything has to be done in reverse. Each time it looked to me like I had carved the figure deep enough, we made a test. By my fourth try I was happy with the image. At the next class I will carve the sprew (I don't know how to spell it), and pour some tokens. I can't wait!

spinning flax

I've decided it is time to start tackling one of my goals for 2013 - learning to spin flax. I've started with tow, which was given to me by someone who was giving up spinning. I have about a 200 gram ball of it. The fibers are fairly short - about 8 centimeters. I am using a modern 40 gram disk spindle. I decided I should start with something very easy to spin with, rather than a medieval style spindle, so that I wouldn't have to pay attention to too many things at once. Even so, I have dropped the spindle several times when I haven't noticed it back-spinning. But I am making progress - slowly. While it is not particularly difficult, I cannot take my eye off the "roving" if I want a consistent thread diameter. It is S-spun at 9-10 wraps per centimeter. That  might be a good gauge for weaving a basket cover.

It's a very different spinning experience from spinning wool or other animal fibers. It will take getting used to.

making progress

Just about the only thing I have been working on for the past month is my embroidery project. I am closer to done than not done at this point. Here is how it looks today:

This is what I have learned about the Bayeux stitch so far:

• It is much quicker to execute than I had expected.
• You need to be careful to make sure to lay down enough threads across the ground. They shouldn't overlap, but they should definitely be touching. This becomes especially important once the couching threads are added.
• Do not pull the couching threads too tight. If the long threads are too tight, it pulls the ground away from the edges. If the attaching stitches are too tight it creates gaps in the ground threads.
• The couching threads can be manipulated a little bit to make the ground threads evenly spaced.

Getting the right coverage and tension takes some practice. The king's tunic is better than the queen's. Mistress Briony suggested weaving in an extra thread if there are spots with poor coverage. I will probably need to do that in a couple of spots, but when I added the fold lines on top of the couching it took care of most of the thin spots. Overall, I'm happy with how it is turning out.