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September 2008current gallery |
February 2010 |
February 2009 |
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Sue Earle I revel in the colours of the Montano series every time I fill an order, but finally Glacier Lake grabbed me for its own. The preciousness of water and our need to honour our water sources was on my mind. A watery flow suits my design style - I made up the pattern for the neckline first and finished the design of the shirt when the embroidery was done. I started with a couple of 'S' forms at the
centre front of the facing, with mirrors at their ends. I played with
20/2, 8/2, 6 strand floss, fine cord and ribbon, and used solid blues as
well. The ribbon beautifully fills spaces and forgives anything. I
The project took me about two months and perhaps 60 blissful hours. I did it at every waiting opportunity and looked forward to delays that would normally make me impatient. I decided to make a shirt that I would wear not just for special, as those become too precious and don't get worn enough. |
stitched with whatever my mood wanted and moved around within the piece
as inspiration bubbled up. The fine cord was so particularly sensuous
to stitch with that I really got hooked on it as my favourite. A symbol
for harmony popped out of a book while I was musing over how to bring
the two side together at the back.
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Tabi Ferguson Tabi dropped in to see us in July and brought some of her work. We are always thrilled when that happens. She has kindly sent us photos so we could share them with you. "Both of the scarves are based on Ostrich Plumes lace pattern which can be found in many stitch dictionaries. Both are knit from 20/2 Treenway silk in colours 951 and 9510 with 2.75mm and 2.25mm needles respectively. The 20/2 is very easy to knit with especially on bamboo needles. It blocks well and has a beautiful drape. The green scarf has been worn for many years and still looks new. The mauve scarf was knit on commission for a friend's fiancée as an engagement present. Each scarf took approximately 80 hours to complete and exactly one skein of silk. The lace doily was knit from 2P reeled silk on 2.25 mm needles. The pattern is 'Augsburg' from Diana Strickdeckchen D1098, a German lace knitting magazine. The 2P was a little slippery to work with, but has outstanding sheen and blocks beautifully. 
I also hand blend luscious fibres together in my spinning.
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Jean O'Connor We are always amazed and delighted to see all the different ways people use our silks. Jean tells us about her beautiful basket. "This little 3" x 3" x 6" basket is made of brown, purple and green 20/2 Treenway silk. I make my baskets in the old coiled method, but use modern materials. This little gem is silk yarn wrapped over stretch cord I purchased from a hardware store. I like the firmness and flexibility of this cord and it comes in different sizes. I worked on the design trying to get a shape with the 3" x 3" x 6" measurements for a show in the Works here in Edmonton. I had been waiting for the right basket to use those beautiful jewel coloured silks. I have been making coiled baskets since the 80s when I contracted a lung disease. Arthritis set in as a result of the disease, which meant I could no longer weave. I had all those yarns still sitting there, so I learned how to make coiled baskets and away I went. I have been in many art shows and won awards. The Alberta Craft Council awarded me the Symbol of Quality for my baskets, which was the best for me." |
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Louise O'Donnel We were thrilled to see Louise's temari balls. We were also fascinated to learn of the various steps one can go through to acquire different levels of competence in making temari balls. 
Louise tells us,"I am a Master Spinner from many years ago, but due to arthritis, I am not able to spin very much anymore. I took up Temari Balls about 10 years ago and through the Japanese Temar Association. I am now a Level 1 - Honka and Level 2 - Koutouka of the Temari Master program, with the hopes of one day doing Level 3 - Shehan or Master. 
The base is a felted ball, covered with fine wool, then yards and yards of sewing thread. The Mari (base) is then marked off in divisions, of which there are many and then stitched. The silk I used was Bombyx spun 20/2 and 12/2 and reeled 8/2. I prefer the spun for stitching; I find it is easier to work with. I have not used the reeled yet, but hope to use it in my next temari."
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Abra Palumbo The wedding shawl that Abra made for her daughter was a real collaboration of ideas and choices. It sounds like they had fun together in its making. "Our daughter chose a beautiful eggshell white, strapless, fitted satin dress with gold and silver brocade for her wedding last summer. I wanted to weave something for her special day. We decided on a shawl to go with the dress to give her some warmth as the day turned to evening. She wanted something sheer and lightweight, as she has a delicate frame and the wedding was in August. We worked carefully, considering the dress as we chose fibres which would be complementary and reflective of the qualities and tones in the dress fabric. We decided to use several silks for the warp: 8/2 reeled silk to match the sheen and luxurious feel of the satin, boucle silk to add texture which was similar to the brocade in the fabric and a gentle 12/2 spun silk for the weft to maintain the lightweight feeling of the fabric. We also incorporated bamboo to give the shawl a bit more body and variance to the color. A metallic gold thread between pattern repeats added some sparkle to echo the metallic in the brocade of the fabric. Now all we had to do was choose a weave structure! After consulting with guild members on our fibre choices, huck lace was strongly suggested. We used Madelyn van der Hoogt's The Best of Weavers - Huck Lace to make our structure choice. My daughter was struck by the beauty of the pattern designed as "huck lace border" for an overall pattern. The complexity of the pattern felt almost overwhelming to me, but with sampling and practice I was able to gain confidence. We decided on several rows of "trelliswork" at the ends of the shawl to accentuate the lacy effect of the huck
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structure and to add delicacy to the long fringes and a plain weave border all around for structural strength. Much sampling was needed to decide the sett and techniques for handling the threads. I had the challenge of fitting three fibres symmetrically into two 5-thread huck blocks in the warp and balancing the color and fibre. I learned to set each pick gently and change shed before lightly placing it with the beater. I absolutely loved working with the silks! My daughter and I were both happy with the results. It is a keepsake for a beautiful daughter from a special day to remember for a lifetime."
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Robin Reid 
While Robin was placing an order for silk fibre she mentioned it was for fairy shoes. We are so glad she sent us photos of her work. Robin says the original pattern for the shoes was from Stitches magazine. She has adapted it to silk fusion and her own style. She put them into an art show in Seymour Art Gallery in North Vancouver and the orders just keep coming in. She and the fairies are having so much fun in the making. "I attended Capilano College Textile Art Program and for awhile concentrated on wearable arts using several of the techniques I had learned there. In 2000 the Coast Character Doll Artists was formed as an interest group of the In 2002 I discovered Treenway Silks at Convergence and was enamored by the possibilities of using silk fusion in my doll making. Hence the fairies had clothes and wings. And now I make shoes for them as well." |
Vancouver Guild of Fabric Arts and we have been busy ever since with our group making art dolls in all mediums. I love making cloth dolls and using all my snippets of beautiful silks and lace I have collected over the years.|
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Marie Seabrook 
We were happy to see the silk cocoons used in such an innovative way! Marie says,"I used Procion dye to dye the cocoons. After my first dyeing attempt, there was a consistent 'bloom', which I kept trimming. I tried painting them with white glue water and let them dry and then re-dyed again by soaking in cold dye and wrapping in plastic wrap overnight." After watching the Silk Fusion video, Marie created this fantastic vessel using dyed silk hankies. |