Creative Lighting

Last night our minister spoke about all the different effects that light has on our lives, from the physical effects of light (vitamin D, photosynthesis, sunburns, etc.) to the spiritual effects. As I mused on this later last night, it started another train of thought concerning the effects of light on my artistic fiber endeavors.

I think most of us have learned to look at colors under natural lighting and sunlight if possible. I know photos of my yarns and finished projects are always better when taken outside in the sunlight. Fortunately I live in Florida's sunshine city, Fort Pierce, and we generally have the sun shining at some time almost every day. Colors can look very different under different lights and it always helps to look at variegated yarns in natural sunlight, especially when you want to pair them up with solid colors. Unfortunately light can also have an adverse effects on colors over the course of time and bleach them out to a pale shadow of their former glory.

I also love the differences in color perception caused by texture under strong lighting. Sometimes, when playing with my dye kettle, its fun to see the differences in color when you dye different fibers and yarn textures in the same pot full of dye. A silk ribbon dyed in Periwinkle will look quite different from the bulky wool yarn from the same pot.

Another effect of light is seen in the slight variations of color you get when hand dyeing. Those of us who dye know that one of the beautiful effects from the process is that a solid color is not really a solid color. I love the slight variations in color that give character to my yarns. This effect can change greatly depending upon the available lighting. Last fall I had dyed 3 skeins of yarn in Spruce for a shawl. The lighting in my house showed some little variation in the color. Later in the month, while in rehab for my knee replacement, the color variation hardly showed up at all in the flourescent lights of the hospital room.

I also love the play of light that I get when I spin Angelina into my fibers. I recently used my drum carder to blend turquoise wool with small amounts of Silver Sparkle Hologram Angelina and black and white mohair and alpaca. Then I spun up all the batts to make a lovely yarn for use on a triangle loom. The finished shawl was a treat for myself. It is beautiful under normal indoor lighting. When you take it outdoors into the sunshine it becomes spectacular with little bits of colored fire sparking off the Angelina. I am adding photos of the shawl and have tried to get the pictures to show the effects of the Angelina but the camera's eye just cannot do the same job as the human eye. P.S. The model in the photo is an acquaintance from our LYS.

Art or Not Art: Yarns by Design

I get so frustrated by people who think all Art is strictly painting or sculpture. Art is the combination of a creative state of mind and the passion behind whatever medium is being used. In my case it is fiber. An example of this is everything involved in designing a yarn. I quite often start with an overall concept or story or inspiration, sometimes based on the genius of another artist. Most recently I've used whatever is the monthly theme for the latest Phatfiber box. The June 2010 box has "A Midsummer Night's Dream" theme. I love fairies and decided to use the fairies from the Shakespeare play as my inspiration. Next I saw this lovely fluffy wool with little nubby bits that reminded me of cobwebs. Cobweb is the name of one of the fairies in the play. What else should I throw into the mix? How about some black mohair for a halo effect and some Aurora Angelina for that irridescent luminous magic that belongs to fairies. The next thing to be added is some white alpaca for that oh-so-soft and luxurious feel. I can just see all of this blended together and spun into a lace weight yarn for an airy cobwebby lacy shawl. How can this not be art?
Next thing is to take some of this Cobweb blend of fibers and add some lustrous light blue silk and some of my pale blue meriboo (a combination of merino wool and bamboo) fibers to get the feel of a Luna moth. Voila! The magic of another fairy in the play: Moth! I can see this being spun into a nice sportweight yarn and used for a baby blanket or layette. Again, how can this not be art? It is certainly magical and involves a lot of creative thought processes and a passion for fiber, spinning, and everything else leading to the yarn and eventually a finished garment.

A Time to Spin

Don't I wish. It seems I have less time to spin every day. And my reading time has totally disappeared. (I did manage to work in Dean Koontz's new book Breathless and will probably have to work in King's new Under the Dome. I always find time for their new books.) I've been spending all my time the last couple of weeks sculpting sea creatures out of polymer clay. At first they were an experiment for the Artful Tree I decorated for TCAA's Holiday Tree Auction. They turned out so cute and whimsical that I decided to make a bunch more for my Etsy store and Christmas gifts. I'm also going to try to sculpt a Peekachoo for Melissa's stocking. I guess I should also do a Dalleck for Daniel and something Star Wars or and Orc for Bob. Daniel has informed me that his toy Dalleck will once again grace the top of our Christmas tree this year.

Back to spinning. Ive had an idea for a whole series of yarns and spinning batts: University Colors. I will use my drum carder to make batts in the color combinations of all the major universities. I can either sell them as batts or spin them into yarns for my Etsy shop. (I finally opened my Etsy store last week and have already sold 15 items!) I think all the grandmothers, and mothers, and aunts, and other relatives of all those marvelous college students may enjoy using my yarns to make hats and scarves and other outerwear for their loved ones. I've started out by putting together a list of all schools (and their official colors) in the major university sports conferences. So far I've included the Big 10, the Big 12, and the Ivy League schools, next I need to work on the Southeast conference. I've already carded a batt of blue, orange, and royal blue Angelina that I have named "Florida Alligator". I plan on spinning that one up this Saturday while at market.

Now for places to spin during the time. I love to spin in public. And the public loves to watch me spin. I always enjoy talking with all the different people who stop to watch. I am also always getting asked to bring my wheel to other markets. Of course they all want me to rent a space at their markets. I've decided that for the moment I will probably only sell my yarns in my Etsy shop (KathleensSpin.etsy.com) and at one or two other markets as well as at TCAA. If other groups want me to come out I will offer to do so, but only as a demonstrator and only if I don't have to pay for the booth. We shall see.

I wish it was "time to spin" this morning, but I need to make more sea creatures and a blackberry pie.

Drafting and Detours

I finished reading the posts in a Ravelry group concerning how to spin evenly a little while ago. Most of it dealt with how to draft your fibers to make a smooth thread. Some of it dealt with making neural pathways within ourselves to handle these new tasks. This started a whole new stream of thought for me.

I have become very aware of my own network of neural pathways over the last 15 years while dealing with the effects of Parkinson's. I believe that many times I have set up detours on my neural pathways in order to accomplish tasks that have become more difficult due to the rigors of the disease.

Finding detours or new routes has always been part of my life, even before the Parkinson's. I remember the first Christmas after we got married when we got stuck in a blizzard on the way back to Nebraska. Some of the roads had 8 foot drifts blocking them. We ended up following snowplows on some back roads to bypass the snow drifts. When our children were small, we always enjoyed roaming the countryside in the station wagon, finding new roads to get where we wanted to go. I still enjoy roaming around in my vehicle, when the gas prices are down, of course.

Now I have a new network of roads to discover. But this network is all in my head. I've discovered new routes to familiar locations as well as paths to new places.

Life is always an adventure, both on the physical roads and landscapes as well as the mental ones.

Plying

I am very excited. I finally finished spinning two bobbins (50 grams each) of a handpainted merino/silk combination on my new spinning wheel. It's a learn as you go process since I can find no teachers within a hundred miles. I think they're slightly overspun in places, but hope that plying the yarn and washing it will help loosen it up and turn it into a viable 2 ply yarn.

I spent a couple of hours working to ply the the two bobbins together. I had a few mishaps along the way, but finally turned out a full bobbin. I used the Niddy Noddy to turn it into a skein, then got dressed and went to the monthly Treasure Coast Art Association meeting. I took my finished skein with me to show a couple of my friends. What fun!

Today I took my skein and gently washed it by hand in hot, soapy water I really started worrying when the water started turning red, but it cleared up when I rinsed it out. I added a couple drops of vinegar in the third rinse and the some lavender essential oil in the final rinse. My finished product is now hanging up to dry. I have envisioned using it to crochet a medium size round bag.

Plying was an interesting experience. Reminds me a lot of marriage. The smoothest looking sections of my yarn were the areas where each strand was equal in the spin. Marriage also goes smoother when both partners put an equal amount of time into the ply. There are also many times when one partner or the other puts less "spin" into the ply, turning the marriage into a thick/thin combination. I also like using variegated colors in my finished yarn. This really shows up the differences and the colors which complement each other and make life interesting. I do wonder, though, what will happen with the piece of handspun that was left when the plying was finished. Will the remaining partner from the many years of plying be as messed up as the leftover piece of handspun. I guess I will just have to find a use for that leftover piece of handspun. Will it be plied with another piece or be put to some other creative use. I do not think that it should ever be thrown away.