Sunday, January 27, 2008

Knitting, weaving and metal things... but no completed objects!


Undulating Twill baby blanket

Woven with superwash merino, hand-dyed.


I need advice on how to finish this blanket. It's for a girl, and inspired by water. Initially, I was going to weave it with a greenish blue, but unfortunately I didn't have enough dyed, so I mixed the greenish blue with a navy blue. Now I'm thinking of embroidering in the lower right corner, perhaps a water lily. After that, I'll decide how to finish the ends. I'm embroidering a test on a twill blanket sample to see how the embroidery looks. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please share. Perhaps it would be too much... perhaps embroidering on twill is never a good idea, but I wanted to give it a 'girlish' touch.

Here is a larger view of the blanket, if it's easier to imagine some embroidery in the lower right corner.



Gentleman's Fancy Sock by Nancy Bush







These photos don't really do these socks justice. I'm hoping the recipient won't mind modeling them for me when they're finished. She has skinny calves that would be perfect for showing these off.

Spiculums

I'm currently obsessed with the form of these pieces. In metalsmithing, a spiculum is any hollow tube, closed or open, with a changing circumference (this distinguishes it from a hollow tube). These were samples from my hollowware class last year. I wound up using all of them for colouring experiments.

Currently, I'm in pursuit of the flawless spiculum. This piece (poked through a weaving), is almost there. It needs some more fine sanding.


More old spiculum samples...


Another experiment. It reminds me of a kidney. I wasn't happy with the 'bottom' view, so I'm keeping that hidden.

4 comments:

Donyale said...

Dare I say it but what about adding some water lilly coloured beads to the fringe - tied off securely though. A little bling might make it more girly....

Delly Bean said...

I love looking at your work. You're awesome.

What about embroidering a patch for the blanket and just stitching it on so it's not so noticeable on the back?

Leigh said...

I would probably want to fore go the fringe and simply crochet an edging on a baby girl's blanket. It's lovely though, no matter what you end up doing. Love those socks too! How big are those spiculums (or is it spiculae? :) I always think beads and dangles.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled upon your site randomly and thought I would comment. Its a beautiful blanket!
I'm not sure I would retain a fringe, if it was wool I would twist the fringe and slightly felt it so you wouldn't need knots but it looks to be cotton (correct me if I"m wrong) and wouldn't stay. Knots would likely be hard and uncomfortable, unless you distressed them considerably. I think embroidery would look fantastic, especially a water lily on that kind of background. Please post your finished product! It will be fantastic, whatever you do.