Twined Bag 2

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Here is a closeup of the latest twined bag. The basic weave is twine around two warps. The middle detail is two rows of three strand twine around warp pairs. The last row is twined around single warp to make a tighter bottom for the bag.



The bag is twined around cardboard frame and goes around both sides. The warp will be knotted at the bottom to close the bottom of the bag. Next I have to make a strap for it.

Have a good day!

Rain

My Corner Of The World - Rain

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Today we are having rain all day. It seems to be end of summer for sure. Above is a view outside our front door. You can see the other condominiums on the other side of the street. Our unit looks just like those over there. Since we don't have room for a regular garden, we garden in a wheelbarrow. Normally the wheelbarrow sits by the front door, but since it was raining, we moved it to the lawn for the water.

Dinner for tonight is homemade chicken vegetable soup and corn bread muffins.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
Sacramento, Calif USA

Twining - Part 2

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The twined bag is almost complete. It needs a loop and button on the opening to close the top and it should have a lining. I have some old shirts that I can use for lining. I also need to trim the fringe.

I'm happy with the pattern that I just threw together as I went.


Here you can see the bag and more of the strap. I made the strap from six strands and used finger weaving to make it.


Here is a closeup of me twining the fabric. With big fat yarn like this the process is very quick. Notice how I pull up to the right to place the weft. Later I used my fingers to push the weft tight.


I don't have a big needle to use for sewing on the strap, so I wrapped some plastic tape over the end of some yarn to stiffen it and I used it like the end of a shoelace to push the yarn through the bag fabric and the strap.

Have a good day!

Twining - Part 1

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My friend Laverne has been working on a twining technique inspired by Montagnard weavers. She about it posted on her blog Backstrap Weaving.

Twining has been on my fiber adventure list so I moved it to the top. This is the first part of a twined bag I am making. Twining is an old craft that can create fabric without a loom.


Twining is usually started by stringing a line around two poles. I wrapped a string around some cardboard that is 8 1/2 by 11 inch. This makes it portable enough to carry. Then I attached some warp threads down with a larkshead knot or loop.


The first few rows I misread the directions and I twined around each warp with white yarn. Then I realized I was supposed to twine around warp pairs, so I started with the yellow yarn.


You can see how the yarn is twining around the warp pairs in this picture.


Here is a closeup of how I tried to pull up on the weft to keep it tight. I twine all the way around both sides of the board so I will have a bag when I am done. The yarn is labelled Rug Crafter's Rug Yarn, 100% acrylic and I bought it cheap at the thrift store for this kind of project.


Here is a link to a PDF file that will tell you how to start twining.

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/lily_bag.pdf

And some more links of interest.

http://www.santacruzhandweavers.org/twining/demo2007/index.html

http://www.ohs.org/exhibits/online/native-american-basketry.cfm

http://www.nativetech.org/weave/falseembroidery/index.html

http://twinedbags.com/twining.html

http://halcyonyarn.com/designcontest/wild/wild2.html

http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/baskets/subpage.cfm?subpage=burden

http://www.barkingrock.com/bags.htm

http://www.uwlax.edu/urc/JUR-online/PDF/2009/karoll-amyARC.pdf

Have a good day!

Sprang by Comb and War Shirt

Interesting links

Sprang technique by means of comb
Anita Rašmane, 2006
http://www.senzeme.lv/Sprang.htm

I also found the "war shirt" article very interesting. It looks like a finger
knitted coat, no loom and no knitting needles.

http://www.senzeme.lv/Pakulu_krekls.htm

Translate to english: http://tinyurl.com/WarShirtLatvia

And translate to english Senzeme main page: http://tinyurl.com/Senzeme

I used Google Translate to convert from Latvian language.
Have a good day!

Edited to add:
Ieva contributes this link: http://zagarins.net/Latvjuraksti/index.html

Google Tranlate to english: http://tinyurl.com/LatvianSigns
Be sure to click on "Shirts articles etc"

Lambtown USA Oct 2 2010

Oct 2 - The Dixon Lambtown, USA Committee has planned another great Lambtown Festival for your family this year. The festival will be held at The Dixon May Fair Grounds, 655 South 1st St., Dixon, CA, on Saturday, October 2, 2010, from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. Admission is just $2.00 for adults. Children 6 - 13 $1.00 and kids 5 and under are FREE! For your enjoyment, you will find more focused craft and fiber booths, competitions, and as always, a variety of great food celebrating the lamb industry and the rich agricultural heritage of the region. This year's live entertainment will feature music and an evening street dance. Parking $5

http://www.lambtown.com/info.html

Rancho Cordova CA Fiber Arts meeting report 9/24/10

Rancho Cordova CA Fiber Arts meeting report 9/24/10

6:30pm Arrived at library to set up the room. Laid out some woven items, a
Cricket rigid heddle loom, an Erica rigid heddle loom, a Harrisville lap loom, a
couple of drop spindles, some handspun yarn samples, some samples of
fingerweaving. Posted a couple of notices on the glass doors.

7:00 Open door to meeting room that connects to the library. People were
wandering around the library. I pulled out a drop spindle to spin while I
waited. Meeting was scheduled for 7:00 to 8:30

7:15 First visitor showed up. Two kids who wanted to see what all the stuff was
for. So I showed them the stuff, answered questions, showed them how to use a
drop spindle, how to use the Cricket loom, and the lap loom. One girl took to
the Cricket loom right off because she said she had seen it done before.

7:30 Another kid shows up and she starts working on the lap loom. By this time I
am realizing I need little cardboard looms for kids to use and take home with them.
I'll try to have some next time.

7:45 An adult woman drops in to see what I was doing and said she couldn't stay
but she grabbed an information flyer and said she'll try to be back next month.

7:55 Library closes at 8:00 pm and the kids have to go home with parents. So I
start putting stuff away since there was no one else there.

8:10 Take stuff to the car and go home.

Notes: Need to advertise the meetings. Need to have some prepared projects for
visitors.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
Rancho Cordova Fiber Arts Coordinator

Upcoming events:

Sacramento Weavers & Spinners Guild
Sat Oct. 23. 10:00 am to Noon
Arcade Public Library, 2443 Marconi Ave
A resource for spinners and weavers
http://www.directcon.net/weaver/

Church of the Nazerene -
Fiber Arts Presentation by Franco Rios
Sept 29, 2010 Wednesday evening 7 pm
3520 Bradshaw Rd, Sacramento, CA - (916) 363-0364

Next Rancho Cordova Fiber Arts meeting
Oct 14, 2010, Thursday, Spinning for Beginners, drop spindles, plying,
Nov 15, 2010, Monday, Weaving for Beginners on simple looms
Dec 2010 Holiday Break (no meeting)
(schedule updated 9/10/2010)