Open Studios and Open Source Loom

Trying to keep true to my newly-turned-over leaf, and posting again. Short and sweet, right?

Open Studios has been a crush today! Western Avenue Studios was featured on Chronicle, a local Boston news magazine type tv show, a couple weeks ago, and the foot traffic has been great today. You can't buy publicity like that...

This scarf is heading off to a new home... It's got a nice backstory - a friend of mine from high school really wanted to give her sister, a breast cancer survivor, a special Christmas present this year, so we chose the colors together, and 10% of the proceeds from this one will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Fund.

Also got to meet a lovely Etsy customer in person - she knows somebody else in the building, compeletely by coincidence, and stopped by to pick up her scarf in person. Very nice!

Finally - have you heard about the OSLoom project? Margarita Benitez is heading a project to create Open Source plans/software/etc. for people (guilds, smaller educational institutions) to construct jacquard looms. How fantastic is that? And, happily, the project has been fully funded through Kickstarter - I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with in the coming months.

Hello Friends! How Have You Been?

So, obviously, I've been neglecting my blog even more that I've been neglecting my Etsy shop for the past couple of months...

I hope all is well with all of you, and I thought I'd start trying this blogging thing again, but with a little bit different approach. Maybe short and sweet would be a good way to go about it?

So, with that said, I've been working on lots of random little projects lately and finally getting my weaving/making mojo back after feeling pretty burned out in January (it was a crazy fall - crazy busy, which is good, but I really needed to take time to recharge my batteries a bit). Here's a photo or two of the latest little project...


Yup, little silk buttons! I've been listing them in my Etsy shop, no idea if I'll sell any, but I'm having all sorts of fun making them.

Also - tomorrow is our monthly Open Studios at Western Avenue Studios from noon - 5pm. I'm participating in the Spring Art Thing - look for studios with the signs for the Spring Art Thing on their doors, collect punches on a postcard that you can pick up in any of those studios, and enter to win a $25, $50 or $75 gift certificate (depending on how many punches you collect). Fun! And a great place to get a unique gift for new grads, moms, dads, newlyweds... You get the idea.

If you're actually reading this - thank you! Nice to see you!

SOWA

Anybody out there on the art and craft fair circuit at all? I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences!

I've got my first real outside juried show coming up soon (so soon, in fact, that I'm kind of in denial about it)...

Yup, May 16 - 17 - is that really next weekend?? Gulp! Happily, I'll be going over with several friends from Western Avenue Studios, but, in the meantime, I'm really focused on building inventory. I'm weaving lots of pretty basic scarves:


A pile of bamboo huck lace scarves, taken right from my first Handwoven article and modified a bit, waiting to be washed. Eventually, I'm going to be able to list quite a few in my Etsy shop, I think, but not yet!

They would be more efficient if I wound enough warp to weave two or so at a time, but it turns out I have a short attention span when it comes to weaving solid colors. It is interesting, though - as a weaver, I enjoy complex patterns and colors, but as people come through my studio and comment on various work, I've found that basic colors and clean design sells just as well as, if not better than, the ones that are more interesting to my weaver-ly eye.

There is room for both, of course, and sometimes mindless weaving is just right - I find I spend a lot of time letting my mind wander to new and different ideas while weaving these guys, many of which never come to fruition, but some of which may just be pretty good, eventually.

Two Months?!

Good grief - almost two months, that has got to be some sort of new blog-slacker-record... But I've been busy, I suppose - kids, house, working in Boston a bit in March and at the studio, and Carlos (Mr. Skiingweaver) has been working literally around the clock for the past six weeks or so at his start-up, it's been pretty insane. Add to that that I'm stressing about having enough inventory for an upcoming art show I've been accepted into...

But it should be fun - several people that I know from my studio building are going to be there as well - but in the meantime, I'm frantically weaving! (Click on the poster if you want to read a little more about it.)

Weaving some lace scarves...

This one has been in a couple Treasuries on Etsy!

I've been busy researching new yarn sources, too, and have some gorgeous yarn being dyed for me in Canada as we speak - I really can't wait to get my hands on it.

What else? Ah yes! A new loom is on it's way to my studio! Tom Beaudet (LeClerc's U.S. rep., at least in my area) is refurbishing a 45" 16shaft Weavebird (compudobby) for me! Hooray! I jumped all over it when it came up for sale - it is really, really hard to find used Weavebirds... I've been kind of holding out for either a new or used one, just because I love my LeClerc Colonial and they're built in the same way. Also like that you don't need to add any sort of lift assist mechanism to the Weavebirds... (If you go here you can see a video of the loom in action!)

Isn't she pretty? I wouldn't be terribly surprised if I end up trading up to a 32 shaft eventually, but, for now, I'm sure this will keep me busy. Although, considering we are also in the midst of getting estimates to get our roof replaced (ouch!), maybe this wasn't the best time to be spending $$$ on a new loom. Ah well! :)

I hope all of you are well, and I won't let it slip for this long again, I promise. Ive been thinking lately that I don't have anything particularly interesting to say - mostly just feeling tired and overwhelmed. Things are easing up for Carlos at work, though, thank goodness, so hopefully I'll have more energy for blogging!