Gynx

Book Review: The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos

2012-02-01T14:06:00.000-06:00

Despite my best intentions and clearly written out goals, yesterday got completely derailed. It started with my trip to the DMV to change my name. I got there a bit before they opened, and the line was already very long. I ended up waiting in line outside for almost an hour, and while the temperature was actually nice, it was very windy, and my allergies went crazy. After waiting over an hour once I finally got inside, I was turned away because I hadn't taken my marriage license to be filed and have the little stamp and seal put on it. Sigh.

After driving downtown and filing the marriage license, I decided to save the second trip to the DMV for today (which I did do) and get to work on the million other things on my to-do list.

Well, I'm not sure if it was being outside in the wind for so long or what, but I became incredibly crippled by allergy symptoms and a nasty cough. Needless to say, nothing was scratched off my list yesterday.

Luckily, I got a package from UPS yesterday, containing two books I ordered from Amazon. The first one was The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos by Heidi Adnum, and not having the will to do anything else, I spent some time flipping through the book.

While I wouldn't consider myself a complete newbie to the world of photography, it is definitely not one of my best skills. I've tried reading photography blogs, tutorials, etc., but my mind would start wondering when all I saw was technical mumbo jumbo, numbers, and decimals. Anything that feels like reading a math book isn't going to hold my attention. This book appealed to me because it wasn't written to photographers, but to artists and crafters.

The beginning explains a lot of the photography lingo, like aperture and exposure, and gives troubleshooting tips for each. Adnum breaks up crafts by category, and gives tips and tricks for shooting them. I was particularly interested in the Knitting and Needlecraft section (Chapter 6) obviously, and there is a lot of information on how to capture all of the textures involved in knitting.

Since this is written for crafters, and crafters generally like to DIY, Adnum also gives several tutorials to make your own photography equipment, like light tents and flash diffusers. If you need some help post-photoshoot, there's also a section at the end dealing with photo editing.

Overall, this book is very well-written and easy to understand. The photography in the book is just beautiful and is so much fun to flip through. I didn't feel like I was reading a math book at all.

Inspiration Photos: Cancun

2012-01-29T08:32:00.000-06:00

Until yesterday morning, I hadn't knit in probably about a month. Life just kept getting away, so yesterday morning when Jose was still asleep, I finally pulled out some knitting and attempted to knit.

My cats weren't having it at all. They normally don't bother me while I'm knitting, but I guess they were so attention-starved this past week that they couldn't help themselves. After a lot of struggling, I think I managed to get four rows of my Featherweight Cardigan done before Jose woke up.

I also haven't dyed in a little while because of all the life-changing events packed into December and January, but being in Cancun really gave me the itch to get back to the dye. The vivid, bright colors (ocean) next to the very clean neutrals (sand) were very refreshing, especially at this time of year.

Here are a select few photos I took on my trip that I found particularly color-inspiring:

Not Craft Related: I'm Married!

2012-01-27T21:40:00.000-06:00

I've been a bit absent around the Internets lately, and that's because I got married this past Saturday (1.21.12)! We just got back from our honeymoon, and I'll be posting a few color-inspiring photos from our trip soon. In the meantime, if you're interested, you can head over to our photographers' blog and check out the selection of photos they posted from our wedding!

http://www.kristinnicoleblog.com/laura-jose-fort-worth-wedding-rose-chapel

I expected there to be a lot more crafting with the wedding, but time got the best of me. I made all of the bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres from scratch out of fabric, ribbon, and lace, and hopefully I'll get some detail shots of those up soon.

Not so much craft, but my mom also designed our wedding invitations and labels for the dessert table.

It's been a crazy week, but I'm back and ready to get back to yarn at full speed!

Gynx Yarns Giveaway!

2012-01-08T09:43:00.002-06:00

Recently I did an interview with Kristin of the Yarngasm podcast and Knitnook.net. I also sent her a skein to give away on her podcast, and the episode is now up! You can enter to win the skein in the photo above (Lemon Berry Parfait in sock/fingering weight) on her blog here!

FO: Fullmetal Socks.

2012-01-05T09:13:00.000-06:00

I started this pair of socks at the last Etsy Denton show at the beginning of November, but they took a backseat for over a month to gift knitting.

After getting my wisdom teeth removed last Friday, I've had lots of laying around knitting time. I finally finished these this morning. I designed the pattern and will probably put it up on Ravelry and the blog soon for free.

These were made using my own yarn in the Fullmetal colorway. I think they turned out pretty fun.

Interview at Knit Nook!

2011-12-31T11:14:00.003-06:00

Hey guys,

I was interviewed this past week by Kristin of the Yarngasm podcast (one of my favorites!) and KnitNook.net for Gynx Yarns! Check it out!

I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve. I'll be spending mine hanging out with Jose and my sister Lea doing puzzles and other low-key things since I'm recovering from getting my 4 wisdom teeth removed yesterday.

I have lots of exciting things planned for 2012, so I'll see you then.

-- Laura

FO: Elm Socks.

2011-12-28T10:07:00.001-06:00

I only crafted one Christmas present this year, which is a huge difference from the past several years where I made almost every gift. I actually wasn't going to have any handmade Christmas gifts this year, but my Mom's birthday socks took longer than expected and got pushed back a week to Christmas.

My mom is allergic to wool, cashmere, basically anything that comes off an animal. I've knit her several things out of cotton or synthetics, but when I decided to make socks, the hunt for yarn was a bit trickier. I made a pair of 100% cotton socks before I really understood fibers, and they weren't the biggest success.I also wanted a variegated or semi-solid yarn, which narrowed down my choices even more.

I went to JenningStreet Yarns in Fort Worth and told them what I was looking for, and there was one option they had for me: Kertzer's On Your Toes Bamboo, which is 75% bamboo, 25% nylon and super soft. I picked a skein of blues and tans for my mom, and then I decided to get a skein for me in shades of red because I couldn't help myself.

Project Details:

Ravelry Project Page: Link
Pattern: Elm by Cookie A
Yarn: S.R. Kertzer On Your Toes Bamboo
Needles: 1 US - 2.25 mm

Thoughts on Pattern:

I found the Elm pattern by Cookie A in the newish Knitter's Book of Socks by Clara Parkes and thought it was pretty, so I cast on. All of the ribbing made for a very tiny cuff, but I trusted the pattern and kept going. It ended up being a challenge to put on and take off, but once on, the sock fits wonderfully. If I had used the recommended yarn, it probably would have been an easier sock to put on. I suspect that after my mom wears them a few times, they will be easier to put on.

Thoughts on Yarn:

This was my first time using bamboo, and at first I really hated it. It was incredibly soft, but it kept splitting like crazy. I didn't have the problem a lot of people seem to where it slides off the needles, and I was using metal. Once I was almost finished with the first sock, I was accustomed to the yarn and didn't have any more problems. Hopefully whenever I get around to using the skein I bought for myself, it will go better.

*Thanks to my mom for modeling her socks!*

Yarnography.

2011-12-17T05:57:00.000-06:00

The sun finally came out of hiding yesterday, so I was able to use natural lighting for redoing my yarn photos! I've redone almost every yarn in the shop and I love how much nicer everything looks. There's so much more texture!

Here's a few of my favorite shots. My photos will probably always need improving and I'm going to continue working on them, but these are already such a big improvement that I had to show them off.

Click on any of the pictures to go to that yarn's page.

Things I'm Loving 12.16.11

2011-12-16T08:18:00.000-06:00

Hello all,

There's only about a week of Christmas knitting left! I know I'm a little stressed by that.

I've decided to start a new weekly topic called "Things I'm Loving" where I'll share various knitting-related things I've discovered online that I think are pretty cool.

Free Pattern Find

Source: Knitty

Grace is from the current issue of Knitty and was designed by Sivia Harding. I love all of the little eyelets! I'm kind of tired of socks at the moment, but I'm adding this to my list for when I start feeling the sock bug again.

Pattern Find

Source: Ravelry

The Livingstone Cardigan is from the current issue of Interweave Knits, which I picked up the other day when I saw it at the store. The regular issues of Interweave tend to be a little too... mature for my taste, but I could actually see myself wearing this (if I ever get around to knitting a sweater again).

Etsy Find

Source: Etsy

I stumbled across these gorgeous knitting bowls by blueroompottery, and I think they are gorgeous. I don't know if I would ever use a knitting bowl, but they are so pretty I would like one for decoration!

That's all for today. Today and tomorrow are going to be crazy! I'm going to three graduations (including my own) and two graduation parties! I'm looking forward to knitting time during the two graduations that aren't my own.

-- Laura

My Final Surface Design Piece.

2011-12-14T09:32:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday was my final critique in my Surface Design class. It was bittersweet, because while I'm exited to be done and focus on my yarn full time, I am going to miss several things about school.

This was my final project. I decided to go back to three-dimensional projects in the end, because my two-dimensional pieces this semester have been pretty meh.

If I put this in a gallery space, I'd want to cover a whole wall with these. In the meantime, I think I'll put these up in my studio (away from cats!) when I finally move.

Not Craft Related: New Camera!

2011-12-13T09:44:00.001-06:00

Note: If you are only interested in crafts and have no desire to see how adorable my cats and dogs are, you might want to skip this post and wait for my next one.

This week is my last official week as an undergrad, even though I've already turned everything in. I have a studio clean-up today and tomorrow, and then I walk across the stage Saturday!

I haven't photographed any of my final three projects yet, because I was waiting for something I ordered to come in the mail. I ordered myself (and my company) a Nikon D3000 so that I can take better pictures for both my Etsy shop and my blog! I am by no means a photographer, and I'm still trying to figure this thing out. I used Nikon D40s and 50s in high school (I think) so I'm familiar with a few things, but I am definitely a beginner.

Of course, the only things I've tried shooting are my cats and my family's dogs when I went to visit on Sunday.

Crafternoon: Pillows

2011-11-24T15:57:00.000-06:00

Yesterday started by me trying to go through my apartment and purge things I don't want to come with me when I move. I stumbled upon a lot of sample/mess-up fabrics from my experimental screen printing classes and others.As I was looking at them, I started thinking about how even though a concept wasn't there, I thought some of the fabrics were just pretty.

About a year and a half ago, I took one of my samples and made a tiny pillow with it. It was a joke, because I had printed with old X-acto blades and other blades, and people in my class joked that it should be a pillow.

I saw it, and decided to turn some of my other samples that were washfast into pillows. I ended up having a little "crafternoon".

Front

Back, or front I guess.

Detail

I backed this one with plain pink fabric. This one might be a present.

Front

Detail of Front

And the back.

I haven't allowed myself to be crafty in a long time. I've been in art school mode for so long, but it was really nice just to make something for fun because it's pretty and functional.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I'm going to finish watching the Cowboys game now and have my second Thanksgiving meal of the day.

Fiber Field Trip: Material Science.

2011-11-22T05:51:00.000-06:00

Last week in my weaving class we took a trip over to the Material Sciences department at my school to see how that polymer fiber I was working with is made.

This stuff is just polymer, not the stuff that will break down on the body, but I believe it's the same process to make both.

These get melted down...

... in this crazy-looking machine called an "extruder".

Pictures to help us artists understand what's going on. This stuff is the "thermoplastic".

Lindsay putting some of the polymer beads in the extruder.

The fiber will get pulled through this icky water after it's melted down and spun around this screw thing inside the machine.

It first comes out this end (and smells like hot glue).

Into the nasty water.

And pulled out and rolled onto a cylinder thing. The speed of the cylinder determines the thickness of the fiber.

So I obviously still don't understand the science-y stuff behind all of this, but it was really interesting to see.

-- Laura

FO: Military Cardigan.

2011-11-13T14:00:00.000-06:00

I'm in an advanced weaving class this semester, but because I've taken plenty of weaving and my professor knows that knitting is more applicable to what I'm doing post-graduation, she is letting me use the knitting machine for my projects.

My overall focus this semester has been the history and culture of knitting. For this project, I researched knitting's roles in war, specifically the two World Wars. After reading about how women would unravel old wool garments to make sweaters for the soldiers, I decided to make my own military-inspired cardigan using recycled wool.

This was my first garment on a knitting machine. To be honest, I don't really enjoy the machine, but I do like how quickly I was able to whip this up.

All of the light gray is machine-knit, and the dark gray pieces are hand-knit.

This will be critiqued in class tomorrow. I'm really happy with it, so hopefully I'll get a mostly positive response.

-- Laura

Screenprinting Project 5.

2011-11-10T13:02:00.002-06:00

My 5th screenprinting project is due Tuesday, and I just finished it this morning. This project is a portfolio trade, so everyone in the class will get one copy of everyone's prints. I did an edition of 20 + 3 artist proofs. Finished paper size is 11x11.

I had good intentions of taking pictures after each layer, but I forgot to do that for the last 3 or 4 layers because I was in a groove this morning.

From beginning to end:

*insert a few layers here*

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. If you're wondering, the first few layers are knit stitch shapes, and the circular things are abstracted yarn balls. I need to get it properly photographed so I can include it in my portfolio exit review next week (ahhh!).

Also, I noticed today that my third screenprinting project was in one of the cases outside the class today. I don't know how long it's been up, haha.

P.S. Are you celebrating Wovember? It's still a bit too warm for the most part for a lot of wool here in Texas, but I wore (handknit) wool socks today!

-- Laura

FO: Lea's Birthday Socks.

2011-11-07T06:47:00.001-06:00

These socks had a pretty tight deadline. I'm knitting socks for my sister, dad, and mom this year for their birthdays (Nov 4, Nov 18, and Dec 18 respectively) and I didn't have a lot of time to finish my sister's. I actually made my dad's first (which I won't post about until after his birthday) because I originally thought I wanted the yarn I used for my dad to be for my sister. I changed my mind very early on and made them man socks.

I had this other yarn in my stash from a couple of months ago when I went to Jennings Street Yarns in Fort Worth. My sister had requested rainbow or gray socks (what a contrast) and I decided that this yarn was kind of a more mature rainbow.

Okay, these socks were really hard to photograph, and it was really cloudy yesterday, so sorry in advance. There will also be photos with the dreaded flash :(

Friday was my sister's 19th birthday, but I didn't get to see her until Sunday to give her these. I was worried they might be a tiny bit small, but they fit her perfectly!

I warned you about the flash, but at least you an actually see the colors!

Project Details:

Ravelry Project Page: Link
Pattern: Basic Ribbed Socks by Kate Atherley
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints (I found a website that called this color "Londonberry", although it's nowhere on the label)
Needles: 1.5 US - 2.5 mm

Thoughts on Pattern:

I enjoyed this pattern because of the 3x1 rib. A 1x1 or 2x2 can get so tedious having to switch back and forth between knit and purl stitches every one or two stitches, but 3x1 makes it a lot more bearable. I wasn't crazy about the heel and gusset, although it ended up working out. This project has actually inspired me to start a new pair of socks (for myself!) in a 3x1 rib but a heel, gusset, and toe I prefer.

Etsy Denton Handmade Harvest!

2011-11-06T06:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of vending at the Etsy Denton Handmade Harvest! It was a wonderful show overall and a great show for me as well! I met so many fun people and got to talk to people passionate about yarn like me.

My space before setting up.

I am 99% positive I took a picture of my booth set-up, but it isn't with the rest of my pictures! Oh well. I brought all of my organic and recycled yarns, as well as a skein for me to play with. I decided I wanted to knit myself a pair of socks with my Fullmetal colorway, and I figured it might be a good idea to be knitting with my own yarn :)

I was pretty good about not spending money at this show. I had been considering picking up some Christmas presents, but I decided against it at this show. Maybe if I make it over to Etsy Dallas in a couple of weeks I'll pick some presents up.

I ended up coming out of there with some mineral foundation and eyeshadow from the lovely Sarah at Simplicity Cosmetics. I haven't worn make-up in years (excluding Halloween), but I decided I wanted to wear a little bit on my wedding day at least. Sarah's products came highly recommended by my friend/bridesmaid/fellow Etsy seller Rachel, so I decided to go ahead and get some. I wanted to try it out when I got home, but I can't find my brushes! I wonder if I even still have them...

The other bit of swag I came home with was an Itty Kitty from my friend Amanda at Little Fun Co. I got a Fun Bun from her a year ago, and when she came out with a line of kitties, I had to have one too. We traded this kitty for a skein of my Sakura yarn, and I can't wait to see what she weaves with it.

This kitty does not have a name yet! Help!

I started a sock based on the pattern I used to do my sister's birthday socks (pictures tomorrow), but I think I'm going to change the toe and heel from the original pattern. It's a very basic ribbed sock, so not a big deal to modify. Check out how the colorway ended up working on this pattern:

Diagonal lines! Weeee! But now I have to put the sock on hold while I finish up some school projects. Oh December 17th, you cannot come soon enough.

Knitting Machine Woes.

2011-11-02T07:41:00.001-05:00

I was asked by my weaving professor Lesli if I would help her with a project she was working on involving knitting experimental fibers on the knitting machine."Experimental fiber" intrigued me, so I jumped at the chance. I've also been working a lot with the knitting machines this semester, including completely taking one apart, so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult.

Tip: Don't take apart a knitting machine if you want to keep your sanity.

Oh boy, was I wrong. I believe what this fiber is made out of is biopolymer (I need to double-check but I'm pretty sure) and it's biodegradable.

This stuff breaks if you look at it the wrong way.

The people developing it are going to be doing testing on it as a fabric to see what it can be used for. Right now, they are considering medical uses. Where Lesli comes in is to turn this thread into a fabric to be tested. She had already been doing samples and working with it, and brought me in to do some of the samples.

This is one that Lesli did. The red on the top and bottom is just cotton.

This material was so difficult to work with. It stretched out very easily and would snap. When that would happen, the whole thing would fall off the machine and the dropped stitches would immediately unravel down to the bottom row. What I thought would have taken me 30 minutes to do ended up taking me 3 hours, and they don't look near as good as I would like.

It was actually going well at this point....

Nevertheless, I got my three very wonky and small samples done, although I don't know if they're usable yet because I wasn't able to do very big sections.

Who knows, I might be back in there next week trying to make new ones.

Screenprinting Project 3 and Netting Workshop.

2011-10-08T08:54:00.000-05:00

My third screenprinting project turned out much better than the second, but still not without its major flaws. I don't know why I can't keep everything clean! I've gotten a lot better though, and the only critique I got from my instructor was about technique.

There were two new techniques introduced: working reductively and split fountain. Working reductively is where you work in the same screen for each layer, just blocking out more and more area and getting more detail each layer. Split fountain is printing using two or more colors at once to create a gradient effect.

My first layer was one of three I did split fountain on, but its the only one you can really see it on. I didn't want a crazy rainbow print, so I did very subtle split fountains for the other two required layers.

I had every intention of taking pictures in between each layer, but I kept forgetting because I would get in the printing zone and just completely forget.

Here's the finished product. I'm still not good at putting enough pressure when I'm printing large areas, resulting in uneven layers. Meh. At least I'm improving.

In other news, if you follow me on Twitter, you may remember I said I was going to a netting workshop last Sunday. A classmate went to Penland this summer where she learned how to make nets, so she was kind enough to teach the rest of us.

I don't know if I'll ever use this skill, but it was kind of cool to make a little sample. I forgot to take pictures during the process, and this photo is the only one I have of the workshop:

I caught my friend Katy's (we were at her house for the workshop) kitten with my net sample! She looks so much like Othello when he was a kitten!

-- Laura

Fun With Cyanotype!

2011-10-03T12:41:00.001-05:00

The first process we were taught this semester in my Surface Design class was cyanotype. Cyanotype uses two chemicals, ammonium iron citrate and potassium ferricyanide, and when exposed they turn the fabric they are applied to blue. The unexposed areas, when done correctly, stay white (or the original fabric color).

I had big (literally) plans for my cyanotype project, but they didn't turn out as expected. Luckily, I'm quite used to my first idea not working out, so I was able to come up with an even better project.

For the process, we first coated our fabric with the mixture of the two chemicals and let dry in a completely dark room.

Mixing chemicals in a small, dark room.

Once dry, you can expose the fabric with a stencil covering the areas you want to stay white. I drew on some thin plastic I found in the supply closet with Sharpie, so that the light would be blocked out of the areas I drew. I was trying to draw little knit stitches...

At this point I should have known I was doomed.... they look like hearts!

Time to expose! You can do this in the sun, but as the sun can vary so much, I used our exposure table at school.

Yay for UV lights!

After it's exposed, you wash it out immediately so that it doesn't expose further. Even though my design was bust, the actual exposing process worked perfectly.

So what should I do? Well, soda ash takes cyanotype out of fabric, and leaves it looking a little yellow. So I washed the entire piece of fabric with water and soda ash, re-coated it, exposed it with no stencil so it was just blue, and screenprinted with soda ash mixed into print paste.

Click the image to see it bigger.

I printed close-up images of things that I've knitted throughout my life for myself and others. I ended up being very happy with the outcome, and I got a lot of positive feedback in critique as well.

Now I just have to figure out how to make my next project better (or at least on par with) this one. I'm totally stumped right now for ideas!

-- Laura

FO: Jose's First Handknit Socks.

2011-09-25T20:20:00.001-05:00

These socks have actually been done for over a week now, but I haven't gotten the chance to get Jose to sit still and let me take pictures of him wearing them. This is the first pair of socks I've knitted for him.

These socks were actually going to be a Christmas gift, even though he saw me working on them and knew they were for him. A couple of weeks ago he mentioned how he was excited to be able to wear his knitted socks as soon as it got cold, and I didn't feel like reminding him that he wasn't getting them until the end of December. Oh well. Next project that's supposed to be for a present will have to be a secret.

Project Details:

Ravelry Project Page: Link
Pattern: Fit Well Socks by Amanda Cathleen Morgan
Yarn: Ella Rae Lace Merino in colorway 126
Needles: US 2 1/2 dpns

Thoughts on Pattern:

The pattern was very easy and good mindless knitting. I like the rows of plain knit in between each row of ribbing because it makes it a little bit different than your average ribbed sock. I've actually cast on another pair of these as a gift for someone else already.

-- Laura

Yarn Shop Sale!

2011-09-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

As I'm sure you know, today is the first official day of autumn. In honor of that, all of my recycled yarns in the Etsy shop have been marked down 20%. These lowered prices will be available through September 30th, so grab what you want now!

Here's a link to all the recycled yarns in my shop: Link

-- Laura

Vat Dye Discharge Workshop.

2011-09-18T06:58:00.000-05:00

Although a few days late, as promised I have the full post on the Vat Dye Discharge workshop with Janet Taylor.

Essentially, what vat dye discharge does is take out the color where you apply it and drop in a new color at the same time. For example, the picture I already posted:

Here, the red was dyed first, and then I stamped on the gold. It took out the red so that the gold would show up. This was on charmeuse silk.

Another scarf I did is on habotai (or china silk):

The difference here is that the discharge part of the process moved faster than the dye, leaving a halo effect around the shapes.

We created big stamps the size of the scarves to make the patterns, but you can also screen print with it. We rolled our concoctions on...

And then stamped them on the fabric...

From here on out will be miscellaneous pictures from the workshop. If you're interested in learning the process yourself, Janet will be teaching the process at Penland in April and possibly at Arrowmont in the near future as well. I'm seriously considering going to Penland so I can explore this some more.

That's all for today. Coming soon, I finished a pair of socks that I can finally show off!

Picture Post - Sneak Peak at What I've Been Doing Lately.

2011-09-14T07:24:00.001-05:00

My Printmaking Project and I'm Finally Seeing Red.

2011-09-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is my poorly-executed printmaking project. It's definitely better than my first one though. That means my next one will be flawless! (ha)

Today I spent most of my time prepping things for the workshop I'm assisting for this week. We have a visiting artist at my school, Janet Taylor, who was actually my surface design professor Amie's instructor when she was an undergrad. Janet came here to teach us about vat dyeing and taking out color while simultaneously adding a new color. I am beyond excited to learn about all of this!

One of the things I did to prep today was dye some silk for samples. I got to choose one of the colors, so I jumped at the chance to dye them red. I have a love/hate relationship with the color red. Red is my favorite color (my car's even red), but I have never successfully dyed something red. It always comes out pink, no matter how much dye I used or tweaked the ratios of color. I hadn't tried to dye red in over a year, so I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity as I would have not one, but two fibers artists over my shoulder who could help me.

Amie told me for about the millionth time that to get a good red, I should use a 1:1 ratio of scarlet and fuchsia MX dyes, and that I should use a lot. Janet agreed with this, and even though I swear I've done all of that before, but I did it anyway, hoping for a miracle. Well, no such luck. I was staring at hot pink once again in my dye bath. As I was admitting defeat, Janet came up and said that we weren't going to give up until we got it right. I took the silk out, and she added a good amount (about the same amount as one of the other dyes) of sun yellow. I was afraid it was going to be too orange, but to my delight after stirring it up and putting the silk back in, it appeared red! Real red, not pink-red!

And guess what? After washing the silk, it was still red!

I'm pretty sure my friends in my weaving class thought I was weird for running around showing everyone how red the fabric was, but I couldn't help it. I felt like my life was finally complete.

-- Laura

I'm Not As Good At Screenprinting As I Thought.

2011-09-11T07:18:00.001-05:00

This weekend has been a busy one for me. I'm trying to get ahead in school because this next week on Tuesday and Thursday I will be the assistant in a dyeing workshop given by a visiting artist (I'll talk more about that in a later post).

This workshop is all day Tuesday and Thursday, meaning I will miss my printmaking class those days, or in other words, 6 hours of studio time. Our current project is due the following Tuesday, meaning I get no class time to work on it.

I actually would rather work outside of class time since it's a lot less crowded, so it's not an issue for me. I've been screen printing for a couple of years now in my fibers classes and had gotten pretty good at it, so I figured I could crank out the five layers I needed in a few hours yesterday. That was not the case.

There are a lot of things different about the way the fibers screenprinting goes and the printmaking screenprinting goes, and so I feel very clumsy and out of my element trying to get used to everything. For one thing, I have a much smaller workspace than I'm used to. I cannot keep anything clean because I'm not used to everything being so jammed together. In fact, I actually had to go buy more paper yesterday because I ruined so many sheets.

I got to spread out a bit because there weren't as many people in the studio yesterday.

I ran across the street to one of the off-campus school supply stores that stocks the norm (textbooks, pencils, UNT shirts...) but also has a large art supply section. I figured that since it was Saturday, I could run in and out fairly quickly and didn't even bother taking off the apron I was wearing since no one would really see me.

I walk in and there is a very long line. I had forgotten that it was game day. Not any game day, but the first game day of the year and the first game ever in the brand new stadium. Everyone was buying UNT shirts. I sadly got in the long line so I could ask for my one sheet of Rives BFK. While I was in line, I kept getting a lot of weird looks and I didn't know why. And then I looked down.

I took this picture while standing in line.

I had forgotten I was wearing the apron. This apron isn't mine, but a classroom apron, so there's no telling how old it is. Hardly any of the actual fabric is showing on this thing. I took a full picture later so you could see how I looked:

It doesn't help that the apron was longer than my shorts and it looked like I wasn't wearing pants from the front.

The guy in front of the in the line buying a - surprise! - UNT shirt turned to me and said, "Uh, so do you, like, paint a lot?" to which I responded, "Oh, no, I'm in printmaking." I think that confused him because he didn't look like he understood what I meant, but he turned around after that and didn't try to say anything after that.

Finally when I got back to work I started getting in the grove of things a lot better, but my prints still aren't perfect. If I had a perfect print on one layer, I'd get a drip on the next layer on that sheet. At least the craftsmanship has improved since my first project last week.

I only managed to get three layers done in the three hours I was in the studio. At least I'll be able to finish the last two today and be done with it. I'll take a picture of the best one and post it... maybe.

-- Laura

Fancy Textile Play Time.

2011-09-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

This past Wednesday my weaving class had the pleasure of looking through and fondling several old hand-woven and/or hand-embroidered textiles. A woman who collected textiles from around the world passed away recently, and some of her collection went to the Dallas Museum of Art and some were given to the Texas Fashion Collection, which is housed at my university in the same building I have all my fibers classes.

Before they were put away in boxes for storage, we had the opportunity to examine and lust over these beautiful fabrics with our bare hands. After this, they will only be available for viewing when wearing gloves. It was such a neat experience, and I took several photos. I'll stop blabbing and get to the eye candy.

Some of the things laid out on a table.

A ceremonial skirt from Indonesia.

Hand woven

-- Laura

Why I'm Thinking About The Holidays Already.

2011-08-29T08:40:00.000-05:00

Winter holidays might seem like ages away (especially for those of us who just began the fall semester), but as a crafter, I begin to feel the pressure of the deadline around this time of the year. I always tell myself that I'm going to do holiday knitting/crafting throughout the year to lessen the rush, but then I get distracted by other things and end up in the same situation every year.

This morning, I asked my followers on Twitter if they were working on any holiday presents yet. I got a wide variety of answers, from "I haven't even thought about it" to "I have 20 sweaters done!" (That last one may or may not have been an exaggeration.)

This picture is from a snow day a couple years ago. Don't be fooled into thinking this is the norm for my holidays; this is the most snow I've ever seen in my life.

Especially in the past couple of years, I've narrowed down who I'll craft more elaborate presents for, and only a select few will get anything knitted. Even then, I've never been able to crank out big presents for people like I see others do. Sure, my mom deserves a nice fine cardigan knit on size negative 7 needles and my dad deserves a pullover that would sit in his closet forever because he doesn't want to mess it up, but if I did that, I wouldn't be able to make anything for anyone else. Sorry Mom and Dad... maybe some day.

I also got to thinking about my blog and how holiday crafting will effect it. Both my mom and my fiance (maybe more than that, I don't know) know where to find my blog, so I can't exactly go around posting my projects that I'm trying to keep a secret. On the upside, I'll have a lot to show right after December 25. I'm going to try to keep up with some projects for me on the side, and of course I'll have art projects from school to share until then.

If you make gifts for people, have you started yet? Do you have a game plan?

-- Laura

Asian Market Adventures.

2011-08-26T11:35:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, I don't really have any crafting updates to give today. I did finish the first in a pair of socks for Jose though.

School started for me yesterday, so unfortunately the time I have to work on my business/craft is probably going to be reduced. I will try to continue updating the blog, and maybe even have some art school-related things to share.

Today I went to the "local" Asian market. I put "local" in quotations because it's not in my town and kind of a chore to go over there. It's called H Mart, and it's huge. I've been to several Asian markets, but this one has been my favorite for a while.

I picked up a lot of things (fruits, veggies, nori because it's so much cheaper there...) but the real reason I wanted to go was for one specific ingredient: sesame leaves.

I had bought sesame leaves before, but I didn't know what to do with them and they went bad before I got around to using them. I was talking to my half-Korean friend Morgan yesterday, and she was telling me about how in her family they use them to wrap around rice and other fillings. I decided to go ahead and buy these mysterious leaves.

I was feeling pretty lazy, so I didn't feel like making any other fillings than rice. I made sushi rice that I seasoned like I would for sushi so it would have a bit of flavor. I was actually very surprised by these leaves and really enjoyed them. They have kind of a minty flavor to them, and it added some subtle flavor unlike other wrappers (lettuce, rice paper...).

I don't think I'll be able to get Jose to try sesame leaves like this. I have several left, and I found a recipe for Korean pancakes that uses these and other veggies. It will be pan-fried and not healthy, so he should be up for trying it ;)

I picked up one other thing at the market that I had never tried before: starfruit! If you remember, trying starfruit is on my list of 25 Things Before I Turn 25. That's one crossed off now! I shared it with my friend Rachel who had never tried it either, and we both really liked it! It's kind of like an apple in taste and texture.

That's all for today, so I hope you all enjoy your weekends!

-- Laura