Fiber * Art * Nature

To weave, to blog, to live life?

2011-07-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a busy summer so far.
We married off a daughter. I taught a summer class. I've been working out - seriously, with a trainer in a gym. The garden is growing - but not too happy now since the summer heat has them all resting.
A lot of activity - but none of it weaving. I've not even had my 'projects' on my lap in the evening. What's with that??

My daughter told me about a website that makes it super easy to be visually engaged: Pinterest.com
One curates 'galleries' there and can ''pin" photos from wherever...

With all the hoopla, I feel like I've been percolating, simmering, the ideas are bubbling around but aren't yet fully formed. Hence, the utility of the Pinterest site. I'm thinking I may set up boards there for projects to help better visualize them - and to get them out of my head!
We'll see where that takes me. From inertia to momentum to, dare I say it, creation?
Check it out: http://pinterest.com/sally_raskoff/

Hummingbird Sage update

2011-05-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Wow - with the Google conversion of sites, apps, accounts, etc., I've been kinda locked out of here! I think I got it all straightened out.. Whew! Technology! Fun, when it works..

Hummingbird Sage

Anyway - what with summer on its way, my sage has been working its way through its blooming stages as seen in previous posts. The dried structures that it creates are just as fascinating as the blooms!

One bloom at a time

2011-01-28T10:51:00.000-08:00

Nature continues to do her thing and the cycle of life continues!

My hummingbird sage is blooming even though it's only recently been planted.
I love the neutral (color) aspect of the stalk and leaves then the POP of color in the blooms...
Contrast seems to be the name of the game here to get our attention - especially if we are a hummingbird.
Thanks, Mother Nature, for the color lesson!

Unreliable Timing

2011-01-21T09:45:00.001-08:00

Have you ever pondered the nature of TIME?
I do quite often because I have a terrible sense of time passing.
(That's obvious if you take a look at how often I post here!)

Nature has its own sense of time as the earth relates to the sun and moon, creating our seasons, tides, and other rhythms...
My brain, on the other hand, has no sense of time unless I have a schedule to follow. I don't wear a watch unless I'm working and have said schedules - thus, when I'm not working, time is elusive and abstract.

The nerd in me propels me to set up computer reminders and other such external time monitors yet I rebel against those by walking away from the computer. Oh well.

I planted my experimental California native (for the most part) garden last fall and some plants have begun to bloom even as most are dormant.
These photos are of my blooming Hummingbird Sage (salvia spathacea). The Theodore Payne Foundation has a great website to learn about California Native plants: http://www.theodorepayne.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Salvia_spathacea. They were indispensable in my garden project.

We've had some 80 degree weather so the plants are probably as confused as I am as to what time of year this really is!

Color... Culture... Meaning...

2010-10-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

While my yard is in 'progress' (soaking in all the rain that's been falling), I've been thinking a lot about color and culture. Different societies use color in very different ways although there is a lot of similarity, too.
I came across this graph: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/
while looking at another of their graphs that a student had sent me! It's a wheel of cultures and colors by topic or emotion or issue. So - number 1 is Anger and Cultures A, B, G, & I all use red to reflect or express anger... these include Western/American (A), Japanese (B), Eastern European (G), and African (I) cultures. Anger is black for Hindu culture.
Interesting although I am curious as to the sources of information they used. They mention the website Color Matters http://www.colormatters.com/ but then I wonder what their sources are...

Restless

2010-09-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

Do you know what it's like when you get so busy with mundane things that you feel like you're not doing anything? That makes me restless with respect to my fiber interests since I've not been successful at carving out enough time for them.
In any case, the back yard project has been slowly evolving but other things have taken its place.
More intriguing to me (the land will wait - it's resting...) is the meaning of color.
What does color mean to us?
Different cultures have different approaches to color as do different individuals. While nature provides us with an amazing palette of color, our eyes, brains, and perceptions create different impressions.

Back from hiatus - ready to plant!

2010-07-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've been intentionally 'off-grid' lately - that makes it hard on the blog thing but one must unplug periodically.
We have a nice little backyard that is currently empty - I've been demo-ing what was there since it was time to clean it all out. There is a huge oak tree next door that shades part of the space but most of it does get sun either in the morning or in the afternoon.
I want to plant a weaver's garden (plus tomatoes) thus I'm in the process of identifying what I could plant in this environment.
Any ideas, suggestions, warnings?
Many types of bamboo are very useful for various things but they tend to take over and crowd out other plants. Flax?! Hmmm...

New Vision of the Cord Skirt

2010-05-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

Ancient cord skirts from the Bronze Age were used to accentuate women's movements, particularly in fertility rituals. These remind me of codpieces for men - they certainly accentuate and call attention to the same general body area as do cord skirts on women.

As the use of codpieces disappeared, some say that neckties found their function as they also 'point' to the same area that the codpiece decorated. Is the necktie a codpiece that migrated upwards??!!

In thinking about clothing, fashion, and function, it occurs to me to create a neck-piece along the lines of the cord skirt.
Something swingy that moves when the wearer moves - something that both current and ancient in its uses. Yet something that doesn't necessarily look ancient (!)

The cultures that made cord skirts used braiding, twisted cords, and inkle or tablet woven bands.

Starting with basic weaving and Viking braiding (using loops & fingers - very portable), I created some little potential pendants - but the weight isn't right.
The Viking braids (hanging down) can be weighted with beads but the top square piece is too flimsy to hold it all. Unless I mount it on something, this ain't gonna work!! (And mounting it on something doesn't sound good - too bulky & too many 'parts'...)

Whew!

2010-05-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

What happened to April?! As a teacher, the spring is my busiest time of year: papers to grade, reports to complete, hiring to do.. Not enough time for fiber, art, or nature!

That said, I have been fiddling around with various things.
Updating my father's genealogy has taken me into Viking and English history.
I just wrote a Sociology blog related to this issue and it's taken me into fiber history as well.
Evidently, the vikings were big on making braids and band weaving (inkle, card weaving, etc.) - techniques I've been playing with for years.
The Danish National Museum has a great online exhibition of cultural finds - including The Egtved Girl and her string/cord skirt (among other things). You can see all the detail of the clothing!
I'm not planning on making a cord skirt - but the idea is intriguing.
Hmmm...

Color Shifts in my creatures

2010-03-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

Meet my little dragons! or Sea Horses! Birds?! or whatever they look like to you..
These are another result of my Simultaneous Contrast explorations.. I used the same green/blue for both, then used orange or red (the complement of the neighbor of green-blue) for my ply-splitting experiment..
I like the way the colors interact - and the way the creatures seem to be commiserating about something.
I may have created them but I not sure I speak their dialect since they haven't told me what they are!

The next photo is of their older cousin who started out as an initial "S" for me - but took on a life of its own.
In ply-splitting, you can pull on the threads - or not - as you pull them through, to shape what you're making into something quite unique.

Simultaneous Contrast, update

2010-02-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

If you saw my earlier post about doing a project based on Simultaneous Contrast, you might have wondered what became of that?
I did finally get some things done that I'm happy with..

Here's my study in yellow/green - with braids for each original color (Yellow, Yellow-Green, and Green) and then with the near-complement on each side.. Thus Yellow with Red-Violet (makes the yellow more orange) and Yellow with Blue-Violet (which makes the yellow more green). Cool, huh!?

The Yellow-Green is with Red (more yellow) and with Violet (more green).
The Green is with Red-Orange (more yellow-green) and with Red-Violet (more blue)..
I think I got that right.. it does get confusing!
I wove all these into some black silk so that the colors would be framed in a bold way.

Working Holiday

2010-01-25T18:50:00.001-08:00

Egads, where does the time go?

I've been offline far too long but I did get some things done!

This is my "Spectral Contrast" project - one of my Simultaneous Contrast items...

I've got monochromatic kumihimo braids woven into black silk - for each primary and secondary color - so that one can see what light and dark shades do to the colors. Although this is a tiny photo, you can see the effects..

These are 7 strand braids - moving from 4 dark/3 light to 4 light/3 dark in gradations.

Sunrise 3

2009-10-30T15:22:00.001-07:00

DSCN3349, originally uploaded by srraskoff.

Blurry but that makes the colors blend in interesting ways.. in my opinion..

Sunrise 2

2009-10-30T15:21:00.001-07:00

DSCN3363, originally uploaded by srraskoff.

Sunrise 1

2009-10-30T15:19:00.001-07:00

DSCN3356, originally uploaded by srraskoff.

Sunrise

2009-10-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Sunrise today inspired me.
Inspired me to take pictures of it.
Inspired me to think more about simultaneous contrast.
Inspired me to notice how the oranges and blues reinforce each other.
Inspired me to post these pictures so you could see them!

Simultaneous Contrast

2009-09-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

"Simultaneous Contrast" is quite a phrase and quite a concept. I'm in a study group on this topic and I am in awe of how many ways there are to address the issues that it presents.
A fella by the name of Chevreul was the first to present his "law" of simultaneous contrast (among other things). Basically, this means that if two colors are next to each other (and are roughly the same size in area), each will shift as they are are affected by the (near) complement of the other.
So - if you look at red and green, the red looks more red and the green looks more green - since red and green are complementary colors!
It's easy to see if the colors are complmenetary colors to begin with - since they jsut intensify each other.
That's why red&green, orange&blue, yellow&violet are so eye-popping - all because of simultaneous contrast!
If you have colors that are not complementary, it gets a little more complicated.
Keep in mind that one color is affected by the neighbor of the other color's complement - thus the yellow surrounded by red will tend to shift towards a yellow-greenish tinge (green is red's complement and yellow green is nearer to or the neighbor of green when you look towards yellow. If you isolate that little yellow petal, the yellow looks like yellow - if you see it with the others around it - it shifts a tiny bit towards greenish. the red isn't affected since the yellow is so small.

If you don't see that, how about the purple and green succulents - the green should look more yellow-green and the purple should look more red-purple since they are so plentiful and close in proximity.
Again, if you look at one color with the other blocked off and then compare the entire image, the colors do shift a bit.
This is your brain on Simultaneous Contrast!

How about this yellow with orange? The yellow should shift towards blue-green and the orange towards red-purple.

I'm having such fun with this and how it expresses itself in fiber. I'll have some photos of those project soon - they're not yet finsihed enough to make sense in a photo!

Colors in Nature

2009-08-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note on color - in my preparations for the semester to begin, I've been appreciating the way that nature puts things together. It is simply amazing.
The oranges and greens of a poppy field, the blues, greens, and white of the ocean and sky...
I'm in a study group on Simultaneous Contrast - more to come on that - and the things I'm noticing about color simply amazes me. Specifically, how two colors together affect each other..
Look around and see what colors nature puts together!

Summer?!

2009-08-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

Wow - It's mid-August and I've not done most of what I had planned for the summer.
How does that happen??
I have been fiddling around with web stuff, straightening up my web sites (like this blog) and such - but not nearly weaving enough! And now it's mid-August.. Gah!
I have been making jillions of Kumihimo braids - that's Japanese braiding in case you've not heard of it. I always have a few projects that will involve them so I travel with them, using a foam disk instead of a marudai - since it's easier to go on trips and sit around with a little foam disk rather than a wood structure as big as a stool. I do prefer the marudai when I'm braiding with silk or other slippery fibers.
What do I do with all these braids? Well, I've made a napkin holder for my spouse (it's really a bib) - just put two alligator clips on the ends and, voila, a 'napkin holder'... ;-)
They can be drawstrings, trim on clothing or whatever, straps or belts or ... They can do anything your imagination produces!
I have been known to coil them into little vessels.
Here's one that I did last year - it was exhibited in Designing Weavers (Guild) "Sideshow" last year in Florida (during HGA's Convergence) at the Manatee Art Center in Bradenton.
I call it "One Ring Circus". It's actually got quite a dark expression on the circus theme.
Here's the text I wrote for its description:
"The circus has both light and dark, positive and negative, as people come together forming community - both audience and circus people - yet differences are magnified and life is difficult. The salience of animal involvement is also paramount as it is both joyful and sad as some people relish seeing wild animals up close and personal yet life for the animal is often violent and bereft of a natural habitat and rhythm. Circus life has structure, hence the fully formed coiled kumihimo ring, yet it has its dark side, reflected by the black and red pattern. There is only one ring and one elephant as the others have escaped and gone on an adventure of their own, to live life not as a spectacle but as an adventure to be experienced."
I find it poignant that I'm posting a note about this now as it was last summer's project. Time is passing much too quickly! Gott go weave!

Ocean...

2009-07-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

I've always loved the ocean - I'll never live too far away from it if I have any choice about the matter.
Weaving the ocean is something I attempt periodically on purpose yet it also makes its way into my other weaving projects subconsciously. The colors vary so much - so many different blues and greens, even gray and purple, depending on the ocean, sun, clouds, and weather.
My 'favorite' ocean is the Pacific around the Hawaiian Islands - the source of the photos below which I use often for inspiration, not to mention relaxation.

The photos (below) are from a project intended to weave the ocean and all the different colors within it. There are the expected blues but also greens and grays..
The fibers are primarily cottons although there are a couple of rayon threads in there. I added those since they are a bit more shiny than the cottons, thus invoking the sunshine reflecting off the water.
I like the cottons since they are not shiny - they are for representing the waters that run deep, through which you can see and in which you know are dwelling creatures and many forms of life.
Here I used one of the neutral cotton blues for the weft while in the second, below, I used sewing thread.
Both of these show the colors of the warp nicely as I used plain weave for the structure.

The third photo shows how a twill weave pattern can mimic the waves and currents. Using different sizes of yarns, some moving together, some separately, a basic twill looks very complicated.
This twill closeup is of my favorite scarf, I often wear it. It's been in the washer and dryer many times and still looks good.
I love it when that happens (since that's not always the case).

More poppies

2009-07-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

With regard to the poppies mentioned in my previous blog, here are more photos of what the series looks like - I made a number of different scarves from one very long warp. The scarf photo in my last blog was a bit washed out and the green is squirrelly thus here are more accurate images!

This first scarf (left) has a sewing thread weft. It's really lightweight and drapes and crunches up really well.
(Click on the photos and a larger image will load in.)

This next scarf (below) has a cashmere-merino weft. It's a still lightweight but it's a bit stiffer than the others - but it is a bit warmer when wrapped around your neck!

This last image shows the scarf with a weft from one of the cotton yarns in the warp. It's a lightweight scarf that drapes pretty nicely. though not as nicely as the one with the sewing thread weft...

The orange hues mixed with some green (for leaves) and brownish oranges (for the ground and shaded flowers) really reflect what I love in the poppy fields when they are at their best.

Spring poppies

2009-07-05T17:16:00.000-07:00

Every spring when the California poppies bloom, I am amazed at the range of colors in those blooms.

We try to drive out to Lancaster/Palmdale and see what we can of the blooms.

And every time we see them, there are pictures to be taken - and weaving to be done once I get home!

This is just a plain weave project that I did awhile back with different yarns, both smooth and bumpy, to mimic the range of colors and textures.

All yarns are cottons, no synthetics fibers here.

The flowers themselves but also the stems, leaves, and the earth below gave me the color palette.

The Colors of Life

2009-06-21T19:24:00.001-07:00

Hi! Welcome to my blog!

I'm continually intrigued by colors in nature. I use fiber techniques to weave the patterns and textures - and colors - that I see in nature.
The image in my blog title is one I took in Hawaii of lava - as it cools, it attains the different colors and they're in 'rainbow' order. That piece of lava is actually about 4 inches wide - it's tiny!
Below is the Inkle band I wove in response to the colors in the lava:

The lava ia amazing and I had to keep going - here's an Inkle Rope that I wove in response to this other type of lava:

The rope-y strands in the texture of the lava led me to do this project.

Here's what that piece of lava looked like:

Madame Pele and Mother Nature are amazing!