Birds are flying in and out of my life right now. I participated in the annual Spinners and Weavers
Guild show at the Bloomington Convention Center over the weekend, and I
displayed my new whimsical birds and bird-themed weavings created over the
summer. Two of the whimsical birds found
their forever homes and I was commissioned to create two more. They seemed to make a lot of fair-goers very
happy, so I’m calling that project a success.
My latest bird piece is ongoing, however, and I devoted a substantial
block of time this week to creating a hummingbird. I’m imagining a full sized weaving featuring
three clusters of flowers from a trumpet vine, where the compound leaves
cascade forward from the woven background.
I was pretty excited when I created the trumpet flowers about a month
ago, and they have patiently waited for a hummingbird to come along to pass
some pollen from bloom to bloom.
The
change in weather (and the end of my role in costuming) allowed me the time to
bring the hummingbird to life. I’m
pretty excited about the composition as a whole, and I can’t wait to assemble
it.
The end of one project brings another, and I need to set
aside my birds for a few days to focus on my upcoming workshop this weekend
here in Bloomington. It has been a long
time since I was able to hold a workshop where I can sleep in my own bed! It will take place on Saturday from 9-4 at
the St. Thomas Lutheran Church on Third Street.
If you are interested, there are still three slots open—let me know and
I’ll connect you with the organizer. The
workshop focuses on needle felting techniques, and we will create – yup –
birds!
They can be any kind of bird your
heart desires, from representational to whimsical, from drab to colorful, and
from small to large. I plan to have a
great time, with lots of laughter, enthusiasm, and transfer of information and ideas.
This week I continued on my quest to create a fun dye pot using
natural materials. Avocado shells and
nuts were the featured material, which my son Jacob has been collecting for
me. He likes to make avocado toast for
breakfast, and he slips the unwanted materials in a big ziplock bag in the
freezer for me. I scoured the web for
tips on how to dye with avocados and I found two important details for creating
a nice pinky-brown wool. The first is to
carefully wash the materials to remove any remaining avocado flesh, and the
second is to raise the pH of the solution.
I added a half a cup of baking soda to my four gallons of dye and boiled
my freshly washed wool for an hour.
The
pot steeped overnight and I pulled the fleece out the next day. The rainy weather slowed the drying process,
but now I have an almost dry wool. I’ll
add it to my stash of wools in the category of ‘this will be just perfect for
something, I just don’t know what yet’ in my vast fiber storage area.
The week ended with a delightful celebratory dinner after
the show, where Jim made ginger glazed salmon with fresh ginger from the farmer’s
market. Steamed broccoli and jasmine
rice completed the meal, and a beautiful and delicious raspberry pie followed
for dessert. Add a glass of celebratory
wine and it’s clear that life is good.
Full, but very good.
Until next week,
--> Martina Celerin
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