Lovely Things

Gee, it's been so long since I posted that the interface for posting has changed drastically. I just started a post, only to lose it, so I guess I'll try again.

Yeah yeah.... I don't post very often. I will confess that I mostly use my blog for the bookmarks to the blogs I read, so I can quickly and easily see if there are new posts available to read. :-)  And I've been working too much lately to do much fibery stuff, so I've hesitated to post.

But I've acquired some new lovely things that I thought I'd share. I subscribe to the Braids and Bands Yahoo Group, which recently had a tutorial on weaving Sami bands. Susan, the author, showed weaving these neat bands using an inkle loom or rigid heddle, and also showed several types of rigid heddles - regular, double hole, and double slot.  I posted a while back about a beautiful double hole heddle that I purchased on Etsy. I love it, but must confess that I didn't really enjoy the weaving process. It was too fiddly, even with adding string heddles to help with pulling pattern threads down. So I was especially interested to see the double slot heddle Susan used in one of her videos. She had a reference for a Swedish company that makes neat double slot heddles, but... they are expensive, and they are made of plastic.

Ever since, though, this has been rolling around in the back of my mind. In the meantime, I found out from a coworker about Maker Place - a new company in San Diego that has every tool known to man (including laser cutters and 3D printers.) It is AWESOME, and both my son Sam and my husband Eldy are now members. I decided to use Illustrator to make a design for a double slot heddle, and got my coworker to cut it from eight inch birch plywood. Here's the result.

You can see the size - it's sitting on top of my iPad.  If you look carefully, you'll also see that I didn't count properly. :-) But still, it's pretty cool! I've made a smaller design that has 9 pattern slots instead of 13, and bought a supply of birch plywood from a seller on amazon. I can't wait til Eldy can go down to Maker Place and cut one of the smaller ones for me.  This prototype turned out well, but this plywood scorched a little bit. I've sanded and sanded and think it will be okay, but Wayne, my coworker, told me about the new stuff I bought, and apparently it doesn't scorch.

It's been a fascinating process - both figuring out how to do the design (the lines have to be very thin for the laser cutter to cut all the way through, and the tolerances are pretty tiny. So I was pretty happy that the prototype came out as good as it did. Stay tuned for further progress.

I won't wait so long for the next post - there's more to share. I've got some gorgeous tiny 4" brocade shuttles I purchased from a woodworker I found on WeaveTech. I also plan to post a few photos of this year's big project - I went to NYC with La Jolla Symphony Chorus to sing at Carnegie Hall.

What else?  I'm trying my first Craftsy class (Lace Shawl Design), which is fun fun fun, and those folks are super helpful. I'm working on a design for a table runner with butterflies in Bronson lace for a wedding gift. We've made great progress on the house - the whole downstairs has been painted and new oak flooring installed - new front doors. It's been exhausting, but oh so gratifying.

Be healthy. Be happy.