phenological events March 2014

6th bluebirds on rosehips
17th starting seeds
herbs, tomato, pepper
20th snowdrops & daffs up
22nd skunkcabbage
23rd chipmunks
26th redwing blackbirds

the bandwagon

A couple of years ago, I hopped on the band-weaving bandwagon. My efforts were stymied by not having a good band lock. Since I made one a few months ago, I've been doing more weaving. It really is amazing how having the right tools for the job can make such a big difference.

Warping my Double Hole tape loom has become easier since I've enlisted the help of my husband's old wooden C-Clamps. Set up on either side of the loom, they hold it in an upright position and I can see both sides of the loom. I use my handmade threading tool to pass the warp threads through the slots and holes. Once I have it warped, I can move the C-Clamp over to the shelf near the window, and it becomes an anchor for one end of the warp.



I've been weaving with different size DMC cotton, and silk, playing around with what works best. So far, I like the results of the #5 the best.



Keeping the wpi in mind, I've been spinning my own silk to use for weaving. I hope to use it as pattern threads for the linen tapes I will make. It has taken me longer than it should to learn some of the finer details of band weaving, but it is starting to come together. This past week I tried warping for a simple back-strap loom.



It is very interesting to compare the Double Hole Rigid Heddle Loom with a Backstrap loom, and the ways that patterns are achieved. Now that I've gotten acquainted with the basic set up, I'll move onto trying to do some patterns.



From where I sit when I'm weaving, I have nice light from the window and warmth from the coal/wood stove. The view out the window lets me take notice of the slowly disappearing snowbank, and snowdrops that have started to grow. They are more like "snowdrips", as the blossom is still closed up tight against the cold. They seem to know that the temps are still too cold for the pollinators.



The chickens are very glad to find areas where the sun has melted away the snow to expose the dry dirt!



Nothing like a good dust bath after a long winter.

They dig their holes and kick the dirt up. The kick it all around and over themselves. Then they bask in the sun and dirt.



Other signs of spring I've noticed include: skunks and skunkcabbages, redwing blackbirds, and chipmunks. Still no Eastern Phoebe. We are expecting rain on Friday. They should be along soon after that.

conical cotyledons

Windy weather is good for threshing seed, and so it was that I found myself sorting through and threshing last years string beans in preparation for this years planting. The harvest from last fall included beans of several different varieties, including my favorite, haricot verts (or french style green beans).



With the pod shell removed, the hard and shiny bean seeds fell easily into the container, and I tossed them in the air to let the wind carry away any bits of chaff, leaving me with a nice tray of seed.

At closer inspection, I noticed something strange.

I've been collecting my bean seed for years. There are times I order new varieties to plant, but I normally save the last harvest of the fall. Threshing and sorting bean seed allows time to look at and admire their beauty. This is the first time I've ever noticed this oddity. The cotyledons are not, ahem, normal. They are conical or tapered at the tips. They are pointy. So pointy, in fact, that they have split their seed coats. Look:



Efforts to find information about the cause of this peculiarity have been fruitless. In an attempt to see if the seed would be viable, I slipped them in between a damp paper towel and they entered the zip lock chamber for a germination test.



No problems there! Inside of 3 days, the embryos emerged and the beans seed appeared healthy and ready to grow.



Since I only had a handful of these, I decided to feed them to the chickens (who, btw, were very happy that they were tossed in their direction). And just as the last one was eaten, I had the thought that I should have saved a few seeds to plant (isolated from the regular patch) just to see what the next generation's seed would have looked like.



Too late now!

chambers

The icicles that surround our cabin are slow to melt. I see the world outside my window through frozen bars of ice. Ice Jail. I am ready to be freed from my indoor chambers.




Even though the morning thermometer readings are close to zero, my calendar helps keep track of the days, and gives me encouragement. Spring will come, and it will be time to plant. I need to be ready. I reach for the jar of Hungarian Flax seed that I rippled from the plants I raised last fall. It is time to free the seeds from the boll.

The USDA sent me only 200 seeds to start with. Flax seed is generally self pollinating, but cross and even outcrossing can occur. I'm not sure these seeds will all be true to type. There was another variety of flax (Elektra) that was going nearby, and though most of it matured earlier, there is a chance they cross pollinated.



I open each boll by crushing it with a spoon. The base of the boll shows the different segments (they look like little chambers), the wall that separates the segments is called the septum. On average, I'm finding about 7 seeds per boll, and have found as many as 9. Occasionally, there will be only 1 seed in the entire boll.



The color of the seed is lighter than I expected. See the shiny coating? That is the mucilage. If you soak the seeds in water, the mucilage is released and makes a sort of jell that is silky and slippery. Flax mucilage is used when spinning flax to smooth down the wispy ends and hairy surface of the spun linen thread. The mucilage maybe also be used to dress or treat the warp on the loom when weaving with linen. The dressing (when dry) helps to prevent the warp threads from sticking together.

After about an hour of this task of crushing the bolls, I have counted 370 seeds. I have only removed about half of the bolls from the jar so far....so I am very happy with the number. I at least doubled the count that I originally started with. Now remains the test of germination.



So, yes. Spring is coming and although the landscape outside does not show much of a change, the extended daylight hours are upon us! The sun gives me great pleasure on those days that it chooses to shine. I find a spot to soak up the warmth and light and bathe in its goodness.

winter rules

Today is February 26th. Winter still rules my word.

My phenological notebook informs me that in past years, the snowdrops and the skunk cabbage should be blooming. Not so, this year. I think of them under all this snow and ice that covers the riverrim. I look for the Symplocarpus on my walks to the post office. Symplocarpus is the only plant I know of that generates it own heat, enough to melt snow around it...but I don't see that happening yet. I do see more snow falling today.



I've finished spinning the bump I've been working on. I spun all of this using the in-hand technique, from distaff to spindle. It was a delightful experience.



Trouble is, I didn't take good notes of the fiber before I started. I'm afraid I don't know exactly what the fiber is. It might be "Korny" , a Shetland Sheep roving that arrived in a box from Cathy. Then again, it might not be.



The eventual use of these singles has yet to be determined. I am undecided as to if I should ply them.



Or not.

contrasts

we are little more than halfway past winter. we have had some extremely cold weather. yesterday, a good measure of snow fell and covered the riverrim.



the world outside is full of ice and snow, and inside, we keep the fires burning to warm our spirits and our bodies. it gets me to thinking about the contrast.



contrast n. state of being strikingly different from something else, typically something in juxtaposition or close association.



opposites.. antithesis....



inverse...obverse,



converse and reverse.



as I take the small glowing bead whorls to reduce the temperature in the cold snow, I'm moving back and forth between fire and ice. Stoking fires, shoveing snow...these are daily chores and I am constantly aware of the contrast.



Burning coals fall into snow, and disappear as they melt their way down to the ground.



Somewhere in the middle is balance.



...and I'm beginning to gather a good collection of whorls!

the art of spinning and weaving

Wonderful old video, "Produced for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by the University Film Foundation. With the cooperation of The North Bennet Street Industrial School, Boston, and The Dedham Weavers, Dedham, Mass. The Prelinger Collection"

This silent film has some terrific images of timeless techniques and equipment!

old spindles with a new twist

Chancay Spindle Whorls — Peru

800 AD - 1200 AD

A collection of five Chancay spindle whorls. The wooden spindles are painted with bands of varying colors. The terracotta whorls are carved and painted and vary in form. Condition is very good. A few spindles have minor losses and faded paint. Several whorls are chipped, but overall a nice group.

Sizes range from approx 9.5" long to 13" long.

From the first moment I saw an ancient Chancay Spindle Whorl, I was captivated.

There was something about that small photograph and description of them.

How wonderful it would be to actually see one, hold one, spin one, I thought.

And thought some more.

I often found myself daydreaming about them.

It was only a matter of time before I decided I needed to try and make one.

Last summer I played around with some clay and made some bead whorls. (link)



Finally, I've gotten around to finishing some of them. I've experimented with a sort of pit and saggar meets raku firings of my own making. Low temperature, no glaze but enough to give me a bisqueware bead. I've played with different ways to get some color and used different reduction materials.



The beads are glowing red when I take them out of the fire and put them in my little can full of saggar materials.



I've used things like coffee grounds, and grapefruit rinds, and handfuls of tow flax....an old hummingbirds nest, and broken pieces of a hornet's nest.....there have been hemlock pinecones, dried corn cob, wood shavings...chicken manure, dried herbs, etc.



After the smoke has cleared, I dump them in the snow.



It is a primitive technique, and the materials are simple.



I'm happy with the results.

And very happy with the way they spin!



I painted the shafts, and don't fix the whorls in place, but wrap the whorl with fiber. This way, I can remove the whorl when it becomes too heavy for the cop. The original Chancay spindles were most likely used as support style spindles, but I am spinning with them in hand, from a distaff.

So, I keep dreaming about those Chancay spindles, as I keep trying to make my dreams come true by making a few spindles of my own.

linen on the line

There has been some tape weaving happening. I used the Double Hole Rigid Heddle Tape Loom and wove a plain weave, so I only warped one row of holes.



Last night, January's Full Wolf Moon had a frosty halo around it. The snow it predicted, happened overnight and early this morning.

My handspun/handwoven linen tapes had been set to hang on the clothesline early in the evening..and they caught the moonlight that danced and glittered over the frozen warp and weft.



I finished one tape early last week, and it had been hanging out there for a few days before the second was complete.



If you look close, you can see that one tape is already lighter than the other. I will leave them on the line for a few days. They will soften with help from the freeze and thaw of the tempertures, and they will lighten with help from the sun and the moon.



Other projects are in the works, there are clay beads for spindles gathering together in a bowl. I'm inspired by the small weights-the small clay bead shapes-and the colorful shafts that I see on the Ancient Chancay Spindles.



I won't show you the fresh white snow that falling outside the window, rather, this bold red Amryllis that blooms inside the window!

in preparation

Roc Day is upon us again!



My Almanac states that today is Twelfth Day....

"At Twelfth Day (Jan. 6) the days are lengthened a cock-stride."



The garden is sleeping.

But in the bud, there is a spring that waits to be.

"As the day lengthens, the cold strengthens."

In preparation for tomorrow, Roc Day (St. Distaves Day), I'm clearing the bobbins. And preparing for the icy weather that is predicted.



I look forward to opening up the flax and dressing the distaff!



and to weaving with linen!

Happy Roc Day! Celebrate the Distaff!