Bryony Studio

Well, I finished the project. Turned out to be a shirt, and not a dress, however. Oh well. Lessons learned, right? Front of shirt Here's a shot of the front of the shirt. This was woven with 8/2 cotton at 12.5 epi (ends per inch) on my 12" loom. Actual weaving width on loom is around 11.5". Once washed, the material shrank to 10" wide. Overall, I had around one yard of the lighter colored material (that on top) and two yards of the darker material (that on the bottom). I use a mixture of peach, teaberry and rust colors to create the warp, but I only used peach and teaberry to weave. Coral was the lighter color and teaberry the medium pink in the shirt. Back of shirt What I discovered while creating the shirt surprised me. First of all, I it's surprising what you can make out of three yards of 10" material. As you can tell, I ran out of fabric for my sleeves. Second, it proved interesting putting the items together. It's definitely one o

As part of the December challenge I made for myself, I finally finished weaving the fabric. Yeah! Now, it's waiting to go into the laundry. The next phase, of course, is designing the dress. Once the fabric is washed, I'll be able to see how much material I have. Currently, it's almost three yards, maybe a little more, but it will shrink once it is washed. No, the cones above are not the finished colors for the dress, but they are the next project. Each year I make the majority of my Christmas presents. My sister wants a throw blanket for her apartment, and the cones are the colors she chose. Honestly, the warp is beautiful, even if I did have to add an olive color to the mixture since I ran out of the 8/2 cotton yarn (the one on the right). Still, since the yarn I bought for her is a shade greener than the computer shows, it's turned out well. Do you make anything for Christmas, or do you purchase handcrafted items for friends and family?

This month, a group called Dessember (check out the website here ) focus their attention on ending human trafficking. The point of Dessember is to raise awareness and money specifically for International Justice Mission. Personally, I think it's a brilliant way to do something besides raise awareness. Often times, myself included, all we're able to do is talk about human trafficking, but this is one way to do something tangible. After all, few of us will go on trips to rescue slaves or spot someone being trafficked in our community. Awareness, however, is important, and if that's all we can do, then proceed. Yet, I wanted to try something in honor of Dessember. For someone who hasn't worn dresses often since college, I don't have a lot of dresses neither do I have money to buy dresses. What I do have is material, some handwoven, and some store bought. This month, my goal is to make one dress from handwoven material. Not the material in the poncho above, bu

I have to admit, any time I can weave is a good time (unless I'm dealing with one of Helen the Loom's moods, but that's an entirely different situation). The past two weeks therefore, have been painful to say the least. First weekend in November, I ended up twisting both my knee and my ankle. Even for weaving on a rigid heddle loom, it takes you're entire body to weave. I realized I wouldn't be able to weave on the floor looms, but it never occurred to me I wouldn't be able to weave on the rigid heddle loom. I mean, there is no foot control whatsoever on the loom. Yes, but to keep the loom from wiggling around as I wove, I needed to keep both feet on the base, and apply pressure. Thank God I'm able to walk without crutches and apply a little pressure to the loom. I have Christmas presents to weave. Over the remainder of this year, I'm going to focus a little bit more on clothing design instead of just accessories. We'll see how it goes, but i

Not an official hiatus, just a sorta hiatus. I'm going to post-pone putting up the Monday Moods for a little while as I gather up more ideas. Never fear, I'll add some more eventually, but I'm working on another project at the moment, so being able to go outside to find inspiration has been diminished. As the items develop, I'll be sure to let you know. On a side note, I'm currently working on projects to connect handwoven items with store-bought fabric. Not certain if it will be entirely handmade (i.e. cutting out the pieces and the like) or up-cycling other items found at thrift stores. We'll see; it should prove interesting.

One of the hardest things I do is not so much difficult as it is not a habit ... yet. What is this, you ask? Keeping a journal. The Swatch Journal A journal?! If you've visited here on a regular basis, you'll probably remember I'm also a writer by profession (check out the blog, here ) Subsequently, writing should be something I do naturally, but it isn't. The primary reason is simply the process involved with writing the journal. Today, I'm going to focus on three different journals a weaver keeps: a swatch journal, idea journal and finished projects. For each of these, you'll need a journal, pen, pencils, glue and whatever else you want to make the journal yours. The journals may be a book, like the ones I'll show in here, or they can be a notebook, or even a file on your computer, tablet or phone. Swatch Journal or the Weaver's Journal This journal, like the one shown above, is a record of what I've woven. In this journal, I keep a r

Not much going on today in regards to weaving, so I wanted to let you see a beautiful Fibonacci scarf in black and orange.

Last week, I focused on creating a color palette from color inspiration to choices of yarn. Today, I'm going to focus on ways to set up the warp. To begin, there are two ways to measure the warp for a loom: indirect and direct. Warp in Heddles For my floor looms, I use the indirect warping method. This means simply that I use a warping board to measure my warp. The warp is then taken off the loom and put onto the loom which is called dressing  the loom. Warping Board For my rigid heddle looms, I use the direct warping method. For this, I place my loom the length of my warp away from my warping pole. When I dress the loom, I also measure my warp. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and it depends on which loom I happen to be setting up. I tend to design in the dressing process for my direct warping method, however for my indirect method, I have it planned out. The primary reason for the differences is when I design for the floor looms, I usually have worked o

On Wednesday, I introduced the concept of creating a color palette. Today, I'm going to focus on the next step: choosing yarns. Once you have the palette, you need to choose the yarn or fabric based upon the theme. If your local store doesn't have colors available, the Internet often provides a good choices as well. For me, I like using my local weaving store's yarn supply, so while I have a palette available, it is often a guideline for the colors. In the Rocky Weed colors above, I don't have those exact colors, but I have a close proximity to each color.  One way you can expand your colors is by thinking a little outside the box of colors. For example, in the selection of yarn colors I have, I don't have any grays, but I do have blues and greens that would work for gray. The next step is to mix the yarns together. At this point, you can travel many paths, but two primary ones are whether or not to include textural inspiration from the photograph. In

If you've been visiting the Bryony Studio site for any length of time, you have noticed the Monday Moods color palettes. Part of the reason I started them was to provide a color scheme for people to have. The other reason was to show how we can find inspiration from anywhere around us. Case in point, the last two or three photos ( Old Painted Walls , Brownstone and Speckle Stone ) are all off my back porch. Other photographs come from trips around the area or abroad. When weaving, some of the hardest parts is choosing colors. Most people have a standard color scheme they prefer for fashion, home interiors, vehicles and whatever else strikes their fancy. In my family, it falls into the blue  family. Accents tend to be brown, especially wood tones, or the occasional pop of color from whatever quilt I made. For me, I tend to work with purples and grays - two of my favorite colors in fact. What I find difficult is blending the warmer colors. Nature provides us a variety of c

This coming Saturday is the end of the Saturday Artisan Market fair season for 2014. All in all, it's been a good year for me. As the autumn season progress into winter, I'm taking into account what I've done, what I can do better, and how I can learn from my year. Probably has something to do with closing season, my birthday last week, and general changes in the season. Would you believe that yesterday we hit almost 80 degrees Fahrenheit in Western NY? Today, we're to be in the 60's. Kylemore Abbey, Co. Galway, Ireland, 2007 The winter also brings more time for writing and weaving. Writing includes books I need to finish, whereas weaving provides time for experimenting and seeing what it is I can do on my looms. Also means I finally have time to repair the floor looms ... hopefully. Do you have any winter weaving projects? How about weaving related adventures or writing? Leave a comment, I'd love to talk with you.

I've recently posted about how I'm using cotton for my warp and chenille for my weft in a series of scarves, ponchos and wraps ( here ), but I haven't mentioned using chenille for both warp and weft. There is good reason - I rarely do. Rayon Chenille Scarf This is an up-close photograph of a chenille scarf I wove a year or two ago. Notice the lovely sheen to it. Compare it to the cotton/chenille mixture below in a side-by-side shot: Rayon Chenille and Cotton/Chenille Scarves While the cotton/chenille scarf is beautiful, the full chenille scarf is both more luxuriant and softer to the touch. It also drapes better, almost like a silk, howbeit a fairly heavy silk. The other major difference between the two scarves is the weight - the full chenille is heavier. Over Appleumpkin weekend, I had a lady place an order for a scarf: it had to be purple, and she preferred the full chenille scarf opposed to the mixture. I purchased my cones of yarn (a pound was needed

Since 2009, I've been showing at Appleumpkin, a small fair in the village of Wyoming in Western NY. Once again this year, I will have a booth set-up on Route 19 (South Academy Street) with handwoven goods, hand bound journals and, of course, books to sign. Everything begins at 10 am and goes until 5 pm both Saturday and Sunday. Find me at the blue dot below. Once in Wyoming NY, I'll be across from the Middlebury Historical Society and next door to the Village Hall.

First, some news: the Saturday Artisan Market at Canalside didn't go as planned for the second time this month. We're on the terminal end of the Erie Canal before it goes into Lake Erie, and wind is always an issue. The last two Saturday Artisan Markets have had sustained winds in the 20 mph range - not good for tents, let me assure you. However, we will be there (providing the winds die down) the first three Saturdays of October should anyone want to come visit. I'll be at Appleumpkin in Wyoming NY this weekend. Now, the news aside, onto the scheduled post: Moonlight over Deep Waters. So, this poncho (which I think is gorgeous by the way) was partly inspired by my book, Azure Maris . The book cover is a link that leads you to the Amazon website where I do earn a little money off the clicks. For those who haven't had a chance to visit my Bridgette ni Brian site, and learn about Azure, she is a mermaid princess-priestess from the kingdom of Deep Waters. The po

It's nearing the end of fair season in Western NY, and I'm down to my last four or five fairs (one is still up in the air). This weekend, I'll be at Canalside in Buffalo NY for the Saturday Artisan Market . Here's a photo from a previous Saturday Artisan Market. It begins at 10 AM on Saturday, 20 September. There is parking available, but if you live in the Buffalo area, taking public transport might be easier. I sell under Bridgette ni Brian, my writing/art name.

Probably like many people, I like the feel of soft and luxurious chenille. I have a purple scarf I wove up last year made with rayon chenille for both warp and weft. It has a nice weight and drape to it, but I don't have as much yardage on one of my chenille cones of yarn as I do with the 8/2 cotton I use. A couple years ago, I saw an advertisement in Handwoven's magazine about a bath towel using chenille and cotton (weft and warp respectively). The idea stuck, so I ended up trying it out on a smaller scale. Rayon Chenille and Cotton Cones The rayon chenille has 1450 yards/pound while the 8/2 cotton has 3300 yards/pound. The colors are respectively, Spruce and Teal. The chenille runs about $10 per pound and the 8/2 cotton at $8 per pound at Daft Dames in Akron NY, my local yarn store. Chenille is one of those yarns that needs to be woven securely in that there are now loose strands. Once going through the wash, the chenille will lose the fuzzy part that makes the chen

Most people, when they consider art, very rarely consider science. For most people, indeed, the two fields of Arts and Sciences are on opposite sides of the spectrum. They are as equally opposite as reason and emotion are. Art is emotional, not logical; science is logical, not emotional. I happen to come from a family balanced in art and science, much to my chagrin in school. I tended towards literature, history and, of course, art. I did well in my science classes, and okay in math, but I struggled the older I grew because the math became more difficult. Oddly enough, I still enjoyed science and math, I just didn't understand it. Only until recently, did I realize part of my trouble with my math and science classes was the application  of it - I didn't understand the why, so I couldn't memorize the equations. Halloween Fibonacci Scarf Art owes a great deal to science, even as science owes a great deal to art. There are stories of serendipity from science even as

Ah, for most of the summer, you have simply watched pretty shades of color appear on the screen. With the summer craft schedule, it has been difficult to balance the time on the computer as well as weaving for fairs. Thankfully, the hectic nature of summer is now gone, and I can focus on Bryony Studio once again. Yeah. Over the next few months, I'm going to attempt to create clothes from my woven fabric. Now, granted, I have the poncho form down fairly well, actually, but I don't wear ponchos all that often. I do, however, wear tunics, and have fabric waiting to start my project. The only thing I don't have is the band to put it all together. So, with Summer over, and Winter coming, I'm going to turn my attention back to the blog writing as well as more studio experiments. It should prove to be an interesting Autumn and Winter.

I'm almost to the point where I want to make a series out of troubles with Helen the Loom, but it's more frustrating and less funny. Suffice it to say if I ever incorporate old looms into any books, I will have plenty of first hand experience. After repairing her, she broke the strings again, actually a couple times more. Finally, it was suggested that I use a thicker string to hold up the shafts. When Grandmama had the loom originally, it appeared that she used some sort of twine, but all I had handy was cotton rug warp. Oddly enough, it is only the right side that causes me trouble, the left hand side works fairly well, all things considered. I can't stomp down on the treadles like I would on a jack loom, but as long as I press gently, the loom works ... then the right side snaps. I found thread I needed for binding up a book, and will use it to bind up the side of Helen ... hopefully it will work.

One of the things that I have found important in the last few months is a weaver's journal. Normally, I'm not one for keeping track of any of my projects, but even that is a bit of a misnomer. I keep track of projects, but not the immediate cloth. For the most part, I keep track of the project such as the one below: Black Iris Bag Keeping track of the fabric I wove for the project is a different matter, but that has changed as I developed more and more lengths of fabric. Some of my fabric works for ponchos or shrugs whereas other fabric works better for aprons or purses. It's in this new journal that I keep my information. In here, I keep track of samples, length, measurements before and after washing the fabric, as well as where I purchased the yarn, the type of yarn, and how much I used. All this information is necessary for me to repeat a process later. It also helps me keep notes on projects that didn't work as well as I hoped. Inside, I keep two s

If you look at paintings from the time period, you rarely find clothes with any of these weaving patterns in them. The main reason was then, like now, people purchased their cloth from elsewhere. The people who could afford to hire a portraitist rarely made their clothes. Even the average housewife purchased cloth to make her family's clothing. Most likely, it was women on the frontiers who wove the cloth to make clothes, but even that was fairly rare.  The Average Community It has come down to us, through historical studies, films and books that women spent their time weaving. A more accurate image would have to include few women weaving. As far back as the sixteenth century, the British Isles had areas developing into weaving centers. By the time the late Eighteenth Century arrived, areas such as Ulster, Ireland, Wiltshire and Yorkshire in England were known as weaving centers. In fact, according to one book I read, the inhabitants of Colonial Pennsylvania grew flax

Happy Fourth of July to all my American readers. For everyone else, I hope you have a good day even if you don't have a three-day weekend. Before I go any farther, I will assure you that Helen the loom is recovering nicely after the events in this post which happened in mid-June. She is ornery as ever, but we're making it work. Helen the Loom For those just joining us, Helen the loom, and her sister, Elizabeth the loom, are named after my grandmother, Helen Elizabeth who owned the looms before me. They have been both a cause of joy and frustration to me. In June, I began weaving on Helen the loom again after a several year hiatus. She Breaks I might add that with a few frustrations, it was actually a fairly enjoyable time, until the afternoon of 17 June when one of her string snapped quite unexpectedly. In the photo below, you can see the make-shift sling I have holding the shafts up. In the photograph at the very top, you can see the string which snapped. It&#