Bryony Studio

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.