tactile things

i've been spinning some samples of various fibers; seeing how they twist, if they're springy, shiny, fluffy, soft. it's been fun! in the photo below i've sampled (from left to right): bison, qiviut, peruvian color grown cotton, alpaca, cashmere/tussah/mink, red eri silk, paco-vicuna, bombyx silk. the softest to still-soft-but-not-as would go; paco-vicuna, bison, cashmere/tussah/mink, alpaca, cotton, bombyx silk, red eri silk, qiviut (it had a lot of guard hairs).

i would love to get my hand on more bison and paco-vicuna, that stuff is so very, very soft. i don't know what it is with the soft factor, because i love fabric with a bit of stiffness such as linen, and sericin silks, but when spinning i adore fiber which is like petting a baby animal. i turn into a drooling homer simpson gazing at donuts...

studio time

after several months of inactivity, i've started a new weaving project. delving into stock on hand, i choose three skeins of silk; muga, eri, and tassar. the golden muga will form the warp threads, with alternating handspun tassar and creamy eri as the weft threads. it will be a diamond with borders pattern, and eventually a shawl. if all goes as planned it should be quite delicate and have incredible drape.

today i started threading the loom, the lighting was perfect to see the little threads, and the weather was just exhilarating; warm, breezy, and low humidity.

when planning a woven piece i'm constantly working on graph paper to get the math right, perfect the pattern, as well as charting out the varying colors and yarns being used. as a result, the bench in my studio gets a little untidy; yay for pull out drawers! just push them in and mess-be-gone.

i took a little break from weaving and photographed a clump of moss i noticed the other day. i could fill a memory card with moss and still want to take more photos of it. it's entirely too fascinating.

tussah discovered

not all silk labeled tussah is of unknown wild origins; sometimes it is from the ricini or muga silkmoths. muga silk is a champagne hued silk which can be spun from a lovely soft cloud of fiber into something shimmery with warm tones. the ricini silkmoth produces both red eri silk and white eri silk, the former producing a mushroom hued fiber with lots of sheen.

i happened across 100 grams of both the muga and red eri silk from a fiber seller at plying the arts, last august. i chose to spin them up on my jay spindle, then plied together. right now i'm allowing the fiber to rest in it's spun ball form for a couple of days before i skein and give it a bath to set the twist.

the feel is so soft, so delicate, and the sheen is alluring. i enjoy spinning silk by drop spindle and it is a good use of time when things are slow.