Caterpillars and Cocoons

Musings

2011-12-20T05:10:00.000-08:00

This is a time of year when we traditionally look both back at what has happened and forward to what may come. It has been a busy year for me, with wonderful opportunities but I am increasingly wondering who I am, as a textile artist. I wasn't even sure what I meant by the question when I thought about it, usually in the shower.....

I think back to those people who have had enormous influence over me, things they have said, things I have seen them do and how I view them. I was very struck by one of my first teachers telling me that she sees things in numbers: if she is planting a flowerbed she will see 7 tulips, nine daffodils, three iris and twenty-one crocus. When that is sorted in her mind, she will move on to the subtlties of colour, texture, spacing and timing of flowering. When I repeated this apparently bizarre account to another weaving friend, she said: "Well, don't you see it like that?!"

No, I certainly don't! But I wonder now about how I do see things, and if I was planting that same flowerbed, how I would visualize it right at the beginning? And I realise that I see things initially as textile, or aspects thereof. I look at a catkin and see a braid, I look at bourgainvillea arch and see a shawl, in silk. I look at a painting and my brain automatically begins to translate it into cloth, yarn and dye. A flower will be a subtley shaded, naturally dyed fleece; a skyscraper will be a repp woven mat; popcorn will be a textured yarn.

I like to do everything from scratch and, stupidly, feel that if every aspect of an item hasn't been produced from the raw material (scoured, carded/combed, spun, dyed and knitted or woven) by me, it has somehow failed a test I set myself. I am, however, realising that if I want to produce more textiles, I need to give myself permission to use commercially spun and dyed yarn - after all, I have no problem with my friends and colleagues using these 'short cuts.' And the skills of dyeing and weaving are valuable and satisfying in their own right.

A very happy celebration and 2012 to you all

Long time, no blog

2011-11-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

Well, what a lot has happened since I last put in an appearance on this page!

Fleece First is up, running and nearly over - finishes next week for those of you near Bovey Tracey who haven't seen it yet; I've managed to crack the lampas weave and finish my sample from Jetta Vandermain's course in - well, some months ago....

Since then I have been on two more courses - one extreme to the other, you might say. Ann Richards with collapse weave making very fine, delicate samples; and Jason Collingwood making fab rug samples. Both of these, in their different ways, made me very happy and I will be taking pix at some time in the near future and showing you what I have achieved.

In the meantime, here is a photo of the woven fabric in the exhibition:

2011-09-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

What happened to my resolution to update the blog every week without fail?! Life, I suppose. I am still spinning madly away to get the yarn done for the fabric and when that is finished, the dyeing and weaving are still to do.

This is the colour sample on the loom - the blue is woad and the brown walnut. The yarn is Bluefaced Leicester, combed on English woolcombs - hard work! - and spun worsted. I've currently spun just over half the warp.

Combing - you can see the unwashed fleece on the floor, though the fibres were clean when I combed them

Pulling the fibres through the diz - this preparation is more than worth the work - properly combed sliver is a joy to spin.

Fibre Fest was a busy weekend for us and it was very nice to see lots of old friends there and make new ones. The silk workshop went well and it was particularly nice to have Maria from Moscow there, though I haven't been able to suggest what she can do with 10kg of carrier rods! Well, I have given her suggestions but I think she has a lifetime's supply...

Last weekend was a family party, and lovely to see so many relatives- though a bit of a shock to see that a gorgeous baby I remember is now 6 and at school! Still gorgeous, of course, but he might appreciate my saying that!

The bee-keeper is currently in occupation in the kitchen and is quietly delighted at the amount of honey he has this year, despite the weather being unhelpful for these wonderful little creatures. I really don't think the world in general appreciates insects as much as we should.

Next week, if anyone is in the Tavistock area, I will be spinning at the Alexander Centre on Monday afternoon - teaching, so there's still time to sign up, indigo dyeing on Tuesday, likewise, and helping with textile design on Thursday.

Tomorrow is Fleece Fair day at Dulverton - see Devon Fine Fibres webpage for details. I shall be there with spinning wheel, spindles and assorted spinning and weaving gear, so maybe see some of you there? It is an opportunity in particular for farmers to see how we use their fibre.

Am I the only one whose inbox is filling with suggestions of what to buy friends and family for Christmas? The children haven't one back to school after the summer break yet and already the rush to part us from our money has begun.

2011-08-14T03:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a while since I updated this blog because I have been getting some much needed inspiration and education and preparing a major piece of work for Fleece First, an exhibition to be held at Devon Guild of Craftsmen in September, October and November. September is next month.....

First the silkworms. They are all but two in their cocoons now and I won't be raising any more this year as the oak is not good and my privet bushes for the Samia have taken a bit of a hammering and need to regenerate.

I've been on two marvellous courses, one weaving, one dyeing. Weaving first - Jette Vandermain from Canada came to Devon Weavers Workshop to teach a course on Lampas, a structure I had never tried before. It is totally fascinating and has such possibilities. My sample warp is still on the loom and I am longing to finish it, not least because I will be doing a course with Ann Richards in September and already have my high twist yarns and instructions for making the warp......Plus a recents small bequest has enabled the purchase of a mechanical Magic Dobby loom and I'm longing to have a go with it!

The other course was with Michel Garcia, natural dyer extrodinaire. I had been one of the mob surrounding his instant, organic indigo vat at ISEND and was delighted to hear that he would be teaching at the National Quilt Festival at the NEC.

We made vats with bananas and indigo, henna and indigo, indigo balls, metallic vats (not organic, but non-polluting). We made resists, we overdyed with madder, cochineal, weld (found in a field near the NEC!) and an indigo paste we could paint with. Absolute bliss!

The picture shows some of the resist effects: white on blue, and mordant resists with weld and madder

Inbetween all this excitement we had a family wedding in Wales, beautiful bride, handsome groom, lovely countryside - shame about the rain but it was Wales in August!

Now I have a week, nearly, to get ready for FibreFest, so back to the dyepost, spinning wheel and loom and hope to see some of you there!

Sunshine and showers

2011-07-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well, the weather is behaving in the way to which we have become accustomed - rain, then scorching dry days and then more rain and chilly winds. The Japanese indigo doesn't seem to mind, and I've already had one very successful woad vat from a plant that decided to spend the year in the polytunnel! Lovely blues, and I will be doing a woad vat on Wednesday with Claire Crompton, of Give Fleece a Chance fame.

This week I have been trying to make a start on my project for the Fleece First Exhibition to be held at Devon Guild of Craftsmen, in the autumn. I'm using Bluefaced Leicester fleece, from a local farmer, Neil Coles, and will be combing the fibres on English woolcombs in a traditional preparation. It will be woven on my Delta loom but the yarn design and weave technique are still at the mulling over stage - the adrenaline is beginning to kick in, so hopefully this time next week there will be something positive to report.

The photo shows the fibres at the bottom with the combed sliver on the left and the noil (waste from combing) on the right. I have to make dye decisions too - woad is obviously on my mind so maybe that will be the colour to choose.

My a.pyrni caterpillars are now the size of my index finger and they have gone quite pale, so I hope that they will be spinning soon. The S.ricini are still munching merrily away on the privet and the first few hatchlings of the Eri eggs have started appearing - if all the eggs hatch I hope the piviet will be able to cope! I hope there will be some caterpillars to show at FibreFest, particularly if the silk spinning course gets any takers....

Back to the combs - no wonder woolcombers were usually big strong men, my shoulders are aching and I've only done a few grams!

Just a quickie!

2011-06-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just to remind you that Fibrefest is happening at Bicton College in August and that I will be doing a mini-silk spinning course during the event. If anyone wants to come and try their hand at spinning this most wonderful fibre, look at www.fibrefest2011.org for details

Another Monday

2011-06-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

The weeks whizz round so fast and each new Monday brings with it the knowledge that everything I needed to do last week still awaits me...

I had a fantastic time at Devon Weavers' Workshop, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, learning all about lampas. Jette Vandermeidan is certainly the best tutor I have ever had, and I've had the benefit of doing classes with some of the most highly regarded in the world! So, I am really enjoying the workout my poor old brain has had - doing two seperate warps that sometimes interlock and sometimes don't, each capable of weaving two structures and all the possibilities that offers, has been a bit of a shock to the system! Pictures when I am happy with the samples.

Yesterday I travelled to the other side of the moor to teach a dye workshop at Organic Arts. We had a fantastic time, got lots of colour from the plants growing on the farm and I was pleased to have a squizz at the new dye garden. I have given them some madder and Japanese indigo, so hopefully that will get them off to a good start. Wonderful to see how the dye garden movement is taking off in this part of the UK.

We dyed with weld, madder, woad, oak, ash, beech, willow, nettle, onion skin, and then overdyed some of the yellows and the madder with woad to get purples and greens. Fantastic! And the weather was wonderful, too.

The caterpillars are growing away, doing their thing quietly. I have high hopes that my Eri eggs will hatch and give me the option to continuously brood this species, as their silk is good. They eat evergreen pivet, so I can feed them all year round.

The plan for this week is to get lots of dyeing done for a school fair on Friday - my little gradaughter's school, so all the stops pulled out, and to make a start on an exhibition project. Will also need to fit in gardening, washing, housework, etc, so don't expect to hear from me for a while....

Rainy Sunday

2011-06-19T02:59:00.000-07:00

Summer is on a break at the moment here in gloomy Devon.

Last weekend I taught a very successsful session on indigo in a tent at Bovey Tracey Contemporary Craft Fair, an event that gets better with each passing year. The indigo vat did what it was supposed to do and the participants had some lovely dyed fabrics to take away.

On Saturday I gave a talk on natural dyeing to Devon Guild of WS&D, followed by a workshop the next day.

We used two yellows, weld and dhak; two reds, madder and red lac; and we had a natural indigo reduction vat on the go as well. Considering we started with unmordanted fibre/yarn and only had 6 hours, the group achievement was excellent. We dyed protein fibres, cellulose fibres, yarns and fabric. We painted top, painted yarn and immersion dyed and did colour mixing, when the indigo came into its own. There are photos, but sadly I didn't take them! If anyone likes to send them to me, I will post them on here

The skein below was painted with weld and red lac extract, covering some white areas in clingfilm to prevent the colour spreading into the white. It was well wrapped, steamed and then dipped in indigo to produce the blues, greens and purples. Careful measuring of the dye extracts to provide the required depth of colour without wasting any resulted in an almost clear rinse - there was a minute trace of the red lac but that was probably unavoidable.

Lac, weld and indigo skein, both sides

Friday took me to Cornwall Guild, once more in the rain and wind, to do a Whacky Fibres workshop. The group had taken advantage of the recent Wingham Wools visit to stock up on all manner of weird and wonderful fibres so we had plenty to choose! We worked from one picture, chosen by the group, everyone selected a some fibres that they thought related to the picture and then we made a giant batt (or several!) on an Ashford Wild Carder and some rather more sedate batts on a Barnett. The batts were divided, spun according to individual preferences, and then the yarns were put back around the picture. We found, as usually happens with this exercise, that every element of the picture was represented - colour, texture and form. That said, I'm not sure that there were any obvious uses for this collection but the aim was to get people really looking at the relationship between the fibres and image. There was great excitement and soon the students were rushing off to repeat the exercise with their own pictures....

A similar exercise from a class in The Hague is illustrated on our Creative Spinning blog.

I've finally got round to photographing the walnut leaf dye yarns.

The darker skein and silk have been dyed in the walnut leaf liquid with no mordant and the lighter skein and silk have been pre-mordanted with alum and CoT. There is a more tobacco-like colour to the unmordanted skein and it is definitely more of a yellow brown than one would expect from the hulls. The alum seems to have increased the yellow potential and though the baths were split equally, so that the strengths were the same, the mordanted skein looks as though it has been in an exhaust of the first!

On the silkworm front, I have some S.Ricini cats coming along nicely and some a.pernyi getting very fat...The Eri moths are mating and laying so I hope that I can continuously brood this variety but we will have to wait and see how it goes.

I'm hoping the rain will keep away long enough for a jaunt round some Open Gardens this afternoon, my reward for spending yesterday doing a stock-take at the studio!

Vat Revisited

2011-05-31T00:32:00.000-07:00

I forgot to say that the jar in which the vat was made holds approx 2 litres and I filled it to about 75% of its capacity. I apologise for the two photos being marked 'Left' and 'Right' being on top of one another instead of side by side, but however often I move them back to where they should be, save them, blogspot moves them back again........

This morning the vat is cold but still at pH 11, so I will try again but it won't be till this evening. In our south west facing, double glazed conservatory, it may well warm up by itself during the course of the day.

Michel Garcia vat

2011-05-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

This vat has been a puzzle since La Rochelle but I have clarified the oyster shell component with Michel, who explained that in order to use the shells, they need to be heated to 1,000deg C. He has a pottery kiln, so this is not a problem for him. He suggested I use calcium hydroxide
This afternoon I made the vat according to Garcia (his proportions, my quantities):

1 teaspoon of indigo - I used Pure Tinctoria powdered extract

2 teaspooons of calcium hydroxide

3 teaspoons of fructose

The teaspoons were level and the vat is a large Kilner Jar.

The pH was 11, as recommended by Garcia

Within 10 minutes the vat had gone from grey through green to yellow

By 25 minutes, there was blue foam forming on the top and a coppery scum developing - much like my rising levels of excitement!

After 30 minutes the foam had turned dark blue

Left: Vat at 25 mins, Right at 45 mins containing cotton
At 45 minutes, the vat should be ready, according to the instructions. The pH was still 11 and remained at that level throughout the dye session.
I put in a cotton wool ball and a piece of cotton in the vat which now had the sherry colour that one expects from woad

The first dip, airing

The second dip for cotton (large piece) and first for linen

Third dip for cotton and second for linen

All in all, very successful and the vat is by no means exhausted, so I will go on until one of us gives up! What I'm not sure about is how to revive such a vat - there's no problem with reviving more usual vats. I warm them up, correct the alkalinity and put some reducing agent in and they come round. This will need some experimentation, I think

Things are hotting up!

2011-05-22T02:52:00.000-07:00

I've got two huge dyepots on the go, one full of mares-tail that I am hoping will give me some green though so far there is no indication it is going to give me anything, and one full of walnut leaves that are bound to give a nice brown. Some walnut leaves, rescued from a branch that needed to come out, are being boiled up as one might with any fresh dyeplant, some are soaking to see if the colour is stronger for soaking. Research seems to indicate that it will be, but time will tell.

I have moved one lot of moths from the breeding cage - they have all sacrificed their lives for the future generation as is the way with moths - and put the eggs in a quiet place to hatch. I will have to transfer a bumper population of a.pyrni into the mating cage, though some are already enthusiastically creating the next lot of babies! It never ceases to amaze me how powerful the mating urge is but I suppose if you only metamorphasise in order to produce fertile eggs, it wouldn't be much use to spend your short life with a headache...As the photo shows, the male is in great demand! Not sure if you can see from the photo but he has three ladies in the queue!

Dyehards

2011-05-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

Not a spelling error - a group of us went to Maristow today to begin clearing the dye garden. I suggested to Jenny, whose gardens they are, that she should apply to hold the national collection of perennial and annual weeds! Nevertheless, a stout hearted gang of us: Philippa, Janet, Sue, Paddy, Jill and I, spent the day pulling out bindweed, bramble, giant hogweed, groundsel, nettles, docks and other sundry unwanted plants. I know that nettles are good for dye, but there are plenty in other places in the gardens. We cleared about a third of the ground and were joined by my husband, Mike, for the afternoon.

We moved a smoke bush, cotinus, from its rather unhappy position outside the walls and into our dye patch, marked out two beds and sowed safflower, coreopsis tinctoria and woad. We planted hollyhocks and edged one of the beds with Lady's Mantle. There is a small elder already in situ, and when we have cleared some more space, we will move two small New Zealand flax plants into the dye garden in order to give us some fibre!

Though we may be rather late in sowing, we hope that we will get something to use this year to show for all our hard work, and we have made a start - probably the single most important thing.

The photo shows the progress we have made - the whole bed looked the area you can see behind us. Sadly, I forgot to take one as we finished for the day, so you can't see the beginnings of the beds!

ISEND

2011-05-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

My brain is still overloaded with all the information that bombarded us in La Rochelle but I am still experiencing the warm glow of hope offered by the Symposium - a machine developed in Taiwan that can dye fabric in natural colours in industrially sensible quantities; the high quality extracts being produced in Europe as well as Asia; the coming together of all manner of people from 80 countries in pursuit of the goal of making natural dyeing culturally and commercially viable and forging new relationships. If you want the ultimate networking format, ISEND is it!

Delegates ranged from university professors to practioners, via dye producers to retailers, fashion designers, textile students, chemists, anthropologists, historians, botanists and individuals who like to 'play.' Friendships were forged - and a sense of community created, particularly necessary for those of us who sometimes feel we are a lone, eccentric voice preaching to the uninterested.

And there is more moth mating today - so if only the weather would improve so the dye plants can go out, all would absolutely perfect. The rain is much needed, though the bees aren't terribly keen and I am going to Maristow Gardens tomorrow to help Jenny Tunley Price start the dye garden - sh e has been using a digger this weekend, so I hope we are not going to be drowned in mud! If you don't know about Maristow, look at www.maristowwalledgardens.co.uk

I am off to my land guild, Peter Tavy, to talk about Isend with my travelling companion, Paddy Younge, then this afternoon I must start potting on the Japanese indigo before they all expire from overcrowding.

ISEND, or Dyed and Gone to Heaven

2011-05-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, not sure where to start really when reporting back on the International Symposium and Exhibition of Natural Dyes! It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my textile life and I came away feeling much more hopeful for the future of this vital way of creating colour from the resources provided by nature. The photo above shows me on the left and Alison Daykin, under the huge sign that advertises what is happening inside Espace Encon.

450 people attended, from 60 different countries, all bringing their expertise and enthusiasm for natural dyes and with a willingness to share what they knew. We understand that this knowledge, some of which is still confined to very small populations in remote areas of the world, must be preserved before it is too late.

There is so much to say that I think it will gradually emerge over the next few postings, but I had the opportunity to meet two of my dye extract suppliers, Andi from Renaissence Dyes and Patrick from Coleurs de Plantes, and even better, to go to Coleurs de Plantes premises and see for myself the care that is taken in producing these extracts - no synthetics used, just plant material and drying techniques. I watched Yoshika Wada make resist paste from rice bran, tried to see Michel Garcia's indigo vat but the crowd was too deep (got the recipe, though!), have a tiny piece of silk dyed with shellfish purple extract during a demonstration with Dr Takako Terada from Kwassui Women's University in Japan, made a piece of marbled indigo on silk...some much to do and so nice to meet up with friends old and new, and put faces to people only known up to now online.

La Rochelle, the venue, is a beautiful old town and I have taken dozens of photos of the buildings - just my style, late medieval and early modern. Wish I'd popped across when doing my degree as my essays would have been far more interesting! Eating fresh strawberries from Provence, bought in the market, in the gardens of the Natural History Museum, in the sun - April doesn't get much better than that!

Then to get home and find moths emerging and mating taking place made the perfect end to the perfect week. More soon...

Swarm

2011-04-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a couple of hours later than my post and I now have a picture or two, though it is another swarm! We are running out of space, and desperate bee-keepers all around us are in the same predicament. It will be absolutely wonderful if we can keep all these casts that are developing - it will increase the bee population dramatically. At this exact moment, at least three bee-keepers I know are frantically trying to rearrange their hives, build more supers and generally keep up with this population explosion, the like of which, we can't remember!

Just a Quickie!

2011-04-22T03:19:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been some time since I posted and a lot has happened. Some good, some not so good but I am gradually getting back into the swing of things.

Our trip to the Netherlands was great and we produced some fabulous yarns in the Whacky Fibres workshop in The Hague. There are lots of pix and information on the Creative Spinning blog, www.creativespinning.wordpress.com, should you wish to have a peep. In Zeeland, Alison and I had the opportunity to do some design work with Helen Melvin's landscape felters and we all thoroughly enjoyed both the process and the outcomes. As usual, it was lovely to meet old friends and make new ones, and I was particularly delighted to see that two of my students from last year had really made use of those workshops to create some wonderful items - their development was also evident in the yarns the created this year. I am not going to name names - look at the blog and see if you can tell who they are!

This morning the first two silkmoths of the year, a. pernyi, have appeared, a male and a female. So I am hoping for a positive outcome, although they are not yet making any great effort to mate! They are very close though, so fingers crossed. Might have some baby caterpillars when I return from France next Sunday - there is someone at home to do the necessary feeding should they get on with it.

France - ISEND, the International Symposium and Exhibition of Natural Dyeing. This is something I have been looking forward to for about six months. If you want to see why, go to www.isend2011.com. The only downside is that in order to catch the plane to La Rochelle, we need to get up at 4 am on Sunday morning - still, we should miss any bank holiday traffic!

I was hoping to add a photo of a swarm of bees in our garden - my husband is a beekeeper, so insects are a bit of an obssession in our household. Whilst writing about ISEND, I saw him put on his hat and veil and he said one of the hives had swarmed and were in the medlar tree - this is the third time this week, despite him checking twice a day for any emerging queens. By the time I got the camera - on my desk next to the computer - and out into the garden, about 2 mins, literally, they had gone. There are a few stragglers circling the tree but where the bulk have disappeared to who knows where. I daresay there'll be a phone call from a neighbour any minute now! It is very, very hot for April and we are hoping that the weather doesn't repeat last year's performance when the bees were active very early in the season but then came the rain, the flowers were either knocked down by the heavy showers or never came to anything and the poor old bees suffered. The poor things are under enough pressure from disease, climate change and lack of awareness of how crucial they are to the survival of human life on this planet - they deserve to have a great year. All our hives are in fine condition at the moment, hence the populations swarming to start new colonies and some we have on a nearby farm are producing a wonderful honey flow already.

I expect this is the last you'll hear from me until after ISEND.

Have a fantastic Easter - be sure I will!

Who says natural dyes are boring?!

2011-03-08T00:22:00.000-08:00

I stock some yummy fat yarn, a single so I suppose really it is a giant pencil roving, that I dye and sell to knitters and weavers who want a fast result! I am often asked what it looks like knitted up and began a blanket, in log cabin style, to have as a sample on display. As I was making it, a friend fell in love with it and so I finished it to fit her when she was lying down, toes covered at one end and reaching generously to her chin at the other. Friends and colleagues at Duchy Square began referring to this project as 'Blankie,' and progress was watched with interest. Blankie is pictured above with some dyed yarns

Moving on a year, I had a burning desire to try weaving Blankie 2 - the warp is on the loom now, slightly more progress than you will see in the photo of the warp raddled. The dyes are cutch, madder, dhak and a mix based on weld extract. I hope to have some woven fabric to show later this week but realistically I have very little time as I will also be preparing for the annual teaching trip to The Netherlands with my good friends Alison Daykin, Amanda Hannaford and Helen Melvin. We are all getting excited now, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say that these visits are inspiring, exciting and all round positive experiences. Can't wait!

2011-02-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well, another busy few days have sped past, leaving me wondering where the time goes.
I had a most enjoyable day at Bicton College on Tuesday, teaching natural dyeing to a very nice group of ladies, amongst whom were two who preferred to weave. So I turned up with looms, hot-plates, dyes, fibres and all manner of 'stuff' - think I will have to get a bigger car! We dyed with saffron, cochineal and indigo thought the modifying was a bit disappointing - I think in my desperation to ensure everyone had a decent colour from the pots, I probably used more dye than necessary. Very bad practice environmentally but worry not, we saved all the dye liquor for the ladies to use later.

Carol and Mair produced some fabulous weaving and I am fantasizing about a Bicton wall-hanging, incorporating lots of plant material from the gardens, though I expect one would have to fight the horticultural department for some of the best examples! I was presented with the most beautiful bouquet that I am still enjoying - thank you all, especially Gill.

On Thursday I hosted a Peter TAvy Guild inbetween day at Duchy Square and visitors to Laura Wall's wonderful art show (Love at the Seaside, www.Laurawall.com ) were somewhat taken aback to find the gallery full of ladies spinning. Laura herself popped in to change some paintings and she was very pleased to see us. We had a lovely day and I achieved one of my 'must get round to it' jobs of spinning a fair amount of last summer's silk harvest.

On Friday my good friend Archie Dickens, another silkworm fanatic, came to see me and we had a very absorbing time going through the suppliers websites, and choosing the varieties we will keep in 2011. I have my fingers crossed that my cocoons will have survived our very cold winter - they are in a fridge in the garage and I hope the fridge will have stayed above freezing.

Next Friday is Textile Friday at Duchy Square so if you are in the neighbourhood of Duchy Square (www.duchysqare.org ) and you enjoy textile talk, come and join us. We are there from 10-4 and will be delighted to see you

Fleece

2011-02-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

I've had fleece on my mind over the past few days. First, a visit to the National Sheep Society and meeting some fellow wool devotees and supporters of the Campaign for Wool, yesterday. Then today my good friend Claire Crompton came to sort out some spinning techniques for her flock of mini-sheep, created from yarn grown, spun and knitted in the south west UK. The flock is growing and you can read all about it on Claire's blog: ukfleece.wordpress.com.

Claire bought me a Cotswold fleece, obtained from a farmer who doesn't do anything with it, regarding it as a waste product. It looks gorgeous - what do I mean by that? It is filthy - sheep live in fields and don't have access to regular wash and brush-ups, so that is to be expected. Vegetable matter attaches itself to the fibres, occasionally small insects (dead, usually!) are to be found lurking in the locks of wool, and quite often the remains of normal biological processes are attached to the rear end of the fleece. And it usually smells of sheep - an acquired taste. It is possible, and quite straightforward to buy ready processed, clean wool top to spin so why on earth would I want to use the raw fibre that needs to be scoured, dried, combed or carded according to the fibre type and intended spin? Masochism?

I love fleece, and I particularly love the qualities that remain in the fibre when it has been prepared by hand. The fleece I work with is generally from a breed I can identify, will have come from a local farmer, is intended for an end product for which it is entirely suited and will require skill and patience to turn it from smelly, mucky fleece into gorgeous yarn. The preparation and spin I use will be chosen to retain the particular quality of the wool and the skills I have developed over 30+ years will show me when it is appropriate to stick to the traditional preparation and spin, and when 'breaking' those rules will give something truly unique and wonderful.

I am going to put my fleece in a bucket of water to soak, and dream about what I shall do with it when it has been scoured.....

2011-01-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

A Late Happy New Year

2011-01-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't had much to say for myself recently but have been planning projects. I have an exhibition coming up in March, am writing a follow up to Creative Spinning with my friend and co-author Alison Daykin, planning a trip to The Netherlands in March to teach some workshops along with Alison, Amanda Hannaford and Helen Melvin, going to ISEND in April and am wondering when to start getting the cocoons out of the fridge! I hope they have survived and that the fridge has, ironically, been warmer than the garage was in the depth of the snow and ice...

I have been dyeing with some eucalyptus bark from Spain and have got some lovely browns, reminiscent of the colours from walnut.

2010-12-10T09:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a great day out with friends Isabella Whitworth and Claire Crompton as we braved the icy roads to visit Lesley Prior and her wonderful fibre animals. Sadly, I forgot my camera but there are lots of pictures of the Bowmonts and the cashmere and angora goats on Lesley's blog: www.devonfinefibres.wordpress.com.

Bowmonts are unique in the UK in several ways: they are the only commercial flock that is being bred specifically for fibre; they are the only Bowmonts in existence; they live a life of sheep luxury! That last point may not be unique but it is certainly unusual. Sadly for us, but wonderfully for Lesley and the Bowmonts, the fleece is in such demand commercially that there is not a huge amount available for the handspinners

2010-12-05T09:38:00.001-08:00

Well, the weather is going the right way and we are a lot less frozen this weekend than we were last. Let's hope it holds.
You will see the TAFA logo on the blog - have a look. It is the most fantastic resource and is an ideal way to while away a wet Sunday afternoon, especially if Santa has some chores for you do!

I am going to put some wonderful eucalyptus bark into soak for a week to see if I can get some exciting colour. It was grown in southern Spain and is a gift from a friend. I shall be interested to see if the bark grown in a hot climate differs in the colour that is produced from my little Silver Dollar gum in the chillier south west of the UK.

Clothes moths are a topic that has been raised on my friend Lesley Prior's blog (www.devonfinefibres.wordpress). Apparently people are concerned about the little blighters eating woollen garments, and that is why they are reluctant to buy natural fibres. I can tell you that if natural fibres aren't available and you have case moths or carpet beetles, that they are quite happy to eat synthetic fibres.....I would urge those of you who swat any moth you see that you check it is one of the clothes moth varieties. Thousands of moths are swatted to death every year when they venture through an open window, usually attracted by a light. These moths have no interest in your belongings, are already under threat from environmental pressures, are pollinators and a valuable food source for birds. The case moth, or clothes moth, is a weedy little specimen, doesn't seem to like the light much, leaves evidence of its presence with the little 'cases' from which the larvae emerge as moths and by then the damage is done, as it is the larve who eat the fibres, not the adults.

So how do you combat them? I keep my clean fleece in vacuum bags, wash dirty fleece as soon as I get it, put suspect fibres in the freezer overnight and repeat in 12 days to catch any eggs that may have hatched in the meantime. I vacuum dark corners, cupboards and drawers regularly and keep a mothball in my vacuum cleaner bag. I have no faith in lavender, sanderswood, cedar or any of the other so called anti-moth smellies, but I do regret the passing of newspaper printed with proper ink - that did help keep the moth down, because the ink contained a poison. I do keep my handspun yarn in hanks rather than balls and if they are to stored for any length of time, I undo the skein, give them a shake, and hang them in the sun every few weeks.

I raise silkmoths, as regular readers of this blog will know, so cannot afford to have chemical controls around the place - poison will not discriminate between useful and destructive moths!

Back to the loom....

2010-12-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

Give Fleece a Chance Knitathon

2010-11-28T05:09:00.000-08:00

This was very successful! We had spinners and knitters and the flock was increased significantly with more sheep on the go, including mine. We had two press photographers, one of them Mike Kinsey who as well as doing great photos is also half of the great husband and wife team who run the Oratory B&B, www.theoratorydartomoor.co.uk. Highly recommended by friends who have stayed there.

We had a visit from Sally Vincent, www.rainingsideways.com, who keeps Whitefaced Dartmoors and is very supportive of the Campaign for Wool. Again and again we discover that instead of being a small, eccentric group of wool worshippers, we are part of a huge network of discontent over the woeful state of British wool: but the stopper is out of the bottle now, and we hope to make some real progress so that farmers, makers and consumers can have the benefit of a fair price for excellent fleece, cutting edge creations and the satisfaction of reducing carbon footprints by using what is locally available.

Right, off the soapbox and back to the loom!

Give Fleece a Chance!

2010-11-25T03:20:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder to anyone out there within easy reach of Duchy Square, Princetown, that tomorrow is the Give Fleece a Chance Knit-Athon at DS Centre for Creativity. It is also Textile Friday - you can never have too much of a good thing!

On Monday, Claire Crompton and I went to visit Sandy Gilbert, www.proudyarns.co.uk to see her studio and work. We had a very enjoyable afternoon looking at sheep, angora goats, yarns, fibres and finished goods. Yummy!

2010-11-15T03:37:00.000-08:00

Another week over and another week nearer Christmas! We have had some appalling weather and that may be responsible for the virus I've been suffering. It caused me to miss some exciting textile related jollifications: Women's Wellbeing Day in Sidmouth and KnitExpo in Exeter. I was supposed to be present/represented at both but in the end made neither.....

I'm inspired by Laverne Waddington's blog entry: http://www.backstrapweaving.blogspot.com/ and the fabulous weaving she has just seen in Peru - so many ideas, so little time!

I am experimenting with doubleweave pick-up at the moment and am getting more and more excited. I am also becoming infatuated with the idea of a drawloom....

Dying has been going well and this batch of yarn has really delighted me. The colours are Madder, from Coleur de Plantes, Cutch Waste and Dhak from Pure Tinctoria, mordanted with alum and cream of tartar on a 70% alpaca, 30% Blueface Leicester yarn from John Arbon: wwwjarbon.com. Glorious yarn and the dyeing has been fantastic.

I have some more in a different colourway but the skeins need tidying up before I photograph them.

The other really exciting thing that is happening in the dyeing part of my life is that I am going to ISEND next April. This will be a fantastic event and I am lucky to be going with several colleagues and friends - that always helps!

2010-11-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

Another busy week has come to an end and I look back at all the things I promised myself would be done, and haven't!

On Thursday afternoon I went with Philippa and Laura, colleagues from Duchy Square, www.duchysquare.org, to be interviewed on Radio Devon. Our interviewer was Fitz (David Fitzgerald) and if you should be interested, you can listen again online until Tuesday. We talked about Duchy Square Centre for Creativity, what it's for, what it is like being there and I got in a plug for using local fleece.

On Friday I ran a morning workshop for some of Peter Tavy Guild's weavers on how to read a weave draft. The discussion generated over the yummy soup and rolls lunch provided by Hilary, has resulted in our forming a weave study group. Striking while the iron is hot, I turned up at the Guild the following day with a challenge!

We are going to weave a minimum of 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8) samples, using only straight entry and black, white, grey and one colour for the warp. If all 10 of us do our bit, we shall have 80 samples to inspect in January. It will be really fascinating to see how different they will all be.

Tomorrow I am going to teach Lucie Ponsford (www.giselledesigns.co.uk) natural dyeing. Lucie is a fantastic designer and she upcycles old clothes into the most fabulous new creations. Wednesday I am going to help a friend put up her new-to-her loom, Thursday a meeting with Claire Crompton, knitwear designer par excellence and creator of the Give Fleece a Chance (www.clairecrompton.co.uk) project, Friday is Duchy Square Christmas Fair in the evening, and then on Saturday I will be in two places at once....I will be in one and my presence will be represented in the other as I have yet to master the ability to split myself in two.

I hope to find time to experiment with some delicious steel yarn I was given, so watch this space!

Phew!

2010-11-01T04:51:00.001-07:00

Well, Duchy Square Textile Fair has been and gone and was a rip-roaring success! We had some wonderful stalls, including Handweavers Gallery: www.handweavers.co.uk , Fiery Felts, www.fieryfelts.co.uk , KnitExpo, www.knitexpo.co.uk and many others - google Duchy Square Textile Fair for a complete list.

Now I have to get on with the work that has been piling up, including some weaving samples for Giles and Joanna of Avocet Alpacas, a double weave blanket in natural dyes for me - probably! - more dye experiments, work for the Christmas fairs that are rapidly coming up, and planning for the Fleece First exhibition that is being curated by my good friend Isabella Whitworth and will be held at the end of next year at Devon Guild of Craftsmen.

2011 will be a great year - the regular teaching visit to The Netherlands with Alison Daykin, Amanda Hannaford and I and next time we are delighted that Helen Melvin is joining the team. Then ISEND in La Rochelle in April, then the Fleece First exhibition in the autumn - all wonderful opportunities.

So rather than sitting in front of a computer, I should really do some work!

Time Flies...

2010-10-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

Over a month since the last post, and a lot has happened, very exciting news for next year so watch this space......

The moths and caterpillars are finally over for this year, at last. We found one or two escapees who had cocooned in strange places - one in the recycling bin and how he got there is a real mystery. The silk crop for this year has been good and I have combed most of it out into lovely, long, lustrous fibre. Now I have to decide how to use it. Though I have managed to do a small sample from each variety to show with the moth when doing talks.

I have today had a bit of a dye fest - I've dyed a kilo each of madder and cutch, some cochineal, some dhak, mordented some top and some more yarn and am about to put some commercial silk fibre in the pot to mordant for the up and coming Textile Traders Day at Duchy Square. It's the 29th and 30th October, if anyone would like to come and see all the wonderful stuff on display and for sale there - after all, Christmas is coming.... Most of the dyeing is for me, but I have just put a kg of indigo dyed dk yarn in the post for a lady in Sussex.

Off to check the dyepots and will try to remember to keep a bit more up to date with the blog, but time will tell.

Autumn is upon us!

2010-09-02T02:13:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems as if the summer is on its way out as the nights are drawing in, the evenings are getting chillier and the early morning is adorned with dewdropped cobwebs. I'm fed up with cooking the apples that are r apidly falling from the Grendier apple tree though will be grateful for them later in the winter when I can dig them out of the freezer.

The caterpillars are all cocooned now, apart from the last two - there are always a couple that keep hanging on till the bitter end but I suspect they are about to spin and I will be extremely glad to have my dining room table back! So the cocoon and dye fridge will be full again.

On the dye front, I am about to harvest my Japanese indigo, grown from plants supplied by my good friend, Isabella Whitworth (www.isabellawhitworth.co.uk) , and hope to get some turquoise on silk as well as some blue. Last week Isabella used my studio at Duchy Square to cook her leaves and the amount of blue obtained looked extremely promising. I also have the last few woad plants to deal with.

I am waiting for some more mohair yarn, as the throw was so successful that other people have commissioned one - the fab fibre comes from another good friend, Lesley Prior, (www.devonfinefibres.co.uk) or more accurately, from her goats!
I also have to whip up some tapestry samples - though anyone who knows about tapestry will instantly understand that it can't be 'whipped up,' for a forthcoming tapestry course I have been asked to teach for the local education authority in Tavistock. It is entirely possible that this won't have sufficient numbers to run but one has to be prepared in any event. And the samples will be useful and fun to do - stretch the old brain a bit!

Our Textile Fridays - last Friday of the month at Duchy Square - are growing from strength to strength and I hope the Textile Fair that we are running in conjunction with the October Friday (29th and 30th) will attract a lot of people for the traders who are coming - should be wonderful fun, apart from anything else.

I have some old sheeting in the washing machine at the moment that I am going to dye as a contribution to Nick Viney's forthcoming exhibition at Duchy Square so I had better trot off and fish it out - it is destined for the indigo vat!

More shortly!

Time marches on...

2010-07-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

Seems like a long time since I have added to the blog but I have not been idle. Over the past few weeks I have been weaving a throw, mohair, double width, finished size 200 x 200 (believe my arms have grown several inches!), had a delightful student for a week learning natural dyeing and gathered increasing amounts of foliage for the caterpillars.

The first photo is of one of my moths, taken through the netting of the cage. It dims the colour somewhat but she was rather agitated so did not want to open the cage and distress her further. The second photo is of a caterpillar who hasn't quite got the idea of what he is supposed to do! He has pupated without bothering to spin a cocoon first. As he is an Eri Silkmoth and his silk was destined to be part of a project, I am a bit disappointed that he has decided to skip the silk and go straight to metamorphasis. When this happens, as it does occasionally, it is usually because the caterpillars haven't had enough food, and therefore energy, to spin. All I can say to that is he and his companions had fresh food at all times and my privet is looking remarkably bare after the depredatations of feeding this batch.

I have Zara's permission to put the photos of her dyeing experiments on the blog so here are just a few of them:

Top left is woad; middle is myrobalan; far right is silk screen printed indigo

Bottom left is top to bottom : cochineal, cutch waste and annatto. Bottom right is silk screen printed red lac.

We both had a very good time, and I wish there was room here to show you the other 20 photos!

Now I must go and wind a sample warp for double weave alpaca......back soon!

Photo de jour

2010-06-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well, this something I have never actually seen before - a Giant Atlas caterpillar eating his shed skin. Recycling is something I am generally in favour of, but not sure about this....At first I wasn't sure that he was actually consuming it, but he was.

I've just done today's major muck-out and the cat house now has Giant Atlas, s.ricini, a.pernyi, a.mylitta, 2 sorts of moon moth but can't remember which (will check records!), s. pavonia, one solitary little Great Peacock baby living with the s.pavonia, 2 baby Asian eyed moth cats - their siblings haven't survived, and some polyphemus. The GAs and the s.ricini are hopefully not far from cocooning, as are the s.pavonia, but the others are all first or second instar, so a busy time ahead.

I've got some solar dyes on the go again and am hoping to have a dye day soon - the woad is coming on nicely - but also have two deadlines coming up, one for some woven devore for which the samples have been disastrous, and the other for more devore and a rug, 2 cushions and a throw. Not to mention having rather a lot of fleece, as I may have mentioned before (there's more since then!). Oh, and two alpaca saddles to spin. Anyone know how to live without sleep?

Peel me a grape!

2010-06-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

Just thought you might like to see this Giant Atlas cat, looking for all the world as though he is waiting for someone to wait on him, like a Roman Emperor!

Silk crop

2010-06-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

Not kept up with this as I had intended, but there you go!

All but three of the a.pernyi cocoons have emerged, I've had 6 observed pairings and have been distributing eggs to friends in order to avoid a population explosion of caterpillars!

I took 17 cocoons, weighing 20g, and degummed them yesterday. I now have 7.1 g of gorgeous tussah silk that you can see in the picture, together with a gummed cocoon and a moth. The cocoon is to the upper right hand side of the moth.

The Giant Atlas babies are growing well, as are the Emporer and s.ricini, and the Great Peacock babies have hatched at last, though they are doing their best to escape! I've found them all over the place - the lid on their little box must not be a good fit, so they now have a new home, hopefully escape proof.....

Matings and babies

2010-05-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I have now had 9 a.pernyi emerge, six males and three females, so the poor girls are having a busy time! I've got eggs from two observed pairings and another taking place so I sincerely hope some cats will result.

My s. ricini are growing quite fast now and so are the Giant Atlas and Emperor caterpillars. No movement from the Great Peacock eggs, but there's still time, and quite honestly as we get to this stage every year with caterpillars everywhere, all needing LOTS of food, I wonder why I do it...because I just love them, is why. I am supposed to rearing them because I want the silk, but actually the pleasure and fascination of watcching the egg become the cat, the cat grow from a tiny beastie to a giant, then the cocoon spinning and finally the gorgeous, gorgeous moth really makes the silk a wonderful bonus!

And speaking of spinning, in addition to the rest of the stash I now have about 30 Blue face Leicester fleeces to deal with.....

Spring has sprung

2010-05-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

Well, after what seems like months of waiting for something moth-y to happen, I gave in and ordered some fresh cocoons and cats. Today some a.pernyi cocoons and s.ricini cats arrived in the post, all well. The cats are now happily ensconsed on some privet branches in wet Oasis foam and are chewing merrily away.

Two of the a.pernyi were emerging as I opened the package, both males and both, sadly, have not manged to pump up their wings so were destined to a merciful end in the freezer. Whilst contemplating this, a male and female emerged in the pop-up cage, so I transferred them to the mating cage into which I had put the two damaged males. I left them in peace for a bit, and having just looked at them, see that mating is already taking place but with the female and one of the badly deformed males! How he reached her from the far side of the bottom of the cage (actually a collapsible fly guard for food) to where she is at the top of the cage is one of life's mysteries. Photos later!

I await more fresh stock in a few days and am feeling very chuffed with life generally - we have a new hive of bees after the disastrous year we had last year (DH collected them last night with a fellow apiarist and they are from the world famous Buckfast Abbey apiary), I've got caterpillars and moths again, and I have just bought 45 Blue Face Leicester fleeces from a local farmer. Most of them are destined for friends to share, so it isn't quite as bad as it sounds....anyone want to know what I'll be doing for the next few months?!

Janet's Naturally Dyed, handspun, handwoven rug

2010-05-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

At last!

2010-05-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

The leaves are beginning to arrive at last so I shall be taking my Robin Moth cocoons out of the fridge today. It is a bit chilly still, but they will be inside so fingers crossed for some of both sexes and some caterpillars!

I thought I would show you this rug, woven by my friend Janet. She dyed all the yarns at a workshop I ran, using Pure Tinctoria dye extracts, and spun the yarn herself. I'm very proud of her!

Jane

2010-04-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

Goodness me - what a day! The bank holiday crowds were out in force at Duchy Square today and I met a charming young man who is studying entomology at university and was really interested in the silkworm sagas. He was surprised that I let my moths emerge, as he was under the very common misconception that you can only use fibre from unbroken cocoons. Hope he'll spread the word, and even more I hope the leaf buds begin to burst soon!

The woad is coming along nicely, and I look forward to a good crop this year, but my Japanese indigo has failed to show any signs of germination yet.

I remeber saying weeks ago that I would post the pix of the yarn I had mordanted when it was dyed, so am going to attach an image of it as it is stocked at The Art Chapel in Moretonhampstead. These are all natural dye extracts - environmentally sound, fantastic colours and so easy to use.

The Netherlands

2010-04-03T11:14:00.001-07:00

Well, still no oak leaves so the cocoons are still in the fridge. But I have been to The Netherlands for the annual teaching trip and these are some photos of the yarns my students designed from their images. Didn't they do well?!

2010-04-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

2010-04-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

Is Spring just around the corner?

2010-02-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I was tempted to think so because we have had glorious sunshine, the birds are building their nests and there is evidence that leaf buds are forming on the trees. Today has brought the cold winds back, though, and a cloudy sky so maybe we'll have to be patient. I'm hoping the oak is not as late in leaf this year as last as it puts my caterpillar season back.

Still, I have mordanted 3kg of yarn over the last 24 hours and am just about to put some more on to cook. This is destined partly for Unravel, in Surrey at the end of February, and partly for a new venture down here on Dartmoor, The Art Chapel (www.partofthecountry.com), run by my good friends Anne Middleton and Brigid Arnold. There will be craft kits to buy, courses to take and all manner of goodies! Grand Opening is on 6th March and by an amazing coincidence, that is also the day of the Moretonhampstead (Art Chapel's location) Food and Drink Festival! If you are on Dartmoor, come and join in.

Now to decide what colours to dye the yarn.....I'll show you later in the week what I have done.

Jane

Christmas comes but once a year.....

2009-12-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

and thank goodness for that!

Santa bought me a fridge (reconditioned, secondhand) to keep my cocoons in as the household fridge space was getting a bit tight.

No moths or cats at the moment, but two gorgeous little grandsons, visiting from Australia and loving everything, most especially the snow.

I have to weave three cushions, spin a basket of yarns and make some storyboards by the end of next week and am not sure how I am going to do it, but adrenaline has always been my friend in a tight spot!

A very Happy 2010 to anyone who reads this blog.

A long silence!

2009-11-01T09:49:00.001-08:00

Well, a long silence indeed! The caterpillar season is nearly over - should be well over - but I have 6 cats that are persistantly refusing to spin. They look about fit to burst and really need to get going because the oak trees are really beginning to shut down for the winter. I dread to think what will happen if we exhaust the leaf supply before they have cocooned.

Today I added to my collection of wheels - I need another one like a hole in the head - but this is special. It is an 1840s (approx) double flyer flax wheel. My good friends Amanda and Welmoed already have double flyer wheels, so we are going to try and crack the mystery of how they work - well, no mystery, but requires a good deal of technical skill. Spinning with one flyer, this little beauty goes like a bomb. A picture will go up in due course. The long dark evenings aren't conducive to photography.

I have a list of things to do that grows hourly but I must have big mordant session, followed by a series of dye sessions, really soon.I have design work to do , three commissions to weave, spinning to do, workshops to teach.....

Better go and do some, instead of sitting looking at the computer screen!

Two cats, and you can see the silk on the left under the back feet of one chap

2009-09-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well, what a few weeks I've had! I've been very busy getting the coursework for the new term's classes running (dyeing starts on 24th September, 13.00-16.00, at The Duchy Square Centre for Creativity: http://www.duchysquare.org/). Spinning, weaving and textile design will be along in the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the caterpillars are spinning up with a vengence. My silkworms and moths are going to be the subject of a book that is being written by Elizabeth Bailey, and bound in a handmade cover. Elizabeth came for one of her regular visits yesterday and it was frustrating for me because I knew at least one of the Robin cats was thinking about spinning, but he just wouldn't settle down and get on with it whilst Elizabeth was here. This afternoon I got home from a course standardisation meeting (very exciting, I don't think!) and the little so and so was not only spinning, but trying to entrap one of his siblings in the cocoon. Escape was possible, so I won't be getting a dupion cocoon after all, as the trapped one is also now spinning but as an individual and not as a pair. I shall be glad when this year's cocoons are all in the fridge, as I have three weaving commissions to complete, plus work for an exhibition in the late autumn to produce.

I will post some pix of the spinner, and possibly one of the two worms entwined, but the focus is not brilliant as I was using a macro lens, and the area was a bit too big for it all to be clear.

Time marches on!

2009-08-31T13:16:00.001-07:00

I must now go and see if I can work out why one of the lams on my loom has popped out - wondered why weaving my indigo silk scarf was suddenly such hard work!

I'm continually frustrated by being unable to capture the wonderful turquoise of these caterpillars, but this picture isn't too bad as far as colour goes.
Close up of moth pairing

Not much has appeared on here recently as I've been extrememly busy with all sorts of interesting things, including two wonderful days in my studio with designer Luiven Rivas- Sanchez (http://www.luiven.com/), dyeing fabrics with natural dyes. He had explored yarn dyeing but was interested in fabrics and we produced some gorgeous colours on silk muslin, ramie, linen and cotton velvet. He has posted about what we achieved on the blog page of his website.

Before Luiven, I had a lovely time (and this is work?!) with two Dutch ladies, Dineke and Alet, who came and did creative yarn design with me. They achieved some really excellent design work and yarns with me, did some monoprinting with David Lister, a fellow artist at Duchy Square Centre for Creativity, and we spent a relaxing and fascinating day with Lesley Prior at her farm (devonfinefibres.com) admiring her wonderful Bowmont sheep, cashmere goats, and angora goats.

Mustn't forget to mention the highly successful Fibrefest
either. Despite the weather and the very soggy floor in the marquees, it was a tremendous event and Coldharbour Mill is such a good setting for a textile event.

I have a pretty full week of teaching coming up, so thought I should update the progress of the caterpillars. The Robin babies are growing very fast now and are almost ready to spin - at least the older ones are. The a.yamanai have all eclosed and are a bit slow about mating - I have males and females, but they don't seem to want to do what comes naturally - maybe the unseasonably cold weather has had some effect? A. peryni, on the other hand, have been pairing with enthusiasm......

Blue babies

2009-08-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

No, not those poor little souls with heart problems, but the Robin babies. They have this most gorgeous turquoise tinge to them at the moment, particularly fetching with their blue spiky bits - they are like multicoloured punks! I h ave a couple of photos that, though slightly out of focus for most of the cat, the blue is quite true to life.

I went to feed the mob the day before yesterday and was thinking that probably it would be a good idea to put the Japanese Oak Silk Moth cocoons in the fridge till spring - telepathy must have been in play because as I looked in the cage, I noticed a male has emerged, hanging hopefully onto a cocoon that I assume holds a female. She is taking her time about emerging! I think the Chinese had better all go in the fridge as I don't really want to be overrun with moths just at the moment! I have a baby of baby Chinese cats coming along nicely.

2009-07-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well, time marches on and all the Japanese cats have spun, as have most of the a.pernyi - just the last two huge chaps to decide they've eaten enough.
The Robin Moths are changing daily, most have gone through their black, hairy stage and are beginning to enter the "yellow with red knobs on their head" stage!
I have passed some of the Robin babies on to a friend and I hope she will enjoy them as much as I do.
I have some Chinese Oak moth eggs that arrived in the post this morning from Worldwide Butterflies (www.wwb.co.uk), so I hope they will hatch - this will be the last lot of eggs for this year - I hope the moths that are pupating will emerge and mate and I can store some fertile eggs for next year.

I'm going to post 4 photos, one of the three stages of the Robin cats, a serendipitous opportunity as I was cleaning them today, one of the larger of the small black cats up against an almost fully grown a.pernyi cat (the Robins are usually slightly larger than these!) and a close up of the current instar of the Robin babies

2009-07-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

Found a huge (easily 15cm ) green caterpillar trotting - well, ambling, really - across the dining room chair last night. I put him back on the oak and he seems to be fine. They have masses of food, so I don't think he was hungry, more likely looking for a quiet spot to spin.

The Robin Moth babies are getting bigger by the minute and I expect some of them to shed their first skin any time now.

The remaining H. Maia has gone into a sort of trance - I'm not sure if he is about to spin, or if he's just feeling a bit gormless. I'm fairly sure he isn't unwell, though he seems not to be eating the available food. I hope he's considering cocooning, but we shall just have to wait and see.

2009-07-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Thought you might like to see these two Cherry Moths that emerged from the three cocoons I had.
I am overrun with tiny little Robin Moth babies - they are chomping merrily away on the lilac.
The a. yamamai are all cocooned now, so I'm hoping for both sexes to emerge in a few weeks and give me some fertile eggs for next year.

When I have a little time - I'm not only doing masses of spinning and dyeing tuition but also upgrading my teaching qualifications - (not to mention racing up and down the hill to gather armfuls of oak branches for the caterpillars!) I'm going to do a comparison of all the silks from the varieties of saturniids I have raised over the past few years. I've got bombyx mori, the Indian and American Moon Moths, Robin Moth, Japanese Silk Moth, Chinese Silk Moth, Tree of Heaven Silk Moth, Giant Atlas Silkmoth, R. Fugex, Cherry Moth, Emperor Moth, Spanish Peacock Moth, and the Emperor Gum Moth cocoons. Most are broken cocoons, though I have one or two I could reel as the occupants have never emerged .

2009-06-28T05:25:00.001-07:00

In the picture of the Indian Moon Moth babies, at about 11 o'clock above the 20 p is an egg

2009-06-28T04:58:00.000-07:00

The Robin Moth babies seem to be doing well, munching away on lilac leaves. One of the H. Maia cats has gone walkabout - I dare say I'll find a cocoon somewhere at some point! The little a. luna, only two survived, are now out on branches and one of them has trotted off, too - I suspect it is in the oak leaves, with the a.yamamai, who have nearly all cocooned, and the a.pernyi, who don't look very far off and are eating massive quantities.

The little a.luna have been eating birch, one of the most common trees in the UK, but strangely pretty much absent from this corner of Devon. I rather hope, that like the a.pernyi who transferred themselves from hawthorn to oak when out "free range," the a.luna might be doing the same. If they are all eating the same food it makes life much easier!

I am about to upload two photos - one of the tiny Robin Moth cats, who are tiny as all silkmoth cats are when hatched, and one of the adult moth on its cocoon. These little black babies will eventually be the size and colour of the chap who adorns the top of the blog. I foolishly haven't put a coin into the box when photographing, to give the scale, but they are about half the length of an adult female pinkie fingernail, one cut short - not a glamour puss talon!

2009-06-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

Great excitement! My Robin moth eggs, laid by the generation from last year who were overwintered as cocoons in the fridge and completed their life cycle this spring, are hatching! Lots of tiny little black cats are swarming over the lilac leaves they eat and it is rather poignant that the last of the adult moths was dead in the cage this morning - last night she was still just about alive and there were no caterpillars. Is this coincidence or did her death trigger the hatching? I have no idea.

2009-06-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well, great excitement! I keep the silkworms "free range," on branches of their foodstuff. Occasionally we find one in a place it shouldn't really be. I have just been through to check on them and all was well. Looking up, something on the lintel of the doors to the conservatory caught my eye - a large green blob.

I got the chair, stood on it and my suspicions were confirmed - it is a Japanese silk moth caterpillar spinning a cocoon. So I rushed for the camera and will post the results. The cocoon is still at the transparent stage, so I can see the caterpillar moving its head in the characteristic figure of eight movement, as it weaves its little shell around itself. Miraculous!

2009-06-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

I got a really nice picture of and H.maia cat and whilst in a photgraphic mood, took a detail of the wing of the Robin Moth - beautiful, though my pic doesn't do it justice. They are - silkmoths generally - so furry. Quite different from butterflies and equally as attractive, if not more so.

2009-06-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of the cats got himself into a fix today - he somehow managed to get himself inbetween two branches and looked as though he was performing some gymnastic trick. I released him, and seems to have not suffered too much so I hope no internal damage has been done.

Still waiting for those eggs to hatch!

2009-06-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well, how disgraceful. I've let two months go by without an entry and the silkworms have been going great guns! The chap at the top of the blog is now a moth though obviously I don't know which of the emerging cocoons was his/ers. There have been two confirmed matings and now I'm waiting for some eggs to hatch. I have two opportunities, as I have also bought some fresh Robin Moth eggs - belt and braces!

The a.yamamai are just about to spin, by the look of things, the a.pernyai are growing furiously, and I have two h.maia cats that look to be on their last instar. I also have two a.luna cats that got off to a bad start but are manfully chewing away and getting bigger slowly.

My fugex eggs have not hatched, nor have I had any luck with the cocoons - three hatched but no male so far, and the girls are past it.

I have degummed a whole lot of cocoons - the smell doesn't improve! - and am wondering what to do with the silk when I have spun it.

2009-04-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

The moths continue to emerge and mate but there are very few eggs appearing. This is a blow as I am giving a talk in mid May to spinners and weavers and would like some cats to show them...never mind, perhaps I will put the eggs in the fridge and see if a spell in the comparative cold gives them the illusion of winter followed by spring and therefore hatching time!

Fingers crossed
Jane

2009-04-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Well, things have moved on. There are now five moths out of the cocoons and there are two pairings! The first pairing doesn't seem to have produced much in the way of eggs, but at least there is another chance with the second.

I hope the oak decides to get a move on - the leaves are still just buds at the moment and I would be grateful not to have any offspring from this pairing having to spend their egg days in the fridge!

2009-04-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

2009-04-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

Well, at last something is stirring in the silkmoth department! I put several cocoons into breeding cages yesterday afternoon and this morning, to my delight, I have found a lovely fat, furry moth. a.pernyi, hanging from the top of the cage. She looks as though she has a tummy full of eggs, so I hope a chap will emerge to fertilize them, and that her companions will begin to emerge and we shall have some beautiful silkworms to look at during the coming weeks. Very appropriate for Easter Saturday!

Next week I shall start taking the overwintered eggs out of the fridge. The oak and lilac are beginning to show signs of life, but I don't, as yet, have any bombyx mori eggs, the mulberry silkworm, which is as well, as the mulberry looks a bit feeble at the moment. A week of sun might help...

2009-04-09T01:28:00.000-07:00

Well, the early signs for the Easter weekend aren't good weatherwise - we have a dull, rainy day and it is likely to get worse according to the cheerful chappie on the weather forcast.

I have just put some wool yarn on to mordant with alum, no cream of tartar, because I have soft water and am going to test Deb Bamford's suggestion that the reds are bettere in soft water areas without the cot. Will report back.

Yesterday I dyed some wool with mylobaran extract and modified two of the skeins with lemon juice and washing soda - they aren't dry yet but the modifying seems to have made no difference at all! I'll post a pic when they are dry.

Am thinking about taking my Robin Moth cocoons out of the fridge - the chap at the top of this blog is one of them, and seeing if they have survived their hibernation....

2009-04-07T02:55:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again. Silence has been deafening but I have been very busy and don't know where the time is going.

I am trying to get all the colours in the Pure Tinctoria range up in my studio, as well as working there and at the day job and am at that awful stage with half the stuff I need to do a particular project in one place and the other in another! It will work itself out...

I am watching the leaves still and expect to take the first batch of eggs from the fridge after the Easter weekend. Also I have to be in the studio for the start of the tourist season, and tidy the house (a mammoth task!). Additionally I need (want) to get on with the online guild workshop this month which is dyeing the reds, lead by Deb Bamford, an outstanding dyer. Perhaps I should just give up sleep. On the other hand, I am like a bear with a sore head if I don't get my full 8 hours, so that's probably not a good idea either.

More soon, but maybe not ttomorrow!

2009-03-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Wonder how long I'll keep this daily addition going! Bet it won't be long before the habit fades...

Today I rescued some exhaust dyebaths: cutch waste, cutch and marigold. I've put the three of them in one solar jar with some Corriedale top and it is looking very interesting. The colour is a gold-y yellow with a distinctly green tinge. What it will look like when I take it out is anyone's guess, but it will be a few weeks before it is "cooked." I have put it in the display window at the Duchy, but might have to give it a blast in the conservatory at home - the windows are polychromatic and go black at the slightest hint of sun. They are far too sensitive, because the architect over-corrected on the specification! Still, it helps the building's carbon footprint.

I have almost finished warping my Kombo with a silk acid dyed warp that has been waiting to be woven for longer than I care to remember, so will be able to get on with that next time I am in the studio. Won't be tomorrow, because I will be teaching art and craft to my two groups of learning disabled adults. I hope to get a big batch of mordanting done, too.

Now I shall toddle off to wind some silk chenille for wetting out - yum!

Welcome to my world!

2009-03-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I have started on the blog route at long last.

I am currently watching the oak trees and lilac to see when the leaf buds are going to burst and then I can take my overwintering eggs from the fridge and have teeny weeny caterpillars, I hope.

I am very tired as I have been using my new studio at the Duchy Square Centre for Creativity - mini-opening on Friday evening, open to the public on Saturday and Grand Opening to come sometime in May when the building might be finished. Haven't done much work, but there is a wonderful creative energy there - will I ever want to come home at night?! I will put a link to the website up, but just at the moment there only seems to be the July 2008 posting.....