The Beautiful Strand

So I'm having a mini holiday in Sydney at the moment.. I thought I would share some beautiful things from The Strand Arcade, a long time favorite since I was a little girl.

 Gorgeous antiques.

 Stunning clothes.

 Dinosaur Designs!

 Devine stained glass in the stairway.

-- mel

Before the loom died!

Well what a frustrating 3 days. The loom is having issues (and say that with a Kath and Kim accent) and I forgot my camera so no really good images this week and these photos are taken on my blackberry and emailed to myself and them posted. Now I know there is away of posting direct from blackberry to blogger if I could only figure out how.

So the loom, oh Melly where to start, the major problem now is it just will not lift the shafts and when it does they just drop straight back down. It was working fine until I changed from plain weave back to waffle weave then problems no end. The warp is Lauren wool, DMC mercerized cotton is 2 thickness and some Annie Blatt mohair yarn. The weft is silk and rayon on 1 bobbin so just a mix of threads hoping to get an interesting result. I was hoping to weave of all 3 scarves and want to see what the final results will be, but alas not this weekend. I have started to use a piece of cotton tape as a measurer for length, this is the first time I have tried it and will see how it works out. I am not sure where I saw it but on some fabulous weaving blog so thank you who ever you are and I hope it works for me. 

A weekend of planning

 Planning day

Images from top to bottom

• Mel with planning materials
• As above
• My threads for warp inspiration 
• Mels warp first sample on her small table loom
• Next 4 images Mel mixing dye baths
• Table of dyed and ready to dye silk

This weekend I spent with Mel at Sturt Mittagong, Lacroix is well under way. With a day sitting in the sun planning, talking, sketching and a little eating. lots of fun.
Belly
PS Mel I just came across a brilliant quote

Michelle Whipplinger's mantra: white dilutes, grey muddies, black intensifies.

 Michelle's website

Osloom

This is a project I am interested in following. Osloom was talked about some time ago on different blogs and then went quiet. Now it has resurfaced. So a little investigation is required to see what the progress or the project is.

What is OSLOOM?
OSLOOM(short for OPEN SOURCE LOOM) is a project aimed at creating an open source electromechanical thread-controlled floor loom that will be computer controlled. A loom is a device used to weave fabric. OSLOOM will be a Jacquard style loom. Unlike traditional floor looms which allow for basic patterns to be created, Jacquard looms allow for the individual control of each thread which in turn allows for photographic imagery to be woven. Jacquard looms like this exist commercially but they are very expensive (upwards of $60,000) which puts them out of reach for individuals and small educational facilities.

Contact Osloom 

loom.org [at] gmail [dot] com

Osloom

The rescued warp

The rescued warp, these are the 2 scarves I have taken of the loom since I fixed it The green has silk mohair mix for the weft ( waffle weave)  and the cream is a slub/natural silk ( plain weave). The warp is a polycotton and I am taking the cream one to visit Melly and it will be dyes to give it a new life.

It's alive, it's alive

Well its working again I am going to have to name my loom I think, so I can get my head around its idiosyncrasies. Its very temperamental. I have fixed the cable but the loom is still not running very smoothly. So I got to finish my weaving ( will post images when they are dry and pressed) and now my studio is leaking in this wild Canberra weather. Can't win!
 

My loom is dead

 The cable is in here!

Well disaster has it. A cable broke! I have put it through the loom as its to hard to get to with out pulling the complete dobby head off and apart. I now have a piece of cable, crimping thingies and toggly things ( very technical names). So we will see what the day brings. I tried to take a few photos of the hidden spot I have to get to but not very easy to get a photo of it . So today I will take some more photos of the fixing process. And fingers crossed ! Belly