Feathers from Photios Brothers

We discovered a fantastic place yesterday in Sydney - Photios Brothers . We´d heard of it before but never been and it is truly amazing! 16 000 individual stock items! They sell trimmings for everything but I was enamoured by their feathers, as I have been thinking about fur and feathers for some cloths. So here´s what i came away with (though it´s not enough - now I just want to get more!). Renata was the lovely person who served us and it turns out that she is a stunning artist too - she showed us some of her amazing bead encrusted peaces - wonderful to find another kindred spirit!

 Ostrich feathers - can´t wait to weave these!

 This colour didn´t quite come out - it´s more of an olive colour.

 I looove these ones! And there are others with more of a deep red russet colour on the tips - my next purchase!

 Elegant pheasant feathers - need some fur to go with them I think. They had a whole range of these dyed which were very tempting so I think they bare some experimenting.

For the fur I´m after, I think that I´ll try to find an alpaca pelt - what do you think?
--mel

Golden Goodness

The undulating warp is off! And very shiny!

 This is metalic leaf on paper that I cut into strips. I made about a metre of it so there is plenty to play with.

 And the reverse side.

 Now this just makes me giddy! This is the gold thread that we bought at Peppergreen´s last year. It feels amazing and makes me very excited!

And this is the reverse. I only did about 30cm of this one so I´ll have to be a bit more careful with it.

And I found this little gem in an antique shop today - a little out of my price range at $1400.

--mel

It´s Lacroix!

My friend Helen showed me two pieces of her Lacroix - beautiful!

 This print is from a silk shirt from the early 1980s. The silk was devine - it was like liquid! And the colours were stunning - so beautiful!

 This is from a quilt cover set - I love the designs of the embroidery - so Lacroix!

--mel

Some Weavers at Sturt

I thought I would do a little roundup of some of the weaving that´s been going on around the Sturt Weaving Workshop. There has been some fantastic pieces produced lately!

 Lilly and Carol both making floor rugs. Carol´s has a loom controlled square throughout it.

 April wearing her fantastic double weave tencel and wool scarf.

 Helen´s blind, tho this photo doesn´t do it justice so I´ĺl try to take some more later. It has a very cool blue jelly yarn in it that is incredible in the sun.

 This is Maureen´s stunning hanging. Double  weave pockets with silk and monofilament and very finely cut pieces of wood which as translucent with the sun behind it.

 This is Judy weaving her crammed and spaced scarf. Judy has been a Sturt weaver since 1979.

 Ann is nearly finished her beautifully graphic Bauhaus inspired tapestry.

 These are just a few of Libby´s tapestries of her grandchildren´s drawings - so fun!

And this is one of my after school student´s pencil cases. It´s amazing what a trip to Vinnie´s can inspire!

So that´s just a little part of what´s been happening up here lately. There´s lots more so come up some time and have a play!
--mel

Antiqueness

As you know there are tonnes of antique places around here, and I´ve noticed a couple of things lately.
Some beautiful chair seat weaving -

Now Belly, I need some advice about this one - it´s $65 from Vinnies but it´s very Lacroix! It´s a very old frame judging by the beautiful glass and the back.. what do you think? It´s quite big - about 50cm high..

--mel

Leaves

It has been a really wet and cold autumn and winter - but the leaves are so beautiful! So i made some more leaf prints with procions.

--mel

Loom Envy

I have just come across this post on the etsy blog. Weave Gregory Newham's fabulous studio ( Fitch Studio Weavers)  in Kingston New York. I have severe loom envy and what a beautiful studio. 

Etsy Blog link 

Fitch Studio Weavers