knowledge is worse than vampires...

oh, yeh... i am into whittling now. trust me... i am fully aware that i need to be stopped for my own good. 

i bought some 1/8" thick, hardwood boards, and i made the mistake of asking him to cut them down to 1 1/2" wide starting blanks. 

him: why are you even whittling anything?

five minutes later...

him: did you look at those whittling videos i sent you?

i should point out that he is not really a 'splainer, but more of an enthusiastic-enabler. 

me: nope. i did not open a single one of the links.
him: why not? i'm just sharing information and knowledge. 
me: i'm starting to think that maybe knowledge is worse than vampires.
him: how so?
me: vampires wait to be invited in.

then he walked off, muttering something about 'what kind of so-called educator turns down the offer of knowledge'. but, mostly, i know that he was probably going to write that down, because seriously... that was brilliant!

this is hardly whittling. mostly, i needed to taper the edges to prevent snagging on everything. 

by the power of Grayskull...!

then came a few passes with some fine sandpaper, and a quick coat of wood wax to seal.  

it may not look like much, but they will (eventually) be used as pickup sticks and beaters. and, yes... i know how that sounds, because i am a forever-child. unfortunately, it is just bits for loom weaving. then, i started watching videos about wave stick weaving, so i had to whittle some more. 

i want to add a bit of snakeskin texture to this one, soon as i figure out how to make that happen... on my own, thank you! 

have i used any of these objects? of course not, but now i have even more crafting equipment to ignore. 

meanwhile, the animator has gotten back into painting miniatures. he has been stockpiling 3D printed models, like these ones. we tend to take things to the extreme, so the studio will most likely be acquiring a 3D printer real soon.

this is my favorite finished one so far.

next to a can of orange Crush, for scale.

i like that the head detaches from the roboty bit. i would ask what it is called or where he bought it, but then he would start talking to me about miniatures. so... pass!

best part is, now he keeps seeing the potential for "props" in every chunk of wood he sees outdoors. i have never been for walks with a hyperactive puppy... but i can imagine how it goes. 

him: ooh... we should take that one home. you could carve it into like a gnarly old dragon, and i can paint it and add some minis to make it look like an army of troll hunters are trying to take down the dragon. 

it is like staring into a mirror of absurdity. seriously, people... we both need to be stopped! 

Skeletor as a fiber artist...

it is Tuesday afternoon, and it is snowing in Montreal. get used to that last part, because i will be saying the same thing for the next six... or seven... months. 

i ventured out into biting cold conditions yesterday to pick up a very special item from the other side of town. do you see my new toy?

our next door neighbor took one look at it as we were bringing it up the stairs, and got it on the very first guess.

astute neighbor: holy cow! is that a loom?!?

so, yes. i now own my very own loom. it is a four-shaft table loom to be precise, and i got it for the insane price of EIGHTY DOLLARS!!! that is about a thousand bucks less than the cost of a new table loom. this one was used previously-loved, but all it seems to need is a tiny bit of tlc. 

i was afraid that the heddles (all those threadlike metal bits) might be rusty on such an old loom, but they are shiny and ready to go. 

the seller said that it was the loom her sister learned to weave on, but this is definitely not your beginner's level apparatus. i resisted asking why her sister would not want to keep it, as this appears to be a hand-built loom that was well cared for over the years. however, i did not want to pry into potentially awkward/sensitive corners... plus, i did not want her to change her mind at the last minute. i will just assume that her sister has moved on to much more impressive things. 

i have very little past experience using a loom—and that was a much simpler model—so there will definitely be a lot of Googling and You Tube tutorial watching on the subject in my future. 

the loom lives in the studio for now, atop the old-school animation light table, where it is being guarded night and day by the animator's collection of childish things. this is only a glimpse. there are more display cases, plus a whole closet stuffed full of boxes of even more such ridiculous things. 

it helps to share one's life with someone who is also a collector of things. there is a firm understanding in place around here that no questions should be asked when a strange package arrives at the door... or when i start wondering aloud how much room there is in the back of the car. 

he is on a "Masters of the Universe" kick, of which i am partly to be blamed, as i have been watching the old cartoons on-and-off in my ongoing quest for distraction. so, my loom is being guarded by He-Man and Man-At-Arms, while Skeletor schemes on ways to steal its awesome power. i can totally see Skeletor as a fiber artist. 

Wednesday...

i am far more obsessed with process than with product, so i got a big kick out of making a tapestry-style frame loom from some very inexpensive (mostly recycled) materials i had laying around.

first, it required a frame of some sort.  i recycled an art canvas stretcher-framey thing (whatever the technical term is for the wooden rectangle the cloth is tacked to) that formerly held an acrylic painting.  it was one of four equally underwhelming canvases left leaning up alongside the trash by one of my aspiring-artist neighbors. this actually makes my attempts at painting seem so much less frightening.

after stripping off the canvas, yanking out any errant staples, and giving the frame a slight sanding to prevent splinters or any rough bits that might potentially snag on my precious fibers, i used the tape measure to place marks at 1/4" intervals along opposite ends of the frame, offsetting the markings on one end, so they are staggered and not directly across from each other.  for example, i measured on the 1/4" on one end, and on the 1/8" on the opposite end (ignore the inner line of markings, as i decided to work closer to the edge of the frame in order to maximize the weaving area)...

the boy insisted on doing the hammering, as i tend toward self-destructive clumsiness... which was confirmed shortly after taking these photos when i pinched a large chunk of my finger in a pair of pliers while trying to snap a thin wooden dowel in half...

one end done...

i have to suppress my OCD when looking at the row of nails from this angle...

starting to warp the finished frame (i.e., lay down the base threads) with some commercial spun yarn (i believe it's an odd ball of Yarn Treehouse washable 100% wool leftover from gloves or some such thing)...

just wound the yarn back and forth between the opposing nails, wrapping it once around each nail to try to maintain some relatively even tension...

be sure to secure the starting end of the warp in one corner, or it will be like trying to nail jello to a wall.  i used small wooden dowels to take up some of the slack in the warped frame...

and a paint stirrer as a convenient shed stick (nothing gets wasted around here).  closed shed...

opened shed!!!

even MacGyvered a primitive heddle of sorts from a second paint stirrer and lots of loops of pink yarn.  i used a couple jars of Dharma acid dyes to hold up the heddle when i needed to alternate the shed... 

tossed in a few rows of my hand-dyed, handspun yarn... 

and was instantly bored. weaving is definitely not my thing, but i did enjoy making the equipment.

there are any number of websites and blogs providing detailed instruction on making and using a beginner-friendly loom of this type (like here, here, here, here, and here), should anyone be interested in doing such a silly thing.  even a small one of this size can produce something interesting to display.  if you want a true adventure on the wild side, try building something fancier, like the big-kids play with... out of PVC!!! 

i actually cut the yarn and re-warped it in a combination of grey, pink, and black, and i hope to eventually talk myself into (maybe) producing something interesting to hang on a wall... frame and all!  for now, i will daydream of my next loom-building adventure.  it will be like something out of an episode of the Flintstones!  happiness!!!