Lost and Found




I've been wondering if I'd ever see this "jingle belt" again. I bought it in 1980, in Los Gatos, California, where we lived at the time. I recall it was a big decision, because it wasn't inexpensive, but Doug encouraged me to go ahead and buy it. I used to love wearing it, draped just below my waist. Now I'd love to have a waist.

Family Portrait


UPDATE: I should make note of the fact that this gorgeous work of art is Five Feet across!!! Big!

Fifth grade art project by Adeline. Left to right, front row: Cupcake, Beezer, Emma, Hammy (the little striped hamster, partially hidden by lampshade), Sadie. Back row: Doug, Adeline, Morna. I am posting this because some of my cyber friends wonder why I never post a picture of myself. So, now you have a picture of me. :)

Playing with wire

After seeing the Anatsui and Calder shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I just had to get my hands on some metal. I was also motivated by the fact that I joined a blog challenge called PedalToTheMettle and, so far, I've been terribly non-participatory.

For a long time, I have thought about trying to make I-cord with wire. I-cord, for those of you who do not knit, is a piece of tubular knitting. It is very easy to make, thus the name which stands for Idiot-cord. Perhaps as a child, you had a "Knitting Nancy" - a little round wooden thingy, often red and painted to look like a girl, with nails stuck around the top. It was used to make I-cord. I have something similar; it's just way bigger, and heavier (made of some sort of steel), and it is operated with a crank. I use it to make the I-cord that often frames my fiber work.

So, I tried using my I-cord maker with wire. At first things went swimmingly, and I did get a nice length of tubular knitted wire. I assume it must be similar to Viking knit. Soon enough, things got sticky and I ended up with a wire mess. I like the cord I have, so I'll probably experiment some more. I know that I can pull this wire through a draw board (I think that's what it is called) and it will get better and better. I've already done some pulling and it has improved considerably, as well as gotten longer. A draw board is just a board with holes in it -- of different sizes. You pull the item through, progressing to smaller and smaller holes.

So, there you have it: my experiment with metal. Now, back to the green and yellow bracelet I was working on, except I think I'm going to make it into a necklace instead.

Oh - if you're are interested in playing with metal, using fiber techniques, then go visit Karen Cole's blog, as well as Deryn Mentock's jewelry challenge, which is based on Mary Hettmansperger's fabulous book Wrap, Stitch, Fold and Rivet.

Between Earth and Heaven

Finally got to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to see the African Textiles exhibit. I really wanted to see the "metal tapestry" by El Anatsui. I was not disappointed. Wow! The man's art is stunning. This huge tapestry is made of thousands of tiny pieces of tin and wires. It is just gorgeous. The picture at top left is an overall view and all the others are detail shots. My photos don't really do it justice, but they do give a good general idea of what it is all about.

Here is a YouTube video of Anatsui during the installation of the piece:



You can also visit Rayela's Fiber Focus; she wrote a nice piece about Anatsui just the other day.

After seeing the African textiles, we visited the Calder jewelry exhibit. I wasn't allowed to photograph, but there are many fabulous photos at the museum website.

It was a very pleasant day, capped off with an excellent dinner that included steak tartar - one of my favorite dishes of all time, and so hard to find nowadays.