I was not entirely happy
with the last swatch of palm bark so reworked it again. Here is my latest
swatch. I think the cells are better after a few false starts at the beginning (the top pattern on the swatch is what I have finally landed on) and I worked out how to do it flat as well
as in the round. The “skin” will be flat but the cowl will be in the round. Now
to get started.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Saturday, December 19, 2015
I have been collected
Guess who now
has art in the State of Utah's art collection! I am so honored to be included
in this 116 year old collection of great Utah artists. Utah, you now have my
most favorite piece. Great Basin Cyanometer was created during my residency at Black Rock Desert. Woo Hoo!
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
My first bark skin
I am in the process of
choosing the types of trees that will be in the Identitatum Arborum projects. I
want a variety of color and textures of bark but also want unique trees that
have qualities that people (and other trees) would want to adopt. The first bark that I
want to replicate in knitting is the palm tree. One of the most widely cultivated trees, Palm trees are monocot
evergreeens that can withstand fierce winds. Their unique trunks have no
branches but vascular bundles inside instead of tree rings that give them
supple strength. The scars on the bark of most palm trees are created when the
leaves fall off as it grows or is pruned.
I love the crisscross
pattern of some types of palm trees and am going to try and replicate that. I
created a test swatch in the round to try and get it right. It isn’t in the
right color but I was going for the pattern.
After several iterations, I
think I am getting close. The final two rows of pattern seem to be on
the right track, I just need to tweak the shape a bit. I like the look of it in the round as well and am thinking of
translating the skin into a big cowl for my pattern. Now I just need to get it
into the right colors and see how it looks.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Shepherd’s Wool Yarn
The more I think about
my test swatches the more I really want to use wool. Even before I get the
results of my test swatches, I am leaning toward 100% wool because I think it
will keep its shape better than acrylic. After all, fisherman all over the
world have been wearing wool out in the elements and it is the best fiber for
harsh conditions. All of these thoughts
have been keeping me up at night because of the sheer cost of what I want to
do. Not only knit bark skins, but wearable accessories made from the bark
patterns (all in wool) will add up.
So I took a chance and
did something that I have never done before. I emailed a yarn company that I
love and have been using their products for years, Stonehedge Fiber Mill to ask
them to sponsor my project. They make Shepherd’s Wool Yarn that I used for both
the Jasmine Sidewinder Stole and the Hopper Pillow.
The company was generous
enough to help sponsor and is sending me yarn! I will use their yarn
exclusively for the knit skins as well as in the patterns. They have been so
nice and wonderful to work with. Any knitters out there, I recommend trying
their yarn, not only because they are nice, but the yarn is wonderful as well.
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