September Bark Weaving Outdoors

Bark weaving was our topic for the September 21 Buellwood Weavers and Fiber Artist Guild meeting, which we held out side at Boston Pond Shelter in the Keweenaw. We had a smaller turn out this month but an interesting show and tell and a fun project was started. I am still waiting for pictures of the finished Bark weaving samples.  It was interesting the variety of  sticks each person brought in to created their weaving. Here are some samples of the yarns and bark sticks our members tried.

We all wore masks and social distanced, despite it being hard to take pictures and hear each other with the wind. We have two new members to our guild this month so a big welcome Deb and Jim. 

I found that a strong stick that was fresh  with rough bark worked best . As the yarn was easier to wrap on the stick and the Y did not bend in too much to make the tension a problem. I did find one strong driftwood piece that might work. A couple of us interpreted the directions a little different but they all seemed to work. 

Anita has a big stick with two Y's sections . This will make an interesting wall piece for sure.

Denise had the right idea and some special weft yarns and cloth to work with. 

Laura had a very small piece of drift wood that she wound with some fine glitzy yarn which was very interesting. 

John was trying a 3 dimensional piece with his stick. This is an interesting approach and he was using both sides of the warp and weaving with cloth strips. 

Deb came prepared with some fat yarn....a good idea when weaving a tapestry type woven piece.

Kathie was struggling with getting the tension on her stick. Which I found was the problem with a smooth or weak stick. 

Show and tell was quick and sweet.

Laura has been weaving on her 20" rigid heddle loom. Look at the garments she made with her handspun yarn. She is looking for a loom with a wider weaving width about 26 inches, preferably a small loom for her small house. The tunic top in green and purple and the black and white Jacob fleece coat are beautiful. 

 

Mary finished her handwoven vest 12214 Cutting Line Designs made with yarn from the North Ronaldsay sheep in Scottland. 

She took a workshop with Mary Sue Fenner this last year and completed the sewing at home this summer. She also attended MLH in 2018 and took a workshop with Su Butler 'Tied Weaves'. the sampler has some great woven patterns.  

Kathie has been weaving up a storm of items and brought in her latest scarves and runners.  She used a shinny cotton warp with a blue cotton weft and the turquoise weft is a mystery fiber she found at a resale shop. 

Dawn found this item in some weaving supplies and wonders what it is actually used for?

we thought some sort of tension maker for a warp. She has been dyeing with plants again and this time it was colored corn cobs, the tassels gave a green color.  Sweet Gale gave the yellow yarn.  A Lichen from the Maple tree she showed us last meeting gave the purple variations.  The bright magenta was from the Common Buckhorn Bark with ammonia.

Karen's fabulous baskets.

She was unable to attend our meeting and sent some photos in for the Blog. First an embellished Birch bark basket. Which is her creative design. 

 

Karen's Willow basket around a recycled jar with the faucet base.

Keep watching for more information on our fall meetings Where we will be meeting? in emails from John, if you have any requests for a topic or presentation send your ideas to John. Our next meeting should be October 19th. 

Buellwood Best 2021 is a challenge to create a fiber piece to fit with in  a 12 inch square.

Hopefully by May Meeting in 2021 we will be meeting in  person to present our work.