The Griffin Begins

 Or is is Gryphon?  Somehow, that sounds pretentious, like people who spell vampire "vampyre."

Some people have to have something completely designed and built in their heads before they start.  That's not me - I have to start, and then see what happens next.  I used to think that doing it like that was somehow inferior.  But I remember that one day Tolkien pick up his pen and wrote "in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" when he had no idea what a hobbit was.  He had to write the story to find out.  The same with Ursula K. LeGuin - one of her books started just with a vision of two characters struggling in the snow, and she had to start writing to see who they were and why they were there.

So - to start.  I need a head.  Bird head.  My most comfortable medium is foam, so I'll be fabricating out of that.  I think about sculpting a head out of foil, and taking a pattern from that (that's how I did my pig skull mask).  But then I wondered.  I started the dragon with a marvelously detailed dragon skull pattern from Kamui Cosplay.  I wondered if she by any chance had a bird skull pattern.  She did!  It looked somehow familiar.  I already owned it - it was in the same pattern collection as the dragon skull.  Duh.

Her patterns are very detailed.  This one had 34 pieces to first cut out of paper, and then the craft foam (I sprayed the pieces with adhesive and stuck them down.  It's much easier than transferring all the markings).  Many of the pieces have miniscule darts to shape them.  

Pattern cut out and arranged ("knolled")

The pattern pieces on foam

I cut all the pieces out, made those tiny darts, and glued it all together.

The eyes will be made from one of those plastic Christmas tree ornaments that you can pop open and put stuff in.  I had to cut them down to size (I used a soldering iron to melt the cut line.  The plastic is brittle and I was afraid it would shatter if I used a dremel cutter on it).

I'm sampling the fabric for the body.  I'm using the long-haired Icelandic fleece for the mane, and I wanted the body fur to be similar.  I have about a pound and a half of the wool roving I got to weave the blankets for the waulking at the Scottish games - it's a natural gray.  I wanted some color variation so I carded it with some black alpaca and white mohair (23 grams wool, 4 grams each alpaca and mohair).  I felted it into a flat sheet this morning as a sample.

Then I had to stop for awhile because the cable people are coming to try to improve my internet so I have to be back waiting at the house.

But I only started this on Sunday, and I had to work and do errands yesterday, so it's coming along rather well.  I think I'll use the same body pattern that I did for the dragon.  I'll need to figure out how to make lion paws for the back feet and eagle legs for the front (maybe Worbla for the eagle legs?

It's a start.

Another Shirt; Starting the Puppet

 Only a month gap this time.

I did finish the pink pirate shirt.  For some reason this one seemed to take longer than the first to hand fell the seams - but I love holding that lightweight linen, so that's OK.  I also spent a few hours doing a bit of fancy latticework smocking on the sleeves.
Someday maybe I'll get a full-length mirror and put it somewhere other than the bathroom.

And the fancy work on the sleeves

And now on to the puppet.  I'm really going to try to write this up the way I planned on doing this blog - a place for all the fussy details that don't really belong in my life blog.  We'll see.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've felt the urge for another puppet for a long time.  I've been able to visualize myself working on it - I just couldn't visualize the puppet itself.  All I knew is that I wanted to use the other Icelandic fleece that I have to make fur like the varafell I made.

The clock is ticking.  About the only place I have to take a puppet is the Infinity Con - and that's coming up July 8.  In 2019, I took Lurlene, my little post apoc girl walking puppet - who disturbed the hell out of some people.

The con didn't happen in 2020, because Covid.  In 2020 I took the dragon puppet, which was a huge hit.

I took it again last year (that's what this picture is from) and while again it was a hit, I also got too much of what ever Maker doesn't want to hear:  "I remember that from last year!"

I dig out my Spiderwick Press books and start thumbing.  And there was the griffen - half bird, half lion.  I could give it a mane.  

And now he's going to get his own blog entry.

Another Update

 And I'll have to come back later and put in pictures.

I'm feeling scattered.  I seem to have a lot of stuff going on.  Possibly because I have a lot of stuff going on, to wit:

My new couch cover.  This I actually got done.  I kept seeing ads on FaceBook for a linen couch throw - and with my obsession (fetish?) with linen I would just look at the picture and feel my blood pressure go lower.  I wasn't too enamored of the $400 price tag, especially without being able to see/feel it first.  So, for about a third of that, I ordered 10 yards of natural linen.  It was a bit awkward to cut it in half crosswise an then sew it together lengthwise and them hem the whole thing - but I did.  To most people it's just a big piece of beige cloth - but I love it, and linen soothes me.

Here's the comparison - the old green polyester stretch one, and the new linen one.

                               

At least that got done.  Works in progress:  A scarf/shawl from a yak/silk yarn that I spun in the hospital.  For some reason, although I used to knit compulsively, I haven't knit much at all since I came back.  This yarn (Greenwoods Fiberworks, color Apple Cider) is of greens and pinks.  I just spun and plied it, without worrying about the color, and honestly, it's a little muddy.  And I don't seem to have the dexterity that I used to in knitting lace, possibly because I'm out of practice.  It's now at the "each row takes forever" stage.

I'm knitting three samples.  I got some autumn colored silk and have spun some of it.  I'm trying to decide if I want to ply it with itself - probably not, because I don't have that much of it, and I don't want to muddy it up like the apple cider.  So I've done a sample with gold eri silk, fawn yak, and now am working on one with dark brown alpaca.

I started a year or so ago using a gotland/silk blend for my "spin while walking".  That will go on until I run out of the Gotland.  I did get some more carded and blended today.

Doing a project I hadn't planned.  My friend Christy from the feed store put out a call wanting fleece - some for a friend to use for house insulation, some for friends to insulate beehives.  That gave me a good chance to pass on some of my "guilt" fleeces - fleece that isn't bad, but still not good enough to warrant the time needed to process it.  While I was digging through the stash, I found some black alpaca that a friend had given me awhile ago - like 2008.  I knew I had "some" nice black alpaca - I hadn't remembered that there are at least 3 pounds of it.  And gasp! horrors!  Some of it had moth casings!  It didn't look like an active infestation (no moths) and there weren't many, but enough that I felt compelled to pick, fluff, and rewash it all.  That took a few hours.

Over years of spinning here and there, I had accrued about a pound of various cotton yarns (which is a lot).  My original thought was to put on a mixed color warp and then spin a consistent weft - but a lot of the yarns weren't strong enough for that.  I like vertical stripes in clothing, but not horizontal.  I thumbed through pinterest, and saw several saori inspired garments made of narrow strips used on the bias.  So I put on a 9-yard warp, 4 inches wide, and I will weave in random patterns (plain weave, twill, pick and pick, clasped weft, basketweave, whatever else comes to mind).  I got it on the loom a couple of weeks ago but haven't woven much on it yet.

I loved the linen pirate shirt so much that I wanted another one  When I ordered the fabric for the couch cover, I had the choice of paying the pretty heavy shipping fee, or buying enough cloth so that shipping was free.  Well, duh.  So two more yards of handkerchief linen in a color somewhere between pink and gray.  Just a shirt like that last one isn't enough, though.  I decided that instead of just gathering the sleeves in that I would lattice smock them.  That's going to add only a few hours of handsewing to the project.  The problem is marking the 1/4" grid.  Trying to draw lines with a washable marker went wonky (and my marker is about empty).  Trying to do 150 dots a quarter inch from each other is crazy making.  What I ended up was machine basting the grid - the distance from the needle to the edge of the presser foot is 1/4 inch so that gave me a guideline.  Of course, if/when I ever get the smocking done I'll have to go pick out the basting lines (or not - I made them with thread to match the fabric)

So, if I count on my fingers:

Couch cover - done (with arm and back covers to protect from the cats)

Rewash black alpaca - done as of this afternoon

Spinning autumn silk - in progress

Knitting samples with silk - in progress

Lace shawl - in progress

Narrow cotton weaving - in progress

Carding, blending Gotland/silk - ongoing

Pink linen poet shirt - in progress

So it's no wonder that I feel a bit scattered and unfocused.  And what I really want to do is make another puppet.  The Infinity con is in July, and I've taken the dragon puppet for the last two years.  I've been having the puppet-making urge, but that's as far as I've gotten.  I don't have any design ideas yet, other than using my remaining Iceland fleece for fur.

The Year in Review

 I knew it had been awhile since I was here - but 14 months?  I've been writing almost obsessively in my "life" blog, but for some reason freeze up at the idea of keeping track of my projects - anywhere.  I also have a notebook or two, not updated.

Once again.  Starting over.  Looking at the life blog to see if I have anything there for the last 14 months.

June 2022.  The Infinity Con was coming up, and Rob wanted to bring Zeke.  He asked if I could make something for Zeke to carry, so I made a miniature version of my dragon puppet.  We were cute together.

In July I wove and sewed a ruana.  I had written last time of spinning a Corriedale fleece (it was my "spin while walking" project.)  I dyed half of it in various colors (amazing how well a dark brown fleece takes color) and did a shadow weave.  I fricken' love the way it turned out. The fabric looks antique; the pattern, subtle.  It was even cold enough this winter that I wore it a few times.

Last fall I was asked if I could come demonstrate at the upcoming highland games in February - spinning, of course, but then the idea of doing a waulking came up.  So, of course, I had to weave the cloth for it.  A retired weaver was generous enough to donate her old rug yarn.  So that the weft would be consistent, I bought a huge (5 pounds but it looked enormous) bump of roving from R. H. Lindsay, and spun it (which took about 5,000 yards)  (although it looked so cool all twisted up it was a shame to disrupt it) (and now I'm wondering what a 20 lb. bump would look like).

8 yards, 42 inches wide.  I really enjoyed having a project on the loom, where I could just go back and throw the shuttle and listen to music.  And it was *so* satisfying when it was done and rolled off the loom.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I did it again (after all, it was a two-day festival).  Unfortunately the weather was so nasty on the first day that we couldn't do the waulking.  It was also nasty the second day - windy and very cold, but at least not raining, so it got done, and we had fun.  Now I have one in reserve if we want to do it again next year.  (Meanwhile, I have all this fabric, somewhat rough because it's rug yarn, and no idea of what to do with it.  It's a process thing)

To wear to the games, I made something that I've wanted for awhile - a handkerchief linen "pirate shirt" (aka poet shirt).  Don't have a picture, but I love it - that linen just feels so good.  I also made a blue linen pleated skirt.  Alas - with the weather, I got soaked, and the little pouch I was carrying my phone and keys in had once held a leaking pen, with the result that the skirt and shirt ended up with ink stains.  I was able to bleach out the white shirt, but the skirt (all that pleating!) was ruined, so it's been deconstructed and the fabric will be recycled.

And that's all I can remember, or wrote down.  I'm still having troubling focusing or concentrating.  At the moment I have bits and pieces scattered about, and I was going to write about them, to try to get them somehow organized in my brain, but it's late and my bed and book are calling me.  Hopefully I won't wait another 14 months.