techniques – Metcalf Studios Art

January 20, 2019January 20, 2019

Color spinning exercise, Part IV + 1/2: Kissy Lips, a Rare Roving Fish

From the previous posting you can tell that for the third example in this series not only are we warmed up, but we are also starting to have fun with the whole layout and photograph part of the project. That is the benefit of an exercise, getting really “into it” and stretching the original ideas (and letting yourself be stretched in the process).

Kissy Lips, a Rare Roving Fish with Rolag Coral and Anemones (the starfish worked its way in when we weren’t looking!)

The wool colors that made up the Kissy Lips composition, including the hairpins that held it all together.

Dividing up the colors in preparation for carding. This stage helps to plan out the color progression throughout the skein. I think of it as creating a recipe for the yarn.

Further dividing up the wool for carding into each rolag.

All the carded rolags in order waiting to be spun. So far, none of this project has been somber!

Working name: “Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour”. Lively single S-twist yarn spun and wound onto a bobbin made by Bob Metcalf. As the carded wool transformed into yarn, the colors passing by reminded me of that famous ice cream parlor from our childhood, recalling smells and sounds (that drum that announced birthday sundaes was SO loud!) and brought back memories for friends too when I described the sensations.

The single was chain-plied with a “Z-twist” forming new color combinations throughout the length of the yarn. This time, instead of the yarn stirring up memories, the colors gave me ideas of combinations to try in the future. Every few inches was a color mixing sample swatch. More wool! More yarn! More time! Please!

Finished skein.

What do you think Kissy Lips?

November 18, 2018November 18, 2018

Color Spinning Exercise, Part III: Hand-dyed Heartsease

The next composition to come out of this fiber stash is from the Viola Tricolor family, a Heartsease flower (a.k.a. Johnny-Jump-Up), inspired by a sketch in Kristin’s sketch pad.

Hand-dyed *Heartsease

Playmate to “What if?” is “Why not?” While not botanically accurate color-wise, it was fun to break the the rules and work large scale too. Also, we figured after featuring an article about a sunflower that wished to turn red, we might as well continue with another red flower (the “tricolor” part of the name usually is purple, violet and pale yellow). Remember, when designing, you are also creating the rules as you go along.

Fiber that went into the Heartsease. Ready for the next stage . . .

A light carding was just the thing to let those fibers draw out! Here, arranged by colors.

Trying out another way to arrange the colors in the skein (works well in small spaces and with minimal equipment). Perhaps this will lead to a series of wool omlettes, burritos, or Dagwood Sandwich!

After arranging the fiber colors in rows and layers, a wooden dowel helps to roll everything in a tidy cylinder.

The next step is to patiently draw out the roll of fibers into a progressively thinner and longer bundle, this stage is called “pre-drafting”.

Gently rolling the pre-drafted fibers into a ball keeps everything from drifting apart and keeps it in handy proximity for spinning. Plus, it is fun!

Finally! Time to spin!Yarn spun into a “single”.

Yarn doubled back on itself and respun into a plied yarn.

Ta-Dah!

Final product is a skein as cheerful as a Heartsease!

*Silk dyes work great on wool!

October 30, 2018November 18, 2018

Color Spinning Exercise, Part II: Introducing “Wool Kitty”

It is possible to get too caught up in the final goal – enjoy the journey and make something for the sake of making it!

From this stash of fiber . . .

Introducing . . . Wool Kitty!

Wool Kitty is ready for a nap on the Dressmakers cardboard!

Admittedly, not an overly daring color combination, but this collection of colors probably wouldn’t have happened without this stage of making the fiber into an image before carding.

The figure is held together with hairpins so it is easily taken apart. Since it was created only for the photograph we didn’t get overly attached! Spontaneous creativity is like a vacation from deadlines (even self-imposed ones).

The fibers that went into the making of “Wool Kitty”:

Since the fibers were compacted from long storage, a little carding set everything up for choosing the arrangement for the final yarn. What order would you imagine using?

The recipe:

Side view of fiber stack:

Dividing the stack to elongate it:

Then we changed our minds and wanted the colors more blended. Allowing yourself the opportunity to change your mind can be a rewarding part of this exercise!

More carding!

Carded rolags ready for spinning!

Or, another way to look at it:

Carded rolags waiting to spin!

As the spinning progressed, the yarn took on a new look and personality. “Wool Kitty” transformed into “Firescale”! Playing with new titles is also a creative activity.

Working title: “Firescale”, single ply yarn spun on a low whorl drop spindle

Finished skein, the colors zones are more muted as they are recombined in plying.

October 29, 2018November 18, 2018

Color Spinning Exercise

This is a cornucopia of leftover wool roving from various hand-dying and spinning projects we have worked on over the years. Each piece in this particular stash has been waiting until there was MORE of something or other in order to be finished into a project. Waiting isn’t as fun as creating. So, what if . . . ?

What if we create a series of color mixing experiments with what there is now? With the notion of using this blog post series to play around, we added a step in between selecting and then blending the roving for spinning to cause us to need to use (and choose) colors in a new way before blending. That step was to make a 3-D fiber illustration first. We have created a multi-part series based on the steps of spinning these images into yarn.

Our hope is that it will amuse non-spinners, intrigue people contemplating starting wool spinning, and encourage adept spinners to try more ways to enjoy the process.

Before reading the next few blog posts imagine how you would mix these colors (feel free to imagine them mingling with your own stash!)

September 17, 2018September 17, 2018

Looking Forward to Fall

Close-up of a wool “rolag”* waiting to be spun

Every summertime we know it is coming – the season of harvest and pruning and . . . Local Fiber Festivals!

We are big fans of attending OFFF, our local fiber festival. Of course, the many vendors get our attention. It is also filled with demonstrations, barns full of animals and if the weather is cool enough – attendees dressed in sweaters and scarves- it is like a fashion show!

Here is the contact information:

What: Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (OFFF)
www.flockandfiberfestival.com
When: September 22nd and 23rd
Where: Clackamas County Event Center

By now, it is starting to show that we put a lot of thought into our art supplies. This is especially true concerning annual sales events. The months leading up to OFFF are when we take stock of our supplies, really enjoy planning future projects and measure what is needed to finish works-in-progress that outgrew estimated boundaries (restraint can be a tough concept!)

Years of impulse buys have added up to enough brown fiber to spend the whole winter spinning it, perhaps into spring as well! But, that’s the luxurious project with daydream designs and plans that grow and change each year. While this may not be the year I actually spin the yarn, it may be the year I resist the temptation to buy more brown fiber. Well, let’s not be too hasty with that declaration!

What is exciting are the “what if” plans we have of all the other colors of the spectrum.

This is the start of a blog post series inspired by the photography exercises we created from the process of making color study exercises as we took inventory. Why? Well, we heard that exercise is good for you!

Photographs

Top photo is wool prepared by carding and formed into a roll*, called a “rolag” before spinning.
All other photographs are singles and plied yarns on spinning wheel bobbins.
The last photograph is really 4 copies of the same photo flipped, playing with the idea of “Z” and “S” twists, terms used to describe the direction of twist in yarn.

August 16, 2018August 18, 2018

Yellow, Red, Orange: An Original Pictoral Tale by A. and K. Metcalf

Once upon a time there was a Yellow Sunflower.

Yellow Sunflower had grown with the loving care of its Gardener who protected it from every danger as seed and seedling, marveled at its hourly growth . . .

thrilled at the new bud opening. . .

and eagerly watched each petal unfold . . .

Yellow Sunflower was so occupied with BASKING IN THE SUNLIGHT, DELIGHTING THE BEES, AND GROWING SEEDS FOR THE BIRDS, that it was oblivious to the special care it received from the Gardener.

What did catch Yellow’s attention was one day overhearing the Gardener’s excitement that there was a Red Sunflower about to open!

“Hey!”, thought Yellow, “Red Sunflower gets ALL the attention!”

The gloominess grew in the garden.

“Red Sunflower must be very special to get all that attention”, glowered Yellow, “all I get to do is get a tan, hang with the bees and go to seed.”

Continuing in the same vein, led to this light green tint of envy: “Red flowers probably get to roller skate,

eat ice cream

and watch TV!”

“I want special attention like Red Sunflower!”

Yellow was puzzled about what to do:“You might even say, ‘I’m hueless about how to change color!”

Yellow had an idea: “wait a minute! I’ve READ the most recent posts, I know what to do! ” (Yellow Sunflower, being an only recently opened blossom, had never heard of homonyms.) So, Yellow sampled various ways to change color.

Whew! Yellow Sunflower was beginning to lose its sense of Self, as though being erased away:

Then, one day Yellow looked around and saw:

Real Red Sunflower was beautiful! But more importantly, Red Sunflower BASKS IN THE SUN, FEEDS THE BEES AND GROWS EQUALLY NUTRITIOUS SEEDS!

Dawning of realization can occur after sunset for Sunflowers. For the benefit of those Dear Readers confined to a tiny screen:And then, Yellow Sunflower realized the beauty in the garden was that ALL the sunflowers equally GLORIED IN THE SUN, NOURISHED THE BEES and GREW SEEDS TO SHARE IN THE FUTURE! Sharing one’s gifts is wonderful of course, but recognizing them in one another is what makes them feel like a gift! When Yellow appreciated Red’s gifts, Yellow felt special too! Red Sunflower was so occupied doing its own thing that it was completely oblivious to all this drama!

This is a true tale as recounted to us by Orange Sunflower, who was witness to the whole spectacle!

August 7, 2018September 26, 2018

Warmish/Coolish – Part II: Nuances and Options

“White Hydrangea Sepals – Light Study”

Warmish/Coolish, Part I examples

Warmish/Coolish Parts I & II took hours to prepare. What a lot of work for curiousity’s sake! Of course, it is practical to increase one’s knowledge base when learning new techniques.

Consider this though, making choices is the fun part of Creativity, selecting among the choices is the skill-building part of Artistry, learning from that discernment is the growth part of Professionalism.

You’ve probably already discovered for yourself that trying new things can help when stalled out in the studio. This approach also works when your destination ahead is too certain. Spend some time creating options for the sake of choosing.* You may still stay with the original idea, but you have come from a different direction to get there and along the way enriched your perspective. Notice the enlargement used to lead into this post is the original photograph!

*P.S. Disregard this advice if you have a pressing DEADLINE!!!!!!! And we wish you lots of luck on it!

August 5, 2018August 5, 2018

Warmish/Coolish

This color photograph is from a series we took to practice Still-Life Studio Lighting. The set-up is white flowers in clear glass, on clear acrylic, on a white background with two lights.

There are some duplicate features on our digital camera and on the computer’s Adobe Photoshop. So, this seems like an opportunity to continue the experiments with this photograph and compare the choices.

Camera : Warm filterPhotoshop: Warm filter

Camera: Cool filterPhotoshop: Cool filter

Camera: Black and WhitePhotoshop: Black and White

Camera: CyanotypePhotoshop: Cyanotype

Camera: SepiaPhotoshop: Sepia (click on the “brown tree” image)

Photoshop: Purple (click on the “Purple Tree” image)Photoshop: Red (click on the “Red Tree” image)Photoshop: Green (click on the “Green Tree” image)Photoshop: Oops! Ran out of Tree images to click on!

Interesting. Reaction: casting a warm or cool light on the actual still-life set-up resonates more with us for the immediacy of making and taking the picture.

The B&W setting on the camera looks useful for assessing the arrangement of hue values, especially when making a composition mixing matte and shiny items. The larger screen of the computer makes it easier to decide on nuances for later black and white conversions.

Also, how much influence does the viewing screen light have over the photograph colors? We’ll have to print up some of these examples eventually to really compare all of the options.

Frankly, there is a pretty good chance that we won’t press that Purple button again until we have a photograph of a cow (sometimes you just have to go with the obvious!)

July 14, 2018September 26, 2018