a field guide to needlework
  • 2022
  • Store
    • Guides
  • Archive
    • Tapestry >
      • 1994 - 1999
      • 2000 - 2003
      • 2004 - 2007
      • 2008 - 2009
      • 2009 - 2012
      • 2013 - 2015
      • 2016 part one
      • 2016 - 2017
      • 2018
      • 2019
      • 2020
      • 2021
  • About
  • Blog 2014-2021

a few things a person can do with cordage

9/8/2020

 
Picture
Milkweed Cordage: winter retted and fresh;
Wrap it
​
around a stick,

or a  rock,
Picture
Iris leaf cordage; rock from the shores of Lake Pend Oreille; shelf of oddments
or a shell.
Picture
field retted Milkweed cordage gathered and twisted in Vermont in June; Mussel Shell from the coast of Oregon; hand spun blanket
Experiment with  knotless netting--
Picture
Willow Bark cordage; Dog bed
--handily worked with a needle--
Picture
Nettle cordage; typewriter case
--so cordage and object
evolve together.
Picture
Willow Bark light catcher; hand; wall
Toss in a basket or box.
Picture
Milkweed, Flax and Dogbane in various states of twist; Iris leaf and Willow basket; Cardboard box
Bind a book--
Picture
Dogbane cordage; Coptic binding; assorted basement paper; wedge weave tapestry (coffee filter yarn; indigo)
--and keep it snug.
Picture
comic diary; same materials as above; hand spun blanket (suffolk fleece; backstrap woven strips)
Arrange by value.
Picture
Iris and Daylily cordage; workbench
Weave a tapestry.
Picture
The Promise Of Rain (in progress); hand woven tapestry; Iris and Daylily leaves; Flax; Indigo
Study  history.
Picture
"The Invisible Sex" by J.M. Adovasio, Olga Soffer & Jake Page p. 181
Call it warp--
Picture
Flax, Milkweed, Nettle; hand carved heddle (unknown wood from basement); clamp; workbench
and experiment with band-weaving.
Picture
warp faced band in progress; heddle; cotton skirt; assorted background plants, books, bills, quilts, computer etc
Conduct longevity tests--
Picture
left to right: fresh Milkweed; winter retted Milkweed; Willow Bark; Dogbane; Nettle (double-twisted); left wrist; Hepty spindle; Targhee/Debouillet fleece
--and admire 
the miracle
for months
(and counting).
​
Ama link
9/8/2020 01:21:56 pm

Oh Sarah. Everything you do is beautiful and inspiring. You give me so much joy!

Masseyna olstynski
9/8/2020 01:22:29 pm

A perfect time for this wonderful insight to cordage
S great time of year to harvest for the spinning season
Thank you ever so much

Celeste
9/8/2020 01:34:02 pm

Your wise comments always seem to speak exactly to me on the day you post them - how do you do that?!? I often say I went to MSU: Make Stuff Up. A double entendre speaking to both my creativity and my wacky mind that distracts me from real life. Even as I make knitted things and embroider felt, my mind distracts me from peaceful living by making up terrible thoughts that are loud, distracting and nearly believable. Oh how I wish I could lose my mind and live in the moment! thank you for your articulate and beautiful ideas, written, spun, woven and knitted.

Heather Bungard-Janney
9/8/2020 02:20:40 pm

So fun to see everything that you do with your work and your craft and your life.

Barbara Carbajal
9/8/2020 02:43:13 pm

I love your words... seem to express what I'm thinking. Uncanny. I, too, so much love the process most of the time rather than the finished product but SOMETIMES the finished product surprises me too. Keep on spinning and writing. You are a breath of really fresh air.

Vicki Aspenberg
9/8/2020 03:19:35 pm

Lovely post. Thank you.

Tracy Hudson link
9/8/2020 03:28:26 pm

I think "arrange by value" is my favorite, possibly because of the green. And the captions... so many surfaces. Your posts make me want to photograph every little fibery vignette....
Oh, and the Wild Dress book has arrived. I will stay in and read, while the smoke lingers....

Sharon
9/8/2020 08:35:20 pm

Leaving me speachless, thank you.

Laura
9/9/2020 04:29:07 am

Always enjoy your posts. Thanks so much for sharing all you do. I look forward to a fieldguidetooneneedlework. Hugs

Laura Cominetti
9/9/2020 05:57:24 am

I love your blog so much. Milkweed is a favorite plant to me... before because of monarch butterflies, but now because of that and the beautiful work and words you've shared. Thank you.

Ida link
9/9/2020 03:38:03 pm

When I read through the blog post, there were two things that struck me. First, that weaving has resurfaced in my life thanks to two masters of weaving; you and Rebecca. So grateful for that. I am also fascinated by how you can turn plants into such beautiful yarn and make such beautiful things out of nature's assets. It is a master's experience and knowledge.
The second is the words in your email. My eyes stopped at "the glorious weirdos we might actually be." I have lived a pretty long life by now but it is only recently that I have realized that I have been a "weirdo" all my life so far. That thing with "glorious" I'm not so sure about, but it's probably because I'm Swedish and here everything should be "moderately". Even the "weird types". But I'll think about it next time I do not fit "in the box" that I might be a little "glorious" anyway. In my own way. Thanks so much for sharing the text and the pictures. They lifted my day.
I hope things work out for your husband.
Ida
(Written by the help of my pal Google Translate)

Joan Sheehan
9/16/2020 09:15:59 pm

this evening found me attempting to cull a dying black eyed susan,and instead twisting the stem to see a most beautiful green twist and wondering how to stabilize it. Oh Sarah, such an inspiration you are!


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    ​Sarah C Swett 
    tells stories
    with
    ​ and about

     hand spun yarn. 


    Picture
    Click for info on
    my four selvedge
    warping class
    with
    ​ Rebecca Mezoff  
    fringeless


    Categories

    All
    Backstrap
    Books
    Cellulosic Experiments
    Clothes
    Coffee Filter Yarn
    Comics
    Distractions
    Dyeing
    Embroidery
    Hand Spinning
    Knitting
    Linsey Woolsey
    Looping
    Mending
    Milkweed
    Out In The World
    Plain Weave
    PVC Pipe Loom
    Shoes
    Sketchbook
    Slow Literature
    Tapestry
    Textile Tools
    Things To Wear
    Vague Instructions
    Willow

    Archives

    September 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

things to make:
yarn . music . friends
whatever it is you cannot 

not
begin
Proudly powered by Weebly