Stepping Up and Stepping Back – sometimes you need to do both

Life recently required that I step up to three major projects.  The time spent on them obligated me to step back from my blog for a few months.  I’m luckier than many because I’m at a stage in my life where I can balance my time (a little bit, at least).  I didn’t stop weaving, but I had to stop writing about my work.   The last few months were fairly stressful.  Weaving was my time to relax and refocus.  I’ve produced 11 new pieces and started a 12th since my last blog entry.

Luckily, the life projects had short timelines and are, more or less, completed.  I’m looking forward to re-establishing a routine for my blog.  I’ve had many things I wanted to share and now can devote the time to do so. Today’s post is a brief overview of recent work.  Some will be revisited as longer posts soon.

Challenging times call for artistic challenges?

In spite of the fact that my non-art life was challenging, I did not shy away from art challenges.  In fact, most of the creations I made recently were first of a kind items.

Using scrap looker hook mesh

When I finished my large locker hook rug, I had some scraps of mesh left over.  I played around with them and made one basket “in the round” (with no side seam), one rectangular basket with five pieces, and five coasters. The rectangular basket looks particularly nice, but the sides are a little flimsy.  I see great potential with the technique, though.   In the end, I used almost every inch of mesh.  Now I need to order more!

Loom weaving color blocks

I was itching to get back on the loom and had some small pieces of fun colors to use.  Previously I had only done striped patterns on the loom but had seen some YouTubes on color blocking.  I tried my hand at it.  Since I was making a rug (rather than a wall hanging) I didn’t want there to be “slits” between the colors.   Due to the variety of weights of plastic, I ran into some complications.  I’m pleased with the outcome – but see lots of room for improvement.  The friend I gave it to said she loved it, so I can’t complain too much!  I also made her a matching basket from the leftovers, and now the rug and basket are in her children’s bathroom. I love when my creations find happy homes.

Rectangular basket

My previous attempts at rectangular coil baskets yielded mixed results.  One of the primary disappointments was the corners rarely stayed at right angles and the baskets became more like an oval than a rectangle.  This time I tried something that would create “squarer corners.”  To create stability, I also added some wire at key locations.  I see some improvement over earlier works, but also room for improvement.

Pattern successes and broken pots

Since I have no control over the colors or amounts of plastic I get, creating patterns can be challenging.  But when I get a large enough volume of one color, I really want to explore the options.  My first attempt was a bit of a “broken pot.” (See March 15, 2022 post for more information on broken pots!) I was pleased with the pattern, but didn’t like the colors.  I had a large amount of pink plastic and thought it would look nice with the random pastel colors, but in the end I felt it was too busy.  At least I learned that I could do a vertical stripe.  And I had enough white left to do some damage control!

My second attempt at a pretty complicated pattern was more successful.  This one was based on a traditional basket design.  Using solid colors worked much better.  The pattern on the bottom gets hidden though, so next time I will do the pattern as a shallow bowl so more of it can be seen.

Another social media outlet