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May 2006 Archive

28 May 2006

Turkmen Carpet Day Marked as National Holiday

Turkmen Carpet Day was widely celebrated in Turkmenistan. It is marked on the last Sunday of May annually.

As the Ashgabat correspondent of Turkmenistan.ru reports, the sixth conference of the World Association of Experts of Turkmen Carpet Weaving was traditionally timed to this event. Famous scientists and researchers from Asian and European countries whose works and scientific findings contributed significantly to the development of handmade carpet weaving arrived in the Turkmen capital to participate in the conference.

Turkmen carpet day marked as national holidayTURKMENISTAN.RU

26 May 2006

Recycled Jumper Bags in 30 Minutes

Take your old sweaters you have lying around or hit the thift store for some good cheap finds and turn them into versatile bags — all in 30 minutes. Whip Up has a full tutorial on how to felt the sweaters and use a little bit of hand sewing to create your own unique-looking bags.

30 minutes to a recycled sweater bagWhip Up (via MAKE: Blog)

25 May 2006

How Bio-Fabric is Made

The basic material is a polyester fibre called PPT (polypropylene terephthalate) which is produced by combining 1-3PDO (propanediol) from maize with terephthalic acid, a petroleum-based component.

Honda improved the stability of the material by producing very fine fibres and spinning them into a multi-strand yarn. The flexibility of this yarn enabled it to weave a soft, pleasant-feeling yet durable upholstery material suitable for mass production using existing weaving processes.

Honda has been using the concept of LCA (life cycle assessment) to reduce carbon dioxide emissions throughout the entire life cycle of a vehicle — from production and usage to disposal.

Bio-fabric will enable the company to reduce the energy used during the production process by 10-15 percent compared to the production of petroleum-based polyester material, due to the use of plant-based ingredients in the raw material.

This can reduce the carbon dioxide produced in building a car by 5kg.

How bio-fabric is madeMotoring & Independent Online

16 May 2006

Felted Squid

Really, its too good to be true -- a fun, big, felted squid hat! Made by crafty lady Denise and shown here in its large prefelting glory. As you can see here having a knitted squid is handy when you need a few extra blog entries. Want to make one yourself? Follow this pattern.

FO: felted squidKnitting! (via MAKE: Blog)

How to Make Juggling Balls

There's a new craft blog filled with projects for parents to make with their kids called kiddley.com. This featured one, making juggling balls, looks like a lot of fun (even if you aren't a kid). You can make this in just 5 minutes too.

5 Minute DIY Juggling BallsKiddley (via MAKE: Blog)

15 May 2006

Washing Silk Cocoons

20 gm cocoons
10 gm pure Lux Soap Flakes
5 gm washing soda
and plenty of warm water

Put a plate on top of cocoons to keep them under the water.

Take half an hour to bring to a simmer.

Simmer for 30 mins and they should feel squeaky clean.

If not, repeat process.

Cool slowly and then rinse and add a dash of vinegar to the second last rinse water.

Rinse a second time.

Leave wet and hang to dry, don't wring or squeeze.

When dry pull out to a square shape, 6"x 6".

Spin from one corner, use as a rolag.

Open Day 2006

Everyone is invited to our Open Day, particularly if you are interested in fibre arts and crafts. Come and expand your stash, with traders selling fibres for spinning and felting, yarns for knitting and weaving, various pieces of equipment, such as looms, needle felting supplies, warping boards and much, much more! Members will be selling their goods also, with a range of unique hand dyed, hand spun yarns and handmade wearables such as vests, scarves and beanies, perfect for this time of year. Plus there will be tea and coffee with yummy handmade refreshments to warm the tummy. Bring along a friend and enjoy a great day out!

Saturday, 8 July, 9.30am - 3.30pm at St Paul's Church Hall, 205 Burwood Road, Burwood.

  • Treasure Bag Competition
    Whether it holds your phone, pearls, glasses or even your marbles, this is a perfect opportunity to use leftover weaving samples, yarn or knitted tension squares to fashion a Treasure Bag. Exercise your imagination to create the perfect bag for those jewels.
  • Members unique handmade work for sale
    Items such as handspun yarn, handwoven, handknitted and handfelted wearables
  • Traders
    Selling books, spinning and weaving supplies and equipment, yarns and other fibre related supplies. Traders include:
    • Virginia Farm Wool Works
      Jenny and Phil Dunn of Virginia Farm Wool, have been supplying Sydney's spinners with fibre and equipment for the last 15 years. They will be at the Open Day with a range of dyes and also undyed yarns in silk, wool, mohair, Optim wool and cotton. New for this year is naturally coloured organically grown cotton yarn in 8 ply and good enough to eat colours such as Vanilla, Café and Chocolate
    • Positively Original
      After completing her Diploma of Applied Art and Graduate Diploma of Education, Lynne Britten began her career in textiles as a Textile Designer in 1985. Lynne teaches workshops in fabric and thread dyeing, shibori, silk painting, batik, block printing, through her own studio, Batik Oetoro, WEA, North Sydney Community Centre and others. Through her studio and website she retails an expanding range of ready to dye cotton and rayon yarns, braids and cords; dyes, silk painting supplies and lots more
    • Freelance Fibres
      Gerda Smith creates sophisticated blends of mohair, cashmere, alpaca and merino. In addition to carding and blending she has also developed a range of different colour combinations using a blend of Gaywool and Landscape dyes. Gerda's range includes batts of fleece ready for felting, slivers and rovings for spinners and is now establishing a new range of luxury yarns.
    • Come in Spinner, Margaret Brown
    • Magnolia Books, Anne Miller
    • Spun Out, Patricia Gledhill-Bennett
    • Ron Stewart with his Weave-it squares
    • Felt From The Heart with Kangaroo Valley Spinning Supplies
  • Demonstrations
    Spinning and Weaving
  • Refreshments
    Tea and biscuits plus a Lions sausage sizzle

Last year the winners by Popular Choice of the Designer Yarn Award for 2005 were boxed up and sent to guilds and groups around Australia. They will be coming home after their travels to be replaced by the winners of this year's Designer Yarn Award. Groups are invited to request the box and asked to send it on to the next interested group.

For more information contact the guild.

2006 Handspun Designer Yarn of the Year Award

All members of the Guild and Network groups are invited to participate in this new competition which will be exhibited and judged for the first time at the Guild's 2006 Open Day being planned for Saturday, 8 July.

  • Design and hand spin a yarn in which a minimum of 80% of the components in the yarn have been handspun. It is possible to use eg: a fine commercial binder yarn, or a metallic singles for glitz effects etc.as part of the yarn, together with the other handspun elements. There are no restrictions on the type, number and variety of fibre(s) used.
  • Present a 20 metre (minimum length) skein of your designer yarn together with a 10cm x 10cm sample of your designer yarn knitted or woven or crocheted or used in some similar way for the exhibition and judging.
  • The skein and sample will be attached to an entry form which will be included in the April Guild News for you to photocopy and pass on to friends etc. This form will require details and small samples of the fibres used, fibre preparation methods, small samples of each singles used and a description of the plying method together with dyeing and finishing details and any other information explaining how the yarn was made. Create a name / title for the yarn and include a short statement about your inspiration. Your name and address will only be put onto the reverse side of the entry form.
  • You may enter as many yarns as you wish but each yarn must be attached to a separate entry form. There is no charge for entering yarns.
  • Yarns must be presented for entry before 10.00am on the Open Day and can be collected after the presentation of prizes. For those unable to attend either give your yarn and entry form to a friend or buy a Post Office padded bag and post your entry to arrive at the Guild by 4 July. Include return labels and the necessary stamps for return postage in the bag so your entry can be returned to you.
  • The Guild would like to temporarily keep the winning entries and some other selected entries (for possibly about a year) to form a travelling display to be used to publicise the skills of Guild members at events such as Stitches and Craft etc and to make the display available to country groups who request that it be sent to them for a short time and then returned.
  • The judging will be by popular choice selection by all those attending the Open Day.

New for 2006 Open Day! 2006 Treasure Bag of the Year Award
Following a similar plan to the Designer Yarn of the Year Award, this year there will be an additional competition and display for all members of the Guild and Network Groups which will be judged for the first time at the Guild's 2006 Open Day to be held on Saturday 8 July.

Design and make a bag from fibre/yarn/fabric treasures or design andmake a bag for carrying or storing treasures. Weaving, knitting, crochet,spinning, braiding, felting, dyeing or any combination of these techniques can be used as the major construction method/s. Machining, embroidery etc can be used for minor construction and embellishment but the major amount of work should be from fibre, yarn and fabric areas in which the Guild specialises. Use your common sense, creativity and designer skills and have fun!

Enter as many treasure bags as you wish. No charge for entering bags.

Please do not make the bags very large as display area is limited.

03 May 2006

How to Make Nylon

Popular Science has a short how-to on making a thread of nylon from two liquid chemicals. At $120, it's pricy, but sounds like fun.

Stir Up Some NylonPopular Science (via Boingboing)

Frame it Yourself

The Small Object has a great tutorial on making your own photo or artwork mats so you can get that professional frame look without the expensive price tag. The tutorial and photos go into great detail on how to get precise measurement — which is so key. I'm looking forward to using this technique on some new photos and frames.

How I cut a matThe Small Object Steno Pad (via MAKE: Blog)