HANDWOVEN & WATERCOLORED VALENTINE CARDS
Misc. Scrap Yarns, Watercolors and Papers, Pearl Cottons Size 5 or 8,
Mixed Media Paper, and both Yarn Darner and Tapestry Needles
This project is a standby when I'm in a hurry,
which I always am.
Ha!
I can do it in one night on watercolor paper at least 140 pd weight.
Using 90 pds. will curl too badly and punched holes might rip.
I precut various sizes of watercolor paper that I knew I'd be folding into cards,
and using a wet into wet technique,
dripped various colors onto the papers
that I felt might look nice with my scrap yarns.
Underneath me I had some mixed media paper to catch drips and overflow
which I cut up into various size hearts to be glued inside card
to cover all my pearle cotton holes, warp thread (pearle cotton) and knots.
This first card went to my new Grandson Easton,
and the yarn was leftover from a skein I had dyed
and demonstrated with food colorfor my students some years back.
I think I used Kool Aide and Wilton's Cake dyes.
I really liked how the watercolors moved along the wetted surface.
And knowing me I probably dropped some water droplets
into the color on the paper
to make the pigment move even more.
This next one I gifted to my husband.
To my long legged,
big hearted,
guitar pickin' man.
From his big mouth woman.
Hee hee
Love that Johhny and June Carter Cash hit.
The yarn was a leftover ball of chuncky handspun
which consisted of wool and Angora Mohair goat fleece.
I really like how it wove up and the way the Mohair curls.
This one I gave to my dear daughter-in-law.
I just love her to pieces
and ever since her mom Mary passed we have grown even closer.
And this last one I kept for myself cuz it was too funky to give away.
I was using it to demonstrate how to go about weaving the heart.
(to a student in my Tuesday Nite Craft Class)
All my watercolor paper was drying up
yet still too wet to work on,
so I pulled this envelop out of the trash (hence stamp),
and wove a heart into it.
I was really surprised the thin paper didn't rip as I was puncturing holes,
warping and weaving.
And this envelop was white with no watercolor
but I see here it photographed a pale pink.
The Pearle cotton you see embroidered around edge
was done in a blanket stitch and a size 5 string
just because I had some leftover on my needle.
Note: The yarn on the last two cards was from a special scrap ball.
Every year when I taught hand spinning to my young ones,
at the end of the class period I would go row by row
and collect all the unspun pieces of wool
the kids had accidently dropped onto the floor.
At the end of the unit I would load it onto my drum carder
and make a huge rolag that I would then spin into yarn.
And you would never know what the end product would look like
until it was spun.
So much fun!!
hmmmm ... now I'm trying to envision how you managed the weaving ... is there any way you could share a few process notes???
ReplyDeleteLiz A (because Google doesn't want to recognize me on Blogger lately)
Hey there Liz! First I trace a heart somewhere on the paper. Then I take a ruler and starting at the middle of the heart I place a light pencil mark at top and bottom. Then I measure out 1/4" along the top and bottom of each side of heart and make a pencil dot along traced line. I place cardboard under me to protect table top and use an awl to puncture a small hole over each dot then I use the pearl cotton with darning needle to warp thru the dots. I will mail you the demo with the house stamp so you can see what that looks on the inside of card. Could you please resend me your new address? xoxo
ReplyDeleteI came over from Liz's today (I always read your comments there). Haven't been here, to your place, for a while, but I love what you've created here. Weaving always catches my eye. 🙂 I'm glad you shared these.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to have you back Nancy. I've finally begun to blog again after a long time. It feels good.
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