Mother of all fabric dumpster dives !!!

Mother of all fabric dumpster dives !!!, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

The office park where my brother works is probably the world's best dumpster diving location, and the dumpster is about 5 steps away from the back door of the office. Over the years, he has salvaged office panels, file cabinets, phone systems, tools, chairs, carpet, Pergo flooring, computers, bookcases, and just this week-this box of tons 'o fabric !!! There is heavy duty Ultrasuede and canvas, plus silks, cotton, and cotton and rayon velvets. And it couldn't have come at a better time, I'm embarking on a mad scramble to make lots of recon purses and stuff for the Ballston Art Market .

Ghanaian "Enstoolment" Ceremony

Here is another installment of my cultural adventures living in Washington, DC. This story starts back a few years with the meeting of our friend, Nana Frimpong, the world class drummer and musician from Ghana. Fast forward to last night, and his invitation to us to join him at the "enstoolment" or enthroning of a Ghanian queen mother, Nana Gyamfuaa Pokuaa II at an event in Silver Spring. MD. Not knowing what this entailed but quite intrigued, we heartily agreed to see what it was all about. Knowing that Ghanian time runs on a different clock than DC time, we planned on being out very late.

The three of us arrived at approx. 12:30 pm at the high school gym which was decked out like prom night. The room was filled with round tables festively decorated. Lovely Ghanaian ladies wearing their finest handwoven fashions with towering head wraps and elegant gentlemen were sitting patiently. Some of them were nodding off. Men were scurrying around wearing miles of gorgeous kente cloth textiles wrapped around the body and over one shoulder like togas. They were constantly hoisting the fabric up. It didn't seem logical to have to carry all that fabric around, and it looked like they were trying to carry a whole roomful of heavy draperies. I guess the reason is to show the status of the wearer.

We kept debating about leaving since it was already so late and there seemed to be no time table. Finally, large numbers of people appeared dressed in more finery and a small group of musicians started drumming. The MC announced the queen's arrival. All the guests stood up like the arrival of the bride at a wedding. A long line of men in their colorful togas, two female dancers in bare feet wearing gold fabric and a line of women with colorful skirts and white eyelet cloth draped over their bare shoulders made their way into the gym. The women clustered into a tight group and inched their way around the open area at the front as the drummers' rhythms got faster and faster. The queen found her place on the "stool of authority" and the women sat closely around her. As things settled down, we checked our watches and it was close to 1:30 am. Time to slip out. I don't know what I missed but I was thrilled to get a glimpse of a very important event for a wonderful, friendly, community of people I am privileged to have met. Not to mention all the fabulous handwoven cloth all around me.

Artomatic Featuring BATALA !

DC's biggest art event is happening right now. It's called "Artomatic" and it's 28 days of wall to wall art in one building. Since it's a non-juried show, you will find all types of artistic endeavors, so be prepared for the unexpected. I haven't visited yet, but I plan to head right for my favorite mask-maker, Anthony Delfin to see his latest creations.
And...this just in...BATALA Washington (that's my all-women samba-reggae percussion band) will be performing on Friday, June 6 at 9:00 pm.

Summer Art Market

Fellow Artists' Undertaking Gallery member, Alice Webb and I are scheduled to participate in the Ballston Art Market this summer. It is held every second Saturday of the month starting in May. Our first market will be in June. At the market, Alice will be showing her whimsical handcrafted fiber sculptures and I will have my handbags and wearables made from recycled vintage clothing and textiles on display.

Viking Knit Experiment

Last week I finally took a class at Star's Beads. Since I try to teach myself techniques, I have never taken a formal class in beadweaving or knitting although in college, I took a weaving and textiles course. When I found out my colleague, Mickey Kunkle was teaching a class on viking knit with silver, I signed up immediately, because I had been eyeing her wonderful bracelets at the Potomac Craftsmen Fiber Gallery.

Batala Goes Bigtime at DC United Game

Batala, originally uploaded by sarahandsean.info.

That's me, third one down. We play Brazilian percussion and got our big break to play at the opening game of the DC United soccer team at RFK stadium. Our band is all-women and we had about 35 drums at this show. We are loud to begin with, but they had us miked ! When we did a sound check, the resulting sound was like the biggest thunderstorm you ever heard. My husband says I'm addicted to Batala and he's right. I was never a member of a sorority but this is the closest to a "sisterhood" you can get. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

Artistic Artifacts

I want to congratulate a fellow Potomac Craftsmen Gallery member on the fulfilling of long-held dream. Judy Gula is a fiber artist whose wonderful handmade fiber bead jewelry and art quilts I have been admiring for the past four years.

For the past several years she has had a traveling and online business of selling her hand-dyed vintage linen and found object packets to quilters and collage artists. Her website, Artistic Artifacts lists all kinds of interesting fabric, game pieces, collage packs, books and supplies and now, artists can shop for all her goodies in a retail setting at the Artistic Artifacts Annex in Alexandria, Virginia.

I was able to stop by yesterday to see her new space and products for sale. Although I'm not a quilter or collage artist, I was getting seriously tempted by the myriad beautiful hand-dyed fabric packs, beads, sequins, vintage linens and embroidery packs, buttons, antique game pieces and vintage paper goods for sale. I can't imagine a more thorough stock of materials for the mixed media artist or quilter at any traditional art and craft store.

The store does not maintain daily business hours for now, but is open during workshops and classes which are posted on the website. Judy has already scheduled some fascinating workshops for fiber artists and I may schedule a few beading classes there myself.

Dazzling Knitted Silver Jewelry

I wanted to introduce a colleague of mine and her subtle yet dazzling silver knitted jewelry. She recently opened a shop on Etsy to showcase some of her creations, but I have known her and her work for several years now as a fellow member of the Potomac Craftsmen Fiber Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. She uses her name as her shop name. Please spend some time enjoying the beautiful work of Marla S. Rudnick .

Short Row Scarf WIP no longer !

Short Row Scarf WIP, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

Update: obtained the perfect yarn to finish the edge ! (see first pic)

Started a short row scarf a few months ago and finally got back to work on it. I used up the skein of elsebeth lavold Silky Wool blend wine red yarn. It's not quite a full length scarf, but I have a plan to expand on it.

Bulgarian Ensemble Sings like a Nightingale

I spent the evening on Saturday listening to the glorious harmonies of Slaveya, a Washington, DC based ensemble whose name means "nightingale" in Bulgarian. As a former member, I enjoyed singing along under my breath and joining in on the Bulgarian style dancing at the end of the concert. The group has just introduced their first CD recording available now to download or order.

When I sang with the group last, a couple years ago, we wore beautifully handstitched blouses from Romania, but in the past year, the members commissioned these exquisite costumes handmade in Bulgaria. It's a rather small country, but there are many regions with a tremendous variety of costume details. Take a look at the wonderful costumes available from BalkanFolk.

ravelry Love Affair

OK, I finally got the invite to join ravelry although it went into my junk mail a week ago. I set up my "notebook" with photos of all my projects, joined lots of cool groups like "Knittin' Musicians" and have been frittering away the hours reading posts and looking at great projects. It is THE home for knitting and crocheting fanatics. There is a waiting list, but it's worth the wait if you want to connect with people all over the world who love anything made with yarn.

We have Mask Appeal !

My talented and artsy friend, Anthony makes these fantastic masks which we modeled at a Brazilian carnival party. He also makes fabulous one-of-a-kind wearable sculpture which he displays in galleries and art shows. He has a variety of these comfortable all leather handmade masks for sale in his Etsy shop, Mask Appeal . We wore these at last night's performance of our all-women samba-reggae percussion band, Batala Washington at a carnival party. The Heritage Restaurant on Connecticut Avenue was packed, everyone had masks, long peacock feathers, glow sticks and the place was rocking when we played our set. When you hang out with Brazilians, you are guaranteed to have a good time !

FFF finally !

My cherished idea of posting my favorite new fiber-related Etsy shop every Friday is hanging on buy a "thread" so to speak. Here is the a wonderful shop I just found this week: Knitting Dream. She sells knitting patterns for modular knit totes, purses and hats which convert to wall-hangings. I love these shapes and of course, the colors. I'm going to order a pattern pretty soon I'm sure.

Weaving demo in Nanjing, China

Brocade loom, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

I was fortunate enough to see some interesting demonstrations on my trip. At the Confucious Temple marketplace in Nanjing, we went into the museum of historical crafts where we discovered a fully operational silk brocade loom being manned by two weavers. The number of spools the weaver was keeping track of was mind-boggling. She had an assistant sitting up in the "rafters" of the loom, counting out some threads for either the warp or heddles, not sure quite what they were.
See all the loom photos

Silk Factory Tour in Beijing

Cocoon spinning, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

We were taken on a tour of a silk factory where we got to see how the cocoons are unwound and the threads spun into silk thread. Double size (with two worms inside) cocoons are stretched and layered into small, round flat shapes, almost like felting, then stretched out onto a bed-size table to create quilt batting.
After seeing the process, the tour guide then ushered us into a room filled with displays of beds dressed in dazzling silk quilts. Most of our tour group bought quilts then we went into the large showroom where the shopaholics were let loose among the thousands of silk products. I purchased half of our Christmas gifts here.
See the whole silk factory tour

Favorite Fiber Art non-profit saved by pledge drive

The Springwater Fiber Workshop, a mainstay of the Washington, DC region's fiber communtity, almost went under last month and 22 years of operation. After a frenzied pledge drive brought in over $100,00 in pledges, the non-profit will be able to stay open. Read more about it
here.

Back to my old sewing gig

About two years ago, I found a post on craigslist looking for someone to help sew leotards. I love mind-numbing factory-like sewing projects because they are great for procrastinating on projects that really need to be done. This was the perfect sewing gig because the leotards are the CUTEST things I've ever seen. They range in many different sizes and the little tiny ones are so adorable. The colors are great and they are made with the softest fabric. I sew the elastic in the arm and legholes. The elastic for the legholes has a unique method for stitching which creates a "wedgie-resistant" design. The mother and daughter team who design and do all the rest of the sewing are wonderful to work for and their company is Quantum Leotards. So far, I have sewn several hundred "leos" and can sew in the middle of the night or in between violin lessons. The leotards are available at several gymnastic studios in Maryland and you can customize a leotard at their website. After about a year and a half hiatus, they asked me to start sewing again, so now I have another reason for not cleaning around here :)

FFF for the weekend

OK, I finally found the coolest shop of the week: Catirina Bonet Designs. Everything is patterns for knitting, but as you'll see, it's some pretty wild knitting. Check out the knitted turkey headdress and the coat of many colors. The sexy knitted dress is gorgeous, but I wouldn't have the courage to wear it. Then there are cute hats and ballerina shoes to knit as well.

FFF-More "Friday Fiber Finds"

Time to search for the next woven "goodie" on Etsy and here's what I found today: Copper Wire Creations-Large Basket . I love the burst of colorful spirals and the obvious attention to the craft of wire weaving in this basket. She has many more cute and interesting wire decorative items.

More Paraguayan Lace

On Sunday I went to the Hispanic Heritage Festival in the Mount Pleasant area of DC. Our band Batala Washington performed in the parade. It was one of the best festivals I've attended and I enjoyed seeing the magnificent costumes of dancers from many Latin American countries. There were vendors selling handmade goods from Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Columbia and many others. I found these adorable lace earrings made in Paraguay. Some of the costumed performers wore dresses that were completely or partially made with this type of lace. I also enjoyed seeing costumes made of woven textiles from Mexico and Guatemala. One of these days, hopefully, I'll make a "pilgimage" to the weaving centers of Central and South America.