Museum cloak 2 more weeks go by

Time seems to be flying. Two more weeks have gone by since the last post. Not that I have done that much weaving what with both my mother's and mother-in-law's birthdays (88, 89), my mother's and later my sister-in-laws visit. Still I try to get some done whenever I can. So here I am now

I have got into my usual trouble - running out of feathers for my design. Not to worry, I'll just change the design.  I will now have to carry on using all the feathers I can get from the birds both dark and light then perhaps a few tips of kereru. I have to find out if the Museum needs  a special permit from DoC to hold this cloak or whether it's covered in permits they already have. 

This Saturday is our weaving day at Ocean View.  I have received the Kereru from DoC so perhaps we will look at pelting them there. 

This month I am working with southern REAP teaching, hopefully, at Gore. We will see where this leads next year. This is getting exciting seeing so many people getting interested in korowai weaving. 

Museum cloak one week on

Gradually it grows, row on row. The darker feathers have given way to a pretty grey patterned feather. Looking at it now I wish I had enough dark feathers to have made the change of colour more gradual, but never mind.

  The bird has most of its back feathers of this type, very densely packed so the majority of the cloak will be of these feathers. Then I think there will be some white at the top plus kereru. I hope I can get as much done next week. It is now 45 cm and I hope to go to 110cm so I'm a third of the way there.  The middle bits can get quite tedious so I need to encourage myself somehow.

Saturday weaving September

A quiet day on Saturday with just the five of us. But it was a great day for working and getting things done.  Glenda has finished her white and pink baby cloak for a friend. This was only her third piece and you can see the improvement. On Saturday she cut the whenu for her first bigger cloak and started to cast on. This first row takes ages but persevere, Glenda, and soon you'll be on to the taaniko. She has designed her own taaniko which takes into account her European heritage and name.

 Elaine told us her daughter cried when she was given her cloak, she was so touched.

Some weren't there because of this wretched flu that is going round and we wish them good health.

And I have finally got started on the feathers for my cloak. Early days yet but I think it will work well. Remember this is the bottom of the cloak and the feathers will be flicked up to make a thick feel. It does require feathers every row but because of the size of them there is only 36 bundles per row.

Pelts

I have been doing a bit of pelting lately as birds have become available. This is one of the smaller grey albatross that I received from DoC. A friend helped me pelt it as such a big bird requires more than one pair of hands. It is thick with feathers which are tough to get off. But having them on a pelt means I can pick off the size and shape I want rather than fluffing through a big bag of feathers.

And a peacock that I got from a local farm park. It was my first pelting for ages so I'm quite proud of it. 

Better photos

At least these were taken in daylight. Hope the daycare will like it.

Finished childcare cloak

The childcare cloak is finished and looks OK. Now I can concentrate on my big cloak for the museum.  I received the birds for it from DoC today and I hope to pelt them tomorrow.