Booklets

My three booklets have been published with new covers.  They are detailed under the books page in this blog.  They are full of pictures making it easy to follow the instructions.  One of the ladies in Sydney has made her first korowai just from my first booklet and says

'The booklet was great, the combination of the text and pictures really helped.  All very detailed and thorough and so helpful from the outset, the materials needed (and contemporised), the preparation and the actual weaving process, so much more than any other book I've read on the subject. It's truly an asset.
I feel really empowered by this, it's such a skill and a really valuable art to pass on to the next generations.' 

New string

ICB has some new mop string.  It's thinner than their old stuff and more consistent in quality but I haven't decided whether it needs to be used double or singly yet.  This picture shows the two we have been using, the thick knobbly string on the right and the thin string we use double on the left.  The middle one is the new string.

 I have started two kindy cloaks, one using the cord double and one singly.

One of our girls has become very good at pelting chooks and gave me this lovely grey/gold pelt which I am using for these cloaks.

Sydney Trip

We had a wonderful holiday in Sydney catching up with family. But I also met with a few weavers one afternoon. They showed me what they had made and we had a very useful discussion about weaving in Sydney and where to get materials. The string is still a problem so I hope to get myself organised to sell bundles of cut string of various sizes for various purposes. 

Now that I am back I am trying to upgrade my books because some libraries are wanting copies. There are now three books. The first is 'Making your First Small Korowai' and is great for complete beginners. People can work from the booklet without any other instruction. The second is 'More Tips and Techniques for Korowai Weaving'. It goes into the options for each part of the korowai and design ideas so is really the next step on from the first book. The third book is 'Mawhitiwhiti Patterns and Woven Bags' which shows many of the criss cross patterns used in weaving and how to make the korowai type of woven bags. These booklets open out flat so that working from them is easy. See the books page on this blog. 

Sydney Trip

We are going to Sydney soon.  I will be at the Macquarie Centre Mall, North Ryde on Saturday 17th August.  Anyone weavers interested to meet up I will wait outside the cinemas by the Boost Juice shop at 2pm.  It is one floor up from the food stalls.  Bring some weaving pieces to show if you have some.  
I have written another two books which will be out soon.  One is about design options for korowai called More Tips and Techniques for Weaving Korowai and has lots of ideas and photos and is a next step on from the beginner book.  The other one is called Mawhitiwhiti Patterns and Woven Bags.   Hopefully they will be available when we return from Australia.  I will put them up in the book section then.

Weaving group

We have a weaving group with all some of the ladies I have taught meeting on some Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.  They are all doing so well and are so enthusiastic.  I am learning from them as they learn from me and together we are making some really nice pieces.  Here are some of them and some of their work.

Lyann and her first piece

Lyann's child sized korowai in progress, using feathers from her own roosters that she has pelted.

Judy's third piece practising different techniques

Judy's jute string practice piece exploring different materials

Donna and her small shoulder cape

One of my first pupils was Elaine who has done many wonderful pieces over three years

Elaine's framed korowai

Another of Elaine's pieces for a frame.

 They are working on mawhitiwhiti samplers at the moment.  This has encouraged me to write book on mawhitiwhiti patterns which will be out soon.

Robyn's Muka Cloak

I am very excited by one of the first ladies I taught to weave a few years ago here in Taieri Mouth.  She has begun her first big cloak and it is out of muka she has made.  I couldn't teach her the muka bit so she has learnt from books, some Maori TV programs and mostly by trial and error.  I am so proud of her and stand amazed at what she is achieving.  Well done Robyn Ashton.  Maybe next year she will teach me.

Finished

Hooray I have finished my big cloak and it has been handed over.  My clients were pleased with it so all is well.

Matariki Arapaki

It being Matariki I decided this should have a starry taniko done with a sparkly copper string with black background.  It looks great.  I was actually quite pleased with these brown chook feathers especially toning in with the brown/copper pheasant ones.  The arapaki is lovely to feel.  I think this one will go to the shop in Auckland.

We have finally managed to sort out some more of this blogging thing and hopefully may now be able to reply to your comments.  It was some technical thing.  So thanks to those who have commented in the past.  I have had some really nice things said about my mahi and I am grateful to you all.

Have finished the kindi korowai with a poutama pattern which goes with their logo.  I hope they enjoy it.

 Also I have nearly finished a brown feather arapaki with a black and copper taniko for matariki.

Busy busy busy.

 Last week I helped my mother with her new quilting booklet.  She has done well and I hope she sells a good few as I am sure they will be helpful.  If anyone reading this wants one I can arrange that for you.  They cost $25 plus p&p.

Another month has gone by and I have still not finished my big cloak.  I have got up to the last feather row and am stuck on which sort of feathers to do on the top.  We also need to decide on colours for the taniko.  My clients have decided on a taniko pattern so perhaps his week I can sort out my outstanding problems and get back to it next week.  In the meantime I have started a kindi korowai.

This picture shows the working way. It is upside down to how the finished article will be.  It is going to a Paraparaumu kindi.

 Yesterday it snowed right down to the beach.  There are patches of ice around today but the sun is out so it will be all gone soon.

Have finished some Koro and Nannies too.  Will send some to my friends at Papakura.  

Classes are going well.  Last month there were four new girls and ten came on the Saturday.  I have also sold a few books overseas as well as NZ.  One girl from Sydney is doing well with her korowai learnt entirely from my book so it must be understandable.  Very happy with it.  My Mum has taken the baton and made a book of her own on some quilting techniques.  Not bad for 86.  Took a lot of brainpower and was so exhausting she slept well.  But she has made a creditable booklet.

Last week I finished this black string korowai.  I only had a little string and horrible stiff feathers I wanted to use up.  The feathers were so bad I had to not bend them up to secure them but keep them straight and do two rows over the shafts.  Because I felt they might fall out I had a very tight tension which means the whole thing was pulled in and became much shorted than I had hoped.  However I hope it will be ok as a man's korowai for a skinny man.  I am interested in the different ways these short korowai could be worn especially by a man.  Because I had little string left I had to do a different top than I usually do.  It is a sort of plait across the top crossed with a turning row.  I haven't made a closure on it yet but was thinking a piece of leather would be good.  I had dreamed of a shark's tooth or piece of bone but the thing isn't wide enough for that.

Marena Wedding Arapaki

Finally I have finished my white shoulder korowai.  I hope this will be used as a bridal arapaki sometime. It is for sale for $850.   I enjoyed working out the heart taniko design and the mawhitiwhiti heart design.  The gold and silver sparkly threads in the taniko worked really well.

I am carrying on with my big cloak too and am getting up to the taniko soon so will need to work out something to suit my clients.  Also have a few small things on the go.  The group that was coming couldn't come in the end so I am not in such a rush and can concentrate on the big one a bit more.  The middle slog has nearly finished so it's getting exciting again.

There is a group coming to see my work in two weeks time so I am hurrying to get some things made for them to see.  One of the things is a wedding korowai - a short cape.  For this I have used fluffy feathers gathered from the local bird park and gold and silver thread in the taniko.  This was the first time I tried these threads and I like the effect.  Here it is on my frame, upside down of course.







Next is a photo of the taniko up the right way.  You can see I have designed the taniko as hearts for the wedding theme.
The mawhitiwhiti on the back will also be hearts. Again this is the first time I have done this.

I am using the dark fluffy feathers I have gathered along with black tipped white fluffs to make a bag.  I have just started this and need to get the feathers out of my sister-in-law's freezer to carry on.  Hopefully that will deal to any bugs that might have survived the washing process.

Having got some feathers from Feathergirl and found them only so-so, I made two small pieces to see if they will be any good for those learning to weave.  And the answer is - maybe.  I will see on next Saturday when I expect to see a few more new weavers at our next gathering.

 A long time ago I started making a triangular piece and have decided to explore that shape.  Thinking about it kept me awake - botheration.  These are the starts.  We'll see what happens.

Back to work.

I have finished the korowai for Ella.  It took 35 hours and I think has turned out rather well.  I do hope they like it

We had our first Tuesday group this week in Brighton.  Our next meeting will be on the Saturday after Easter, April 6th  at Coast Community Church Ocean View.  All Welcome especially beginners.

The weekend school went well.  There were 7 beginner weavers who were all very enthusiastic.  They managed to very nearly finish their pieces so it was quite successful and I learnt a lot about what could be achieved in a weekend.

Now we hope to start a fortnightly group at Brighton (1st and 3rd Tuesdays 9:30am-12:30pm) and a monthly meeting at Taieri Mouth (1st Sat of month 10am-4pm).  All welcome. E-mail me for more info.

This is what they can do with the piece they were making

As well as this I have been continuing with my big commission of Pheasant feathers.  But again it has had to go on hold as I need to get some things made  to show a group of fibre artists who will visit in mid April.  I have a few bags on the go which need a bit of finishing

Thought I would like to do something with the lovely side feathers from a peacock tail.  I haven't worked out how to attach the long bits to the bag yet.

And I have a small commission for a baby's naming ceremony korowai.  This one has been fun and is coming along nicely.  I only have a month to make this so am forging ahead with it.This first picture is the result of 4 days work and the second is another 5 hours later.  One more row of white feathers then I am on to the taniko for the top. About 24 hours altogether so far.

I have been thinking for ages it was time to update my blog.  Well finally I am.  And I have been busy lately but not so much weaving as writing a booklet on weaving.  It is finally done and I am printing it out.  It is called 'Making your First Korowai' . So if you would like to have a go at weaving a small piece then send me an e-mail and I will see what we can do.  On the last weekend in February will be running a weekend weaving school here at Taieri Mouth.  It will be a first for me.  I have 8 people coming at this stage, which is a good number for me to teach at once.  This weekend is why I wanted to write an instruction book.

At the same time I am continuing to weave the big cloak for a client in Dunedin.  It's coming on nicely.  They came out to see it on Friday and were very happy with it.  That is always a good sign.

We had an exciting time last month when there were a few salmon being caught in the river.  Malcolm brought one in and our nephew caught two.  They were quite yummy so needless to say not so much weaving was done and more fishing was done (not so much catching though).

 I have started my big cloak and am excited by the way it is progressing.  The feathers from feathergirl have come and I hope I have enough.

But at the same time I am making a few things to have on show when I have a weekend wananga korowai next year.  So here is a bag I am making just ready to do some taniko on the top.

 And a small piece using peacock feathers.  It helps to have something small to take when I have to go out to weave.