Chicken feather strings

Seeing as I am making this chicken feather cloak I thought I would see how far a string of feathers goes.  Here is the string as I receive it.

It's pretty gross and unusable.  But I wash them in some gentle soap until the water is clear and hang them out to drip.  When no more water is dropping off and before they are dry I blow dry them bit by bit until all the feathers are fluffy and dry. This can take 20mins or so. A long and slow process but at least they don't get all tangled up like if you put them in the dryer. They finish up like this.

Now for the bundling. Some of the feathers are really thin, some are beautiful and thick, some are fluffy, some are skinny. I put them together sometimes in bundles of three or sometimes 4 or 5 depending on their thickness and that of their stalks. I am trying for lush bundles with thin stalks. This I usually can achieve by pulling off the fluff on one side of the feathers. There is waste of course,  in this case an ice cream tub full of broken feathers, too skinny feathers, just unusable feathers and fluff from the sides. 

From one string 120cm long I managed 280 bundles. Now I am averaging 55 bundles per feather row on my cloak (which in this case is every row) which means I should get 5 rows from one string of feathers. Mostly the feather and stalk are followed by two whenu instead of three, as is usual, but the thickness of the string requires it.  My cloak has 230 whenu from the new thick string from ICB and is 95 cm wide. The new string is nice to work with and the work is going quite quickly. It is slowed down by the working of every row feathers, and their bundling takes time but I am happy I will have something to show Saturday week when we have our next all day weaving group.  

Elaine's finished korowai

It was great catching up with all the tuesday group last week and seeing the impressive korowai that Elaine has made for her daughter and a framed piece to sell at a pink ribbon day auction. She had been busy while I have been away.

We had a morning of catching up with some of the things I had learnt on my trip and general catchup.   I cut the thick new string from ICB for a school cloak. I have 130 whenu plus two for edging and it is nearly 1 Metre wide.  Now I have been working away steadily bundling the cheap brown hen feathers and weaving them in.  I have found that sometimes I am only having two whenu between feathers and sometimes three. Having decided to put them in flicking upwards I found I had to do a feather row every row which means a lot more work but should result in a lovely thick cloak.  I haven't done this for a long time but it was lovely to see one done like this while away and I wanted to try it again. I have also done the multidirectional taaniko which taught me a bit about design and what was not a good idea.  I am using some techniques from Diggeress' s book 'Weaving a kakahu' like her lengthening of aho threads should they be too short.

Angel Korowai

On the Tuesday before I left on my trip the Ocean View Weaving ladies took our wee angel korowai to the Queen Mary Hospital along with another lady whose group make lovely cocoons to receive the wee babes that pass away. We were surprised and delighted that there were quite a number of people there to witness the handing over and blessing of the gifts. It was a simple ceremony but we felt it a real privilege that we were thanked in this manner.

I also made two korowai to be used with the wahakura where live babies can be photographed. 

A very special morning. 

 

Home at last

After another successful weekend wananga at Temuka, where another seven ladies were introduced to weaving korowai, I have got home at last.  It's been a very interesting time away, learning lots more about cloaks old and new and meeting with friends and family and spending time with my mum.

The school at Arowhenua let us use their library for our weekend course. The ladies worked hard but the last afternoon was almost too much so we didn't finish quite but all the skills required were learnt. I think I will have to cut down the number of whenu to 34 and the feather rows to three. I'll give that a go next time. We had another look at a very old cloak which had inspired me to make a bag.

I had made a cloak for the school and handed it over to some of the ladies to pass on this week. I hope they liked it. 

Old cloaks

Today I was able to see the collection of old korowai in  Aratoi the Masterton art gallery and museum.  It was wonderful to closely examine the sides,  the row endings,  the tags and feathers, the taaniko, the shaping etc. The fineness of the whenu and closely woven rows always amaze me.  There was a wide range of designs.

If you have the opportunity to go through a museums collection think about what you want to see in particular. I was concentrating on sides and shaping and can't wait to get home to try it all out.  The tags were interesting too, now that I have got the hang of the proper way of putting them in.  In fact I might go out right now and use some of the string I have cut and get on to it. 

learning new things

I am on a road trip around the country visiting friends and family and very excited about the new things I am learning.  Last week we talked to a very good weaver in Te Awamutu who showed me a wonderful old ending to aho rows, new ways of dealing with jute string to make beautiful whenu and some beautiful korowai to make me eager to get home and get to work.

Last weekend I was in Napier taking a group of about 10 for a techniques day. We covered options for casting on,  sides, row endings including the new one I learnt that week, and we worked out the old way of putting in tags.  I showed them how to make bags and everyone went home happy.  I was also shown a gadget to do the cut on a harekeke and a piece of greenstone to get out the muka.  Chris made me one on the spot. What a lovely man. He also gave me some more of his muka made by a machine.  I can't wait to get home and work with it. 

On Tuesday I will be able to examine some old cloaks in a museum in Masterton, which I am very much looking forward to.  I have a better idea of what to look for now, than ever before. 

On Wednesday we cross back to the South Island and the next day arrive back in Timaru to take a beginner class in Temuka. Then at last I will be able to go back home and try to work out something to make to try out the new things I have learnt. 

My latest project - multidirectional taaniko

I have just finished my first finished piece in multidirectional taaniko. Well that's what I call it.  It is my adaption of a very old Maori cloak in the Stockholm museum. Margery Blackman showed me how to do it.  The taaniko stitch is done in different directions depending on the slope of the pattern.

I enjoy this work although it took a while to work out that I needed to put the direction of each stitch on my paper pattern so that I would always be in the right place for the next stitch. I didn't always get it right and still needed to do some 'mending' when I had finished.  You can see that both directions makes a clean line instead of being stepped in one direction as happens with normal taaniko where the stitch is always done the same way. 

I discovered someone who had learnt to do the taaniko stitch by twisting towards her body instead of away. It took me a while to realize that unless she was careful the rows had a tendency to not abut the previous one as is necessary. I don't think I emphasized this in my book.  Twist away from your body and upwards to make a good taaniko stitch (unless of course you are trying this multidirectional taaniko stitch).

Timaru Wananga

Another great weekend teaching korowai away from home. This time in Timaru. Only four ladies but enthusiastic.  Many thanks to those who hosted us in your homes. It was a successful weekend and I hope to be back in Timaru next month to take another beginner class so if anyone is interested please email me.

Weekend weaving wananga at Napier

I have had a wonderful long weekend away at Napier taking a weekend school on korowai weaving. Thanks to all those who helped organise this and thanks to those who participated and made it a joy to teach.
The evening and two days were held at a fantastic cooperative at the Waiohiki craft village.

There were 20 people enthusiastic to learn who by the end of the weekend had learnt all the basic skills to make a korowai and some were even experimenting and creating lovely ideas. 

The shop, itself, was one of the best NZ craft shops I have seen.  Beautiful work, so interesting and innovative. Things I had never seen before. It is well worth a visit, so don't just drive past but stop in some day if you are in the area.  I can't praise it enough. 

We are hoping to have another day in May to look at design options, other techniques and bags.  The class is full already but one of the ladies is looking at doing another course for beginners sometime,  so that's great.   My whole mission is to pass the skills on so others can pass it on too,  just as I have been taught by my kaitiaki in Papakura. 

March marches on

Last week I took the Wakari korowai in to show Craig at the Doc office, the Museum where the Kereru were distributed from and finally up to the school.  I was pleased by the reception as it seemed to go down well.  So now that is off my hands.

We have also organised to take all our little Angel korowai in to the maternity hospital and who will deal with them there.  Judy finished her beautiful one this week.  She does such a lot of finishing work.

Judy's angel korowai

The whenu were getting very short at the back so she worked a lot of rows to hold them.  Very beautiful.  

While I was up in  Timaru lady week I screwed up my courage and went to see a lovely lady at a marae up that way to see if they would like korowai classes.  They were very enthusiastic so hopefully some classes will be organized for April. 

And tomorrow I set off on my adventure to Napier/Hastings to take classes up there. It will be a big class but with help I hope we will cope and people will learn this interesting craft. 

Yesterday I went to see Margery Blackman again about taaniko.  She loaned me some samples she had made of interesting taaniko patterns taken from old cloaks in museums around the world. 

You can see that although this is taaniko it is only one colour yet with texture. This is achieved by different taaniko stitches. This is my next learning project. I think I have got the hang of the last taaniko learning project. That of doing multi directional taaniko

This is the start of a pouch using this taaniko where the direction of the stitches changes depending on the direction of the slope. This means that every slope is a clean line and not staggered as is usual when doing taaniko stitch always the same direction like tapestry stitch. This patten is my adaption of a cloak in the Stockholm museum. Lots of working out required but fun to learn a new technique, well not new but very old. 

How much string do I need to make a korowai?

I have been asked this question many times and unfortunately there is not a simple answer except LOTS.  Firstly you need to decide what string you will use.  In NZ we can get three sorts of mop string in large rolls, two  (a thick and a thin, both 4kg and costing around $100 with gst and postage) from ICB Cleaning supplies in Auckland and and thin 4.5kg from Browns Brushware also in Auckland for about $130.  These are the main ones used so I will talk about these.
When you have decided which string I recommend doing a sample piece so that you can work out your personal tension and work out from this.  It is a good idea to keep a record of what you make, how long and how many the whenu and of what material etc.  No matter how much I tell others to do so I am a bit lax myself so these ideas have been hard to work out but here goes.
Next is to decide on a pattern.  Are you going full feather with taaniko at the top and mawhitiwhiti on the back or will you have mawhitiwhiti within the kaupapa of the cloak?   Mawhitiwhiti takes up more string as the diversion uses more each time.  But assuming you are making a straight cloak with taaniko and mawhitiwhiti then decide on a finished length.  To this finished length add about 10cm for the turnover and mawhitwhiti on the back. Now add an extra 1/4 that length for somehow it seems to need that.  And then double the whole amount for casting on two whenu strings.  So for instance if your desired length of 110cm. Add 10cm for turnover making 120cm. Now add an extra 1/4 that length (30cm as the weaving takes it up) making it 150cm. Then you double that for it to be cast on in twos.  Oh and if you want a plait and/or mawhitiwhiti on the sides they will need to be half the length again so that they don't get too short. So lots of maths involved. Make sure when you measure the string you don't stretch it but loosely wind around whatever you are measuring on. I have my weaving board with nails which I also use to wind off my whenu.  Now don't sue me if this is too short.  Its better to cut longer than necessary and use any left overs to make small pieces for framing as gifts than to get up to the top and discover its going to be too short.

Now we come to how many.   I have found that as I go up the korowai it gets skinnier. I don't know why. Maybe my tension gets tighter as I put feathers in. However that needs to be allowed for and don't be surprised if it happens. I can sometimes be 10cm shorter in width at the top than at the bottom. But that's ok because the width doesn't show so much unless lying flat and it is better to be that way round as the cloak may come around the hips more. I don't bother with shaping and few I know do. So this is where your tension piece is really helpful as your tension and mine might be different.  Of course the different strings require differing amounts too.  If I use the thinner strings I generally use them double.  This means each 'whenu' is actually two strings held together and woven as one.  If I was using them singly I would use a finer aho cotton than the 4ply knitting and crochet cotton I use at present.  Otherwise there is a tiny gap between the whenu which would make it unstable and the feather down and stems would poke through making the back unsightly and scratchy.
So I can cast on less than 300 ICB thin used double and more than 350 Browns thin double to make an adult cloak.  It also depends on whether you want it to come together in the front or for the strings to tie with a gap in the front so what you wear under can be seen at the top.  Also whether the korowai is for one person or a family of differing sizes.
All I can tell you is what I would cast on for me to achieve 115cm at the top, say, I would probably cast on 290 double  in ICB thin (or 360 double of Browns string.)  ( 250 thin ICB double ended up 100cm wide on the Wakari school cloak I have just finished) You can see from this that the advantage of the ICB string is that it requires fewer stitches per row  than Browns and so takes that much less time.

I would like to hear if others have a formula to tell people.

I hope this helps with approximating what you need but It is not an exact science at least not in my experience.

Finished

At last the Wakari School kakahu is finished. 

The top is done with mawhitiwhiti with a plait threaded through to keep it drawn up for a smaller person to wear it. 

The top turnover is done with two whenu at once which in this case is four strings. This has made a bigger turnover than normally. A slightly chunkier look. The back is just plain rows with the left over string threaded back through below the mawhitiwhiti to make a fringe. 

All in all I am quite pleased with it and look forward to handing it over sometime soon. 

Nearly at the top

I have finished the poutama pattern on the school kereru cloak and have done three rows of little neck feathers to finish off the feather rows. These feathers are so tiny I have had to not turn them up but keep them flat and do another fairly close row over them. 

I am fairly happy with it but we shall see when it's finished. 

Now for the mawhitiwhiti on the top. 

Using native bird feathers

As you can see I am using kereru feathers for this school korowai. This has come about because DoC had a lot of kereru that needed using and it seemed appropriate for this school. However I needed to apply for them from the joint Ngai Tahu/ DoC committee and then get an authority to hold the birds while I worked on them from DoC according to the Wildlife Act. After these were duly received. I was able to pick the birds up from the museum where they were held. The school is also going to need an Authority to Hold when I hand over the korowai. So it is quite a complicated process but at least I am covered. 

However I got ten birds and they varied in size and condition. Two were beautiful big birds that had white fronts and little damage. The others had stained fronts that didn't whiten and some were badly damaged. So the number of useful feathers varied. However even the best ones only provided perhaps two rows of bundles. The feathers can have quite thick shafts so are awkward to use. 

I am using three sorts of feathers for this design. The 'white' front feathers; the grey back ones and the darker ones from near the wings. The birds are frozen so I thaw them for half a day then pull out the feathers I want sorting them as I go. Some are a decent length but some I have had to layer to get enough to turn up the ends

When I have pulled out everything useful the bird is still quite feathered. 

But the rest if the feathers are too stiff or too small. Sometimes a little meat comes attached to the feather and I pull it off or cut it off. Not for the squeamish. 

Kereru have a particular odour which I don't like so the feathers are all washed. I would hate to go to all this work and have it rejected because the kids didn't like the smell. Unfortunately washing and drying them can take the natural oils out and the feather may not act like a feather should. But I can cope with that for the sake of no odour. 

These are the piles of bundles from those two birds when ready. There are enough I hope for four rows plus some tiny bundles I hope to use as a 'collar' at the top. These are too small to have a turnover so I will have to do three rows over them to secure them. 

I really don't think I will use kereru again both because of the feathers themselves being too difficult to use and because of the legal ramifications of using native feathers. 

Saturday weaving

We had a great day of weaving on Saturday with 10 ladies meeting together. Two new ladies joined us and have made great progress. It was a wonderful day, sunny and warm with lots of interesting projects to see. Our next day will be next Sunday 15th Feb at the Otago Museum at 2pm.  All welcome.

I also received an email from a friend from Palmerston North who has just finished her first big korowai. And most impressive it is too. Especially as she has used the thin string singly and had to cast on 500 whenu. I am in awe of such perseverance. She has used the thin side feathers from a peacock tail feather as splashes amongst the white feathers and mawhitiwhiti between the columns. I am so impressed.  Well done Adrienne.

Feathers

I have often been asked where to get feathers.  This is not as simple to answer as it may seem.  I have gathered feathers from many different places and have always been on the lookout for feather options.  Now don't take anything I say here as an endorsement of anyone, its just what I have used in the past.

There are at least four things to try I can think of depending on how many, what quality and what sort of feathers you want and how much effort you want to go to.

The Internet - eg Feathergirl - can be expensive but sometimes there are good bargains. Feathers are mostly ready to use and generally clean and of consistent quality.  She has good pelts too.

Kentsing Trading Co in Papatoetoe, Auckland PH 09 2789892. The natural brown (shorter) feather strings are just natural brown chook feathers. As they are imported they will have been fumigated but they don't seem to smell now like they used to do.  Maybe the fumigation process has changed.  They need washing, hanging out to dry a bit then finishing off in a pillow case tightly tied in the dryer to fluff up. I wouldn't use them just as they come as they can fluff up much nicer. They also have white ones and dyed ones. I am not swearing to their quality but I send for them for the starter kits I make for beginners. They are cheap.

Road kill, killing your own chooks or roosters or picking up feathers from parks etc where there are lots of geese, swans etc. Messy, yuckky but free. I have a friend who pelts her own chooks and she sells them for around $30 each. 

DoC: you can apply to DoC for birds. There is quite a few hoops to jump through especially for native birds AND you just get the birds usually frozen. They need plucking and washing carefully.

A small company that kills birds for the restaurant market if you can find one. The feathers are waste and maybe free. BUT there is a lot of yukky work to do. This is how I started out and looking back on it I don't recommend it. A great deal of work washing and sorting.

Potama pattern taking shape

Now I can see the pattern taking shape. I am using kereru feathers with the permission of DoC and they aren't the easiest feathers to manage. There aren't very many of a good size on one bird. So to make them go further I am using more smaller ones and putting the feathers closer than normal. To make sure I keep the pattern right I have divided the whenu into groups of ten and am trying to keep the bundles inside the appropriate group. It seems to be working although some are a bit out of alignment. However I don't think it's too noticeable. 

Started again

I have finally managed to get all the paperwork done and have the kereru from DoC to get on with my school project. Some bundles made and some rows done. 

It's great to back at weaving again after Christmas and family visiting. 

I have booked my flights for Napier for the weekend weaving on the 20th-22nd March. All very exciting. 

Feathers go out the door

This morning I sorted out my feather stash. Most if it is bagged up to go on the first Saturday of Feb (7th) at the Ocean View weaving day. Come for the day to weave or just come for the feathers. We start at 10 am. So bring your small change for a koha and get some great feathers to use in weaving. I gave up sorting the bags after a while so there are plenty of mixed bags of previously sorted feathers. Pheasant, duck, peacock, chicken, seagull, white, black, guinea fowl all sorts. Even some already bundled and soaped within bags.