Elaine's new doll

Elaine has been busy dressing a lovely new doll. She is 57cm tall and looking very pretty. Elaine has made a dress to go under her lovely korowai. The dress has an unusual embellishment  on the top. This technique had been seen on some old korowai but isn't done much anymore as it is quite fiddly. Elaine has found a way of doing it after the weaving to make it easier.

Well done Elaine. Looking forward to your next project.

Ribbons

Had a great weekend up at Porirua teaching a group of enthusiastic women, staying on Horouta Marae.  Wove to all hours, laughed and slept together. Thank you Horouta for having me.
A few weeks ago I was shown a small piece a lady from central Otago had made using ribbon for tags. I thought this was worth a go so got some thin ribbon while in Porirua.  In a bin I spyed these little red rosebuds so combined them for a wee  Angel korowai.

 I had a few bits of whenu in my bag so started a wall hanging for Balclutha. I was thinking of trying the ribbon again for water but couldn't find what I had done with it so used some blue cotton instead.  It's amazing what you can get through when waiting for planes if you have something in your bag. 

July Bags

Well this bag is nearly finished, just handles, lining and fixing up to do.

I am pleased with the top. Surprised myself. 

But while I was working on this I also made a small jute flat bag with left over string. It fits my  Samsung tablet

And the school taaniko is coming on nicely.  Two of the girls,  Georgia  and Nevada have been helping me do the taaniko. We have worked out a system where two of us work together on the stitch. Not very conventional but the girls will be able to say "I did some of that taaniko". So impressed with them. Another afternoon today should almost finish it. Then it's on to the mawhitiwhiti design with tassels which the children designed for their korowai. 

There have also been two REAP Weaving schools since I last wrote.  The last was in Te Anau, with a great group of people.  I enjoyed the trip away taking my mother to see my cousin's son there.  However this weekend I'm flying up to Wellington to take a class at the Porirua Marae.  It has been so busy lately but lots of fun. 

On our Saturday weaving day at Ocean View last week Elaine showed us the wee dress she is making for a doll with a fancy stitch we saw in a book on old cloaks. Very cute. 

Bag

I've started on a bag for a display in Balclutha next month. I'm using the finest string working out double (string from Browns Brushware). First I cut 150 strings about 100 cm long and 24 strings 140cm. Then cast on the 150 in pairs in the middle, just one after the other so there are strings on both sides of the cast on row.  Next I worked with 6 longer strings laying them alongside the cast on row and weaving the cast on whenu three pairs of whenu at a time while flipping the long strings over and under the whenu groups of three. Then I did another row like that on the other side of the cast on row. These two rows were repeated. I hope the photos will show what I mean.

You can see the base shaping up.   You could continue using a box like this to work on if you like. The next step will be a turning row all the way round so that a nice edge is made for the base.  I'm considering adding in colored threads on the turning row so that I can do a mesh design for the bag.   Hmm must go get some black cotton to do that this morning at our weaving group at Ocean View. Adding these strings in will help the bag to stay square, I hope,  strange as it sounds. 

Should end up with a mesh patten kind of like this.

Taaniko designing

Just doing a spot of taaniko design for the kura kaupapa korowai. I just use a spreadsheet where I can adjust the sizes of the rows and columns to reflect my tension.

It takes ages and there isn't a quick way of changing colours. But at least it's adjustable and not just squares like graph paper. There's got to be a better programme. Does anyone know of one? It needs to have adjustable rows and columns sizes,  easy fill colouring, and preferably some way of changing the colors with the press of one or two buttons. I would also like to be able to mirror and flip groups of colored 'squares'. I do hope someone out there has a solution. 

Peacock Arapaki

Nearly finished, just a few more rows on the back. I have used the threadline silky taaniko thread for the tassels and unraveled them after I had stitched then on.   These made nice wriggly tassels.

Alexandra

Another successful weekend school at Alexandra with 19 new weavers. They all are very keen and nearly all finished and those that didn't had people to help them finish. Two men came and joined in so well done guys. Look forward to seeing more men take up the challenge.
Next weekend is Otago museum on Sunday afternoon then back up to Christchurch on the 20th for a small weekend wananga. Finally a weekend at Mataura to round out the month.
ICB Cleaning supplies are waiting on a new supply of thick mop string so it will be interesting to see what the new shipment will be like.
I have cut thin mop string for two Arapaki and for one full cloak if anyone wants string already cut and waiting to be woven.

Kura Kaupapa

Today I went back to school.  Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Otepoti in Fairfield will be my school for Thursday afternoons for the next few terms as we work together to make a korowai for the school. Today we talked about design and had a go at drawing something the children thought would embody their school. Their designs are interesting and hopefully in the next week or two we will have decided on a design, feathers, size and taaniko pattern.
It is interesting going through the process with other people. Breaking down the decisions so that we can look at it all step by step helps me see what I usually do on the spur of the moment. I'm looking forward to this collaboration.

Peacock Jute Arapaki

I finished the black and white Arapaki a wee while ago. It's not too bad but the feathers are a bit fly away and not as good as I would have liked. However is done.  Enjoyed the taaniko.

Now I am starting a peacock Arapaki. I got some green silky taaniko thread and have based the colors on dark green. Of course when you look at the feathers from different angles they look blue rather than green. Oh well we'll see what it looks like with blue near the top. It has green tags in between the blocks. The feathers at the bottom are also peacock from a different part of the bird.  The feathers are lovely to work with as they are big and flat. They sit nicely when worked in and I have been using only two in a bundle and it seems to have worked well. 

This weekend I went up to Christchurch to teach one lady who had flown down from Wellington. Next weekend it will be twenty in Alexandra. This month will be busy.  

Two Christchurch weaving classes

I will be up in Christchurch to take two beginner weaving classes one at the end of April and one mid May.  These will be small classes but anyone interested please email me on robin.korowai@gmail.com for details.  You will learn all the basics on a small piece so that you can scale up to a family cloak later.  Places limited.

April Saturday weaving

A small group today but interesting work.  Helen has used some variegated silky thread which made for a different idea for the rows. I'd like to investigate the possibilities of varigated thread.
It could be fun

Judy carries on with her perfect mawhitiwhiti

Elaine finished her little piece and is now thinking about what to make next.   Some people have wool or patchwork stashes. Elaine has feathers. So now she wants to use up some of her stash

And I have finally turned the corner on my black and white elbow length Arapaki or shoulder cape. The feathers are barred plymouth rock chook feathers. I enjoyed doing the taaniko even though it was two rows for each 'row'.

Flying Feathers

On my trip to Napier I set about making a small korowai for the hospital. So I took some string, cotton and feather bundles ready to go. I started at the Dunedin airport. Continued on the plane, at Wellington and on the flight to Napier. By that time I had got up to the taaniko. I couldn't cut the cotton as I wasn't allowed scissors but tidied it up later. It became a teaching tool during the weekend.
Then on the flight home I did the taaniko, the turning and mawhitiwhiti on the back, poke through most of the whenu for a fringe and still had an hour to do games before landing at Dunedin. Again I had to tidy it up later but that only took a half hour.

Easter weekend wananga

I have had an absolutely fantastic time with the wonderful folk in Napier.  Such a great venue - Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Ara Hou.  Such a great feel and buzz. Ladies weaving raranga,  harekeke all over the place, beautiful kete. And that was just the background.
I managed twenty learners, and they were all so enthusiastic.  Mind you they already had a lot of skills just not korowai weaving ones. I was so impressed and glad to be spreading the skills to these wonderful people.  We covered so much beyond the normal with some ladies and I know they will pass this knowledge to the others as they met together each month.  I have never known such endurance either. I know you some of them had been up late and they worked hard all day and I know they didn't stop when I left.

Thank you to Diana,  Fiona and all the others who organised,  raised funds, cooked and made it such a successful weekend.

Jute arapaki 2

After much umming and aahing I have finally decided on these few rows at least. I have a whole bag of these barred feathers but unfortunately most of them are long skinny ones and so I am trying to decide what to do next. As usual I don't have enough of any one thing to keep going. I never seem to be able to get throughly organised before I start. Anyway so far so good. Next week I'll have to decide the next step. I have a few black bundles and a good few white and heaps of skinny barred ones. Any ideas?

Jute arapaki

I have started another bleached jute Arapaki. Yesterday I finally finished the taaniko on the bottom. I used the ordinary knitting and crochet cotton I usually use for the aho and it worked well for the taaniko as long as I tried hard to keep the two strings flat. There are a couple of mistakes I need to fix but generally I'm pleased with it.
Now comes the bit I thought I had sorted out. The 'black and white' feathers I was going to use turned out to be more brown and grey which now I come to think of it is probably normal for natural black and white feathers. So now I need to think again. I hope to do this one completely feathered. Time to rummage in my feather stash.

March Saturday at Ocean View

Just a small group meet this Saturday but we had managed some interesting work. We had one new lady start which was great and she is flying ahead with her first piece.

Then everyone had different things they were working on.

Helen's interesting piece with a long taaniko project. 

Judy working on a twisted rope between mawhitiwhiti patterns. 

Elaine pretty rope effect in taniko on a lovely duck piece

And Lyann deciding what to do next after her marathon taaniko so effective in hand dyed, home spun wool on home spin alpaca whenu. The interesting thing is that we couldn't decide whether to make the taaniko at the top or bottom. Either option would work well. 

And I am finishing my big jute korowai. 

All done. It drapes well because of the shaping. Now to find someone who wants to buy it.

Vicky's masterpiece

What a wonderful surprise this week when one of my Temuka ladies showed me the second piece she has ever made. Her first was learning to weave with me and this is her second.

It is absolutely fabulous. She had made it with the thin Browns Brushware string and used it singly. Something I have never done. So much patience. 560 whenu. What a lot of work. Her rows are lovely and even and the taaniko was wonderful.

Such fine work and so neatly done.  It was very light and hung and moved well.

Interestingly she has used single feathers in the kaupapa or body of the piece.  This helps because I think three feather bundles might have been inclined to poke through. As it is, only small fluffy feathers that can be seen on the back. The feathers are pheasant.
Vicky used a very fine crochet cotton for the aho or weft and for the taaniko she used some silky thread  called Threadline Products knitting silk,  4 ply taaniko weaving thread 110 metre hanks which cost about $16. I must see where we can get that.

I am so proud of her efforts. The pupil has outstripped the master. Well done Vicky. I look forward to seeing your next project.

Alexandra Beginner Course

Twenty one beginners.  Sounded daunting. However I had two very capable helpers. They had not only done a wonderful job of organising the weekend, the participants,  funding, and venue but came as helpers to lift the load. It made the weekend go very smoothly. Thank you Pauline and Tania.
We had some young girls and a young man who joined in enthusiastically. By Sunday afternoon people had finished their pieces and we're ready to go home happy,  their brains buzzing with ideas.

The feedback I got was helpful and I can see two ways to improve the course, so thank you for those helpful suggestions.

The next beginner course will be in May but it is already full.  I also hope to do a 'Tips and Techniques' course later in the year. 

I hope people can say ' A great time was had by all. ' I certainly appreciated meeting new people and passing on what I know. 

Weaving starts again

We had a nice day on Saturday with the usual crew coming out.   Nobody had done much over the holidays so it was all about getting started again. Although Glenda had made a very nice piece as practice.

It is made using the natural jute and a selection of feathers. She has made a lovely job of it. 

I am back into teaching mode again with various courses coming up around the country. I have had enquiries about Christchurch and am penciling in the last weekend in April for a beginner course. So anyone in Christchurch or surrounds that wants to do a korowai beginner course or just to sit in to do your weaving and get any questions asked,  please email me.  robin@softsystems.co.nz.   I can take 12 beginners plus others already weaving who can help if necessary. I will be looking for a venue. 

The other courses will be detailed on my page 'Classes coming up'.

Masterton

Today we arrived in Masterton and it was 32 degrees. I took the Arapaki (shoulder cloak) to the Masterton museum.  Bronwyn was very happy to receive the gift. Here is a photo of her with the Arapaki in front of the original cloak on display. It had been made to raise funds for the men going away to the First World War.
Now they have something that can be used and worn.