Happy holidays!
We're almost in the home stretch. Hope everyone has all their gifts woven. I'm working on the last one but also trying to keep up with the Shopper basket sales at Wanamakers General Store.
Tip of the Week -
Here is a tip for working with slotted wooden bases ( http://catalog.countryseat.com/slottedbasesanddividers.aspx ).
Put your base on a Weaving Table ( http://catalog.countryseat.com/woodenweavingtable.aspx ) or other revolving (Lazy Susan) board. When you begin weaving you can rotate the Weaving Table instead of rotating the base itself. This will help to keep your spokes from dragging on your worktable and pulling themselves out of position.
You can also use the grids (drawn on the surface of the Weaving Table) to line up and space the spokes.
More next week on keeping the spokes under control while weaving the first several rows on a slotted wooden base!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Well, time to make this blog a reality. We are now working with DSL and life is sweet. The page needed to post the blog took ages to load with dial up so I had given up. We're caught up with the times (at least for the moment :o) so it's back to posting for real now.
Tip of the Week
What to do with "bad" reed.
What makes a bad piece of reed? This answer will vary from person to person.
Some times reed is just plain bad. It might be cut unevenly, hairy, thick and thin in the same piece, just awful. Do you throw it away? NO. Save it for the last row of weaving (the rim row) that goes under the rim. This row is only used for support, it never shows, so it does not matter what this piece of reed looks like.
Keep in mind that reed is cut using very simple machines. To learn more about basket reed and how it is processed, please visit our Basketry Reed Page at: http://www.countryseat.com/basketryreed.htm#reed .
While one person is unhappy because their last coil of reed was all too thin/thick for their needs, the next person has been searching for that kind of reed.
Many times a coil of reed will contain some pieces that are stiff/thick and some that are flexible/thin. This is great, you have a variety of pieces to choose from for your project.
Save those thin/flexible pieces for things like: lashing, starting and ending a basket, weaving small baskets, special projects like twill or cat's head baskets, plaited ornaments, etc.
Save the stiffer/thicker pieces for rims (There is no reason why you can't use flat reed for rims, it looks great. Works best on smaller baskets. Wrap the flat reed at least twice around the basket for the outside rim to give extra strength.). Weaving in the middle of the basket where the spokes/staves are farthest apart or weaving from the middle to the top of a basket that flares outward as it increases in height (like a wastebasket) is a great place to use stiffer reeds. Save the stiffer pieces for stakes/staves.
Never let your weaver distort or bend your spokes/staves (unless you want a certain look or are creating an art piece, these could be exceptions). If you cannot pack your rows tightly against each other, your weaver may be too stiff and/or your spokes/staves too thin. Take out that reed and find thinner pieces.
You should feel each piece before you pull it out of the coil and put it in the water. If it feels very stiff and you need something flexible, put it aside. It will only become flexible to a point after soaking. It will not magically become a super flexible piece of reed if you leave it in the water for an hour. That's way too long. 5- 10 minutes is more than plenty for any flat reed. The longer you leave reed in the water the worse the quality becomes.
Do you need lots of thick/stiff or thin/flexible pieces of reed for a particular project? Let us know when you place the order. We can't guarantee 100% that all the pieces will be what you want, but we will look at each coil as we pull your order. Sometimes it obvious. Example: if you are weaving backpacks with 3/8" flat oval weavers. This is a very important time to check the thickness of your weaver. Too stiff and your backpack will become distorted. Tell us you are ordering weaving or rim flat oval and we will pick thinner or thicker reeds for you.
happy weaving & happy holidays
Angie
Tip of the Week
What to do with "bad" reed.
What makes a bad piece of reed? This answer will vary from person to person.
Some times reed is just plain bad. It might be cut unevenly, hairy, thick and thin in the same piece, just awful. Do you throw it away? NO. Save it for the last row of weaving (the rim row) that goes under the rim. This row is only used for support, it never shows, so it does not matter what this piece of reed looks like.
Keep in mind that reed is cut using very simple machines. To learn more about basket reed and how it is processed, please visit our Basketry Reed Page at: http://www.countryseat.com/basketryreed.htm#reed .
While one person is unhappy because their last coil of reed was all too thin/thick for their needs, the next person has been searching for that kind of reed.
Many times a coil of reed will contain some pieces that are stiff/thick and some that are flexible/thin. This is great, you have a variety of pieces to choose from for your project.
Save those thin/flexible pieces for things like: lashing, starting and ending a basket, weaving small baskets, special projects like twill or cat's head baskets, plaited ornaments, etc.
Save the stiffer/thicker pieces for rims (There is no reason why you can't use flat reed for rims, it looks great. Works best on smaller baskets. Wrap the flat reed at least twice around the basket for the outside rim to give extra strength.). Weaving in the middle of the basket where the spokes/staves are farthest apart or weaving from the middle to the top of a basket that flares outward as it increases in height (like a wastebasket) is a great place to use stiffer reeds. Save the stiffer pieces for stakes/staves.
Never let your weaver distort or bend your spokes/staves (unless you want a certain look or are creating an art piece, these could be exceptions). If you cannot pack your rows tightly against each other, your weaver may be too stiff and/or your spokes/staves too thin. Take out that reed and find thinner pieces.
You should feel each piece before you pull it out of the coil and put it in the water. If it feels very stiff and you need something flexible, put it aside. It will only become flexible to a point after soaking. It will not magically become a super flexible piece of reed if you leave it in the water for an hour. That's way too long. 5- 10 minutes is more than plenty for any flat reed. The longer you leave reed in the water the worse the quality becomes.
Do you need lots of thick/stiff or thin/flexible pieces of reed for a particular project? Let us know when you place the order. We can't guarantee 100% that all the pieces will be what you want, but we will look at each coil as we pull your order. Sometimes it obvious. Example: if you are weaving backpacks with 3/8" flat oval weavers. This is a very important time to check the thickness of your weaver. Too stiff and your backpack will become distorted. Tell us you are ordering weaving or rim flat oval and we will pick thinner or thicker reeds for you.
happy weaving & happy holidays
Angie
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Valentine's Day Snow
Well, so much for New Year's resolutions.
I hope everyone else is doing better than I am with their resolutions. I guess anytime is a good time to start something new so here I go again.
We hope everyone had a sweet Valentine's Day and that you were home safe and warm with your sweetie. Valentine's Day brought us the first real snow of this winter and it was a doozy of a storm. November, December and half of January were very warm and pleasant this year. Then the cold hit and it was COLD. With wind chills in the teens, we were hoping for an early spring. The groundhog did not see his shadow so everyone was hopeful until yesterday. The snow started Tuesday night and with the temperature so low it was a fine, powdery snow. Pretty pleasant. Late Valentine's Day morning the freezing rain really began and it rained hard for a while. That's all it takes to turn all the snow to slush. The rain turned back to snow for a couple more hours. Now we are left with a heavy, icy mat. Areas that are plowed have turned to ice. As soon as the slush that was underneath hit the 8 degree temperature it froze. Many of the highways have been shut down since yesterday and people stuck in their cars overnight. The National Guard came this morning to bring food and water to the people stuck on I-78 overnight. We heard they had a good football game going in the middle of the highway. We're thankful that we can walk to work and we were home and warm last night.
Our driveway and parking lot are being "plowed" by a front end loader as I type this but we've canceled tomorrow's Open Weave due to the icy road conditions. We hope that you will join us for the March 23rd Open Weave. Bring your friends and have fun weaving in our classroom! We're happy to help you work on new techniques or get you past the section that has you stumped.
Don't forget the February specials - all Easy Country Basket kits and Wire shapes with Hearts (includes cupid and love bird wires!).
I'll call it a day and save our other news to post in the next couple of days.
Happy Weaving!
I hope everyone else is doing better than I am with their resolutions. I guess anytime is a good time to start something new so here I go again.
We hope everyone had a sweet Valentine's Day and that you were home safe and warm with your sweetie. Valentine's Day brought us the first real snow of this winter and it was a doozy of a storm. November, December and half of January were very warm and pleasant this year. Then the cold hit and it was COLD. With wind chills in the teens, we were hoping for an early spring. The groundhog did not see his shadow so everyone was hopeful until yesterday. The snow started Tuesday night and with the temperature so low it was a fine, powdery snow. Pretty pleasant. Late Valentine's Day morning the freezing rain really began and it rained hard for a while. That's all it takes to turn all the snow to slush. The rain turned back to snow for a couple more hours. Now we are left with a heavy, icy mat. Areas that are plowed have turned to ice. As soon as the slush that was underneath hit the 8 degree temperature it froze. Many of the highways have been shut down since yesterday and people stuck in their cars overnight. The National Guard came this morning to bring food and water to the people stuck on I-78 overnight. We heard they had a good football game going in the middle of the highway. We're thankful that we can walk to work and we were home and warm last night.
Our driveway and parking lot are being "plowed" by a front end loader as I type this but we've canceled tomorrow's Open Weave due to the icy road conditions. We hope that you will join us for the March 23rd Open Weave. Bring your friends and have fun weaving in our classroom! We're happy to help you work on new techniques or get you past the section that has you stumped.
Don't forget the February specials - all Easy Country Basket kits and Wire shapes with Hearts (includes cupid and love bird wires!).
I'll call it a day and save our other news to post in the next couple of days.
Happy Weaving!
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Happy New Year
We hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. We also hope that anyone who received your basket or weaving gift was appreciative and understood its value.
Now that the craziness is over we are back to work and getting ready for the year ahead. Watch for exciting new products, patterns and "Ready to Weave"™ kits. The 2007 class schedule is posted as well as Maggie Silva's Nantucket basket choices for her April classes. Maggie teaches everything Nantucket from traditional to contemporary, beginner to advanced. There are many new choices this year. Maggie will also be bringing several copies of her 2007 Nantucket calendar. You don't want to miss this striking Nantucket calendar. Big, beautiful, full color Nantuckets, one for each month. Our copy is hanging in the shop. Don't miss out!
One of my New Year's resolutions is to post more in our Blog! So keep checking back and post your comments or drop us an e-mail.
Happy Weaving!
We hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. We also hope that anyone who received your basket or weaving gift was appreciative and understood its value.
Now that the craziness is over we are back to work and getting ready for the year ahead. Watch for exciting new products, patterns and "Ready to Weave"™ kits. The 2007 class schedule is posted as well as Maggie Silva's Nantucket basket choices for her April classes. Maggie teaches everything Nantucket from traditional to contemporary, beginner to advanced. There are many new choices this year. Maggie will also be bringing several copies of her 2007 Nantucket calendar. You don't want to miss this striking Nantucket calendar. Big, beautiful, full color Nantuckets, one for each month. Our copy is hanging in the shop. Don't miss out!
One of my New Year's resolutions is to post more in our Blog! So keep checking back and post your comments or drop us an e-mail.
Happy Weaving!
Friday, November 24, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We had a yummy turkey and all the trimmings. We ate so much yesterday that everyone was moving a little slowly this morning.
The shop is open today and Saturday, so stop on by so you can get started weaving those holiday baskets.
We have several new kits that would make great holiday presents, or try one yourself. The Doorknob kits are part of a new line of "ready to weave" kits. No prep time needed. The spokes are pre-cut and the kit includes dyed reed for the accent rows. Choose from Navy blue or maroon.
Happy Weaving!
The shop is open today and Saturday, so stop on by so you can get started weaving those holiday baskets.
We have several new kits that would make great holiday presents, or try one yourself. The Doorknob kits are part of a new line of "ready to weave" kits. No prep time needed. The spokes are pre-cut and the kit includes dyed reed for the accent rows. Choose from Navy blue or maroon.
Happy Weaving!
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Last three classes of 2006.
This is it, the last three classes of 2006 and your last chance of the year to learn how to make some great ornaments and baskets perfect for gift giving.
The melon basket is a classic and something everyone should learn how to weave.
The 4 ornaments Swedish Star, Reindeer, Puffy Heart and Winter Snowflake) make good gifts and look great on the top of a wrapped package.
The Mini Square Bean Pot Basket is easy to fill with small extras and makes a great hostess gift. The unusual lashing technique and cute mini bean pot handle make it unique.
Visit www.countryseat.com for the dates and registration forms.
We are currently working on our 2007 class schedule.
Let us know what types of baskets you'd like to make!
The melon basket is a classic and something everyone should learn how to weave.
The 4 ornaments Swedish Star, Reindeer, Puffy Heart and Winter Snowflake) make good gifts and look great on the top of a wrapped package.
The Mini Square Bean Pot Basket is easy to fill with small extras and makes a great hostess gift. The unusual lashing technique and cute mini bean pot handle make it unique.
Visit www.countryseat.com for the dates and registration forms.
We are currently working on our 2007 class schedule.
Let us know what types of baskets you'd like to make!
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