Char's Weavings: 2011

Friday, May 6, 2011

Spring???

Is Spring ever going to arrive in Ohio??? I know I am really ready for it. We have had a really long and snowy winter. But, I have kept myself busy! Had a couple of great conventions in North Carolina and Rockton Illinois in March. A few of my new baskets and kits have been finally added to my website. My most popular basket this year seems to be the Flower Berry Market Basket.

Will be teaching it at several conferences this year. In North Carolina, we had time at the end of class to learn new lashing techniques. I will be giving classes these options throughout the year!! Sign up for a class!!!!

Visit www.charsweavings.com

Also, "Hope" is a good basket to use as a gift for for Breast Cancer Awareness fund raisers.

Last week I had the honor to teach a basket weaving class for a friend at the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville Kentucky. I taught 5 students in the 4th grade class. They did a great job! And it was a great experience for me.

These last few years I have really enjoyed making the silver chainmaille bracelets and necklaces as well as the stamped silver necklaces. Unfortunately, I will not be making them much longer. :( When I started the chainmaille, silver was about 9.00 per ounce, this week it almost made it to 50.00 an ounce!! This will make it very tough to create and sell the jewelry. I do have a bit made for now and just hope the price begins to fall. I will keep playing and learning new patterns but will use copper or enameled copper for awhile and hope the price of silver starts going down.

Time to get creative and come up with new baskets for proposals for 2012 already. Any one need a basket for a particular use?? That's how I begin the process. Have a purpose in mind, decide the size needed, any specific colors, then begin weaving and playing with color placement and weaving techniques.

Help me out here--

Any specific baskets needed?

What techniques do you need to learn?

What's your most popular color?

Which do you like best, woven bases or wood bases?

I appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks much, Char

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Spring is on the way!! (I hope)

Holidays are well over with and I think I have found the last of the decorations to put away. Looked up in the livingroom the other day and realized the huge Christmas wreath was still hainging!! I've been staying busy making up kits and new baskets for 2011. My teaching schedule will start in March with a trip to North Carolina Basketweaving Conference in Raleigh N.C. Will be teaching the Autumn Bowl and the Berry Flower baskets.

Autumn Bowl

Berry Flower

One of my winter projects was to make a Nantucket Tapestry Purse. I saw fellow weaver Dianne Gleixner carring one and I knew I had the creel purse mold. Bought some nice yarns from Dianne and started it months ago! I finally finished it a couple weeks ago. Sent it off to wood worker Fred Kohler and he made the lid for me. It turned out so nice. I really love it! Am very pleased with it!

Enough on the basket front, now to the jewelry! Unfortunately, not a lot to report in that the price of silver has gone off the charts! When I started with the chainmaille bracelets, silver was 10 to 12.00 an ounce. Today it is 34.53 an ounce. :(

I have been playing with some enameled copper rings. They are copper, with an enameled coating that comes in many colors. I will be offering the enameled copper bracelets on the basket weaving cruise scheduled for Feb of 2012. Who knows what the price of silver will be by then. The enameled copper is a cheaper way to learn, then you can move on to silver!

My teaching schedule for 2011:

NCBA-Raleigh, NC 3/17-20th, 2011

http://www.ncbasketmakers.com/

LLBWA- Rockton, Illinois 3/25-26th, 2011

http://www.llbwa.com/

Bluegrass Area Basketmakers Seminar- Jabez, Ky 6/7-11th, 2011

babasketmakers.org

TBA- Newport, TN 7/20-23rd, 2011

http://www.tennesseebasketryassociation.com/

Northwest Hoosier Basket Guild-Valporaiso, Ind Sept. 29-Oct. 1st. 2011

nwhoosierbasketguild.com

AMB-Lansing, MI-Oct. 12-16th, 2011

michiganbasketmakers.com

2012

Basketweaving Cruise!! Feb 11-19th 2012

Check it out! Sounds like lots of fun

http://www.basketweavingcruise.com/Site_2/Welcome.html

Just a note: If you are planning to attend any of the conferences and would like to order kits from the website, let me know and I can bring the orders along so you can save on shipping costs!

Visit www.charsweavings.com to see all my basket kits and jewelry creations!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Happy New Year to All!!

The Holidays sure do pass by quickly. You work a long time getting ready and it's over so fast! We had a great Holiday week. Finally, all 3 of my boys were home for the week! Got very hectic but was very nice.

Doug and Kim- Drove in
From Texas

Alan and Ari- Al was happy
with his Great Lakes
Christmas Ale

Joey and Deanna- The tree
Professionals!
They picked it out and helped decorate it!

And we can't forget Griffin! (my Grand Dog) He rode here in the back of a very small car from Texas. He sure was a good boy!

Griffin keeping me company while I read!

For the new year, I've been sending out basket proposals for Conferences in 2011. Making new baskets, dyeing reed and "playing" with designs. I know it's a bit early, but here's a new spring basket!
Chasing Flowers

Weaving this is fun! Techniques include 3 rod arrow, using 3 colors of round reed and chase weaving (hence the name!) using 2 styles of weavers- a flat oval weaver and round reed. The metal flowers are added when the basket is finished.

Check out my website http://www.charsweavings.com/ to see several new basket kits.

Also new are the bracelets I made for Christmas presents!

Bracelets are a 2/1 weave with individual jump rings. Charms are individually stamped with the children's initials. I also added the Angel charm. These can be made with or without the addition of the birthstone charm. Think about Mother's Day gifts!!

-for Mom, or Grandma!!

My teaching schedule as it stands for now!