Riverweave Studio on etsy.com

Friday, December 10, 2010

Artwear off the loom




Vests, boleros, jackets -  whatever you choose  to call these -  are simply made with a mixture of linen, wool, silk and Tencel.  Designed, woven and sewn in my studio.  Wear for a bit of color and texture accent, they provide warmth as well.

Thanks for modeling daughter -- reading all those fashion mags pays off!!






Monday, December 6, 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

free ranging kats

Not everyone loves cats but they might love 'kats'.  These 'kats' went to the holiday bazaar, they were a pretty popular show.  Made with vintage and other choice wools, filled with polyfil, they come alive when I hand sew their cute little faces.

You can sleep with them, hang them on the wall or sit them at the piano, they really like sitting on the sofa looking cool. Guaranteed not to shed, they never need a litter box (that's the best), oh and you don't have to wear oven mitts when you play with them.

 Dawson and Marshmallow


Spice Girl

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Notes on Fibers


New scarves and one of the new 'kats' I'm making.  The scarves are made of silk and Tencel, the bottom left has linen in the mix.  The kats are all made with wool, hand sewn faces and filled with polyfil.


About  Tencel or lyocell I have been curious, I like it and use it a lot. 
Lyocell is regenerated cellulose fiber made by dissolving pulp (bleached wood pulp).  It was first manufactured in 1987 in the UK, as of 2010 it is manufactured by Lenzing AG.  Tencel is a brand name also owned by the manufacturer Lenzing AG of Austria, this company also manufactures in the US and the UK
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) defines lyocell as "a cellulose fabric that is obtained by an organic solvent spinning process", it's classified as a sub-category of rayon.
This fiber shares many properties with other cellulosic fibers such as cotton, linen and ramie.
It is soft, absorbent, strong when wet or dry and resistant to wrinkles.  It can be machine washed, hand-washed or dry-cleaned.  It drapes beautifully.
The closed-loop manufacturing process makes lyocell inherently the most eco-friendly of the naturally regenerating fibers.
I use it as warp and weft, when warping with lyocell you don't have the static that silk presents.  I love the way it drapes, the sheen of the finished piece and it's endurance.  

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

New work

New work from my studio.  Little jackets or vests made from linen, silk, wool. 
Very busy lately getting ready for a holiday show in St. Paul, MN and Sno-Crush at 
Avalanche  Looms in Avalanche, WI  

Saturday, October 30, 2010

A Design Idea

Paint your fridge and add pizazz to your kitchen.  Put some bumper stickers on it to make it even more interesting.  There you go -- an artistic idea for you to chew on.
Here is a photo of my fridge -- which by the way is green in more ways than one.  It's a Sun-Frost and it runs on the batteries that power our house after the sun charges them up.



I wish I had more stickers - but, I'm picky when choosing what to put here.  People know you by the 'artistic' statements you make .


Thursday, September 30, 2010

Prairie Grass Weaves


Three grass weaves, handwoven in reppweave design pattern with pearl cotton and native grasses harvested from where I live.  Garrison Keillor was in our town this week promoting the new community radio station WDRT. He shopped at our artist cooperative gallery, VIVA Gallery - and bought one of these. !!!  Thanks very much famous radio man for supporting local art and artists.

Go to VIVA Gallery to see more of what we have.  If you see something you want contact the individual artist by email.  We ship. 

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Omaha Fashion Week

My niece, Emma Erickson, graduated from the San Francisco School of Art and Design this spring in the School of Fashion Design.  She participated at N.Y. Fashion Week and this past weekend was a participant of Omaha Fashion Week.  I got to see this fabulous show with my sister, Emma's mom, and a bunch of my sister's friends.  We had a V.I.P. table!  Which meant that we sat next to the runway getting a close up look at all the designer's creations.  It was held under a highway bridge, you see the concrete columns in one of the photos, with the Old Market buildings up against one side. It was a unique venue, the whole evening was fun, despite the fact that it was about maybe 45 degrees and misting -- we stayed comfy and dry at the V.I.P. table.  Emma's designs are stunning. She has worked very hard getting her beautiful dresses designed and sewn, including lots of hand-sewing.  She has found her passion indeed.  I wish her the best.  Find out more here  Emma Erickson.











Wednesday, September 8, 2010

when you need a little comfort




When the news isn't  great, when there is a heartache, when you'd just like to jump off the spinning earth --- WAIT!  These guys can share your pain, you can tell them your deepest, darkest secrets, they will be your friend no matter what . . .  From left to right, Sherman, Howie, Crumbs.  These 'kats' come from the family 'Kathy's Kats', they are constructed of re-purposed wool.  Each is an individual but, all are loyal, true blue kats, depend on it.




Monday, August 23, 2010

In the woods . . .


I walked in the woods this morning.   It's been a banner year for fungus - everywhere you see big and little mushrooms growing where ever they can get ahold.  This find was the coolest; thought I would never see this in our woods - Indian Pipes!  I've seen them called 'ghosts of tulips past' - I love that description, the scientific name is Monotropa uniflora.  

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

When it's 100 degrees in the shade. . .

don't you wish you were a cat . . .?

Saturday, June 26, 2010

just some cool art












This would be a great way to spend the summer , mixing and matching glass --
oohh  gorgeous . . .  

Saturday, May 29, 2010

A Trip to the Desert

We have just been to the desert, the Mojave Desert.  We discovered uncomplicated beauty. Ancient rock formations, the intense blue sky and sunlight, the refreshing dry winds (altho I was told the winds are also known to be ferocious in the extreme), you can see for miles.  I didn't expect to be so taken.    




A mountain goat on the rocks in Joshua Tree 
       National Park



blooming in the desert



a chuckwalla


        Joshua Tree Rocks

If you go to Joshua Tree, California you might want to stay at a really fine little inn called Joshua Tree Inn.It's a great place to come back to after a hike in the desert.  It looks like all the other desert architecture in the town -- low built, understated, fitting perfectly into the landscape.








Friday, May 14, 2010

Mothers are Forever



a 'stone man'
An old Scot's Gaelic blessing 
"Cuiridh mi clach air do chám"
"I'll put a stone on your cairn."




My mom and her great grand-daughter on Mother's Day, May 2010.  








Thursday, April 22, 2010

Rose Paths

". . . no feeling of emptiness about her.  She was an object lesson on the essential luck, whatever hardships come their way, of those born to make things."  from a book by Diana Athill







Rosepath, a lovely name for a weave pattern.   Runners are woven in rosepath  (the diamonds) and plain weave.  I love a project that calls for putting lots of colors together in one piece, time slipped away without notice while I wove. They are made with a cotton warp, cotton and cotton blends for the weft.  

Monday, April 12, 2010

Five Days in Paris

After spending a lovely week in Sevilla, we took a taxi to the train station and onto Madrid.  This is the sad story of experiencing the European custom of one-day strikes.  French Train workers were on strike just the day we wanted to go to Paris.  It was the bus for those of us traveling to France.  We left Madrid at 7 pm, arrived in Paris next morning around 11 am.  This was a very long night, imagine 16 hours in seats that seemed closer together than those of an airplane, this was not a busload of happy 'campers'!  We stopped along the way for a bit of a stretch and a couple times for food.  Morning came and seeing the French countryside raised spirits. We slumped off the bus and found our way to the metro and onto our hotel and fell into bed!  Day 1.   However, after a little rest, we had to go see Paris!  The Eiffel Tower was close to the hotel.   Nearby the Tower is the Musee du quai Branly.  This building is so cool, it is covered with growing plants that are tucked into little pockets of moss. A building covered with a garden.





Daughter in Espana has a friend in Paris, Meghan and she generously said she would be willing to spend a day with us while we were there.  I have to add here that it is so advantageous to know the language where you are traveling!  Most all Europeans know English, as an American not taught the value of learning another language - you feel stupid!  No other way to put it.  It was great to hang out with someone who could speak French.  We went to Ladureé for macaroons, simply devine.  This patisseriée makes all kinds of exquisite looking sweets, gorgeous food art.  We continued our walking down the Champs-Elysées to the Jardins de Tuilieres and past the river Seine with the green metal boxes that artists, booksellers and the like can rent from the city and have a little sidewalk shop on a busy walk way, on to the bookstore Shakespeare and Company.  This bookstore has a long history in Paris, first started by Sylvia Beach.  The book shop is in an old building with ceiling beams exposed, books for sale on the main floor are all in English.  Go upstairs to see floor to ceiling bookcases with old books, not for sale.  There is a piano in one of the rooms upstairs and someone was playing it.  You could hear the piano only in that room, because of book insulation (?).  I think I have never heard piano music so mellow.  I read a book some time back about a little shop in Paris that built pianos, could that have been one of those pianos?  I bought a book about the woman who started this bookstore.  From there we caught the Metro to Montmartre, walked up to Sacre Coeur and down the skinny old streets that artists past and artists now call home.





                               




The next day we rode the train to Versailles. The Grand Palace of King Louis XIV is a very touristy site with lots of people and lines but well worth seeing all of it.  Makes me want to read more about King Louie XIV.  After we toured the palace, we followed Rick Steve's advice and found A la Côte Bretonne and an unforgettable lunch of crepes, cider and café crema.






We visited the Pompidou Museum, d'orsay Museum, Notre Dame, walked and walked and when we couldn't walk, we jumped onto the Metro and went everywhere we wanted to go.  Walking in Paris is as good as visiting a museum, so many beautiful and grand buildings.  Our last night there we climbed up the Eiffel Tower, they say the second story of the Tower is about 43 flights up, many steps and worth all the effort it takes.  We stood up there and looked out over Paris, it was dark by that time.  All of a sudden the lights on the tower began flashing, it was like it was sparkling, it was magical! The strobe-like lights are turned on at the hour. We had to go back an hour later and see it from the ground as it sparkled.


                             

                                

It was a big, wonderful trip and we were unabated tourists. The trip filled us up, enriched us, made us feel more a part of this world. Now I want to know more about the languages, the people and the history of these beautiful countries.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010


A redhead in Espana, where did she get that great scarf??


Grazalema, one of the mountain Pueblo Blancos
A man living on the side of the mountain,
a road dating back to the Romans runs below his house.

Flamenco, Semana Santa, marshmallow cakes --- Sevilla

                                 

 I wanted one of these fabulous gowns, but alas, where would I wear it???


                                 
Semana Santa souvenirs, I guess ?
                          

       Whimsical cakes made with marshmallows, jelly beans, all kinds of confections.  
These were sitting in the window of a candy shop, part of Semana Santa??



Going to the Spanish Saturday market

         


The market, el invento con huevos y jamon, little glasses
of sweet orange wine, vino de naranja - delicious.