06.23.06

Random Friday Thoughts, Fiber & Otherwise

Posted in Brooklyn, NYC, Spinning at 11:08 am by delipics

• I was just reading knit-o-rama’s blog about his beginning life drawing class.  It gave me an art school flash back.  I used to love life drawing because I felt it kept me loose and lean - artistically I mean.  I think the short poses were the best because you had to catch the gesture of the pose in 30 seconds or less.  It really made you focus on the line and the form.  My favorite materials to use for the short poses were vine charcoal or ink & brush.  I liked the thick vine charoal instead of the thin.  The thin always broke too easily.  Ink & brush was satisfying to use because of the physical movements one could do from the shoulder (instead of the wrist) to draw the body.  You could feel the form in your arm as you drew it on the paper.
• I’ve been meaning to link this from Wednesday’s A-Word-A-Day.  The theme is this week was professions that exist mainly as surnames:

mercer (MUR-suhr) noun

  A dealer in textiles, especially silk and other fine materials.

[From Old French mercier (trader), from Latin merx (goods). Words such as market, merchant, commerce, and mercantile share the same origin.]

Then there is mercerization. To mercerize is to treat cotton thread or fabric with caustic soda to enhance its strength and luster, and to increase its affinity for dyes. The word is an eponym, coined after the calico printer John Mercer (1791-1866) who patented it in 1850.

• Reminder, this Saturday is SPIN ON SPIN IN SPIN OUT.
• And the Mermaid Parade is the same day - I wish I could go to both events!
• Finally, I took photos from my last spinning class where we boiled the silk cocoons to draw out the thread.  I will try and post them this weekend.  I have been a little busy with fun summer in NYC social events - meaning I have been coming home late and going right to bed instead of writing the blog.

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