Thirty

Spent my 30th birthday working in the glass studio making this figure. I picked up the driftwood about a year ago near the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the American River. I loved it when I first saw it, but didn't pick it up. Walked by it again on the way back and it called to me, but I left it at first; ended up turning around and going back to get it. It's spent the last year sitting on the bedstand so has a probably absorbed a lot of dream energy (and I do have some crazy dreams). I wanted to create something beautiful on my birthday and although this girl is quite stylized, I like the way she turned out.

I've also been productive in other ways. Finally finished several enamel pieces in the class I've been taking this quarter.

Bombyx mori (Chinese silkmoth)
Columbine (my favorite flower)


Koi tahkli

Also have finished a new mohair hat (the dyed locks were pictured in the previous post), one of the Cinderella gloves is finished (and awaiting its portrait), the linen I wove in class is off the loom and the overshot scarf I started subsequently is nearing completion. What is not completed is the Cinderella glove pattern. It's not an easy pattern. Actually it's downright difficult. And because it is meant to fit tight, it would be best for each pair to be customized to its wearer. Not difficult, but that involves lots of math. Almost 2 pages of calculations as I've written the pattern so far. I'm trying to find ways of simplifying it, though I can't find standard long glove sizes, so...

If you're reading this and you're a woman and you have a measuring tape handy and a few minutes...it would be loverly if you could measure yourself and send me the following info:

diameter at wrist
diameter at thickest part of forearm
diameter of hand around knuckles
diameter of hand even with base of thumb

distance from elbow to wrist
distance from thickest part of forearm to base of hand
distance from base of hand to space between thumb and index
distance from base of hand to finger line

I'll compile and average what I get into three groups to get average small, medium and large sizes...and let me know if you want to test out the pattern.


Oh and did I mention, I woke up on my birthday and found that not only had the day lost an hour, some of my Eri cats had lost their skins! In the top picture, the big one is a 3rd instar fellow next to a 2nd instar cat. The little guy is eating away to get nice and big, like the shiny yellow guy in the bottom picture. She/he has stopped eating (and hence reverted to yellow) while waiting to shed her/his skin. The more matte caterpillar has already shed. No good pics to show of the Bombyx. They aren't growing very fast and have a higher mortality rate on the chow than on the mulberry leaves. Come on mulberry trees, give us some leaves!