Of Painting and Sealing

It took a couple of days to paint everything, let it dry and then seal them with polyurethane. But it finally all came together...

I started to paint more on the bottom of the lucet, then decided that I just wanted something small and simple.. so there is a small flower on each side, then several coats of polyurethane.

I finished one nalbinding needle, then decided that would be more than I needed if I used all those blanks for needles...sooo... DH assisted and we put four of them together to come up with this 5 1/2 inch loom. All that I really did to the oak was sand all the edges smooth and make sure that nothing would cut the yarn as it pulled around it. All this was done yesterday morning. Yesterday evening I did the piece of test weaving. I can already tell that I will have to grab oldest son and have him tutor me a bit on how to do this..grin But all in all.. I didn't think it turned out too bad.

This spindle is a toy wheel with a very small center hole. The shaft is a bamboo skewer from the kitchen. I still had to sand a little so the skewer would fit, but it spins like a dream now. I let enough of the shaft push through that this spindle can be a bottom whorl or it can be a supported spindle. I will be trying to learn to use it as a supported spindle. I have some short, short poodle hair that I am dying to try to spin.. I think I will have to mix it with some wool... but this spindle will be good to try it with.

The four sets of finger weaving sticks were a no-brainer. All that had to be done was sandpaper the ends and length, sand, seal, sand, seal, sand, seal...lol

There is another spindle that was finished yesterday, but I'm so glad all the pics fit that I'm afraid if I try to add another one, I will be pushing my luck with Blogger...lol So will put it up tomorrow...

I've had a couple of people ask about using a lucet.. The top You Tube video in sidebar is a video of how to use a lucet. Have a look....

W I F #5 & Lucet

It's been a fairly good week...weigh in today...188..ta da...

We spent a little time out in the shop yesterday. These are nalbinding blanks, fingerweaving rods, Lucet and spindle parts. The all need to be completed, but I couldn't wait to see if I could work the Lucet. I only had inch and a half wide piece of oak, so I drew out what I thought would work and DH cut it out for me.

I used the Dremel to sand it down, but let me tell ya... a person needs a little time and practice using the Dremel...lol My poor little lucet has some real ocean waves... But it worked really well. I had to spend some time getting used to the small working area between the forks...about 3/4 inch... but when I did get it figured out it whizzed right along just like a grown up... Today I will finish sanding with some sandpaper. I think I will figure out some way to paint a tiny floral on the hand piece and then finish with something that will show the grain of the wood. May have to ask DSIL and find out what will work. I am trying to stay with whatever would be available around 800 AD... may not make it tho... sure like to use acrylic paints...hmmm

Lots of Socks, Tarim Stitch & Lucet

Ask me if I'm tickled that my Larry Schmitt's Lots of Socks book arrived?... It has instructions for 10 different nalbinding stitches and patterns for about 5 different nalbound socks. It also says that while naalbinding is a correct usage and spelling for this craft, an effort has been made to standardize the name using nalbinding with the pronounciation as nall-bin-ding using a short i .

It was surprising to learn that most nalbound socks in the early centuries and even up until the mid 19th century were made with a mixture of wool and goat hair.. the goat hair was added to help wick the moisture away from the feet.. with the side of the sock facing the foot brushed to smooth the goat hairs and bring them to the top. It seems that some very early Scandinavians were surprised to find that when they took their shoes off the skotalinger, or toe cap (nalbound shoe liner with a toe cap), was frozen to the bottom of the shoe. The toe cap was worn over the socks as an extra insulation for the toes and bottom of the feet.

Over the last day or so I have been trying some of the stitches and find that all but one are not that difficult to do. The last stitch, Omani, is complicated enough that I will have to study it in the full light of day with no tv...lol The Tarim Stitch looks just like the knit stitch. The better thing about this stitch is that it doesn't roll in from the sides like regular knit stockinette stitch.. and is much more durable. I really like this stitch and am in the process of trying to figure out if I have enough yarn yet to make something really big out of it. Or it may be that all the kids and grandkids will get another neck scarf for Christmas....lol (I offered to make Son #2 a pair of socks out of my hand spun pink/rose merino yarn...can you believe he politely refused!)...lol

I finished a nalbound bag the other... handspun orange Corriedale. I need to put cordage through the top so decided that I wanted to try a Lucet instead of the usual twisted cord. Here is my "Lucet". A wooden one will be quite easy to make, but I wanted to see if I could do it (duh...easy peasy) and also to see if I would like the square cord that it makes. It's great. I just drew off my approximation of a lucet onto heavy cardboard and used a combination of knife and scissors to cut it out...covered all areas that the thread would come in contact with, pushed a hole in the center and voila'. It goes very quickly and you can use everything from embroidery thread to big yarn. The only thing is that the finished cord must be of a size to fit through the hole in the center. Therefore...aha...perhaps it would be good to have more than one size...hmmm