Newgrange Art Yarn

Newgrange

In September 2009, my husband and I went to Ireland for our honeymoon. Some of you might remember that I study archaeology, so you won't be surprised by my I really wanting to visit some of the archaeological monuments. We went to Boyne Valley in order to visit some of the sites there. There's Dowth, which I knew from a previous visit - it's just a hill with a fenced-off entrance, but still nice and somehow peaceful. Since there's not that much to see, there are not many tourists there, or at least there weren't when I visited the site in 2007. We didn't go there this time, though, but decided to visit only the monuments I hadn't seen yet. There's Knowth and Newgrange. You have to book a tour in order to be able to enter the Newgrange chamber, so we did.

Knowth

We had to use the bus, though we'd much rather walked there, but that was not possible with the tour (strict time table). It was worth it, though. I knew both Knowth and Newgrange from books, pictures and seminars, and I was so eager to finally go and visit them. I loved being there, and the Newgrange chamber is really impressive, as are the Knowth tombs (though they were enforced with concrete after the excavations). The fassade of the Newgrange passage tomb was reconstructed after the excavation, there's no evidence of it ever having looked like this, but it's still impressive - and it's also impressively visible from quite a distance. The vaulted roof of the chamber itself is still intact, which is absolutely stunning - just think about the fact that it's still airtight after about 5000 years!

All of the sites are very important when it comes to megalithic art. There's all sorts of abstract forms, the spiral being quite prominent among other forms.

There's a lot of esoteric interpretation going on about all the sites in Boyne Valley, and I can't really get into all that here - but if you'd like to read up on any of the monuments, just keep in mind that not every "fact" is really a fact, but some of the conclusions and so called evidence could be challenged.

The other day, I thought back on our wonderful honeymoon and the Boyne Valley, and I decided to spin a Newgrange art yarn. I spent over an hour with stubborn brass wire and - with time, effort, and admittedly some swearing - I made 12 beautiful brass spirals to spin into the yarn. My hands ached afterwards (the wire was thicker than the one I previously worked with), but I love the outcome. Each of the spirals is not only hand bent, but also hammered flat.  
I also decided on beautiful shell/mother of pearl beads as add-ins, since people in the stone age used (a specific kind of) shells as ornaments and jewelry. The brass spirals are not authentic in any way, the people of the neolithic period (new stone age) didn't have brass or gold, but I thought it would look wonderful with the white and green fibres, and I really wanted the spirals since they are so prominent among the megalithic art :-)

But enough talk now - have a look at the yarn! :-)

I spun the yarn from white lambs wool, merino wool of different shades of green, bamboo flakes, and bright green linen. Then there's the beads and spirals, of course, and green sewing thread to carry them all.
157 m / 99 g, about 9-14 WPI.

Stoned ;-)

I know, I know - couldn't resist ;-)

I've finally managed to make key chain rings from the beach stones I ordered a while ago. They have been finished for about a week or two, but since some of them were intended as gifts, I couldn't write about them earlier. Now I have given most of them away to dear friends I meet once or twice a year and I am finally able to post some pictures.

I had decided to put my studies to good use and create egyptian "magic" pendants to use as key rings or bag clingers. I looked for some hieroglyphic words like "magic", "seeress", "might" (and many others) and painted them onto the stones. I am quite satisfied with the outcome :-)



I wanted my friends to know what word they had chosen, but only after choosing a pendant, so I wrote the hieroglyphs, the transcription and the German meaning on narrow strips of parchment and rolled them around the wiry bits. This way, everyone was able to choose from looks and then get a nice surprise ;-)


There are a few left (I had ordered more stones than I needed, greedy me ;-)) and I am currently thinking about listing them in our InnerTwilight shop. Or I might keep them to have a small gift handy when I need it :-)

TdF - Weird's Day 20

Actually, this freshly spun yarn should have been finished yesterday, seeing that this was my challenge yarn. However, I had to work the whole day and didn't manage to finish it. But now here it is - my Athena Yarn, inspired by and named after the greek Goddess.


(please click to enlarge)
161 m, 111 g, about 9-11 wpi.

I had carded the batts on monday (the rest day, but I assumed it meant rest from spinning only ;-)) and was really looking forward to spinning them. They consisted of green and brown merino, light green merino/tussah silk blend, hand dyed silk and golden angelina. My challenge was to create a more interesting yarn, as I think my spinning has become a little too even recently. Nothing wrong with an even yarn, but for one thing I don't want to become lazy and for another thing, I do like coils and other means of creating texture and I very much like interestingly textured yarn. I also wanted to put in lots of stuff: organza ribbons of brown and green, leafy ribbons (also of brown and green), gemstone beads (mossy agate, pyrite, bronze-coloured freshwater pearls) and golden owl charms I got specially for an Athena yarn (which I had planned quite some time ago).

Due to creating so much texture, this yarn took a while longer, but it is worth every minute! There are coiled parts, fatter parts where the accompanying thread winds around the fibre, even a few corespun parts and, of course, the parts where the different ribbons have been spun in. I very much like the outcome, though there is a little problem: the owls have quite sharp egdes and three of them have already fallen off, probably having broken the fine accompanying thread. I won't be able to sell this with a good conscience unless I find a way to secure the charms. I don't mind keeping this yarn, as I really love it, but I have so many art yarn objects already and don't know when to wear them all ;-)

It might not be the lost diadem of Ravenclaw...

...and it's not a goblin-made tiara or any other masterpiece, either ;-) but it's a start. The bracelet is a lot better, though.

I have to admit there is not too much to see on the picture, I tried to take one of me wearing the tiara, but it just looked stupid. I might need another head to wear something like that ;-) I'd like to wear a diadem for my wedding, to be honest - maybe it would look better with some other kind of hair-do. It's still a while until then, I can both practice making a diadem and finding a suiting kind of hair style. But enough of that, and back to more interesting things.


Apart from the tiara, I made some earrings. For the first pair I used commercially produced hooks, for the second pair I made my own and I just love them :-) All the hooks sterling silver, while the rest of the wire is silver-plated. I will be making some more earrings (with my own hooks) soon, it's a lot of fun :-)



Oh - and I nearly forgot the necklace. It's made of a large agate bead, wrapped with copper wire which has also be wrapped with (thinner) copper wire. It is not very spectacular, but I like it all the same.

News from the wire bending department

I don't want to speechify - just have a look at the pictures of my new bracelet :-)


This has been made from brass wire which has been hammered flat after bending.

My next projects will probably be some earrings. I've already made a ring which I gave to a friend without taking a photo first. Both my Twisted partner and I seem to be dying to have a go at making a tiara, so hopefully we'll be showing pictures, soon :-)