Heddle release: November 24, 2024
Novembers heddle release is here and it’s a good one! I have 30 heddles in varying shapes and sizes (Some women, one horse, mostly houses) going up for sale, and this year I have finally managed to plan ahead enough to be able to offer some Christmas ornaments in such a time that they might be delivered before Christmas! An amazing feat in my book, as it means thinking of deep winter things in October. But I made it!
All items in this release are made out of Swedish birch wood, by hand and by me, in my workshop. I have used three types of paint: Milk paint, oil paint and for the gold I have just started using a new type that I got at a frame makers store.
Cross pollinating from my other work
While making these heddles I was also working on the illustrations for a book on sashiko, a japanese textile tradition. When I sat down to carve the patterns for stone fundaments I drew the same pattern as I had been drawing for that book: the “asa no ha“, hemp leaf, pattern. In Japanese folklore it is believed to protect against the evil eye and grant strength and quick growth to people who wear garments decorated with it, so it seemed fitting to me to use it fot heddles as well.
A small technical advancement
One thing I wanted to do in the first years of making heddles was to paint the surface first, and then cut the slits so that the bright birch wood could shine through in the slits. Back then I didn’t have the skills, but now I finally found out a way of doing it to my own delight! There are two heddles with this type of unpainted slits in the set I’m offering now: no. 20 and 22.
A compromise taught me something new
As I was finishing many of these heddles for an exhibition, I had to work fast because time was short. While I usually work with milk paint or oil paint diluted with more oil, this time I really wanted to use oil paint but I didn’t have time to wait for it to dry. I did a little research and took a leap of faith, diluted the paint with turpentine to get it more meager and dry faster. A perk of that was the paint started to act differently, creating more highlights and shadows on the wooden surface. I really liked the results and will remember this for the future!
In this web shop release I will also be offering some Christmas ornaments!
The Christmas trees will be sold in groups of five, in one unpainted version and one variated blue version. The candles will be sold in singular. The sizes of the trees vill vary and you’ll get some shorter and some taller in each bundle, and in the painted bundle you’ll get some light and some dark trees.
Like the heddles, these items will be sold in the webshop on November 24.
This set consists of 41 heddles that will be released on Sunday 24 November, 21.00 Swedish time. The heddles will be for sale in the webshop, not here on the blog. This is a preview for you guys, so you can have a look at the heddles before they hit the web shop. Click or tap the images to enhance them and see the heddle measurements! If you are buying heddles from me for the first time you might want to read this blog post in preparation.
Ps. When browsing this blog post on a mobile device the text with the measurement + price info does not appear automatically when you tap a picture to enhance it. After enhancing the picture, look at the bottom right hand corner of the screen where there is a small white dot. Tap that and the info will appear!
