2018 Convention Part 5--Sew what?

One of the highlights of the tour is the machine shop. Not only was water used to power the looms, but to run all of the power tools as well. And the tools were HUGE! Saws and drills the size of a human body! That one water wheel turned a series of pulleys and drives so that the power was portioned to where it was needed. 

You might remember this layout as it was posted for one of the Lasting Moments Challenges. Refer to this post to refresh your memory of the layout. Oh, and Jim says he was definitely NOT loafing 😁.

My last stop was in the weaving rooms. I had never seen such complicated looms. They could make argyle patterns, tube-shaped cloth, and a wide variety of other sizes and shapes to fit the needs of the everyday housewife or workman. And again, it all worked thanks to the water power nearby. I wonder if we will return to that as a power source for industry with the problems we have with fossil fuels. Not that there were no environmental issues with water, but at least it didn't produce as many air pollutants.

I'm fairly certain I followed a sketch for this layout, but I cannot find a copy of it. I do know that the papers are from the Paper Loft Euphoria collection. I had saved the diamond papers specifically for these pages as I wanted to highlight the argyle photo. I made this at a crop in Lancaster and while I had taken the rope border maker cartridge for the nautical aspect (those pages are coming soon) it certainly worked for the weaving room as well! The embellishments are mixed from several different collections.

2018 Convention Part 4--What Once Was Modern

 Our bus trip headed to Pawtucket, RI to see the Slater Mill. This is one of the large weaving mills found along the rivers in the Northeast. They've gathered several buildings into the complex and we split into a couple of groups to take a guided tour. 

I created this layout based on an idea in my summer class. I saved this photo from when I originally posted my take on the challenge but I have added punched fence borders along the bottom. I didn't have them with me at the crop when I made the pages. I used Eureka papers from the Paper Loft. The word art is theirs as well but the rest of the embellishments come from an older Croptoberfest pack.

The site covers the history of the area for several hundred years and shows a variety of daily life examples from fancy houses to worker houses. One thing I learned here is that tea was shipped in decorative bricks--there's a sample on the table on the left page. I just assumed everything was loose but it made more sense to compact it to save space. They also went into the weaving process before industrialization. 

The challenge I mentioned above created remnant arcs, so the second part of the challenge was to use them in a follow-up layout. I added a couple of laser-cut borders to finish the pages and more of the Croptoberfest stickers.

Big Wheel Keep on Turning!

Hello all! It's time for another bonus post to join a Lasting Memories Challenge! Tonight I worked on this section of the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI. It's part of the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park and was part of the bus trip in July 2018. You'll see more of this trip in a few weeks. Meanwhile, see if you think Jim is loafing in that photo below!

So, as I said, I'm working on a challenge for Lasting Memories (and tonight is the last night to get it in!) For the challenge, we needed to use 3 items beginning with 3 sequential letters and then 1, 2, and 3 items. So, I am using the letters "C" for Cornice, "D" for Die Cuts, and "E" for Enamel dots. And I used 1 corner, 2 rulers, and 3 enamel dots! (Also 3 die cuts.) The overall layout is based on this pin from my sketch board. There will be a peekaboo pocket on the bottom left corner of the right side of the layout with more photos of the pulleys and belts. The papers are a mix of CM design kits. I'm close to using up many of the "Home" based packs. There will be some consolidating and "Recycling" coming soon!