Chocolate and orange entremet

This year's showstopper cake - 3 days in the making. Genoise sponge soaked in orange liquer syrup, feuilletine and praline, set orange curd, dark chocolate mousse, choclate mirror glaze and pistachios.

More double weave experiments

759 ends to thread and sley

Another experiment with double cloth overlaying different weave structures, this time huck lace over a pointed draft twill - both in cotton. 8/2 for the twill and finer 16/2 for the lace both set at 10 ends/cm (25 epi). The two cloths are joined at intervals in the weave. This didn't work at first so I had to add two more treadles to the draft and cut and re thread about 40 warp ends. Fortunately, the tension wasn't affected noticeable.

After washing, the lace structure has appeared, revealing the colours of the twill below, perhaps not quite as clearly as I had hoped. A very dark cotton or the lace may have helped and next time perhaps more blurred transitions between the colours underneath - maybe an echo weave.

Details of the lace structure (still wet and un-ironed!).

The finished cloth

The twill on the reverse.

 

Bateman scarves

Storm Daragh brought strong winds and snow here. A test for the roof and a break from building for me. Finally finished weaving the Bateman boulevards scarves, just fringes and finishing to do.

Roof works complete

The abutment flashing against Alain's house was not the nightmare I had feared and in the end went up fairly easily and the rendering above looks pretty neat now.

Susie and I managed to haul the last sheets onto the roof with just the two of us. The ridge however was a nightmare to fit as the roof is too steep and slippery to stand astride the ridge. So the only possibility was to be on a rope from one side or other, but with each section of ridge 2m long it was almost impossible for the rope not to squash the piece of  ridge I was trying to position and fix, or the rope to be in the way. Eventually after a day of cursing it was done.

Verges and eaves followed and yesterday the gutters to the rear. Rheinink gutters have a monopoly here, which is a pain as they have to be soldered with expensive equipment. As I've reused the old gutters they're a bit mishapen too, so I ll probably silicon and rivet the sections together when the weather is dryer.

The front gutter will be more difficult as the eaves steps as the building gets wider. It ll have to wait as rain wind and snow are forecast next week. Windows and doors have been ordered, but it ll probably next spring before they arrive.