This week in the studio I was able to change out the strings on the warp beam, and put on a new warp for my 'Exploring Multishaft' project. I also did a little bit of preparation for the upcoming fair, where I'll be entering a few handwoven projects.The first thing I did this week was to fix the gold string on the sectional warp beam! Since the knot is not in the groove (on the right in the pic) it gave me annoying tension issues while weaving. Since I'm still using the straight draw threading I tied the new warp to the old warp then pulled all the threads through to the back before cutting off the old warp from the warp beam. Once I pulled the new warp through the heddles I got to work on finding the right length the cut the warp strings. The first string I cut was at least shorter than the original but did not work. I assumed that since the loop was just at the groove I was in the right spot but it turns out when you make the larks head knot to put your warp on it decreases the length of your string. Meaning it turned out to be wrong again. So the next warp strings I made were just a little bit past the groove. Similar to my original strings but about 1/4" less. Now time to make larks head knots all the way across and get my new warp on. After I got my new warp on I started playing with the next designs on the computer. I haven't started weaving on it yet since it has been so warm and our a/c isn't going into that room. I'll have to figure something out for this coming week because I want to see this plaited curve I designed in fabric! I also started in on hemming some of my napkins to enter into the fair. I decided to hem them with mitered edges which is a bit of a trip since one side (warp side) has two folds and the other edge (the selvedge) only has one fold. I also tried some fabric glue on these since my hems last time seemed to be distorted at the end of the seam. Not sure I'm a fan of the glue. Nothing went through the fabric, and it did do its job perfectly, however, when I took the napkins out of the dryer there were some crinkle sounds. Maybe when I wash them again it will be fine but I'm still processing if I like it or not. The alternative would be to get more quilter's clips. I'm terrible at pinning hems, seams I'm fine with but hems always distort for me. Think it's just the bulk I'm not good at holding while at the sewing machine. Oh, and if you are a sewer you are probably saying just use a walking foot, that's what they are for right! Well I tried that and it didn't work for my hems, go figure. Well I finished 3 tests and I like the mitered edges so I'll go ahead and finish my good napkins. Oh, the ones I hemmed this week had some weaving hiccups in them, so they were for practice purposes. Hopefully, by next week I'll at least have a few entries for the fair ready. ha! and when I make the official napkins I'll use the appropriate colored thread. Since I was short on black thread I thought I'd be creative with my thread choice on the practice round. Which actually surprised me because the silver thread blends in much better on the black & white napkins than I thought it would.
Till next week, Happy Weaving! Val
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The last few weeks have been focused on centering myself. With lots of parts moving in my life I decided to step back and allow them to play out. Being an antsy person that is much harder for me than it sounds, so I still organized all the books I have acquired and finished weaving the lumpy-bumpy warp on Blossom.This last week I began to realize I'm not making what is in my heart. It stems from bringing my business mind over to my craft mind, basically having a deadline mentality. As in this project needs to be done in a week so we can move on to the next task. At my last job, one of the things that was really annoying was how we were always 'putting out fires' and never making the current systems better. I think I'm starting to bring that into my craft, which makes for disjointed never fulfilled art. That's why I took a break! When reading magazine or books or listening to Textiles & Tea from HGA the artists are always focused on their project at hand and working with the fibers to create the vision in their mind. On the whole taking the time for their piece. I understand that there is still an element of meeting deadlines in the art world with shows and events, but that is secondary not primary. Maybe this subtle difference is what differentiates handicrafts from art. The stress of wanting to do all the techniques versus the stress of wanting to express yourself. So how does one slow down?? Welp, I have no idea! If someone out there knows please please please tell me! Hahaha! For me, at least, the thing is that reading and going to weaving events and meeting other weavers is so much fun! But that's when you hear about a new technique and you have to try it, except that you already have 20 techniques you have to try. That's my conundrum, maybe taking time every once in awhile to reflect is necessary? Do they teach that in art school?? I found a fun quote on my Instagram feed awhile ago that is apart of this thought train. Something like knowledge is learning, wisdom is doing. Maybe I'm learning too much and not doing? Well, I'm definitely doing a lot, more like I'm not focused on the doing. Like instead of reading an article and thinking "Oh I want to try that'" I could think "Can I add that idea to my current project" and if not know it will show itself again. Luckily, there are no right or wrong answers just different paths to try, and I'm definitely an adventurer. Guess, I just need to check in with myself from time to time to make sure I like the path I'm on. Okay, enough of my philosophy lecture :) What have I been up to in my studio... Well the permit finally came through on our new garage/studio and so I started digging through the storage unit, and setting up the concrete guy, the fence guy, the building guy (busy, busy, busy). Since I've been cataloguing the books I received I decided to at least finish that project. That meant I pulled all of the craft books out of storage and catalogued them in LibraryThing. Turns out I have more books than some weaving guilds, and that doesn't include all of the magazines nor the duplicate books I have. Hopefully, by selling some of these I can bring in some kind of money to help pay bills. Being an unemployed student with an adult life is a bit nerve wracking for me but hey, I'm in transition, I can't expect to be raking in the dough. So selling my favorite things (craft books) is probably a good start. I also got in some weaving and was able to finish the warp on Blossom. On this warp I tried out twill, fancy twill, plaited twill, and finally curves. The curves were definitely a lot harder to design because of the floats you get, which means you add more curved lines but then you have to remember that the tie up repeats on itself so you need those extra lines to meet the next section. That's hard to explain, let's see if I can get a picture. With all of the twills I needed to be aware of the how the lines in the tie-up would connect when repeated. When I added the curves to these lines I was thrown for a loop because trying to think in mirror-image diagonals is hard enough, let alone adding in moving curves! Luckily, the Weavepoint software allows you to draw in the drawdown which means I could fine tune the areas where the curves connected. For my first try I did pretty good. There are some rather large floats which could be a problem in the wrong fabric but for sampling I loved it. gave the eye something to focus on while all of the line were moving. Here are my samples: Then I tried some echo patterns since the floats were so long I wanted to see what would happen if I broke it up a bit. Not sure if I'm using the term 'echo' correctly. Basically, I took the straight twill treadling and for every step in the sequence I added another twill line 3 steps to the right. And finally because playing with weaving software is so fun I tried a crazy broken twill treadling. And that's it for happenings in the studio. Next, I'll have to put a new warp on the loom and change the warp ties on the sectional beam so I don't get those annoying drag lines!
Happy Weaving! -Val |
Author: Vader
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