Oh, the Looms!!!

So much stuff, so many looms, such good energy!

A couple of AVLs...


a lovely Swedish loom.


A rustic barn loom ...


A wall of warping boards ...


... and a wall of spinning wheels ...


and displays of a variety of different weaves ...


And perhaps most fascinating of all - a jacquard loom. It appears to be not yet functional - it will be interesting to see what develops!


So if you are ever in San Diego County - be sure to go to Vista and see the Weavers Barn at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum.

Splendor of Multi-Colored Warps with Betty Vera

I just had 3 days of bliss and a blast at a workshop with Betty Vera sponsored by Palomar Handweavers. The title was the Splendor of Multicolor Warps, and it was an invitation to move from the world of solid color warp and weft into a whole nother thing. I will confess that near the end, when someone asked if anyone would ever go back to a boring solid color fabric again, I did raise my hand. I truly am more of a structure person than a color person, but I learned so much in this workshop, and hope to put that information to good use, soon!

The workshop was held in the Weavers Barn at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista.
This place is what I want my heaven to look like - it's chock full of the most amazing variety of looms - from incredibly simple to intensely complex, from tiny to gigantic, from ancient to modern. Walls are lined with tools and bins of yarn.


This was the view from the workshop end of the barn...















... and this was the view from the other end.














We had a luscious stash of an amazing spectrum of weft options.








I'll post pictures of some of the looms in the barn, as well as the warps and samples from the workshop, in my next post.

This is the definition of fun!

Cardweaving Loom (Of Sorts)

Okay, to answer Ruth's questions about the cardweaving warps shown in the previous post, here are a few photos and some explanation.


This is the "band end" of the loom. It consists of a board of wood with tensioning blocks (from Linda Hendrickson) clamped on each end of the board with grip clamps. (Originally, I used one clamp on each end, and the other clamp was intended for clamping the whole thing to a table. However, I discovered that using two clamps kept the tensioning block from torquing, so I used it as shown. You can also see that the weaving is currently clamped to the post of the tensioning block with a binder clip. I would prefer to use a clamp - wrap the band around the post and clamp it - but... I couldn't find a clamp quickly, and was trying to get prepared for the demo, so I just used the binder clip. One nice thing about that - when you beat in the weft, sort of grinding to get a nice tight beat, you can push down on the "handles" of the binder clip to increase the tension.


This photo is looking toward the other end of the loom. You can see the cards hanging in the warp, then the warp spreader, then groups of warp threads hitched to the opposite post. The warp spreader is also from Linda Hendrickson - it's the original style she used to sell. I've used a rubber band to hold the metal post in place. I prefer not to have the warp spreader hang on the warp, so I put a block of wood under it, and used another larger rubber band to fasten that to the base board. The graphic you can see there is an enlarged image from one of Linda's articles - showing the position of the A-B line for each pick in double-faced tabletweaving.


This last photo shows the other end of the "loom." Again, grip clamps attach the tensioning block to the end of the board. Groups of warp threads are tied to the post of the block. I struggled to find a good knot for this - I wanted to find a knot that would hold firm, but also be easily adjustable to let out more warp. I found the hitch shown here. It's not quite what I want, but was okay for the moment. It didn't hold quite tight enough, so I then took each half of the warp and wrapped it around the grip clamp. (If I can find the web sit with the diagram of this hitch, I'll post that later.)

Carded

No, not that kind of carded. (My hair went white in my 20's, so I haven't been carded in that way since I was a teenager.) No, the kind of card I'm referring to is the kind you use to weave narrow bands....

Today was the September meeting of a study group in my weavers guild that I'm a member of - a group called Warped Explorers. In the past, we've had presentations on an incredible variety of topics. Recently, though, we've had fewer programs - and more of a social component to our meetings. It's been wonderful to have that time to connect, to hear about the various pursuits, to see some of the results, but a few were concerned that the group was turning into *only* a social get-together.

So.... I thought about that a while, realized I'm one of the people who hasn't had much to share other than enthusiasm for a while. One member had mentioned a few months ago that she would be interested in hearing a program on tabletweaving. That's something I've done a bit of, and have some interest in, so... maybe Gay, the hostess of this month's meeting, and I could do a program on cardweaving. (I actually prefer the term cardweaving to tabletweaving, which is the more common name for this technique on the "other side of the pond." When I think of tablets, I picture big tablets of yellow paper. :-/ So I usually call it cardweaving, although I acknowledge that you can pee in the ocean, but you cannot change the tide.)

Anyway, we gave a simple program. I made some giant cards, threaded with rug wool - a great tool for showing folks what happens with this method of weaving.




When I first got interested in this, I got excited, thinking it was a way you could essentially do four shaft weaving without a loom. But, of course, what I quickly learned, was that this isn't like regular weaving - it's got a very important difference - the warp threads going through the holes in each card twine around the weft threads. With these giant cards, it's really easy to see what's happening with each subsequent weft pick. The bottom card in this picture shows the typical threading for double-faced cardweaving - 1 color in 2 adjacent holes, and another color in the other 2 holes. One color is used for background, the other for foreground, and weaving 2 picks turning the card forward, then 2 picks back, keeps one color on top and the other on the bottom of the band. The upper card is actually a stack of 2 cards, with a different color in each hole - typical of threaded in designs. I used a fat weft thread to show what happens with 4 turns forward, 4 back. In retrospect, I think it would be easier to see by using a rigid weft like chopsticks or something.

Anyway, after the intro, we had several warps for folks to see and try - one with 2 cards for a very narrow band I learned from Ruth MacGregor (who said it was found by Shirley Berlin in Lapland.) One warp was setup for double-faced cardweaving......

and the one in back Gay setup for showing textural effects in tabletweaving.

We had a small turnout, but the best result was that I've renewed my interest in cardweaving.

Fun stuff! So yes, I'd say I've been carded.

Chickens and Eggs

I've been pondering again - wondering if I tend to not post very often because I mostly feel like I'm just talking to myself, or if perhaps there are few readers because I tend not to post often. I suppose both are true.

No major fiber projects to report. I started a new job at the beginning of July, and working full-time has been both a blessing and a shock. I wasn't sure I could go back to programming, and am surprised to find that the dusted off brain cells still function, and I'm actually enjoying myself! Interesting.

Tomorrow, though, I'm off into the wild blue yonder again. I'm flying to Huntsville, AL where my mother lives (and where I grew up.) My sister will meet me there, and the three of us will drive to Wisconsin to visit Mom's relatives. I haven't been to Wisconsin for almost 20 years - I'm really looking forward to seeing my aunts and uncles and cousins and their kids.

I've packed plenty of toys - a new knitting project (lovely turquoise alpaca for a diagonal V-shaped scarf,) and some embroidery floss and the new lucet that I purchased at the Tampa Convergence but have not yet played with. I'm also taking my new laptop, but that is mostly so I will be able to get some work done while I'm away. And, of course, I've got several books I'm taking. I never mind long waits in the waiting areas - it's prime reading time - nothing else to compete for your attention.

When I get back, I've got big plans. (Famous last words - how often have I postponed projects until after some big event?!) Anyway, here's what I plan to do - I'm going to box up all the STUFF that is piled in the corner of my loom area. It forms a very effective barrier that keeps me from ever approaching my loom, and that needs to change. So.... I'm going to box up all that crap, maybe even temporarily rent a storage unit so I can move the stuff out and have a clear space to sort through it all, figure out what to organize, what to release. Then I intend to weave off the warp on the Megado, and finally get a new warp on the David loom. I've got a set of weights I purchased from a guy I found on craigslist. He was stunned when I told him I was buying the set to use with a loom. :-) Kati Meek's live weight tension is magical, and I'm looking forward to trying it with some substantial weight that will be easier to manipulate than jugs of water.

Off I go..........

Judging

The topic of judging has popped up in several places lately, so I've been thinking about it a lot.

A guild member sent me an email recently, expressing concern that one of the items which won an award in the fair was not an original design - that she remembered later that she had seen it on the cover of a weaving book. She wondered whether something that was not original should be so honored. I replied, saying that in my opinion, the fair has never really been about totally original designs (at least, not in the Home Arts Division, which is where they put spinning and weaving and knitting and sewing and quilting and embroidery and lacemaking and basketry and pottery.) In this arena, excellence of execution is the main focus. You even see lots of items made from kits, so they are definitely not original designs.

There are, however, other venues where it is indeed not kosher to submit items that were copied. The main one that comes to mind is Showcase - an exhibit associated every two years with the southern California regional weaving/spinning conference. This is sponsored by the Association of Southern California Handweavers, ASCH, and each guild that is part of the coalition gets to submit a number of items to Showcase based on the size of the guild. The items that get submitted are "juried" by the guild, meaning that they are set out on tables and members get to vote on which items they think should make it. I do recall one time when a beautifully woven item was submitted, and in retrospect, it probably shouldn't have been, because it was woven exactly like an item in Weavers Magazine. On the other hand, what constitutes an original design? Many people could converge on the same weave structure, without necessarily having copied anything or anyone. Who judges that?

The truth of the matter is that judging is subjective, and is based on the guidelines given the judge, along with his/her own personal filters of perception. So perhaps the key is not to take any of it too seriously, and definitely not to allow yourself to take offense.

I learned years ago that I personally do not want to be a judge. I was asked to be one of the judges for a sample exchange at a conference. I was flattered to be asked. As I gazed across the tables of samples I felt a little overwhelmed. Some of them were exquisite, some didn't appeal to me. I was required to methodically examine each one, giving it points in different categories. As I did this, I commented on some of them. Picking up a piece of satin weave, I commented that it was a bit "sleazy." Now, weavers know what that words means in that context - it means the sett is a little too open and the fabric is not as firm as it should be. Who knows - maybe I was showing off my knowledge of that word, and its frequent application to satin, or maybe it really was sleazy. The main thing I remember is the slight flinch in the hostess, and then realizing that it was her sample. That was the instant in which I promised myself I would never again judge creative activities. I want to be the cheerleader - the enthusiastic supporter who celebrates achievement and passion, not the harsh taskmaster cutting someone off at the knees and finding a loving creation wanting because it doesn't fit my standards.

Back in the late 1960's, when I was in high school, I wrote a poem in a writing class. The title and body of the poem are long gone, but one line has, for some reason, stayed firmly etched in my brain.

For who am I, that could be robed and wizened,
to judge whose sins be worse than mine?

That was written in response to my first dysfunctional relationship, but they were wise words for a young girl, and I wish I had lived by them all these years.

San Diego County Fair

I debated what to title this, and settled on the simple choice.

On Thursday, Taryl and I went to the San Diego County Fair to demo in the guild booth. (We're both members of San Diego Creative Weavers Guild.) It was okay. I enjoyed weaving on the Baby Wolf for a while. It was threaded for a tartan in 8/2 cotton - colors blue and green with some black and touches of yellow and red. I wove in straight twill - played for a while with changing colors, then got tired of that and settled on using blue weft, but that washed out the warp colors, so I switched to black weft for the remainder of my time at the loom. Part way through our 3 hour shift, Taryl and I switched. The booth has an old Ashford spinning wheel - took me a bit to get situated so treadling was comfortable. The roving supplied was nice soft stuff, though unfortunately had a lot of veggie matter in it, so I paused rather frequently to scrape my fingernail along the length of spun yarn to pop out the crud.



The booth is titled The Zen of 100 Scarves. Nice title. Nice font in the banner. Some really lovely scarves were displayed. My picture chopped off the top banner for my guild. Palomar is our sister guild up in Escondido in the northeastern part of San Diego County.

What were the alternative titles for this post? "Fair Apathy", no "Mapathy" perhaps. "Fair Apathy" could be misunderstood - Is the whole fair apathetic? Just the people working there? Nope, just me, hence "Mapathy" - a contraction of My Apathy because it takes less effort. Why apathy since I did have a good time?

Well, when I joined the guild in the early 90's, demoing at the fair was one of my all time favorite activities. We had a large guild booth, with a table at one side, but with the loom and wheel near the front of the booth where people could see them clearly - they were much more likely to stop and ask questions. Also, the placement we used to have put us in a spot where you could frequently get a nice breeze coming through. Our fair runs from mid June to around July 4th, so cool breezes are much appreciated! But..... the PTB gave our wonderful large booth space away to the machine knitters. We now have a very small booth in the center aisle, surrounded by cabinets. A table almost completely takes up the front of the booth, so the loom and wheel are back behind that. Few breezes unless the door nearby is open, but that's often uncomfortable for the booth across from us with the lovely ladies who knit preemie hats.

For the last few years, I haven't been as enthusiastic about demoing at the guild booth, but since we seldom have much of a celebration on July 4th at our house, I often demo on that day. The first year I did that, I got a bonus - I was able to reuse my parking pass to go back that night and watch the fireworks from the parking lot - very close to where they were being launched. Very loud, but absolutely spectacular. Can't do that anymore - they punch the parking passes now so they can't be reused. This year, someone else had signed up to demo that day. I considered not signing up at all, but waited until they had an almost full slate - and picked a day that was empty which turned out to be July 3rd.

One of the women working at the fair stopped by to complain that we often have volunteers in the morning when there are fewer people who wander through that exhibit and nobody in the afternoon. A few years ago, I suggested that we limit demo hours to noon to 3pm, and then publish that in the fair booklet. Our guild is shrinking, so it's harder to get a full slate of volunteers if we try to have someone there all day. I think we did that one year a while back, and got complaints about that, too. In fact, that might have been the year that caused us to lose our original booth spot.

Enough whining on my part. The booth was nice, and Margaret, the guild member who set everything up, did an absolutely fantastic job. Mostly, it is still a thrill when you recognize that look in someone's eyes as they stop to watch what you are doing - that look that says "Oh my God that is SO cool and that is something I just now realized that I have ALWAYS wanted to do and wow she makes that look easy and I wonder if I could do that?" It's a twinkle, a hopeful gaze, filled with wonder and affection, and it is the reason that, even in my current apathetic state, I still love to demo weaving and spinning.