Weaving #20150807

New piece completed this morning.
Untitled as yet.  It gets a number based on the date.
Cricket loom. Same warp as Midnight Riff in my last post.

This piece was full of new ideas and techniques I've never done before. I hem-stitched it on the loom at both ends, I turned the weaving 90 degrees, sewed a backing to it and figured out a way to secure the fringe neatly.  I always have problems with the finish work on pieces and the logistics of hanging fiber art. I'm pleased with the things I figured out to hang this one.

I backed this piece with a lovely commercial cotton quilt backing from Inda that is dyed a lovely and uneven saffron color. I love this material so much I've gone back twice to buy additional yards.
I stitched it on the machine on three sides and hand-stitched the 4th side by the fringe.

I am especially pleased with how I was able to secure the fringe, so it hangs down in a very free, flowing way, but is completely secured in place. 
I am not sure if my pictures and explanation will be able to convey what I did, but I'll give it a try.

First, remember this edge is hem-stitched, so the threads are secured pretty well, in twos. Starting at the top, I tucked the first two threads under the next two, and put them to the side. The next two threads were tucked under the third set of two, the third set under the fourth and so on, all the way down the edge.

I then wanted to make sure the pairs of threads would stay tucked under, so I used regular sewing thread and needle and, starting at the top, I made two half-hitches around each place where the threads crossed, coming up through the fabric underneath the next hem-stitch, between the two warp threads in that hem-stitch group, then around them with the half-hitches and on to the next.  

I chose to hang it on a piece of branch I gathered when I was down in Bloomington at the IU Writers Conference. Sanded and beeswaxed mindfully.

I like the look of a crocheted hanging cord and the way I can make the loops around the branch without knots.
This piece was very firm because it is backed and I was able to hang it by connecting it at only two points to the hanging cords. Without the backing, most weaving is too drapey not to support it all along the top edge.  I really like the way the stick looks without a lot of hanging cord wrapped around it. 
I firmed that top edge further by running long ends of the cord through it.

Finally, I crocheted a little round to cover the nail head or hanging fixture.

Now back to the loom!

Midnight Riff and Maysville carpet warp

Finished Midnight Riff with long braided and knotted fringe and hung it from a gathered stick which I sanded and polished with beeswax polish. The 'stick practice' is something I do as a conscious, spiritual practice and I should perhaps do a post about that one of these days.

MIdnight Riff was woven on a 10" Cricket loom, dressed using mostly Maysville cotton rug warp. I love that cotton. It is unmercerized and isn't a fine yarn at 1680 ypp  (size 8/4), but it comes in a nice lot of colors and it's sold on small 800-yd. tubes at $8-9 each, rather than pound cones at $18-24. A stash of these doesn't require a lot of space to store either. I keep more than 20 in a drawer (I lucked out in getting a large number of these at a yard sale!)

Midnight riff

Warped my 10" Cricket, too. Another direct warp done on my laundry room table. About 4 yards. Thought I would just do some quick small pieces.
This one, to start.
Calling it Midnight Riff.

Saori Worcester Puppets Project

Yasmin and Jasmin

Nat and Mihoko at Saori Worcester are so inspiring!
Their most recent project , Puppets of Glory,  involved 4th-graders weaving, storytelling, puppetry and performance.
Worcester is a fortunate community.

For this project, elementary school students wove the fabric and, as they wove, imagined their puppet characters and their stories. Mihoko was charged with the task of sewing the puppets and imbuing each “…with the spirit intended by its young creator.”

Nat's task was to weave ".....all the wildly varying hopes, fears, fantasies, and insatiable desires of these puppets into a single narrative."  I'm certain he did so with great skill & respect for the children's imagined storylines.

More pictures here.
Nat’s  essay about the Puppets of Glory project.

 

Grumpy Dragon

)O(

Wordless Wednesday / Saori Love

Picture found here.

Wayback Post : My Saori Intensive

Way back in May, I made a huge step climbing out of agoraphobic exile in Terre Haute and went to Boston to visit my eldest son Ian and his wife Lisa. (Many blessings on my son Shaun for accompanying me and taking care of all the travel details. And blessings on granddaughter Sophia for being a great example of an Intrepid Traveler.)  I was left free to manage me. And I managed me very well, nary a hint of the panic beast, just normal levels of excitement and travel apprehension. Quite seriously, the Zen Flow Worry Chart was a useful tool throughout the trip.

Whenever I found my anxiety level beginning to rise, I posed those questions and it really helped me to stay in the situation and be pretty close to present and calm.  Certainly my anxiety level remained low.

When we planned the trip, it seemed ridiculous that I might be so close to Saori Worcester and not take advantage of the proximity.  And so I planned a two-day weaving intensive in Worcester while Shaun and Sophia traveled to NYC. Intrepid Traveler duo.

Nat and MIhoko have created a beautiful home and studio there and I had an amazing time. Mihoko was able to cover everything I had on my list to learn and she was a splendid teacher. Nat’s enthusiasm, generosity and life force make me smile today.  There were lessons all around.  And here are some pictures:

I knew we were in the right place when I saw the Saori banner at the front door.

Nat and Mihoko

The beautiful, light-filled, loom-filled studio space

 The cubbies where projects are stored. 

One of the very special properties of Saori looms is the ability to switch work-in-progress.

This is accomplished by having multiple 'inside sets' which consist of the two harnesses with heddles and the reed.Warp is wound on a sturdy cardboard tube (you can see it in the picture below, it's actually a square tube ) which slides off the back beam. Heddle frames and reed are removed, the completed part of the weaving is unwound from the front beam, and the front tie rod slipped out.   

A table with bobbins, shuttles and basket of 'treasures', bits and pieces of waste yarn and fiber that become lovely and interesting inlays:

Some finished pieces that were around the studio:

This is a t-shirt with reverse applique - a beautiful use for Saori scraps!

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And, finally, here is a watercolor of a stunning project organized by Saori Worcester: The Saori Bridges of Elm Park, in which several bridges were hung with banners woven by Saori weavers around the world. The pictures are breathtaking, I can only imagine what it might have been like to see it in person. You can get more details and link to see the individual banners through this page: Saori Bridges

Thanks Nat and Mihoko, for all that you do in the world!

Adventurous Weaving Workshop

I'm not a very good documenter, an issue which makes blogging difficult.  I forget to take pictures.
I especially forget to take pictures of events in which I am very engaged. I feel pretty good about documenting yesterday's event, though, because:
a. I remembered to bring my camera
b. I remembered to take pictures before the workshop was over.

Just before.
The picture above is everybody after 4 hours of adventure. John is taking his finished sampler off the loom, Cheryl and Dennis are watching, Dawn is reading a Saori book (probably not actually reading as it's in Japanese) and Susan is finishing up for the day.

The workshop focused on two techniques and permutations thereof: inlay and clasped weft with 2 and 3 yarns. It was planned to be an intermediate workshop, with previous experience on rigid heddle required. Participants were to come with a loom, warped and ready to weave. On registration, everyone was provided with 400 yards of black cotton 8/4 carpet warp, and instructions to create a 9' warp about 9" wide.

Oh the rebellion! Cheryl and Susan weren't experienced rigid heddle weavers and had little weaving experience. (They are, however, fiber people and great knitters, and adventurous, and I am not such a stickler for rules, even my own.) John offered to come in before the workshop and help them warp borrowed looms. So, they were essentially weaving for the first time in a Saori-inspired way.

Cheryl's weaving

It was so rewarding to work with Cheryl. She was using a 20" loom, and was having to navigate the learning curve of using it. Adding in clasped weft, juggling two and then three weft yarns going at the same time  - well, that's a whole lot to encounter for first time weaving, and I very much admired her for plunging in and exploring the process.  And not throwing up her hands, even when she chose mohair to work with at one point!

Susan's weaving

Though it doesn't quite show up in the photograph, there was a tremendous amount of motion expressed in the beginning part of Susan's weaving. It was very lively and lovely to see.

Dawn's weaving

Dawn is an experienced rigid heddle weaver. I'm not sure I've seen anyone take off the way she did. For weeks after her first class, every time I saw her in Riverwools, she had a new scarf or wrap to share. Since she was trying lots of different yarns, I got to enjoy seeing (and feeling) how they worked up.

Two things are interesting about her work yesterday -one,  her choice to use white as her sampler base color. It was a practical thought she had, so that things would show up better. I don't think she realized how amazing it would look. The other interesting thing is that weaving freestyle is out of her comfort zone. You'd not know it to see how she enthusiastically engaged and created some visually striking work.

John and his sampler weaving

 John is a master weaver - he is actually my weaving teacher. I learn to tri-loom weave from him and he is also the one who started me on rigid heddle. So it was a great thrill to be able to share some weaving fun with him.  He has one of the Saori principles deeply in his heart: weaving as a group, the sharing of weaving with others.  It was very generous of him to help Cheryl and Susan to be able to take the class, and he has been more than generous with me over the years, sharing his knowledge and weaving wisdom, booth space and lots of laughter.



This is my post-workshop weaving. My own weaving in the workshop was demonstrative, and done more to show the techniques.  But I was certainly inspired by all the discovery of the day and came home and continued to weave. I'm using up some Opal sock yarn here.


If fibery clutter is evidence of a good time, we had a great time.
I learned some new things, found inspiration from my students.

And Susan and Cheryl bought looms. 

Finished Weaving with the Kids & Thornley KAL progress

 Me and the ten kids who wove this banner at Casa Picasso Art Camp.

 The banner hanging in the camp gallery.  The kids loved the idea of making something that would help people, so the banner is for sale. $85. Every penny will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

 This is my favorite section of the banner.

 In addition to weaving on the Saori loom, the kids created a small piece on a Harrisville Friendly Lap Loom.

Progress on the Jane Thornley Little Vest Knit-Along
(That's the link to Jane's main page, her knit-alongs are on the drop-down menu under Blog)

Lots of the others (in the Jane Thornley Ravelry group)  have named their vests and I have, too.  As I knitted, I kept thinking of rainbows you see in street puddles - the rainbows from the oil.  I tried to think of dragonflies and other iridescent things: beetles, abalone.  But kept coming back to the oily puddles. Joni Mitchell has a lovely image in her song "Michael From Mountains" and I also kept hearing those lyrics, '...there's oil in the puddles / in taffeta patterns/ that run down the drain / in colored arrangements / that Michael will stir with a stick that he's found...'  I thought about just calling this Michael from Mountains, but have chosen the equally alliterative and less obscure: Rainbow on the Road.

 A back panel was knit first, then some rows added to either side to make it be the width I need. Side panels will come later.

 

The fronts are picked up from the shoulders. With the first,  I was doing such improvisational knitting and color combining that I knew it would frustrating and unpleasant trying to knit the second one identically. So I decided to have them be different. With the addition of the side panels and a front opening bands, this should come together coherently.  We shall see!

 I felt like making a little visual collage of strands of all the different yarns I'm using, in order of their weight.
From the left: Interlacements Carolina (?? it's cotton), Noro Blossom No. 20, Rowan Summer Tweed, dark violet, orange, Itata in orange and green, Robin Edmunson Cotton/Rayon in blue and shimmery purple.

 I also wanted to highlight the cast off that I did on the back panel.  I've been casting off this way lately: rather than knitting every stitch, I alternate a knit with a purl. This balances the knitting so these loops sit right on the top of the edge, rather than leaning over on one side or other of the fabric. That always annoyed me. I think of this as 'seed stitch cast-off' but use whether or not I've been working in seed stitch. In this case, it was garter stitch.

Also, I really wanted to get this orange in the back add-ons, but doing another row and then the cast off on each side would have made this too wide.  So, I change to the orange just for the cast off. I've never done that before and I like the effect. When I pick up to add the side panels, I will just pick up the WS half of the loop, and I should have a nice thin line of the color.

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Tomorrow is a balloon release held by our  Compassionate Friends chapter,  for bereaved parents.  I'll be there to send off one with Patrick's name on it....sigh.

Casa Picasso Art Camp

This week, I'm bringing weaving experiences to the art camp at my UU church.

 I have a separate, quiet room in which I've set up the loom and the children come to me during the afternoon 'Open Studio' time when they rotate between weaving,  a woodworking project and other projects, including making pinatas. Hanging on the door are the sampler I wove at my Saori intensive and the banner woven by my granddaughter Sophia's kindergarten class at Ouabache Elementary.

 I set the loom up by the green-filled window view.

We've probably woven about 3 feet so far, with two days left to go.  I've had a learning experience in free-weaving myself during this time -- the children liked making inlays that are all twisted and bunched up, instead of just laying the inclusion yarns out straight.  I am loving the look of this and will be experimenting with this technique with my own work.