Oops: A Cautionary Tale

So I was weaving this most lovely warp in Woven Words and Ikat Dyed Bamboo. My client wanted me to weave space-dyed chenille for weft. She loved the feel and drape of the bamboo/chenille.
Here is a picture of an earlier piece woven with bamboo and space dyed chenille. Although you can still see the warp, it is down-played and the weft really shows. Notice the bright horizontal turquoise stripe near the top of the picture. This is the new warp. You also notice you don't really see the weft.
Try as I might, I just couldn't bring myself to beat the weft as tightly as I should. All the time I was weaving I kept telling myself I was beating correctly. Denial!

I know many people shy away from chenille for this very reason: the dreaded WORM! Here it is in all of its glory.

THE FUDGE FACTOR: Let me say a word or two about the fudge factor. It is a principle I adhere to with great devotion. It goes like this, "If it works, it's OK."

When I pulled the shawl out of the dryer and discovered I had pushed the fudge factor over the edge, several thoughts raced through my mind. The first thought was, "OH NO! What will I write in my blog!" My second thought was, "What will I tell my client!" My third thought was, "Maybe I made this mistake because I wanted to keep the weaving for myself, hmmm".

I draped the shawl over a chair and walked away. Here is an opportunity for me to learn a new weaving lesson. The biggest lesson I have to share with you is, "No matter how long you weave, you still have lessons to learn." It has taken me a few days to get over myself enough to show the world my latest creation, but here is the good news.

When I walked away from the weaving, I didn't walk out of my studio. I immediately put warps on BOTH looms, started weaving on both looms, and wound a another warp. (pictures to follow soon) So if I haven't learned much in the past 47 years, I have learned to keep moving forward.

Once the "wormed weaving" has had a chance to consider its future, I will visit it again, see what I can salvage and let you know its final fate.

Experiment with Bambu 7 Complete

I have so much information about Bambu 7!
I couldn't decide which color to use as my weft. I couldn't decide whether to use Bambu 7 for the weft, Bambu 12 for the weft, or Bambu 12 doubled for the weft. In the end, I decided to use them all and weave a "gamp". (I was going to impress you with the definition of the word "gamp", but the only definition I could find in the dictionary was "a large baggy umbrella") I even looked up the word in all of my textile reference books and couldn't find anything.

But I digress: First I wove 2" of red in Bambu 7, then 2" of red in Bambu 12, and then 2" of Bambu 12 doubled. I continued alternating throughout the 12 colors. The whiteish line is a few picks of cashmere. I thought at first I would use that as a cut line and run a couple of inches of black in Bambu 12 (singles and then doubles). I don't have any black in Bambu 7.

I had put on a 3 yd warp and wove pretty much as far as I could go. The dimensions when I first cut it off the loom were 17" x 78". I washed it in warm water, gentle cycle, with Cot'n Wash I got from Cotton Clouds. When I took it from the washing machine, the dimensions were 17" x 74". I popped it into the dryer on low and came out with the dimensions 15 1/2"x 68".


Surprises:
1. Although I sett both the 5/2 cotton and the Bambu 7 at 20 epi, the cotton seems to bloom and the bambu seems to compress.
2. I thought varying the weft would give me a scalloped edge, but it really didn't.
3. I thought the Bambu 7 weft would not work very well, but it isn't bad at all.
4. I thought I would have to press the piece after it came out of the dryer, but not so.
5. The feel and drape are amazing.
6. My favorite weft is the black Bambu 12 doubled (the very last one I wove!)
7. The 2 1/2" fringe didn't tangle at all.
8. 10" shrinkage in length

I wish you could feel this!
Bambu 7 poses with 5/2 cotton.

I have more to say, but I have to meet someone for dinner. I will add and edit later.

Saori Conference

Saori Weaving is an amazing and wonderful weaving philosophy. The following paragraph is copied from their lovely website.

Saori is an art of weaving by hand that is dedicated to free expression and self-development for everyone, regardless of physical or mental ability, age, or artistic aptitude. Saori weaving is pure improvisation from the heart, with no premeditated pattern in mind. Colors unfold, designs emerge, and beauty blooms directly from the genius of each unique individual working in harmony with loom, thread, and the spark of the moment. Saori is a profound inner journey, yet we can enjoy it socially, working alongside others. We can also create clothing, bags, tapestries, and many useful items that can be appreciated by all. Saori is fun, and anyone can do it!

Q: Is all improvisational, freestyle weaving SAORI?

A: Good question! On the one hand, if you choose to call your improvisational weaving "SAORI", nobody will complain. On the other hand, SAORI is more than just a technique; it is ALSO:

• A philosophy that all people are artists, that each of us has a latent intuitive power that SAORI can awaken
• An aesthetic that embraces the natural beauty of unintended "mistakes" and encourages exploring the unknown.
• A social movement towards bringing diverse people together to learn from one another. It is especially a movement to include within a larger community people who may be isolated or marginalized because of disability, age, income, overwork, care giving, ethnicity, or other reasons.
• A unique way of meditation, therapy, rehabilitation, trauma recovery, stress reduction, identity-building, community-building, and holistic human development

AND I am going to the Conference in July on my way to NEWS! This will be my first trip to NYC since 1966. Yikes!

Here's a PDF of the registration flier in case you'll happen to be in New York in the middle of July.
http://www.saoriworcester.com/documents/flyerfinal.pdf

When I Make a Mistake

What did I do when I walked away from the threading error?

I went out on the patio and photographed the end of the bloom of Japanese Tree Peony.

This part of the bloom cycle is totally amazing.

Then I check in at the warping board and wind a little Turned Weft Ikat for the third panel of the Big Commission.

Then I finish off the Woven Words "Peace in the Middle East" scarf and get it ready to mail off to its owner. This picture shows the sample at the bottom and the new weaving at the top. The bottom piece was (apparently) sett at 14 epi and the top piece at 16 epi. The width is just about the only difference. Well, the 16 is a little more dense, but it really is hard to tell the difference. The chenille is the 1300.

Basically, having another project or two in the wings makes it easier to temporarily walk away from a project without losing the "thread". I keep 4 work stations going at all times (5 if I count the computer). I have the 2 looms, the warping board, and a finishing table for knotting, fringing, and labeling.

Experiment with Bambu 7 Continues

I went back and re threaded the heddles. Of course, it didn't take me nearly as long as I thought it would. It takes much longer building up the courage to go back and face the error.

You can see the one little errant yellow green end just waiting to be reclaimed.

So here is my Color Horoscope Warp all ready to go.


A question often asked: What should I use as my weft? Color? Fiber? I started weaving with Bambu 7 in red. After a couple of inches I wondered what it would look like using Bambu 12 as my weft (also is red). Then I wondered what it would be like to double the Bambu 12.

Stay tuned for the answer to this and EVERY other weft question.

Experiment with Bambu 7

This 3 yard warp contains 360 ends wound off in 3 chains.

The sett is 20 epi. The raddle has 1/2" spaces.

Winding onto the back beam.
I have often thought there were an infinite number of errors a person could make during the weaving process. I am not overjoyed to point out a brand new error. Notice to the right of the space in the middle is a single dark blue end followed by 5 dark blue ends. Well, all 6 should be in the same heddle. I didn't notice this error until I finished putting all the threads through the heddles and came up with an extra thread.

What to do? Get up and walk away. Do something else. Wait a day. Come back and find the mistake and fix it.

Tooling Up:

For the past couple of years, I have been experimenting with the finer weight bamboo yarn. Finally I decided to weave a horoscope weaving in Bambu 7 because the color choices were three times the number of colors than in the finer yarn. Sometimes having more choice is not an asset. Selecting the 12 colors that best represent the color wheel can be daunting. Every yarn company's color palette reflects the taste and discernment of that individual company.

Once and Future Weaving

My First Collaboration

One of the sidelights of creating this blog (and a tremendously delightful sidelight at that) is to reflect upon my weaving journey, inspired by questions I receive from you. So for all of you who have tuned in, here is my very first weavings---1960. All we ever got to weave were samples samples samples. RISD used a fancy name for the samples. I can say it, but I have no idea how to spell it.

I look for the seeds of what I am weaving now, but I don't see it.

Many of these pieces were woven on a dobby sample loom left over from the industrial revolution. Laugh if you must, but that's the truth. I will tell you about warping this loom someday. Believe me when I tell you, this loom was designed to discourage anyone from ever weaving again.

But I digress: The samples were so distasteful to me after I had been weaving a few years. I was tempted to toss them away, but my mother saved them. I have to tell you that my mother isn't much of a seamstress, but she has a great eye and a huge amount of enthusiastic energy. Armed with that and a stack of woven samples, she set out to make a quilt. When she showed it to me, I was totally appalled at the lack of precision finishing. She dutifully packed it away, where it remained for 30 years. I was helping my mother clear out some of her "stuff" when I came upon the quilt. This time I burst out laughing. I found the quilt to be totally comical. I brought it home with me and packed it away at the bottom of my cedar chest until now. I unearthed it this morning and hung it on the wall. Much to my surprise, it had aged rather well (as has my mother). I am extremely amused and also touched by what a loving (and creatively risky) gesture it was for my mother to put her hand to this project.

Hey! It's Mothers' Day, we all celebrate in our own way.

I will keep the Quilt up for a while and see.


I am very exited about this piece. I am trying out a 3 yd warp in Bambu 7 from Cotton Clouds. I am going to sett it at 20 epi and see. Oh yes, this is my horoscope colors. I'll dress the loom so you can see.

I am weaving along on Gary with 1300 chenille, some solid and some space-dyed. It took me a while to come around to actually liking a weft that covers some of the warp like this. The person who commissioned this piece came over to the studio and watched me sample various wefts. She selected the weight and feel of the bamboo/chenille combination. Once the cloth is washed and dried, it will look fabulous. (as well as feel fabulous).