The Renegade Weavers Ride Again

Back in the mid 70s, a small group of Montana gals got together and formed The Renegade Weavers. The qualifications for membership:
1. Do not belong to a Weaving Guild.
2. Never have woven a place mat. Over the years, I have broken both of the rules. and yet 35 years later---we came together again in Montana.

Most of us have joined weavers guilds and woven place mats.
But we still know how to kick up our heels.....

WOVEN PAPER COLLAGE WORKSHOP

WOVEN PAPER COLLAGE WORKSHOP

With Bonnie Tarses at the Hangin Art Gallery & Coffee House
Arlee, Montana

Woven Paper Collage is the first step to weaving cloth. The technique is fun, easy and full of creative expression. Begin with a stack of magazines, a scissors, and a glue stick. The results are always surprising and delightful.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS COLORFUL OPPORTUNITY!

Date: October 22, 2011

Time: 10 AM – 3 PM (with an hour for lunch in the middle)

Place: Hangin Art Gallery & Coffee House
Fee: $25

Call: (406) 726-5005 to reserve your space today.

Bonnie Tarses is a weaving master, creating magnificent cloth since 1960. She recently moved back to Montana to continue teaching and sharing her gifts with humor and spirit.

To see Bonnie’s work visit www.bonnietarses.com and

Bonnie’s blog http://weavingspirit.blogspot.com (an up to minute look into Bonnie’s studio.)

Just Our Yarn Does it Again!

Several years ago, I came upon a lovely yarn company---JUST OUR YARN.

I wove a couple of delicious horoscope weavings and made some delightful wrappings with the yarn. I even overdyed in Turned Weft Ikat, and then I put the rest of the yarn away (I knew I had enough of another Color Horoscope Weaving). You know how it is when you want to hold back special yarn for a special project.

I had just enough of the ikat bits to frame each of the planets.


When I finished the weaving, I decided to wash it in the machine (I always do that), dry in the dryer (I always do that too), and then just wear it without pressing (I never do that)---just to road test it and see what happens.


Well, I think I have belatedly fallen in love with tencel! I wore like a dream. It didn't wrinkle anywhere near what I imagined, and what little it wrinkled just smoothed out when I draped it over a chair between wearings.


I know there is a lot of tencel yarn out there, but richness of colors in JUST OUR YARN is matchless! Brava!

I just spend far to long trying to find links to earlier posts showing my other cloth woven with the yarn. It turns out that I have been blogging a really long time, and my labeling system obviously leaves much to be desired. But if you have several hours with nothing to do, search through my archives (grin)

Cuttin' Off Missoula

GOOD NEWS! The downstairs neighbor cannot hear me weaving !
MORE GOOD NEWS! Another weaving off the loom!

What can I say?!
Like bubbles, the cashmere yarn rises up to celebrate!

So I Cranked Up the Air Con

And pulled out the recycled cashmere
And started winding another warp---Missoula's horoscope. (use the date and time of the founding of any place)
But this time I tried something just a little different. A couple of years ago, a student (Karen Driscoll) said to me during a Color Horoscope Weaving Workshop, "What would happen if you put an ikat stripe around each planet?"


This isn't the first time I tried out this delicious idea. In my previous weaving, however, each ikat stripe was the same width. On this one, I varied the width of the stripes---the Sun being the widest stripe, next the Moon, then the inner planets, and the outer planets with the narrowest stripe.


If there ever was a reason to continue teaching workshops, this weaving is it!


Just when I was getting bored with horoscope weaving, along comes this and I am all fired up again. The Sun is the big stripe to the left and the Moon is just to the right of it.

I can't wait to see this finished!

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...er Apartment

Will weaving in the new studio bother the neighbor? Will I be comfortable in a more confined space? What do I want to weave?


I always think it is a good idea to eliminate as many variables as possible, so I thought Gandhi's horoscope weaving was ---well, peaceful at the very least.


I also tried weaving as quietly as possible. Maybe this makes weaving a little bit slower, but it certainly was peaceful AND not a peep from the downstairs neighbor.

Now onto something I have been thinking about for a while---a bit of an experiment.......

AND GARY?

Well, he has found a home in the country. See the nice view from his window.And he is in great company! The vacuum insisted on getting into the picture (grin) All looms are currently at rest.

Gary looks so small in comparison with the 13' loom.


And here is the amazing rug that Barbara Hand just completed after 6 months! I couldn't get far enough away to get the whole rug into the picture, but Barbara said she would get me a picture of the whole piece.

Here is a little something that came out of Barbara's amazing garden. Sometimes vegetables say it best (grin)


What to weave? Stay tuned.....