Gary's Last Words

As my moving date looms large (pun intended), it seems that in order for me to move into the apartment of my dreams---Gary will not be able to make the move with me. As I wove the words ADVENTURE/LOVE/LAUGH/CLARITY, it became clear to me that Gary was ready to have an adventure on his own. He hasn't yet figured out what he is going to do, but we have had a lovely weave together.

I've had a couple of people offer to house Gary, and I would be able to come and weave whenever I wanted.

There have been a couple of times that I tried to sell Gary, but I had no takers. Ideally, someone close by would either be interested in buying or renting, and I would have visitation rights (be able to weave 2 pieces a year on him). I can weave most everything I need to weave on Grace.
(with a few exceptions) As I get older, I find it easier to weave on a smaller loom.


I will keep you posted. If you have been hankering for a fabulous Fireside Loom, this might be the time. (And summer is a great time to come to Montana)

Now A Step to the Side

I don't really understand why these pictures have come up in reverse order, but I don't have time to fiddle with it, or start over. I will just have to tell the story backwards. Here is a detail of what is currently on the loom. The warp is Bambu 12 doubled and sett at 20 epi. The weft is a variety of variegated 1300 rayon chenille.


This weaving is a commissioned Mobi-Q like the one I had recently made except this person is sensitive to wool, even cashmere.

I decided to move Gary. The picture below shows where Gary is now. I weave with my back to the window which gives me wonderful light during the day. The picture above shows the wall where the loom used to be. I would have been sitting where the baskets are. I am about to move the baskets to make room for the warping board which is located on the wall where Grace will go.

I'll show more pictures as I prepare for the arrival of Grace. She will return the week of November 2nd. She is still at St Mark's and will be there until after All Saints Day. It remains to be seen if there is really room for both looms in this space. They will have to discuss this amongst themselves. If they decide that one of them has to go, I will let you know.

Periodically I decide I should sell Gary. I write up a little pitch and put it out locally. Nobody has ever expressed an interest (except for someone else who has a Fireside loom and wants to sell theirs). I keep thinking the right person will step forward, someone who wants to be my apprentice, and they will "earn" the loom through their tireless assistance to me. That is my true desire.

Progress at St Mark's

Ev and Diane weaving

Big excitement! Action! The first panels of the altar cloth come off the loom. Here are three wise people: the photographer, the priest, and the weaver.

I always think this is the hardest part--releasing the warp from the front bar. I am always so excited at this point that my hands fail to work efficiently.


I must run. I am off to warp the loom for panel #2.

Summer Weaving Project at St Marks

Update

A loom donated to St Mark's by Janet Fesq and one loaned by Bonnie Tarses have been moved into the nave at St Mark's. On July 10, Bonnie and Ev warped the 2 looms. One will be used to weave both a white and a green altarcloth. The other holds the warp for 6 stoles. We will weave weft "story yarn" stripes into all pieces.

As weavers, we are offering the congregation at St Mark's an opportunity to weave a healing cloth with a new vision from the memory yarns of the past. Members of Seattle Weavers Guild are working with members of St Mark's on this project of a web of life.

A sign by the looms has this hymn,
"Let Streams of Living Justice", lyrics by William Whitle

For healing of the nations

for peace that will not end,

for love that makes us lovers,

God grant us grace to mend.

Weave our varied gifts together:

knit our lives as they are spun;

on your loom of time enroll us

Till our thread of life is run.

O Great Weaver of our fabric,

bind church and world in one;

dye our texture with your radiance,

light our colors with your sun.

We are at the looms on Thursdays 12 to 4 and Saturdays 10 to 2. Stop by to see the progress, hear the stories, or throw a shuttle or two. We are also collecting yarns with a story. Add yours.

Ev Tuller evtull@rockisland.com

If anyone has some special yarn (with a story) to contribute, please feel free to send:
Weaving Project
c/o Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral
1245 Tenth Ave E
Seattle, WA 98102-4893

Centinela Traditional Arts

For decades people have asked me, "Have you ever been to Santa Fe? There is lots of weaving there."

The only reason I can give for not having gone to Santa Fe before now is that I just wasn't ready.

Oops, I accidentally erased the first picture of the sign post for Centinela Traditional Arts, but I will put it in the next post since I have more pictures to show. Do check out their wonderful website though!

As we drove along the road (see tumbleweed), we passed a few other weaving places. My friends commented that we could stop there on our way back because they wanted to take me to the best one first.

When I walked into the building, I turned to the right into the weaving room rather than into the showroom. There were 4 looms. Pretty amazing! But the loom in the picture below was the biggest loom I had ever seen.
I backed away as far as I could, but I still couldn't get the whole thing into the picture. I believe it has a 12 ft. weaving width. When I finally tore myself away from the loom room, I passed through this entry space on the way to the main showroom.

This is merely a section of about 14 ft of ribbons, newspaper clippings, and historical information. I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but I had a lovely chat with Irvin Trujillo, the owner and main weaver. I believe he recognized me as a real weaver. At one point in our conversation, I proudly announced I had been weaving for 48 years. In his quiet and humble manner, he replied that he had only been weaving for 42 years and that he had started weaving when he was 11 years old. After I returned to Seattle and checked out his website, I discovered he was a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow 2007

If this doesn't make you chuckle, it certainly gave me a good laugh. It was like sitting next to a famous person on an airplane and talking with them the whole ride and finding out afterwards you had been chatting up the Queen of England.

The difference between New York City and Santa Fe: In New York when I told people I had been weaving for 48 years, they said "Do people still DO that?"

I am already planning my next trip to Santa Fe.

To be continued:

Unusual Towel Exchange, Woven Labels and Loom Trouble

There is this big wind storm going on outside. Hopefully I won't lose power. The beautiful towel I received from Maureen McGuinness acts as the backdrop for my part of the exchange. Several months ago Maureen (long before the towel exchange) asked me if I had any of my wrapped silk brooches for sale. Alas, I had stopped making them because they were just too labor intense (and I am on this new kick to stop cranking out "stuff"). When Maureen sent me this lovely towel, I asked her if she would rather have a brooch in exchange. She examined some pictures on my website and gave me an idea of the size and colors she liked. I will ship it off today. Maureen is going to send me another towel sometime in the future so that I will also send her a towel.
My only requirement for the towel is some sort of label, so I can remember whose towel I am using. When I first decided (back in the 80's) I needed some sort of label, I hand printed them. I do not have any examples of that label. I began searching for a label company that would produce a custom woven label in reasonable small quantities. I went to the library and searched through the Thomas Registry (now available on line). At that time I found only 6 companies and wrote to them all. Of the 6, only the Minnewawa Label Company in Knoxville Tennessee produced a label that met my requirements. The top label was my first 1000 labels. They lasted me about 10 years. I had a friend redesign the label and ordered another 1000. (the middle label) They took me through the 90's. When I went to order another 1000, I discovered the Minnewawa Label Company was no longer there. I went on line and began another search and found ITC Labels(bottom label) I wish the label was more satiny, but the great part about this company is you can order as few or as many labels as you wish. Plus they send you a sample and you sign off on it before they make the labels.

If there are others out there who have a good label source, I would be interested in passing that along.
So I'm weaving along on my 10 year old Fireside Loom last night thinking how wonderful the piece is coming along---no problems. This morning when I went to start weaving, I noticed the slack tension. I went to give the toggle a little twist (as I have to do from time to time) and noticed THIS!
Words like GAK! ZOT! (a new word sent to me by a weaving friend, Russ) and others too terrible to mention, sprung from my lips.

Well, then I had to chuckle because I have often said there are an infinite number of mistakes to be made in weaving, and this was indeed a first. As you may or may not know, Fireside Looms is now located in Pennsylvania with new owners Larry and Michelle Lesniak(no longer in Washington state in easy driving distance from me). I started to write a pathetic whining email to Michelle, but I decided a phone call would be in order. She was most helpful and a new rope and assembly directions are being FedEx'd to me as I write.

I use my Fireside more heavily than most, so I'm not faulting the rope device for wearing out in 10 years. In fact, the tensioning system was one of the main selling features (along with the worm-drive and the removable breast bar) I didn't see a picture of the removable breast bar, but it is a thing of beauty. Anyone wishing me to take a picture of it and post it, let me know.

So "Gary", the loom has to take a little rest. Fortunately my ikat towel experiment is up and running on Grace, so my practice of weaving every day doesn't have to stop.

Meet Gary

About 10 years ago I decided I had earned a Fireside loom. The loom is cherry wood (horse logged by Amish loggers in the Midwest) 48"wide 8 harness and a custom tilted commuter bench.

In the 10 years I have only used all 8 harnesses once. I finally had to see what the loom would do at full capacity. It was really cool, but I am a plain weaver at heart.

Why did I name my loom Gary, you might wonder? Well, Gary Swett is the maker/owner of Fireside looms, and he hand signed the loom.

Meet Grace

Let me introduce you to Grace, my 32" 4 harness Gilmore. I don't usually name my tools, but I found her at a college that was selling off all of their looms. At the time I had just one loom since my studio is rather small. Grace was so compact and perfect for weaving scarves. I noticed a small metal plaque at the base of harness mount: GIVEN IN MEMORY OF GRACE HOSSACK WEAVER. After some research, I discovered Grace had been Anita Mayer's mentor years ago. I am blessed to have a loom of spirit come to live with me. To make it even more wonderful, the loom came with reeds: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14,15, and 16. I had never seen a 14 or a 16 before. Interestingly enough, for my first 20 years of weaving I only had a 12 dent reed. I guess if a person only has one reed, a 12 would be the one.