I'm Alice Schlein, a weaver in South Carolina. A few times a week I write about my weaving, Network Drafting, Amalgamation, bread baking, my morning walks, and whatever else strikes my fancy. Thanks for stopping by! Comments are welcome.
Classes
Lecture: "My Weaving Life So Far"
Weavers Guild of Boston, Wed., Sept. 15, Virtual lecture, open to the public. Register online, registration closes Sept. 12.
Go to weaversguildofboston.org, Meetings, Register for a Zoom Meeting, September 15 Meeting, Register Now, RSVP.
Books
The Woven Pixel: Designing for Jacquard and Dobby Looms Using Photoshop® Co-authored by Alice Schlein and Bhakti Ziek. 362 pages, many illustrations. Now available for free download on handweaving.net. The accompanying CD with 1400 pattern presets is not included with the free download, but may be purchased separately. Email me at aschlein[at]att[dot]net for more information.
Network Drafting: An Introduction By Alice Schlein. Break away from the block. Curves for your dobby loom. Originally published in 1994, now available as print-on-demand from www.lulu.com.
Monographs
Amalgamation: Double Your Dobby 24-pages of text, diagrams, and color photographs, in pdf format for download. Create drafts for 8 or more shafts in half-drop or brick arrangements which would normally require twice the number of shafts. Related to network drafting, this is a technique for intermediate or advanced weavers with dobby looms or multi-shaft table looms. Includes guidelines for amalgamation with three current weaving applications. View on a computer, or print out one copy for your own use. USD$21. via PayPal. Email aschlein[at]att[dot]net and indicate your preferred email address for PayPal.
Lampas for Shaft Looms Class notes from Complex Weavers Seminars 2016, newly revised and formatted, in pdf form for download. A review of methods for designing your own lampas fabrics for treadle looms, table looms, and dobbies, eight shafts and above. Over 90 color photos of actual fabrics with drafts. Includes info on pickup lampas and a lampas bibliography. View on a computer, or print out one copy for your own use. USD$21. via PayPal. Email aschlein[at]att[dot]net for ordering info.
A Crepe Is Not Just a Pancake 52 pages of text, b&w and color diagrams, and drafts for multishaft tradle & dobby looms. Many color photos of actual cloth. Methods for drafting your own crepe weaves. Annotated bibliography. Pdf available for immediate download. $21. USD. Payment by PayPal. Email me at aschlein[at]att[dot]net for payment instructions.
Echo Weave Based on the 1996 article in Weaver's, Issue 32. With brand new diagrams and high resolution scans of original fabrics. Pdf available for immediate download. $7. USD. Payment by PayPal. Email me at aschlein[at]att[dot]net for payment instructions.
On this dark, weatherish day, when flash flood warnings are beeping on all my devices, I take a few minutes to check that the creek in the back is still within its banks. Then I continue weaving. The cloth beam on the little loom is building up so far that it's necessary to cut the first three pillows off this warp and retie. Yards and yards, for both sides of the long narrow pillows; random stripes of handspun yarn. I dump the mess of fabric on the floor in a fiber puddle, and I am suddenly amazed at the unexpected new arrangement of stripes. Then I play with it some more, and rearrange, and fold, and cut & serge, and fold, and play some more. Another day and I will stitch & stuff the pillows, but here are the stripes for now. Enjoy!
First there was the Saturday Farmers' Market, downtown. This blanket was part of someone's food display, but it spoke to me especially. Looks like coarse wool embroidery on a handspun, handwoven background.
Then this lovely display of handspun, hand dyed merino from Merciful Hearts Farm:
And this reminded me of fiber. You can see where I'm coming from.
Then on to the car show, held once a month in the Michelin parking lot. Fiber? That's stretching things a bit, but I think this qualifies:
Downstairs I am cleaning up the studio again. After each frenzy of activity the mess is worse, by record levels. In sports terms, I am always exceeding my personal best. Or personal worst; it's a toss-up.
Meanwhile upstairs Mark is putting in a new door. When he took a break to pick up his kids, he thoughtfully taped over the openings to keep the cool inside. Beautiful!
I'm a long time member of Complex Weavers, and it's always a good day when the Journal arrives, or there's a new posting from a study group.
You can imagine my astonishment when I received the following brochure in the mail yesterday.
On second thought, maybe that's not such a bad idea. Combine seminars with sightings of animals. You know, zebras in the morning, stripe theory in the afternoon; leopards in the morning, Spot Bronson in the afternoon. Perhaps some elephants followed by an evening trunk show. Are you listening, Board of Directors?
If you saw my post of June 7, you may remember the photo of Teena's inkle loom built of PVC pipe (scroll down to the fifth picture). Teena shared the link to Weaving Today's free download of a reprint of Sharon Kersten's article on building an inkle loom out of PVC pipe.
Well, one thing led to another, and in my experiments to find various ways of setting up tablet weaving projects, I decided to build the pipe loom, minus the shed roll and heddle bar, as a way of holding tablet warps. For an expenditure of under $17.00 at Home Depot and Ace Hardware, I purchased the pipe and hardware for my own loom. It was easy to build and works like a dream.
Now here's the Full Disclosure. I found cutting PVC pipe with my hacksaw a great PITB, so for the cost of two additional looms (which I plan to amortize later) I made another purchase, a pipe cutter. This is my new best friend:
The weaving universe is full of looms moving from home to home. At any given moment, who knows how many looms are leaving factory or home studio to either molder away unsung or land in a loving environment where someone will cherish them and use them wisely. This morning the kiddies and I went to the Upcountry History Museum to check out the exhibit commemorating the War of 1812 and the siege of Fort McHenry (Francis Scott Key's inspiration for The Star Spangled Banner).
While there I couldn't resist another look at the permanent exhibit honoring Greenville's textile history, and this nicely restored Draper loom. Greenville was once home to thousands of these looms, but when I moved here in the Seventies, I saw field after field of these rusting away in the open air. A few were rescued, as this one in UHM's galleries:
My studio has been temporary home to some choice looms (none as big as the Draper) and all have found good situations. An 8-shaft custom-built oak loom, which I was unable to operate after an automobile accident ended my treadling days, found a good home with an athletic weaver who subsequently wove literally miles of fabric on it. A 60" rug loom likewise found a good home with a fit young weaver. Two dobby looms are now in use with other weavers who appreciate their capabilities at least as much as I did. I purchased three used 4-shaft looms from a person who was giving up weaving, thinking I would like to give classes in my studio. That idea didn't come to fruition, but one of those looms took up temporary residence with a loved family member for a while. Her selvedges were perfect (you know who you are!); nevertheless all three looms eventually moved on, too. I like to think of all these looms, large and small, as taking part in the Great Loom Migration.
And now there is another loom looking for the right home. The time has come to give up my 40-shaft dobby loom with computer interface. Perhaps you are the perfect person for this loom. Download a pdf file with more information and pictures here.
This morning on my walk I caught that in between moment, when the moon is disappearing and the sun is rising. On the first step out the door, posing coyly between the treetops, Ms. Moon:
Then a few minutes later, boom! the sun made its appearance over the neighbor's roof and reflected off the top of his car and briefly highlighted a manhole cover in front of my mailbox:
Kind of my own personal Stonehenge. What does it mean? I think it's telling me to get back to the loom.
I'm tying on to the previous networked warp, but this time the warp is going to be uniform stripes conforming to the repeats in the threading; a less random and more crisp treatment.