Weaverly

White Salamander

A new lampas structure, new yarns, new aspect ratio trial, but an old salamander. This fellow was captured (digitally) in Florida years ago, and he has made his appearance many times on my loom. He turns this way and that, he gets bigger or smaller, he changes color. And he doesn't eat much!

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Making Waves

Blue

Just Because

 

The Miniature World of Trains recently opened its new location in Greenville. It's the largest most technically advanced HO Scale Model Railroad in North America. The above video shows only a small part of the huge display. You can see a simulation of downtown Greenville in the rear, with functioning traffic lights! Adults and children alike will find this a fascinating place to visit.

That little blue warehouse looks about the right size for a weaving studio, with perhaps a couple of HO Scale dobby looms and a spinning wheel or two. Hm-m-m...

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and weaverly holiday season and a good New Year.

A New Band

I found this scrap of notepaper buried in one of the stacks on my desk, and thought the draft had potential.

I warped it up over the weekend, and wove the first few inches.

It was my personal way of observing the solstice. 

Buffalo

Sandwiches made? Check. Water bottles filled? Check. Time to hop in the car for a drive to Buffalo, SC.

This Romanesque Revival tower (and a companion tower) is all that remains of the Buffalo Cotton Textile Mill. Population of Buffalo was 1266 in 2010, and that was down 11% from the 2000 census.

After our picnic lunch, we drove a few miles east to Union for a photo shoot and some sketching, and enjoyed what was left of the brilliant afternoon sun. It makes some wonderful shadows.

Patience Rewarded

There were a few more mishaps with the ill-starred warp from my previous post, but this morning it finally all came together. I was able to do a bit of pick-up lampas on my 4-shaft loom. Both layers are plain weave, but there is nice crisp contrast between the weaves. 

It's slow going, but very pleasant once you get in the rhythm of it. Music helps. 

With a lovely, slender pick-up stick and a flat stick shuttle, I am just able to navigate the small shed. 

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In Which We Rearrange the Blocks

Mrs. Mixup's Merry Morning

First there was this warp, a combination of brown cotton and light blue silk. When chained up, it looks like something the dog left at the curb, you must admit.

But I got past that, and raddled it and wound it on the warp beam of a 4-shaft loom. It will be for a another sample of pickup lampas, with plain weave in both layers.

It was at that point I realized I didn't have enough heddles on shafts 3 and 4, but no way was I going to start switching around heddles. I recalculated and dropped an inch of warp from each side. I started threading heddles.

Then I realized I'd made the classic stupid weaver's mistake: routed the warp from warp beam directly to heddles without going over the back beam. Aargh! Unthreaded the heddles, rerouted the warp, then began threading again.

Then I noticed that I'd miscalculated the warp density, and that the remaining width of warp was not spread out at the correct width on the warp beam. Oy vey. I can fix that after I've finished threading and sleying. I plan to unwind the warp and rewind it at the correct width. What else can possibly go wrong?

 

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A Second Lampas Sample Warp

End of Warp Decisions

Something New

Lampas, How Do I Love Thee

New Classes

I've just posted two new classes on the sidebar. In January I'll be doing a tablet weaving class at OLLI. It will run once a week for eight weeks, with three hours per session.

In June I'll be offering a lampas seminar at Complex Weavers 2016. More information in the sidebar. 

 

 

Tying up Loose Ends

Call this cleanup day. i've been finishing up odd projects and clearing the decks (or looms, I should say) for new work.

First the towels: the last four were hemmed, pressed, and boxed.

Then I cleared off the inkle loom. This tablet woven project had a monochromatic warp, and the pattern interest came from switching rotation sequences. Subtle, but I think it's interesting. Click to enlarge.

The other day I mentioned pickup lampas. Thought you'd  like to see a picture of the forced shed for pickup. Very narrow, but with care, workable. You might want to enlarge this one too.

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End of Warp Decisions

Another Point of View

Red and White

A little warp to sample an arcane technique: pickup lampas. 5/2 natural mercerized cotton and 60/2 red silk, in a 2/1 ratio. Two ends cotton & 1 end silk in each dent of a 10/dent reed.

Warped on an 8-shaft loom with 5-end satin for the primary cloth and 3-end twill secondary. The picked-up shed is very teensy but doable with a flat shuttle.

Now off to make a decision about potato latkes. I almost said potato lampas. Oops.

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A Bigger Piece

Pattern Recognition