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
Weave Brocade On Your Rigid Heddle Loom
Acquire new rigid heddle skills in a class for intermediate rigid heddle weavers or intrepid beginners. We will focus on indirect warping, the creation and use of string heddles, and the pickup stick, while learning to weave brocade motifs in supplementary wefts on a plain weave ground. Intensive three-hour class, eight weeks. Jan. 13 - March 9, 2020 at OLLI, Furman University.
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.
From time to time I've tried to teach her to knit, but she would work with it for a few minutes, then drop it for something else. It really didn't "take." Two years passed. Then over the weekend, while she was watching me spin, she suddenly asked me, "Do you know where that red ball of wool with the yellow needles is?" We went down to the studio and searched under stacks of yarn and found it. I gave her a quick review of the basic knit stitch and she was off and running.
The difference between her new knitting and her old knitting was dramatic; something had clicked. She completed a few inches, and commented, "This is very absorbing. You forget about everything else while you're knitting! It would be a great stress reliever." Then she knit some more.
Back to the hanten. I placed the fronts & sleeves on the back piece, and then laid a folded black cotton fabric on top to judge the effect of a plain collar band. The commercial fabric was all wrong, I will have to weave another piece for this jacket. Not the same fabric, of course. I think it will be a plain weave in black cotton warp & weft, with a few random stripes of red & green placed in the warp--the red & green yarns are still in my stash.
The problem is that no looms are vacant. This hanten will have to go on the back burner for a while. In other words, another UFO.
A funny thing happened this week. One of my spinning wheels found a new home and I had to quickly finish spinning & plying this batch of gray wool in order to empty the bobbins. It was nonstop spinning for a few days, but I got it done.
That's right, today is National Waffle Day in the U.S.; here is more information than you want, but I point you to it just in case.
I plan to observe National Waffle Day by drying the dishes with this hemp waffle-and-plain-weave dishtowel, woven in 1997 and in constant use since then.
You can find an article I wrote about this towel and about waffle weave in general in Weaver's 36, (out of print). or on p. 52 in The Best of Weaver's: Fabrics That Go Bump. Sixteen shafts, network drafting.
It is time to cut up the yardage from a few months ago and make something of it. I'd like a new hanten type jacket. Unfortunately, my fabric shrunk to 11 inches wide, and some piecing has to be done. I cut some strips from the hanten front sections and spliced them in between the back sections. Then I think I will splice in some plain black fabric (to be purchased) to make the fronts wide enough, and also make the collar strip from black fabric. There is enough of the handwoven for sleeves. Maybe even for a pocket. I know pockets are not traditional, but where else to put my cell phone?
My beat is not consistent, so you can see some pattern shift in the center back seam, as you go from the top to the bottom. I'm not bothered by it; I'm certainly amused.
Too much Olympics, no doubt. I get a lot of spinning done in front of the TV, but you've seen a full bobbin before. So how about the latest loaf? Part sprouted wheat flour, part unbleached all-purpose flour.
And the defining moment:
Always time for a few more variations of the current draft. The first one is a pseudo-plaid, and the second? This all depends on the yarn & sett, of course.
Years ago a friend, now deceased, who manufactured women's housecoats (does anyone use that word anymore?) gave me a cone of red cotton tape, the kind used to applique fancy collar designs. I've used it for the many tying jobs in the studio, like holding lease sticks together, putting chokes on warp chains, etc. Actually the studio is now full of these little pieces of red tape, doing their job to keep me organized. And every time I see a glint of that special red, I think of my friend.
Work is going forward on the yellow warp. I misspoke myself when I said it was 300 ends; it's more like 450. I spread it in the raddle on my Louet 16-shaft loom.
At first I found the Louet raddles oddly positioned, on top of the castle, but I've gotten used to them.
Beam me up, Scotty. Now the tying on behind the heddles.
Order out of chaos. Lots of red tape here!
I never fail to be amazed when I get to this point.
This is the threading I'm continuing. For the weave, here's a structure that will give little spots of warp & weft floats in a crude checkerboard effect.
For the weft, I found a cone of 18/2 hemp in my stash. I know from past experience that this yarn will soften up considerably after washing, and I expect to have a nice piece of garment-weight cloth when I'm finished. On the loom it's hard to see the pattern, but with a little bit of sidelighting it shows up.
Interestingly, there is no draw-in while weaving this cloth. That's probably because the hemp is so stiff in its present state. So no temple is needed. It should go quickly.
Yesterday I cut off a project from the 16-shaft loom. Into the washer & dryer it went, and after the rain stopped this afternoon I was able to take it outside for a quick snapshot.
While on the loom it was stiff and scratchy, but after its bath it bloomed into a lovely drapable textile. Warp is cotton, ground weft ultra-fine pima & merino blend, and brocade weft 2-ply shiny silk. This one is for me, a lightweight "restaurant shawl." I think I've met my goal of a brocade textile with a light and airy hand.
I hate to leave a naked loom, especially with visitors coming soon, so I wound a new warp to tie on to the old one:
And with any luck, I'll get it beamed tomorrow & start the tying on. It's only 300 ends, so it shouldn't take too long.
Another book cover in brocade. These will all be coated on the reverse side with acrylic matte medium when the time comes.
The idea here was to have the circles peeking out sometimes from behind the white strands & sometimes from behind the beige strands. Kind of a seaweedy effect. One brocade weft is beige bamboo, the other is stranded white Japanese cotton. The ground weft is fine pale green silk, barely visible.
And in keeping with the circles theme (also in tune with today's color palette), I hereby present the daily loaf:
If you thump this one on the bottom, it has a good hollow "clunk."
Yesterday I attended the launch ceremony of the new fiber arts program at the Greenville Fine Arts Center. It's an historic initiative: the first-in-the-nation high school program focusing on the fiber arts. The two-year curriculum, designed with help from professors at N.C. State University, will lead to college credit or as a portal to design jobs in the textile industry. The program is funded by multiple Upstate South Carolina companies, and the Greenville County Schools agreed to fund the salary for a teacher and paid for a studio renovation.
At the festivities I spoke briefly with April Dauscha, the new fiber arts teacher. She indicated that weaving instruction doesn't start until the second year of the program. The twelve new textile students will arrive next week and begin their studies in knitting, dyeing, spinning, surface design, embroidery, and more.
As this will be a wraparound cover for a longstitch book, I tweaked the lines into a curve in the flap area. It's one of the perks of working on a jacquard loom. Photoshop's liquify filter is one of my best friends.
Warp is black cotton, ground weft fine pale green silk, brocade wefts red lyocel and natural handspun tussah silk singles.