Weaverly

Red Heddle, Monochrome Warp

The Red Heddle. Now doesn't that sound like a good title for a movie? There was certainly plenty of drama involved in its installation. Maybe a bad word or two. A challenge to my character. 

But the excitement is over. Now I am weaving a few yards of hemp weft (white) on this natural cottolin warp. The pattern barely shows up unless you light it from the side. But as in most things weaving, it will look better after it's washed.

Here's a closer view. Click to enlarge. 36 epi and 36 ppi. My spell checker insists on "correcting" epi into something else. Bad dog!

For the curious: amalgamation. Eight shafts.

Something Spiky and Something Soft

Get your greens today! Here's some new green in my front yard, displaying a wonderful contrast with the old green. I love their spikiness, and the fact that they look like a hastily wrapped birthday present. Happy birthday, you-know-who.

Now down to the studio. My 8-shaft loom is finally reassembled after its move, and it's in perfect working order. I put on a new warp this week, cottolin, for some amalgamation samples. It looks like an underwater pattern, quintessential network drafting. Click to enlarge.

And come even closer:

An Anniversary

This year marks an anniversary for me: twenty-five years since the initial publication of Network Drafting: An Introduction. There were four printings of the physical book: 1994, 1995, 1997, and 2001, and in 2008 the book entered its second life as print-on-demand at Lulu.com. It's still going strong! See sidebar for ordering information.

To celebrate this anniversary, I'll be teaching a workshop in Network Drafting this spring at LoftyFiber in Easley, SC. It seems appropriate to share the topic with a new generation of weavers! Dates are  May 9 - 11, 2019.

And from high tech to low tech, here are a few snapshots of my rigid heddle class at OLLI, Furman University. These ten weavers, some new to weaving and some old hands, are enjoying pushing this unassuming tool to new levels. I'm learning a lot from them, too, which is one of the great joys of teaching.

Meanwhile, back at the studio, a new warp is underway for my 16 shaft loom. It will be for another group of studies in the amalgamation series.

 

A Rescue Operation

A little teaching sample on my rigid heddle loom has had an interesting life trajectory this week. I had warped the loom with leftover bits of 10/2 cotton in a striped arrangement and used it to show different parts of the loom and introduce some weaving terminology.  I was about to toss the whole thing in the trash after class, but decided to weave it off that evening. I thought it would serve as a good example of joining two lengths of cloth with a triple stitch I am fond of.

But much to my surprise, even though all the warp threads are 10/2 cotton, after washing they shrank at different rates. Evidently they were from different manufacturers.

Undaunted, I trimmed the curvy ends with a straight edge and rotary blade, and hemmed them with a facing. 

Well, that was fun!

Complementary Colors

There are some enthusiastic artists at work in my local grocery. They definitely have the color wheel nailed down, particularly when it comes to dark green and red-orange. They are all ready for a certain football event. I hope all those tomatoes and avocados last until February 3

And I do my own color thing in the kitchen. I believe you'd call this a split complementary. These, plus the beef, went into an excellent beef stew. The parsnips were a big plus. Don't you love the fragrance of a fresh parsnip?

Meanwhile, in the studio, complementary colors have appeared on the rigid heddle loom. This is an experiment in clasped warps, viewed from the back of the loom.

Here's the front of the loom, with weaving in progress. So far, so good.

Emerging

The third amalgamation warp is a wrap. Samples hemmed, washed, ironed, and laid out on my cutting board for a quick photo. These are from a 16-shaft draft. Click to enlarge.

I think the next amalgamation warp will be for my 8-shaft lobby loom, but I need a few more heddles for that loom. They're on order. At least I can wind a new warp in preparation. Now here's a picture of something that can't wait:

My daffodils are emerging! Even if we have a couple of frosts, I think most of them will make it. These gals are tough.

Ketchup

Getting close to the end of this warp, I began foraging for one more weft color. I found a cone of forgotten 16/2 cotton tucked at the back of a shelf at the tippy top of my cotton stash. It looked like a an ordinary coral color on the cone, but after weaving it on the lavender warp, it took on the appearance of ketchup!

And that does it for now. I cut off the cloth, and will work on hemming this evening. Ten amalgamation samples! 

Still reading: Barbara Tuchman's "Stilwell and the American Experience in China." An oldie but goodie.