Weaverly

Hands Across the Sea

I've enjoyed a long friendship with weaver Stacey Harvey-Brown, a joyous and intrepid weaver now living and working in France. We first met at Complex Weavers meetings, and have visited back and forth when Stacey was still living in the UK. Her work as a collector and restorer of jacquard looms is well known, and she is a respected teacher and writer. Her innovative woven structures have been widely exhibited. You can read more about her at The Loom Room.

Stacey regularly features the work of fellow weavers on her blog, and she recently published a segment about me. Thanks, Stacey. I'm honored to be included here. There's lots of good reading about Stacey's work and that of other weavers, too.

A Small Book

Finally got something usable from that double weave warp I've been messing with the past few weeks. It's a book cover for a handmade book. The warp (which runs sideways in these pictures) is mercerized 10/2 cotton at 40 epi, The structure is doublecloth, in which the two layers are tied at intervals. The top layer has a weft of coarse hemp in natural, and the structure of the layer is granite weave (a satin derivative). The bottom layer has a weft of blue cotton/linen in 2/2 twill. The hems are tubular double plain weave with the edges turned in and hemmed. The spine area has closely spaced picks of black weft to delineate where the spine stitching will go. The warp has double black stripes every inch or so, also to help with the stitching positions for the spine. This picture shows the top layer, which will be the outside cover of the book:

And here is the bottom layer, which will be the inside front & back covers:

Here you can see both sides of the cover, after the pages have been added:

The finished book, front cover view.

And a closeup of the outiside of the spine, showing the longstitch binding in brown waxed linen thread.

The main challenge of this project was to indicate the location of the spine stitching in the weave structure, and that was accomplished with the black warp & weft stripes. It made the actual binding process very easy!  

Life Around Here, at the Moment

The numbers are not very good this week, and getting worse. I still have a place to walk, however, and for that I am thankful. 

The sun was peeping around a corner this morning. Very coy.

In my kitchen a new tea cozy has appeared. I love hot strong black tea. This cozy was knitted of scraps of handspun. 

And in the studio, weaving is on pause while I finish some sewing projects. Here is a rather nice pocket on a pair of linen pants. It took me several false starts to get the pockets just right, so forgive me for gloating.

Thanksgiving will be quiet. I'm planning to ignore it, really. That's the best thing to do this year. Next year I'll pull out all the stops. 

Dept. of Books: just finished reading Elizabeth Taylor's "The Soul of Kindness." Very fine. She's one of my faves. Also recommended: "The Wedding Group," "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont," and "In a Summer Season."

My Double Life

Like so many of us these days I feel as though I'm leading a double life.

Is that you too?

Yesterday I had a loom malfunction, not a tragedy in the big picture, but it stopped me in my tracks. Help is on the way. I should be up and running today or tomorrow. Meanwhile, I keep moving. I have a new supply of rye flour, lucky me, and I made this:

Now I think I'll organize my yarn shelves, which are all topsy-turvy, and then clean and oil my sewing machine.

First Pics

Note to self: stop admiring your new warp and get to work.




Time for a break.

Today is a no TV day. It feels great!

The Joy of Warps

In my weaving universe, there's nothing more exciting than making a new warp. Planning it, designing it, winding it, all the stuff that comes before the actual weaving. In fact, some times the weaving itself is a letdown.

Today's warp is for some new book covers in doublecloth.

It's quite a complex color order, with many changes from end to end. Lotsa knots.


I warp two ends at a time. 

The warp winding feature in TempoWeave is extremely helpful in this operation. Invaluable, really.

Isn't that a beauty?

I pause for lunch and admire the afternoon shadows in the back yard.

A Little Book

As you may have guessed, I've been working on a little book recently. Weaving the pages has helped me maintain the hold on my sanity during the current political climate. Last night I finally completed the binding, and I'd like you to be among the first to see it complete:

https://vimeo.com/478093176

Here's the cover while still on the loom, a little closer up:

The cover is stitched double cloth...

...and the pages are twelve variations of double weave on 16 shafts. Sort of an old fashioned sample book. There are some more details included with the video in the link above. Take a look. It's short.

And life goes on. The sun rises and sets, sometimes a bit of blue sky peeps through, and my plants are thriving after having been brought inside for the season.

How are you?

Here and Now

A little design in shaded satins:

...and in blue, an original overshot draft entitled "Election Day."

 

Holding My Breath

There are no words. Well maybe one word. Patience.

Double

Pages for a book? Double weave, one layer 8-end satin, the other layer sometimes plain weave, sometimes twill.

The narrow brown strip will be the spine.

Meanwhile, trying to stay sane until Tuesday and beyond.