Summer of Weaving

There is one copy remaining of the Else Nielsen bookmark edition of Reflections From A Flaxen Past. Thank you WeaveTech members! Seven copies were gone within 48 hours of the announcement on WeaveTech List. I’m hoping that someone will obtain that last copy before the end of the year so I can make the full contribution to OHS. Though I've not been updating my blog, I have had a weaving-full summer, doing a bit of gardening scrubbing and staining deck and generally having a blast. This past weekend we celebrated our daughter's (can't possibly be 50th) birthday. She is holding up astonishingly well.


A 3-shaft self-pleating shawl in handspun Jacobs from my sister's flock, woven for my sister's 80th birthday.  The draft is Erica deRuiter's article in Fabrics that Go Bump.  I had to open the set waaay wider than I expected to get the action with the singles wool.

This was the warp design process for the Belinda handspun scarf.  If I were smart enough, I could get this picture next to the scarf on the loom.



Handspun Merino by guild mate and new spinner Belinda Aguirre was my lucky draw in last year's Christmas exchange.  Here is the piece on the loom.  I sort of trained my eye to get the rhythm of the beat to copy the rhythm of the sleying.

The 'snowflake' draft that friends on WeaveTech List helped me trouble-shoot, here becomes the 'Cross Twill' draft for weaving Corporals and Purificators of 40/1 linen.  To keep my beat consistent, I marked every 60 picks to check if I was staying at one inch.  The interlacement changes from area to area of the pattern requiring a constant adjustment to the force of the beat.  Our beloved Bishop Hebda, now Archbishop in New Jersey, was recipient of the first set.

An exhibit of 13 different napkins in the Australian tartan was rejected from the local juried show, so they will soon be on their way to my friend Kay Faulkner and her daughter Down Under.  Hope they aren't disappointed in receiving rejects.

Our new bathroom's custom-designed rug.  It is actually just folded into the 90 degree turn, though I have woven rugs with  angles to fit in our living toom and diningroom.  The cloth was found in a box in the attic of our Kalamazoo house.  I kept those draperies for over 30 years before finding the perfect use for them.  The look and feel underfoot is like sand.

I have learned that a dowel and asparagus rubberbands -as well as an extra pair of hands - are most helpful in rolling a tight roll of cloth before slicing into 1/2" strips with a French knife.  I then sew the strips together, trim the corners and wind the rug shuttle.

New clothes for my 'teenager's' Morris chair.  He received the yarns and a promise for Christmas 2011.  I did get the tweed tartan woven in 2012, but it took another year for my courage to allow tackling the upholstery job.  I've learned the hard way to not trust anyone else to do my upholstery work.  It actually only took a week, once I decided to just DO IT.  It meets with little Fiona's approval, though she prefers Himself's lap between.

Detail of the upholstery job.

Because I had never woven with singles handspun Jacobs, I wanted to keep an eye on the entire warp. Here, by using two looms plus the Trapeze, I had a most enjoyable and trouble-free weaving of my sister's shawl - plus one for me.

This is another project that happened because of the help of friends.  Marg Coe, Ingrid Boesel and Bob Keates were all involved in helping my poor brain deal with keeping the twill, the tartan pattern, the blocks and the basket-weave (because I "only" have 24 shafts) plain side all working in proper sequence.  I wanted to weave this stole with the Michigan tartan on one side in twill and plain cream on the other, changing places for the cruciform and ground.  This would probably be easy for most weavers, but my vision (and brain) problems made it a serious challenge.  This prototype has some flaws, but I'm thinking I'll solve them on the next one - for one, I'll weave with the tartan side UP so I can track the 45 degree twill angle!

Our local grocer, Hal Neiman is celebrating 30 years and his colorful newspaper ads turned out to quite spinable.  This is a small transprency  trade-mark "N" woven with spun paper.  He was quite tickled to receive the "Spin Off from Local Advertising'.

The Pure Michigan Handspun entry was my only accepted piece in the local juried show.  Here the Jacobs 3-shaft shawl, Belinda's handspun spaced plain weave and a third scarf in plainweave from some rainbow-dyed fleece are on show.

Flamepoint upholstery on the bench.



Flamepoint upholstery on the kneeler.  The trim is three-ply 'rope' in the same wool yarns used in the weaving.  The same trim edges the pad under the statue.



Flamepoint pad under the Marian statue on top of the cross-twill linen piece in the Marian Shrine.  It was an honor to have been asked to do the weavings.  The pieces are dedicated to the memory of the  husbands of two dear  friends from  our parish who 'left for home' this past year.  I gave each of the widows small pieces in the two weaves.

Because of skyrocketing shipping costs, We’ll be having to make some adjustments to the cost structure of the books we fear, come the first of the year. In the meantime - take advantage of current good deals. Till next time - Treadle with Joy, Kati

Special Bookmarked series in memory of Else Nielsen

Seal on the cover of numbered
enhanced copies

Title page with bookmark

Lithuanian linen bookmark detail with
 5-thread pick-up-pattern

Inside back cover tribute to Else Staal Nielsen and attachment of bookmark

There are ten enhanced copies of Reflections from a Flaxen Past: For Love of Lithuanian Weaving that have been prepared with a handwoven, pick-up-pattern bookmark in linen from Lithuanian for the special memory of Else Staal Nielsen, 1929 - 2013, handweaver, organist, teacher, lady, friend. For each copy of these enhanced books purchased, I will donate $10.00 to the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners Scholarship fund in memory of Else Nielson who invited me in the late 1980s to be a guest at her cabin so I could attend a week-long workshop on self-publishing at the Sir Sanford School in Haliburton, Ontario. Because of her interest in and support of this author, I will be forever indebted to her and cherish her friendship and memory.





  

Yes, Australia was wonderful

Australia is still on my mind and in my heart, four months after our return! It was warm, clean, bright, beautiful, filled with new sights, sounds, aromas, and rich with the friendship of Kay Faulkner, her talented daughter and son, and her commitment to showing us her beloved homeland.






John in his new rabbit fur felt Akubra, on the ferry in Sydney Harbor. A tourist from Toronto took the picture for us.



In ten days we pretty well covered the territory from the aboriginal home island of Stradibroke to big-city Brisbane, into the bush (but not the outback), down the interior of New South Wales to Canberra, over to Sidney, up the coast and back to Birkdale outside Brisbane. Hundreds of miles (even more kilometers)about  the distance from Northern Michigan to Georgia, to the Mississippi river and back!

 

 

We walked hours over and around Straddy Island, waded in the South Pacific surf, walked mountain and dune trails, saw Aboriginals piloting boats, walking the streets of Brisbane, riding the trains. We saw great watersprays up through fissures in the rocks along the shore of the great ancient sand-dune of an island. We learned how to ride trains and ferries, we heard Bell Birds at Cunningham’s Gap, picnicked with Wallabies who soar (not hop like the Big Reds) at Girraween National Park. We drove through recently burned but already re-greening lush farm land and many sheep stations. We stopped at roadside stands for fresh-picked stone fruit, saw the Southern Cross, (the constellation that is Australia's symbol)  from the park a short walk from our motel.

 

In Canberra, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, we spent hours enjoying amonumentalToulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the National Gallery. We walked paths and sidewalks through stringy barks and gum trees in profusion with NO bark - just all smooth patchy-colored trunks and branches.


The stringy-bark trees have both round and lancet leaves and bark continually in tatters, exposing smooth tree-skin underneath. There are many 60-foot tall Scheffleras (umbrella trees) with foot-long bundles of beautiful red flowers. (I took pictures to show my five houseplants what they should be doing.) We watched Gallas do their silly somersaults around wires and branches, marveled at the lovely tuneless songs of the butcher birds. We visited Kay’s Sturt teaching studio in Mittagong, explored Sidney by train, foot, and ferry. We saw Emus, horses, sheep and cows.






We visited many museums and here at the glass works, saw 'silk scarves' in glasss



Cutting down Kay's most recent drawn-loom weaving far finer than anything the loom saw when it lived in Michigan!





Kay invited me to cut down her latest piece from the drawloom she imported from my studio and has greatly improved it, as well as giving it a far more interesting weaving life. We dismantled it for a move to Mittagong - the 5th take-down for me - it is pretty easy. Sheila Virgo introduced me to the new modified Merino fiber called Optim. I’ve did find a NA supplier but I’ve not yet spun it.

In Kay's Brisbane (Birkdale), Queensland studio taking apart her Glimakra

 




John and Kay high above the South Pacific and the goat that keeps the shrubs pruned

 




Fitzroy falls, so high that one picture could not contain it all so this is two shots.

 

At Fitzroy Falls we caught a glimpse of the elusive Lyretail (but didn’t see any of the more elusive Platypuses.) Back in Kay’s tour-car she drove up through the Gold Coast. We saw road-kill Wombat, ‘roos grazing the golf courses, escaped "Easter Lilies" lining the roadside ditches for miles. We walked out to the eastern-most point of Australia where a goat prunes the brush on the cliff-side 300 feet above the Pacific surf. We ate fresh cherries, plums and peaches, kangaroo steak, prawns, and lamb burgers. I tried Vegemite on buttered toast with coaching from Kay's kids.

I took about 1,000 pictures and would return at the drop of another $5,000.00 - as soon as I can find it.

Not only is Kay a Master Weaver with vision and energy, she can create a beautiful and delicious Pavlova,

Out of my Office until February 18th

I will be out of my office until February 18th.



Please forgive the delay in responding to any correspondence or orders.



I’ve been weaving, if not keeping my blog updated. I have tweed Michigan tartan upholstery on the loom now and recently finished two very wide 5/2 cotton picnic cloths. That was a test of my reach on Bene Toika - much better than on a treadle loom!



With the computer doing the treadling, I was just barely able to reach the 45 inches!



In November, the Linen Rabbi, Nahum Ben-Yehuda, http://biu.academia.edu/NahumBenYehuda

from Israel visited with his wife. We worked on reproducing some ancient wool fabric, exploring weft face, balanced, warp faced - and some ranges in between. After multiple re-sleyings, I cut to the chase, set up for weft-faced, then stopped using the reed to work the warp narrower, then produce warp faced on the same piece.

On a set warp width weft-faced and weft dominant were possible in both madder and natural.
Then the fun began with a piece that transitioned from weft faced to warp faced.  The labels identify the ppi's.

The Rabbi had sent some singles linen, about 20 lea; some tow, some dry-spun, and some wet spun. We explored how to get any/all of these to weave successfully. The plan came out to a sort of “singles linen tartan”. It did take careful tensioning and a warp dressing to tame the 3 to 4 inch protruding fibers, but yes, every one of the five qualities wove up quite successfully.

The reed marks will be visible for a couple washings yet, but the cloth makes a wonderfully absorbent towel.

Until I return with tales of Australia and Kay Faulkner's two studios......

blog: www.kayfaulkner.wordpress.com   web: www.kayfaulkner.com.au

  Kati

Back after six months

Though I started this update in May, health and a preference for weaving over writing when energy is scarce, is my excuse.

     A New York kind of Spring

Buffalo has a vibrant weaving guild and lucky me had an invitation to ‘play’ Lustrous Linens Workshop with them in April. I believe every participant courageously tried the live weight tension on their warps and LIKED the results. One glorious perk of teaching is being a guest in a weaver’s home. Suanne lives in an historic and glorious condo. I saw her textile treasures, neighborhood redbuds in rampant bloom, Niagra Falls at its outrageous roaring best, and traveled through rural Ontario in spring-bud.



An ancient redbud in Buffalo



Rural Ontario woven brick lace



The Thousand Islands Arts Center Weaving History Conference (weekend after mother’s Day) was a special treat, first, because after a 5 hour drive, I was chauffeured across Ontario. I spun miles of Jacobs grey with my Hansen Crafts mini-Spinner, enjoyed some good conversation with Bob and Martha Reeves, and even got a nap - none of which happens when I drive alone. Thousand Islands Arts Center is a beautiful facility in historic Clayton on the St. Lawrence River, with an ambitious mission to maintain research collections of some of the best of North America’s handweavers. The 2012 Weaving History Conference brought me face to face with Nell Znamierowski, a venerable weaver who was making weaving history in the 60's when I was a beginning weaver, and with Ruth Holroyd, another weaving great, the rescuer and preserver of the Jacob Angstadt weaving records. There were other VIP weavers and researchers, all making for an exciting and rewarding first-time attendance. My little programs on Double-harness weaving without the drawloom and Primitive inspired techniques for modern looms were well-attended with many good questions.

Bead-leno specialist Martha Reeves presented the Thousand Islands Arts Center collection of fine Tarascan Lace, a patterned type of leno.

Gardening is a must when the weather is good and I wove some cedar branch fencing to help keep the deer and rabbits out, though I don’t expect to slow down the bear that climbed 12 steps to our deck the day after my return from Clayton.




The ‘table loom’ I use for weaving fence



The tools I use for weaving fence



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple sections of cedar fencing is serving temporary duty in an installation, accepted into the local juried show, along with a couple other pieces. An honor to be accepted and submitting is part of a continuing campaign to get textiles viewed as artistic statements.

...But you can’t take the weaver out of the potter



Rugfight at the Old Cedar Corral



Pure Michigan Glitz - a frame-up at the Besser Museum Juried Show

 In August a guild mate and I took advantage of a Rep Weave workshop offered at Janny Simpson’s (of Connecticut) new summer teaching studio in Northern Michigan. The Weaving Barn at Lynn Lake is a beautiful setting and we had a stimulating study with Lucienne Coifman - also of Connecticut. Rep weave is a technique I relish but use seldom.

The runner I wove on the end of my workshop warp has Morag’s approval.



 

 

 

 



The Complex Weaver’s Seminars in D.C. was exciting on many levels. Leading two seminars was an honor but participating in the informal fashion show and getting to touch Lillian Whipple’s silk rep cloak was perhaps the highlight, especially as I was fresh from a coarse-cotton rep.



Pilgrimage to Italy and survival of shingles

The pilgrimage to Italy in early November with our Bishop Hebda leading the group, was nine days of walking over  stones and up steps through ancient history, worshiping daily in a different historic church or basilica, touching walls touched by saints, eating (especially gelato and many varieties of bruschetta ), sharing wine with new friends, pacing the eating by the number of forks at the plate, and being amused by the tiny black cars nosed up to the curbs at night, looking like bats hanging from a cave.

Textiles were scarce in the fiber, but plentiful in the art. I saw textiles in fresco - especially marvelous is the restored ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo’s gift for depicting the drape of cloth, and again in stone on his Pieta where a thin veil delicately separates the Virgin’s hand from the flesh of Christ.  Then I was eye-to-toe with his 18-foot tall David (wearing only a look of determination) with a strong and beautiful body and that oversized hand holding a stone. I relished the graceful curves of the paving stones mortared with  mossy threads and the mosaic ribbons climbing a column on an Orvieto church.  I hope for a return visit to seek out more fiber (and leave the shingles attack out of it).

With good ideas from the Braids and Bands Society, I devised a way to play with yarns via the five-finger braid, using my foot as the anchor and a foam disc to keep the loops straight when tucking work away in my purse.  I pre-cut a few dozen yarns to pack along.  This kept my hands occupied and circulation going in my legs while packed into seats on bus and plane.  The braiding also entertained fellow pilgrims, and back home, fellow patients in the doctor's waiting rooms.

Adrenalin and prayer sustained me during the pilgrimage, but once home the shingles and the medications to control pain, itch, and vision loss sapped me of much of my energy, brain and optimism. I managed to weave 6 towels (on an existing warp) for the first ever “Northern Michigan Towel Exchange” arranged by our Colors from Nature workshop leaders.  It took every ounce of my concentration and determination to weave these off, but it was exactly the push I needed.  I’ll plan to show off the exchanged towels in a future post.

Here are three of the towels in bold colors of  6/1 tow linen on a 40/2 cotton warp that I wove for the exchange. The brown one has a border inspired by the wing of the little brown Pine Siskins that have taken over our feeder.  We’ve named the group ‘a quarrel of Siskins’ (akin to ‘’a murder of crows’ and an‘unkindness of ravens’).

Our guild has last year’s new members weaving towels for the exchange and two more new weavers are already on the ‘slippery slope’ of fiber-holism.

The past four months have been the hardest since that illness in my mid 20's precipitated a determination to learn to weave; the start of this 40+ year exciting textile journey.  Now I am focused on using my best yarns first because now I understand that I may not live to 120 (and so use them all).

Happy almost Spring, Kati

February 27, 2012

My long absence from updating my blog lies in a 4-month siege of shingles - in my left eye, forehead, and scalp.  I delayed seeking medical help because ‘it must be an allergy since I had the shingles vaccine years ago’....  In my effort to educate everyone who has ever had chickenpox, get to a doctor at the first notice of a painful blistered patch anywhere on the body.  Shingles rarely attacks an eye or internal organs, but those places are especially dangerous. Shingles can be controlled best if treatment begins within hours of first blisters.

Weaving updates are coming soon - honest