Exchange Rate Discount

 

As the book auction begins to wind up, I'd like to remind people that if you are in the US, the prices listed in the auction are *Canadian* dollars.  So you get an automatic exchange rate 'discount'.  How much?  Dunno.  The exchange rate fluctuates, so it depends.

And *I* have zero control over the exchange rate, just saying.

I have begun culling books from the auction, beginning with my lace books (which I used to test the site).  Those books have been relisted twice and apparently no one is much interested so I am removing them and will think about how else I can get them into other hands.

Once I'm over the hump of getting the bundles of books currently waiting for their auctions to end, and get them out of my hair, I will begin culling the weaving books, too.  Again, I may look at other options for re-homing them.

I told my spouse before the auction began that I estimated that it would require about 100 hours of volunteer time to sell Allison's books.  And I'm right on track with how much time I've already spent preparing for the auction, then doing the listings, and monitoring the site answering questions.  The most popular one being if I will ship multiple purchases to the same address can they get a 'break' on the shipping.  Yes, of course.  Which simply means a lot more work on my part to track those, and make sure I get the books to the correct person, then issue refunds for the shipping once I have the final receipt from Canada Post.

And no, eBay, I won't add a US carrier to make things more convenient for US purchasers.  Canada Post does a good job and I know how their systems work, I'll stick with that, thankyouverymuch.

But all of this re-homing of Allison's books is reminding me that I really, truly, need to face the fact that I have way too many books and need to begin thinking about my own studio stuff.

I'm just not ready to begin downsizing things like books.  

I do, however, currently have a younger person willing to help with getting rid of my things.  I suggest that if you don't, maybe you should make friends with someone who will act as your studio executrix, or better yet, do it while you are still alive and can help make those decisions.  I'm finding it quite satisfying to see Allison's books go to younger hands and hope that these books will be loved for many more years to come.

Sunny Day

 

Yesterday a parcel arrived in the mail.  When I got home from the dentist, it was waiting in the mailbox and I sat down to open it and discovered this lovely bit of sunshine in the form of two tatted doilies.

Now, I never did grasp the 'secret' of tatting - I could never get the knots to set properly - but I am familiar enough with the technique to appreciate the delicacy and consistency of these lovely textiles.

There was also a note with them.  A note that definitely warmed the cockles of my heart.

In many ways, sitting down here at the desktop letting my thoughts ramble around feels, well, I don't know how to explain how it feels when I write my blog posts.

I know that there are people 'out there' who read what I write, some of them regularly, some less so.  Some let me know that my technical posts are useful, helpful, and honestly that was what I was hoping for when I started this 'conversation' in 2008.  

I've been on the 'net since 1994, long before Facebook or other social media sites.  I enjoy helping people.  But I soon learned that unsolicited advice wasn't always welcome.  Rather than horn in on a conversation in groups, I decided to put what I had to say here - my site, my opinions - as someone put it.  

I'm the first to admit that not everyone agrees with me on everything.  And that's fine.  I just don't need to get into slanging matches with others.  Either they agree with me or they don't, no need to get petty about it.  Besides, change one thing, everything can change.

Someone commented recently about the 'discussions' I would have on a group we both belonged to.  There were times that I would offer my advice/opinion and would immediately get shut down (or so they thought) by someone vehemently disagreeing with me.

One instance was someone asking how to adjust their AVL in order to achieve greater tension on the warp.  I hesitated to answer because while I did just what they wanted to do, I knew it was NOT recommended by AVL.  After waiting for someone else to answer the question, but no one really addressing what the original poster asked, I finally chimed in and told him what I did in order to do what he wanted.

About 5 or 6 guys (yes, they were all guys) immediately lambasted me saying I didn't know what I was talking about and even suggested, very forcefully, that before I damaged my loom I needed to go, post haste, to the AVL school and find out how to use my loom 'properly'.

By this point in time I had been weaving on my AVL for nearly 20 years, in exactly the way I had explained.  While I'm sure these 'johnny com lately' weavers had been weaving on an AVL for a few years, I'm also quite sure none of them could match my output (at the time).  And I was doing it in exactly the fashion I had outlined.

I read through their admonishments and shrugged and went back to the loom.

When I came back I discovered that Allen  Fannin (who I agreed to disagree with him on several fronts, but never felt that he talked down to me like the dude bros had been doing) said that while we did agree to disagree on a number of things, when I answered a question people should pay attention because "Laura knows what she is talking about".

The lovely person who sent these doilies has been very encouraging and supportive, even though they are not a weaver, but does other textiles arts.  They thanked me for my writing, saying that they frequently learn 'something' even though I mostly discuss weaving.

But that's the thing.  The principles that apply to weaving also, in large part, apply to other textile crafts.  Because we are all working with 'string'.  And that 'string' is made from fibres, and those fibres have been spun into yarn.  

So a lot of the things I say about weaving can also be said about, for example, tatting - if you can't be perfect, be consistent.  A thread under tension is a thread under control.  

And as a person working in the creative field, others in different creative fields may also find lessons that apply to them, too.

I'm just finishing reading The Real Work; the mystery of mastery by Adam Gopnik.  And even though he doesn't talk about weaving, he talks about learning.  About paying attention.  About 'flow'.  And I think about how all of those lessons he is talking about are applicable to any process that requires skill - and that pretty much means anything human beings do.

I haven't decided where to use these doilies.  They are so pretty I'm tempted to frame them.  But I'm also a huge believer in *using* useable things, not 'saving' them for 'good'.

Lately I've been posting nearly daily, and like a pebble I toss my thoughts out 'there', never knowing where the ripples will end up.  And sometimes, those wavelets come back to me and I know that someone, somewhere, has read what I said and taken something of value for themselves. 

And I feel like I have 'permission' to keep tossing thought pebbles out there, never knowing where they will go, and how they will return...

Approaching the Finish Line

 

The Larsen books.

These are the five books by Jack Lenor Larsen (with others) that Allison had in her collection.  I feel sad that so few 'new' weavers are aware of his contribution to the textile world and community.  What can I say?  The books are gorgeous and if someone is looking for inspiration, they would not go amiss in having these books.

The two with Mildred Constantine are truly 'coffee table' books.  Large format, wonderful photographs.  Material Wealth is fabulous.  For all those people who say 'commercially' produced fabrics are poor quality - well, this book puts the lie to that statement.

The other 'inspiration' book Allison had is the Ann Sutton book.  There are times when just paging through such books can fill up the well of creativity.  There is much to admire in these books and I'm hoping that a guild somewhere will invest in them for their members to use.

The memoir is signed by Larsen, for anyone who likes that thread of connection.  

This morning someone tagged me saying that they had half-remembered an article produced by WeaveZine and when they found it realized that it had been written by me.  And thanked me for being a good resource.  

If I have done nothing else, I hope that I will be leaving behind good information for others.  I mean, what else can one hope for, other than being regarded a person who wanted to help?  (Someone emailed me yesterday to say that they have adopted the technique of tying a slip knot into their threading groups and are finding it makes the sleying go much easier.  Yes!  Me, too!)

In this day and age where caring for others seems to be being discouraged, I will continue to help, as best I can.

But I am also reaching the end of the amount of time and effort I'm willing to put into this effort to re-home Allison's books.  If nothing else, I'm hoping some guilds will invest in some of these books because they represent - in many ways - our history.  And knowing our history, understanding our ancestors both near and far) and keeping our history alive seems like A Good Thing.

Thank you to all who have bid, so far.  I have been sending packages off nearly every day, hoping that these books will continue to provide inspiration and connection for many more years to come.

Pleasant Surprises

 

This was not the book I was going to write about here, today.  I was, in fact, going to talk about Jack Lenor Larsen - a contemporary of Mariette Rouseau-Vermette.

I've told stories about my (brief) encounters with both, I think in my memoir A Thread Runs Through It.  I've certainly talked about each at one time or another, possibly even here.

But neither were particularly on my mind when I logged into my public library website looking for a new book by Kate Heartfield, due out in September, according to the announcement I saw on Facebook a few minutes ago.  (If you like historical stories imbued with fantasy/magic, you'll probably love Heartfield.)

I put the title of Kate's book into the search bar, but since the library doesn't yet have a copy of that, the search results spit up a bunch of books that didn't seem very connected to my search.  But!  There it was.  The biography of Mariette Rouseau-Vermette.  And it was already in the collection so of course I snagged it.

As soon as I saw it, I thought about Jack Lenor Larsen, which was who I was going to talk about in today's blog post, because Allison had a number of his books about contemporary art, textiles for interiors, his memoir, etc.  

And I also saw a notice from a weaver in New York today about Jack Lenor Larse.  And somehow all of those things snapped together and, well, here I am.

Newer weavers may not know who Larsen was, and the contribution he made to modern textiles.  He studied with Dorothy Liebes, just like Rouseau-Vermette.  And as I thought about those tendrils of connections, I thought once again about how, well, a thread runs through all of it.

Larsen put together a large number of books, some with Mildred Constantine (two of which are in the current guild eBay auction - just saying).  He was an advocate for textiles of all sorts.  And I managed to convince him to do the keynote speech at the ANWG conference held here in 1997 - because as he put it, I'd asked him 5 years in advance and he couldn't think of a reason to say no.  

Both Rouseau-Vermette and Larsen were of the preceding generation of weaver/artists/designers and sadly seem to have disappeared into the wings.

But we are our history, and both of these people made significant contributions to textiles and art/design.

I really hope someone buys Larsen's books.  And I hope that people will search out Rouseau-Vermette's bio.

We stand on the shoulders of giants.  These are but two of them.

Next!

 

Draft shown on desktop screen 

I'm over the halfway mark on the current warp so it is time to get the next warp designed.  This warp will be two shades of beige and the fine linen from Lithuania will be woven on it.  I think the two cones of linen will finish off one warp, although I may run out.  In that case I have some other fairly fine linen I can switch to using, or I could complete the rest of the warp with one of the 2/16 cotton yarns I'm trying to use up.  If that is the case, I will adjust the tie up so that there are fewer interlacements.  

The linen is finer than the 2/16 cotton, so I've incorporated plain weave in this version, but it could easily be changed, if necessary, to accommodate the cotton.

With the two faces of the cloth looking quite different - one side will be warp emphasis, the other weft emphasis, I'm probably going to use the cotton and the 'right' side. 

If I need to change to cotton to finish this warp, the two sides of the cloth will be more equal.

I took the draft out of Ars Textrina - one of the old German weaving pattern books translated by Pat Hilts - but changed the arrangement of the repeats, then changed the transitions between the motifs and added 'borders' to the sides, and hem areas to the beginning and end.  So, not entirely my original work, but changed significantly enough I don't feel any compunction about doing this kind of jigging of a draft designed, potentially in the 1600s, although who knows, the German weaver might not have made it originally but did the same thing I just did and drew on the work of a previous weaver.

The book auction is humming along.  Today most of the purchases were made by people with active bids on other books so I only had one parcel to package and mail.  I also had massage this afternoon and feel like I've been run over (sort of), so I worked on this draft, then worked on the article for School of Sweet Georgia.  I will let it sit for a few days now, then look for the illustrations to go with it.  Perhaps I'll send it to a friend to alpha read it for me, make sure I've fixed the typos and that I've worded things clearly enough.  The due date is May, and May is fast approaching.  Today was a good day to do some wordsmithing.

But now?  Now I think it is nap o'clock.  Doug has been working on the cutlery drawer in the kitchen.  Maybe when I get up he'll be done his fix-it work.

Repeats

 

Yesterday the auction for the copy of Handloom Weaving Technology closed so last night I listed another copy.  (Allison had 3 copies in her collection.)

Not all of the books are getting bids, and eBay automatically re-lists them.  Right now I'm letting the listings stand without change in hopes that word will reach that one person who wants that book.

The challenge these days is that the cost of shipping has increased exponentially, especially to the US (given Mr. Trump pulled the US out of the postal agreement - just in case you want to know who to blame for that huge increase to the US).  

OTOH, the fact that I can send something to pretty much anyone, anywhere in Canada or the US for a relatively small amount is pretty amazing.  

I am holding books until people finish their 'shopping', then adjusting the shipping charge.  This has resulted in some savings for two people - so far - and a few others are still holding until they are done bidding.  eBay doesn't exactly make it easy, but once I have the amount and tracking number, I have been able to notify the purchaser of the tracking number (yes, it costs more to have one) and issue a refund.

Some of Allison's books are a bit...esoteric.  Like the history of spinning wheels in Canada.  Anyone know someone who is researching that topic?   They really want that book.  Japanese Ikat?  Chilkat Blankets?  These books are niche topics in a niche market, but still valuable for all that they were published a number of years ago.

So please - spread the word.  And I will take 'offers' on the re-listed books.  First offer that comes will get the book.  Bearing in mind I need enough money to cover the shipping and the eBay fees...

Gratitude

 

The guild auction begins to 'end' today as the first lot of books I listed reach the time to count up and see what has sold and what is left.  I think I took 5 days to list all the books so each day will see the final count for that day's listings.  eBay says they will automatically re-list anything that doesn't sell, so the auction will continue for at least another 7 days beyond this current offering.

I'm really hoping the above two books find good homes.  And I'd like to remind US bidders that the prices you see for the upset price is *Canadian* dollars and therefore you get an exchange rate 'discount' if you are purchasing.

Just saying.

Over the past four years our guild - like everyone else on the planet - was hit with the limitations imposed by a pandemic.  This year the guild has begun to host in person classes again and hopefully workshops.  We have a large guild room where we can keep our library for the use and convenience of the guild members, equipment for use in the room and some for rent which can be taken home.  (Not the looms, although guild members can come and work on them whenever they like.)

We have a booth at the large craft fair in November, and other fund raising that goes on to help pay for the room rental.  

The proceeds of this auction will be welcome income to pay for the on-going expenses of the guild, the largest of which is the room rental.

For those who have placed bids, thank you.  I'm so grateful Allison's well loved books will be going to new homes.