More Stash Reduction

I suppose that if I hadn't included the blue in my first red warp, I'd have been able to use up all of the 2/18 red cotton in one warp, but I did so I had lots of red left over. Since stash reduction is one of my primary goals right now, and I'd decided I really wanted to use up something, I did another red/blue warp, but this time put stripes on either edge instead of one in the middle.

The bad news is that even after winding a 40 yard warp, there was still over half a pound of red cotton left - too much to throw away, too little to do another warp on the big loom. So, even though I'd thought to only weave shawls on this warp, I'm weaving more tea towels, using up the last of the red cotton as weft!

One of the things I like to do is weave curves into my fabric. Weaving is mostly about perpendicular crossings of the thread, with deflections of those threads generally pretty minimal. Some weave structures depend on deflections - waffle weave, lace weaves, deflected warps and/or wefts, etc. But you can also get curves as pattern. The weave structure in this photo is actually twill blocks, but woven so that curves are created.

Sandra Rude plays with this sort of patterning a lot although she takes a different approach - a link to her website is in my links list. Her water series and fire series are especially appealing to me.

The tubes you can see at the bottom of the picture are hoses for the air assist on my loom. Several years ago I added air assist for the fly shuttle, which I haven't used in ages because recently I've been weaving fairly narrow warps where the fly shuttle doesn't work particularly well. I figured I might as well finance air for the treadle at the same time. I'm really glad now I did, even though I can't weave as quickly with the air assist treadle as I could without it because I realized that my right knee had been giving me problems. I have also developed arthritis in my right foot comparable to the sort of arthritis long distance runners develop (although they usually get it in both feet) so the air assist in the treadle has really allowed me to keep weaving.

Rough Week

Although I had every intention of cutting this warp off and re-sleying it to weave shawls, this week has not been a great one, and even though I'm not thrilled with the beige linen on the red warp, it's good enough for therapy weaving so that's what I've been doing.

Since my brother died, my bp has been erratic, fluctuating sometimes wildly and not responsive to the standard medications. We finally figured out that part of the problem was that I am allergic to Lipitor and since my cholesterol is not high - in fact my levels are well within target, given my Coronary Artery Disease - I was able to stop taking it in October.

Unfortunately, my bp has not gone to anything remotely near to target, and on Tuesday it spiked to scary high levels for no reason that we could figure out. :(

The good news is that I was able to get in to see my doctor early on Wednesday, and he added a 3rd bp medication to the chemical cocktail I've been taking, and this one actually seems to be working. But I haven't been feeling particularly well. When my bp sky rockets like that, my brain ceases to function, and problem solving or any sort of challenge is beyond my capacity to deal with effectively, so instead of cutting the warp off when I finished the red linen, taxing my brain with designing new tie ups and treadlings for gorgeous shawls, I opted for therapy weaving. :}

While the beige linen isn't nearly as dynamic as the red linen, it looks okay - and face it, therapy was the number one priority this week, with stash reduction a close second.

This morning I spent more time in waiting rooms getting lab work dealt with. My doctor is now on the search for what the medical community calls "secondary causes" to see if there is some other physical problem creating all these high numbers and wild fluctuations. Fortunately I have a large stack of library books as I've needed them to wile away the time spent in waiting rooms. I find waiting much less onerous if I've got a good book to read.

Finished Jim Butcher's "Cursor's Fury", read Terry Pratchett's latest, "Nation" and this afternoon polished off Linda Barnes' "Lie Down with the Devil".

There are four more library books in my bag (we won't discuss all the books I own, but haven't yet read!) Sharan Newman's latest "The Shanghai Tunnel", Jim Butcher's "Captain's Fury", "The Apostate's Tale" by Margaret Frazer, and "Death Comes for the Fat Man", the latest by Reginald Hill.

Oh - re: the towels - in the photo you can see the hems for two adjacent towels with two picks of red thrown as a cutting line. When the cloth beam comes off the loom and gets put into the inspection table, I'll cut the towels along the line and serge them before wet finishing.

The good news is that I've nearly used up all of the 20's lea beige linen. If there is any warp left when the linen is done, I may re-sley for shawls, or I may just weave off the rest with some cotton flake or other yarn that wants using up. Goodness knows, I've got lots!

Since there is a lot of both the red and blue cotton left, the next warp will likely be something similar, but this time dedicated to just shawls.

CD Weaver

After publishing Magic in the Water; wet finishing handwovens, people started asking when I would be producing a video.

I was highly reluctant to do this for several reasons. First, I had done just enough video camera work to know exactly how difficult it is to get good video.

Secondly, I knew that in order to get good video, it cost a whole lot of money - money I simply didn't have after researching, writing and self-publishing Magic, filled as it was with before and after wet finishing samples of fabric (originally 20 projects, now 22 - for a total of 44 actual fabric samples).

Third, unlike a book where you can open it to any page to review whatever part of it you like, you have to fast forward and back and forth in a video to see the bit you want.

As time went by, digital technology developed to the point where I realized that I could combine the best of both books and videos by doing a book on cd with copious full colour photos and video clips - or an ebook as I see they are now called. :)

I began with dressing the loom showing how I wind a warp, rough sley a reed and beam from back to front. The second section included hints and tips - how to hold and throw a shuttle, hemstitching, dealing with more than one shuttle, winding bobbins and pirns and so on.

This past winter it became clear to me that I was having health issues without being able to define what those issues were. All I knew was that it was imperative that I do the third section on wet finishing and at the same time, I had my web master archive the majority of the writing that I've done over my career onto the cd along with the original sections and the new one on wet finishing. Frankly, I didn't think I'd be around very much longer, and that my website - well, if I wasn't here, my website wouldn't be either..........

So CD Weaver III contains the information I consider essential for a new weaver. I am very fast after years of earning my income, always looking for the most efficient, most ergonomic way to do the various tasks. When I find a new way to do something that will require less effort, I take the time to learn. Most recently I changed the way I hold my hook to sley. It took about 6 warps to cotton on to the new method, but I use it all the time now. The change was small, but I do the same job with tiny hand movements instead of using my whole arm.

This change allows me to work with less effort over all and was well worth taking the time to learn.

I am puzzled when I show weavers how I do things and get the response that it's too much trouble to learn something new. But I also have to remember that people are weaving these days, not to earn an income, but for rest and relaxation. And the learning curve can be steep and slippery and not very comfortable, especially if you are trying to unlearn something and do it a new way.

So for those people who are interested in becoming more efficient, CD Weaver is available. My methods won't work for everyone - there are differences in physical size and ability that make no one method the perfect one for everyone.

Until American Thanksgiving, anyone who orders Magic in the Water; wet finishing handwovens will receive CDWeaver III for free. I've had my webmaster post a new video on the CDWeaver page on my website. This one shows how to significantly full a mohair loop scarf, which I later show being brushed to raise a nap in the It Isn't Finished (until it's wet finished) section. The clips are available for free download, and for both PC and Mac users.

The photo above was done for It Isn't Finished (until it's wet finished) and shows the mohair scarf that I fulled in the video clip. It also shows two teasels. The one on the right is a proper Fuller's Teasel. The other is the one that is most commonly found growing in ditches and that people think is a Fuller's Teasel.

To go with the new CD Weaver, I also produced sample sets of the fabric I wet finished, including the above scarf. These are available for sale while they last. They also serve to upgrade Magic in the Water with 5 additional samples. Info on my website. Click on Store, then CD Weaver or Magic in the Water. Email me to order.

First Towels

One of the advantages of weaving the fabric up side down is that when it rolls onto the cloth storage roller, the right side is up.

Once in a while a warp will turn out just as nicely as one hopes it will. I am very pleased with this warp and these towels. I hope the shawls will turn out as well. :}

The good news is that we have tweaked my medications and I am now able to weave for about 45 minutes at a time (with minor rest breaks) so I am able to weave one whole towel at a sitting. While my diastolic blood pressure remains too high we changed meds a few days ago, and I'm hoping that it will soon kick in and bring things under control. The paperwork says it may take up to two weeks to become effective, so I'm not fussing too much about the high number - yet...

People often ask about pricing. I don't use a pricing formula such as 3 times the material costs. As mentioned in my previous post, the largest expenditure in the creation of textiles by hand is the labour. Very early on, I realized that if I used the "times the materials" formula, I'd soon starve.

Pricing is a complex process, like weaving itself. If one is to truly earn their income by weaving, over head costs cannot be ignored. Nor can the cost of marketing. If you don't double the cost of producing a piece, you are effectively retailing at your wholesale price.

If you rent a booth at a craft fair, or sell on consignment, those expenses come out of the retail price.

My towels are on the large side. This particular towel is about 22" in the reed, and being woven about 34" long including hems. The retail price for these towels will be $36.00. Towels with less linen content of about the same size (i.e. cottolin weft) are priced at $32.00. Towels made from 100% cotton are priced at $28.00.

How did I arrive at those numbers? Partly by looking at the prices of smaller towels, partly by pricing expensive towels of similar quality, partly by deciding that I wanted that much for them to reflect the size and quality. My towels are hand hemmed, not because I object to machine sewing per se, but because I'd rather sit and hem as a tv watching job than drag out my sewing machine.

A friend described such handwork as "creative fidgeting". I can't just sit and watch tv. I like to have such creative fidgeting jobs to hand - hemming, knitting, bobbin lace, fringe twisting. If I really don't feel like "working", I enjoy jigsaw puzzles. :)

Red Warp Pattern

Managed to find some time late last night to work out a threading etc., for the red warp, fine tuned it and started threading this morning. Got it finished before I left for the demo and just now finished sleying the reed. I hope to start weaving yet tonight, but I'll see how tired I am after I tie up and get the loom's computer programmed.

The diagram shows one pattern repeat and part of the border. The design is repeated 3 times in the centre of the warp and bracketed by 5 and a bit repeats of a point twill progression.

The towels will be woven as drawn in, which is as shown, but for the shawls I'll probably play around with tie ups and treadlings to get variations.

The tie up has one block weaving 3:1 twill (3 shafts raised, one down) while the other blocks are weaving 1:3 twill. With 16 shafts, the fewer shafts raised (on a rising shed loom), the less physical effort is required. While this is no longer a consideration for me - my loom has air assist - I figure what's good for the weaver is also good for the loom and continue to choose to lift the fewest number of shafts where ever possible. Even if this means weaving the fabric up side down. The towels will be presented with the the most amount of warp showing as the right side, but I'll be weaving it with the back side towards me.

Since I've earned my living at weaving for over 30 years, one principle has become very clear. The largest expenditure in terms of creating textiles to sell is not the cost of the materials, but my labour. So when ever I design a project I always look for ways to work with less physical effort and the least amount of time.

To this end I've worked diligently to find methods that streamline the process as much as possible. I've also learned that extra time spent in preparation generally cuts down on effort - and frustration. I might spend extra time winding a warp, for instance, knowing that taking greater care in this step of the process will make the actual weaving time a lot more pleasant, if not actually faster. :)

Red Warp #1

After musing for several days about what I wanted to do with the red cotton I came up with a plan. A solid red warp didn't appeal, somehow, and I still had alllll this blue left, so...

I wound spools of red cotton, and then set up the bobbin rack with 8 red and 24 blue and wound the centre 6 inches/sections. Then I cut out 8 of the blue and replaced them with red and wound 3 sections on either side of the centre. Then I cut out 8 more blue and wound 2 sections on either side, and so on. The last 2 sections on either side have 4 blue and 28 red spools.

Since this warp is to do double duty - towels and shawls - I will set the towels at 36 epi/ppi and weave off the last of the fine red singles linen. I may use some of the natural beige for towels, too, but I don't think I'm going to be happy with that as weft. Only a sample will show for sure, though, so I'll do a couple of inches and check it out. But I think the natural beige isn't going to do the dramatic blue/red combo justice.

Once I'm done the red linen, I'll cut off and re-sley to 32 epi for the shawls. I've been quite pleased with the fine bamboo, which is about a 2/16 size, and with the 2/10 Tencel as weft for shawls.

While I've not yet decided on the specific threading that will be used, I know the effect I want over all. It's a matter of sitting down at the computer and working out the details.

That won't likely happen today, though. I've volunteered to demo at the guild booth at the local craft fair, plus I'll be doing door duty tonight as Doug is working late. :) Maybe later after the trick or treating is over for the evening, or tomorrow morning before I go demo again.

Craft Fair

This is how the booth looked at the craft fair at the University of Northern BC over the weekend. The picture is dark because of taking the photo into the light coming through the windows. The advantage of the booth location was that there was lots of natural light.

Doug built the booth structure, and made it so that it collapses and folds down into small boxes, so it transports easily. It's also fairly versatile in that I can have shelves, or hang things from the cross bars. Or both.

The bottom shelf is draped and there is storage underneath. Doug built it to fit our most common packing boxes, so there is lots of room to store over stock in the booth. The boxes for the booth structure generally get taken back out to the van for storage during the fair.

I never do a show without my own supplemental lighting. So often large halls have either dreadful over head lighting, or they are low/no light shows (no overhead lights at all). I was extremely fortunate getting this booth placement as it had both natural light, and access to power for the supplemental lights.

Doug set the booth up so that the scarves could be hung, and the table runners and tea towels were put onto the shelves. The booth was 6 feet by 12, so there was lots of room to set things out so they could be seen.

We also use a tall stool to perch on, rather than sitting in an ordinary chair. We try to stand or perch in order to easily make eye contact with the customers. One of the biggest mistakes I see is a booth set up where the craftsperson is buried in the back of the booth.

During a recent discussion on one of the chat groups I belong to, I said that I cannot afford to give any of my booth space to demo-ing. Many people insisted that part of the job of selling was to educate. I agree! But I do that within the context of discussing the features and benefits of my product, not by dragging a loom into a booth and weaving. In my opinion, if you are weaving in your booth - and educating at that level - you aren't selling. If you strongly feel that you must weave in your booth to educate people, then my recommendation is to have a second person in the booth to handle customer service and write up sales.

This weekend I'll be demo-ing at another craft fair. I haven't decided yet if I will bring my bobbin lace pillow or a spinning wheel. I don't have a small loom that is easily transportable. The local guild will do several demos this fall/winter. Such demos are a great way to talk to people, show them what is involved in the craft, and get people interested in learning more. I'm hoping the guild will offer some classes as they haven't given any weaving classes for a couple of years.