Watching someone weave is a whole lot like watching paint dry. Nothing much seems to be happening other than a lot of hand waving and beater banging*. But the picks add up to inches, the inches to feet, the feet to towels (in this case).
I'm over the halfway mark on this warp. Actually I'm well over the halfway mark. I've got the next warp planned, chosen the colours, now all I need to do is keep weaving and clear this warp off the loom.
Oh, sure, I could do shorter warps, but the vast majority of the time spent (per item) is getting the warp into the loom. So my 'default' length right now is about 24 yards - or enough to make 18-20 towels, depending on the length of each (and how many mistakes I make.)
Why so many? Why not? And I spend less time beaming, cramped in the loom threading, then sleying per item when I'm investing my time into making multiples. (My story, sticking to it.)
Besides, I don't get 'bored' weaving the same thing. Rather the opposite, in fact. I get into my 'zone', generate some endorphins, which dampens the pain for a while and in the end I have enough towels I can sell some.
I'm loving the linen weft towels, but I'm of two minds. I'm going to have to charge more for them, and non-weavers may not appreciate them in the same way weavers will. I have several stacks of part linen towels that no one seems to want to buy. Part of the problem may be the colour(s). It's always so difficult to know what people will spend their money on, what they will find appealing. Or not. (Link to A Thread Runs Through It with info on being a professional production weaver.)
It hasn't been only weaving taking up my time and energy. I was working on one of the articles for WEFT, now sent on to them to do whatever they need to do with the materials. And this morning (insomnia again) I worked on tagging the samples for the next article. I still have one more sample to cut in half (to keep part of it as a loom state sample) and then decide if I need more samples. Or not.
I still haven't found the articles by Mary Frame I wanted to read to refresh my memory. Well, I found one, but not the other two. I'm hoping a local spinner has them, but I haven't heard back from her yet. In the meantime, I need to carry on doing what needs to be done. My goal is to have this article complete and sent by the end of August.
The deadline is October, but I really need to pace myself and I do NOT want to be in the position of scrambling to get it written, samples woven and processed and delivered on deadline.
This morning I finished reading The House of Wisdom by Jim Al-Khalili. I think I need something a bit 'lighter' now. I'm glad I read the book. I was aware of some of the history of Arabic scientific exploration (the Dark Ages was only Dark in Europe - there was plenty of light elsewhere.) I have a huge stack of books to be read, none of them with deadlines (unlike library books), so they have been left to languish. Time to tackle that pile and read it down!
But first, hand waving and beater banging coming up...
*link to You Tube showing me weaving
2 comments:
I'd like to thank you for an earlier post in which you mention Emily Carr, a Canadian painter and writer, someone totally unknown to my husband Jerry and I. In the '60s Jerry and some of his friends at University of California in Berkeley hauled two Canadian canoes to Fort St. James in Canada and spent several memorable weeks paddling to the Driftwood River via Takla Lake. Now living in Australia, we both became intrigued by Emily's life history and creative works. Jerry found images of her paintings online... as well as her books. He's been reading them and talking about them almost daily. What a great find! Thank you again for the reference.
I turn 82 soon and on my wish list are two of your books that have stories about your life. My own weaving days are very limited. Yet I continue weaving as the threads are enchanting. More often I read. I love reading about creative people. Thank you for writing your blog. May you weave and write as long as you wish.
You are most welcome. Emily Carr was never much appreciated during her life, so it is great to see that her appeal crosses generations. I had the priviledge of seeing an exhibit of her paintings in Vancouver. I had only ever seen tiny photos in books, and when confronted with the scale of some of her larger canvases/paintings, I was entranced. They really do need to be seen in real life to be fully appreciated. But people who can't manage that, can 'see' her work in books and now online.
I suspect that had she been male, Canada would have had the Group of Eight, not the Group of Seven. She was a 'character', but stayed true to her art and herself, even after she could no longer paint. I think about that a lot, as I age...
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