It was the same old thing - did I really actually know anything? At all?
I struggled to write my final monograph for the Guild of Canadian Weavers. After all, what I knew was essentially I had learned by weaving (and in some cases 'ruining') lots of cloth. I had managed to find a couple of people teaching the topic of wet finishing, and one person who was willing to answer questions.
But it was finding an industrial book on wet finishing that finally made me realize that the whole subject was too broad and deep to grasp the entirety of it - just bits and pieces.
Finally I asked a couple people who knew a lot about wet finishing to read what I'd written, and when one of those people actually *learned* something from *me*, and thanked me for it, I finally began to accept that I did know something worth sharing. The second person asked me to co-author a book on the subject with them, but they didn't think before and after samples were necessary - and I did. So I thanked them and went my own way.
Finding my voice was not an easy journey. And I still have doubts about what I know, in part because of the narrow 'slice' of the craft I've dug down into. OTOH, isn't that true of every practitioner?
So yes, I feel I know stuff. Ultimately, each person who reads what I have to say will need to judge whether or not what I know is applicable to them, their approach to the craft. They also need to judge if their equipment is the 'same' as what I use, if they want to make functional (as in beyond beauty or a political comment) textiles, what yarns they use, their budget, etc.
As someone said, the time so short, the craft so long to learn.
I am entering my 50th year as a weaver. And I still learn. And I look forward to the journey. Hope to see you along the way.
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