Where Ideas Come From?

 

Here is a 'tease' - something I'm working on presently.  What is it?  My surname's first letter.

I am - or was - a production weaver, constantly looking for ways to work efficiently (and ergonomically, of course!)

I learned a technique about using pick up to extend the limitations of a shaft loom and once I saw the possibilities, I worked quite a lot (for me) with the technique.  I no longer have the pick up Bronson Lace piece I did for the Guild of Canadian Weavers level 3 since I donated it to the chemo infusion unit at the cancer clinic here in town.  

Since I had no idea what to do with it, and saw that other artists had donated pieces to brighten up the unit, I gave them the piece.  Is it there now?  I have no idea.  I have not needed further chemo infusions and that is not a place that I want to set foot in, if I can avoid it.  (Which I'm doing quite well, thank you for asking...)

When I started teaching more frequently I used the technique in one or two of my workshops, usually rendering the motif as a 'monogram' suggesting people could personalize their textiles by weaving the Initial(s) into the cloth using pick up.  

I had an alphabet that I had saved since I was using it quite a lot (some of the scarves have appeared here) where I wove words into the cloth.  Those were loom controlled because my AVL had 16 shafts.  The alphabet I was using (and I tweaked from a book) consisted of 10 blocks in height and woven sideways, made it possible to use a variety of loom controlled words.  Plus the computer assisted dobby, of course.

This one reads 'create joy'.  Others said 'imagine'.  Or other things I wanted to weave into my textiles.  I felt very 'clever' when I did it.

But there is NO secret about how to do this.  It is not, however, a technique suitable for a quick blog post, nor for a comment on a chat group question.  

So I'm currently weaving samples in Bronson Lace in which I will show how it works to pick the monogram up in that weave structure.

This is NOT a technique for newbies.  (Sorry - not sorry!)  As a weaver you have to understand certain things about weave structures, how they work, how they can be manipulated.

However, the article is scheduled for 2027 - so you will have some time to study up on, for example, Bronson Lace, so that when the article appears (if it does - many a slip betwixt cup and lip) you should be able to read through the text, study the profile draft, then understand enough in order to leap off the cliff and fly?

Weaving.  The craft that keeps on teaching.  And you can continue to grow and expand with it.

Hopefully people will continue to subscribe.  There are some extremely talented and very knowledgeable weavers who are writing for WEFT.  I am privileged to be included.