Critical vs Critique

 

After reading some posts on social media this morning I am reminded about the difference between being critical, and offering a critique.

It is extremely easy to criticize someone.  It is much more difficult for someone to give a critique.  

What is the difference?

Someone who is critical tends to denigrate the person or make negative comments without the intent of providing feedback the person can use to improve their work.

A critique is focused on the work, not the person, and is an attempt to help the person see their work with fresh eyes.

I was privileged to attend a critique being given by Mariette Rouseau-Vermette at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts.  It was eye opening, both in terms of hearing what Ms Rouseau-Vermette had to say in regards to one of the student's work, but also?  To witness the reaction of the student afterwards.

What I heard was a gentle questioning of the student as to her intent and where that intent was not being expressed in the work being shown.  What I heard from the student afterwards was a tirade of emotion, based on her reaction to the critique.  The student was probably 19, had probably never had a critique done before and interpreted everything that had been said as criticism of *her*.

It was sobering.  And enlightening.

So when I give feedback to someone, I tend to come from the same place as Ms. Rouseau-Vermette.  I ask what the maker's intent was, try to find out more about what it was they set out to do.  In the case of marking homework, I point out areas that need to be worked on in the future.

But more importantly?  I try to be clear in my own mind about my own intent.

I was already doing that, to a large extent, but not in any clear way.  It was as though a light had been turned on, and I was able to see more clearly - my path, my purpose, even my customer.  Because my intent was, after all, to earn an income from making and selling textiles.  And ultimately teaching about them.

During this time of pandemic I have seen an increase in people who are also trying to earn an income being asked for donations.  Donations of product, but even more, donations of time.  Well, it takes time to make product, be that actual material items or course content.  So asking a professional textile person to donate their time?  Is taking money out of their pockets.  

Asking people to do their professional work for nothing?  Takes food out of their mouths now.

Believe me when I say, no one in the textile world is getting rich doing this thing that we do, and, during this time of pandemic, contracted events have been cancelled.  They have had to pivot to on line teaching, which means a bucketload of time to convert class materials and how information is presented from in person to on line.  Learning new technologies.  *Buying* new equipment.  Not an easy feat.  

Expecting, demanding, people with a high profile in the craft donate their time to someone/some event is not appropriate at the best of times.  When the answer is 'no', chastising them for not helping?  Not appropriate.

I have been the brunt of someone asking why I was charging a fee for a service I was providing.  I have had people tell me to my face my prices were too high.  I have had more than one person ask me who I thought I was, asking to be paid.  Which stings given how much time I have donated to the craft, how many places I have worked for less than my stated fee in order to support an event, how many things I have donated to fund raising auctions, how many emails I've written answering questions (then been told they didn't like my answer so they were going to ignore it.)

Abby Franquemont has a list of her fees on her website.  When I contacted her about doing the Sunday seminar series, I factored her fee into my budget, and am now promoting the hell out of the series so that I can pay her, and the other speakers their asked for fees.  What I did NOT do was ask them to work for free.  When one person said that she would, I asked if she was sure because I do not want to undervalue anyone's time and effort.  OTOH?  The series is also meant to be a fund raiser for the guild, so her fee will be used to help pay the guild room expenses.  And I will send her a couple of tea towels as a thank you.

Right now a lot of people are hurting financially.  And the professionals in the textile world are struggling.  If you can't afford to buy their books, take an on-line class, it takes but a moment to share their on line events.  

It costs nothing to light someone else's candle.  And two candles give more light than one.

Seeking Substitutions

Photo of four different yarns, all approximately the same thickness and yards per pound.  Sort of.

Further to the earlier blog post, I wondered if I could show how difficult it can be to make substitutions or not.

I found four different yarns that were approximately the 'same' when it came to thickness, two of them rated the 'same' yards per pound, the other two not very far off.  Remember that yards per pound (or meters per 100 grams or whatever scale is used) is only ever an approximation.  A guideline.  Not set in stone.  It varies.  It depends.

The two red yarns are both types of rayon (regenerated cellulose).  Both of these yarns are made up of finer two ply yarns, one with 5, one with 6.  The one on the left has 5 2-ply yarns very loosely twisted together.  The next one to it has 6 2-ply yarns much more tightly twisted together - both the finer yarns and the plied thicker yarn.

The kind of yellow/green shiny one is silk and is a two ply - two thicker singles plied together.

The white one is a 4/8 cotton.  In other words, four singles have been plied together.  This format is not as common as it once was as one of the major suppliers of 4/8 cotton now plys several 2/16 cotton yarns together to make up the yarn that has the same number of yards per pound as a 'true' 4/8 cotton, very similar to the rayon yarns in the photo.

The red yarns could most likely be used interchangably.  They are pretty close to the same thickness and both made from rayon.  The one that is more tightly twisted will be somewhat stiffer, and will likely hold it's shape better than the one that is very loosely twisted together.  It might also resist abrasion better than the more softly twisted yarn.

The rayon and silk both have excellent drape qualities, both will press up a lovely sheen after wet finishing if given a good hard press (or cold mangle - the compression is the key, not whether it is hot or cold).

The cotton would not make a good substitute for either the rayon or the silk.  It will not drape as readily, even at the same epi/ppi and weave structure, and it will not finish up with much of a sheen.  It is unmercerized, so generally matt in appearance.

So this is why it is difficult to just willy-nilly substitute a yarn of a similar thickness, yards per pound for another. 

Textile artists need to understand their materials.  They need to know how the preparation for spinning and actual spinning affects the inherent characteristics of the fibre.  They need to understand the quality of the cloth they are trying to produce and how to choose appropriately when it comes to the yarn they are using.

A few years ago I did a small run sample series called A Good Yarn.  Each title looked at an individual fibre - cotton, wool, linen/hemp, and rayon.  I had intended to do silk, but Life Happened and that issue...didn't.

I have heard of people being able to find these at estate sales.

As far as resources go, a place to learn more?  Google Textile Science or Fibre Science, or fibre characteristics.  There are websites with some information, or there are textbooks, like the one I linked to in the previous post:  A Guide to Textiles for Interior Designers.  While the focus of the book is on interiors, there is a gold mine of information about fibres that any person working in the textile field can find useful.

The book was used as the textbook for the textile program at the U of Manitoba, and still is, so far as I know.  The most recent edition is expensive, as textbooks frequently are.  I paid $35 for my 1st edition back in oh, 1989 or so, and it has been worth every penny.  You can still find the 1st or 2nd edition for fairly cheap prices.  The link in the previous post was to Amazon.ca where the copy I found there was listed for $17.50, I think.  Look at other re-seller sites like abc books and so on.  My students routinely find the title for less than $10, although sometimes they do have to dig.

To expect a pattern designer (regardless of craft) to provide info for multiple different yarns is asking the designer to provide a lot of information.  They are usually making pennies for their effort, needing to sell hundreds of patterns just to cover the cost of the copy editor, paying their sample knitters, or their time developing the pattern, providing technical information on sizing, etc., etc., etc.

Textile crafters would do themselves a favour by learning more about the technical issues involved themselves so that - if they want/need to make a substitute - they will be able to make A Good Choice by choosing an appropriate yarn.

And just an FYI - it took me the better part of an hour to dig through my yarn stash to find a variety of yarns of approximately the same thickness/ypp, then take photos, then sit down and write this post.

If I were teaching, I would be expecting to be paid $55/hour (which is the going rate in BC for people teaching classes - IF you can get it.)

Instead I have given this hour to you, dear readers, to do with as you will...

(and if you want to buy me a 'coffee', you can do so on my ko-fi account - link at the side or the tags for this post)

Expectations

Image of two different yarns.  Long time readers will recognize the image as being of two yarns spun to the same number of yards per pound from cotton.  Obviously quite different.  Obviously will not behave the same.  But because they have the same number of yards per pound, the expectation is that they will behave identically and create identical qualities of cloth.  They will not.

The knitting (and crochet, I assume)  world is being rocked with controversy over patterns - what they should include and what they might not.  Designers are being asked to be very specific, but use different/cheaper yarn.  Provide sizes from infant to 3X (or even larger), all charted out.  Provide sample/models of the item made up in a variety of different yarns, especially cheaper yarns.  And so on.

Many of these requests (demands in some instances) are completely unrealistic.  All of these things but keep the price of the pattern cheap - or better yet! - free.  (!)  Because designers are 'raking in the money' with their pattern sales.

This type of conversation echoes through the weaving world, too.

New practitioners don't understand anything (or much of anything) about the craft, but want instant *perfect* results right out of the starting gate.

They don't understand that all of the textile arts rely on basic understanding of the tools and materials and at least a nodding acquaintance with the degree of skill involved in getting even close to 'perfection'.

I have been weaving since 1975 when I quit my job in order to become a professional/production weaver.

The same argument goes around about every decade or so.  The same myths are perpetuated.  The same expectation of 'perfection' based on the myth that the textile arts are 'unskilled'.  Can't have anything to do with the fact that the vast majority of textile practitioners are female, amirite?

Women do uncounted hours of free labour every day.  That labour is diminished in the eyes of society because of the very fact that it is unpaid.  Therefore not to be respected or honoured.

When the largely female professionals speak up to explain why patterns cannot always be free, because they also have bills to pay, some of the people requesting (sometimes demanding) all this extra information can get quite grumpy.

I eventually withdrew from most groups on the internet because I got tired.  I got tired of defending myself for asking for payment for my services.  I got tired of defending my level of knowledge - and yes, skill - from people who expected to achieve that same level instantly.

I got tired of people telling me I didn't know what I was talking about.

I got tired of people arguing with me without ever going to the trouble of - oh, I don't know - cracking a book?  Doing a simple Google search?

The first expectation from a number of people wanting to take up weaving is - how hard can it be?  It can be very very hard.

The next expectation is that substitutions are easy.  They are not.  (see photo above)

The next expectation is that perfection can be achieved with the first warp.  A very few people sometimes can get very good results, but the vast majority cannot.

The expectation that someone can give definitive answers without knowing all the parameters is completely unrealistic.

When an experienced weaver answers a question with 'sample!', they are not being facetious, they are giving the very best advice they can.  If someone contacts me asking what they should do with their yarn, a yarn I have never seen let alone worked with, all I can do is advise them to weave a sample.

When they ask what they should do with a yarn I may have worked with, but never made the quality of cloth they want?  I have to suggest a sample.  Because I do not know.  Because I have never done that.  I can give my best guess (which might be a rather informed guess, but still a guess) but ultimately *change one thing and everything can change*.

I have been having a bit of a conversation on a group and the other person lives in an area of high humidity while I don't.  Their experience has been quite different from mine.  And we finally agreed that perhaps the difference was due to the humidity.

Because change one thing and everything can change.  And environmental factors are one of those variables that will affect how a yarn behaves.

All of these things are what keeps me engaged in weaving, keeps me going back to the loom to learn more.

But ultimately?  We also need a core of informed practitioners who will write the patterns, teach the classes.  And they need to be paid for their time and labour just like any other professional.

#fairfiberwage

Covid Challenges

My You Tube Channel

Workshop via Handwoven (Long Thread Media)

With the stay at home orders and businesses being closed, many people are experiencing hardship in terms of income.  Events are being cancelled.  People are disappointed that their long awaited chance to meet with others is being thwarted or that they can't afford to purchase things.

This tightening of belts also affects the teachers, the event planners, the businesses that supply craftspeople.

I am seeing more and more comments from people involved in the business of crafts that customers are asking for things that simply cannot be provided.  Free patterns from people who make a significant portion of their income from designing and selling patterns, either one at a time or in books.  Teachers being asked to suddenly tool up and start providing on line classes.  For lower fees because of course they don't have to travel and the student doesn't have the interaction with the instructors for feed back.  Ergo, the student shouldn't have to pay as much as for a live event.

The instructors are agonizing over these requests (in some cases, demands).  They want to oblige but they, too, are suffering economically.  With society in economic lock down, they don't have an income either.

There have been several people advocating for events to go on line without having any understanding of what it would take to get there.  Most on line classes are months in the making, not days.  Every successful (and by that I mean a good experience for the student) on line class has had a team of people making what you see on the screen happen.

I have uploaded a number of video clips to You Tube.  A recent comment highlights that not all video experiences are 'good' for everyone.  Under my winding a warp video, someone commented that I worked too fast, they couldn't see what I was doing, not useful for a beginner.

All valid points.  But my video clip wasn't meant for a 'beginner' but someone who had an idea of what warp winding was all about, and showing how to wind a warp on a warping board more ergonomically.

While there may be dozens of videos on You Tube, few of them are very good. (Not even mine.) The quality of video camera available to most people is not great for clarity.  The clip is a single point of view - and it may not be the point of view someone needs/wants to see.

Editing is a skill and most people don't have that.

Most people don't have space in which to set up filming.  Space to set up cameras.  Good lighting.  Good acoustics!

When we filmed The Efficient Weaver, we did the sequences out of order and by the end of day three we thought we'd got everything and wrapped up filming.  It was only after driving the crew to the airport and dropping them off that I suddenly remembered we had not filmed the rough sleying part.

What can I say?  Three days of intensive filming from 9 am to 5 or 6 pm, setting up shots, filming, reviewing the results, re-doing, moving along to the next.

I felt a certain amount of satisfaction that the crew complimented me on how well prepared I was and that they had feared the filming schedule was too ambitious - two different topics, two different locations, all wrapped up in three days.  But the thing is, I had done some camera work for the local volunteer tv station, plus I've been involved in theatre and dance as well as teaching for about 30 years at the time the taping was done.

Generally getting good video of things that are meant to convey information, especially that of physical skills, cannot be banged out in a matter of days.  I spent months doing the preparation work that allowed the filming to be accomplished in three.

One event has cancelled this years in person event and immediately there were calls for it to go on line.  They have called for volunteers to investigate doing on line events in the future.  Two years is enough time to investigate the possibility of doing an on line event.  But it would mean completely revamping what they offer and how.

This is not a bad thing.  But it won't be the in person event people are used to and it won't necessarily be much cheaper as each presenter will have to have a crew to do the production work.

In the meantime, Rule#303.  If you have the means, you have the obligation.  Help organizations to stay alive.  Throw some cash at independent instructors - many have Patreon accounts (I have ko-fi).  Buy their books.  For those who already have on line classes, maybe now is the time to sign up.  If you have skills to put classes on line, you could maybe help with that, too.  The only way we are all going to survive this is to help each other as much as we are able.

Three already existing on line classes:  Janet Dawson's on bluprint, Jane Stafford's on-line guild and Tien Chiu's on colour. 

Fair Fibre Wage

For 40+ years I taught, usually out of town, which meant creative packing and arranging travel.  The best way for me to approach teaching was to organize 'tours' where I would try to find two or three (sometimes more) events so that the various groups could share the cost of getting me to them.

Over the years I was able to earn more from teaching for individual groups because so many conferences were paying less than my already too low daily teaching fee.  So mostly I only applied to teach at a conference if it was in a location I wanted to visit, or if I had people in the area (friends/teachers) I wanted to spend some time with.

In the textile field there has been quite a range of payment offered and at times I had to weigh the 'exposure' I would get from teaching at a conference and hope that if people attending the conference found me helpful, I would get more opportunities to teach in that geographic area.

Eventually I had to come to grips with the fact that 'exposure' is at best iffy, and at worst, I would be attending and working at some conferences by subsidizing the event by being out of pocket.

Recently I heard of events being touted that were not paying the instructors to teach.  At all.  They were offering money towards travel, but that was it.  Since most events are geared towards the organizers making money, they were literally asking the instructors to make them money by not paying them any kind of teaching fee.

This is a disturbing trend that isn't confined to the textile arts.  I follow a number of authors on social media and one of them posted an 'offer' they were only too happy to refuse - attend an event, get a small amount towards their travel, present seminars for no compensation BUT they could sell their books at the author signing.  Oh, but the event would be taking 25% of any sales. 

Please, do not participate in any such event.  If no teachers (or other creatives - musicians, authors, artists) will take part in this kind of event, they cannot happen!

Conferences need to pay their instructors just like they pay for the venue and marketing.  Conferences need to cover the costs of getting the instructors to their event and pay for accommodation and food.

For our conference we chose to pay a travel allowance and per diem for food.  This allowed us to budget our finances accordingly.  We were as generous as possible in terms of the daily fee and prior to the instructors even arriving, their payment cheques were ready for them to pick up at the event itself.

They did not have to submit receipts which we then haggled over.  And they went home with their payment in their pockets rather than wait weeks (or more) for their payment.

We did this in part because it allowed our treasurer to track expenses very closely because we and the instructors knew how much money they were going to be getting.  We did not ask the instructors to finances the event by waiting for payment.

If we want textile crafts to continue to grow and remain healthy, we must pay our instructors a Fair Fibre Wage.  We must put money into the pockets of the people who are knowledgeable in order to keep them teaching us. 

We need to pay the designers, the artists, the musicians.  They need the income and we need their input.

Hidden Costs

One of the threads (ha!) on the #fairfiberwage topic on the internet is that of the hidden costs that go on regardless of the actual teaching fee being requested by teachers.  

The beta edits are beginning to arrive.  I have completed two, both of which were extensive (plus my own, done on a hard copy, because that's the way my brain works best, usually) and I am about to go to Staples and print the updated file out again.  

But here's the thing.  Those 133 or so pages that I was working from are now garbage.  Well, recycle, but you get the drift.  

So far I have invested countless hours generating the text to date. Printed out multiple copies for my own use, relied on the good will of a chosen few alpha and now beta readers.  And the book is still less than 50% complete.  I have used up printer cartridges to print out early versions, sucked electricity to run both computer and printer.  Burned the midnight oil.  And all of this effort done long before the book is ready for sale.  This is not unique to me, this is the effort that goes into any book.  There is a reason most authors only produce one book a year.  A technical book, in my experience, takes longer, partly because of the difficulty of rendering information in text, which is generally best seen done.  So, lots of photos, diagrams, and now, thanks to modern technology, perhaps even embedded video clips.

Teaching classes requires much the same sort of hidden effort.  Many students have no idea of the amount of effort required, nor the hours of marketing that are required.  The logistics of setting up teaching tours/dates.  Teachers who rely on teaching for part, or all, of their income stream are not just working the hours of the class.  They are doing hours if not days of preparation.  Then there is the challenge of physically getting from home to point A, B, C.  

At a recent five day class, I got precisely one 'coffee break'.  My only other 'breaks' were to run down the hall for a bathroom break.  And even then I have been known to field questions...  

One of the things to remember, as a consumer if educational products is that you get a whole lot more than what you see of the instructors time, effort and energy.