Musings

Mt. Finishing - good thing Mizz B got 7 more shawls fringe twisted as I sold all except one this weekend....

It was an interesting weekend.

Saturday Mizz B came to mind my booth so that I could attend the 70th bd of a dear friend. While there I was chatting with some of the other weavers in the crowd and it came out that I was the 'baby' of the group. Not something you really think about when you're 60. :)

(You hear that Syne? 60 is young in the weaving world!)

On Sunday I had a chat with one of the other exhibitors. Actually I'd had much the same chat with a couple others during the weekend. The one where we all confessed to feeling very tired after a 20 or 30 year stint of designing, making product and schlepping it across the country to sell it. Because it isn't good enough to just make it when you're dependent upon sales of your hand made items - you're not done until the customer has paid you for it and taken it to a new loving home.

At any rate, the chat on Sunday morphed into an analysis of the change in the nature of craft fairs - how there were fewer and fewer designer/makers around - potters, glass artists, woodworkers, weavers. We wondered where the next generation would come from because it seems like the majority of 20 somethings have no interest in throwing a thousand mugs, or weaving a hundred placemats (or scarves etc). They want a product now and they don't want to have to spend years honing their skills to get it.

Or at least, that's how it seems. Especially when we looked around the show and counted up the number of food booths, the number of personal care product booths, the jewellry (strung beads) and other things that aren't counted in amongst the 'traditional' hand crafts.

(Mizz B is most definitely the exception and I treasure having her in my life.)

The feeling that people don't want to spend time learning the craft comes partly from the proliferation of new weavers who have no interest in sampling (they can't 'afford' to sample) and want instant success with proven 'recipes'.

Part of that sense comes from my experiences on the internet chat groups and other feedback I've personally had.

For example. After reading multiple posts from people who either don't have a local guild or, due to family/work commitments can't make it to meetings, I offered to start a study group list. The deal was that people could join the list (run through my website) for free, but if they wanted to participate in the sample challenge/exchange, I requested that those people pay a fee to help cover my expenses.

One person emailed to tear a strip off of me. Who, she fumed, did I think I was asking to be paid for something freely available at local guilds?????? (I'm paraphrasing here because I no longer have that email, but that was the gist. And she went on at great length to let me know I was not amongst her favourite people.)

There were many things I could have said in reply, but I chose to ignore her email and carry on with the plan.

So I know that there are some people who do want to learn. Who do want to understand. Who are willing to put the effort into honing their skills. But will there be enough of them to keep the craft alive and healthy? If the only designing (making up of recipes/kits) is being done by a tiny minority of weavers, will general knowledge - as thinly scattered as it currently is - eventually fade away?

Weaving has been going on by human beings for in excess of 30,000 years according to new archeological finds. Will it last much longer?

Just finished Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins and started The Madness Of Lord Byron by Stephanie Barron

Studio Fair Day 2 Dawning

This is a view similar to the one I took yesterday but a little closer - and better colour because I brought my camera. The phone camera washes the colour out too much.

I wasn't happy with the placement of the mirror (which I 'hid' with some wool scarves) but it was about the best place for it in terms of allowing people to actually see themselves in it and for lighting. In Vancouver (One of a Kind) we'll just have a 5 x 10 booth so the mirror will go at one end of the booth rather than in the centre because we just won't have sufficient room for it there.

The good news is that the crowds were much thicker today and people seemed to be spending a little bit of money. But this area has been hit hard by the sagging economy and they are being very careful where they spend.

After thinking about the hang tag issue for a couple of days, and also because I know the paper I'm using has gone up considerably in price *AND* because the format of my cards is now going to be much too expensive, I've decided to look into some light photogrey paper and just have one ink colour instead of black and silver. While I really liked the look of the silver outlined butterfly, it's just gotten too difficult/costly to continue with.

So my next order of business cards/hang tags I'll talk with the printer about options for paper. He's already told me that he's deep sixing the offset press which they used for my cards, so it's time to update. I think if I can get a light enough value of grey - almost a silver - that should work nicely.

But that's a job for next year.

Set up proceeds

About two hours into set up.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Rules of Engagement

from this....



to this - in about 40 minutes.....


Just beamed another of my 'scary' painted warps. These warps are made up of one strand of soy protein and one Tencel wound at the same time and painted. The soy protein shrinks significantly more than the Tencel and the warps get very beat up and tangled. They are about 10 yards or so long, 9 inches in the reed.

While I was beaming it I thought about the "you can't's" associated with weaving. One of the first ones I heard was "You can't use a brush on your warp."

Since I'd been successfully using a brush on my warps for about 2 years at that point I was a bit perplexed. Why can't I? It was working just fine for me.

So I thought about the yarns that were being used in the loom room, and realized that the fine singles linen and the softly spun woolens they were using would not react well to being brushed. I had already figured out using a brush on the brushed mohair used as an accent yarn for a couple warps wasn't a good idea because I realized very quickly that brushing just made the mohair more unruly. I also learned very quickly to not use a brush on a textured yarn that would allow the brush tines to catch and pull at those yarns.

But to not use a brush at all? I knew from experience that I could. And using a brush on these painted warps is essential if I'm to get them on the loom in any kind of efficient manner at all.

Yes, I could just finger comb them - but it would take hours, not minutes.

Other admonitions came to light as I continued to weave and meet weavers from different cultures/regional areas.

"You can't weave on an all black warp." Well, I did that for years, about 200 yards a month weaving fabric for a fashion designer. The secret there is to have sufficient light so that you can see what you are doing so I had lots of supplemental light in order to thread, sley and tie on. After that I found that I didn't need much more than the usual lamp I have on for every warp.

"You can't use textured yarns in the warp." Well, that depends on the yarn. If it has been spun so that the rubbing of the reed doesn't affect it, it's just fine. The only thing to watch for is that the lumpy parts go through the eye of the heddle. Even then, being careful when advancing the warp will allow the yarn to pass through.

"You can't use a singles as warp." Once again I'd been successfully using singles wool as warp, and certainly used singles linen for warp. If it passes the snap test, it should be okay as warp. Except for the linen - if you live in a very arid climate, using a singles linen might be a bit dicey. When I'm using linen for warp here, I always run a humidfier near the loom. If you wet the yarn, wet it for the whole length of the warp. A dry linen can tend to beat in differently than a moister one. I found that out by starting to weave a singles linen warp/weft on a rainy day, then tried to finish it on a dry day - the cloth beat in differently when the humidity changed dramatically.

"You can't get good selvedges without a floating selvedge." I never use a floating selvedge. I choose to not use weave structures where such a selvedge would be necessary. There are so many different weave structures that can be woven without a floating selvedge I'd rather choose one of those.

"You can't get a good selvedge without a temple." I use a temple when the weave structure calls for it. Using a floating selvedge and/or a temple slows down my weaving rhythm. If I don't need to use them I don't. (see above) However, if a temple is necessary, I will use one in order to get the results I require for that particular cloth.

One "you can't" that seems to be pretty much gone is "You can't use a fly-shuttle/auto-cloth advance/dobby/computer and call your weaving 'hand' woven". I don't think I need to comment on this. I'm just grateful that people are getting over this one.

"You can't weave an unbalanced (1:3) weave structure on a counter-balanced loom." If the loom has 'horses', you can weave any weave structure you want. If the loom has rollers, the shed isn't as large if you are pulling 1 shaft down while 3 go up, or vice-versa. But if you are willing to deal with the smaller shed, you can weave these on a roller counter-balanced loom, too.

I'm sure there are other "you can't's" that just don't spring to mind but those are the ones that I thought about today.

My list of absolute rules in weaving are four:

1. Never use a knot where a bow will do.

2. If you can't be perfect, be consistent.

3. A thread under tension is a thread under control.

4. It isn't finished until it's wet finished.

All else depends.

'Tis The Season

One view of the booth at UNBC's Artisans of the North last weekend....



I have mixed feelings about displaying my textiles. UNBC is a smaller show, mid-range quality rather than higher end pricing and as such the booth rental fee is very reasonable. In return you don't get booth draping, though, so you can see right through my display to the space behind.

Plus I'm not sure I'm happy with my bright white hang tags. They don't look quite so bad in real life. Somehow the flash seems to bounce hard off of them and they stand out more in photos than when looking at the booth in person.

OTOH, my stuff is for sale and people need to be able to find my price and care instructions easily so hiding that information seems counter productive.

I've gone through the banking stuff and am ready to head to town to pick up books at the library, do my deposit and check the mail box. I think Doug forgot to do that so it will likely be crammed full of stuff to be tossed into the recycle container at the door. I'm glad the post office got smart and provided the box a few years ago. If people could see how much of their expensive advertising didn't even make it out the door they might think twice about sending out bulk advertising. OTOH (there seem to be a lot of hands around here today) if you don't get the word out somehow, how will people know you exist and find you if they want your products?

The past couple of years I've spent money on paid advertising in various venues. Unfortunately I can't track any sales from any of it so I've discontinued such ads - at least until I decide what direction to go with my business. Seems a waste of money that I can't actually afford right now.

Thursday we set up for Studio Fair - the higher end fair in town. Mizz B will be in town and will do booth relief for me Fri/Sat (I hope). It will be good to see her and what she brings to sell in the guild booth.

My cold is better so I'm hoping the stress of the week won't delay complete recovery so that I can clear the decks next week, figure out what I'm doing for One of a Kind Vancouver and the other things on the back burner.

Currently Reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Day The End

The Seattle Weavers' Guild sale is history for another year. I have no idea where my sales are except that I did a little better than I expected but not, perhaps, as well as I hoped. I'll find out when I get my cheque.

Doug had a reasonable first day at Artisans of the North. I think we're both a little stressed and not a little tired and I'm looking forward to my own bed tomorrow night and a day or two of down time before we gear up for Studio Fair set up on Thursday. After that will be about 5 weeks before One Of A Kind Vancouver.

It was great to visit with friends I've made here in Seattle area and to see their work in person instead of just hearing about it or seeing photos. Textiles truly need to be seen in person.

The alarm will go off at 5:30 am and I hope to be crossing the border shortly after 8. It started raining just as we got back to Betty's tonight - I'm really crossing fingers that the 'scattered showers' predicted will actually be scattered. For now it's good night!

Day the Second

In spite of the forecast for grey drizzle, the clouds evaporated and the day turned sunny and warm. The crowds continued slow but steady and most people who came bought something. Sometimes several somethings. :)

I hit the wall at 3 pm and found a quiet place where I could lay my head down on a table for a few minutes but overall I think my cold is on the retreat. I'm not nearly as tired tonight as last night, or the night before.

Tomorrow I'll work in inventory for the last shift - if they want me, germs and all - so I'll get a better idea of my sales at that time. Marjy has been doing a great job of keeping track of everything and was able to give me a first day total at 2 pm today when I went in to look at my file. I doubt I'll make the top 10 sellers this year, but whatever I get will be better than not doing the show.

Doug sets up tomorrow morning for the Artists of the North show and I'm hoping to be home by 8 pm Sunday. It will mean a 5:30 am wake up and hitting the road by 6 am. I'm giving myself some time to stop along the way and nap if I'm just too tired.

Looking forward to my own bed even though it's been great fun meeting my Seattle Guild friends, having a chance to sit down and talk to them face to face and be able to see their new work in person.

One more day.........