Stick Shuttle

Took this photo for a blog post for Craftsy but it's out of focus so I won't use it after all.  I'm planning on a post about winding weft packages and when using a stick shuttle, I always wind the weft only over one edge of the shuttle in a figure 8.

I often see people recommending winding over both edges and around the middle which effectively makes a very fat weft package.  I'm told it's to cram as much weft onto the shuttle as possible.

Unfortunately that isn't really the best way to do it, in my opinion.  So, some free advice - and remember what free advice is worth!

By winding the weft in a figure 8 over one edge of the shuttle, the yarn builds up at the back of the shuttle and most of it lies on the top.  My stick shuttles are Leclerc brand, and I think you can clearly see that they are beveled on the leading edge.  By winding the weft on the other side, the 'spine' of the shuttle, in a figure 8, the shuttle can be used as a beater when weaving on a loom without one.  By putting the majority of the yarn on the top of the shuttle, the bottom is mostly wood, which will glide much more easily than yarn rubbing against yarn.

The weft package takes on a wedge shape which closely matches the shape of the shed.

All in all it just makes more sense to me to work with the tools and yarn.  A stick shuttle wound with a great big fat weft package will not go through the shed easily, will abrade the yarn, both on the shuttle and the warp and in the end is a form of 'hurrying' which really isn't very efficient.

Every yarn has a beginning and an end.  Learn how to deal with joins and ultimately, again in my opinion, make weaving a lot more enjoyable by winding smaller more efficient weft packages.  And that includes bobbins, quills and pirns.

New Weaver

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

This isn't the best photo - taken on my cell phone.

Would you believe this was woven by a complete and absolute beginner?  Perfectly straight selvedges and a beat that was pretty darned consistent!

The guild has a couple of looms with warps on so when I got a phone call the other day from someone saying she wanted to learn how to weave but didn't have a loom, was there any possibility of learning?  I invited her to the guild drop in.

Tonight she braved the cold temps (it turned into a serious cold 'snap'), I spent about 20 minutes giving her an introduction to the loom (this is warp, this is weft), quickly went through the names of the different parts of the loom, explained about threading, tie up, treadling, then covered basic posture at the loom, how to hold and throw the shuttle and wham, bam, she was off as though she'd been weaving for years.

She's going to try to come back on Saturday when I have another wannabe weaver coming.  They each can take a loom and see how it goes.  But I think the one tonight is...hooked.  

More Than One Way

There is more than one way to skin a cat (sorry cat lovers).

It seems everyone thinks their way is the absolutely best way to do what they do.  But we are not all equal.  Nor do we all want to make the same things.  Our looms are different, the yarns we are using are different.  So while I believe that my method is the best method for me, I know that it may not be the best method for anyone else.

Over the years I have fine tuned my processes in order to streamline the amount of effort required in what is a very labour intensive craft.  Once I figured out the best equipment to purchase for my needs, worked out how to do the processes with the least amount of surplus effort, set up my studio so that things are at hand, got looms that best make the type of cloth I want to weave, the rest was practice, practice, practice.

Over and over again I see new weavers assuming that they will get stellar results the very first time they make it to the loom.  Unfortunately weaving requires certain basic skills and they don't come without effort.

True there are some people who are better more quickly than others.  What I said about us not being equal?  Manual dexterity and eye/hand co-ordination are abilities that some people have in abundance, and others?  Not so much.  So yes, while some people do get really good results very quickly, it is not a given.

In addition to the actual physical skills required, obtaining appropriate equipment (warping pegs, warping board, mill, drum, wheel, sectional?), weavers must also learn about the materials they are using.  Being able to make good choices is sometimes intuitive, other times poor choices are made and results are not as desired.  Then there is the way colour blends in a woven structure, how texture affects the cloth, the appropriate density for the function the cloth is to serve.

There are many many facets or layers involved in learning how to create textiles.  It is what keeps me coming back to the loom, because there is always something more to learn.  I find that extremely satisfying.

Fuzzy

I have been very low on rayon chenille scarves for the past couple of years and this year after all was said and done, there were just three scarves left.  I could have sold a lot more if I'd had more, and since I still have significant inventory of rayon chenille, I'm revisiting them.

Actually a friend came and wound this warp for me last summer but with my back issues they never got woven.  So it was a slam/dunk to take the already wound warp and get it onto the loom yesterday after I cut the last painted scarf warp off.  I even got it threaded before dinner so it took just a few minutes this morning to sley, tie on and begin weaving.

My challenge now is to use up as much of my rayon chenille stash without buying more to go with it as I can.  Of course that means stretching my creativity to the limit as I'm very low on the colours I like and have plenty that don't sing to me.  But sometimes that's when you really begin to stretch and grow as an artist/artisan.  It is only by pushing our boundaries that we do grow.

My friend wound two warps for me so I'm really hoping I can get both done and deliver the four scarves to the fringe twisting elf tomorrow night.  Since rayon chenille needs a pretty substantial beat, I don't know when I'll be able to whomp away at weaving so I'm trying to get these and some place mats done now.

Satisfaction

The beginning of the end...this is the last of the painted warps for scarves and it is now officially 'done'.  Weaving, that is.

Thinking a lot about Life and whatnot.  In the 1960's the Rolling Stones famously sang You Can't Get No Satisfaction.  For a while I believed that.  If anyone had told me that whether or not I was happy was based on the choices I would make, I would likely have sneered.  Happiness wasn't a choice - either Life was Good and you were, or Life was Awful and you weren't.

Well several decades have passed since then and I now realize that whether or not one is happy is, in very large measure, down to choice.

Come March of next year it will be 40 years since I made the fateful decision to give up everything I had been doing and become a weaver.  I don't know why I knew that was a good choice but what I discovered was that - while I'm 'poor' financially - I was to become rich beyond my expectations in terms of satisfaction.  Indeed, in that most rare of coins - happiness.

Weaving came to me at the persistent efforts of the universe, who obviously knew better than I did what I needed.  What I discovered was that weaving wasn't just about taking threads and making cloth.  Or, not just.

Weaving satisfies the creative thinker, the planner, the control freak, the mechanic, the athlete/dancer, the teacher/mentor, the author.  I even discovered the joy of certain parts of mathematics, much to my never ending surprise!  Weaving satisfies the tactile, the visual, the imagination, the physical.

I discovered that my path in life up to that fateful moment had laid the foundation for me to leap into weaving with gusto.  I had even taken classes in high school that proved invaluable - Law 11, Office Practices, Typing.

With writing came a computer - eventually - and my typing skills stood me in good stead.  Bookkeeping?  I could set up my own ledger and double entry bookkeeping system so that I could track my own financial records.  I could make up class handouts.  Eventually even self-publish a book.  Several 'books'.

Being self-employed allowed me to set my own hours (way too many, usually!), take time off when I wanted to, accept commissions or refuse them based on my desire to do that - or not - or the state of my health.

At my age, many people have much bigger pension funds and way more material goods.  But I've had experiences that they have not, met people I would never have met in an 'ordinary' job.

If I were to be told that this is the end of life, I would be sad - mostly because I have so much yarn, so many more ideas I would like to bring into being.  But ultimately I have lived my life in such a way as to say that I have had a great deal of satisfaction.

Yes, there have been pot holes.  Yes, I have some regrets.  But it has been a full and active life.  And I am satisfied.  So there, Mick Jagger!

Musings

When the loom is working and only surface attention is required my mind can wander and think about other things.

One of the things I ponder is how much I ought to be adding to the carbon footprint of the world, the glut of textiles available in the 'first' world and if I should really be encouraging people to buy more...stuff...

The thing is, I have to be creating something.  Making is as much a part of me as, well, breathing.  Oh, I know, I exaggerate, but I am not a happy camper when I can't weave.  The amount of satisfaction, even joy, I receive from taking individual threads and making cloth?  Priceless.

The joy I see on the faces of people who buy my cloth?  Even better.

So, yes, even though I am adding to the material 'burden' of society - quite literally - I decided today that I was no longer going to feel guilty about it.  If joy is the ultimate result of the time I spend at the loom - not just mine, but others - surely that is justification enough?

Currently reading The Art of the English Murder by Lucy Worsley

When Work = Play

Beaming warp sectionally - green first, then red

Completed warp

I rarely accept special orders any more - unless it is just doing one of my established designs in a different colourway.

But I agreed to tackle this special order for a couple of reasons.

One, the customer gave me complete freedom to design something.

Two, I had so many requests for table textiles that I figured even if the customer didn't like what I did I could probably find a customer somewhere.

When I do accept a special order I tell the customer that I will make something, no obligation on them to actually buy it.  

The cloth is to be a square that will fit on a round table.  Doing just one item isn't economical in terms of investment in time, so I put 10 yards on today (yes, I 'worked' on Christmas Day - my work is my play, too) and should be able to get 5 or 6 squares out of the warp.

I have ideas for several different designs.  At least one will be woven with dark green as weft, but I also have some fine natural linen in a sort of brown-ish hue, plus I have some two ply cotton/linen blend.  So that's three possibilities.  I'm sure I can find more yarn in my copious stash.  

Each square will be woven with a different tie-up/treadling and when completed I will invite the customer to take a look at all of them and see if she likes any of them.

As a side benefit, I realized that some of the red 2/8 cotton was actually 2/16.  This pleases me because I had been thinking of ordering in some 2/16 in reds and now I don't have to.  Win!

Currently reading The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb - a title I stumbled on at the library but which isn't listed on her website - not sure why.