Honing Skills

catching the shuttle - thumb is used as a 'brake' to prevent the bobbin from feeding off too much yarn

preparing to throw the shuttle - index finger has moved to the point of the shuttle to propel it through the shed



Today I got an email from someone who found my You Tube channel and watched the video clip on throwing the shuttle:

Selvedges have really been my bug a boo. Yesterday I was getting so frustrated that I was ready to scream.

I got online and googled and ended up at your video. All I can say is thank you! I went back to the loom and practiced keeping my hands off the edges and just throwing the shuttle and keeping it above the beater bar and away from my body. What a difference!

It really warms my heart to get messages like this.  I truly hate to see people struggling with the techniques of the craft.  Most often they don't even know there might be a 'better' way than what they are doing.  When you are self-taught, you do the best you can, not knowing any different.

Recently I saw someone demonstrating weaving.  She was obviously a very talented weaver from the work on display but....she was sitting way too low.  I wanted so badly to go over to her and explain that she needed to have her bench higher so that she didn't have to hunch her shoulders in order to throw the shuttle.

But - and this is a big but - I have done this before and been rebuffed.  Some people have actually gotten angry about my trying to help them.  :(

And so I think long and hard now about trying to offer my help to others.  Much better to just post videos to the internet and blog.  That way people who want to know more can hopefully find what they need and I'm not offending someone who doesn't realize that what they are doing is going to be harmful to them down the road and risk offending them by offering to help.

The benefits to working more efficiently are that you get more done with less effort, you do less harm to your body (which will come back to haunt you as you get older - ask me how I know!) and ultimately the quality of your textiles will be enhanced as you work more consistently.

I am really happy to be doing more workshops about issues of efficiency.  When I first started beating my drum about working more efficiently/ergonomically there was a certain level of hositility from some people.  Ultimately it is up to each person to decide if they are happy with their results and whether or not they feel the need to change. 

The next opportunity for people to take a really indepth workshop is at John C. Campbel Folk School in NC in March next year.  The class is starting to fill - and it's a great environment - a real creative retreat.  I'll also be doing a shorter version for the Sarasota guild in Florida, just prior to JCC.  Then in 2013 I've been contracted (again) to do a short version for NEWS.

And of course, people can come here to my studio for a 3-5 day weaving camp experience.  Maybe during the Cold Snap Music Festival in February?  ;^)

Profit is Not a Four Letter Word

Writing about being in the business of designing, making and selling hand woven textiles has brought up many memories as I wander down memory lane, and not all of them are pleasant.  Let's face it, in order to be a person who sells their own designs in a field as competitive as that of textiles requires a huge amount of ego - and humility.

What has been a recurring theme over the years is that of making a profit.  So many people think that 'profit' is a four letter word.  For some reason, because we enjoy what we do, we aren't supposed to make any money (i.e. a profit on what we sell).  We are supposed to be content to get our materials cost back and a little extra to buy more materials.  We somehow don't deserve to make a profit because we are supposed to be satisfied with the enjoyment we have experienced during the making of our cloth.

This attitude was challenged at a meeting I attended of a craft co-op.  Why were we not supposed to earn a respectable income, the questioner asked.  Do lawyers and doctors not enjoy what they do?  And yet everyone knows they have to earn a respectable wage.

But the myth of the starving artist persists, and often it is the artist (or artisan) who promotes this myth by not asking enough for their products.  They discount their time.  They ignore the overhead expenses involved in being in business.  They wave these things away with the comment that they just do it because they enjoy it.

If we don't respect ourselves, why should anyone else respect what we do?

At one craft fair a man came by and leaning on my booth (never a good idea - a booth is not meant to be leaned on!) rather presumptuously told me that he was going to buy 14 placemats and only pay $90.  I looked at him and said "I don't think so."  (At the time my mats were retailing for $8.50 a piece)

His jaw dropped and he sputtered "But I'm going to buy fourteen mats!"

"Well" I replied, "fourteen mats doesn't equal $90."

"But, but, I'm going to buy FOURTEEN of them!"

"You know" I said "a lady came in yesterday and bought 14 mats and 14 napkins and she didn't get a discount.  I don't think it would be fair to her to give you one."

"Well, I can't afford to pay full price for your mats!"

I don't remember what I said in return, probably something along the lines of "I'm sorry" but today my response to this sort of interaction is a smile and "I do understand about restricted budgets."

My ego was offended at the manner in which he approached me and the attitude that I would consider giving a perfect stranger a discount just because he assumed he'd get one.  I also knew that my mats would sell elsewhere for full price so why should I give my time away to him?

But another part of me also knows that no show is guaranteed to be successful.  The public will vote on the quality of your designs and craftsmanship with their dollars so I try very hard to not have expectations of sell out shows but to be grateful for whatever sales I have.

My ego also appreciates the positive comments that the public proffer, but ultimately there are no calories in compliments so I don't let them go to my head.  If I'm at a show where all I hear is "oh you have such nice scarves" but the sales are few I try very hard to not let myself get depressed - if my work is so nice why isn't anyone buying it? - because it is precisely the answer to that question that I need to find.  Doing a show where the sales are not good keeps me humble and keeps me looking for newer, better designs. 

And I try not to brag when I've had a good sale because the next one could be a bust.

Cold Snap Music Festival

One of the things I do at the end of the day is sit for a while, watch a little tv and knit.  A friend calls my knitting creative fidgeting, and I can't deny it.

Recently I met someone who is involved in the Cold Snap Music Festival and she mentioned that she was looking for donations of warm winter gear for some of the musicians who come to town unprepared for the sometimes rather cold weather that we can get.  I offered to send some of my creative fidgeting her way.

But I wasn't really happy with my usual knitting which is okay but not terribly inspired.  I rummaged in my storage area and found 3 skeins of hand painted wool boucle' - all various shades of blues/purples - and decided to knit these instead. 

The purple-ish one is more blue in real life.  I cast on 50 stitches and just knit from one end to the other - again nothing terribly inspired - just let the yarn itself be the focus.  One scarf is done and the second is nearing completion.  I'm hoping to get all three done before Christmas and drop them off for the festival.  Then I'll go back to my usual bundled weaving yarns.  I'm sure I can get a few more scarves knitted for donation to the Salvation Army this winter.  St. Vincent de Paul got a bagful the end of October.

And I'll have worked on stash busting some more. 

Currently reading The Law of Angels by Cassandra Clark

Administrivia

One of the things weavers new to selling their work don't understand at first is the aspect of marketing/selling and how much time winds up in the details of getting their textiles ready for sale and then actually offering them for sale to the public.

It is legally required in Canada and the US (and I assume other countries) that textiles be labelled with fibre content and care.  In Canada, household textiles and fashion accessories can be labelled with a simple hang tag. Garments must have 'permanent' labels (with permanent defined as 10 cleanings or launderings).

It is one reason why I don't make garments - I don't want to have to deal with the issue of permanent labels.  To buy commerically made labels generally means an order of at least 100, more usually more than that in order to get a decent price and since I often change the yarns I use, I'd be constantly running into the problem of changing fibre content.

Getting the textiles labelled takes time.  The system I now use is that of a paper hang tag with my name, logo, a little marketing promotion on the front with a small hote drilled in the top of the tag.  On the back I apply a label with general washing instructions and then hand write in the fibre content as required.  Once the labels are ready I use a stem gun with 1 inch stems to attach the labels to the textile.  Sometimes I price them at the same time, sometimes I leave the pricing for later.

This is just one of the unseen - and largely unpaid - jobs that newbies to selling don't take into consideration in their pricing formula. 

Most new sellers come up with a price that will cover the cost of their materials with maybe a little extra for their time to make the cloth but they don't cover things like overhead (all the expenses that continue regardless of whether or not one is actually making something), and the myriad expenses involved in marketing.

The problem with marketing is that largely it is more expenditure of time rather than money, although money can also be spent - the aforementioned tags/labels, booth fees, travelling to and from shows, website fees when selling on line, banking fees (including Paypal, Art Fire, etsy, eBay fees) and so on and so forth.  It is these expenses that get covered in the retail mark up portion of one's price calculation.

If the weaver does not have a retail mark up in their formula, then they will be working for nothing, or else working at a loss as those expenses are not covered except for coming out of the weaver's pocket.

From time to time people ask me to submit articles for guild newsletters on the business of selling.  From time to time I give seminars - usually discussing pricing issues.  I'm wondering if people would be interested in a small publication geared toward business issues of selling weaving......?

(Yes, that's a handwoven tablecloth on my table - Swedish Snowflake, woven double width in order to get a cloth wide enough to cover my table properly.  And yes, it was a once in a lifetime project, never to be repeated!)

A Little Procrastination...

wet finished Fox Fibre towels - the colour has developed nicely - from left to right - 50% green, 50% brown, and 25% green

...is sometimes a good thing.

Got some pressing done today and as it's a fairly mindless task pressing is, my mind tends to wander.  With the Big Project sort of dominating my thought processes I was worrying away at the logistics of getting everything done - text written, diagrams to include, samples to be woven and so on.  And of course the assembling of the sample pages and text pages. 

For Magic I had my brother's basement rec room.  I don't have that option for this project.  Nor will I have my mom's basement as we are hoping hard that her house will sell quickly.

One option is to re-organize the annex and set up an assembly station there.  Which means that I'm going to have to hang on to the annex for a while longer - first to press the samples (so much easier to do on the big press, even though all of the samples for Magic were done on the small flat bed press), and then to assemble the pages.

As I was thinking about all of those things, including the samples I want to include, it suddenly occurred to me that the current warp on the AVL pefectly fits the parameters of one of the samples I want to do.  Even better, there is just about exactly enough warp left to actually weave that sample!  And I had been fretting about not having gotten more of this warp woven by now.  :}

So tomorrow, instead of carrying on with the towels I had planned - I can always make more towels later, right? - I will redesign the treadling to weave the samples and begin weaving those. 

Wow!  Progress on the Big Project before December!  Maybe I can make the May deadline for the Alberta conference after all????

Currently reading Brute Strength by Susan Conant

Satisfying Progress

Today I cut off what I've woven so far on the beige towel warp.  Considering I've been sick with a cold, progress is...satisfactory.  I'm trying very hard to not get on my own case for having done 'only' this much.

I have, after all, done a bunch of administrivia and cleared a lot of the paperwork I'd been procrastinating over off my desk.  :)

Today I mailed the contract for HWSDA next May.  Only one seminar, but since I don't know for sure if Doug will be able to come with me and I'll have a vendor booth I figured I'd better not apply to do more.  The call for instructors for Mid-West 2013 also came through today but as it's the same week as ANWG and I've already applied there, I can't apply to Mid-West, too.  Another time perhaps.  Of course there's no guarantee I'll get to teach at ANWG, but it would be too embarassing to get accepted at both and have to turn one of them down.  :(

One of my jobs in the next little while is to review and update my workshop topics.  I already know I have to update Magic in the Water part II so I've pulled some yarns for a new warp for that workshop.  I'll weave the sample as soon as I get the towel warp done.  I need to order more yarns for that, too, so I'm going to try to get all the yarn orders done at once.  I have to watch my budget, too!

I've also been thinking that I ought to move up publication date for the sample packet to co-incide with HWSDA.  Unfortunately my energy levels still aren't great so I haven't done much about that - yet.  Instead I set out a jigsaw puzzle and I've been vegging fiddling with bits of coloured cardboard.  But I am hoping that my energy will start to come back now that I'm pretty much over my cold.

A dozen towels are in the washing machine and I'll go press them on Sunday along with the rest of the place mats I finished hemming and whatever else I can manage to get ready by then.  These towels are particularly exciting because they have the Fox Fibre yarn for weft and the colours should develop to a much greater degree than the loom state.

In the meantime it's back to the loom to weave the 2nd towel of the day.  We'll see if I manage 3 or not.

Taking Control

remember these?  All gone except for one...

Yesterday I got all the inventory unpacked and put away and was able to see what is low and what needs to be replaced.  It was very satisfying to note that only one of these scarves were left.  A nice stash busting warp and some good income as a result.  Win-win!

With the last of the craft fairs done and my cold just about gone it is time to start thinking about the future.  With the decision to go ahead with the next sample set my coming days will have a certain amount of structure as I work on planning the projects, ordering the yarn and beginning to generate the text and samples.

But I am also highly aware of the fact that my next treatment is coming up and I decided to take my life into my own hands to a much greater degree.  If I had to stop taking most of my nutritional supplements during chemo because they would interfere with the treatment by protecting the cells (yes, even the cancer cells) then obviously taking the supplements must be A Good Thing.

So I booked an appointment with a naturopath who specializes in helping cancer patients with the goal of doubling my remission if I possibly can.  I do not want to go through chemo again any time soon so the obvious thing to do is to make sure that I am living as healthy and protected a life as I possibly can.  

I picked up a rather lengthy questionnaire and filled it out - now to make lists of all my allergies and nutritional supplement/Rx meds and next Tuesday I'll go find out if what I'm taking is sufficient or if there are gaps that need to be filled. 

Currently reading Death of a Lesser Man by Thomas Rendell Curran