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.

Sustainable

Organic  or not?

Over the years of my career, I have struggled with the whole issue of sustainability and the fibres I use in my practice.

When I first began weaving, I tried everything.  And by that I mean everything.  As I learned more about how fibre is grown, how it is made (synthetics), spun/dyed, the life cycle of natural and synthetic fibres, I eventually made some decisions that I tend to follow.

A friend educated me on the meaning of 'organic' and that it doesn't necessarily mean that no pesticides are used, but only approved ones.  Click on the link above for the entire article but here is a quote from it:

"Organic cotton, however, is grown without chemical pesticides or harmful fertilizers, which is why is it often seen as more environmentally friendly than conventional cotton. This does not mean that organic cotton is free from all pesticides or insecticides, however - organic cotton farming does allow for the use of natural and synthetic pesticides in moderate quantities. In turn, these natural pesticides can also be harmful. For example, Rotetone is a natural pesticide which was used in cotton farming since the 1800s until it was found to cause symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease in rats. In 2011 a study from the US National Institutes of Health indicated a link between rotenone use and Parkinson's disease in farm workers, but the natural pesticide is not included on the FDA ‘white’ list. In addition, a study funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada on four synthetic and two organic insecticides found the two organic insecticides to have a significantly higher toxicity than the synthetic counterparts."

There are so many steps along the production line, fibre to cloth, and there is the opportunity for impact to the environment at many of them.

So, my personal line in the sand is that I do not use anything that will not degrade back into dust.  I do use rayon, but have become concerned about the negative impact on the environment, yes, but also the health issues for the human beings who work in the factories where rayon is produced.  Once I have used up what I have, I will not buy more.

I think about the fact that as a weaver I add to the surplus of textiles we have in the world.  I take some comfort in that my textiles are 'slow' cloth:  my textiles are made by hand and will wear for years - in some cases, decades.  Which is another definition of 'slow' cloth in my books.

My advice is to learn as much as possible about how fibre is produced and the processes used to make it into cloth.  Or at least into the fibres and yarn that we, as spinners/dyers/weavers etc., use to create our textiles.

Many people are now growing their own fibres, be they shepherds, flax growers, silkworm raisers, etc.  Learn as much as possible about environmental impacts, not only of natural fibres, but synthetic ones.  Make informed choices.  Pay attention to the source of your information.  If it is from the Cotton Council, they may not be presenting good information about other competing fibres.  If it is from a website promoting organic, they may not be telling the entire story, either. 

Find out who is giving you information and seek out other sources of information.  In this day and age of 'fake' news, propaganda is rampant.  Think about who is telling you what (e.g. PETA and their misleading campaigns about wool) and be skeptical until you can confirm the information with other sources you trust.

So, cotton uses enormous quantities of water and pesticides.
Flax will strip nutrients from the soil which must then be remediated  after each growing season, plus the retting may release toxins into the environment.
Silk worms get stifled in order to preserve the long filament they have extruded.  Best quality get fed mulberry leaves.
Wool comes in an almost infinite variety of staple length, crimp, fineness/coarseness.  According to a large animal vet I know, mulesing is not practiced in North America, even in large flocks.  The animals are NOT butchered to obtain their fleece, they simply get a haircut.  A good shearer takes very little time to shear the animal who then enjoys a much cooler summer.  Domestic sheep MUST be shorn because they cannot shed their fibre as wild sheep can do.

Educate yourself.  Make informed choices.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Turn, Turn, Turn

To everything there is a season...

Today I went through my ledger and completed the GST for the third quarter.  I was also notified that it's time to file PST for the first part of 2019, so those figures got added up as well.

I have an appointment booked with the bank next week to find out about what to do in terms of my business banking.  My accountant already knows that I will be seeing her in the new year to follow through on how to properly shut down my sales tax accounts with both branches of government

As I close out my business, I thought about the Byrds song Turn, Turn, Turn and how to everything there is a season.

Next year I turn 70.  I have no idea what the coming years will hold.  I hope to keep teaching for a while (the Olds program - I confirmed with the college last week that I am interested in staying on the roster).

Doug has been working like a navvy getting the studio re-organization done.  He's managed to sell some things, I've managed to sell some things.  Today he is getting the Woolhouse Margaret ready to be crated and shipped.

I am becoming friends with the Megado and will be keeping the Leclerc Fanny as well.  But I really didn't need the Woolhouse so it will go to a new home.

I have managed to weave down my stash, somewhat, and will continue to weave.  I'm still needing to remind myself that I won't need to weave at production levels because this year is the last year I will take my own booth at a craft fair.  Next year I will most likely still have pretty significant levels of inventory, but I can put that into the guild booth at Studio Fair plus the guild sale we usually have in late November, early December (this year Nov 30/Dec 1) at the guild room.  And of course there is the local Studio Shop run by the Community Arts Council.  Or on line sales.

My 'season' as a professional weaver is well into autumn.  A friend is keeping track of how many days until year end, but I don't actually want to know.  I'm working hard at staying in the moment, neither fussing about when the first show is, or when my last day as a business owner happens.

I chose to be a weaver as my profession; now I choose to have weaving as a hobby, a personal enrichment.  Studies over and over show that people who do creative things, who continue to learn, have better outcomes for 'old age' than those who don't.

My body is telling me loud and clear that I cannot sustain weaving for production.  Physically I am well into autumn.

I have physical issues I am dealing with, some I'm ignoring as best I can.  But there is no denying that I am a senior with a body that is wearing out.

Beginning on January 1, 2020 I will be focusing on keeping a good quality of life as my first priority.  Self care will mean that I weave, yes, but that I will also make time in my day for other things.

As autumn turns into winter, so will I embrace this change of season. 

No regrets.  Or not many.

Praise

Since I have been open about the challenges I have been having becoming friends with the Megado, I want to be completely clear about one thing.  The customer service I have been getting from Dave at Louet has been stellar.

Part of the challenge is changing to a loom so very different from the AVL I had been weaving on for the better part of 40 years.  There were aspects of the AVL I truly loved and having a loom that is different enough to require some quite different processes has been a challenge.  And that is on me, not the loom.

It is going to take me some time to tweak my processes and I am not expecting anything other than some time at the slippery end of the learning curve to make it work the way I want/need it to.

Some of the challenges were related to the different computer set up.  Dave spent the better part of 30 minutes one day getting the initial set up working with the built in software.  Not his fault I didn't like that software, he was kind enough to offer to help me get my desktop set up so that I could use Fiberworks, my preferred weaving software.

Between us, our schedules did not mesh for a couple of days, but on Sunday Dave spent a further 30+ minutes trying to get the desktop to connect and after trying everything he could think of we switched to the laptop, which did work.

That second session was pure customer service above and beyond the call of a company who has their very own built in computer with software. 

Yesterday I got the loom and laptop talking to each other after some further compatibility issues, and left trying to weave on the loom until today.

It didn't take very long to get everything up and running this morning and I set about weaving a further test swatch, then decided to go ahead and weave a scarf, if I could. 

I got about four inches into the scarf when shaft two stopped working.  I got Doug to come take a look because it appeared that the solenoid for shaft two had come loose from its anchor and I assumed it would be a fairly easy fix once the dobby head was off the loom.  But I wanted Doug to take a look and see what he thought.

So I shut everything down and Doug took the head off the loom to see about tightening the solenoid, but in the end it kept slipping so he emailed Dave for advice.  I remembered that Dave had said he was out of town so suggested Doug phone before the end of their business day.  With a three hour time zone change, that would be very soon.

Doug was able to reach Dave and explain the problem.  They had quite a long conversation about what to do, and while Dave said he'd never heard of another instance of this happening, he was able to give Doug suggestions about what to do.

It took a bit of finagling to get the head mounted into the loom again, but eventually it was and Doug readjusted the blade, which had gotten slightly out of alignment in the process.

And then I was able to connect the laptop again, and weave another test section. 

I am so very impressed with the service that Dave provided through all of this initial stage of getting to know the Megado.  He never once talked down to me as I fumbled my way through the computer set up.  He did not blame me or Doug for the issue with the solenoid.  He thought through the problems I was having, came up with suggestions to fix the situation and walked me through the steps in getting the loom running.

I have only owned a very few looms in my career, and this level of respectful customer service is so very much appreciated. 

There are still things I need to work on, but getting this warp into the loom has provided valuable information about what I need to do to come closer to my goals.

I am able to use Fiberworks, which means I don't have to learn new weaving software.  I can even load my files from my main desktop, where I do most of my designing, onto a thumb drive so that I can access those files from the laptop.

The loom itself is very light to treadle and while there are a few more tweaks I might get Doug to address, it feels comfortable to sit at.  I even had a tall enough stool that I didn't have to purchase another.  The loom is quiet although I may go back to using my headphones which will help filter out the sound of the solenoids activating.  But even that isn't particularly noisy.

I was able to thread the loom without too much trouble once I found out that the breast beam lifts out in order to get closer to the shafts.  Doug will mount lamp fittings so that I can add a couple of lamps to shine into the heddles.  As winter comes on, having the supplemental light will become even more important.

But more than anything, I just want to say that Dave at Louet gets 10 gold stars from me for the customer service he has provided.

Cautiously Optimistic

I spent the better part of today getting the test warp ready, then failing to get the loom to run.  Stopping for lunch, then a quick trip to the chiropractor, I thought of one tiny thing I might have forgotten to do to make the loom's built in software work, and when I got home checked.  Sure enough, while I had saved the file in .wif format?  I had not used the liftplan option.  A quick edit to the file and I was able to get the loom weaving.

But I don't much like the built in software after using Fiberworks, so I thought I would try once more to see if I could get the loom to talk to the laptop via Fiberworks.

Once again the message 'com port failed to open' appeared on the screen and then just as I was going to go back to the Louet software, a further message popped up - 'restart to finish setting up changes'.

Huh.  I was pretty sure I'd done that, but ok.

So I shut everything down on the laptop, set it up to make changes and restart and came back a few minutes later.  Watched pots never boiling and all.

Once again I opened Fiberworks, selected 'weave' and once again got the 'com port failed to open' message.  Then I figured what the heck, all the settings said the com port should be valid, and without much hope I stepped on the treadle.  And what to my wondering ears happened?  Solenoids fired.

OK, let's see if it is actually going to work.  Stepped on the treadle again and a shed opened. 

Again, and the next shed opened.  And again!  So I started weaving and amazingly enough I was able to weave for over an inch with each shed opening.

However, after fighting with it for over two hours today, I was wrung out.  It is also going to take more than an hour to weave a scarf, so I shut everything down and will try again tomorrow.  Which will be the true test - can I get this working reliably?   I know dozens of people all happily weave on their Megado Looms.  I should be able to as well.  My love/hate relationship with computers notwithstanding...

Now that I've managed to get the loom working once with Fiberworks, I am cautiously optimistic that tomorrow I will be able to complete the first test scarf.  I know I put a little extra on just for the purpose of testing, so even though I've used up about 8" of warp, there should still be plenty for two scarves.

I have also learned that I need the standard shuttle because the low profile one keeps submarining.  I am getting comfortable with the rate of weaving which the loom seems to prefer.  It's a bit slower than I'm used to, but I am trying to remind myself, daily, at times hourly, I no longer need to weave at 110% efficiency.  I will be retired from production weaving in less than three months.  It's ok if I work at a slower pace than 'usual'. 

So I end today cautiously optimistic about tomorrow.  And will go weave a rayon chenille scarf and try to find my zen mindful/mindless weaving.

Slippery

Today I worked at making friends with the Megado.

It is very different in a number of ways from the AVL and so I'm having to tweak this, try that, not entirely satisfied, but knowing that the learning curve is always very slippery at the beginning.

Not entirely sure I had enough yarn to beam a 10 yard long warp I cut back to 6 and a bit yards and it was a good thing I did because a couple of spools ran out and a couple more were getting very close to used up.  Which is A Good Thing, but still, I didn't want to run out in the middle of a longer warp.

There are a number of differences that I am going to have to figure out and the big one today was the sectional beaming.  I didn't much care for the Louet tension box, so asked Doug to retrofit the AVL tension box.

However, it happens that there were some wrinkles in doing that and I am going to have to try another test warp and see if I can't smooth things out in a way that will work for me.  Let's just say the tension isn't great, so another good reason to cut back to a much shorter warp.

When this warp comes off I will do another test scarf warp, again 6+ yards, and see if I can't get better results.

There are other quirks of the loom that are different, like not being able to lift the shafts easily.  At least not that I can see currently.  I will look more closely once the warp is off again and see if there isn't a way to move the shafts individually.  I had thought to raise the shafts to make them a little easier to thread but couldn't figure out a way to do that.  Yet.

I'm not entirely loving the TexSolv cord at the ends of the shafts, which look like they absolutely must be in the groove in order to lift the shafts properly.  They kept popping out as I threaded and finally I just left them and will put them back in before I fire up the loom to actually weave on it.

Happily I discovered that the breast beam can be lifted off easily and was then able to get close enough to the shafts to thread the warp.  And as a temporary measure I was able to direct one of the work table lamps to the back of the shafts so that I could see to thread.  This will become very important as winter comes on and we have very short, often grey dreary days.  I may get Doug to mount fittings to the loom so that I can add lamps to the front of it.

I had hoped to beam 20 yard long warps, but the back beam is quite small which means lots of cranking.  On the other hand, I no longer have to weave at production levels.

All the tweaking, trying this, trying that, meant that dressing the loom took a lot longer than I had hoped.  But it's beamed and threaded and the reed put into the beater.  Tomorrow I will sley and then fire it up and see how it goes.  I can always sacrifice the warp if the tension issues become too great.  The silk was a gift, so not much invested in it in terms of money.  My time is far more precious to me right now so if it looks like I won't get a good quality textile off this warp, I will make the sacrifice to the Megado loom goddess.  She is new here and may need some bribes to co-operate.

Tardis

Over the years I have adjusted and re-arranged the studio to suit my needs of the time.  This time is more than just a tweak but a full blown 'toss it like salad'.

Making the decision to close the studio as a business has been emotional, yes, but it has forced me to closely examine what it is I will be doing come 2020.  Because I will no longer need to weave at production levels.

Between us, we have managed to re-home some of the production equipment.  I had little expectation that anyone other than me would want it, so it was a pleasant surprise when we found someone just a day's drive away who wanted the pirn winder.  I hope that she has it installed and is now happily using it.  The AVL was broken down into pieces and some of those pieces have also found new homes.  I'm still waiting on one person to let me know if they still want what they expressed an interest in. 

As we sorted through the heaps and piles of rubble, other decisions needed to be made.  Since I will no longer be beaming warps sectionally from mill cones, the metal rack Doug had retrofitted for me for that purpose, and which had turned into a clutter collector, could also go.  That went this morning and left this gaping hole:

The large pieces of 'paper' are actually pulp 'boards' and over the years they have proven to be extremely useful for various and sundry things.  They lived behind the rack, out of sight and out of the way.  We will likely keep them and Doug will customize another shelving rack to fit in the hole the rack left.  The annex still has shelves full of boxes of...stuff...that needs to come here.  Some of the boxes are filled with acrylic yarn and their destination will most likely be one of the thrift shops.  I will keep some to use for tying warps off, but I certainly do not need all of the boxes.

The computer cabinet is now officially my music cabinet:

Moving it from where it was beside the loom, taking up a large amount of real estate and tucking it into a corner means that the wall to the right (as I look at the photo) now has room for more shelving or piling of boxes.  Doug says there are still shelves at the annex he can modify so that corner to the right can be assigned to more storage.

The thing is, as I weave down my stash, sell my inventory, things will continue to change  Right now we are working on the theory that my studio is a Tardis and we can stuff more things into it than has any physical right to go.

Today Doug should get the sectional box modification done on the Megado, and then he will work on getting a quote for crating and shipping the Woolhouse Margaret.  The loom was spoken for within 20 minutes of my posting that I wanted to sell it, plus there is one person on a waiting list in case the crating and shipping is too expensive for person 1.

So there will soon be the floor space the loom is currently taking for more storage.  Ultimately I don't have to have everything moved here until I am ready to hand in notice to the landlord, but I'm trying really hard to make decisions based on what my future holds, not on my memory and the priorities of my past.