Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Crackle Samples for Jacket

I have been trying to get things pulled together before I leave this Friday morning for a mini-vacation in Washington D.C. I want to have stuff organized well enough so it is easy to pick up and work on the crackle jacket designing when I get back. Actually, I would like to have all the preparations finished so that all I have left to do is to order the yarns I need.

But I will never get that far. I always seem to plan to get farther than I can, finish on an earlier date than is possible. That used to bother me for a long time. Now, unless there is truly a real deadline, it doesn't bother me. I know I get farther than I would have had I not set those goals that turn out to be unattainable.

So I have been going through the written work on the crackle sampling, comparing the tie-ups, treadlings, and colors with the actual woven samples. My dilemma (as always) is how to organize the stuff. I want the information to be useful in the future. That means, each sample needs to be associated with the tie-up, treadling and color information.

At first glance, it seems like the best way would be to cut the samples apart and attach to each of them the necessary information. But the necessary information is often quite long, extending at times to 3/4 of a page. OK, so then I could put each sample, with its paperwork, in a see-through plastic envelope that goes in a ring binder. This seems unnecessarily bulky and perhaps not even really useful.

Another thing I could do is to keep the samples intact and the paperwork in one piece. I like this idea best because sometimes it is really helpful to compare samples. And seeing them all together sets of different kinds of thinking about them.

OF course, I could play with the individual samples like puzzles, but then I would have to have an easy way to keep the paperwork with them. It could be difficult with some of them to identify them correctly because the differences can be fairly subtle.

So I really am coming down to the notion of keeping the samples in one piece and the written work in one piece and finding some convenient way to store them. The trick, of course, in storing them, is not to bury them so that out-of-sight becomes out-of-mind. So far what I have done is simply to put all the written materials in a file folder. Then I put the file folder in my filing cabinet. Out of sight..........

Then I have to put the woven samples some place else; they do not fit in the file folder. I have some in a box, but right now my tendency is to hang the ones with possibilities on a towel rack so they are always fairly visible. And I can easily pull off what I want to get a better look at. This may not be a pretty sight, but it does work.

Filing stuff has been an issue for each of my more creative problems. I have not solved it.l I don't know when, or even if, I will solve it. I keep hoping.

2 comments:

Leigh said...

Why is it that the creative process always seems to be at odds withthe organizational process? I have the same questions and struggles over organizing my samples. The ones for the lace weaves workshop were cut apart to go with the notes. The ones for the S&W workshop are in long strips. I don't know which is better! Then I have 2 or 3 big boxes full of woven items, yardage, and samples. *sigh*

I love the crackle samples! Are they all examples of "4 shaft"?

Valerie said...

Those are fairly large samples of beautiful fabric. It would be a shame not to put them to some purpose. Why not save a swatch then make some of them into envelope style evening bags, or insets into garments with commercial fabrics (silks or high quality wool gabardin)?

Do you have a page where you fill in the blanks to keep weaving records? Over the years, I've used the HGA pages that are included w/ the learning exchanges. Then when I acquired weaving software, those became my base recording pages. I mount a serged sample (say one or two repeats) of the fabric on a piece of card stock and keep it with the computer printed sheet in large binders...the kind that D ring to manage the bulk.

Early on, I kept my records chronologically. Now I keep them grouped by class of weave.

In the tapestry workshop I just took, Ann had us mount our samples onto mat board w/ sticky back velcro. Then you can hang or prop the mat board in your studio to let the learning sink in. I think you're on the right track to want to keep them in view for awhile.