SHIP IT

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

WHAT DOES “SHIP IT” MEAN?

“Ship It” is a phrase used by Seth Godin in his latest book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?*  Basically this means that with any project, time is going to run out, money is going to run out, it’s time to move it on.  Why?  Because, according to Godin, “…the projects we do are never really finished…….” (page 103)

Most of us weavers would probably interpret this to mean, send the piece, imperfect as it is, to the show, give it to the person.  It’s not perfect, but get it out of here to where it belongs.  Only then is it finished.

But I am interpreting Godin’s explanation of shipping as including something more than, say,  just getting a piece to a show.  Indeed, I find myself right now at what I would call a “ship it” moment in my own weaving.  And the warp isn’t even on the loom yet!

MY “SHIP IT” MOMENT(S)

I dyed the last of the warp yarn.  I clearly did not get the calculations correct because it does not match the warp yarn I was trying to match.  It is definitely brown, not a reddish brown.

Moment #1.  My first thought was to wind another 1600 yards of white 60/2 silk and dye it, this time, getting the right color.  But my next thought was, is this simply perfectionism for perfectionism’s sake?  Seriously, is this really going to matter in the final outcome?  I decided not.  I was done with the warp dyeing. I needed to move on.

A quote from Godin’s book:

Laugh at perfection.  It’s boring and keeps you from being done. (page 130)

I hadn’t read Linchpin at this point, but when I got to this quote, I smiled. 

Moment #2.  Still into perfection, however, I dreamed up the following plan.  I thought I would wind the rest of the warp with this incorrectly dyed yarn.  But I would put it on separate lease sticks and end rods.  Then I would insert these new brown warp bouts somewhere into the warp bouts I have already made.  I would insert them in a place where they would serve best as a design element.

This seemed a pretty good idea.  Doable.  And who knows, it might turn out to be better than actually having gotten the color right in the long run.

But this sort of thing could go on forever and I might never get the warp on the loom.  This warp will never be perfect;  the completed weaving will certainly not be perfect.  It is time to stop worrying about the warp and get on with it.  It has cost me too much in time as it is.

I close with one of my favorite quotation from the book:

Accept that everything is a draft.  It helps to get it
done.  (page 128)

*You can also find Seth Godin at his blog, here.

“A New Treadling” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on February 15, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

MUD

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

One of my favorite books on color is an embroidery book by Richard Box.  It is called Color and Design for Embroidery.

I particularly  like his observation on brown.  Browns, he says,

…are the foils to all the brighter purer colours….  Bright colours may sit on ‘thrones but browns are the ‘powers’ behind them.   (page 40)

Many people tell you that when dyeing you are to avoid “mud.”  Mud?  Why can’t they just say “brown”?  And why avoid brown?  Indeed, why avoid mud?!  My current dyeing has shown some marvelous possibilities for browns, and browns that will relate to the “brighter purer colours” that I will be using.

I plan on using browns in both warp and weft.  My hope is that they do truly serve as foils for the greens (and red-violets) that I will be using.

Related Post:    Where Do Ideas Come From?

“Mud“ was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on October 12, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

“YOUNGER NEXT YEAR FOR WOMEN”

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

And what does a book like this have to do with weaving?

Bonnie Tarses recently made the following statement in a recent blog post:

Winding small amounts of yarn at frequent intervals forces me to take lots of weaving breaks. Next year I will celebrate 50 years of weaving. I owe my weaving longevity to this "slow" method.

Go here to read the whole post.

There is no way I will be able to celebrate 50 years of weaving since I didn’t start weaving until I was in my late 50’s.  But I do want to weave for as long as I am able and to do this I have to take care of my body.  One way Bonnie takes care of her body is taking lots of breaks.  That is really important.

Back to the book. Which is really about more ways to take care of your body so that in your 80’s and even 90’s you can still live an active and productive life.

This book is by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, one of whom is a practicing physician.  I found the book in an Atlanta bookstore last week.  Or did it find me?

I learned from the book that my current exercise program is pretty good. But I already know that from how my body feels and from the things I can do. More important, the book told me that I wasn’t doing enough and why what I was doing was not enough.  And the authors explain this in ways I can understand and in ways that truly make me want to do more.

Basically, according to these men, beginning about age 40 our bodies are going to start going downhill.  And with each decade that downhill slope increases. But we have a choice;  we can choose to go uphill.  Exercise, primarily aerobic exercise, but also weight-lifting, is the magic ticket. 

I knew this before I read the book.  But what I didn’t know was why exercise works.  What I did not know was how much of what kind of exercise works.  And I had never read anything presented in such a vivid way that it burned into my brain.

Also important are food, a sense of purpose, and being connected to others. But for me, the real thrust of the book is exercise. Not specific exercises.  There are trainers and gyms and books for that. The real thrust of the book is telling us how, why, and what kind of exercise works. Being convinced and remaining convinced is what can keep me weaving for the rest of my life.

Yes, there are times when I truly resent the fact that I cannot simply jump out of bed, shower, dress, eat, and be to work by 8:00.  It seems so unfair.  After all, I used to be able to do this…….

Still, I really have gotten to the point where I enjoy my morning yoga so much I cannot not do it. I doubt that I will ever get to that point with riding my stationary bicycle. Which I now know I must do for 45 minutes a day six days a week.   I am just waiting for the South Carolina heat to dissipate to the point where it is humanly possible to walk outside.  Oh, and for ragweed season to disappear as well………….

And then I need to find or replace my heart-rate monitor……..

“Younger Next Year for Women” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 21, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

LASHED ON

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I have lashed on to the front rod.  The lashing is visible in the lower right-hand corner of the photo. 

I have adjusted the tension.  And I have started the weaving with waste yarn.

To my delight there are no threading errors.  And to my further delight, there are no crossed warp ends.

On the other hand, I am dealing with sheds that do not want to clear. 

For the first eight shots, I had to manually clear each of the sheds.  Then with each succeeding group of eight shots, sheds began to clear.  I was at that point weaving quite close to the front beam.  So I moved the fell more towards the half-way point between front beam and beater.  And I continued to weave.

Now there are only two or three sheds that have a warp end or two that want to stick. 

When I return to the weaving I will move the fell a bit closer to the beater.  I had learned earlier that doing this forces better shed clearing.  If I feel a bit concerned, I will treadle another group of eight with the waste yarn.  If I feel brave and ready, I will start weaving with the silk.

Here is a close-up photo of the so-called “waste” yarn.  It is a fine tencel which maybe eight years ago I painted with the colors I had used on a tencel warp.  I had not planned on using a variegated yarn on that warp but since I had the dye ready and the yarn ready, thought I would paint it up and try it.  It did not work.

But I have enjoyed trying it on samples occasionally to see if it would work.  And I have enjoyed using it as waste yarn.  I clearly have quite a bit of it!

PHOTOGRAPHY ASIDE

I have acquired a new photography book (no, I am not quite as bad about collecting photography books as I am about collecting weaving books. But I do succumb to temptation a bit too often….).  I was attracted to it because one of the authors is Scott Kelby.  Kelby has written a couple of amazing books about digital photography—books that I can actually understand.  The title is The Photoshop Elements 7 Book for Digital Photographers. 

Now, I do not use Elements;  I use Paint Shop Pro.  But a quick look through at the book store suggested to me that much in there is quite the same as Paint Shop Pro.  Some of the language may be different.  And some of the actual tools may be a little different.  But all in all it seemed useful to me.

And useful it has turned out.  So far I have been working with only two chapters.  First the chapter on sharpening.  Then the chapter on something called levels.  The last has always troubled me and nothing I have read about in PSP has unveiled the mystery.  This book does. 

Thanks to levels, I got the colors in these photos right.  Well, almost right.  The waste yarn, in the second photo, is just a bit too bright.  But the rest of the photo is as close to perfect as I have ever gotten.  In time I will learn how to deal with areas of a photo.  Kelby’s book has the information.  I just need to spend some time with it.

Related Posts: 
   Lashing on to the Front of the Loom: Part One 
   Lashing on to the Front of the Loom: Part Two
   Ready to Weave
   Where is My Fell?
   Learning the Hard Way

“Lashed On” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 5, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

RECENT BLOG POSTS OF INTEREST

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

On Creativity – Tien’s Blog

Tien published her post the day after I published mine (Freeing the Creative Spirit).  I wrote mine in response to a post by Meg.  Tien wrote hers in response to an email.  I like her focus on what she calls “doing,”  that creativity is a doing, but it is a doing with a goal, using a particular medium and requiring technical skill.  Well, she really didn’t say technical skill, she used the work “mastery.”  I prefer technical skill because it allows those of us who have not mastered the techniques the ability to be creative.  But the implication is clear, especially as she gets into her subject in more detail, that greater technical skills foster the possibility of more creative work. 

One thing Tien does not mention.  It is an obvious part of her excellent work.  And I think it is an essential(?) attribute for an artist.  Intensity of focus.  Tien herself is very intense.  But the intensity is strongly focused, not just on weaving, but on the particular aspect of weaving that most interests her right now. 

Four Excellent Questions – The Painter’s Keys

This arrived in my mailbox the day after Tien’s blog.  Perhaps there is something in the water?

Thinking about the Edges – t’katch

Cally’s post about selvedges quite moved me.  It is a beautifully written brief essay about her own struggle with selvedges.  The combination of transparency and beautiful writing is hard to beat.

Colours – Theory and Practice – Dot’s Fibre to Fabric

This is a wonderful post on color with a discussion of many books I am NOT NOT NOT going to buy………sob, tempting as they might be.   I am NOT NOT NOT going to buy the books she mentions that I do not own...NOT NOT NOT......sob. 

Dorothy has trouble with color rules.  I do too. So often the rules just do not work.

I also have trouble with color theories because they really don’t help me. 

What has helped me immensely is a series of dye experiments I engaged which involved gradation dyeing from opposite or near opposite sides of the color wheel.  These experiments opened my eyes to all the wonderful wonderful colors in between the pure colors (and NONE of them is mud—they are all glorious, especially on silk—or maybe it’s the silk that makes them all glorious?!).  These experiments helped me understand at a much deeper level how colors work together.

I am actually not done with these experiments.  Reading Dorothy’s post is reviving the itch to get back and do more.

Right now an issue for me is how to use white in a weaving where brilliant and/or rich colors dominate.  I see white beautifully used in paintings using rich colors.  But every time I try to figure out how to incorporate that into weaving, I draw a blank. I simply cannot see how to make it work.

"Recent Blog Posts of Interest" was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on January 16, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

A NEW FIBER BOOK FILLED WITH IDEAS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

It is a knitting book. I do knit and so buy lots of knitting book. But I almost didn't buy this one. Met up in the book store with my husband, showed him the books I was going to buy, and told him I was going to put the knitting book back. He wouldn't let me. He said it would give me ideas. He's an accountant so I dithered a bit. Finally bought it. Thank heavens for husbands!

The book is by Ruth Lee. Back in the few years I was engaged in machine knitting, I had a book by her on machine knitting. I adored the book. It was creative, imaginative, everything I was not, wanted to be, could not be. And this book is published by Batsford, a company who used to publish tons of wonderful English fiber books. The name of the book? Contemporary Knitting for Textile Artists.

I turned first to the back pages. I am always interested in bibliographies and sources of supplies. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Mostly English sources, which is logical.

Then I looked at the last chapter. One page. "Knitting as Art." This sentence convinced me of my husband's wisdom:

"Beautifully made, considered sampling underpins contemporary textile practice, while informing the next step in the development process." (p. 123)

I think that I shall do something with these words, print them out and frame them.

I proceeded to go through the book backwards. There I found interesting bits about Lee's creative journey. I found interesting material on decorative surfaces, on felting (could I felt crackle woven in wool? crackle woven partly in wool and silk?) on spool knitting (could I weave with hand-knitted cord?), working with jumbo yarns, often created by plying or winding yarns together (wouldn't go through the heddles, but who needs heddles, and what about plying very fine yarns together), working with unfamiliar materials such as lingerie elastic, netting, wire.

Did I mention the photographs? They are beautiful.

This is not a book about (knitting) technique, though she talks in kind of generalized ways about techniques. This is a book to inspire. It has inspired the weaver in me.

Related Post: Inspiration from Quilting

© 2008

Posted August 19, 2008 by http://talkingaboutweaving.blogspot.com/

DYEING BOOKS: SOME FAVORITES

MY FAVORITES

Ann Milner, The Ashford Book of Dyeing, revised edition. This is my favorite and most used book. It is the one I turn to when I have questions and cannot remember formulas. It has chapters on both natural dyeing and chemical dyeing. The chemical dyes include dyes for protein fibers and cellulose fibers. It has chapters on immersion dyeing, dye painting and dip dyeing, using a microwave oven. And it has a wonderful chapter on dyeing experiments using small bits of fiber (yarn or fabric). I have done some of them and have learned much as a result. I cannot recommend this book too highly.

Karren K. Brito, Shibori: Creating Color and Texture on Silk. This book is not just about shibori, it is also about using Sabraset/Lanaset dyes. It is this book that helped me refine and hone my immersion dyeing techniques on silk yarn with Sabraset dyes.

Deb Menz, Color in Spinning. This book is especially useful if you are dyeing fleece. It is also very useful for dyeing any kind of fiber with the Sabraset/Lanaset dyes. I prefer using the procedures Karren outlines in the second book I listed, but Deb has got lots of good information, good pictures, and a lot of interesting formulas for various colors. I have used some of her formulas to add to my own collection and also to give me inspiration for modifying some of my own formulas.

Betsy Blumenthal and Kathryn Kreider, Hands On Dyeing. This was not the book that taught me how to dye, but it is one I would very much recommend for the very beginner who doesn't know where to start. The book is very very beginner friendly and at the same time very sound in technique. Though written for beginners, it uses the metric system, not the English system that we all know. Having started with the English system and then moved to the metric, I cannot say strongly enough how much better the metric system is.

They talk about the very basics of dyeing techniques and then move onto more details of the process. There are chapters on color theory and color mixing. There is a chapter on dip dyeing and rainbow dyeing and another chapter on overdyeing. That last chapter is valuable for there are few books that discuss overdyeing.

A FEW MORE

Patricia Lambert, Barbara Staepelaere and Mary G. Fry, Color and Fiber. A big book, both physically and in terms of content. There is a lot of scientific theory of color here, but with particular application to fiber. There are some interesting exercises. I look at it a bit from time to time. It is always challenging. Whether I will actually grow into the book is a difficult question.

Janet DeBoer, ed., Dyeing for Fibres and Fabrics. A collection of essays from an Australian textile periodical. Most are easy to read and all are interesting.

Bailey Curtis, Dyeing to Colour: Microwave Dyeing and other Quick and Easy Methods of Colouring Fabric with Dye. Quick dyeing is not my particular thing, but I appreciate that it does have its place. I also appreciate that this is exactly what many wannabe dyers need and they may never need or want anything else. This, I think, is one of the better books. The book is English, so there are some English terms and a few English dyes. But this should not create a problem for Americans who want to try these techniques.

Linda LaBelle, The Yarn Lover's Guide to Hand Dyeing: Beautiful Color and Simple Knits. This is a lovely book with some interesting dyeing projects. I particularly like the pictures on page 79 which photograph just exactly how this person dipdyes a skein of yarn in multiple pots of different colored dye solutions.

Katy Jane Widger, The New Color Wheel Fabric Dyeing. I'm not actually recommending this particular book. I am including it because it is the first edition of this book that got me started in dyeing some ten years ago. It uses the English system. There are apparently some inaccuracies (this from people on the email dyers list). But I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this book.

Books

I cannot resist books, especially books having to do with weaving. And The Textile Museum’s gift show has a goodly supply. The difficulty is choosing but one.

After looking at all the possibilities, I settled on a book published just this year called Weaving and Dyeing in Highland Ecuador. It is a collection of essays edited by Ann Pollard Rowe. The book discusses primarily backstrap weaving but focuses on many of the manipulative techniques used in backstrap weaving. Of these techniques, supplementary warp patterning dominates. But there is also considerable discussion of ikat techniques, something which especially interests me.

There are, as well, chapters on treadle loom weaving and on natural dyeing.

The book is going to be a heavy read, something not to be skimmed through quickly. But there are also lots of photographs to break up the text. I look forward to starting the book.