Getting Back to Weaving

When I woke up this morning I was surprised to find myself still feeling the emptiness of of the house after the children and grand-baby had left yesterday. I did not feel like weaving. I understood a bit how empty-nest moms can go into a lingering depression.

I did put off starting to weave until the middle of the morning. As I said, I did not much feel like weaving. So I told myself, well, I would just weave one block length with the new colors of yarns (browns and blues on the red warp). I had wound the pirns while I was still up on weaving before everyone arrived for Christmas. So all I had to do was to put the pirns in their shuttles. I had also made notes of the treadlings and colors I wanted to use next.



The only reason I stopped at weaving two block lengths was that it was a bit late in the morning and I had to get my walk in before lunch............... Guess I'm back!

And on that walk, I took my Christmas gift MP3 player and listened to an episode of Weavecast. I am hooked....................

Authoritative Statements

Yesterday I was looking at my written plans for the next silk crackle scarf. The plans go on for four pages. I haven't looked at them for quite awhile, so it was kind of interesting to read what I had written. The pages include some preliminary ideas and some roaming around about color. Go here to see the colors I plan on using. And also here. I can hardly believe that my thinking about this next project goes back at least as far as early July.

Near the end the written plans I was looking at, there is a section I have called Final Plans. This section includes such things as the length and the width, the yarns, the epi, warp and weft calculations. Also, I have stated most authoritatively that I will use the 4-shaft crackle threading I used for the cotton crackle jacket, and two of the treadlings.

Ahem. So much for so-called authoritative statements.

I will not be using that 4-shaft crackle threading. The new authoritative statement is that I will be using the 8 crackle blocks on 4 shafts threading that I am now using on the current sampling.

Now..........just how long will this particular statement remain "authoritative'?!?

Related Post: Designing the Christmas Towels Yet Again

The Joy of Multiple Shuttles

Oh yes! With this crazy 8-blocks on 4-shafts crackle threading I can do amazing things with closely related colors.

Here is the last of this particular sampling, the sampling I hope to turn into a bag when I cut the warp off the loom. I have not exhausted the possibilities. For now, however, I have learned enough and I like what I have woven. Pay no attention to the two treadling errors.........



It is so much fun to weave this way because I never really know what the exact effect is going to be until I actually start treadling and throwing shuttles. This is the kind of weaving where I can wing it as I weave, at least if I am weaving something like a scarf where I do not have to worry about matching things. I can make decisions on the fly. And that is how I love to weave.

I am so glad that I decided to weave this part of the sampling as fabric. This decision has caused me to explore possibilities I would not really have thought possible. These explorations have so excited me! I can hardly wait to get working on the next warp. But first there are other things I must try on this warp. The holidays however, are also at hand.

I am so obliged to Zielinski's work on crackle weave for opening my eyes to these new possibilities. To see a list of all of the books in the Master Weaver series, go here and scroll down to the M's. I believe they are also available at Halcyon Yarns, and probably other places as well.

Digital Photography for Textiles

Recently I had the good luck to discover a site for helping art quilters take good digital pictures of their art quilts. The articles are written primarily by Holly Knott. Holly is an art quilter and photographer and has many other talents as well. Though art quilts are what are on her mind here, much of what she has to say is useful for any kind of textiles weavers might produce as well.

There are pieces on choosing digital cameras, how to set up lighting and how to photograph the quilts. Holly has also put on an interesting group of pictures she uses as examples of bad photography and how to prevent said bad photography. Go here ot start reading the essays.

Thanks for this tip to a participant on the dyers email list, Sarah Ann Smith. Sarah Ann has her own blog here.

The Perils of Multiple Shuttles

Multiple shuttles increase the possibility of errors. At least for me. It is that simple. So I borrow some tricks from others and invent some of my own to help.

Warning: threat of boredom and desire for a nap for anyone continuing to read.


If one of the shuttles is a tabby shuttle I use a different kind of a shuttle. If I am using end-feed shuttles, for example, the tabby weft gets put on a regular shuttle. Also, if it is possible (it isn't always), I place the tabby shuttle on the fabric at the front beam rather than at my side with the other shuttle(s).

In my current sampling, however, all shuttles are carrying pattern weft. To help alleviate confusion when putting down one shuttle and picking up another I use positioning order.

When I use three colors across the treadles, as I have been doing, the shuttles get laid out at my side in the order that I need them. I place the just used shuttle at the end farthest from my body, and pick up the shuttle closest to my body. After throwing the shuttle I have just picked up, I then place that shuttle at the far end. What had been the middle shuttle is now the shuttle closest to my body, so I pick that up next. This takes practice but it is not too hard to get used to. I still have to watch carefully so that I do things correctly.

If I add a fourth shuttle to the mix I try to use the top of fabric for a resting place, much like I do with tabby shuttles. For example, if I might be using a cherry red for treadle 2 and a violet for treadle 5. Normally (at least the way I have set things up), I would be using the same color for treadle 2 and treadle 5. But now, when I get to treadle 5 I will have to not pick up the cherry red shuttle but rather the violet shuttle.

To help with this new change of plans, I place the two shuttles in question on top of the woven web. And I place those in the order I need them. If I am going to weave the cherry red on treadle 2 and the violet on treadle 5, I will put the cherry red in the front, closest to me. That is the first shuttle I will pick up.

So I weave treadle 1 with the shuttle closest to my side and then place it on my other side but farthest from me. With treadle 2 I will need one of the shuttles sitting on top of the fabric. I take the one closest to me, throw it and then place it back on the fabric, but behind the other shuttle. For treadle 3 I will pick up the shuttle closest to my side, throw it, place it on the othr side of me, on my far side. With treadle 4 I will pick up the shuttle now closest to my side, With treadle 5 I will pick up the shuttle closest to me on the fabric (remember, when I was done with the first shuttle there, I rested it behind the other shuttle on the web), and with treadle 6 I will pick up the shuttle closest to me at my side. Everyt ime I pick a shuttle and throw it, I will place it either to my other side, away from my body, or on top of the fabric, away from my body.

That all takes a bit of getting used to, especially when I change the order. Then I have to remember that the shuttles on top go either first and fourth or third and sixth, depending on what I have decided to do,

And then I got a bit insane. Not that this hasn't all been a bit insane..........

I tried two sets of two different shuttles. Yup, 5 shuttles. I kept one set on the top the fabric. The other set I kept always as far away from me as possible, in the well of my bench. There is a well on each side. The solitary shuttle I kept on the bench next to me. This system does work. But I also concentrate very very hard. And if there is lots of opportunity for making errors with three, there is plenty more with five. I definitely would ot weave for more than 30-45 minutes at a time and I would not weave when I was the slightest bit tired. This is fun weaving but it is definitely not relaxing weaving.

Weaving and Art

In her latest comment, Meg has said that she likes to "hear what other weavers think." I can understand that desire, and know, as well, that she is someone who is working at selling her own work. So I will try to address the two further questions she has asked me.

The first question is "...would you wait to be approached [by a gallery]?"

If I wanted my work to be shown in a gallery, I would not wait to be approached. By "wanting" I mean much more than, gee, wouldn't it be nice................. The "wanting" has to be truly intentional. Any "wanting" I may currently have is not of this kind.

Her second question I have found more difficult to answer: "Will you, Peg, know when you've crossed that line [between craftsman and artist]?"

If I gave the impression of drawing a firm and clear line between craft and art, I did not mean to. If there was any line meant at all, it was a faint, shadowy, tentative line, perhaps a squiggle more than a line, which occurs when a weaver makes his first attempt at self-expression. The only thing he might be doing is changing the colors from the original that he is following. I don't care if he changes the color simply because he can't find the same color yarn as in the original design! When he does something like that, I might say that he is beginning to cross a line into a life of weaving adventures. I crossed that "line" a long time ago.

Now perhaps the line Meg refers to is a line I would have to draw in the sand, so to speak, should I choose to try to exhibit as an artist rather than as a weaver. This is not a decision, however, I could make. It is a decision made by the public. Painters exhibit as painters. Weavers exhibit as weavers. Art galleries display paintings. As a general rule they do not display weavings. So, to return to Meg's first question, if I wanted my weavings to be displayed along with paintings, really intentionally wanted that, it could not possibly happen if I waited to be approached. I would have to market my work very aggressively and be prepared for a great deal of rejection, perhaps (probably?) total rejection.

I would have to break down barriers: I would have to change how the world in general tends to think about art. I am not the kind of person to work at breaking down barriers.

Reading Meg's recent blog post, however, suggests to me that she has what it takes, including the very intentional wanting, to break down barriers. I will follow her pursuit with great interest (and envy!).

Now I am returning my energies back to weaving. That is where they belong. Of course, we are in the midst of Christmas preparations, and I already chafe at the resulting restrictions on my time. That chafing is far more real and important to me than thinking about displaying my work in any kind of a gallery.............. I do look forward to children and grandchildren arriving. But I also look forward to the time when Christmas celebrations are over......

8 Crackle Blocks on 4 Shafts, More Polychrome Treadling

This is continued weaving with various reds and violets:


I have tried something new here. I am now using 4 colors across the treadling of pedals 1-6. To be more precise, I am keeping the same basic ordering. This is color a for treadles 1 and 4, color b for treadles 2 and 5, and color c for treadles 3 and 6. But now for one of the colors I use two different colors. For example, on treadles 1 and 4, instead of using the same red, I might use two different reds. Or I might use a violet on the first and a red on the second. And then, when I have woven enough shots, I change the order.

The result, to my eye, is a greater depth and complexity. And to that end I don't like any more what I have been doing with the yellow. I think a different color would be better for the spark than the yellow.

Treadling this way requires more concentration and takes a bit longer, but it is worth it. And there is no reason for not adding two more colors across the treadles. Oh yes, preservation of sanity might be a reason...................

By the way, the color reproduction is now quite accurate. I have finally figured out what settings to play with in my PaintShopPro software to get this.

I thought it might be interesting to see what happens to the selvedges with this kind of treadling: