Something New

Got a few new things going on here. I received this award from Charlotte and I am grateful for it! Charlotte is a weaver in Norway and I always love to see her pieces. Seeing her posts also makes me reminisce about a summer I spent in Stockholm, Sweden.

With the chimney gone, the next project was a new ceiling. We talked about a number of things and agreed at least to leave the existing ceiling in tact to contain the blown insulation in the attic. So we were back and forth with how could we work with the existing ceiling or how could we cover it up. Finally in exasperation, James said, "Why we just take 4' x 8' sheets of bead board and cut them into 4 foot squares? Then in Peavey fashion install them in an alternating pattern?" I ran to do some "sketch" ups on the computer and in 10 minutes it was decided. I think it's turned out well and I'm excited to see it with the joints caulked and a final coat of paint.
With taking off Intersecting Sine Waves off the loom, there are new opportunities there! I now have Peter Collingwood's book, so I pulled it out for inspiration on the finishing. I chose a twined edge since it did remind me most of sine waves (pg 503) and then a four-strand square sennit (p 496) for protecting the warp. Again it reminded me of the sine waves the way the strands come in and out. I'm excited to be able to "quote Collingwood" and I've almost decided I may do a set of samples of these finishes just to be able to see them in real life.I have decided to warp the loom for the mat for Dakota's picture. The last time I warped this loom it was for 8" wide and I recreated the leashes "fresh" so to speak. That's where I create the leashes for the first time. The loom is warped and the leashes are fed around the back warps as seen to the right. If I'm really smart, I will create these leashes for the maximum width of the loom. I was really smart last time....

Ultimately, I am a lazy creature. I don't want to recreate those leashes. So I've been playing with ways to reuse the leashes on subsequent warps. In my first class, it was mentioned that one woman used paper clips to connect the leashes to the warp. I came home and played with "Figure 8s". These worked in principle, but I found they were weak and tended to stretch each time I pulled the leash. So I purchased some split rings. It's essentially a really small key ring that I got from Fire Mountain Gems.

I placed one on the end of each of leash just like I'd put a key on a key ring.

Then I added the back warp that I'd like to control with the leash. And here they are connected, not getting tangled and seem rather strong compared with the figure 8s.

Now I am limited to a particular epi, but I technically could make one of these leash units for each epi. For now I am not venturing from 8 epi, so I'm covered for a while without having to create new leashes for this loom.

Here's the progress thus far on the mat. It will be 8" x 8" square and the picture if 4"w x 5"l. The picture will be off center horizontally and vertically. The grey block between the two scrap pieces of warp sticking out is the hem for the opening for the picture. It's rather simple since all I am doing is blending yarns for a vertical change in color. The yarn spun from Dakota's fur is so fragile, I thought I better keep it simple.

Celebrating Something New

Cardinals tend to stay with us through the winters and these two are a pair of at least 7 that live in our neighborhood. Their red is a welcome splash of color among all the bare branches of the trees. What's new is with the warmer weather the Carolina Wrens are starting to show up also. I've also started recently putting out seed - so that may be why the wrens have started to come by. ;-)

Last Friday, we were invited by my company to a dinner to celebrate the accomplishments of those who had filed for patents and those who had received patents in 2008. I was granted my first US patent last year and I was glad to be a part of this. It's the only celebration the company will be holding this year with the US recession. They felt this one was important and I agree.

Lastly, I have been able to get the leashes onto the new "big sis" loom. The wedge weave class starts Sunday, so we're getting close to the wire. I want to recheck the needs list tonight to make sure there's nothing I've forgotten! I'd love to get more done, but somehow I just can't quit the job. It seems I'm addicted to eating - I can't live without it! It makes me look forward all the more to a whole week dedicated to just weaving. Ahhh, what a luxury!

Switching Gears and Windows...

I've been working with the eccentric weaving on the angles and it's just not coming out the way I would like. I found I was not getting anywhere and staying away from the loom. Fortunately, I have seen a wedge weave class being offered later this spring at the John C Campbell Folkschool. So I thought - there's a great deal I can figure out on my own, but why go through that when there is a class! So while I wait, I've shifted gears and windows that inspire me.

We are in the process of renovating and one of the changes will be to create a music room on the back porch where the floor is slate and the ceiling is beadboard. The main drawback and greatest feature is that the porch is lined with windows. The plan is to have UV blocking film installed AND I would like to have shades that can be drawn where we are not here to block out even more rays. My new focus then is to create aprons to hide the hardware of the shades and I would like the fronts of these to be a tapestry weaving.

At one point in the house renovations (it's been never ending since we moved in) I made a stained glass window in the same tile patterns as the slate. I've decided to do the same with the apron tapestry, but to pick a different portion of the pattern for each window. I've got those picked out and now I'm looking at colors of yarn. Hmmm..... it's hard to decide.

While I'm looking I've warped the loom for a final tapestry 8 inches wide and 36 inches long. that has required warping continuously - which is a first for me and this loom. It all went well and it also gave me an opportunity to create a new set of leashes the maximum width of the loom. I've tried using figure 8s in the past to link the leashes to the warp, but a width change must be thought through. I created the leashes this time with out any coupling like the figure 8's so that the leashes were the length I wanted them to be. This seems to be the first step - warp the the maximum width and leash as normal. Stay tuned and we'll see how the slip rings work with the next time I warp.

"Figure 8's" on the Leashes

An engineer generally can't leave well enough alone and one that becomes a tapestry weaver is no exception. In class, it was mentioned one weaver added paper clips to the end of the leashes and slipped the other end of the paper clip around the warp. She did this to eliminate the need to releash every time she warped the loom. Leashing can be more complicated than warping, so I agree there is room for a design improvement. I wasn't sure about the paper clips on my little loom, so I ran down to the store and looked at all the jewelry findings. I had hoped to find small slip rings, but only found jump rings and Figure 8 connectors. I chose the figure 8s and placed them on my leashes. We'll see how this works out.

Loom, Warped with Leashes

My husband is a pewtersmith and has been facinated by the tapestry work I learned at Arrowmont. I think what he loves best are the copper pipe looms. These can be found at Archie Brennan's website. I came home from Arrowmont and spent all of $26 at Lowes to make my first loom. It was a joint effort with my husband and we even combined two plans to put leashes on this little loom. Leashes help to speed up the weaving by allowing one to pull the warp that's in the back to the front. Otherwise each string must be pulled individually. The next day I did warp the loom for a 3.5" wide piece and even completed the leashes - see 'em?