Getting back or it’s more then about time!

I have just had the longest period of time not weaving since I started weaving tapestry in 1979.  It’s been an interesting experience. Some good- some bad, but a necessary part of the circle of life.   I am so ready to get back to tapestry weaving.
Hoop Dancing is often the stories of beginnings, the tale of the cycle of life, the stories of life. It is said that a good hoop dancer finds their stories in the rustle of grasses, the blowing of leaves and the whisper of the wind. I saw my first hoop dance in 1976. It was all so close to the beginnings of women competing in the hoop dance competitions. By this time hoop dancing had already joined so many other things in the pan-Indian movements that the large powwows were creating and causing.One can’t really say that Hoop dancing is from one specific tribe-anymore. Each group or dancer put’s there own twist or twists to the  hoop dance.  So it’s almost become a universal in many tribes.   It has always seemed appropriate to me that women should compete and tell the story of life in something that was based on the cycle of life. But, I am only a between and what do I know?
On December 6,
my Fathers circle of life was completed, but is still entwined and connected  with the rest of our circles of life that are connected and attached to the great circle of life. Dad was born in 1925 and lived a rich full life.
Life can be a messy, and confusing leaving great amounts of detrital/detritus, puzzlement and residue for some lucky soul in this case me to bring order to chaos.Transitions take time.  So that’s how I have been spending most of the last month. Great amounts of sorting through papers and a life times accumulation from another's life and wondering why they kept the things they did.

detritus (d-trts)1. Loose fragments, such as sand or gravel, that have been worn away from rock.2. Matter produced by the decay or disintegration of an organic substance.detrital adjective

On the studio level or my personal work-With the exception of a 4 day retreat to the coast with Spencer and having a student the last week of September and one student just leaving everything was  been spent in a hectic, but fun workshop trips-roughly 7 in various parts of the country. Two of the seven- granted- were private students in the studio---but no actual weaving.
 All I can say is it was a  very good thing last night that Cathie Beckman let me weave on her loom. I was so jealous.  I just wanted to grab the loom away from her and weave. Cathie had been weaving in the my studio for 3 days  as an only student. Her cartoon was based on a Jacob rose. A rose that I have not yet woven. This isn’t the photo of her rose, but it is a Jacob's rose so that you can see what the colours and techniques were like. I hadn’t realized how starved I was to begin weaving again. I haven’t woven in 2.5 months, because of everything that needed tending to in life at this point. It was neither a good thing or a bad thing just a specific time in life with very specific challenges.  
Anyway, I wove today on a new/old piece that I had started prior to this break. A small narrow one inch strip of sunset.  I am also starting two  small rectangular designs. They are about sunsets on the ocean and a rock mossy wall over looking the ocean.
These are the five photos that I am considering weaving or variations and or combinations. They were all taken on my Xmas retreat. I really like the format of tapestries that are no larger 3 inches high and 7-9 inches wide.  Usually they take me around 30-40 hours to weave- On a good week, it’s a weeks worth of weaving. I am really done with weavings that take 124 days to weave. (see prior blogs about “And he…) The bottom 2 photos are not dust but the sun shining through a rain squall. 

A Little more, but about tapestry technique--
One of the discoveries I have been making is that many students don’t understand the importance with working at a very tight tension when weaving tapestry.
There are some very good reasons for having really tight tension.
It is so much easier to beat the warp down and cover the warp. The bubble of weft and the tightness of the warp help prevent lice(this happens when the weft won’t cover the warp as you weave. It is a play on words of the French term licier.) Turns are easier to keep from pulling in or being pushed out of place as you make turns. The tapestry is less likely to pooch or create a blister as you beat down or stretch the warp as you beat down. The hand of the fabric is more solid, you can’t but your fingers through the weave structure. When you beat down hard on a warp the is less likely to collapse later-squares stay square. Circles don't be come ovals. etc. etc. -
The excuses range from lack of a good loom or the loom isn’t capable of having or maintaining a really tight tension. There are also those who have never been told how important a tight tension is to in the weaving process.  I have seen so many people  lately that are trying to weave on picture frames, looms with absolutely no tensioning device and then can’t understand why their tapestry have problems. In my whole career-35 years. I have only seen one or two people that have the actual strength to warp a picture tight enough to get really good results or not destroy the frames they are trying to weave tapestry on. And a handful of people who can actually get a really great tapestry from a picture frame.
Looms that are too wide can become too wimpy if the bars are not the proper size in relationship to the size of the loom width and metal fatigue sets in.
Or, they are trying to use a jack loom and trying to get a good shed. It is extremely difficult to get a tight enough warp on a loom with a  jack type mechanism. And, yes, there are exceptions to every rule, but why fight the battle that most likely is lost before one begins.
How tight is tight enuff! Warp should be tight enough that it sounds like a harp or a guitar when you drag your fingertips across the warps at a right angle. Warps also should not be able to be displaced when you do this.  If you are using a warping method such as circular or figure 8, over tighten the warp, leave it be for over night, come back and loosen the warp down to where it is the right tension-still tight enough to sound or thrum like a a musical instrument... In most cases it will even the warp tension across the whole width of the web of warp. Both loom pictures of looms –galvanized and copper loom are from the Copyrighted book So Warped that I co-wrote with Pat Spark.
There are some really inexpensive solutions- such as building a copper frame loom with  a large screw with large wing nuts or nuts that tension. There are directions in several of my books for building copper looms. Archie Brennan also has a web site that has plans for one of these looms and so does the ATA web site with great diagrams. Parts can be bought very inexpensively at Habitat Re-Stores. If it’s a technical problem with cutting often times large box building supply places will have pipe in stock cut to smaller dimensions  in stock or will cut it for you.
Another solution is to build a pipe loom with galvanized pipe. Where everything can basically be screwed together. A little more expensive, but doable compared to the cost of many large tapestry looms.
Both of these looms cost in their small sizes are under 20-30 dollars for parts-sometimes less. The big frame loom made of galvanized pipe was less then 100 dollars. I worked on a larger version for years and wove 8 pieces for my master’s thesis on a loom like this sitting on the floor.
OKAY-that’s enough from now. I am off to weave. YEH!!!!!
kathe
 
Photo taken just barely South of the Sea Lions cave, on the Oregon coast Xmas 2012.
k

Not nearly normal-yet, …and still not yet

But when is it ever-nearly normal-will be bit,  not just yet! There always seems to be a yet, that pairs itself with “in a minute.” Two words my Grandsons thought were extremely funny when they were little.I can still remember them saying –”yea, we know in a minute that hasn’t yet happened,  so when is yet?”  I was surprised and pleased to find that yet has another meaning or colloquialism. It mains gate. For some reason that appeals  to my slightly wacked out since of humour. A gate to what?

Yet “Yet is a common English word that when used as a conjunction, is equivalent to "but" or "nevertheless". However, used as an adverb, yet defines an action's persistence in time. The word can define an action in the past, present or future: Also, yet is a local dialect term in lowland Scotland and Cumbria for a gate.” From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In honour of the word yet. I just fixed the leg on my desk that has wobbled for years-irritating me beyond my normal language usage that always merit a I still haven’t fixed it yet-sigh. Well, It’s fixed-yet is now retired in the context of my desk. Now if the rest of my world would follow suite.
okay seriously-!


I did finish these two pieces for the small format show I wanted to enter. I am ready to start the third of the series and a fourth with a design about fire. The forth will be for a show called
Woven Together: Firestorm that is being presented in Colorado Springs. One can get a prospectus or try at www.pikespeakweavers.org/firestorm/firestorm.../Woven_Together_...
(just Google it, if all else fells) It’s about fire, commemoration, healing and the emotional turmoil of surviving, seeing and experiencing fire. I have always wanted to weave a piece about fire. When I was in Academy I was evacuated from a wildfire while on a camping trip in Eastern Oregon. The experience has always stayed with me.
It is such a beautiful day. Light clouds and warm enough to leave the studio door open. In a few hours Spencer and I will head out for a movie. The air conditioners are out of the studio. That was 4-7 days ago-after rain, hail, rivers of water cascading off the roof, etc, etc. Such Idyll conditions for working on a roof.
My paper work is finally caught up from the trips. After 90 days without rain. We had a monsoon. My roof decided to leak-so have spent part of the week working on details for the new roof and the new solar on the house. The solar on the studio has been a great success. We have been running negative energy bills. Anything to avoid the over saturated election news and telephones asking us to get out and vote. I voted more then a week ago. Today the roof is started, supplies bought and it’s rain showers. So, the roof is partially tarped, but the good news is my part is done.
Why I warp a mirrix like I do.
1. I am lazy. I can warp the loom so much quicker with a circular warp and get to the weaving quicker.
2. Circular warping is faster. It’s also easier to space the warps evenly on the edge that goes under or around the bottom beam. Picture from So Warped.
3. It’s easier to explain the process over the phone when I get calls from people that don’t understand the process that comes with the loom or for those who are now now the proud processors of a used mirrix loom.
4. Less prone to directional mistakes as it is warped.
5. Easier for beginning weavers and those with physical handicaps –such as shoulder problems, stiff fingers, sight problems, and directionally challenged.
6. It’s easier to correct tension problems in the warping process while weaving. Over tighten the loom, wait a few hours, preferably overnight, re-tension to the proper tension for weaving.
7. And, No, I don’t have trouble turning it around the beam. It’s actually easier. I use a batten. Loosen the tension on the loom I open a shed and put in a Navajo batten that is wider than the loom with a semi sharp edge on the fell line. Doesn’t move the warps to far apart while turning, keeps the edge of the batten on the fell line rather than opening the shed and possibly moving one part of the shed further around then the other shed-this can become a problem on a loose warp. Close the shed and turn, push, and pull the warp and piece around  to where I want the fell line to be.
8. The bars that come with mirrix loom are too fat and I loose too much weaving area by the time I bring the two sheds close enough to weave. I usually weave in 3 small bars that are an about an 8^th of an inch diameter for easier spacing and holding the warp as I space it.
9. It’s a better bet when using dual duty craft and button hole twist as the warp. Less chance of mistakes and a better chance of correcting warp tension and warping with even tension as one tires during the process of winding the warp around the beams and through the spring(S).
More bits, pieces, And random  thoughts on technique
Beverly Weaver in one of my two classes in Co. Springs for the Pikes Peak Hand weaving Guild made me aware of another use for soumack in the design process. I teach about handiness(right or left slant) all of the time. I use it for outlining, edges, concentric circles and nested squares.and spirals etc. What I never thought about doing is using in the design process to move the eye out or in and creating a Vasarely type of effect. The slant of the soumack turns can be used to move the eye outward or inward. By using the slant in relation ship to colour contrast-such as complements or warm and cool one can create more dimensions in the shape.
In the two pictures above Pike Peaks early morning. second photo note the slant of the soumack. Slant is called handedness and is dependent on the turn of the soumack weft  wrapper.
One can add a second element to the op effect by the colour contrast used in the ground and on the twiner-extreme would be red-green, orange to blue etc. By using warm and cool contrast or light and dark contrast the effect could be even more pronounced.

More random thoughts of Colorado Springs.
Work that done by Susan Seufer and Carole Stewart who had taken by Albuquerque class  and classes in Colorado Springs. Susan also had a piece in the Portals Small Format exhibit and catalogue.
One of the nicest surprises-  besides the wonderful people in my workshops- I had  while teaching in Colorado Springs was to walk through a door and find two really nice 16th century Flemish Tapestries that were on loan. They were placed in such a way they were almost impossible to photograph except for details, Baby grands lights and tables are notoriously hard to photograph around, but I did get some great details to work with. I also fell in love with the Devils Garden and it’s very thin outgrowths of rock. Sort of looked like a dinosaur or a dragon had fallen asleep leaving the spines, fins and spikes on his back at attention.

Ann V.- E.- This is a reminder-How is the 24 year old tapestry coming along!gr!!!! Thanks for a wonderful evening and returning my IPAD!

Even more Random!  OF Pig Tales and Pig Tails
I think one of the  easiest techniques for beginning and ending weft bundles can also be one of the hardest.  It’s a technique that I demonstrate over and over.  What makes it difficult is when you don’t understand hills and valleys. When your weaving hills are where the weft crosses in front of a warp thread and valley thread goes behind a warp thread- also know as hollow and full threads. 
Half passes by nature  want to create a doted line- an over and under. Pigtails just want to create a wrap whether it creates an over and under trip or not.  In order to create a half pass that creates a line of dots.(remember a half pass creates dots an over and a back a complete pass always creates a line.) there are two side by side warps to consider. One warp  will always be an over and the other under. In order for the pigtail to be created on the warp you want it has to  turn around either a hill thread or a hollow thread. Sometimes it has to go behind two threads to maintain the over and under pattern of the half pass. The tail will always need to curl around  a warp and under the weft thread to get the tail to the back of the tapestry.
O yeah-the tale- the reason it’s called a pigtail-pigs used to have corkscrew type tails that curled like –well-pigs tails. I have been informed by a student that most modern pigs no longer have cork screw tails.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND!… AND, PARTS OF THE CAROLINA’S TOO-
My workshop in  Atlanta with the Chattahogee Hand weaver's Guild was fun. There is some great work that will becoming out of this group. It’s going to be interesting to see the cartoons people were working on become full fledged tapestries.  I was able to visit with John Moss and Joy Moss that are woodworkers that create the brassy bob’s that I love to use. I now have enough jpegs to create a short slide presentation of the process. Watching John make them was totally fascinating.
Tommye Scanlin and I went through  a “forced March through Georgia”gr a quote from Thomas Scanlin who introduced me to his wonderful collection of out sider art. I loved ever minute of it. In the process of the “forced march”, I saw Hambridge Retreat, John C. Campbell's Craft School,  petroglyphs, fall in the Appalachians,  Pat Williams  church kneelers(I am still laughing over the image of Gabriel's thought provoking feathers),  that was very interesting. I am now the proud  owner of a Patricia Williams tapestry-who weaves ironic funny tapestries that really appeal to my wacked out sense of humour. Tommye and Pat are also great tapestry teachers and tapestry weavers. Saw Tommye’s feather cartoon. It’s even better in person.   It was so great to talk about tapestry and design with the two of them. I leaned a lot from my students too and renewed my sense of awe in the power that tapestries can produce-Thank you “crutch lady!” I even enjoyed riding Marta with Tommye and all the breaks in conversation! Thanks Tommye1

Any way, enough for now! I have so much stuff and pictures to go through and writing to do about the last 2 months that it will take me forever to journal about it all! So random is how it is
kathe