of Cabbages and kings-nonce words and neologisms-and multi tasking

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings."
—Through the Looking-Glass


Slight correction
There’s got  to be a morning After part b




There’s got to be a morning after part A
Making a small correction to the Tapestry Topics 2013 Fall issue. Part B was not in the Firestorm Exhibit. The confusion happened when I sent the two jpegs of the pieces to Tapestry Topics for the article I wrote on weaving tapestries in series –A Series of Studies on Changing Light  and  an exhibition review  Cheryl Rinker--Woven Together Firestorm. The two pieces  were conceived as a series, but part b was not finished until after the deadline so only part A was submitted and was in the exhibit. They were both used to illustrate the Review of the Firestorm exhibit.
  Due Diligence-really!
I should finish this piece by Friday.(editorial comment-I lied. It probably won’t be finished until I get back from Alaska-too many annoying  details conspired against my having any weaving time this week. Even this blog has taken 3 days longer then it should have. )   It feels like I have been weaving on it for ever. Well, maybe I have. I guess it depends on the def. of forever. Long enough-anyway. It’s fast approaching the rank of a “Dog on the loom.” My only is excuse is I used the time to finish my remodel and write a legal proposal for ending certain provisions in my Dad’s estate .. .Sounds a little like the dog ate my homework, but even Chene wouldn’t eat this piece. There’s only 2 days left of having contractors all over the place. The fence is done.  New sign is up. The roof is one-ones soffit with vents and a drain pipe to go.  All done before the autumn rains set in. Even though every time we tried  to do  work that shouldn’t get wet… The rains poured in torrential record breaking amounts.  We even struck water when digging the post holes. It’s raining again so one day after I come back and they’ll do those and add the two new gates to match the ones I already have. They are being built for the space to match the two that were made by a women welder in Silverton, Or.  whose name over time has been forgotten. Only what at the time  that I purchased the was remembered was the uniqueness of a women creating and welding whimsical metal gates. How sad to be only remembered by your craft and gender.
My dad’s estate is over and done with. Sunday I leave for my 45th wedding anniversary cruise that should have happened in Je, but was just too busy to take.  Enough with my excuses for being so far behind in my weaving. Life happens. All that said the piece still isn’t done! I need 3 days more.

I have been having a lot of fun with symbols and cultural Icons-first the broken puzzle, maze, the the 7x 7x7x7x7…, feathers, The scientific formula in the background, the rock wall, etc.
But,  one of my favourites-- is this symbol.
According to one page  source on the internet on iconic symbols in modern comic books it defines the moment of death, or of passing out of an idea,  when drawn over the head of a comic strip character. It is an ideogram or icon used to convey an idea, a phantasy, or a wish a dream that is suddenly annihilated or destroyed by an instant awakening or realization or perhaps an AHA moment.
With this piece I wanted to use more silk and rayon. I was looking for-  hoping for a little bit of a shimmer-Different then the way the cotton threads reflected or inter-reflect light. I also wanted to see if I could find away or a bobbin that would make the process easier. Well, I can tell you it certainly isn’t easier with using European style bobbins or bones. I Still end up with this-SO I am back
So I am back to tying over hand knots  every 8 inches in the weft bundle. It’s a clumsy system as the hanging silk/rayon wefts tangle. It cuts down on speed as I sort through to find the one I wish to use. I have also discovered that I should always cut the loops of the weft bundles where I double back or fold the strands when doing the colour bundles. The loops catch and tangle everything I have tried  wrapping the bobbin with the wefts that are knot, but they always make a mess of the silk or rayon when they unwind when I use my over the know trick so the bobbins don’t escape. (see page 30 in Tapestry 101 for how to use a bobbin)

I am  trying to use these Japanese  tapestry shuttles instead of the Swedish bobbins I prefer to use in my weaving.. They are taking a little time to get use to, but perhaps they will work on the rayon and silk weft bundles.  They just feel awkward because I am not used to using them-yet. 

Cheri White one of weaving buddies who comes to the studio just finished this tapestry. It’s fast becoming one of my favourite tapestries.Here  it is just off the loom-not it’s official portrait-yet. Just a snap maybe some day she’ll write an explanation that I can share with everyone. I am totally in love with the imagery.


It’s fire weed season. I have decided to plant some in my yard.  Fireweed always makes me thing of Edith Miller. I did a small wool tapestry of this in 1979(20x30inches and sold it to Edith Miller along time friend. She  is the last person left alive in the group of 20 on going   students from the 80’s  that I taught in Corvallis for years and years starting in 1982.  She’s now in her mid 90’s.  She was also one of the original founders of the Corvallis hand weavers guild in 1948 the year I was born. She is now in a nursing care center for Alzheimer  patience.
Astoria Coastal Fiber Exhibit 2013                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Pax Chene received an ATA award of excellence in the Astoria Coastal Arts Textile Exhibit this summer. It as one of two pieces of mine that were in the exhibit. The other was “And He…” These photos were some I snapped at the opening. They are just meant to give the feel and  general layout  of the exhibit-not highlight specific works. There was one wall that I was unable to photograph I couldn’t get a shot of the two walls of the structure  my pieces were hanging on. The opening was well attended.  I could never find a space clear of people so that I could take a photo.  There were some amazing tapestries in the exhibit. Jan Austin, Rebecca Metzoff, Su Eagen, Audrey Moore, Nicki Blair, Terry Olsen, Diane Wolf and several other tapestry weavers whose names I know I missed.  One of the major awards went to a tapestry weaver from back east whose name I failed to write down. But, They are just to the left of my birthday scarf from Pat Scarf t which was also in the exhibit.  
 

So this is a pet peeve and a rant. Ignore it if you wish. I am grateful that this show was done and acknowledge the amount of great work that went into it.   It’s not just  this exhibit but it seems to be a standard practice in every show I have been in in the last few years.  Both my pieces were mounted  in “Salon Style”and in away that did neither of the pieces justice. Every small format tapestry in the exhibit was hung one above the other.It always feels so disrespectful of the work. It made it really difficult to view some spectacular Small Format work that was in the exhibit. While larger pieces were given a space and hung in away that made them much easier to view and not double hung.  Art work should be hung at eye level for the best view of a work of art. Not so high it can’t be seen or so low you have to stoop to see it.  The argument is always it’s away to crowd more work into a smaller space. SO why do the small format pieces have to bear the brunt of crowding and bad spacing?  I think its like saying the small format tapestry work isn’t important enough to have it’s own space. So be grateful  it’s in the show no matter how it’s hung so we can have a proper look for the large format work.  It feels like “ yeah, you can participate, but the small format work isn’t deserving of being viewed properly and so  go sit in the back of the bus.”   It always feels so disrespectful of the work-not just mine but all small format tapestry weavers.

One of the  many wonderful things I got to do this summer was visit the Cloisters after I taught at MAFA. I have around 200 detail shots of the tapestries not just the Unicorn tapestry. I am doing a lot of studying of those details and gleaning a lot of useful information from those shots.  I am hoping to start organizing the materials in my journal when I get back  from My Alaskan cruise.  Those things that look hatches and hachures are not. They are woven i n the direction the warp travels. The tapestries were turned sideways when woven creating a sort of vertical hachure. Now that my remodel is done I am going to be offering classes in the studio. The first one on “Soumack and friends” will take place on November 2-4th of this year. The second one will be on Jan31-February 2 will be on colour blending and the use of Hatches, Hachures and their Cohorts.
Here’s a few of my favourite shots and details.


I have a plan for I am weaving next. I wanted to be free to start the pieces when I got back from Alaska-one involves a truck not making it through an under pass 2 blocks from my home with crochet  lace and Jacob roses. What could be better a turquoise truck to match my fingernails.


The other incorporate black tree branches that looked lace in several pictures that I took near Hardin, Montana and photos  that Trish Heath took that evening generously said I could use in my colour studies took  of a smoky sunset in Albany with incredible colours  that you don’t often see in Albany Sunsets. My camera was  still packed at the time.
Montana sunset in the area Custer battle’s took place.

Still working on my research on soumack--
I have been scurrying through all my books and notes again because of a statement by a member of a list I am on.  His comment was to the effect that the raised outlining and surface texture on many Coptic weavings was actually needlework that was applied after the textile was woven.

SO I quickly went raced back  to several of my  books to see if it was possible I had made a mistake. When I was teaching myself to do it  I studied 4-5 fragments in the OSU collection and decided it had to be done as woven because the wraps never pierced a warp or weft and it always seemed to be controlled by the placement of the warps.  The our other names for the flying shuttle technique are French Arrondiment and Ressaut or ressort. One book called it ressort and related it back to crappaud(Mary Rhodes book Small Woven Tapestries). All of the other books-The Coptic Tapestry Albums by Hoskins, Woven Structures, by Mallert and a new book The threads Course in Tapestry by Mette Lise Rossing.
I first read about the technique in Tapestry Mirror of History by Thomsen in the late 70’s  and have had an ongoing fascination with it every since.
My research and theirs seem to verify that it was done by wrapping around warps as woven. Of course , they are mostly makers and not not museum curators.  What I did note was that several major museums referred to it as an embroidery technique, but never said if the embroidery was applied after or as woven.

Flying Shuttle- The technique of carrying an extra weft thread of contrasting color on a supplementary shuttle, to create fine internal lines or pattern details. The flying shuttle thread is secured at intervals by catching it under a warp thread. A technique that appears unique to Coptic weaving.
Soumack: A supplemental, decorative stitch used for surface decoration and texture on Coptic tapestries. The soumack thread is wrapped around each warp, or group of warp threads, usually on a diagonal. Used to define lines, or create outlines.


I have run out of time again. So, hopefully, in 2 weeks I’ll  be able to do another blog entry and have more information on my research into soumack and it’s friends and my new woven samplers. The two pictures are from a recent day trip to eastern Oregon. The mountain in the background is Mt. Washing a mountain I climbed many times when I was much younger. My Fascination was to climb the rock cliffs to the top and and boot ski the scree to the bottom. The there is a photo of Chene as we tried to convince him to get out of the air conditioned car to walk on the pumice beds. Finally ended up packing him around. Smart dog! It was really hot that day. I ended up with blisters.


Cheers and all,
Kathe



























































Kathe

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