Weaving Fast?

This weaving session two 'beginner' students finished their sample in record time. On average it takes most people 8 classes to complete their sampler. Two people deserve special mention for being on a mission to complete the sampler and move on to learn much more. First, Cassandra, who is also studying at University, and comes during the day class. She completed hers in 6 classes. In this photo, Neil Brochu who completed his sample in 5 classes. He is drawn to linen and wants to learn as much as he can about it. He works for the city of Toronto, with historic textiles as they relate to the various historical houses in Toronto. He says we can go to his workplace as a field trip and he will show a part of the city's collection. We are looking to do that at the end of the spring weaving session, which would be somewhere around the beginning to mid June. That will be so awesome!
The Fall weaving classes end dates are the following. For Monday classes the last class will be December 5 and for Wednesday classes the last class will be November 30. For the winter session a study group will be formed and a course of preparation for weaving Ikat, Shibori, painted warp, and woven shibori. During the winter session, we will get 4 warps prepared using either tencel or bamboo. The dyeing itself will be a separate workshop the location and time announced at a later time but will occur during the summer months, tentatively in August or early September. The fourth warp will be woven as is during the winter and/or spring session in plain weave. This is available for people signed up for the winter and/or spring weaving classes. If you have any questions please ask. Specifics will be provided when you sign up. While you are making preparations for this initiative, you should still consider having a separate project as the preparations may not take up all of your class time. I can take your egistration for winter classes while you are in class, or you can sign up with the TDSB and they will start taking registrations November 21st 2011.
I most often feature fabric weaving as usually the projects are quicker to complete than tapestry weaving. I thought I would shine the spotlight on some of the tapestry weavers in the class who have been steadfastly plodding along on their tapestries. In this photo, the tapestry by Walter Rothenburger, the image from one of his own photographs.




Debbie Harris is making headway with her Navajo inspired rug woven with the tapestry technique. It looks like she has just about 2' done. Just a little more inspiration in the tapestry weaving area. Here's a short 2 minute video on a tapestry be cut off from the loom and it is quite an event. All in French but if you don't understand you can still understand what is happening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II_0YiwtWTE&mid=5248



From the Knitters Loom
Here Judy's first project ever woven on her 20" knitters loom. She used a 12.5 dpi rigid heddle. The towel is woven with 4/8 cotton. The only disappointment is that the red bled when she washed it. Try soaking it in a cup of vinegar and a gallon of water and that should stop the bleeding.
Francois kindly emailed me to let me know how you can enlarge a picture to see more detail. His suggestion was to increase the pixel ration, which I tried, but the pictures wouldn't load.
The One of a Kind Show is coming up soon. It will be from November 24 to December 4. My booth number is R-06. Not only do I feature my own work, but also have a tapestry line collection, where I offer for sale, locally woven, knit and felted scarves and shawls. For more info about the show go to http://www.oneofakindshow.com/.

Taking on New Challenges

It's been exciting to watch my weaving 'students' take on new challenges in weaving. Some take them on fearlessly, others with more trepidation, but still most remarkable is that they take them on at all. As they have discovered, preparing one's weaving projects is fraught with all kinds of possible unforseen setbacks, threading errors, the needs of the fibres they are working with, and the goals they set for themselves. Most people learning to weave are looking mostly to perfect their technical skill, a good place to start one's journey in weaving. After that many want to learn other technical knowledge in weaving, for instance understanding the different weaving structures like overshot, M's and O's, Monks Belt, Huck and on and on the list goes. Learning about weaving is also about exploring and experimenting with different fibres, structures and then also, sometimes breaking the rules just to see what will happen, and hopefully be pleasantly surprised.
Judite Vagners has spent many years perfecting her technical weaving skills and knowledge. Some of her journey has been about using what she has learned to create traditional Latvian costumes. Of note is the belt or strap that is Card woven, and which is sometimes called Tablet weaving. Many different cultures around the world use the technique of Card weaving. In Card weaving you can only weave strips, so its ideal for bracelets, belts, and straps. Incredibly detailed and complex designs can be created using the Card Weaving techniques. It's very portable which is its great advantage.

Agota Dolinay wove these handsome Alpaca scarves. The subtlety of the design is breathtaking when seen up close. I'm sure this digital photo isn't doing it any justice but I hope you can get a sense of its beauty.









Marion Kirkwood has a friend who recently returned from Liberia where groups of women harvest raw cotton, spin it themseleves, dye the cloth, and sew the strips of cloth together. We're hoping her friend will send us pics of the women in Liberia actually going through the process and I'll post them here if she does.

Lastly, more projects from the very popular and much loved Ashford knitters loom. Cheryl Yetman has woven this fine cloth on a knitters loom and it is surprising the quality of the weaving that can be accomplished with it.
Kate Kitchen has been weaving dozens of scarves on her knitters loom, shown below and she has been having a very fun time exploring textures in fibres. Nowadays there is such a wide array of fibres to inspire us. Kate takes an unusual approach to weaving and her fresh approach is perhaps because she is a tapestry weaver and sees weaving in a painterly manner. The knitters loom can also be used to weave tapestries which is very good news for tapestry weavers, because of its portablility. On that note I'll take my leave and look forward to sharing more with next week!