Weaving as a philosophy of life

Kasuri sampler on left by Wendy Szpindel. On the right, Carolyn Franke continued her exploration of kasuri after the workshop and tried warp and weft ikat together.

Over the summer people wove many kinds of projects, embarked on weaving adventures, and added to their repertoire of weaving knowledge and practice. Toronto Weaving School organized a Kasuri workshop with Keiko Shintani. Keiko's work and techniques are very compelling and she had a great influence upon the people who took the workshop. Most evident is that weaving, for Keiko (as well as myself) is a way of life, a practice, a philosophy of life.

One of the main practices of Keiko's work is the repurposing of materials. Not only is nothing wasted, but so many of her choices as a consumer, artisan and artist considers the impact on the environment. This is what inspired Darlene Haywood to  first gather goldenrod, and dye cotton with it, using alum as a mordant. Her daughter is a yoga teacher and Darlene decided to make pouches for the prayer beads that they use. She ripped saris into strips and wove them into a fabric. This was inspired by a summer shirt Keiko had woven ripping strips of silk and weaving them. There are many books one can acquire on natural dyes and there is a lot of info on it on YouTube. You can also purchase pre-prepared natural dyes and order them at www.maiwa.com.

More on weaving inspired by practices in other countries, Judite Vagners showed us the tapestries she and her daughter created with Maximo Laura.

Susan Abrams writes:
A few people were asking this week about the baby blanket I wove at home over the summer. Since it is now draping baby Jack in Pennsylvania I can't bring it in to class! I got the pattern from the book, "Mastering Weave Structures" on page 84 and it was woven on four shafts. The warp is 2/8 cotton and the weft is mercerized cotton, same weight.

OTHER NEWS, LINKS, RESOURCES, EXHIBITIONS

Want to really expand your repertoire of weaving? Try this course being taught at OCADU by a registrant in our weaving class, Erin Lewis. https://continuingstudies.ocad.ca/class_details.jsp?offeringId=185&show_past=false

Recently an article came out in this magazine about the Community Threads tapestries project that I have been involved with. Go to page 11 to see the artice at www.footprintsmagazine.com

Michelle Dubois wants you to check out this website, where, as it happen, some of  my tapestries will be exhibited. www.worldofthreadsfestival.com/

Edge of Your Seat
Donna Kim emailed to let me know that she is offering this special kind of chair caning technique. Click on the link to know about this intriguing weaving technqiue:
http://us2.forward-to-friend1.com/forward/show?u=6cabba50e96aa5ed24a3c303f&id=9aff6b151e

Janet Fayle's daughter, Eliza, recently won 'Graceful Aging Award' from W3:Women, Wisdom and Wellness. I've attached a link to her website
http://silverandgrace.com/about-2/who-is-eliza-fayle

A final note: We have so many new and returning weaving students that I am running short of looms. If anyone has a 4 - 8 harness tableloom they can lend me for a few months I would be very greatful.

Everything is possible if you are up to the challenge

Woven by Elizabeth Bryan, using Tencel (wood pulp based rayon). Project take from Handwoven.

We are off to an enthusiastic and eager to start to the Fall weaving classes. The enthusiasm makes us feel impatient to get started on our new weaving projects. Alas there is so much consider before embarking on our next weaving venture. A lot of planning is required and this is something that many do not relish, and I suppose, in part, why some of them are here.

There are many approaches one can take to making our weaving ideas become reality. Taking project ideas from Handwoven magazine is a great way to learn about weave structures and get ideas about what we might want to make. The projects in Handwoven magazine have all the details figured out, like the yarn required, and all the technical information you need to realize the project.

Woven cotton lace curtain by Laura Dymock.  Pattern taken from Handwoven Mar/April 2002. Designed by Jean Hutchison.

Sometimes people get ideas from other weavers in the class, like these tea towels by Agota Dolinay, who was inspired by Amy Stein.  Seeing what others are weaving often inspires us.

Sometimes people take ideas from other kinds of magazines and try to interpret into a weaving project.

 

Agota Dolinay created a sample first for a throw she wanted to weave. Below, the doubleweave throw she wove for her sofa at the cottage.

Whatever your approach, it still requires some basic knowledge of reading patterns for weaving, of creating pattern drafts and lastly, getting into the habit of creating a sample of what you want  if the project has not been directly copied from a weaving magazine or book.

Last year I wove an 8 shaft double weave project that I took from Handwoven May/June 1992, designed by Sandra Leinweber, who also wrote an article about her design process. She says "I don't experiment with yarn. I hate to sample, and it occurred to me that if I always used the same kind of yarn, I could avoid sampling and concentrate on design and colour." Personally, this would never work for me, for I love a variety of textures, and fibre content, as well as in my weaving endeavours.

2/18 merino scarf designed and woven by Wendy Szpindel over the summer.

If from project to project you are always using different yarns and fibres, different weave structures, there is no way you can predict what the outcome will be 100%. If you want to change the pattern and create your own, then it's a good idea to learn how to do pattern drafting, and then, explore some of the pattern drafting software for weaving. Its good to weave samples of different yarns, to wash and give them different finishing treatments to see how they respond and how they will look, especially nowadays, when there are so many new fibres on the market to tempt you.

This place of 'not knowing what to do' is often not a comfortable place. For many, it is outside our comfort zone. Sometimes to ge the outcomes we want with our weaving we also have to advance our knowledge. Everything is possible, but in order to obtain what we envision, it may be challenging and demanding. Remembering the joy of the weaving part of the process sustains our motivation when we are wrestling with the design and technical challenges that arise.

Until the next time

Line Dufour