Bandage

Success

It seems I may have just solved a three year cloth density problem. I'm only mostly sure at this point, but I'm still pretty excited.

Testing

Turning waste to potential

It has been a while since my last posting. The reason for this can be summed up in two words:

Grad. School.

With so much reading and synthesizing of ideas to be done, things in the studio are getting a little bit dusty. A temporary cotton shortage hasn't helped any. However, though things may be slow moving, they are moving.

I've got a warp all wound, waiting for its weft to come off backorder before turning into a [hopefully] grand quartet of quilted weaving. The cotton yarn I want should be available mid-December, just in time for winter break, so I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on these pieces at that time.

In the meantime, I've been working on ways to more permanently mount my soft pieces and make use of my weaving waste. I've gotten in touch with the art department at my grad school. Although they have no fibers shop for me to peer longingly into, they do have a sculpture shop, complete with a shop tech willing to help me out with some plywood-cutting needs. It is difficult, at the moment, to figure out specs and the practicalities of plywood moving without a car while keeping up with schoolwork, but with some care, I think I can get it done, and end up with some lovely, clean results. More on that as it develops.

I've also been working with my yarn waste, trying to transform it from waste to valuable material again. One of the only things I don't love about weaving is the unavoidable waste of so much yarn. I can never bring myself to throw the pieces away. Recently, I began the process of sorting them out and tying them end to end. I plan to use these pieced-together former-waste yarns as both warp and weft in little patchworked-yarn weavings. The idea of finding a use for what would otherwise be waste pleases me greatly, as do the notions of rescue and conservation brought to my mind by the yet-to-be-made cloths. Behold, what once was waste and now is full of potential again:

101 inches

Here it is, 101 inches of 30" wide cotton plaid.


It's 101" instead of my intended 112" because at around 1am, my bobbin winder decided that it didn't want to move. Apparently turning is the last thing it ever wants to do again, which is highly unfortunate, as turning is its main purpose. Since winding bobbins by hand is a rather dreary task, I reevaluated the requirements of my intentions and decided that 101" was just fine.

Things I watched while working on this yardage: Dollhouse, Spongebob Squarepants, Rocko's Modern Life, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and My Name is Earl.

Next up, a bit of patterning for the dress I will make out of it.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2.

I've been a bit distracted from the studio lately, with grad school coming up soon. (I begin in only a few weeks!) As such, I've given myself a break from ideas that require a whole lot of my brain, and focused on ones that involve mostly rhythm and counting.


This is the plaid I mentioned a few weeks back, finally on the loom. I think 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2, and repeat while watching cartoons. It's a good time.
I've been toying with different pattern ideas for a dress I would like to make with this cloth when it comes off the loom. Something with simple construction- a couple darts in a bodice with straps, a subtly gathered skirt, a couple patch pockets. I'm going to be careful with my patterning, because when the dress is done, I would like to have enough remnant for a self portrait of me in the dress made of the cloth on the cloth. That sort of echoing will make me smile.

In other news!

• I am looking into various types of power saws. I have decided on a way to present my work that I think I will be most pleased by, that will be clean and portable. The one hang up is my current inability to slice through plywood as easily as I can tear cloth. So, for the first time in my life, a power tool seems to be a necessity. Looking into it!
• Images of shears are still filling my walls. The more I use them, the more they seem to become a part of me. I will get back to this another day.
• Any moment now, Inside 12 opens. While I do wish I could be there, I am excited for everyone who is, and hoping it all goes well.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2.

Weaving woes

I don't weave as often as I used to. One reason for this is simply that I am not under the same pressure to produce that I felt while in school. Another big reason is that I have developed a tendency to weave a large amount of cloth for multiple pieces at once, as opposed to weaving the cloth for each piece individually. Because of this, my familiarity with the routine has lessened.

Recently, I have noticed a change in my cloth. I am not sure when it came about- when I began working exclusively on my smaller loom, when I took a break to move my studio across the country, when I switched yarn brands- who knows. What I do know is that my cloth is not as dense as it used to be.

I used to produce a very tight, dense weave which was most pleasant to work with. At some point, my standard cloth became looser. Flimsier. The weft no longer squeezes in securely to the warp. This cloth is not so pleasant to work with.

My problem is that, not knowing why this change has occurred, I don't know how to fix it. I use the same EPI, same reed, same yarn size as I did when I was making the tighter cloth. I am hoping that the reason for this looser cloth is not the loom itself, for that's a pretty difficult element to change. My fingers are crossed that there is an easy-to-fix reason, like tension, or the way I have been tying up the treadles. I rather wish I could pop back to school, ask a couple questions, get some advice. Since I can't, I'll just have to keep trying to figure it out, and hope I don't end up with too much of this looser, less-satisfying stuff.