Coming up in 2016
A couple of New Things I thought I’d mention…
In May we have the first Dundee Design Festival to look forward to, and I’m delighted to be participating. We were invited for a sneaky look around the West Ward Works venue the other day and it really took me back to my days in the ‘shed’ at Rolls-Royce. A room as big as a football pitch and that unmistakeable blend of concrete, lino and strange coloured paint that is essential for industry. And look at those pipes! The festival organisers are going to have a lot of fun turning it into an exhibition and event space.
In the somewhat cosier setting of my own studio, I have also planned something new: two five-day ‘summer schools‘ in weaving. One is for complete beginners, the other for those with a little weaving experience. If you know someone who would like a week of complete immersion in weaving and design (in a UNESCO City of Design, no less!) then please spread the word.
Studio time has been in short supply but I reckon two more days of marking should see me over the mountain. It has been an enormous amount of very intensive work, and much as I enjoy the interaction with my students, I have been quite exhausted by this particular round – and other tutors have remarked the same. It is partly the timetabling, which means that several deadlines come close together (which you might think the faculty would try to avoid) but there is also something in the nature of the assignments that seems have made it especially difficult. And managing most of it electronically takes a toll on my eyes as well. Never mind: just two days and three more mountains until Seminars…
“Coming up in 2016” was posted by Cally on 20 March 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk
Two (three, four) steps back
I’m horrified to see that I haven’t posted since 24th Feb. Worlds have been created and extinguished in that time. So has weaving. I got the new warp set up and started work, and I even managed to catch a photo of it that looks a tiny bit like my view of the thing in real life (if I forget to take off my reading glasses).
But you may also be able to see in the picture that I had just joined in a new bobbin of weft. And it became all too obvious that the greys did not match at all. I couldn’t find anything in the box of skeins to match the part I had already woven, which is a little weird because I’m certain all the skeins of light grey 2/24 were dyed in a single batch and so I have no idea where the rogue bobbin came from. But leaving that conundrum for another day, the discrepancy was so bad I had to unweave everything agaiin.
So now we are back to square one. Or rather at about square minus 100, because last week I started the ascent of the mother of all marking mountains and at the present rate won’t get back to the loom until July 2023.
And while we are on the bad news, I haven’t got a warp on the Magic Dobby yet either. The reed I was going to use turned out to be too tall for the fixings, and I haven’t had time to think of a workaround.
Is there any good news? Yes! I’m going to Seminars. It’s ‘only’ five marking mountains away… See you there!
“Two (three, four) steps back” was posted by Cally on 8 March 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk
Double figures
Well, I haven’t yet managed to achieve a cat-free sink long enough to make use of it. This is mainly because S was away over the weekend, so there was nobody to distract the fascinated felines. On the plus side, though, he returned with a new-to-me loom, courtesy of Pat – thanks, Pat! – which is totally worth four days of tripping over a kitten every time I turned round.
But what kind of loom, I hear you cry? It’s a Louet Magic Dobby: 24 shafts, 40 cm weaving width, mechanical dobby.
And it is sitting up against the breast beam of the Delta, because I haven’t quite got a space cleared for it yet….
This officially takes my loom count to double figures, which is a little frightening. I am actually selling one 8-shaft table loom, so that will move out – though not immediately – and there’s a 4-shaft one that I would like to find a new home for as well. Just at the moment, though, I am in possession of 10 looms. (Not counting backstrap, rigid heddle or frame looms, obviously.)
I’m not allowed to warp this one until all the others are done. I have a new cohort of beginner weavers coming in this weekend, and I’ve got those looms just about ready. But the new warp for the Megado,…
…which is quite a bit darker than the top picture suggests, is only beamed and not yet threaded.
“Double figures” was posted by Cally on 24 Feb 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk
Obstruction
I have woven several pieces on the mixed huck and echo warp. I’ve been struggling to photograph them – phone camera really does not like blue-toned yarn against a ‘yellow’ loom, which is what it sees – and also to process my photos since the computer monitor has developed a fault. A large, hairy, black fault.
Goodness only knows what I have put on my powerpoint slides for tomorrow’s geometry class. I can’t see ’em, so it will be a surprise for us all.
Anyway, here are a couple of snapshots of the warp as it went by. I have cut it all off now and need to find a sink without a cat in it for some washing.
And a wee close-up.
“Obstruction” was posted by Cally on 19 Feb 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk
