10 Aug 2014

False starts

2

Is there such a thing as tie-up blindness? If so I think I am a sufferer.

A few weeks ago it was the 4CDW liftplan, now it’s the Delta countermarche tie-up. And I haven’t even touched it! I am using exactly the same 1-2-3-2 twill tie-up that I have used for several recent warps, so there is nothing wrong with the way the loom is set up – just with the way I can’t remember how the loom is set up. Sigh.

The key to my difficulty is that I have tied up all 14 treadles, so I kept forgetting where the sequence ‘officially’ begins. I’ve forgotten again now – it’s either treadle 3 or treadle 4 – but fortunately, after two false starts and several trips down to the floor to check, I finally managed to identify the treadling I wanted and start weaving it. Now I just need to keep going. A sensible person would print out a plan of the tie-up and pin it to their loom (or perhaps their face) so that this wouldn’t happen again. I wish I had a sensible person in my studio.

echo in green and grey

I was worried about the shed being too sticky. I have had the occasional skipped thread on the Megado because I haven’t managed to clear the shed properly, and it was bothering me that the fly shuttle might go cannoning into a stray end somewhere in the middle. However, the shed on the Delta is so enormous that it is given me no trouble at all. At least, I am giving credit to the shed, although the sectional warping may be a positive factor as well. The yarn seems to travel through the shuttle very easily too, which is a relief.

Since starting to use the fly shuttle I have been finding that I get a better edge without a temple, but so far have only been using cotton. The lambswool is more elastic and I have put the temple back on. You can see what a difference it makes:

lambswool with temple

Meanwhile at home it is that pressing time again.

pressing 4CDW

“False starts” was posted by Cally on 10 August 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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4 Aug 2014

Monday again

2

It happens every week! And yet I never seem to be ready.

It has been a hectic weekend with lots more ‘trips out’ than usual. On Friday evening we went to Pittenweem to see a few favourite places on the preview night for the Arts Festival. In particular, we called in at Jan Shelley’s Weft Studio, where I was able to chat with Jan, Dorothy and Linda while Stuart pretended that he really wasn’t that hungry and didn’t want his fish supper RIGHT NOW. (We did both get a fish supper in the end, so no need to worry on his account.)

On Saturday we paid what will probably be our last visit to Twist Fibre Craft Studio, since it will soon be closing its doors for good. That feels quite sad to me, but it is a very positive step for Laura who has new plans and visions to pursue. As well as picking up some sock yarn for mum (I’m looking forward to Christmas already, although the bad news is that we all like the same colour best), I picked up some of the fixtures and fittings for me! Just a couple of storage boxes and the display ladder which was used for quilts, but it will be nice to have a little piece of Twist in my own studio – continuity and all that.

Then on Sunday we got up early for a jaunt to the new PickOne Studio. James has been based in Coburg House Art Studios for a while, but moved into a bigger space this year and is now hosting all sorts of workshops with different artists and makers. Very exciting. Anyway, the Coburg House Open Studios event was in full swing and looked amazing. I wish we could have spent all day there, but we had chores to do at home.

And now we are back to Monday and I have threaded up the Delta. Quite like the way it’s looking.

full width warp on Delta

The to-do list runs to several pages. My current approach is to try and advance two or three different projects a little bit each day, an attempt at ‘no project left behind’.

“Monday again” was posted by Cally on 4 August 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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30 Jul 2014

Breathing Space

2

Much as I enjoy having a Proper Summer, endless sunshine does make the studio insufferably hot – our buildings are not planned with this kind of weather in mind! So I have been working surrounded by strategically placed fans and still overheating as I weave. Today, however, the sunny sky was enhanced by fluffy clouds and a stiff breeze, which has made life a bit more comfortable.

Having finished a load of things with deadlines, I also have a bit of breathing space in my schedule. There are still too many things to do, but none of them are due tomorrow – or, if they are, I have forgotten, which amounts to much the same thing. So I decided to try a new trick with the new warp and tie it on to the old one. I’ve not needed to do this before (well, strictly speaking I don’t need to do it now, but it seemed like a good opportunity to experiment) and I seriously doubted whether I would be comfortable sitting at the back of the Megado (it is much too low for me to be able to manage it standing).

I beamed the warp yesterday: it is not that long, about 10 m, but the lambswool is chunky and makes for a very well-upholstered warp beam. And that doesn’t leave much space for a person’s knees. I needed to sit high enough for my neck and shoulders to be relaxed, yet low enough for my legs not to be squashed and push my back into an awkward position… I think I found the balance: at any rate, I survived and it didn’t take me too long. My knots weren’t brilliant, but they were improving by the end of the process.

warps tied

I don’t keep the lease sticks in while weaving, so reinserted them behind the heddles at the end of the old warp. The 4CDW threading doesn’t produce a plain weave shed, but it is close enough. In fact, I rather like the chequered effect of the alternating blocks. And keeping track was absurdly easy since pink always tied onto yellow and purple onto green. I should make matching warps more often!

The lambswool is extremely sticky stuff and by the time I had coaxed everything through the heddles and the reed it was a bit of a mess, so I decided against attempting to weave a header. I was going to cut off the first piece of cloth anyway so I’ll just lash the new warp on as usual. I was really impatient to see the back of the cloth properly after all my trouble with those floats.

new warp through

Looks OK so far! And I like the juxtaposition of colours, even in the mess on the floor. Now I’m wishing the warp was twice as long.

yarn scraps

“Breathing Space” was posted by Cally on 30 July 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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26 Jul 2014

New classes! And other stories

3

Where does the time go? Before another week slips by, I must remember to mention that I have added new dates for weaving classes in the autumn – they are all available here.

I’ve been working my way through not one but two mountains of marking, but finally finished the last assignment this evening. So developments in the studio have been slow. And have seemed even slower because no loom is actually ready for weaving. Right now the Megado is waiting for a couple more bouts of this,

Pink-purple-grey

though the sectional warp beam is now full (I forgot to take a picture, but it’s looking very promising) and I am setting up a sampler on one of the table looms which is just half-threaded. For some reason, this feels like less progress than it actually is.

The picture above is wonky not from some artistic impulse, but because the weather has been utterly magnificent. The sun through the window was so bright that I had to lean over the furniture to take the photo pointing back the other way, or you would just see a mysterious silhouette of a warp. Potential logo for a weaver, perhaps?

I took an hour off this afternoon to visit Angharad McLaren’s Weavathon at the DCA. Great idea to get lots of people having a go at weaving during the Commonwealth Games.

“New Classes! And other stories” was posted by Cally on 26 July 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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17 Jul 2014

Weft colours

15

I wove a few metres with the wefts shown in my earlier post, then tried a bit of orange… orange-grey-weft.jpg …and finally a bit of blue, keeping the grey throughout. blue-grey-weft I love all these combinations, but it is time for a new warp. And, amazingly, the website move is accomplished with almost no effort on my part. I’m a very happy customer so far – here’s hoping that the hosting turns out to be as reliable as it is welcoming.

“Weft colours” was posted by Cally on 17 July 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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