Back in the studio

I love working in studios.  Something about working with equipment and with other people working in the same space, I think.  My studio weaving class started last Thursday, so I got to go down to the Ursuline campus of the Southwest School of Art and Craft and be assigned a loom.  The instructor of the Thursday night class is the head of the Fibers department.  I had brought my notes and reviewed how to prepare the warp, put it on the loom, etc., but he was incredibly helpful and before I knew it we had dimensions for my project (an 18" by 30" hanging), my name taped to a loom, and I had measured the warp on a warping mill.  Using a warping mill, by the way, is way faster than using a warping board.  By the time I had turned around after winding the second set of warp threads, he had the first one chained and tied to the loom.  So by the time I left Thursday night, I had the reed sleyed.  For the weavers out there, I am using carpet warp at 8 epi, and to my surprise and delight, he has suggested I use Lamb's Pride worsted weight for the weft.  I love Lamb's Pride, love knitting with it, but don't have a whole heck of a lot of use for it now that I live in South Texas.  It comes in an enormous number of gorgeous colors, so it will be great to use for weaving.

Robert also presented some of the basic differences between upright tapestry weaving techniques and using Navajo techniques on a horizontal floor loom.  First obvious difference: you can't build up areas of the image unevenly -- in weave-speak, everything happens at the fell line, that is, the even horizontal line where what you have already woven meets the beater.  Second difference he explained to me had to do with the type of angle you can create that way.  So I came home and searched for graph paper and played with geometrics and the angle that he showed me.  I need a protractor!  I have already come up with two abstract geometric patterns and am really enjoying the play.  I think I have a Lamb's Pride color card somewhere, and of course I have a stash of Lamb's Pride in the yarn closet.  Next Thursday I will thread the heddles, which should be easy enough, since I will just be doing a plain weave threading and hopefully start weaving the hem.  I love the idea that I will be going down there at least once a week until the middle of August.  Plus, I can come and work any time they have a weaving class, which means I can also go down there on Monday nights.  And if I win the Megamillions lottery, I could spend 30 hours a week down there.  Though I suppose if that's my plan I need to start buying lottery tickets.

Three-day weekends are wonderful.  I spent all day yesterday lying around and reading, using my latest extravagant toy -- a Kindle!  Instant gratification for compulsive book buyers.  I just read my way through all four books in the fantasy Study Series by Maria Snyder, and am several chapters into The Hemingses of Monticello, an interesting and well-written history of that Afro-Virginian family and their relationships with Thomas Jefferson.  I also have a subscription to The New Yorker on my Kindle -- it is definitely odd to read the New Yorker without its signature graphic design, but it certainly focuses me on the writing.  I am still shocked at my extravagance, even though friends have pointed out that it was my birthday present to myself, but I certainly love using it.

That was the first day of the three-day weekend.  Today is going to be focusing on the house, cleaning it and making it nice for myself.  Tomorrow... who knows :>

Comments

[Phiala]

Fun! I keep thinking of tapestry, but not *doing*. I did start a scarf on an antique rigid heddle loom I received last winter. I think I might get more done if I had a studio to work in, or at least like-minded companions.

Schlow doesn't have the latest of Snyder's books yet, but I enjoyed the earlier ones.

[Robbyn]

Thanks for the recommendation of Snyder's series - I've been casually looking for a new author to explore :)

Very cool about the Lamb's Pride - we're goingt o want to see pictures, you know!

I don't think I could consider a Kindle and extravagance. I've been using a reader for a few years now and I think, except for Myria, that it's my best friend. I didn't think anything could ever replace pages and binding (I tend to be sentimental about bound pages) but this has.

And Happy Birthday :)

[Rob]

Phiala, what a frustration that we did not know each other when I lived in State College!!!!

[Rob]

Robbyn, I have to admit that I am using the Kindle for hours a day. I went right through the Study series, an issue of the New Yorker, several chapters of the Hemmingses of Monticello, a short book of werewolf short stories... I just have to keep an eye on how much I am spending on books, since the instant gratification ("oh that book sounds interesting") is, well, so gratifying!

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