Here I am enjoying some delicious pan dulce that I managed to track down yesterday in an effort to satisfy my craving. A very absurd contrast to how I am feeling at the moment. I have reached a very unwelcome artists block. What? You ask? Didn't I just become the owner of a 4 shaft floor loom that would open a whole world of possibilities to me???
I did my friends. And that is the problem.
When I got into rigid heddle weaving it was a new and novel craft. Everything I made was amazing! After a while I got a sense of what I liked and what I didn't like about it and had a few dead-end thread-ups; all part of the learning process. And with my rigid heddle I feel as though I have entered a realm where I am no longer figuring out what I am doing with it. On the contrary, I feel as though I have complete creative control and can conceptualize projects long before my yarn touches the loom. And now add this new machine to the mix...
I feel like I should just get it! And to an extent I do. I know how to thread patterns, I get the treadling, but the past few projects I completed were only half-length because I didn't realize that twill could take up so much yarn! And then, combining yarns of different gauges just doesn't work the same in twill/patterns as it did in tabby on my rigid heddle. And worse! I think that to achieve the "look" I am going for I may have to invest in a new reed which isn't cheap.
The past week I have made out like a bandit! I have swapped for so much amazing yarn! I have even bought quite a bit expecting it to work for me, but have threaded and unwoven, started and restarted so many times I am afraid that it might never work for me.
Perhaps I was putting the cart before the horse. But who can blame me when I have churned out nearly 100 FOs, handwoven, already?! I should be able to sit down in front of this thing and write jazz! Alas, I think maybe I need to take a break. At the very least I need to stop buying yarn. And somehow, some way, this needs to come together for me. Help me, Oprah, I need my "Aha" moment...
3 comments:
Hi there! Weaving on a floor loom is (seriously) a life-long learning process... Or you can master just one weave structure and play with it happily for years. :) There's always more to learn out there. Maybe you should check out some of the wide, wide range of weaving books on the market.
Sharon Alderman's "Mastering Weave Structures" might be a good place to start. Anne Dixon's "The Handweaver's Pattern Directory: Over 600 Weaves for 4 Shaft Looms" is nice, too. Beyond that, the Handweavers' Guild of America is a great resource, and the biannual Convergence weaving conference is coming up this summer... Even Handwoven Magazine's website has lots of good info - including a yarn chart with setts for what feels like every weaving yarn under the sun. And it never hurts to take a class with an experienced weaver... Somebody that will can help you a bit with ergonomics and what makes good cloth, selvedges, etc., if you need it.
New equipment takes a little time. I got my first compu-dobby (a 16-shaft Weavebird from LeClerc, love it!) this summer and am still getting used to it. (And I've been weaving steadily on my 4-shaft and 12-shaft looms for nearly 9 years now!).
Anyway, have fun, and welcome to the world of weaving!
Thank you for all of your valuable suggestions, Kristen. I have looked at your blog too :) and have always been impressed with your shop. Truly, I am just a novice in the world of shaft weaving and have a very long way to go before I get close to your caliber.
I have been using drafts from Handweaver's Pattern Directory, and a little bit of improvisation. I had lessons with a wonderful and very talented lady with both of my looms as well. However, right now my main challenge is combining yarn gauges and and finding the right dpi to achieve the texture I am going for. Not as easy as it sounds.
Thanks again, and I will certainly exhaust my options before throwing in the towel.
Oh, thanks for the compliments. I was a bit of a slow starter with weaving, then suddenly the design lightbulb just sort of went on, lol. I think after I hit a certain mileage point or something. I think it's already on for you!
Mixed warps are a lot of fun - all that texture! Really the only thing to do is sample, sample, sample... Probably on every project, at least until you get a feel for how each different yarn works. When I messed around with them, I'd stick to more or less one type of fiber - e.g. wool mixed with mohair, and mohair boucle (fun!), threw in some fun designer yarns that were wool based, that sort of thing... Wool is very forgiving in the wet finishing process, after all!
Anywho, I hope more inspiration strikes, I like your work *very* much and look forward to seeing where you take it next with your new loom...
Post a Comment