Sherri Woodard Coffey

Hard to believe it’s already March 2, especially when you listen to and see the weather reports around the country. It’s cold here in Texas–I actually started a fire in the woodburning stove last night. This after it was 91 last Thursday! I’ve heard that bluebonnets have been spotted. I’m ready for spring, but that’s ridiculous.

Weaving

This pick and pick is going slower than anticipated because I’ve had to figure out how to best handle the “selvedges.” They’re not really selvedges, but the pick and pick part joins a border so this is done with tapestry. Think I’ve finally got it worked out, but took me a while to get it so that I was satisfied with how it looked.

Other stuff

I decided to do something practically unheard of for me. Started preparing taxes last night. My first real fear was unfounded. For the last few years I have used Turbo Tax to prepare my taxes, but after The Great Computer Crash, I was afraid the previous year’s return wouldn’t be found. But it was, so all is well. I gathered other information, printed out reports, and tonight I will work on this again. Tax day is the same general time as the Main Street Arts Festival, so in the interest of being prepared (what’s that?), I got started early for me.

Nyquist

It just came to me what this method is called, so naturally I Googled it and found the info. The text directions can be found here. This link will take you to a PDF of WeaveTech files at the University of Arizona. The Nyquist text can be found on page 73. I don’t have time to look more right now, but there’s lots of really good information there. The pictures are my own. As you can see, not much warp is wasted using this method. I can never get pictures to go where I want them, but it’s too time-consuming to figure out right now. In the compose mode, they’re side by side, but in preview, they’re one under the other.

Weaving

I’m finally weaving for real. A border about 2 inches wide will be in pick and pick, something I don’t do often. The rest is tapestry, which I really enjoy. I like doing weft-faced ikat, but then want to do a tapestry piece afterward. I don’t usually use a cartoon, but I’m going to have to for the fish. Everything is always drawn to scale and then I just use my drawing for weaving usually. Drawing to scale lets me be sure that I can estimate how much yarn I’ll need, plus I get a feel visually for what the completed piece will look like.

Overhand knot in warp bout

Fold knotted end over warp bout

Divide warp bout with knot in half, slip finger through the division, pick up bout from underneath

Pull bottom portion of bout though divided warp bout–Lark’s head

Slip both ends of shoelace through Lark’s head loop


Pull tight on shoelace. Tighten shoelace to desired level

Here’s a link to an article in Newsweek about the current art market. I was surprised actually to find the article online since it’s in the current issue of the magazine.

Re-warping

I’m going to try and take a picture of the warp tie-on technique later. Kind of difficult to have one hand in the warp and the other handling the camera. Last night I realized that I did not explain the method correctly, so maybe a picture will help.

Okay, I was pretty excited about having my warp already tied on the loom, spread, and ready to weave. This morning I got my yarns together, made sure I had enough of each color, and started weaving. After knotting with the weft to start off and weaving 2 inches, I discovered a threading error. It was not fixable by just moving a couple of warps, so I took out about 10 inches, undid all those little knots on the ends of the warp groups (see below), and pulled it all out. I finally had to leave for previously scheduled appointments, but first thing tomorrow I will get started on re-sleying this section of the warp and removing the spreader yarn and the two inches of weft that I plan on saving. I am so glad I discovered this mistake before weaving further!

Tying on method: I can’t think of the name this is called, but it has made my tying-on so much easier. There are shoelaces on my apron rod placed with a lark’s head. Then each warp group is knotted at the end. The warp group is split in the middle and the knot is drawing up through that opening, and then the ends of the shoelaces are inserted through the loop formed in the warp group. The warp is allowed to tighten on the shoelaces, which can pull the warp tighter. This method has saved my fingers from many blisters. I used to tape up my fingers before starting to warp. I was first taught this by a guild member, but couldn’t remember how to do it when I needed it next. I found a brief paragraph describing this method in Key to Weaving, and I had to reread this every time I warped for a while–no pictures.

This is a record for me. I cut a piece off the loom and tied on again. I’m ready to go! Now if I could just decide where I’m going. I’m thinking of doing a square piece that I call Peruvian Fish, so not original in concept, but in implementation. The design is made of triangles, and since I love pre-Colombian textiles, I love this design. I found it in a book called Handbook of Regular Patterns by Peter S. Stevens. This is a book about symmetry and is out of print, but you can find very expensive copies available online. I first saw this book in Santa Fe at Borders and have regretted that I didn’t buy it ever since. Never have I seen it available in a store again. The local library has a copy, though, and I finally bought myself a paperback copy from an online dealer. However the description of the condition of the book did not match actuality. By the way, I know that book titles should be underlined, not boldface, but cannot figure out how to do that in this format. Nor can I figure out how to get strikethroughs. Help would be appreciated.

It’s been a while since I posted, but there’s really not much to say. I worked on lots of samples, did some weaving, and thought about the Guild Challenge. I usually don’t participate in the challenge, but thought I might this year. Each member drew two paint chips from a sack. The challenge is to used those paint chip colors, plus one other color of our choice, in a woven piece. You can also move your colors along the gray scale by adding white or black. My colors are a green and a gold-y yellow. I have been wanting to attempt a pulled warp piece, and this might be the ideal time to experiment with that. So, last night I made a scale drawing of a flattened cube, copied it, and colored away. Having that new all-in-one printer is really great! I can make copies and experiment with colored pencils all I want. Even if the pulled warp part of this project doesn’t work, I can still sew this thing into a cube–I think. As far as samples, I think I’ve decided on colors and will start on the real skeins tomorrow. Maybe by the middle of next week I can have all the colors dyed to show my client. Pictures of the colors, etc tomorrow. Off to do errands now.

This was the picture in our local paper this morning. Gotta love it! It was accompanied by a short article, but I can’t find that online, so, oh, well … Everyone who sees the alpacas wants to take one home. However, they are herd animals, so just one won’t do. Alpacas vary in colors from chocolate to camel to white. And then there are the suri breeds–almost like shiny dreadlocks.

Finally doing sample dye colors today. I sprang for an inexpensive microwave to dedicate to dyeing. Also bought some more wide-mouthed quart jars. Try asking for those in stores when all the employees are about 10 years old. It’s like you’re speaking a foreign language.

I had a great day yesterday. Our guild has taken as a project the TEXOLAN alpaca show. We had a great turnout! We wanted to show the process of animal to finished product, beginning with the skirting table, then to the picker (which I manned) on to the carder and then to the spinning wheels or drop spindles and looms. It was really wonderful to see so many spinners and weavers in one place. The guild also had a table that held finished items produced by our members. In case you’ve never seen or used a picker, it’s a dangerous piece of low tech machinery. It has many thick nails driven in at angles to grab the fibers, but if you’re not careful, you can grab your fingers. You can see what one looks like here. You gradually feed the fiber in and swing the top part back and forth. The nails separate the fibers. The pile of fibers looks like cotton candy and is wonderfully soft and fluffy, especially when you’re using alpaca. It is tiring, and my shoulder is a little sore today. I am so lucky that a new guild member volunteered to be picker-trained and do the job today. What a gal! (Thank you Amy) Later in the week, I’ll post some pictures on our guild web site. I’ll have to develop a new page for activities I guess. I wish I had taken some pictures of the whole setup, but I didn’t want to try and keep up with my camera while I was picking. I always forget about the cell phone camera.

The Week Coming Up

This week I plan to limit as many distractions as possible. Except for grocery shopping and two other “errands” I plan to stay home and weave and dye. I have to deliver my two pieces for the Contemporary Handweavers of Texas members’ exhibit (Our CHT conference is coming up in March) and pick up the grid framework for my first arts festival booth. I plan to set it up outside and practice setting up a booth space. Maybe you can tell from this that I did not get much accomplished last week.