Yes, this picture probably looks a bit familiar, but I’m using it to ask for help. This is the right side of my board and ikat table. The left side is clamped to the edge of the table with no problems. The right side in this picture can’t be clamped because the distance from the edge of the table to the peg board is too great. All of the small boards you see here are braced against the peg board and another board on the right to hold it in place. It’s not working so well. The only remedy I can come up with is to drill holes in the table and the peg board and then use a screw/wing nut to hold everything in place. But I hate to drill a hole in the table. Any ideas? Anyone?
Category Archives: Ikat
It’s winter!
Icy trees
Let me say right off, I’m not a big fan of winter. I may have mentioned that before. For sure! Winter did arrive, even here in Texas, although it did not live up to the predictions of the weather folks. The streets were fine here and I could walk out to get my paper without falling. Of course, I had to duck the tree branches hanging down from their load of ice. Even though I prefer to not have winter, the ice on the trees is pretty, as is snow. But for us here in Texas, snow and ice bring huge problems because we just don’t deal with it as often as, say the northeast.
New tool
Measuring ikat
I usually look upon these winter storms as a time to hunker down and hibernate, making art. I get the wood burning stove going in my studio and either weave or work on the ikat tying. Which brings me to that subject–ikat tying. I had a small disaster while measuring the yarns. The whole shebang just disconnected itself from the very carefully placed boards, c-clamps, and whatever else was holding it in place. I have done a search for other forms of clamps, and in fact, went to town to get one kind. I’ve learned some of the vocabulary necessary to discuss clamps. What I needed was one that had a long reach throat. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t work and will be returned tomorrow. The only other thing I can think of to do is to drill holes and use bolts to hold things in place. But I’m going to think about that for a while.
Fall colors
This is what I’m working on right now. This is to be fall grasses, and yes I know that fall grasses (above) are not this bright, but it’s representational. You can see the top part of the cartoon sticking out above the yarns. I’ll move that down after finishing this section. Notice how on the right the loops have been taken off their pegs and tied with a string to outside pegs. That’s because the tying will go to the edge and there’s no other way to totally tie that area.
Happy Thanksgiving! May we all be grateful for what we have, our families and friends, and what we are. So, I will be grateful for winter. I hear that the cold is good for reducing the population of West Nile bearing mosquitos.
Where’s a blue zebra when you need one?
Drawing
The design
Here’s the drawing of what I’m working on, except that I decided to make all the solid blue stripes the same size. I had to do this because of the way I measured and wrapped the zebra stripes, based on another design entirely.
Weaving
The Weaving
Here’s the piece being woven. Now I’m not so sure about those solid stripes, at least not sure about the color. In the drawing, they are a darker blue, but when I put those yarns and the zebra stripe together, they didn’t look good. I tried several other colors and decided to just go with the blue you see. If I really don’t like it when I take it off the loom, I’ll do some surface embellishment. What I am happy about is the zebra stripes themselves. They are really weaving up nicely. And easily. Of course, it took lots of sampling before the right warp width could be found. Then I was worried that after weaving all the bottom magenta portion, that those zebra parts wouldn’t fit. So, yippee! AND I am to the top of the design, ready for the next color block.
Update
This turned out to be a horrible piece, which I can see from the drawing that it was destined to be. My only possible defense is that I really wanted to practice ikat.
What’s on the loom (almost)
It’s been an interesting week in a sort of bad way. I went in for a crown on Monday, the dentist discovered another broken tooth, then a trip to the oral surgeon on Wednesday. Oh well, at least the directions say to do no strenuous exercise for a few days. Wonder if that includes mowing?
Squirrel cage with yarn on board. Yes, it’s a bad picture. The white sections top and bottom are because I straightened the picture.
Weaving is not too strenuous, and that’s what I want to do anyway. Above is my ikat weft on the shuttle ready to go. It’s interesting how these wefts look like absolutely nothing until the weaving begins. This particular warp had to be redone several times to get the width correct. It’s ready to go now–the first color before the above section has been balled up, ready to go on the bobbins. I am reminded again how much I like my squirrel cage from Hockett Would Work. The shuttle above is also one of his, which you can see better here. You can see a picture of his squirrel cages here. They are on the right at the back wall. I may have to check out the foot-powered skein winder next.
Inspiration
The Fort Worth Weavers Guild biennial show is hanging now at the Fort Worth Community Center. For Fall Gallery Night, the crowds fill the halls and galleries, looking at the art and participating in the various food (and drink) offerings for opening receptions. There were many beautiful and interesting works to see, and I got a nice surprise. First, I should explain that in all the guild shows until the last one, there was no judge and/or critique. We started having a judge with the last show, with an emphasis on the critique part. No prizes. I had actually forgotten about the judging, and was very pleased to find that both of my pieces had wonderful handwoven ribbons hanging next to them. The theme for the show is In the Eye of the Beholder. Everyone was expected to turn in an inspiration photo when their work was delivered. Many times the pieces were made, and then there was a desperate search for “inspiration.” This time I was able to follow the directions exactly. Both of my pieces had inspiration.
For “The Zebra in My Head,” I used a really bad picture I took at the zoo. “Zebra” received the HGA award. The other piece, “Headin’ Home” was
inspired by all the times I have seen birds either flying out in the morning or heading home to their roosting spot in the evening. By the way, this design is the result of an online class Working in a Series that I took with Lisa Call. I was thinking about the many variations of a line that might be possible, thinking dotted line, and so evolved this design. In fact, I don’t think I’m through with this idea. For the guild show, no work could be larger than 1440 sq in–an unusual parameter for me.
I think about inspiration a lot. Sometimes inspiration comes from a picture, or colors in a painting, a feeling, etc. For me, sometimes inspiration is as mundane as a desire to experiment with a technique. More on that later.
By the way, for a really beautiful tapestry with birds flying, look at the American Tapestry Alliance’s website. There’s a piece by Evelyn Campbell, who won the ATA Award for Excellence in Tapestry. Beautiful!
What’s your inspiration? Or an artist that you admire. What was the inspiration? How was it translated into art?
Lessons
You know that old rock and roll song, There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On? Unlike Jerry Lee Lewis, I need more than one take to get it right. Around here, it’s been a whole lotta learning going on. By the way, the link above takes you to an NPR program, and a really clear recording of the song. Get your energy level up!
While weaving the last piece, my beating seemed to be a bit off, like maybe 1/4 inch from one side to the other.
I looked at the notches where the beater hangs and all seemed fine and good, both sides in the seemed to be in the same notch. So, I got out some string and attached to pieces diagonally in the frame. I made sure to mark exactly in equal places on both strings. When I untaped them and compared, they were exactly alike. This was very puzzling, but then I looked at the notches for the beater bar from the side. This is what I found.
You may be able to tell that the bar is not actually resting in a notch, but behind the notches.
This is what it should look like.
In my ikat world, I am doing some cross shapes in varying shades of rust to be over-dyed.
After making the cartoon, I remembered that I am measuring this in what will be 1/2 inches of weaving. Therefore, all the vertical elements of the design needed to be stretched. Added to the cartoon. Then I ran out of one of the rusts that I was going to use. I had some samples of rust that were exactly what I wanted.
These are baby skeins that I had experimented with several years ago. This photo doesn’t do the colors justice. Anyway, I dyed some skeins in the same formula.
Believe it or not, both photos are of the same yarns. You can see the tied part. Next to it is the skein that should match the left skein in the sample. So lots more dyeing had to be done. I think I’ve got it now, and have decided that I don’t care if I don’t. So there!
Doo wah didlies
Do you ever get in that state of mind where you just can’t focus on anything because nothing is appealing to you? That’s where I am. And I think I’m going to take a week off of weaving and get some work done in other areas, the clean-out-the-garage kind of stuff. Maybe it’s because this time of year has always been a new year kind of feeling, left over from the many years of being in school. Besides, and I don’t know why I fight it so, but I’m an all or nothing kind of person. In my head I can spend part of the day weaving, part of the day doing finish work, and another part doing tasks around the house. Well, nope, that doesn’t work for me! However, I have been doing some weaving-related tasks.
Here’s the code for the numbered arrows:
- ikat measuring boards with pegs
- spacer board to keep the ikat boards a certain distance apart while stretching the yarn
- smaller boards to gain more distance since board #2 isn’t long enough
- The arrow is actually upside down. The base of the arrow indicates where the pencil rail is on the drafting table.
- These arrows are also upside down. The base of each arrow indicates the clamps used to hold things in place. There are others out of sight.
Here are the boards in use with some of the same parts labeled. It was a real trick to get this project to function as needed. I had to go on a hunt for more clamps and bought nearly everything the local store had. Trial and error. And lots of measuring to make sure all distances are the same on both sides. By the way, there is a cartoon under the yarn that is not visible. Another experiment. If one practices enough (and keeps good notes) there should be a project manual of best practices. Right?
Getting ready
The
guild biennial show is coming up soon. The gallery reception will be September 7, Gallery Night. The theme of the show this year is In the Eye of the Beholder. Each item in the show is to include a photo of the inspiration for the weaving. Should be interesting. I love seeing inspiration and process.
When I decided to take these pictures and, I really didn’t realize that they would appear almost identical. They are very different though. Trust me! On the left is the plywood that was being used as my ikat table. After the last measuring/wrapping session of days, I decided something has to change. On the right is the drafting table that has finally been assembled. It’s tall enough that I can stand and work or sit. The top slants to make it easier to reach the back sections more comfortably. This is the desk from World Market–the one the directions said two adults are needed for assembly. I hate that, not being able to do things by myself.
The next batch of yarns are out and ready to be measured in a palette much different than my usual. No bright colors, some shades of beige, rust, and black.
A constant surprise
You know those scratch-off thingies your sometimes get for earning prizes? That’s what my weaving is like, except in reverse.
As I watch this black and white sections grow, it’s like a little surprise with every pass. Keeps my attention! However, getting to this spot was very frustrating. I think I took out, redid, and cut off about a dozen times. Not really, but it seemed like it. The problem is getting the ikat section to fit the warp, and since the ikat is already dyed, it’s the warp that has to change. Finally, today, it worked. I had to start at the other end of the ikat yarn, though. Now we’re cooking!
And speaking of cooking, I went to the farmers market on Saturday and picked up a few things–cantaloupe, blackeyed peas, and blackberries. As I was shelling the peas, I wondered about their nutrition, so I looked it up. Even though there are recipes for fresh blackeyes, there is not nutritional information available. Only for the dried peas, which I really don’t like. Interesting. Anyone else like fresh blackeyes?
Silly me
In the misguided hope that I might be more creative and look for inspiration all around me, I signed up for the 365 Project. You know, where you submit one picture per day for a year? I’m already three days behind. In my defense, it is very hot, and who wants to go exploring for inspiration in the heat? I’ve submitted exactly one picture, and it wasn’t taken on the day I submitted it. Maybe today will be the day.
The picture on above is in “inside” picture of the ikat yarns balled up. I hope I’ve done them in the correct direction for a center pull ball with the starting point in the center. One of the balls I did last night has a huge loop of yarn that doesn’t seem to belong anywhere, so obviously I went walk-about in the measuring process. Guess it will be straightened out in the weaving.