PROGRESS REPORT 35

J E N N E

Remember the vest from Progress Report 29?  Sewing in the ends at last.  It has been a year of flux and change and finally after landing in the Pacific Northwest and figuring out our daily routines and day to day stuff I feel like I can dive back in and really get work done.  The first half of 2016 is about applying KonMari (SPARK JOY!) to my creative life, either finishing things, following ideas or just axing them and moving one.  Two socks frogged, a couple pattern drafts trashed and now finishing details on a couple knitting projects including this vest.  I started it at I think a 3 year old size and yeah, that is a couple years too small for my kid now.  Thankfully knit stretches and I can add whatever length to this to make it a dress so it will be worn this weekend!  Clearing the decks to make room for designing and playing with natural dyeing and patternmaking and weaving and sashiko and getting back to working on a mix of it all.  Happy new year!

A L I S A

Weaving and surface-y stuff. I've been working with these small wooden shapes to use as frames and bases. They are all in the 4" x 6" range and I drilled in holes to use to warp into. The holes are off and the warp is off, but I like it. I'm thinking of playing with skewing it even more. The structure doesn't matter as much because it's supported by the frame and, also, because they are small. I love wonky and awkward things and I'm feeling more attached to these then I have with anything in a while. Which is great! I have more to do!

PROGRESS REPORT 21

A L I S A

I have completed two circular weavings during our experiments. It's not nearly as many as I would have liked to. The good thing is that I have come up with a good routine to fit this exercise into my daily studio time. So, maybe this exercise ended up not being about weaving within a circle, but establishing dedicated time for a desired project. We're going to be moving on to new project experimentations soon, but I'm going to keep up with my "small weaving" routine.  I really like how I finished the larger piece. I used yarns to wrap around the interior wood of the circle to create a nice frame and hide some warping threads that were bugging me. It was fun adding warp as I went to create shapes and weaving within weaving. Branching off into other segments. I also used all hand-spun. 

J E N N E

I put a particularly gnarly pair of yarns on my loom as warp this week.  Knowing that one yarn was way springier than the other (3ply wool vs 2ply mohair and silk) but color wise and just need to go together wise are PERFECT for one another so I went for it.  What is not pictured is the crazy differential tension set up I made by putting a long shed stick from my bigger loom across the backbeam and under the springier yarn to take up some of that sproing so that it can become more reasonably even to weave.  It works, its not totally convenient and I continue to work in my jerry rigged, make it work sort of way. Its challenging but if it all works out like I have it in my head, its going to be crazy great.

PROCESS NOTES - On Circular Weaving

I N T R O D U C T I O N

"When craft is in dialogue with its audience, it does not and cannot stagnate.  The fresh flowing water of our field turns fetid when we as makers and audience assume, shut down, impose strict limitations, or end every thought or art work with a period rather than a question mark.  The common denominator among experts, innovators and outliers is curiosity.  Experts with years of embodied knowledge intertwine curiosity with persistence.  Sometimes, there are small shifts in the studio; other times, seismic shifts.  A level for inquiry is a constant force. Innovators dissect a precept and build from their discoveries, while outliers use curiosity to build bridges between their primary interests and others. The majority of artists I know combine aspects of these qualities."

-Sonya Clark "In the hands of the Curious,"  from Crafting a Continuum, The University of North Carolina Press 2013.  (Thank you Betsy Greer for bringing our attention to this quote and book.)

Craftophilia is a dialogue about process.  The projects Alisa and I are compelled to do, trying to see how the way we each work is motivated or inhibited by the weekly demand of having something "made" (or in the process of being made.) By posting (almost!) every week what we have been able to make with our hands we are learning about exactly why and how we do and make things.  

Craftophilia is totally transparent, laying bare the processes we go through, open with our personal experiences of making.  What works, what happens when you have no time at all to make anything, when it totally fails, at the pace of how it actually happens in our daily lives.  It is our biggest hope that it inspires you to pick up the material that sings to you and make, without fear of any of these outcomes or circumstances that may stand in your way of making something as there is no fail there is just DO.

PROCESS NOTES is an open ended list of ideas, questions and further explorations from what we found useful while making a circular weaving: from wrapping the first warp around the hoop to almost (finally) finishing one hoop.   Hoping that this inspires you to take material that is vernacular to your life (yarn leftovers, pine needles from the yard, darning needles, kitchen twine etc.) and experiment with it to make something new.

P R O C E S S   N O T E S   O N  C I R C U L A R   W E A V I N G

S U P P L I E S :

Hoop.  Embroidery hoops, wooden, metal, various sizes,  weird brass hoops from craft store, hula hoop, old bike wheel...

Embroidery needles - straight, bent tip, plastic, brass, bamboo.  Try a few to find the one that works for you.  Some work better in smaller hoops, others in larger hoops.

Warp thread - carpet warp, kitchen twine, thick embroidery thread from the japanese dollar store, yarn...

Weft thread - ANYTHING.  Experiment with single ply and double ply yarns, thick yarns, thin yarns.  Mohair and Angora will make a lovely halo that you can brush up after to great effect.

Is it malleable? Use it.

Scotch tape and masking tape.

W A R P I N G :

Experimenting is extremely important.  Sitting down with your hoop and warp thread and playing with the warp is almost better than following directions. Creating a visual, tactile memory and a rhythm. Does warping in a figure-eight work better for a "diameter warp" than over one side of your hoop and under coming back? How about tying each thread individually to create an off centre "spoke warp"? Remember, using an embroidery hoop is beneficial as once you attach the outer hoop, it will hide any peculiar knotting. You can also secure your warp threads by using tape on the side of your hoop - once you have woven, it will be secure enough to remove the tape.

v. 1 - spoke warp (above)

v. 2 - diameter warp (above, warp anchored directly across the circle)

T E C H N I Q U E :

Over and under one warp thread at a time? Several at a time? Change it up?

What happens when you use thin thread and heavy yarn in the same piece?

What happens when you coil your yarn around a warp thread?  Around 2?  Around 5?

Does warp have to go in one direction?  Where are all the places you can anchor warp?

Again - observe! Books, pictures, online - analyze what you see. Ask yourself questions.

O T H E R  W O N D E R S :

How will you finish the piece? Does it stay on the hoop or is it removed? 

What about wrapping the hoop in fabric or yarn?

Is fringe your thing, or not?

Try adding non-traditional items like pine needles, strips of fabric, feathers or pieces of spinning fibre. If you can trap it in the warp, you can put it in!

PLAY!  Make mistakes!  ENJOY!!!

PROJECT REPORT 7 - Circular Weaving

J E N N E

Still working on this one. Wrapping warp as groups is working really well towards the center of the circle.  I used embroidery thread for some of the weft and it so shiny compared to the wool - a nice contrast I want to play with more, maybe more in a monochromatic approach with the same color with a texture from using different fibers.

A L I S A

I haven't had much time to work on this piece, as I've been getting ready for school. I am excited to get back to it though. I'm really enjoying playing with adding warp as I go. I'm contemplating what to do around the edge of the hoop. I've noticed that I've warped in two different ways, one is quite visible and the other isn't. I'm ok with it, but wish I had of been consistent. This just means that I may have to add something around the edges, perhaps wrapping hand-spun to cover the inner wooden hoop, then framing it with the outer hoop. We shall see...

PROJECT REPORT 6 - Circular Weaving

A L I S A

I'm really loving working on this piece. I've been adding warp in different directions as I go. I am trying to now weave under and over some of the finished areas. I've found that the warp threads tend to slip as I'm weaving (since it's in a round hoop), so, I've used masking tape to start to hold the more awkward threads in place while I weave. It seems to be working quite nicely...

J E N N E

This little morsel is an experiment in weaving with art yarn.  I have many many skeins of art yarn that I spun over the years, never really intending to use it for a specific project, spinning sequins, feathers, big clomps of wool, thread, fabric, lace all together in more of a process meditative way, having fun with the materials as a counterpoint to the fine worsted spinning I tend to like to do.  (Fine worsted spinning is making very controlled fine yarn with high twist that takes a lot of focus!)  This yarn is from a class I took with Lexi Boeger, years and years ago at Urban Fauna in SF. (2005?)  Long ago enough that one person in the class recognized me from my serial knitsterism on Knitty Gritty (I am knitting on the couch 4 seconds before the end, Alisa is knitting behind Erika's Head) (Random the things you remember) We made crazy batts in Lexi's class and spun them, crazy batts with every sort of thing in them.  I very much like how the art yarn looks woven, but I think it needs a larger space to breathe and really show all the weird shit that is in it.  Also I sort of want to cut apart the yarns to make some color sense out of them.  A good experiment in my book is when you do something that may not be completely successful but you find at least one new path to try out. I now have quite a few to try.

PROJECT REPORT 5 - Circular Weaving

A L I S A

I've started a new circular weaving… well, it's in a circle. I've created a base that I'll add on to with additional warp and be able to weave into. I'm experimenting with layering warp with this piece. So far, it's a lot of fun and I really like it. I'm using all hand-spun and I'm also mixing yarns to create gradients. 

J E N N E

Weaving in a circular frame means you can branch out and add a warp here, wrap a weft there, till you are suddenly weaving in all directions at once.  Working on this at the beach today, I was thinking about how serendipitous and wild this little piece is becoming - I had a plan and now its telling me to do something completely different.  Experiment with filling the space.  I am not sure how much more I am going to work on this one (mainly because my tapestry needle is not fitting in the spaces of the hoop anymore - there is not a lot of room to work in a hoop this size that I've been just winding the yarn with my fingers in some parts) but I do know its come along a lot crazier than I thought it would be, and all the better.