Ending Class

I finished teaching for the semester.  Here are a few more pictures of things the students wove.

I had such a great class this time.  It was really great to see all their experimentation each week.

I finished two scarves on my off white warp this time.

And even continued with a multicolor warp.

I finished one scarf on this before class was over.  It was nice to be able to weave so much.  The students really worked on their own for most of the time, weaving away like little bees.

Second

I wanted to show these pictures last week...but couldn't find them, oops.  So here is my weaving from last week.

Second blanket on my warm colors double weave warp.

Love seeing these knots move around the beam...almost finished!

And here is is!  I just tied these tassels (as opposed to twisting the last blanket).  Not sure it would hold up to multiple washing, but for now it worked fine.

This beauty, with its special quirks, will be staying with me at home.  I overstuffed this one and the fabric definitely suffered for it.  From one side, you can't really tell there are problems, so I am thinking of hanging this on my wall.  That is if I can figure out how to suspend something this heavy.

Basic Twill

I talked about my weaving class a little last week and I am happy to say all my students are now weaving!  The lengthy process of warping the loom as always a bit of a shock to first timers.  Above is the pointed twill scarf I am currently weaving.  Since I usually really push my woven surfaces, it is nice sometimes to just weave a basic twill, count in my head while listening to the loom and just enjoy the rhythm of weaving.

Small view of the tapestry techniques and dimensional weaving I teach in my class...have to throw some of that in.

Sampler one of my students wove...she had never sat at a loom before my class.  Seriously, this is the best part of teaching.

Saying Goodbye

Not sure I ever shared pictures of my completed blanket, so here are a few close ups.  I gave it as a gift last week and honestly I am missing it already.  Look at this awesome texture, seriously it was like holding over a thousand of the softest little pillows ever.

I have finished weaving the second blanket in this series and hope to have the ends finished so I can wash it today.  Sadly, it will most likely have to go in the "failed" pile, but I want to finish it and figure out what went wrong.

Weaving Class

I am back warping a loom again.  But this is not my loom, it is a loom at the NC State Craft Center.  I teach beginning weaving there once a semester.  It is a once a week, for six weeks class where students learn to warp, dress a loom, weave and go home with a handwoven scarf.  All in six weeks!

This fall is my 6th class.  It is always interesting to see the mixture of students ranging from college girls to grandmas (I have never had a male student, although they are welcome).  My first class was interesting since I learned to weave in a university setting and the craft center is very, very different.  I have learned a lot about teaching (it's not really for me), weaving and people interaction since then!

So favorite parts of teaching... excitement in the eyes of someone who falls in love with the motions of weaving...the students who get so consumed with sampling different patterns, colors and weights of yarns and techniques they spend our whole time experimenting and never do a "finished project"... definitively inspires me to get a 5-7 fresh weavers each semester and see how they think about weaving...set aside time at a loom for six weeks, I really loved this while my space was under renovation...finally, I have learned tons about myself and my craft by teaching weaving and finding new ways to talk about what I do.

And the not so fun...class runs from 6:30 - 9:30 at night.  To say this is late for me is a huge understatement...I drink large amounts of caffeine and then talk really fast.  It was especially hard my first class leaving a 3 month old Oliver once a week.  I am definitely a hands on learner and often wish the students could just watch me and learn...that talking, it's a killer.  I often lose my voice after the first night.  I did get a bad teacher review once...still a little bitter.

But all in all, I am so thankful for this opportunity.  I will try to post some more about my class near the end of our time.  Join us in the spring!

Beginnings

Not sure yet where this will lead me, but here are the beginnings of my next project.  I went to school with Andrea Donnelly and love the new work she is doing with warp painting and ikat.  I am also looking at the work of Catherine Ellis (sorry best website I could find).  I did a lot of woven shibori work in college both for myself and as an assistant to another artist.  The two fabric samples on the right are knit fabrics I made in college.

I think step one will be some dye samples and deciding where to start with the warp.  I am not sure if I want to use Ikat techniques to dye before I put the yarn on the loom or paint the warp once it is on the loom.  (Not sure I have the space for that)

Then I will explore the weft yarns and see which best shows off the work I am going to do on the warp.

Finally...many, many moon from now...I will need to decided if and what dyeing to do to the final project.  Oh yea, and what to do with the end fabric.  I am not a huge planner, so this will probably be about all you get.  From this point I usually just dive in and hope for the best.  Usually things turn out ok :)

Complete!!!

Here is a picture of my double weave fabric off the loom!  I need to twist the fringe (which will probably take longer than the weaving, grr), throw it in the wash and then it will be 100%.  The perceptive eye may tell that it is not a square.  Some shrinking and shifting will occur when this is washed.  Most likely it will be a square after that.

I am surprised at how heavy the fabric is.  It is a double cloth and each pocket (256 of them) is stuffed with polly-fill.  It is approximately 36 x 36 in.  End use?  My original thought was baby play mat.  It may go on the wall.

There is enough yarn on the loom to make another piece this size.  Now that I have finished, I kind of want to go ahead and weave that as well.  I want to do stripes in stead of the squares using my favorite two weft yarns from this piece.  Stay tuned :)