Cathy’s New Baby Wolf Loom

Cathy has been taking weaving classes at sutherland since last spring. As soon as she finished her first scarf in the Just Weave class, she was hooked. While working her way through warping and weaving three towels in the Weaving I class, she started asking about buying a loom.
As Schacht Spindle Co. dealers, we offered to order her a Baby Wolf loom, which is what she’d been weaving on at the studio. She shopped a while, thought a while, and finally decided to treat herself to a brand new 8 shaft Baby Wolf. We ordered it and it arrived this week. Cathy was in this morning and I helped her with the final assembly. Then her wonderful husband came over and helped her swaddle the new baby in a blanket before loading into the back of his truck for the ride home. He also made it her birthday gift!
Cathy was so excited to get this loom that I gave her the tracking number so she could follow it during shipment from Colorado. We both puzzled over why it went from Atlanta to Winston-Salem before coming back to Asheville. She emailed me when she learned it had been unloaded in Asheville.
Tomorrow she returns to continue her Twill Gamp class and talk about plans for her first 8-shaft project, a 1/3, 3/1 twill block threading woven to make long vertical pleats. She had been eyeing a similar one I have hanging in the studio.
How nice to send a new weaver home with her first loom. I feel like a delivery room nurse.
Thanks again, Cathy.
Also we hope to see friendly faces tonight at the CURVE studios & garden Open House Twilight Party from 5-8 pm. There will be snacks, wine, Wedge beer, soft drinks and lots of lively conversation while you’re enjoying all the new work by CURVE artists.
PLUS, Daryl Lancaster is in this weekend for workshops at Haywood Community College, sutherland and for judging the handweaving entries at the Blue Ridge Fiber Show. She will be at sutherland tonight selling and autographing copies of her various monographs. You will find the titles at her website.
And, she brought enough materials for a few more people to attend the Play with Color! workshop at sutherland on Monday, from 10am-4. So there are still a couple of seats available. But call ASAP.
Happy Fall!
Karen

Yes, we are mentioned by Daryl!

Girls’ Day Out…

I’ve mentioned before in previous blogs how much I love living very near NYC. I wish for time to see everything, read everything, experience everything, and eat everything I’d like to try in this world, alas, there are way too many things to do, see, experience than anyone can possibly hope to fit in in one life time! But I keep trying…

I’ve also mentioned in previous blogs that I have lunch once a week, during the “school” year, with a handful of assorted teachers from the local school district. It started when I was diagnosed with cancer, and has continued for nine years, and now, almost all of the teachers are now retired and able to do things during the week they could never have done before during the school year. So four of us headed into NYC on Wednesday, we all met at the Museum of Art and Design on Columbus Circle.

I timed everything just right on my own commute in, and arrived a good 45 minutes ahead of schedule. I wandered through the Time Warner building, looking at all the windows of the shops, they weren’t open yet, taking notes on a couple of design details I’d like to try, and I wandered through Borders, which was open also taking some notes of books to add to my wish list. I went out and sat on a bench along Columbus Circle, near the museum, to wait for my friends. The weather was glorious, the traffic around the circle entertaining, the vendors hawking their tours, bike rentals and handsome cab rides were all out in force. The horse driven cabs were of course gorgeous, I was fascinated watching how the drivers deftly managed to weave in and out of traffic alongside cabs and buses and crazy commuters, while the horses, in all their ribboned finery, just clip clopped along paying no mind… (Did I think to get a picture?)

I love the Museum of Art and Design, their themed exhibits are alway interesting and thought provoking, great to see with a group of women friends, especially this group, a retired art teacher, music teacher and the Gifted and Talented program teacher. The discussions are fun, and meaningful, and provide great lunch talk. This exhibit in particular. The exhibit was called Dead or Alive, and all of the artworks were created using something that was once alive, but is now dead. Dead bugs, animal bones, Dandelion seed pods (I’m still trying to figure that one out, they are so fragile), dried sardines, silk cocoons, lots and lots of feathers, lots of social commentary, lots of decorative works, and my favorite, was a loom, sitting in the middle of the floor, in one of the side galleries, near it a pile of mouse skeletons, and on the loom, a beautiful grey cloth, upon close inspection (and after reading the wall description) turns out to have been made from mouse fur. OK, I know that’s weird, but seeing a loom in an art exhibition is actually quite an anomaly, and seeing beautiful competent, usable cloth made from something so odd and revolting drew me in, in a way I can’t quite describe. Of course I wasn’t allowed to take a picture, the guard was standing three feet from the loom, but many of the works are in a virtual tour of the museum on their website, and the link for this image is wonderful. The thumbnail from the site appears here.

We all went to lunch in a sort of average uninspired trattoria calledRINO, (we are always trying new restaurants), my salad was good, avocado and shrimp, you can’t go wrong with that combination, and we headed off to the theater. Brief Encounters just opened, I believe it is still in previews, fresh from “sold-out” performances in London, and I can say it was a lovely way to spend a Wednesday afternoon, the show is an interesting concept, and full of British humor and timing, and though the show overall seemed a bit silly, I’m glad I saw it and again, it made for interesting dialog afterwards.

The premise of the show is a stage recreation of an iconic black and white masterpiece from 1945 of two strangers who meet at a train station, fall madly in love, and realize that they can’t continue their passionate affair, as they are both married, with children. So clips of the film, seamlessly woven into the stage production, and some clever special effects, and some occasionally hilarious choreography and flawless British timing, made for an original piece of theatre, though in this day and age, the passions of two lovers captured in a period black and white film, are pretty lost on a contemporary audience. I am thinking the cast, many from the London show, mostly British, was thinking maybe their audience was mostly dead. The director Emma Rice claims that the 1945 David Lean’s masterpiece film “Brief Encounter” is “almost part of their DNA in Britain”. Since I doubt most Americans have ever seen the film, (or at least I hadn’t), the premise of the show was sort of lost and came across as silly.

We all headed downtown after the show, and stopped at Thalia, a lounge on 8th Avenue around 50th. We had wine and cheese, and Warm Molten Chocolate Cake for dessert, with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream and a scoop of pistachio. Can I say I died and went to food heaven? I highly recommend this restaurant, it is definitely on my “need to return” list. (My new favorite cheese is called Humboldt Fog!)

The day got even better. I walked my friends to Port Authority, where they all headed back to NJ, and I headed over to 35th and Park to the September meeting of the Textile Study Group of New York. I rarely am able to get in to the meetings, but I had to attend this one. The speaker was Iris Apfel, one of my fashion heroes, who calls herself a “geriatric starlet”. Iris is 89 years old, and is considered a world class shopper, who spent her life collecting and mixing items, both high and low end, current and vintage, and has a collection of garments and accessories that has the MET salivating at her doorstep. A retrospective of her closet was mounted at the MET in 2005, titled Iris Apfel, Rare Bird of Fashion (I own the book of course), which then traveled to museums around the country, where I finally got to view it at the Nassau County Museum of Art. She and her husband Carl founded a legendary textile design company, Old World Weavers, which they ran until they retired in 1992. Old World Weavers restored many of the fabrics in the White House during the administration of several presidents. Can I say that Iris Apfel is probably the most interesting person I’ve ever heard speak, and I am so glad I was home long enough to be able to catch her lecture and I’m really really grateful to the Textile Study Group of NY for making her appearance possible.

So I’m home now, preparing for the next trip, to Asheville, NC the end of next week. All the handouts, pattern paper, interfacings, and monographs have been cut, printed and shipped ( a big thank you to my son Eric for lending a hand), and the house is quiet, it is a lovely Saturday and I’m onto the next scarf warp on my loom. I’ve gathered the colors, using a more neutral palette, again drawing from one of my forecast palettes from Handwoven Magazine, and I finished the warp wrap, and will have lunch and start winding the warp.

Tomorrow I will be giving the keynote address at the North Jersey Chapter of the American Sewing Guild’s Birthday Bash at the Barn in Clifton, which should be lots of fun, and I get to dress up in my handwoven clothes, and put on some make-up, and get out of the house for a few hours. I have the tendency to not get out of my pajamas on days where I don’t have to go anywhere… :-)

Stay tuned…

Going, Going, GONE!

Hi everyone,

Daryl Lancaster is printing out handouts and materials today for her Play with Color! workshop at sutherland Handweaving Gallery & Teaching Studio on Monday Sept. 27. She needs a final headcount, so if there are any of you who were thinking about attending, but haven’t contacted us yet, please let us know right away. The materials she ships for this class are substantial, so we don’t want her to ship more than necessary. However, neither do we want anyone who planned to attend to be left out. In addition I just placed a listing for the class in this week’s Mountain Express, so please sign up quickly.

Here’s another description of the workshop. If you’ve never taken a class with Daryl before, I promise you’ll get more than your money’s worth and will leave energized and inspired—whether you’re weaving, knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, felting, printing, dyeing, painting or doing whatever it is you do with color.

Karen and Barb

PS: To be removed from this email list just hit reply and let us know!

Daryl Lancaster

A one-day, hands-on workshop

Monday, September 27, 2010

Play With Color!

Through a series of creative exercises, participants will learn to confidently place yarns of different colors and textures together to make beautiful warp combinations. This is a fun, hands-on class, and participants will be asked to bring a bag of assorted odds and ends of yarns to use and share. Based on the Color/Fabric Forecast Column from Handwoven Magazine, participants will experiment with palettes based on mood using photos for inspiration, and see illustrations of how to translate them into handwoven fabrics and ultimately a garment. For more information about Daryl Lancaster, visit www.daryllancaster.com

10 am-4 pm Limit 10 participants Pre-registration required $120 + supply fee

Educational & fun for:

Weavers

Knitters

Sewers

Quilters

Fabric Printers

Daryl Lancaster received her BA cum laude degree in Fine Arts in 1977 from Montclair State College, Montclair, NJ and has been actively working since then as a weaver/fiber artist. Comfortable with the sewing machine for more than forty years, she spent 10 years as a production craftswoman, selling her handwoven clothing in craft markets and galleries throughout the United States. She teaches garment construction and related topics to weavers and other fiber enthusiasts across North America. She was the Contributing Features Editor for six years, for Handwoven Magazine and wrote the Fashion and Color Forecast Column. She currently writes a monthly column for the online Weavezine Magazine.

New Mexico Sunset and Northern Lights

So, we have been very busy.

Karen has been working on two very detailed pieces; each for entry into The Blue Ridge Fiber Show later this month. The piece Karen is holding in her left hand(on the right in the photo) is the one to be juried; it is quite fine yarn for her and is woven in Beiderwand. If you put those two things together you get a lot of picks per inch, hence lots of time at the loom. I love anything orange, so you know this makes me most happy. The other piece Karen is holding is what she wove with the extra warp. I love the window pane effect with the various colored weft colors used. Fellow studio mate, Pattiy Torno, has already placed dibs on it.

The second piece Karen will be entering into the BRFS is a tapestry of a puffin. I will post a photo as soon as I have one. For now you must take my word it is amazing. Karen really doesn't like to admit it, but she is a tapestry weaver. Just ask Madelyn Vanderhoogt if you don't believe me.

As for me I have been working on a rather large commission piece for installation on a client's dining room table. As inspiration I used the couple's painting in that room as well as a recently commissioned painting by fellow CURVE studio and garden's artist Constance Williams installed in the area adjoining the dining room. The warp is 60/2 silk and the weft is 60/2 hand dyed silk in a multitude of colors mirroring the colors in the home and paintings. It measures 19.5" x 120". I must say when I took it off the loom yesterday it was a delight to see how it turned out. When I placed it on the couple's table today it was magical. Will make final installation Monday when I have hemmed it and finished the corners with beads. Photos to follow.

And speaking of photos-I need to work on how to make the photos in the blog work with my writings. I am failing in this aspect miserably. Think I will ask my daughter.

And for anyone interested the rug hanging on the wall behind us in the photos is woven by Wence Martinez. He is from Mexico and will be having an Exhibition opening at sutherland October 8. We would love for you to join us for this event. More on that later.

Don’t Miss Daryl Lancaster at sutherland!

We are thrilled that Daryl Lancaster will be teaching a one-day workshop at sutherland, Sept. 27, while she is in Asheville to judge the handweaving entries at the 2010 Blue Ridge Fiber Show. Titled Play with Color!, this workshop is a fun, hands-on class that helps participants learn to place yarns of different colors and textures together confidently for warps or other fiber art projects.

Daryl is famous for her beautiful handwoven yardage, her skill at tailoring it into garments that are beautiful inside and out and her willingness to generously share all her secrets through teaching. Believe me, her energy and enthusiasm will leave you breathless, but armed with many more ideas and information than you ever dreamed.

This is a no-loom, tabletop workshop. Space is limited and already filling, so if you’d like to attend we need to hear from you as soon as possible. We’ll need your registration fees in advance to save you a seat. Just to whet your appetite, I’ve included an image of one of Daryl’s beautiful garments.

Daryl Book Signing!

While Daryl is in town, she will be a special guest at sutherland during the CURVE studios & garden Fall 2010 Open House Twilight Party, Sept. 24, from 5-8 pm. She has agreed to ship down an assortment of her monographs and will sell and autograph them during the party.

No charge for this event. Just come on over, meet Daryl, snap up your autographed books, enjoy some snacks and libations and tour the other artist studios at CURVE.

Karen

As it should be…

I had an economics professor back when I was in college – the first time – who used to talk about “hog heaven.” I can’t quite remember what constituted hog heaven from an economics standpoint. It had something to do with supply and demand, and it seems the elasticity of one or the other was involved. Basically it described a state where everything was humming along happily.

Now while today’s economy may be a long way from hog heaven, I found myself in that blissful state today. I had returned from design class at Haywood Community College, where I have finally enrolled in the Professional Crafts-Fiber program, albeit on a limited schedule. After lunch I parked myself in my sunroom overlooking the Western North Carolina mountains and went back to work on my tapestry loom finishing a piece for the Blue Ridge Fiber Show in October.

Meanwhile at the studio, I have two students coming in for class on Saturday, and I am weaving a scarf also intended for the Blue Ridge Fiber Show. It’s turning out even better than I’d hoped, but I won’t share pictures of either until after the show is judged, just in case the handweaving judge should happen across our blog.

So while I was weaving today, listening to my Josh Groban CDs and snacking on a few pieces of dark chocolate (for my health, of course), I was thinking about these projects, being in school again and all the exciting things coming up on the sutherland schedule this fall: new classes; the start of a new study group at sutherland (more about this soon); the CURVE studios & garden open house and twilight party the last weekend of the September, an in-studio workshop with Daryl Lancaster on Sept. 27, new displays and furnishings we’re adding to the gallery side of sutherland, a special exhibit of contemporary tapestry rugs by Wence and Sandra Martinez that opens Oct. 8 with an artists’ reception (more about this later too) and being able to share it all with my good friend and studio partner, Barb.

Suddenly I started remembering Professor Kuhlman and hog heaven, and how that seemed like a pretty good description for my current state of mind. I don’t have a clue what hogs had to do with it, but here we are, me and the hogs, lovin’ life.

Karen

Have I mentioned?

This past week I began on a journey of weaving about which I am most excited. The journey began this past spring when a couple came into sutherland during The Studio Stroll in the the River Arts District and asked me to weave them a table runner. Not just any table runner, mind you. They desired a true art piece for their dining room table.

So, after months of acquiring over a hundred skeins of hand-dyed 60/2 silk to "paint" the picture of the piece I have in my mind, I have been to dress my loom. This has been tedious. And if you know me as a weaver, there is nothing I love more than tedious. First, I had to add 400 more Texsolv heddles to shafts 5 through 8 on my Harrisville floor loom at home as my warp has 1050 ends of Habu silk which is finer than human hair. Next I have had to wind each of those 104 skeins of yarn into balls before I will be able to wind them on to individual bobbins. Then there has been the winding of said 1050 warp ends on the warping board and then onto my back beam. I admit I had Karen help me with the latter task and it was a huge help! Then the task of threading began. I am half way through this and plan to finish this up tomorrow. Warping back to front on my big Harrisville requires a fair amount of leaning into the loom, hence neck and back fatigue. I am up and down a fair amount to give my body frequent breaks, which helps immensely.

I am hoping to be able to start weave this commissioned project by the end of this coming work week. I am excited to see the shuttle flying back and forth with these beautiful had-dyed silks.

Thought I would include some photos of the beginning of this piece. The photo with the pencil shows the entire warp, all 1050 threads, and just how fine they really are.

Oh, and have I mentioned I am excited??

Barb in the News

The Sunday Living Section of the Asheville Citizen-Times features an Asheville Artist Portfolio feature each week. I thought it was Barb’s turn to be featured and submitted information and photos to the editor.
The editor liked the idea, and Barb’s Portfolio was in yesterday’s paper! Here is a link to the story online, but they didn’t include the photos that ran in the paper. So if you can find a Sunday Citizen-Times, pick it up and look inside the Living Section.

I’m on TV, but don’t blink

Remember when I told you about QVC coming to our studio to do some filming about Asheville for a jewelry designer? Well the segment aired on Aug. 8, and here’s a link to a very brief peek at me at the loom now on UTube. CURVE studios & garden got a nice plug, and that’s our studio mate and CURVE owner Pattiy Torno quilting.

Constance Williams next door got a speaking part, but then she’s president of the River Arts District Artists. The other clips about Western North Carolina are fun to watch too.

Seriously, don’t blink.

Karen

Blue Ridge Fiber Show Entry Deadline is AUG 13!

EIGHT DAYS!!  That’s when all entry forms for the 2010 Blue Ridge Fiber Show have to be received by the committee! I want to encourage all of you who weave, spin or felt to enter a few pieces of your work. The show is non-juried for entry, which means no one will judge whether or not your pieces can be included. If they meet the criteria, they’re in! For those unfamiliar, this is a production of the Western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild. Traditionally it has been one of the biggest non-juried fiber art shows in the region. You don’t have to be a guild member to enter and you don’t have to live in Western North Carolina! This show has attracted international entries.

The deadline for receiving entry forms is Aug. 13...yes next week! For guild members, that is BEFORE the August guild meeting. However, your entered pieces do not have to be delivered until the end of September. (Are you reading between the lines, here?).

Your entry form does not require a fancy photograph. Just fill out the one-page form, describe your pieces and send with a check for $30 for every two items entered. You may enter two pieces in each major category: weaving, spinning or felting.

Although the items are not juried for entry, the pieces will be judged for several awards, which include many CASH PRIZES. You may enter in either the amateur or professional category. You’re a professional if you sell your work or teach.

I would love to see entries from all our weaving students! I’ve included a link to the entry form. Click on it and print the form to remind yourself. Then fill it out and send it in so it arrives by Aug. 13. If you need help or advice, come see me at the studio. I’m there tomorrow through Sunday and again next Wednesday. If you have any questions email me.

Karen

CLICK HERE:   http://www.wncfhg.org/brfs10/entryfrms.html

Convergence Reflections

Now that the laundry is done, students are back on the studio looms finishing their classes, and the boxes I shipped back from Convergence have been emptied, it’s time to reflect on the inspiring but exhausting experience last month in Albuquerque. Convergence is the biannual conference of the Handweavers Guild of America and attracts weavers, spinners, dyers and basketmakers from around the world.

I hadn’t attended since 2006 in Grand Rapids, where I met Barb by the way. So I got there early to warp a rented loom for my 3 day workshop and didn’t leave until they were kicking us out of the exhibit hall at 4 Sunday afternoon. I spent a lot of time in vendor hall where I picked up some books from the Unicorn booth, a few skeins and cones of unusual yarns I want to try, several tubes of Bockens 8/2 cotton for classes…on sale (it pays to shop on Sunday) a new ondule (fan) reed for Barb, and my personal indulgence, a Randall Darwall scarf that begged me to take it home.

My workshop was outstanding. Robyn Spady calls it Pictures, Piles, Potpourri and Perplexing Curiousities. If you are a structure person, and ever have a chance to take it, don’t hesitate. There were 13 uncommon structures, on 32 different looms and 31 participants. Still, we all managed to weave all 13 samples. The sample notebook of all the structures is worth way more than Robyn charges for a supply fee. I warped one of the handwoven velvet looms. Actually I just threaded, beamed the ground warp, sleyed and tied on. Robyn had already done the heavy lifting, bringing the velvet pile warp on a secondary warp “beam” she had fashioned from empty wire spools she got from Lowe’s. Here’s a picture of the pile warp set up. It worked pretty well, but we had some tension issues as the sampling continued.

Other neat structures that I’ll definitely spend more time with include a fantastic supplementary warp and weft that I will subject to one of my differential shrinkage experiments…definitely making a SAMPLE first; a corkscrew twill that begs further study; and beiderwand. I’d always been curious about beiderwand, and now the next thing on  the loom will be a scarf that tests the structure with fine yarns: one of  those beautiful hand dyed skeins of 30/2 Tencel from Just Our Yarn (met these creative ladies in vendor hall) for ground and a soy silk I found at another booth as the pattern weft. Yes, I’m sampling first.

My other Convergence classes included a behind the scenes tour of the Juried Fashion Show with Daryl    Lancaster, where I collected a bunch of clothing construction tips…and got to see inside some of these beautiful pieces. Sunday morning I attended a seminar with Rosalie Neilson all about designing warp rep with curves. When pressed, she said getting real curves takes more than 8 shafts, but her design technique will be very useful and her work is gorgeous. Here are a few samples.

While in New Mexico, I spent time with good friends from New Jersey, reconnected with other friends I usually only see at conferences and met some fun new people. As a personal highlight, I got to spend a few days with my sister and her family in Las Cruces, and then drove north with her to tour Santa Fe and Albuquerque before the conference began.

Kelly was also around while I spent Tuesday afternoon warping that velvet. I was so focused, I didn’t notice her taking pictures with her phone. She posted them on her facebook page with some interesting descriptions of what I was doing. Here’s Kelly at our Monday lunch spot in Santa Fe.

Convergence is an expensive proposition, but this trip was well worth it. I asked a few HGA board members at dinner one night where the 2012 Convergence would be and was given the party line, “Well, there WILL be one.” They remained mum on location except to say the executive staff was negotiating with four sites and they didn’t want to muck up negotiations. Look for the site announcement in Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot or join HGA’s email list.

If you’d like to peek at the workshop sample notebook, just let me know when you’ll be in downtown Asheville and I’ll bring it to the studio. Pique, corduroy  or beaded leno anyone?

Karen

Revised Fall 2010 Class Schedule

I am back from Convergence, and will post some pictures and impressions soon, but first I need to advise you of revisions to the Fall 2010 Class Schedule at sutherland. We’ve juggled our work schedules a bit, so basically everything that was offered on Sundays, will now be offered on Saturdays. I found a few corrections along the way.

I am unable to post a link to the schedule, so please email if you’d like to receive a MS Word version. First class is a Warp Rep workshop Aug 14 & 15, and there is pre-warping involved. So call me ASAP if you’re interested!

Karen

My Library

I returned last weekend from a trip to Seivers on Washington Island, WI exhausted but very happy. I traveled with a fellow weaver and we took "Weave, Cut, and Sew" by Mary Sue Fenner. It was so much fun to see 8 of us returning from last year's class and to meet the 2 new students. May Sue, as always, provides wonderful instruction mixed with an abundance of enthusiasm. I admit this year I did not weave the fabric with which I sewed: not enough time and I really need to learn to sew so I just wanted to concentrate on that aspect. Those who actually wove and sewed a complete project while there simply amaze me. Candee's yardage was woven with the more red portion along the bottom of the jacket and the backs of the sleeves as the selvedge of the fabric and then incorporated it into the jacket.

As you know, when attending one of these types of classes all manner of discussion arise. One of the 'new' members of the class was Rina, an art teacher and wonderful weaver and seamstress. We were chatting one day as I was helping her with some problem on the loom, when she happened to mention to me she has a lovely weaving store nearby and gets all her yarn from there. Upon further questioning, she told me she only buys yarns as she needs them when planning a specific project. I was aghast! Seriously, I asked? I am still amazed as I write this that there is a single weaver who actually does this. I am sure her husband must love her very much since she is the only hold-out on the planet who does not own a stash. When I used the term stash she looked at me like I had suddenly sprouted another head. So we further discussed the necessity of her acquiring a stash so as not to make the rest of us look bad. If she follows my instructions her husband may still love her, but he will certainly not like me!

My sewing turned out rather well and I promise to post photos of my projects when Bill gets home to take them. I am pleased with my accomplishments from the class and feel much more at ease in front of my sewing machine after this year's class. I am looking forward to wearing the fruits of my labor.

So, I am back in the sutherland studio this week warping for my next project when I overheard my studio mate, Pattiy Torno talking with a customer. Pattiy was showing them one of her wonderful quilts and her fleece stash, when the customer up and called the stash her library. Eureka! I love a new use of a word.

And as for me, I came home from Seivers with 2 small cones of purple and grey variegated mohair and silk yarn from Habu to add to my library.

A Little Respite with Spot Bronson

The spot Bronson shawl,which I put on the loom to take a respite from some frustrating differential shrinkage experiments, is finished and hanging in the studio. What a nice project. Aaahh.

Barb was right. Experimentation and design is exciting, but sometimes you need to just weave something that turns out simple and pretty. This one has a Bambu 12 warp and 16/2 bamboo weft. It feels lovely.

Now I am making final preparations for Convergence, the biannual international weaving conference next week, organizing my travel plans and winding my workshop warp. I am taking a three-day workshop with Robyn Spady that includes all kinds of interesting structures. I get to warp the loom for velvet, which I have woven before for my Certificate of Excellence Portfolio. I swore I would never do it again, but Robyn assures me she has a simpler set up for the pile warp, so I said I was game to give it another go. It’s a round-robin workshop, so I’ll get to weave samples of lots of different and less common structures.

I’m taking a couple of other shorter seminars and will spend the rest of the time touring exhibits and galleries, visiting weaving friends and shopping at vendor hall. This is only my second Convergence, so it’s all still a bit overwhelming, but I will take lots of pictures and bring back notebooks full of inspiration and ideas.

If you’re coming to Albuquerque next week for Convergence or Complex Weavers Seminars or American Tapestry Alliance conference, give me a call.

Finally, something that works!

I’ve been experimenting a lot on the loom lately, with less than stellar results. Barb said I just need to put something on that’s fun and that I’m sure will work. So I dug into the Bambu 12 stash and found this new wine color I just ordered from Silk City. I played with weft colors a bit and, advised to “make it more red,” found a tube of bamboo in a red-orange color in Barb’s stash.

I had my doubts, but it really lights up the spot Bronson pattern, so I’ve “borrowed” this tube from her.

In other sutherland news, I’ve just compiled our fall 2010 list of weaving classes. Until I figure a way to make it accessible on this blog, just email me if you’d like a copy. I know, we need a website…we’re working on it. The first class is a 2-day Warp Rep workshop Aug. 14-15, so get in touch right away if you’re interested. Looms need to be warped ahead of time.

Also coming up soon is a one day workshop with Daryl Lancaster Sept. 27 titled Playing with Color. This is a no-loom color & design class, and Daryl’s always fun. Register early, because we’re confident it will fill. I’m starting another Weaving I class Aug. 22, and a new class that delves deeper into design, project planning and drafting Sept. 15.

Back to my spot Bronson…

A Towel Anyone?

There is nothing like a field trip to renew and replenish. And that is what Karen and I set out to do this past Monday. We headed West towards Dillsboro, NC to meet up with two lovely ladies whom we had met at our Web Chats with Alice Schlein oh these many months ago.

First we stopped by KMR Handwoven where Kathy Roig has set up shop. She is is a fabulous weaver and has wonderful pieces hanging she has woven on her beautiful draw loom. Not only that, but she is a magician in the dyeing of warp yarns. I have included some photos to give you a sense of her work as well as her work space. Needless to say, Kathy almost had to put towels on the floor to catch all our drool. It was lovely in every way::inside and out.

The drawloom you ask? The photo alone does not do this beautiful loom justice. Kathy graciously explained the basics of how it worked (none of which I feel comfortable even trying to relay in this blog-it will take more intense study on my part), even telling us how she learned from a book. Ok, have you gotten the idea I was impressed?

Next we walked just around the corner to see Susan Leveille at Oaks Gallery. The beauty of the rooms with the natural light drew us both right in and we were browsing lovely artisan works in any number of media, from furniture to glass nail files(yep, you guessed it, I have started Christmas shopping already). Did I mention a little shopping for moi as well? A lovely cuff bracelet made from birch wood painted with just the lightest of green fading into an light orange. How could I turn down something in my two favorite colors? As we wandered amongst Susan's artfully placed works for sale, she gave us a delightful history of the building(s) in which her shop is located. She also mentioned she and her husband, his name is alluding me this moment, had done the design of the famous Grovewood Gallery located next to the Grove Park Inn. Again, towels were needed for Karen and me.

In the tradition of weavers, Kathy and Susan took time out of their day to sit, have lunch with us (in Kathy's studio, where we felt quite at home), and talk about all things weaving. These two ladies provided us with enough things to have swirling around in our heads for weeks if not months to come.

After lunch we headed to Waynesville as Karen needed to update one of the photos for a piece in the Blue Ridge Fiber Show Raffle which is currently showing at Textures located on North Main St. This shop provided much enjoyment for the two of us. They have for sale several wonderful woven pieces from none other than Kathy Roig and Neal Howard.

Last but not least we stopped by Karen's other home away from home(aka sutherland) and that is Haywood Community College. She began her journey in their textile degree program there this summer and I wanted to see where to place her in my mental "picture". The ever lovely Amy Putansu was there and was working away in a frenzy of serious fan weaving amid 3 installations to be up in the next few days. The campus and studio seem to be full of energy while at the same time quite serene. Maybe only a weaver can understand what I mean by that. Let me know what you think about that please.

As we headed East we talked non-stop, our creative juices flowing with renewed energy. There is just nothing like a good field trip to recharge the battery.

Thank you much to all the lovely ladies who made our day this past Monday.

Oh, and note to self:: do not wear sandals to Karen's again, her puppy loves to lick toes.

June 2010 RAD Studio Stroll…Whew!

Twice a year, the second weekends of June and November, the artists in the Asheville River Arts District sponsor a Studio Stroll, when all of the more than 150 artist members with studios in the RAD (including us) open 10 am-6pm both Saturday and Sunday. The first stroll was in 1994 and attracted about 200 people to the 25 or so artist studios at the time.

For those of us at CURVE studios & garden, opening the doors is a daily thing, as we’re always (save 5 holidays a year) open 11 am-4 pm. Nevertheless, Barb and I geared up for the “thousands” of strollers we were told to expect this past weekend. And there may indeed have been thousands, despite heat and humidity that was far above the norm for our mountain climate in early June.

When I had time to catch my breath from helping children and adults weave on the demonstration loom, I snapped a few pictures. One is of the crowded front room of sutherland’s handweaving gallery, where Barb was weaving two more tencel/bamboo pashminas, answering tons of questions and ringing up a few sales. Trust me, she’s back there.

Another captured the nicest group of college-age kids who took turns weaving and sharing their amazement at the patterns made by a simple twill treadling on an overshot threading. They were all working in the area as camp counselors for a Lutheran summer camp, and this was how they decided to spend their one day a week off.

Finally there was Thomas, a young man who sat down to weave on Saturday, caught on in an instant and shared his thoughts on color theory as he pulled bobbin after bobbin out of the basket, loaded them in the shuttle and made up his own treadling patterns. He had so much fun, he asked his mom and aunt if they could come back Sunday. And they did. (Notice the shirt change in the two pictures.) Thomas wove another 20 minutes or so before relinquishing the loom bench to a couple more young men who wanted to try.

Thomas made a big impression on us. We hope his fascination with weaving continues.

By the way, during the weekend more than 20 people signed our guest book to receive email updates about future classes. That’s a lot of potential new weavers, and we hope to see many of them in our upcoming classes. A new schedule for fall will be out in a week or so. Contact us if you’d like to receive it via email or snail mail. Or stop by the studio. You can see the finished community sampler our guests wove this weekend.

You would have thought I gave the man $10,000

Today I started weaving the first of two scarves I have warped on the loom. I find it is always fun to throw the first few picks to see what it will look like. I did not like what I saw so I quickly headed to my stash. Threw picks of two different colors and voila, found just the one! My original plan was to use two different wefts, but I am loving what I have on the loom I will weave one to sell and one for me.

So, I am weaving along and in come 3 people- two ladies and a gentleman. As is usually the case the fellow heads over towards the loom. Men are attracted to mechanical devices. I would like to think it was me, but I know better. I explained the mechanics of the loom and he explained he was a woodworker. And then he said he also tied flies. Well, not to be outdone, I handed him a thrum from the metallic silver scarf. You would have thought I had given the man $10,000!! Seriously. He told me a lot of times fish will bite at something if they do not have any idea what it is. who knew?

And this made me think of the guy in my second Deborah Chandler class who seriously asked how he could reuse all his thrums. Really, I thought?

May I Touch?

Several months ago I met up with a friend from nursing school to celebrate a very important birthday. Oh, who am I kidding? At this age they are all important. Anyway, we had not seen each other since graduation for many many years (or should I say decades?) and so it was also a reunion of sorts.

Roxane had invited several friends to join her at her lovely mountain home in Dillard, Ga. I had never been to this beautiful area and it was quite a treat. This was a really fun gathering--there were four of us and the only one who knew everyone was the hostess. There was Laura, from the west coast, and Jeanne, from the North, and me from WNC. It took a lot of nerve to invite three women to come together who had never met before, including me who Rox had not laid eyes on forever. I guess she knew what she was doing as it was as if we had all known each other for years. We did not stop talking. And talking.

You are probably wondering where in the world I am going with this, but I am getting there. In all that talking, Laura mentioned she had seen a metallic silver scarf in a magazine and wondered if I could weave her one like it. I thought that would be the end of that. Nope, she texted and then emailed me a photo. She was relentless.

I was enthralled with the challenge of working with a yarn I had not ever woven. There are lots of yarns I have not used, but this is would be way out of the box for me. So I did my research and ordered what I believed to be the best choice for this project. Silk City came through with a nice weight yarn and when it arrived Karen was at the studio and I was at home. She emailed and asked "May I touch?" The most important thing any fiber enthusiast wants to do. She quickly emailed me back and told me it was lovely. And slinky.

With each step in the weaving process I kept thinking something would become difficult with this yarn, but it never did. It was so much fun and even the slinky part was not hard. The sett is 30epi and I used my favorite 120/1 silk from Habu as weft.

I took the piece into the studio today to show Karen before I shipped it off to Laura. As soon as she saw me she said "I have to wash my hands, I want to touch." And she did. We both decided I must weave another one. Soon. And I will.

My thanks to a new friend who got me out of my silk and tencel box and into something different. I'll let you know what she thinks when she gets the piece in the mail.

Oh, that's Laura and her scarf::separately. Next photo I hope they will be together.

Inspiration and Experimentation

Some days creative inspiration lands in your front yard. We’ve frequently seen hot air balloons in the skies near our home on weekends as a take-off and landing location is just across the highway. This weekend though, my hubby called from the patio, “They’re right over the house.” On this day the breezes blew two of the four balloons in the sky that day right into the field across from our clubhouse.

The picture washed out a bit as the sun was very bright, but the colors, patterns, shapes and unmistakable sound of the balloons launched the day into creative high gear.

So how coincidental was it  today when the differential shrinkage shawl I’m weaving at the studio gave me a hint of what’s to come -- just the slightest little balloon-like poofs.

With two students coming tomorrow for the More Twills & a Taste of Overshot Class, I had to fold up my loom and roll it out of the way. I turned it so the cloth beam faced out so the students could see the progress on this undulating twill with tencel/cotton blocks framed in black merino. I’ve been experimenting a lot lately with dimensional fabrics from various weave structures. Not all these experiments have succeeded. So I was thrilled to see that with the loom tension released, my shawl is already beginning to puff up into the “undulating bubbles” I wanted.

Now I can’t wait to get it off the loom and drop it in the shrinkage soup to see how it finishes.

Karen