Dogs On The Looms
It’s been a busy week in the studio! It’s time to get ready for a workshop I’ll be teaching in late October and I have two designs I want to get on the looms. Unfortunately, three of my six floor looms have “dogs” on them. What is a dog on the loom? It’s a project that I started and then lost interest in or I got busy with other projects and put the “dog” aside. True Confessions time here – I love to design, love to start projects and am the world’s worst at finishing. The stack of projects that are off the loom, but not finished is reaching critical mass. Talk about the stack of shame!
It’s funny. My very first loom, an old used Schacht Standard 4-shaft / 6-treadle loom is the one loom you’d think I would sell. It’s limited, right?? Well, right, but it just feels good. I love that old loom and I love to weave on it. Unfortunately, it seems to attract the most dogs. I have an Atwater-Bronson lace piece on it intended to be an origami blouse. Maybe it’s the color. Maybe it’s the issues I’ve had with the selvedges. I don’t know. It’s a dog. That’s all I do know. But I want that loom for another piece! What’s a weaver to do? I could give up on the project, cut it off and use the woven cloth for something else. That just offends me, though. So I decided to buckle down and finish it. After I moved the stack of finished (and yet unfinished) projects off the loom and dusted the poor thing off, I sat down at the loom… and remembered how much I love weaving on the old thing. And the weaving went better as well. I think I’m going to like this blouse, if and when I ever get it done.
Getting Ready for Workshops
I’m busy getting designs finalized and written up for my upcoming overshot workshop. I’m excited to be giving a workshop and I think I have some good ideas for this one. It always amazes me how much I learn when preparing for a class or workshop. I’ve had to completely rework one of the designs. I thought I had it simple enough for the project and the sample didn’t agree. In fact, it didn’t agree for quite some time. Finally, about midnight, I got it down to a workable treadling. The threading was fine from the beginning, but the treadling was simply too fussy. I’m very pleased with the outcome, and I think my students will be as well.
Now to try out my next design in my next sample.
Until next week,
Weave on!