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jeanweaves

~ Jean Williams, Handweaver

jeanweaves

Category Archives: creating

Loom Therapy

30 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Looms, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Creativity, Damask, handwork, Projects, Weaving

Another damask warp off the loom!

Another damask warp off the loom!

Life happens, and there are seasons when it demands attention. We have all experienced them. Parents age. Children struggle. Friends face crises. Sometimes it’s joyful distractions: weddings, graduations, new jobs, new children–or grandchildren. All these pull at our energies and keep us away from the work of our hands.

In the past, physicians recognized the healing properties of working with the hands. There are images of hospital patients, adults and children alike, weaving at looms, making baskets, painting. Occupational Therapy is only one of many fields in which arts and crafts are used to soothe. Who among us hasn’t found peace in the gentle rhythm of the shuttle or knitting needles?

The past several months have been full of distractions, and yet whenever I sat down at the loom again, it felt so good, so peaceful to throw the shuttle, listen to the gentle thump of the beater, to watch the pattern grown at the fell. And while I was away from the loom, knitting brought some peace at the end of the day. Each row, each stitch, helped unknot the tensions.

Just this past week, I finished a warp that had been on my loom since September. It’s rare for a warp to take that long, but how gratifying to throw the final shot and cut the web! How satisfying to see the yards of damask unfold!

There are other warps that have been languishing as well. I’m looking forward to continuing some linen towels that have been patiently waiting on the Baby Wolf! And then there’s “Junior” waiting to have the shafts properly balanced for the opphämta weave I’ve been wanting to try.

And all of these are my therapy, soothing my mind and soul. Whenever life winds itself up tight, it’s good to pick up the shuttle again and re-center.

What do you do to calm your spirit?

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Write a Letter

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Nostalgia

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

creative inspiration, family, grandmothers, Holidays, Projects

Handwoven Notecard with Star Motif

Handwoven Note Card with Star Motif

Every year, as I put away Christmas, I go through the Christmas cards and re-read the letters enclosed in them. This is the only communication I receive from several of these people, but I so appreciate the letters (unlike what the media makes us think about Christmas letters!)  I love reading about friends’ families and finding out what they did this past year and what they plan for the new year. How else can we stay in touch?

When I was a child and complained about being bored, my Mom would suggest writing a letter—either that or some job I really didn’t want to do.

That suggestion to write a letter was a pretty good one. Who doesn’t like to get some “real mail” – not just junk mail – in the mailbox? And how else to get letters than to write them? At least that was the logic.

Yes, I know what they say about letter writing—that it’s a thing of the past, that in this digital age, it’s a waste of paper and time. I beg to differ!

I treasure the letters I received from my grandmothers and others who are now gone. Their encouragements, greetings, and stories bring a smile as I re-read them after so many years. And as anyone who has tried to research their family history knows, letters give a glimpse into our ancestors’ everyday lives.

So I forge ahead into the new year, once again resolving to write more letters. Even if I don’t hear back, I hope the lines in the cards will cheer someone up and brighten their day.

When was the last time you wrote a letter?

If you are looking for a blank note card with a handmade touch for your next letter, you can find several options at my Etsy shop, JeanWeaves.

Happiness Is…

17 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Looms, Planning

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Creativity, Handweaving, Projects, Table Runners

View from the front, warp chains threaded through the reed.

8-shaft loom, ready to thread

Happiness is discovering that the runner ordered to match a previous purchase was woven on the 8-shaft loom, not the draw loom.

This is a game-changer in terms of how long it will take to weave the order. The draw loom takes way longer to thread than the 8-shaft loom. The current project on the 8-shaft loom takes way less time to weave off than the damask on the draw loom.

The draw loom with damask project

The draw loom with damask project

You would think I’d remember which loom I used to weave a project. After all, I only have the two looms. But once I take one warp off and put another on, my mind moves to the next combination of colors, weaves, and threads.

Throw in the holidays, family obligations out of state, along with another weaving order, and the difference in looms makes me very happy indeed. This is indeed doable!

I hope you find similar fortuitous discoveries during this busy season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Seasons

29 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Nostalgia

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

creative inspiration, family, Handweaving, Holidays, Knitting, Spinning

“Sunrise, sunset…
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears.”

Snowfall in the trees

Snowfall in the trees

This song from “Fiddler on the Roof” came to mind as I’m looking out at a grey, drizzly afternoon.  Seasons change, cold winds blow, gardens now lie fallow.  We close the window on one season and focus on another.

Thanksgiving sometimes gets lost in the hoopla over shopping, decorating, and baking. Each year, the stores seem to open earlier and longer. However, at our house, we try to give Thanksgiving its full due—a 1:00 turkey dinner complete with all the traditional trimmings, often followed by board games in the afternoon.

I actually look forward to this time of year. There is a rare quiet in a December afternoon if I just listen, a quiet of the soul. The earth has pulled up a blanket over the sleeping soil, and if we allow ourselves, we too can share that peace.

I’ve often thought of handweaving, spinning, knitting as quiet meditation. We all need that. The rhythm of the wheel, the quiet thud of the beater help soothe our busy minds and remind us that quiet is good.

Of course, as I get older and our family spreads out, quiet is more common. It wasn’t always so. Seasons. Each one has its purpose, its gift.

May you find peace in your season, whatever it is.

Counting Down

09 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Columbia Weavers & Spinners Guild, creative inspiration, CWSG, Weaving

CWSG Holiday Exhibition and Sale

CWSG Holiday Exhibition and Sale

This is always an exciting time of year. Not only is fall my favorite season, but the upcoming holidays hold the promise of family get-togethers and the warm memories of past celebrations. And of course, as a weaver, it’s the fruition of a year at the loom.

Many groups sponsor art and craft sales ahead of the holidays. My local guild, Columbia Weavers and Spinners Guild, has been putting up a Holiday Exhibition and Sale for over 25 years now and it affords us the opportunity to ooh and ahhh over each other’s artistry.

I am always amazed at the breadth and variety of items that come in, everything from luscious camel handspun, delicate beaded jewelry, baskets that speak of the grasslands from which they came, and of course handwoven shawls, scarves, towels, table coverings, and rugs. There are always surprises and submissions that take our breath away. What inspiration!

CWSG Holiday Exhibition and Sale Details

CWSG Holiday Exhibition and Sale Details

This event is the culmination of a year’s worth of work for many of us. Some of our members participate in multiple sales, but some just do this one event. The community is so supportive each year and it charges our creativity for the next year.

So I invite you to come join us if you are in mid-Missouri next weekend! Submerse yourself in fiber art and be inspired! Contact me for more information. I’d love to meet you there!

How Long?

22 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Planning, Towels

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

creative inspiration, Towels, Weaving

View from the front, warp chains threaded through the reed.

View from the front, warp chains threaded through the reed.

“How long does it take to weave that?

It’s a common question I hear. So, do you want the long answer or the short answer?

The short answer to the question? “About an hour per towel.” The long answer? “It depends.”

I have tried to time projects just to get a better idea on how to answer, but where do I start?

The seed for each warp often springs from an earlier project. As I weave, I consider how I could choose a slightly different colorway or wonder what would happen if I treadle this threading as if it were a different structure entirely, weaving an overshot as if it were a lace weave for instance. So the planning is sort of fluid and therefore, hard to “time.” Putting it into an actual planning sheet doesn’t take long in itself, but my indecision can really take a while to ferment into a cohesive plan.

Then there’s the time it takes to measure the warp. I typically weave 8 or 9 towels at a time. This can run anywhere from 9 to 10 yards. If I use a finer thread, I will need more of them to get a towel 20-24” wide. The warp I measured the other day needed 568 threads, each 10 yards, 8” long. And if there are multiple color changes, that takes time too. To make it easier to handle, I break that number into four or five “bouts” or groups of threads, chain them up and take them to the loom. It took maybe about 3 hours to wind that warp. (You see? Not very exact.)

View from the back of the threads coming through the reed and the heddles.

View from the back of the threads coming through the reed and the heddles.

Once at the loom, every thread has to go through the reed and a heddle—in the right order!  Sleying the reed usually doesn’t take as long, typically about an hour or so, again depending on the fineness of the threads and how many go through each dent (slot). Threading the heddles, though, can take the better part of a day and half. Not as young as I used to be and I have to get up and stretch more often.

After the warp is threaded, it has to be wound onto the warp beam. Here is where I find out if I’ve inadvertently crossed any threads between the reed and the heddles. If I don’t have tangles, the winding on goes pretty quickly—about an hour or so, depending on the length of the warp. After I tie it onto the breast beam, spread the warp, and adjust the tension, I’m ready to weave. This is the fun part.DSCN1466

So the next question, sometime spoken, sometimes not, is “Why do you do something by hand that can be done so much cheaper commercially?”

There is a value in the connection between the hand and the product. We’ve gotten so far away of an item’s source that we don’t care about it anymore. But if we know that a person took the time to choose the colors and plan how those threads will cross, will we not see that cloth in a different light? Will we not appreciate that item more and elevate the task it’s used in to be more than it was? Whether it’s a handmade quilt, or homemade jam, or handspun yarn, or handwoven towel, it’s the “hand-“ and the “home-“ that make those items more valuable because someone took the time.

Besides I love to weave.

How long does it take you to do what you love?

Where Did It All Start?

17 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Nostalgia

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

creative inspiration, Crochet, Knitting, Sewing, Textiles

While spinning this weekend, my mind wandered. I have a knitting project in the basket, a tatted doily in process, and two warps on the loom. My husband teases that I’m an incurable multi-tasker. Why do I always have to have multiple projects going, in different crafts? Where did it all start?

And then there was yarn

And then there was yarn

First, crocheting came to mind. I admired the doilies my mother and grandmothers made and wanted to make some of those. But yarn is easier to learn on than crochet cotton, so I started with granny squares. In high school, I made a few granny square purses for classmates and sold a few. Nothing fancy, but in perfect step with the styles of the early 70’s.

But it goes further back than that. When I joined 4-H as a 9-year-old, one of my first “projects” was Knitting. I remember our leader patiently teaching several of us around her kitchen table in the evening meetings. She must have been a saint because there was only one of her and at least 9 or 10 of us, but learn we did. My Dad’s slippers didn’t quite turn out—I’ve always knit large and he wasn’t really a slipper-wearer, but he was a good sport!

Early lessons in sewing

Early lessons in sewing

But maybe it went back even further. When I was 7 or 8, trolls were a fad. They came with all colors of hair. Mine had orange hair. And you could make simple felt outfits for them. My Mom purchased a sewing pattern for a variety of outfits, sat down with my sister and me and taught us the basics of sewing outfits for our trolls. Again, nothing fancy, but we were proud of the clothes we fashioned ourselves.

In the intervening years, I’ve added tatting, spinning, and weaving to my craft skills. Each brings its own pleasure and satisfies the need to always have something in my hands.

I am so grateful to all those who patiently taught me skills that bring such joy. And it’s my turn to pass along the joy!

Hmm…Does that work?

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by jeanweaves in Color, creating, Planning, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Color, creative inspiration, Textiles, Weaving, Yarn

Winding my new warp gives me pause—do these colors work?

A choice of colors

A choice of colors

Planning colors can be one of the most difficult parts of the weaving process for me. I’ve designed some real ‘dogs’ in my years at the loom, and other times, the colors just glow. I’m definitely more of a “pattern/structure” weaver and a “color/texture” weaver.

Recently I’ve been weaving workshop samples and neutral colors, and really, this week I needed some color. So I went to my shelf and started pulling out cones. Reds, purples, blues, peach, turquoise, green. Which should I choose? Which colors will play nicely together?

Sampling would be the wise route to take, but I’m very impatient to get this one the loom. That may come back to haunt me.

Threaded warp from the back

Threaded warp from the back

I remember hearing Sharon Alderman talk about color—look at what Mother Nature puts together and use that as a starting point.

Okay. I can see some of these colors in my flower garden, but not all of them on the same stem. After some sorting, I settle on UKI’s Quince (a dark peach), Duck (close to turquoise), Lavender, and Scarab (a soft sage green) for towels. (Color names are interesting—can you just imagine someone saying “We’ve already got a green. What should we call this shade?”) As I wind the warp, I have second thoughts, but it’s too late now. Such indecision!

I sley the reed. Hmm…I hope this works.

It takes the better part of a day to thread a broken twill that will make up a vibrant towel warp—I hope! Lots of time to wonder…

Okay, today I wound the warp onto the back beam and tied the warp to the breast beam—all 642 threads, each 7 yards, 21 inches. The colors of the mercerized cotton glow. A few inches woven show that hey, this might work after all.

Testing the Warp

Testing the Warp

With house guests for the next week and a family wedding to follow, the warp will wait for confirmation. And I will still need to decide on weft colors, but every time I walk by the loom, I’ll think about these colors and dream about some nice colorful towels.

How do you choose the colors for your next project?

The Finish Line

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

creative inspiration, Finish Line, Holidays, Production, Weaving

I’ve noticed a trend in how winter unfolds in my studio. Through the course of the summer and fall, one warp after another dresses each loom and the hemming basket always has something in it. There’s always another project in the planning stages. November stands out on the calendar as a finish line of sorts; items have to be finished by then to be ready for holiday sales.

Kitchen Towel in Cotton and Linen

Kitchen Towel in Cotton and Linen

In the past, when I had an outside job, any items I wanted to put in our guild’s holiday sale had to be made over summer when I had shortened hours. If they weren’t finished by September, they weren’t going to be in the show. Now that I’m just in the studio, I can weave into October for that event, but I also have other venues to cover. Stocking up is the order of the season. I have to have enough inventory finished to get through the holidays.

However, by the third week of November, the pace changes.  The finish line approaches. The towels are hemmed. The scarves are fringed. The runners and napkins are pressed. And I have to admit that the unfinished items – and there are always some of those! – will have to wait patiently for another week. It’s at this point that my mind shifts to home and hearth.

Working at home gives the impression to most people that the line is blurred between home life and studio life, and to a certain degree that’s true. But in order to keep growing as a weaver, I have to discipline my time. My studio is “the office.” I go to the studio in the morning and work until lunch. I return in the afternoons and continue with whatever I was working on in the morning. With the occasional “let the dog in, let the dog out, let the dog in…”

By December, while I do spend time in the studio, I’m also making cookies, creating gifts, and planning menus. As I write, soup is simmering on the stove and bread is rising. In another week, grandkids will be running down the halls and pulling out the old toys.

I’m already pondering what will go on the looms in the coming year, what weave structure I want to learn more about, what market trends are emerging. Winter is a good time for reviewing the past year and looking forward to the next. More on that next time. For now, the holidays are just around the corner and there are things to be finished.

May your holidays be filled with grace, peace, and good times!

Finding Joy in Making

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Creativity, Gifts, handwork, Holidays, Making

Works in Progress

Works in Progress

As I head into the holiday season, I once again have a list of projects not yet finished –some not yet started! There’s the hat and mitten set for a grandson, a dress-up skirt for a granddaughter, and the “purple sweater vest with a unicorn” for her sister. I’ve thought of other things I could have made if I had started earlier, and things I wish I could figure out how to make.

This is all part of my genetics. I remember my mother’s handmade gifts and how she set her mind to something and pushed forward until it was done. She’s still at it. Just the other day she was telling me about her latest idea and how she probably wasn’t going to finish it before Christmas. That’s my Mom. I’m determined, though, that I’m not going to stress about my unfinished projects. Those that need to get done, will. Those that don’t, won’t. I want to enjoy the process.

Then I read the latest post on Love Those Hands at Home. Kerry writes about making something because it pleases us, and how that wisdom has guided her endeavors. Her point is that we can make something or embellish something simply because it pleases us. Her words hit a chord with me, especially at this time of year.

I learned from both my parents, hard-working farm people, that handmade gifts are worth the extra effort. As far back as I can remember, there was always some project to finish by Christmas. There were embroidered shirts, handmade baskets, wooden play sets. And then there were the cookies–Mom spent hours in the kitchen making a variety of holiday treats because she loves to bake and she loves to share what she bakes. But that’s the key–enjoying what you are making.

So even though I still have to finish some gifts, I’m looking forward to working on them. And that makes the projects worthwhile.

What projects are you working on? What do you enjoy making?

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