Natural Inspiration

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by jeanweaves in Weaving Inspiration

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I have a habit of taking pictures of unusual things.

There’s something fascinating in the shapes and color combinations that occur naturally, about the variety of small fungi and mosses that grow on rocks and trees, about the way a tree heals from an injury.

Humans have been awed by nature since the beginning of time. In one way or another, we try to express our fascination, our fear, our wonder of the world around us in whatever medium is at hand.

It’s instinctive—nature inspires. Nature is awesome, and when we are awed, we reach for what is close at hand to capture and communicate that awe.

The respected weaving teacher Sharon Alderman told how she walked around her block, taking dozens of pictures for color inspiration. Colors that occur naturally together are good starting points for a weaving project.

A couple years ago, we visited southwestern Wyoming and Utah. The shapes and layers in the rock formations amazed me. Can you visualize the advancing twill lines in those hills?

That’s why I take pictures in my backyard. I take pictures in parks. And like all of us, I take pictures on vacation. Someday, those pictures will become weavings, in one way or another.

Prerequisites

17 Monday Jun 2019

Posted by jeanweaves in creating, Weaving Inspiration

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Creativity, Weaving

I’ve often done things the hard way, mostly because of impatience.

In high school, most students took Literature before they took Creative Writing. Except me. I insisted on taking Creative Writing first, then had to go back and take Literature the next year anyway. Would’ve done better in the proper order.

As a college freshman, I thought Prehistoric Archeology looking interesting, but Anthropology 101 was a prerequisite. When they removed the prerequisite, I jumped right to the course I thought I wanted without any real understanding of what prehistoric archeology was. There’s a reason for prerequisites.

Prerequisites in weaving are necessary too. While it’s fun to jump right in and weave something wonderful, eventually you have to know how to design your own project and dress the loom by yourself. Understanding how the threads interact and how drafts work helps determine which weave will work best for your project.

I admire weavers who study a weave structure and know how it works. I mean really know how it works. Through examination and practice (the prerequisites), they build an instinct about the weave. They can look at a sample of that weave and know right off the bat how it was threaded, how it was treadled.

There’s a weaver in our study group who weaves M’s & O’s and ripsmatta. Paula knows M’s & O’s and ripsmatta. Mary Jane can look at a block weave and before too long figure out exactly how many blocks were used and how they were threaded. Jenny is delving into tapestry and has created some amazing little treasures as she adds to her already-expansive weaving skills.

I want to be like them when I grow up.

There are so many weave structures that I skipped through in my weaving journey. One or two projects does not give a very firm foundation. On my way to twill and damask, I skimmed over brocade, lace, crackle, summer and winter, pile weaves, trying only a few token samples before moving on. So earlier this year, I decided that yes, I can go back and work on those weaving prerequisites. It’s never too late to make resolutions and review the wealth of ways threads intersect.

In between my usual projects this year, there’ll be lots of reading and lots of sampling. The goal is to expand skills that have become maybe a little too routine, a little too predictable. What better way to freshen perspective than to go back and catch those weaving prerequisites?

Weaver, Know Thyself

05 Tuesday Mar 2019

Posted by jeanweaves in Designing, Weaving Inspiration

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creative inspiration, Design, Weaving

One of my former weaving teachers, Madelyn Van der Hoogt, used to say there are two kinds of weavers: color/texture weavers and structure/pattern weavers.

The color/texture people are drawn to – well, color and texture. Their projects bump and bubble with shades and hues, delighting the eyes with a virtual flower garden on the loom.

The structure/pattern weavers gravitate towards those intricate interlacements that take the yarn in elaborate diamonds and laces. How do you get the strict grid on the loom to softly curve in the design?

Like all generalizations, these show opposite ends of the weaving spectrum. Most of us fall somewhere in between the extremes, but may drift toward one end or the other. At one point in a guild meeting, we were discussing this and a friend told me “Oh you’re definitely structure/pattern!”

Hmmm. I hadn’t thought of myself as being so far to that end. But as I scrolled through my weaving pictures, it’s obvious. While I do dabble in color blending and like a bit of texture in my towels, those fancy diamonds and stars show up over and over again.

The lemon napkins with a green twill border.

A similar pattern shows up in some red and blue towels.

There are the double weave placemats with repeating blocks and ovals.

And then there are the small table cloths sporting diamonds, stars, and blocks overall.

Weaver, know thyself.

Right now I have a towel warp on the small loom and my mind wanders while I’m throwing the shuttle. What can I put on the drawloom that will be more than an exercise in sampling? How can I adapt the elaborate fancy twills from the 18^th century Snavely manuscript into something delightful for the 21^st century? Is there room in our clear-the-clutter culture for decorative textiles?

So my mind wanders. I think a point twill on the 12-shaft loom is beginning to take shape.

Light, Shadow, and Apples

21 Monday May 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Weaving Inspiration

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creative inspiration, Damask, Projects, Weaving

I see intriguing lichen, a stunning sunset, a charming silhouette, and I think “How could I weave that?”

A loom comes home with bells and whistles that I’m compelled to use, compelled to learn techniques that will show the loom’s full capabilities.

Our guild challenges us to create within the framework of a theme, a museum inspiration, a commercially chosen color, a natural phenomenon.

These have subtly influenced my weaving this year.

Last summer’s total solar eclipse loomed large in our community. Everything had an eclipse theme, including our annual guild challenge— “Light and Shadow.”

I put it in the back of my mind, behind the hangings, towels, and blankets in progress. Gradually the idea came into focus, a continuation of my museum inspiration from last year—how highlights and shadows can be woven into a 2-dimensional fabric.

Last year I used undulating twill. This year I used satin damask. Last year I wove scarves, this year an interpretation of a photo, a simple bowl of fruit,

cropped for focus and color stripped,

leaving a pixelated image.

With each step, I reduced the image further to the bare minimum for single weave units. I graphed out the image on computer, trying to grade the shadows into the highlights. I adjusted the graph squares to more accurately reflect the proportions of my warp and weft.

This was a project for the process rather than the end product. It doesn’t have a specific purpose—which in itself is a learning experience for me! But as a challenge project, it did serve a general purpose—that of learning more about perspective, shading, dimension in weaving, proportion. I’ll tuck these lessons in the back of my mind until the next warp.

Meanwhile, there are towels to weave and aprons to sew.

I Wander As I Weave

23 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Designing, Weaving Inspiration

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creative inspiration, Damask, Weaving

We’ve had a lot of icy weather this past month, at least by Missouri standards. Perfect time to retreat to the studio for some serious warping!

Threading inside the loom

During the course of a year, while weaving fabric for utilitarian textiles, I let my mind wander a bit. Not so much that I lose my place in the treadling, but I do dream about what’s next. What can I weave on the drawloom that will use more draw shafts? Do I set it up for shaft draw or single unit draw? What figure can I come up with that will be easy enough for this rookie single-unit weaver?

And following those wandering thoughts led here—inside the drawloom, threading 468 threads for a single unit 8-thread satin damask. This set-up will allow me to lift individual units of threads randomly for whatever figure I can graph out. It’s more free-form than the repeating patterns of shaft draw weaving but if I want, I can work those in too.

There are so many motifs that can be woven, so many designs that show up in embroidery, knitting, quilting—whatever a person can put her hand to. Mediums often cross too, like the quilt patterns painted on barns.

While tossing around ideas for the newly warped loom, my husband suggested putting one of those barn paintings into the picture. A perfect expression of my family’s dairying and quilting backgrounds.

Barn in progress

Idea met computer sketchpad and after several edits, I took it to the loom. Since this is a learning piece, I’m taking time to evaluate along the way. There will be adjustments if I choose to weave it again, a shadow added here, a line softened there.

And while I weave, I let my mind wander, but not too much!

When My Looms Look Like This….

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Planning, Weaving Inspiration

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Tags

Damask, Making, Production, Weaving

New Year, new month plus one, and this is the first week I’m faced with this….

End of the blanket warp

And this…..

Baby bib warp thrums

And this…..

Opphämta warp ties

This can be daunting if there aren’t any projects in the works, but it is also a refreshing point to be at early in the year. What could be better than facing a clean slate in the middle of winter when there’s time to ponder the possibilities?

Many years, January sits on the far side of the holidays and the winter stretches before me in a quandary of unknown directions. Not so this year. The apron warps bridged Christmas and the New Year. The dark aprons sat finished with the blue warp planned but not yet warped. In between came a baby blanket order. Both projects kept me busy in the studio throughout January.

What remains of the January projects

So here I am, aprons and blankets neatly stacked, with that clean slate.

Some years I formally make a list of what I want to weave by when. Other years, like last year, I set out to improve my skills in one area or another.

While I was throwing the shuttle these past few weeks, my mind casually wandered around all the possibilities waiting for the drawloom on the other side of my studio. After finishing the opphämta hangings last fall, it has been patiently waiting for another warp. Maybe I should pay attention to where I’m wandering.

So at least for the next while, I’m borrowing a bit from last year’s challenges. First step is to plan out a warp for satin damask and decide whether to work with 5-shaft satin or 8-shaft satin. Then I’ll need to review how to dress the loom for single unit draw and spend some time graphing out a design or two or three.

I’m not sure just what I want to try first, but it’ll be a pleasant exploration whatever it is.

Holiday Notes

11 Monday Dec 2017

Posted by jeanweaves in Color, Weaving Inspiration

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Color, creative inspiration, family, Textiles, Weaving

In the past, when I worked in an office and wove on the side, all weaving stopped about the middle of November. After our local guild’s holiday show, I had to turn my attention towards preparing for the holidays.

Empty loom

We never knew how many would come to our Thanksgiving table, but I always enjoyed fixing the various dishes my Mom made and adding a few of my own. Gathering, shopping, baking, simmering all kept me out of the studio.

Christmas carries many of the accumulated traditions from my childhood with special holiday cookies, breads, and candies. All that in addition to school programs, gift-making, cleaning, and decorating. There just wasn’t time to do much at the loom.

Times have changed. Kids have grown. The office job is history. Now my studio is my “office” and I get to weave late into the season!

Harvest and Sea colorways

Last week I wound warp for an idea presented to me last month—aprons with pockets. I’ve woven them before, but my latest designs didn’t have the pockets. I also noticed while inventorying yarn that I have a lot of gorgeous 10/2 mercerized cotton. Put the two together and the ideas began to sprout. I have enough yarn for two warps, one that looks like grape harvest to me, and another that is more of a Caribbean feel. These colors will warm the January winds!

Harvest Apron Warp

I don’t know if I’ll have time to finish these before Christmas but there’s no deadline. In between batches of cookies and writing cards, I sit at the loom and throw the shuttle. It is such a welcome, peaceful way to ponder the season.

Follow the aprons’ progress on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/JeanWilliams.JeanWeaves

Design Through the Back Door

28 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by jeanweaves in Designing, Weaving Inspiration

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creative inspiration, Design, Weaving

Recently someone asked me to design an apron for his business. After some back and forth, I had a clearer idea of what he wanted and started thinking. I pored over graphed motifs from Medieval textiles, paging through for something to start with. Then I worked on adapting the figures to what the customer wanted and what my equipment can weave. All this designing before a thread is woven.

Design is a loaded word.

Design is a verb, “to conceive, to contrive, to invent…to have as a goal or purpose.”

Design is also a noun, “a decorative or artistic work…a visual composition or pattern.”

A design can be a conspiratorial plot or a figure on a business card or a pattern for a dress. Design encompasses every art and craft form, every building plan, every graphic representation. There are whole college programs built around design–none of which I’ve taken.

Planning in the works

To be honest, design can be intimidating. That’s why I approach it through the back door.

The back door is the service door. It’s the one used to bring in the groceries. It’s the door from the garden, the lawn chair, the grill. It’s the door the dog uses.

Pulling inspiration from the library

The back-door path to design uses what is available and builds on that. It reads whatever books are on the shelf, takes whatever classes or workshops come up, researches techniques that might come in handy.

Then when a challenge comes up, all the bits and pieces of design inspiration quietly come in through that back door, sit down at the kitchen table, and whisper that concept into reality. Design through the back door.

How do you approach your design challenges?

Putting Inspiration to Work

02 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by jeanweaves in Designing, Opphämta, Weaving Inspiration

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creative inspiration, Opphämta, Weaving

Last spring, during my week-long drawloom class at Vävstuga in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, the lovely, vibrant, intricate hangings on every wall made my heart sing. Reds, blues, golds, 8-pointed stars, crosses, and diamonds everywhere I looked.

The hangings echoed the richly decorative weaving of Sweden. Some were in linen, some in wool. Some incorporated Monks Belt, some Smålandsväv, but many were woven in opphämta, a weave in which the heavier pattern floats over or under the plain weave ground fabric. The motifs are old and found in many crafts besides weaving.

All the way home, the patterns and colors played at the edge of my thoughts. How could I apply the techniques I’d learned to my own weaving? How could I adapt those traditional motifs to the equipment I have, the yarns on my shelf? That is, after all, why we go to classes and workshops—to learn new techniques.

Finally, this summer I wound warp for four hangings without any clear plan on specific designs. I just wanted to try my hand at wall hangings like those I’d seen. The first hanging features blues and a few bands of rose. As the patterns grew, it spoke “winter” to me – blue, icy patterns on snow, rose colored sunsets.

“Winter”

After that, the other three seasons just fell into place. “Spring” with bright yellow and red flowers and light spring greens, “Summer” with darker green vines and bluebirds, “Autumn” with acorns and oak leaves.

“Spring”

“Summer”

The warp is 8/2 bleached cotton—I didn’t know if I was ready for the careful warping linen requires – next time. The ground weft is linen. For weft, I used what I have on hand—some linen, some cottolin, some mercerized cotton. I used 17 pattern units on the drawloom threaded in a point which results in symmetrical motifs.

“Autumn”

Of course, as I twisted fringe and assembled the hangings, I already knew things I’ll do differently next time. There’s always a next time. That’s inspiration being put to work.

Great Cover-Ups

24 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by jeanweaves in Craft History, Opphämta, Weaving Inspiration

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creative inspiration, Opphämta, Weaving

In the dictionary, to cover is to place something upon, over, or in front of, so as to protect, shut in, or conceal; to hide or screen from view or knowledge, often used with “up”.

There are fashion cover-ups, like the items one wears over a swimsuit at the pool or beach.

There are sun screens to protect us from sunburns.

First hanging cloth fresh off the loom

And of course, there are scandals and cover-ups meant to conceal truth. But that’s not where I’m going. Lately, I’ve been intrigued by textile cover-ups.

We have long used home textiles to hide what we want to protect or don’t want seen. A tablecloth can protect a good table or cover a scarred table and dress it up for the holidays. Sofa covers protect the good upholstery from pets and wear, and also hide the evidence of said pets and wear. Curtains cover our windows for privacy. Bread towels cover the newly baked loaf for cooling.

The Scandinavians have a couple historical textile traditions that I’ve been enjoying. One are the “hanging cloths.” Prior to the 19th century, in the day of flue-less fireplaces, the walls and ceilings would get sooty. On special occasions, hanging cloths covered up those dirty walls and ceilings, giving the room a fresh look.

According to Lillemor Johansson in Damask and Opphämta, these were white linen or cotton with colored patterns bands. The patterns were woven in opphämta or monks belt on a plain weave ground. In some communities, the patterns were all blue. In other places, the cloth could be red, blue, or a combination of colors. Braided fringes often decorated the ends.

Another historical Scandinavian tradition is the show towel. Towel bars must have had two bars, one closer to the wall than the other, but I’m just guessing on that. The idea was to hang a pretty towel in front to cover the utilitarian towel hung in the back. Family was presumably taught to only use the back towel.

We still have examples of “show towels” in our homes. My mother had special guest towels that only came out when company was coming. And woe to the child who inadvertently used one after coming in from play!

I like the decorative borders and finishes of these old textiles. I don’t have a flue-less fireplace—or any other kind for that matter—but I like the idea of woven wall hangings to dress up a room. Changing them out for the season can give a room a facelift without a major remodel.

Right now, I have a white 8/2 cotton warp on the drawloom for some of those opphämta hanging cloths. The first one is finished and I’m considering patterns and colors for the next one. It is both challenging and satisfying to design at the loom, choosing which border to balance the last, how to use the colors I have on hand to their best advantage. And it’s fun to see the pattern develop with each row.

These are my favorite kinds of cover-ups. What are yours?

jeanweaves

~ Jean Williams, Handweaver

Category Archives: Weaving Inspiration

Natural Inspiration

Prerequisites

Weaver, Know Thyself

Light, Shadow, and Apples

I Wander As I Weave

When My Looms Look Like This….

Holiday Notes

Design Through the Back Door

Putting Inspiration to Work

Great Cover-Ups