A day in the life of looms 2015

Every New Year's day, Meg has been posting photos of what is on her looms. She also has links to other people who are sharing their 'day in the life of looms 2015' at the end of her post. Join us if you are interested. She has also put up guidelines to the next Weaver to Weaver.

I been neglecting my blog last year as I got a bit hooked on Instagram. However, there are limitations as to how  much I can share on that platform and I am hoping to spend more time back here in 2015.

For the last couple of weeks I have been giving my big loom some very thorough maintenance:

2500 heddles: washed and re-installed

160 lamm to treadles cords: washed and re-installed

80 new connecting cords from treadles connecting to lamm cords: installed. (I don't know if this is the best way but it will have to do for the moment)

I only have 3 more treadles to tie up.......

Hopefully, before the day ends, it will have a new warp on it.

KaTe: Thorp 8 shaft countermarche

New treadle connecting cords

The Saori loom is folded up and without warp. I am also hoping to rectify that is the next few days.

Chibi: Saori SX60 2 shaft folding loom

Primo, my Ashford table loom is folded up and packed away to I can't even take a photo. However, I do have plans for it this year........

A day in the life of looms

On the first day of the new year, Meg had been posting what's on your loom. This is my second time to participate in this. Once every few years, I have the opportunity to spend Christmas and New Year at home and get to weave in the new year.
So here are my looms:

KaTe has a 2/20 silk warp with weft Kasuri being woven. I have finished the first piece and am contemplating the second design. The wefts are being wound, then binding and dyeing to follow.

KaTe: Thorp 8 shaft countermarche

Chibi has a 150-thread black cotton pre-wound warp ready for Amy to come over on Friday to do some weaving. She had woven her own fabric before for her mum to make into an Arrietty bag.

Chibi: Saori SX60 2 shaft folding loom

Primo also has a 150-thread black cotton pre-wound warp ready for Ellen to have a go at weaving. I have set the loom on its stand so that it works with the peddles, like a floor loom.

Primo: Ashford 8 shaft table loom with stand

I will have to catch up on some blog posts but I have also been spending time here.
In the meantime, happy new year and happy weaving.

A good start........

Such a lot can change in a week. 

A bit of sunshine midweek, a bit/lots of chocolate (cupcakes, pearls, wafers), a bit of encouragement from friends, a bit of perseverance, and ignoring dishes, laundry and housework in general, I got the warp onto the loom.

There is something calming and beautiful about a warp on the loom, even when it not quite ready. This morning, I was quite determined to get some weaving started, but I did not have a long enough rod for the front beam. This is the widest I have woven on the table loom, almost the full width. None of the hardware stores nearby were open on a Sunday. Luckily, a good friend has some spare timber dowels and he helped me cut one to length with a barter of some chocolate/plum jam cupcakes from the freezer. It was a good trade. 

I got started. The spacing of the weft pattern and the balance of the cloth is working well in the first 5cm of the piece, at least to how I had envisage the piece. It is a good sign.

April Spools Day 2013

Happy weaving!

Yabane

YABANE SCARF 矢羽 ya (arrow) hane->bane (feather) (jap.) - “fletchings, feathers of the arrow”

'Shaping of this scarf is inspired by the feathers of Hamaya - a “demon-breaking arrow”, a decorative arrow sold at shrines at New Year’s to ward off misfortune and to attract good luck. Pleated look of the scarf is actually based on Miura-ori style of origami that folds into a neat compact shape and opens into multi-dimensional textured accessory.'
quoted from Olga Buraya-Kefelian.

I met Olga on Skype through Sooz one day and she showed us her design of the Yabane scarf. I loved it and offered to test knit it for her. My most sincere apology as it is embarrassing to say that it had taken months for me to finish this project, despite the fact that it is a really simple pattern to knit. I have to admit that I am really SLOW knitter and always get stuck at the weaving in ends stage........However, the knitting part is completed, ends woven in and the piece blocked. Now I just have to wait till the weather turns cold to wear it.
I love the three-dimensional aspect of the structure and the simplicity of the design.

There was also the folded shibori/origami pattern that I came across at the workshop with Yoshiko Wada.

This book is also quite interesting. I have not tried anything from it yet, if only there are more hours in the day..........

What's more, it also reminded me of the 2-dimensional woven pattern that we  saw at the Nishijin Textile center. 

There was a display showing samples of the finished cloths.

woven samples

warp threads being prepared for dyeing

dyed warps

the 'warp shifting box'
warp threads being 'shifted' to create the arrow pattern

before

after

The pattern in the warp ready for putting onto the loom.
You can see some sort of bamboo reed to keep all the threads in place.

It is interesting to see how the pattern is formed to such precision.

April Spool's Day

Meg has suggested an April Spool's day post of bobbins and pirns. Here are some of mine:

From left to right:
Le Clerc's plastic ones, the Swedish cardboard ones, Saori clear plastic ones, timber ones in various sizes and bamboo ones. The last 2 types are for my Japanese boat shuttles.
However, being April Fool's day, the joke is on me as I don't actually have a bobbin winder that the timber and bamboo ones will fit so they have not really been used yet......

Tools of the trade: I

I love tools - tools for making things. Tools for cooking, for knitting, for weaving, and even tools just for admiration as they are so beautiful.

Japan is a great place for tools. Fortunate or not, there is a limit on luggage allowance so there is also a limit on how many different tools I could buy.

A few years ago, I visited  the Inagaki Kiryou manual weaving supplies shop. It was established in 1897, on the outskirts of Kyoto in the Nishijin area. I did not have my camera with me. I told all my weaving friends about this place but I felt that my words can not truly describe it properly nor could they describe how I felt when I was there.

They are traditional tools, beautifully made and functional. The owner has limited English. Between that and my knowledge of Kanjii, a bit of sign language, it was enough for us to communicate and to explain what the different things are used for.
(On their website, they do recommend that you have a translator with you as they are not fluent in English.)
He brought out all the selections. When we have picked a shuttle, he brought out all that he had so we could choose the which one we wanted as they all had individual wood grains and colours. The shuttles were made of oak. We could get bamboo or timber bobbins to use with them. (My swedish cardboard bobbins also fit with some of these shuttles.)

There were a lot of things that looked familiar but also a lot that were ( I think) peculiar to Japanese weaving!?

We saw those ceramic weights that I found in Melbourne, and found out what their use is.

They are added to the swift to slow down the speed!
In the ceiling, there were all these old tools hanging there. They have all acquired that mature timber patina and gave the shop this amazing atmoshpere. There were bobbins, shuttles, old bamboo reeds, etc.

One of the really sad things was that as the tool makers retire, unless there is a new generation to take over, there won't be anymore supplies. This is the case for some of his beautiful timber tapestry beaters.

So if you are in Kyoto and you are a weaver, this should definitely be on your itinerary. However, if you can not get there, they have also developed a good website in English and it is worth a look.