weaving – Page 2 – Weave Story

Modern Medicine and the Ancient Art of Weaving

January 5, 2014/1 Comment/in Interesting stuff, weaving /by bschutzgruber

Weaver Janet Phillips in the UK has been involved in the project to weave shoulder tendon patches. There is a short news item on the BBC website at the moment. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25573341

“I have been doing ongoing research with this team of scientists from Oxford University for five years now developing an internal woven bandage. It has been fascinating and it is great to see the research come to the point were a bandage has actually been made and is about to be used in surgery. The project with Oxford University has been really interesting. It started when I was still living in Oxfordshire. We started weaving 1 cm square, plain weave pieces on tiny nail tapestry frames. It seemed important then to have finished edges on all four sides. Everything went quiet for three years while the scientist looked at other textile methods of producing the patches, but they finally came back to weaving because the textured surfaces helped the tendon cells to adhere to the fabric better than other textile structures.

We then spent quite a bit of time experimenting with different weaves. Plain, 4/4 twill, Satin and Sateen, Huck Lace and Leno were all tried. It was important that the patch should stretch in all directions. It seems that 4 and 4 twill has won the day. Sett also became an important issue. They ended up buying an 100 dent to the inch reed!

It has been great working with these young, energetic, and dedicated scientist on such an important project. It never ceases to amaze me how dependent all mankind is on weaving.”

Weaving in Wales – Summer school comes to an end….

September 10, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, summer school, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

As we packed up our weaving, tools and looms we paused to give a big THANK YOU to our instructor, Alastair Duncan. For 7 days he encouraged us as we honed new skills…..

challenged us to push our art…..

help us work through the ‘bumps in the road’ that come with every project…..

and was completely taken aback when he opened our Farewell & Thank You gift…..
2 beautiful wood bobbins with brass tips!

The final event of the week is the Gala Dinner where folks ‘clean up pretty darn good’!

Andrew Johnson – 2013 Summer School Coordinator

The Certificates of Achievement and Diploma in Advanced Textile Studies awards are presented. The purpose of the COA is to preserve and improve craftsmanship in hand-weaving, tapestry weaving, spinning, natural dyeing and synthetic dyeing and to promote education in such craftsmanship.

It was a fabulous ending to a fantastic week spent with phenomenal fiber folks!
(L-R) Alison Coates, Jane Kirby, Andrea Cross, Alastair Duncan, Chris Cundiff, Elizabeth Hancock, Rita Corbett, Barbara Wright, Heather Dean, Sandra Combes, Sally Bohling.

The next AWSD Summer School will be in 2015 – in the Midlands of England.
I’ve started saving up….

Weaving in Wales – Summer School winds down…..

September 10, 2013/0 Comments/in dye, garments, Interesting stuff, Projects, summer school, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

One of the best things about summer school is the ‘Walk About’ on Saturday afternoon. This is when we all get a chance to see what everyone else has been doing all week. It’s always a bit of a scavenger hunt adventure to find them all and this year was no different = 16 courses were held in 6 different buildings spread over the entire campus! Turkey Red Dying won the prize for most creative dirctions by using ‘Follow the String’ to lead us through a labyrinth of hallways, in and out of the building (due to wet paint!) until we arrived at their location.

We got our classroom cleanup and table displays ready.

classroom_2

Here’s a sampling of the work produced in the Tapestry course woven by
Sally Bohlings —— Alison Coates ——– Sandra Combes

Rita Corbett ———— Andrea Cross

Elizabeth Hancock ——– Barbara Wright

Here’s a quick tour of some of the other courses…..

Bags from Bits

Rule Breaking Weaving

Pick-up Damask in linen

Designer Spinning

Eco Dying

Sewing Handwoven Fabric

Warp Ikat

String Bags

Turkey Red & All That Madder

Weaving in Wales – Off the floor and onto the bench….

September 8, 2013/2 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, summer school, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

With my landscape finished plus a spacer in place….

Thursday morning I ‘moved up in the world’ — from sitting on the floor to sitting on the bench = YEA! This bench is designed so the seat can be moved higher as the weaving moves up the loom.

In designing my next project, I wanted to continue working on achieving a sense of depth to the tapestry, plus I added working on being less literal in my interpretation of my starting photograph.

One of my favorite photos is one I took from the castle rooftop of the market square in Norwich England.

I love the shapes, lines, and colors but have never succeeded in getting a good starting sketch because there’s so much going on in the photo. I decided to focus on one set of rooftops, outlining the basic shapes, tracing a cartoon, then transferring those shapes onto the warp yarns.

I started weaving using a range of colors which really helped me to be less literal and stay focused on the shadows and angles of the roof lines – moving from ‘Norwich rooftops’ to simply ‘Rooftops’.

Friday…..

And by Saturday morning I was weaving the final section to finish the piece.

Rooftops 4″ x 4″

Weaving in Wales – moving into mid week……

September 5, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, summer school, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

The good news….
I’m no longer a beginner tapestry weaver and my instructor challenges me to improve my skills.

The bad news….
I’m no longer a beginner tapestry weaver and my instructor challenges me to improve my skills.

Tuesday I brought my newly finished sample to class. Alastair’s comments were, “Nice straight selvages and the slits are good (Yea!), but you need to pack it down a bit more.” (Darn… not done with this yet.) OK… so I began packing.

Low and behold….. my lovely circle is now a lovely oval…..arg!

Alastair’s comment that it took him 7 yrs to perfect doing circles made me feel a lot better and really appreciate the skill necessary to create tapestries with nice round circles in them. I wove a bit more – making sure I was beating FIRMLY – and drew another circle with the plan of trying it again as the week went on.

The large scaffold frame had been warped. (Yes… we are talking about a seriously heavy-duty frame that would normally be used in construction!)

Since I do not have easy access to work on one of these at home I jumped at the chance to weave on it…..

…which also meant I’d be sitting on the floor for the next few days.

Because the back wall was painted white with a white heating unit… there was no way I would be able to see my white warp yarns against that…..

….so I used my raincoat for a backdrop.

I decided to work on a landscape for my next project because I’ve struggled with getting a sense of depth in my fiber work. Using one of my photos as my guide, I selected my yarns and began weaving – making sure I was beating FIRMLY as I went.

By the end of of the day, this tapestry was solid.

Wednesday, I continued working on the landscape. One of the techniques tapestry weavers have used for centuries when weaving a large space that’s basically a solid color is to weave a shape rather than simply going straight across. This breaks the monotony and gives some texture and interest to the weaving. We had seen this technique used in some of Alastair’s work and I wanted to give it a try.

This involved a lot of weaving…. un-weaving…… weave it again…. un-weave…..
but FINALLY….. by the end of the day after multiple tries…. I got it!!

Landscape 4″ x 5 1/2″

I really like the effect this gives the sky and will definitely be using it in other projects.

Weaving in Wales -The adventure begins…

September 3, 2013/2 Comments/in dye, Interesting stuff, Projects, summer school, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

Arrival at Summer School wearing my ‘Surround Sound’ vest

On August 1st, I boarded a plane and flew east across the Atlantic for the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers biennial summer school being held at University of Wales Trinity St. Davids College in Carmarthen, Wales. Over 200 fiber loving folks gathered for a week to participate in the 16 course being offered this year in:

Spinning
Spinning Beyond the Basics
Creative Spinning
Short Fibre Spinning

Braiding/Knotting
Australian Aboriginal String Bags
Kumihimo/Marudai Braiding

Dying
Eco Dyeing
Turkey Red/Madder

Sewing
Bags from Bits
Sewing Handwoven Fabric

Weaving
3-End Block Weave
Warp Ikat
Pick-up Damask in Linen
Tapestry
Rule Breaking Weaving
Inkle Weaving
Textiles that Shape Themselves

I arrived Friday evening and wandered about Carmarthen, the oldest town in Wales and legendary birthplace of Merlin, on Saturday and Sunday.

deciphering signage

enjoying market day

exploring the castle

Complete with a rainbow, summer school began Sunday evening as we all gathered to reconnect with friends and meet our instructors.

There were 12 of us in the tapestry class taught by Alastair Duncan. Alastair was born in Scotland, raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland and now lives in Wales.

Classes ran Mon-Sat from 9am-5pm with evening lectures, activities, or continuing to work in our classrooms or taking work back to our dorm rooms.

On Monday we……

talked about design

warped frame looms

and completed several exercises.

By 10pm I had completed my first project and was ready to call it a day.

Project 1 (3 1/2″ x 6″)

Recycle… Upcycle…. Fairs… and more…..

July 20, 2013/3 Comments/in garments, Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving /by bschutzgruber

The past 30 days have been filled with projects coming to completion (deadlines are my friend!) with 2 major events this month: demonstrating weaving all day at the Saline Celtic Festival and co-chairing AAFG’s participation in the Ann Arbor Art Fairs.

Deadline: Have the ‘Surround Sound Vest’ completed for display at the Saline Celtic Festival

Earlier this year I saw a portfolio case woven from recycled/upcycled VHS tape at Ten Thousand Villages in Ann Arbor. Ten Thousand Villages is a national organization focused on Fair Trade working with artisans in developing countries around the world. Ann Arbor has a ‘brick & mortar’ store on Main Street where I volunteer. The case had a wonderful sparkle but was rigid and that got me thinking…. ‘Could fabric suitable for a garment be woven with magnetic tape???’ Audio cassette tape immediately came to mind – it’s thinner/lighter weight and being a performing storyteller….. I have a LOT of cassettes that I’ve acquired over the years!! I had a sample warp on the small loom I use for demonstrations so I wound the magnetic audio tape onto a bobbin and gave it a try… it wove OK. I put the sample through the washer and dryer…. it came out OK!!! The fabric is a bit stiff so it would be best for outerwear. I decided to make a long vest with narrow panels that I can wear for performances.

I used 10/2 cotton (purple) and 10/2 tencel (accent) for the warp (12 yards long – 8 1/2″ wide – 24 ends per inch) and began to weave using a simple plain/tabby weave structure.

Several days and 150 min of tape (3 cassettes) later….. I had only completed 60 inches = ARG….. 9+ yards to go. This is taking a LOOONG time. Weaving with the magnetic audio tape is slower than using regular yarns because I had to make sure that each pick (shuttle pass) lay smoothly and did not kink before I beat it. I was getting 15-16 ppi (picks-per-inch). Plus I discovered when my first bobbin was finished and I moved on to the next cassette that magnetic audio tape comes in different colors!! Now began the adventure of finding cassettes that matched as I wanted the fabric color to be consistent. Time to rethink my project…. perhaps a full garment made of this isn’t such a practical idea after all. So…. into my stash I dove and found a wonderful purple rayon boucle that would be perfect to use for the rest of the yardage. I was able to complete the 9+ yards in the same amount of time it took to weave the first 60″.

Off the loom, washed and dried I had 9 1/2 yards of fabric, 7 1/2″ wide = no room for errors!! I made a muslin prototype to verify fit and did a lot of measure twice (or 3… or 4… times!) BEFORE I cut anything.

Pattern: #1028 Artist Vest by Dana Marie Design, Co.

The selvages on the magnetic tape fabric were very rough so I used my serger to give a smoother finish to the edge. I used a cotton/polyester bottom weight fabric to make bias tape for the bands. Sewing the magnetic tape had challenges as the sewing machine needle caused some snagging when it hit the magnetic tape but I was able to carefully work the tape back into place.

And here’s the end result!

Last Roll - 10

‘Surround Sound Vest’ made her public debut on July 13, 2013 at the Saline Celtic Festival.

Her ‘Celtic’ experience continues with her ‘international debut’ in August when she’ll travel with me to Carmarthen, Wales where I’m taking a tapestry course by Alastair Duncan – part of the biennial summer school by the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers in the UK.

April-May happenings

May 11, 2013/1 Comment/in felt, garments, Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving /by bschutzgruber

It’s been a month since I last posted and life has been busy!!!

April 13th – Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild Fiber Feast – Fashion Show, Luncheon & Sale.
30+ guild members had items for sale and/or on the runway. I had 3 pieces on the runway, a sales table, and modeled some wonderful garments! It was a FABULOUS afternoon.

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My focus then shifted from fibers to my other life as an artist – storytelling.

April 25-28 – The annual conference for the Northlands Storytelling Network held in Lake Geneva, Wisc.
I presented a workshop (with Dorothy Cleveland of Minneapolis) on story structure “Hero vs Heroine…. Does It Matter?”, told an impromptu story (‘Spot Attends a Funeral’) at the opening Slam event (first person, factual stories, 6 minutes or less) where I was the only performer to get a perfect 10 as my high score. Multiple judges mean the high and low score are tossed out so I did not win but came in 2nd. Not bad for my first attempt at a slam!! 2 of my stories (‘The Mysterious Visitor – a String Story’ and ‘The Insatiable Pumpkin’) were videoed by StoryLibrary.org and will eventually be posted on their website. Workshops, Fringe performance, connecting with good friends (long time & new) and hearing great stories at the 3 concerts made for a superb set of days!!

May 3-4 I was thrilled to perform once again at the Jackson Storyfest, Jackson, MI.
Celebrating its 26th year of free concerts. This year, 5,122 (4,538 students/584 adults) heard stories Friday morning in 15 venues!!! Fabulous kids and 15 fabulous tellers. More stories Friday and Saturday night for teen/adults with Dan Keding and Mary Hamilton, afternoon family show with Gemini, plus workshops by Dan and Mary.

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The opening of a new shop The Eyrie in Depot Town/Ypsilanti has brough me back to fiber.

This is wonderful shop of every eclectic items, most of them made by Michigan artists. Several of my felt purses are being carried there. If you’re in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area stopy by and take a look!!!

Making stuff in March

March 18, 2013/1 Comment/in dye, felt, garments, Projects, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

Been a busy set of weeks since my last posting!!

‘Heron’ was accepted for the AAFG show in the gallery at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill, Canton, MI. The show run March 1-26, 2013.

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March 8-10, I spent a fabulous 3 days in a dye workshop with Jane Dunnewold. Jane is a wonderful artist and teacher! Using fiber reactive MX dyes, we printed on silk, cotton, linen, and rayon fabric using stencils, thermofax screen printing, paint brushes, stamps and more!!

I spent the last day working on a parasol. Using stencil, thermofax screen printing and paint brushes on a commercial cotton umbrella blank I created ‘Butterfly Sunshade’ Parasol. Using the brushes to ‘paint’ the dyes created the textured ‘watercolor’ effect. UV block sun protection fabric treatment provides 30+ UPF.

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Over the past 2 weeks, I made 2 new garments from yardage I wove last summer. The jacket and vest (along with the dyed parasol) have been accepted for the runway at the AAFG’s annual Fiber Feast Fashion Show on April 13th.

Woven in plain weave @24epi. The warp is 5/2 spaced dyed mercerized perle cotton (‘Prairie’ from Valley Cottons) with a 1″ stripe of 5/2 black perle cotton. The weft is 10/2 perle cotton. The woven fabric reminds me of the dark chestnut coat and stripes on the hindquarters and upper legs, the Okapi of central Africa.

Woven in plain weave – @24epi. The warp is alternating stripes of thick and thin Rayon Boucle. The weft is a Mohair/wool/nylon blend.

The woven fabric reminds me of the changing colors of the fall foliage here in Michigan. The finished vest is fully lined in silk habotai.

Finished the eyes!!

January 17, 2013/2 Comments/in Projects, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

I’ve got the eyes done!!!

Only so many hours in the day…… so I need to put the GreenMan on hold for the next couple of weeks:
–I have a shawl to weave that will be auctioned at St. Francis of Assisi School’s annual Educational Trust Fund benefit dinner on February 2nd.
–Because I will not have the GreenMan finished by the end of the month, I still want to have a wall hanging to submit for the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild annual show at the Power Center Theater (runs the month of February). Felting is a faster process than weaving so it will be a wool fibers & silk fabric wet felted together.