artist studio – Weave Story

Building a Tapestry Loom

February 28, 2015/1 Comment/in Interesting stuff, Projects, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

The summer of 2011 I took my first tapestry weaving course at The Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers summer school held in Edinburgh, Scotland that year. Our instructor, Dot Seddon, had us working on simple frame looms which are very portable, fast and easy to warp, plus I brought along one that I had made.

Midweek we took a field trip to the Dovecot Tapestry Studio in Edinburgh. When I walked into the space I was immediately hit with a déjà vu experience = I’ve been here before!

The building that now houses the Dovecot Studio is the old ‘Infirmary Street Baths’, the first public baths in Edinburgh – built in 1885, designed by Robert Morham – and I used to swim there in the mid 1970’s when I was a student at Edinburgh University! The baths closed in the 1990’s and fell into disrepair. The Dovecot Studio moved into the space in 2009 after a 2 year – £12million renovation. This is a perfect studio space with tons of natural light from the glass ceiling, the pool has been filled in to make the weaving floor, the changing rooms have been turned into office and meeting rooms, and the observation walkway is used as gallery space. Click here for a wonderful visual tour of the studio.

Here I saw vertical/high warp looms built of steel scaffolding pipe.

When I came home I was inspired to try weaving a larger tapestry. But looms are expensive so I adapted a triangle loom I already had into a larger version of what I had used at summer school.

I liked working upright but it was difficult to get and keep an even tension on a warp that large, plus I wanted to have an option of being able to lift the warp threads for faster/easier weaving and the frame I was using had nails on all 4 sides. I got another large frame, added nails to the top and bottom only, and figured out a shedding device to lift my warp threads. This was an improvement but there were still problems with the warp tension and the easel stand took up quite a bit of space.

I took another tapestry course at the next AWSD summer school in 2013. [see ‘Weaving in Wales’ posts from September 2013.] Our instructor, Alastair Duncan, brought his scaffold loom. I was able to get a good look at how it’s made and to weave on it for the week.

I decided that this is the type of loom I wanted. Looking at my pictures and notes, my engineer husband was able to come up with plan to use galvanized pipe so all the parts would be available at the local hardware store. I received a professional development grant from my guild, The Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild, to help with the cost of materials.

We used 1 1/2″ pipe for the top/bottom and 1 1/4″ pipe for the sides with bushings to connect and it can be taken apart to transport; scaffold level jacks are used to adjust the vertical sides for control of the warp tension; attached it to a wood base; and added measuring tapes to the top and bottom.

The finished size is 4′ x 6′ with 3 1/2′ x 5′ weaving space.

I still need to create a shedding device like the Dovecot looms have to lift the warp threads but I am excited to get started on a new tapestry!

Riverbend Studio – another year of work

December 30, 2014/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, studio /by bschutzgruber

At the end of 2013 the rough construction was competed for my studio space on 5 acres of woodland in central Michigan. See the November & December 2013 achieve for Riverbend – rustic beginnings and Riverbend – building the studio [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]

2014 has been a year filled with continued work.

In May steps were built….

and a contraption for maintaining the lane.

The metal roof was put on…

and a small folding table and a sideboard were added to the living space.

With the addition of vinyl flooring, curtains and rugs…. the inside space was coming together nicely.

Later in the summer came the building of a Murphy bed…

and the picture that hung over the fireplace in my parent’s house for 55 years has a new home.

In the spring and fall the overnight temperatures inside the studio can easily drop into the 40’s F…

so one thing was left on the list for comfort = getting a propane heater that would vent to the outside.

With the painting of the front door…

and hanging the nameplate made of Welsh slate…

my Riverbend studio retreat is coming along nicely.

Here’s to more adventures in 2015!

Look Ma….. No Seams!

September 30, 2014/3 Comments/in felt, garments, Interesting stuff, Projects /by bschutzgruber

In the middle of September I spend 3 fabulous days in a felting workshop with international feltmaker and clothing designer Charity Van der Meer from the Netherlands. The workshop was organized by Michigan felt artist Dawn Edwards and held at Design Street, a community art education center in Plainwell, Michigan.

The old fire station has lots of natural light and plenty of space for 12 large felting stations.

Charity’s work is amazing! She combines colors, textures and shapes to create clothing that is soft, light weight and comfortable to wear.

The focus of this workshop was to make a one-piece nuno felted dress or skirt with an emphasis on pleating, layering and adding godets to the design. Using her very simple but effective patterns we were encouraged to use our imagination and develop our own fashion ideas. We calculated our starting dimensions (the dress will shrink 100%) and Charity showed us how trace out our patterns onto plastic and add the godet panel(s). [A godet is a triangular piece of material inserted in a dress, shirt, or glove to make it flared or for ornamentation.]

Using silk chiffon fabric and merino wool fibers we created layers wrapping the silk & base wool around the plastic pattern. The plastic works as a resist to keep the wool & silk from felting into a 2D shape instead of the 3D shape needed to be a dress. Overlapping the silk fabric and wool fibers at the shoulders and sides creates the ‘seam’ so no sewing is involved!!

Day 2: The silk fabric & wool fibers are layered for the other side but this time making sure to cover the godet separately.

Now the fun begins = adding the details and embellishments to the dress!! I used wool fibers, silk fibers, polyester lace fabric, blended wool/silk fiber, plus wool and silk yarns.

Wet down the front of the dress with warm soapy water.

Layout my design and wet down the back.

Sandwich everthing between plastic……

Roll it all up in an anti-skid rug mat and old sheet then start rolling…… rolling…. rolling….

Day 3: Continue rolling…. rolling… rolling…..

Now it’s time to unwrap and try it on! (Oh…. was this the part soggy!!!)
And…. oh my gosh…. it fits like a glove!!

Charity helped smooth and give finishing touches to everyone’s dress.

And we all went out for a group photo. Each dress and skirt was true one-of-a-kind work of art!!!

I even had enough time to layout a shorter top before leaving and felted it at home the next day.

This workshop was just the ticket to my get my creative juices flowing this fall! I will definitely continue to work with this technique and I’ve made a note in my 2016 fall calendar = Charity may be back to give another workshop!!

Waulking and Art Fair and more…. oh my!

July 21, 2014/2 Comments/in Interesting stuff, weaving /by bschutzgruber

July has been a month filled with one event after another!

Starting with demonstrating in the Textiles Tent at the Saline Celtic Festival which combines my 2 artistic loves…. stories and weaving.

The weather was sunny and relatively cool for a Michigan summer so attendance was good for the festival. Mary Underwood and CJ Kohoyda-Inglis organized the Textile Tent filling it with fabulous fiber folk so besides my weaving demonstration, there were members of The Spinners Flock demonstrating different forms of spinning and knitting.

One of highlights of our tent is ‘Waulking the Tweed’ with Frances Acar leading us in song. ‘Waulking’ is the Scottish Gaelic word for fulling. Woven woolen fabric needs to be ‘fulled’ when it comes off the loom. Pressure, warmth and moisture creates tiny pockets of air that lift up the woolen fibers making the surface softer, thicker and more weather resistant. Before the days of machines this was done by hand with friends and family in a community event – each bringing fabric that needed to be fulled. If there was not a table long enough for the fabric, doors were often taken off hinges and set on the ground or saw horses for the work surface. Songs were sung to set the pace, rhythm and coordinate movement. By measuring the woolen fabric after every 2 or 3 songs controlled shrinkage can be achieved. The songs are call-and-response with the leader singing the verses and everyone else singing the refrain. Many of the songs were about how wonderful, intelligent or handsome a husband/lover is OR how that husband/lover is a no good rogue and lowlife. (Some things haven’t changed over the centuries!)

Right on the heels of Celtic Festival came the Ann Arbor Art Fairs.
For 4 days more than 1,000 artists sprawl over 27 blocks of Ann Arbor as 4 separate nationally recognised art fairs are going on simultaneously. The weather was fantastic and nearly 500,000 people came over the 4 days. My work, along with 15 other guild members, was part of the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild booth in the State Street Area Art Fair. It certainly ‘took a village’ or in this case a guild (16 sellers and 20 volunteers) – to build, man, and take down our booth.

And finally…. the month closes out with the National Storytelling Network Conference in Mesa, Arizona filled with master classes, keynotes, workshops, storytelling concerts and swaps. Here I’ll connect with storytellers from across the country and help with the 8th season of the Fringe Performances.

Riverbend – building the studio [part 4]

December 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, studio /by bschutzgruber

With the studio completely enclosed….

cold weather setting in with snow outside…

and only 40F inside…

it was time for one last weekend to complete this building project.

The trim was added to the exterior walls…

hurricane ties were attached to the roof and walls…

and trim was added to the rafters.

The interior walls went up to enclose what will be the bathroom area…

and this is the view I’ll have waking up in the morning.

In the Russian folktales, Baba Yaga lives deep in the forest in a tiny house that stands on chicken legs. Well… this may not be as unique at hers…. but it is MY ‘house in the forest’.

Riverbend – building the studio [part 3]

December 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, studio /by bschutzgruber

Putting on the roof… cont.

2 weeks later we were back at Riverbend with a spiffy machine that Terry designed to lift the panels.

This was a LOT easier than hoisting them up the 12 feet using only brute force. Let’s hear it for machines and the engineers who build them!

With the porch on, the roof was complete!

Next came the tar paper

but we won’t put the metal roof panels on until warmer weather in the spring so on went another set of tarps for the winter.

I could not have gotten my dream of a studio built without this amazing ‘TAG team’= Terry A Gruber & Tristan A Gruber!! Well done, Gentlemen!

Riverbend – building the studio [part 2]

December 1, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, studio /by bschutzgruber

The call came in mid October that the studio was ready to be delivered. With the 25 panels, 4ft x 8ft and weight in at about 120 lbs each, coordinating some extra ‘muscle’ to help was necessary – which meant building on the weekends. The clock was ticking to get the structure up as quickly as possible because once November hits in Michigan, the weather becomes unpredictable. It could be warm & sunny…. or warm & rainy…. or cold & sunny….. or cold & snow… you never know! Our daughter, Andrea, was not available but luckily we were able to enlist our son, Tristan, making this a ‘everyone in the family helped’ project.

Step 3 : The insulation/moisture barrier went down

then the subfloor.

Delivery the next morning brought another ‘impressively large’ truck…

leaving 4 stacks of panels with directions for ‘some assembly required’.

Step 4: building the walls
Yup… all we needed was a screwdriver & a caulk gun.

By the end of the day, 1/2 the walls were up and the piles were getting smaller!

The second day of assembly we finished the walls

and moved on to preparing for the roof panels.

Part 5 : putting on the roof
Using brute force we hoisted the roof panels from the outside and over the wall,
supported them from below, and secure them into place.