Quiet Friday: Painting with Yarn and Animated Images
- By Karen
- September 22, 2017
- 12 Comments
I have often wished I had the skill of artistic drawing. How wonderful it would be to portray a slice of creation using pencil lines, or pastels, or with watercolors and a paintbrush. Instead, though, I’ve been delighted to find that I can “draw” and “paint” with threads and yarn. By capturing a slice of creation through my iPhone camera lens, the hard part has already been done. All I have to do is translate the photo into a woven image. And what a joy that is!
Here is a glimpse of my process of weaving the Texas hill country Cactus and Bluebonnets transparencies.
(Don’t miss the amazing animated images at the end of this post that my son, Daniel, made of these woven transparency projects!)
May you find joy in what you’ve been given to do.
Happy Weaving,
Karen
12 Comments
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Quiet Friday: Kuvikas to Taqueté and video
- By Karen
- May 26, 2017
- 6 Comments
The color is rich, the drape is fluid, and the pattern in the lustrous cloth is eye-catching. “Kuvikas to taqueté” was not an easy project. Eight shafts, double treadling, and double-bobbin shuttles with slick 8/2 Tencel weft. But the fabric is incredible!
Warp chain of 8/2 cotton hanging from warping reel.
Thanks to a unusual tie-up, two treadles are pressed simultaneously, something I had not thought possible for a countermarch loom. I started with kuvikas (summer and winter), which has tabby picks between the pattern picks. The dark teal 8/2 cotton tabby weft and the bright teal Tencel pattern weft produce a tone-on-tone effect for the square and stripe patterns. These two pieces will become the front and back of a throw pillow.
Kuvikas panel 1 complete. I always use red thread for a cutting line between pieces, so there is no accidental cutting in the wrong place.
I then changed the treadle tie-up to switch from kuvikas to taqueté. The taqueté has no tabby weft. The teal and cream Tencel weft threads lay back-to-back, producing a double-faced fabric. This piece is being used as a table runner.
Finished kuvikas glistens in the sunlight.
Enjoy the little slideshow video I made for you that follows the process from three lovely aquamarine warp chains to fabric glistening in the sun on a Texas hill country table.
May you finish something that is not easy.
Happy Weaving,
Karen
Do you remember my Handwoven Thick and Thin Towels (that appeared on the cover of Handwoven), and my Black and White Towels (These Sensational Towels)? I will be teaching a workshop on that thick and thin technique at Shoppes at Fleece ‘N Flax in beautiful Eureka Springs, Arkansas August 24 – 26, 2017. You’re welcome to join us! I’d love to see you there! Contact the shop at the number below if you are interested.
Our weaving classes for May, June and July are filled ( but you can sign up on a waiting list!) and we still have a few…
Posted by Shoppes at Fleece 'N Flax on Wednesday, May 10, 2017
6 Comments
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Beth Mullins says:
They’re all going to be beautiful, Karen!
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Martha says:
Karen, these towels are stunning. What an interesting technique.
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Martha, I agree. It is an interesting technique. It’s surprising what different tie-ups can produce.
All the best,
Karen
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Shari says:
Beautiful video and great toe tapping music to go along with it! Love your work!
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Quiet Friday: Cartoon House Cartoon
- By Karen
- January 27, 2017
- 6 Comments
The fascinating thing about weaving a transparency is that it feels like color-by-number with yarn. There are similarities to tapestry weaving, for sure. But this seems ten times faster. I found it to be engaging and fun! I echo what my transparency-weaving friend says when it’s time to stop and do something else, “Just one more row…”
Warp chain of 16/2 golden bleached linen, before beaming the warp.
Threading heddles in my little playhouse, with project notes by my side, and a cup of coffee on the side cart.
Leveling string is added with extra care so that abrasion of the linen warp is kept to a minimum.
Butterflies are made from the hefty cotton chenille yarn.
Cartoon has been added. The pattern weft follows the lines drawn on the buckram cartoon, which is pinned in place.
Cartoon is removed.
Now, for the end of the warp…
After the main transparency with the zigzags, I had room to play on the remaining warp. I made another cartoon–a “cartoon” house. This gave me a chance to use a few more yarn butterflies, without it being overwhelming. Home. Sweet. Home.
“Cartoon” house cartoon. Ready for playtime at the end of the warp.
With several butterflies going at once, the transparency weaving gets even more interesting!
Now, the actual end of the warp is here.
Cartoon house just off the loom.
Welcome home! Home. Sweet. Home.
May you enjoy the fascination of learning something new.
Happy Weaving,
Karen
6 Comments
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I love these, Karen! You are truly one of the most inspiring weavers out there!
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Dear Beth, It fills me with joy to be able to share what I love to do with friends like you. I’m grateful that something I do can inspire others. Your work has certainly inspired me, as well!
Best to you,
Karen
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Sandy says:
Thank you for sharing your new thing. My guild friends & I will be attending the Mid Atlantic Fiber Arts (MAFA) conference this summer, my friends are taking the workshop “Weaving aTransparency” with Bobbie Irwin. I’m so excited for them! I never heard of weaving transparencies before, you’ve given us a cool demonstration to build our anticipation of the MAFA workshops.
Looking forward to learning something new in July at MAFA 2017-
Hi Sandy, How exciting! I just looked at the MAFA workshop choices. Wow, you have some terrific options! It would be hard to choose. Bobbie Irwin’s class looks great. I think you and your friends are going to have a fabulous time!
All the best,
Karen
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I haven’t done a transparency in years – these are wonderful. I’ve so enjoyed seeing your work in progress. You’re making me want to think about a transparency in the not too distant future.
And for Sandy who commented above, many years ago my guild brought Bobbie Irwin to teach the transparency workshop – it was the most fun. I went home and tried it using fishing line – a challenge but neat end result.
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Hi, Cindie, I know I’ll be doing this again in the near future. I hope you do, too. We can compare notes!
Fishing line!? Now, that’s very interesting! I’d like to see that.Karen
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Quiet Friday: Plattväv Towels and Thanksgiving Prayer
- By Karen
- November 25, 2016
- 10 Comments
Start to finish, the plattväv towels have been a handweaver’s joy. Narrow stripes on the warp beam are strangely invigorating. Does it take extra effort to wind a warp with many stripes? Yes–cut off one color and tie on a new color, over and over. But when the loom is dressed and ready to go, the weaving is a breeze. Being cottolin, the warp is fully compliant; and with a little care, the linen weft becomes a weaver’s friend. Plattväv, the icing on the cake, gives me a simple pattern weft that dresses up these plain weave towels. (And, yes, I am in the process of developing a kit for these plattväv towels.)
The joy of weaving is a blessing, as is the joy of friendships across the miles. Thank you for walking this journey with me.
Thanksgiving prayer: Thank you, Lord, for everything.
May you overflow with blessings and reasons for giving thanks.
Thankful for you,
Karen
10 Comments
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Liberty Stickney says:
Hi Karen,
These towels are just beautiful. Thank you for all the work you do to help us with our weaving. Happy Thanksgiving my friend!-
Hi Liberty, Everything is more enjoyable with friends! Thanks for your sweet encouragement.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Karen
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Martha says:
Love the photo of the towels rolled up- very interesting to view. Beautiful work as always.
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Hi Martha, The linen is predominant in these towels, and linen begs to be rolled. I had fun playing around with them to take pictures.
Thanks for your kind words!Happy Thanksgiving,
Karen
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Anne says:
I will definitely be interested win the kit! Beautiful!
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Hi Anne, I’m glad to hear that you are interested in the kit. Thanks for letting me know!
Karen
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The towels are lovely. I too will be watching out for kit information.
I’m wondering if hemp would be worth a whirl in place of linen?-
Hi Theresa, I’m excited about putting the kit together. It’s good to know you are keeping an eye on it.
I have never woven with hemp. From what I’ve heard, it weaves much like linen. So I’m certain it would work for this.
I love the Bockens and the Borgs Swedish linen, so I haven’t branched out much in that regard.Happy weaving,
Karen
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Hi Christine, Thank you so much!
If you’re interested, there are a couple of these towels in my Etsy shop, as well as “Workshop in a Box” kits, where you can weave these towels for yourself.
All the best,
Karen
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Quiet Friday: Countermarch Back Savers
- By Karen
- October 28, 2016
- 10 Comments
After back surgery, I wondered how-in-the-world I would be able to tie up my countermarch looms. After a four-week ban on bending over, I was eager to weave, but not eager to do anything that might strain or injure my back.
Two simple maneuvers made it possible for me to tie up the lamms and the treadles on both of my Glimäkra countermarch looms:
- Remove the lamms. Treadle cords are added while sitting in a comfortable position.
- Detach the treadles. Bring treadles closer to the front of the loom for attaching treadle cords.
And two important practices kept me from over-reaching and overdoing it:
- Sit on a low stool instead of the back of the loom or the floor.
- Take frequent breaks to stand up, stretch, and walk around.
Tools:
- Low stool for sitting
- Rolling cart (IKEA cart) or small table
- Plank of wood, longer than the loom is wide (one plank of warping trapeze, 1″ x 5″)
- Treadle cords, Texsolv pins, other tie-up supplies
- Length of cord to hold treadle up (Texsolv cord that’s used for hanging the reed for sleying)
The 120 cm (47″) Standard loom has open space in the loom, making it easy to get within arm’s reach of most things; but the challenge increases with the number of shafts–eight for this tie up.
- Lamms are removed, 2 at a time, and placed on the cart to add the treadle cords, all the while sitting on a comfortable stool.
- After all 8 lower lamms have the treadle cords added, the lamms are reinserted in the loom, 2 at a time.
- Treadle rod is removed to detach the treadles. Wood plank keeps the treadles from sliding back while treadle cords are attached at the front of the loom.
- Cord acts as a sling to hold the treadle up to a comfortable height.
- The raised treadle helps with visibility, and enables the use of both hands, especially helpful for the “Vavstuga method” of tying up treadles with knitting needles (I use sharpened dowels). After treadles are tied up, re-attach the treadles at the back of the loom.
The 100 cm (39″) Ideal loom requires more reaching. Tying lamms to the shafts is a challenge for short arms, like mine. With four shafts, and only three treadles for this tie up, the rest of the process isn’t difficult.
Threaded for striped towels. Glimäkra Ideal has smaller spaces in which to work than in the Standard loom.
- Upper lamms are placed on the cart. I hold the weaving draft in my lap as I add the treadle cords to the lamms.
- Lower lamms are removed as the pin is pulled out. After the treadle cords are added, the lamms are reinserted.
- Detached treadles lay on the floor. They easily pivot up at the front of the loom for attaching treadle cords.
- Everything is tied up and ready to weave!
May you stay healthy to live long and weave.
Happy Weaving,
Karen
10 Comments
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Patty says:
Thank you so much! As an aging weaver I’m definitely going to try this.
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Hi Patty, I guess we are all aging. Some of us are further along. 🙂 We have to constantly find ways to adjust how we do things. I plan to weave long into elder-hood.
Karen
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Sandy says:
Wow. What a great idea. Thank you for sharing. That solves so many problems…
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Thanks for sharing, Karen, and happy to have you back weaving!
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It’s great to be back at the loom! I’m still careful not to sit too long, or overextend what my body can do.
Karen
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I love all your clear pictures because I think I’m a visual learner. You inspired me to make a trapeze, and it wasn’t that hard (with a little help from my husband and his saw). It had its debut performance a few days ago, and for the first time in 13 years of weaving, the warp beamed on so tightly and smoothly – no more “yank and crank” or tangles! I will use it all the time. I’d love to see a video of your warping mill use sometime. The Big Book of Weaving recommends doing some kind of figure eight at the top peg, but Vavstuga just goes on one side of the peg and back on the other with no figure eight. How have you found the best way to be? Hope you recover quickly!
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Hi, Lynette, That makes me so happy to know that you have had a great warping experience! That’s worth celebrating!
I love your suggestion of making a warping reel video. Now I’m going to have to go look at The Big Book of Weaving to see what it says… I don’t do a figure 8 at the top peg, but maybe I should try that and see if it makes a difference.
Your encouragement has put a big smile on my face today.
Karen
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Jane says:
It’s wonderful that someone with back problems is still determined to tie up a countermarche loom. In July, I took my countermarche (Varapapuu) loom (eight shafts) down in order to free up space in what is, actually, a rather small house.
As the months went by, I got grumpier and grumpier and then finally realised that I missed my loom!
Notwithstanding the small house and the space issues, I am now in the process of rebuilding my loom. These looms are not easy to set up, but they certainly give good results.
I keep hoping that Vavstuga will come up with some sort of e-learning course for those of us who don’t live in the USA.
One thing that is worth mentioning, perhaps, is that these big looms are not sample looms. The lady who sold me my loom advised not to keep changing the tie-up. This alone means that you don’t sit for too long under the loom.
Jane (Pretoria, South Africa)
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Hi Jane,
I can see why you would miss your loom. I’m glad you are finding a way to make the loom fit in your home.I love the variety of weaving that countermarch looms are good for. I think I would have a hard time leaving the tie-up alone. But I think long warps are good, too. Then, you get to do a lot of weaving between tie-ups!
All the best,
Karen
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Copyright © 2017
Wow, love the animations!! Clever son you have.
Hi Kerry, Yes, my son is a clever guy. I’m very happy with what he did with the pictures!
Karen
These are so wonderful. Cool animation! Would love to see how you have them displayed.
Hi Beth, I’m still working on the placement and display of the transparencies. I’ll take a picture when I have them up.
Thanks!
Karen
Very cool, what a talent you do have.
Truly Blessed
Hi Angela, It’s a very rewarding experience to weave a transparency. Thanks for your sweet words.
Karen
Such an inspiration that I’m going to be taking a transparencies class next spring. Can’t wait! Yours are so amazing and beautiful.
Hi Betsy, I’m so excited for you! I am sure will enjoy that class, and find out how much fun it is to weave a transparency. It makes me very happy to think I could have a small part in nudging you in that direction.
Happy weaving,
Karen
These are very impressive!! How did you get the pictures to shift like that!!
Hi Maria, I sent photos to my son of the original photographs and the photos of the transparencies, and asked if he could morph one photo into the other. And he did the rest. Pretty cool!
Karen
Beautiful jobs, Karen & Daniel!
Hi, D’Anne, Thanks so much. It is nice to have a techie son who is willing to help me out when I ask!
Karen