More Loom Adventures
Well, my boxes have arrived safely in California, and I shipped my Big Sister piece to Kansas City. I always feel when my work is out traveling, that it is sort of like sending your children out into the world, they get to go places and see things without you. I have two pieces in Mississippi, one on the way to Missouri, and some inkle looms and lots of samples sitting in someone’s house in Southern California. Little bits of my self scattered like dandelion seeds…
Speaking of Inkle Looms…
I kept one of my baby Inklettes (by Ashford) behind, (which you can get from any dealer who sells Ashford Looms), because the warp on it was used up, and I needed to re-warp for the conference. I decided to kill two birds with one stone, (actually that is a terrible analogy, why would I want to kill any birds?) and put on the warp to make key fobs for my guild.
Sidebar: It is very common for a guild to get together and make small tokens of their talent, advertising the guild, for the “goody” bags you receive at the conferences. My guild chose this year, to send off to the MAFA conference (which I won’t be attending because I’ll be at the conference in Durango) small pieces woven on an inkle loom and made into keyrings. I volunteered to make 7, which is how many including fringe, you can make on one fully loaded baby Inklette. I adore this loom. It’s profile is so small it can fit in the bottom of that same conference tote, or even on the little fold down table on the plane. (I haven’t actually tried this, since I am too overloaded with computer and projector and all my clothes for a week, when I travel to teach, but my weaving buddy Sally, who travels all the time for work, usually has a bag full of little bands whenever she returns from a trip). I had given a workshop to my guild, Frances Irwin Handweavers, in inkle loom weaving, and everyone had such a blast, they are all now prolific ‘Inklers’, and always have a new pattern or some interesting pick-up design to share at every show and tell.
So here I am all warped up. I had some diversions today, like my Thursday Philosophy Club lunch, there were six of us in attendance, and lots of catching up to do. I also ran around buying more stuff for props, and of course a trip to my favorite shipper to package my piece for Kansas City.
Tonight I had a real treat. In preparation for the HS Musical, which is the first weekend in March, while I’m in California of course, the Boonton High School drama club held an open mike talent night. OMG! Who knew a bunch of high school kids could have so much talent, so much poise on the stage, and so much presence? I’m trying to remember back when I was in HS, the most talented kids in the school couldn’t compare to what I saw tonight on the stage. Even the teachers performed, there were dance numbers, a martial arts presetation, rap, rock, soul, Broadway tunes, and because the school is so culturally diverse, there were some beautiful songs in other languages, duets, and even a classically trained pianist. I was blown away. For a small town HS, this was one class A production.
If you want to learn about inkle weaving, it is a simple loom to learn to use, without much fuss. I sell a monograph on Inkle Weaving, but if you want a little free tutorial, go to Weavezine, the fall 2008 issue, and read the article my daughter wrote on weaving shoelaces on the inkle loom.
Okay, I had to chime in…
I am a bit of a “Doubting Thomas” when it comes to the next-latest-thing. When Daryl introduced the inkle program to our guild, I was just planning to rent/borrow an inklette to learn the technique and turn the loom back in at the end of the class. I had done an inkle program years before with the guild and used my table loom just fine. I certainly didn’t want to buy any extra, specialized equipment that would sit unused in my studio after the workshop was over.
However, once I tried the inklette, I thought it was fun, easy to set-up and use, and priced reasonably. I was quickly convinced it wove well, but the real interest for me was the portability. Daryl assured me that it could be used on airplanes, in COACH! Sensing my complete disbelief at that statement, Daryl promised that if I couldn’t weave on the plane with it, she’d refund my purchase.
It’s been a year later, and this little loom is probably as actively warped and woven-on as any loom in my weaveatorium, which is saying A LOT, as I am a fairly active weaver. (I wove 16.5 yards in January 2009 on a variety of looms.)
I purchased my inklette in February of 2008, and it has traveled to many coastal states and U.S. borders last year (TX, WA, NM, AZ, MN, MI, FL ), plus a good part of the middle section of the country, too! On those plane trips, it nestled safely in the overhead with room to spare, or under the seat in front of me, so it was ready to go as soon as the take-off routine was complete. No problems with TSA either.
Due to its light weight at 1.3 pounds (fully warped at 2 yards and with the shuttle tucked into the loom), it also went up to 11,000 feet above sea level, traveling in a backpack. Keep in mind, I can only carry so much, so I had to swap out an equivalent amount of water, food, and gear to accommodate this loom. That’s when I realized how much I consider it an essential part of my travels! (And it works great to weave by headlamp in the evening when you are camping in a national wilderness area where campfires are not permitted.)
So YES—you really CAN weave with it pretty much anyplace, but especially in COACH, and even when the person in front of you reclines their seat into your lap!
Sally
[...] final seminar was teaching inkle weaving for about 15 students. They brought some challenging looms, and it was a group effort to get [...]
[...] in the town where my daughter attends HS. I sat with an inkle loom in my lap, weaving away on the Key Fobs for the Frances Irwin Guild donation for the MAFA conference tote bags. My daughter stood with a [...]