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These are desperate times…

I knew that my wonderful five months of uninterrupted studio time would eventually end.  I knew it would be time to go back on the road, and it would be time to re-enter life.  I knew that spring would eventually come and there would be monumental work to be done outdoors, taking me away from my studio.  I knew it and yet, I am not going softly in the night…

If you read my last couple blog posts, you’d know that I’m a bit preoccupied with things that require a lot of energy, which I’m willing to give, but the down side of all of these extra curriculars, is of course, no more opportunity to make stuff in the studio.  Still, I’m not going without a fight…

When I started this lengthy winter, I had hopes of finally clearing all of my Tools of the Trade looms, all seven of them, and I not only cleared six, but set up two again, and cleared one of those.  There was however one remaining hold out.  That was my adorable little 8 shaft 15″ wide Tools of the Trade Table Loom, my most recently acquired of the bunch, and yet, it languished with a warp from a workshop [1] I took with Sarah Saulson at the Frances Irwin Handweavers guild the summer before my daughter returned to college for her sophomore year.  She is finishing up her junior year.  I’m embarrassed.  Though in my defense, the warp was a bit complicated, since it was white.  The idea was a length of warp would be pulled out, dyed, dried, and then rolled back on to the warp beam, woven off, and rinsed later.  I did one two yard length at the workshop.  There remained another couple of yards on the loom.  It was bugging me and I couldn’t bring myself to just cut it off.  Trouble was, I had no idea what dyes I used, and how I actually woven the fabric.  There seem to be pages of notes missing.  Or maybe I thought I’d remember…

So last Wednesday, Jen and I rolled out the yardage and I was determined to just get the stupid thing painted already and maybe if I had an hour here or there I could actually work on weaving it off.

Saulson2 [2]

We mixed dyes as best we could from looking at the finished first cut of cloth.  It took us about a half hour to mix the dyes, and about 10 minutes to paint it.  It dried overnight.  Carol came the next day and before we headed back over to William Paterson University for more loom packing, she helped me beam it back on.

Saulson3 [3]

I looked at the sample and figured out the shaft sequence, and I’m on my way.  I think I’m going to use the loom for a demo when I volunteer at Peters Valley’s Open House on May 4th.

Saulson4 [4]

Meanwhile, I was desperate to sew something.  Anything.  I was so desperate I even decided to skip the step of making a muslin and just jump in head first.  I picked this rayon batik on the shelf, and grabbed Vogue 1260 from the pile.

Vogue1260aVogue1260b [5]

The layout was actually tricky.  I didn’t want the big bunches of batik branches to just hit any old place.  And the collar and front bands are on the bias which eats fabric.  After some careful placement and frequent rearrangement, I got a layout I was happy with, and managed to get the blouse cut out.  Then of course life got in the way.

Vogue1260c [6]

I taught a class over the weekend, more on that in a later post, and spent all day Sunday, planting and scrubbing and planting some more.  The yard and gardens are a frightful mess and I’d planned to spend today cleaning as well, but I woke up to a chilly 43 degrees with rain on the way.  I’m not stupid.  The deck cleaning can wait another couple days.

I’m also in the middle of writing a six page article for Threads magazine, which is requiring me to visit my inkle loom collection, and the desire to just clear another loom, any loom completely consumed me so last night and all day today, instead of cleaning the deck like I was suppose to, I wove off the band on this little loom that has been on there so long I sneezed from the dust every time I changed the shed.  It is complicated and takes some real focus.

InkleBelt2 [7]

I found a way to make the thread manipulation easier, charting out exactly what needed to happen in each row between the 7 thread pick up, supplemental warp, and the name draft.  I was determined not to go to bed tonight without finishing it.

InkleBelt1 [8]

I actually finished up by dinnertime.  Another loom empty!

InkleBelt [9]

So my son and I made dinner tonight, opened a bottle of wine, and watched the second episode of season one of Game of Thrones.  He swore to me that I’d love it, but I won’t watch the new fourth season until I’ve seen the first three seasons.  So I just watched episode two and I’m hooked.  Which is time I can’t really afford out of the studio, but I’m trying to find a little balance in my life and while my husband is away golfing, this is great bonding time with my son.  It is important.

And I did manage to sew for about an hour tonight.  The blouse is starting to come together…

Vogue1260e [10]

Stay tuned…