Oops…

Oh I just hate when this happens.  I made a mistake.  It isn’t a huge mistake in the total scheme of things, no one died, but it is a mistake nevertheless, and I want to correct it.  Problem is, I made the mistake a number of years ago.  And I just found the mistake.  Which means a couple hundred or so monographs, handouts, PDF files, blog posts and any number of assorted communications from me are wrong.  Bummer…

It involves a weaving draft.  This is a draft I wrote a number of years ago.  Probably back in 2006.  And I kept cutting and pasting said draft into anything that required it.  So, anyone who purchased my monograph on Transparency, the Theo Moorman technique, has a draft that isn’t correct.  Anyone who has been doggedly trying to figure out how I weave the postcards I keep showing in my blog, has an incorrect draft.  Anyone who printed out that lengthy PDF I graciously provided on my website, compiling all the blogs that referenced the postcards, has an incorrect draft.  Bummer…

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon (I’m much better from  my bout with the flu thank you), trying to trace back all the places where the errant draft is hiding.  What’s really odd to me, is that no-one questioned it or found the obvious error.  Which means no one has actually read the draft and tried the technique.  Which could mean they really aren’t interested, but that doesn’t jive with the comments and letters I receive, or it means that no one has gotten around to actually setting up their loom, which is a good thing, so I can intercept anyone about to attempt to weave these little puppies.  The threading on the draft is fine.  It is the treadling.  It doesn’t make any sense.  I stared at the draft, while doing some updates to the Transparency Monograph yesterday, and couldn’t believe the idiot that wrote it.  🙂  (The idiot being me of course).

All this has lead me to entertain the idea of offering an actual weaving workshop, requiring looms (which I’ve never done before) and have students weave a personal photo on their actual looms.  I haven’t figured out the logistics yet, and am not in a position this exact moment to actually figure it all out, since I’m down to the last week and a half before I leave for the April round of conferences, but I’ve had so many inquiries on how to actually do these, that I’m thinking this isn’t such a bad idea.  I’m always looking for new workshops to offer.  Feel free to comment if it is something you think your guild would enjoy.  Probably a two day workshop.

Meanwhile, how to fix my mistake.

For those who have any of the above mentioned printed materials with the incorrect draft, here is a link to a PDF of the corrected draft.

For those who wish to purchase my now corrected and updated Transparency Monograph, click here.  I put a new cover on the updated monograph to tell it from the old version, with the incorrect draft.  It has step by step instructions, extracted from the blog post of how to weave the post cards.

For those who wish to view a PDF of all the related blog posts that pertain to the weaving of the Postcards I frequently blog about, the PDF has been corrected and can be downloaded here.  I also corrected the original blog post that started it all from February 2009.  Online archives are a wonderful thing…

For those who don’t have any of the above and are curious on what all the fuss is about, here is the draft.  There should be five rows (an uneven amount) of plain weave under each fabric strip, not four.  So alternating fabric strips are held down with alternating sets of tie down threads.  That isn’t possible with only an even amount of plain weave rows under each strip.  Duh…

Do you still love me?

Tying Loose Ends…

I am in the middle of entirely too many projects, and that just makes me want to smile.  My ADD self just loves to flit from one thing to another, and it makes me want to jump out of bed early in the morning to get cracking…

vestSo here is a run down…

First, I needed to finish the remaining handwork on the vest I made a couple of weeks ago from an alpaca throw I wove, circa 1980?  I love how the triangular buttonholes came out, and I know I’ll enjoy wearing this vest.  Plus I needed the sample for the workshop this weekend.

I finished the upholstery on the chair last night, I just have to bang in all the tacks and trim the fabric.  rockerI am so loving the way this rocker looks.  Meanwhile,  I ended up sampling the braid I started weaving on the inkle loom, trying different weight wefts, to see if I could get a bit sturdier braid.sampler

The original weft for the braid was a 5/2 perle cotton, and the braid was a little bit too flexible for use in upholstery.  I tried using three strands of rayon, and then I tried dark brown handspun, and finally I tried two strands of 3/2 perle cotton.  I played around with how they looked on the chair, after I wove off the whole two yard warp.

Oddly enough, I ended up liking the original braid best, but decided to actually weave the next two yards with a single strand of 3/2 perle cotton and I’m thinking that this braid will be perfect.  And it is weaving up really quickly.inkle_braidbraid I like the spacing of the little diamonds better in the latest version which is on the loom on the left.  The “seeds” are a bit plumper…

So here is one of the original samples of the braid on the actual chair, I am really happy, and I can’t believe it is the same chair I upholstered 30+ years ago. This has been really fun, and I can hear my mother in law cheering me on…

loomMeanwhile, remember the Structo I was rewarping last week?  I got about half of it threaded and then got side tracked by the trip to Atlantic City, and then the rocker and then, well, I needed to finish threading that puppy, and find out if my hard work would produce a cloth weight that would work for the postcards I weave.postcard_in_progress

I’ve now finished threading the loom, and I started to weave on it, using a very slim stick shuttle, I’m surprised at what a good shed there is for such a little loom.  My damask boat shuttle is tied up on the other table loom. The fabric is really fine and tight, and I’m happy with the linen so far.  I had started a couple of postcards on the remaining warp on my 25″ table loom, on a gray 10/2 cotton, as a demo when I went to Albany the beginning of October.  So you can see what the strips look like in progress.  I’m hoping I can weave lots of little postcards,  and with 15 yards of warp, I can really experiment with this medium…

Here is a shot of the actual linen cloth, it is pretty fine, the linen is about the weight of a 20/2, and sleyed two per dent, I have 30 ends per inch, not counting the tie down threads.cloth

While I was threading, I couldn’t help myself, my brain wanders to the stash which is right in front of my eyeballs…

And draped over one of my looms is a fabric I wove that is gorgeous, from a warp I dyed in a class with Irene Munroe back in 2008 at the Tampa Bay Convergence.  I sett it too dense for a scarf, and there is so little fabric that I’m not sure I want to make it work for a garment, but it would make a great tote bag!new_project (Click on Tote Bag and scroll to the bottom of that blog to see the latest tote I made…)

I always have to have something colorful to look at on my cutting table and I’m always adding and subtracting to a pile before I actually jump into it head first.

So the vest is finished, and the loom warped, and another project is lighting up my cutting table, and now I have to finish weaving two more scarves on the loom (Photo below)  so I can have them for the guild sale.  And I just have to weave about 8 yards of trim for the rocker.scarves

candy_wrapper_toteAnd speaking of tote bags, I did promise a photo of my daughter’s tote bag she made from candy wrappers and duct tape.  She gets these brainstorms as school, probably when she gets bored in calculus or physics (I should have that kind of brain…) and texts me to ask if I have this or that material for her next brilliant idea!

Even her pens are covered in duct tape!  Note the white rose sticking out of the tote!