four selvedge tapestry weaving

For the love of yarn. Playing with Nightshades.

For the love of yarn. Playing with Nightshades.

I do love yarn. Funny how a material can shape an art practice so strongly. I can imagine someone else loving paint or graphite or stone or wood, but for me it is yarn.

I can scarcely resist a yarn shop even though most of them don’t have any weaving yarn (Shuttles in Boulder is a notable exception and maybe if you’re lucky your town happens to have a weaving shop also). I’ve written before about what makes a good tapestry yarn and my opinions about that haven’t changed. However, sometimes I see a yarn that I desperately want to work for tapestry weaving. And even though I know in my heart that it will not make a good tapestry yarn, my eternal optimism puts some in my shopping basket.

Such a yarn presented itself to me last May during a visit to Harrisville Designs in Harrisville, New Hampshire. I stopped to say hello to the people who make the tapestry yarn I use (Harrisville Koehler Singles) and to see the woodshop where my favorite loom in the world was made: the Harrisville Rug Loom.

Weaving on the road

Weaving on the road

Summer is a great time for tapestry weaving and travel. I packed up an overly large bag (or two) of yarn, spindles, and looms and had a few days car camping at 11,000 feet with friends.

Some four selvedge weaving was done on this trip... the first completed on the ride there. One of my favorite views is this one coming out of South Park when you first see Mt. Princeton.

The satisfaction of making your own simple weaving equipment

The satisfaction of making your own simple weaving equipment

I come from a family of makers, so the idea of making my own loom is not totally foreign to me. However, my stash of woodshop tools is pretty limited. I have a mitre box and saw for making tapestry hanging bars, a few small wrenches and screwdrivers, and a motley collection of screws and wire.* Oh, and not long ago I added a big pipe wrench. If your guess is that I bought it to make pipe looms, you'd be wrong. It had something to do with a dye stove and a propane tank... I do occasionally use it to tighten or loosen the galvanized threaded pipe on my small loom and one day I'll make a large pipe loom and use it to tighten large nuts.

,

Fringeless and other four selvedge adventures

,
Fringeless and other four selvedge adventures

Making the Fringeless four selvedge warping class has been an adventure. A new online class always is. I totally love curriculum development. I like editing videos especially if I pick up some new skills for each class. And then the best part is when the class goes live and I see people's reactions to it. This class was extra special for me because I got to work with Sarah Swett who is always inspiring and a fantastic teacher. Also, the fact that she regularly makes me laugh is a big plus.

Preparations! (for Fringeless)

Preparations! (for Fringeless)

So I made a mistake. Maybe.

The jury is still out.

There is a whole industry around teaching online classes and I have taken many classes in how to build successful online classes.  And I have built some great ones, so clearly the information I've learned is useful. 

But all of those experts advise opening registration in your online class before the class content opens. Build excitement they say. Get them invested with a little bit of content they say. Get them all pumped up they say.

So for Fringeless, I decided to do that.

And I found out that tapestry weavers are an amazingly enthusiastic bunch!

Where did four selvedge warping come from?

Where did four selvedge warping come from?

Four selvedge warping for tapestry is something I've been interested in for years. I've followed the adventures of weavers such as Susan Martin Maffei, Michael Rohde, and Sarah C. Swett as they used this technique in their work.

As Sarah Swett and I were shooting the video for our Fringeless: Four Selvedge Warping online class, Sarah talked some about how four selvedge weaving has changed the way she practices her craft. Listen in the video below.

Weaving four selvedge in the Wasatch

Weaving four selvedge in the Wasatch

I'm a conference spouse this week. I figured that the internet at Snowbird would be at least as good as ours at home (it's better)  and that I could just as easily work from a room with a view as from my studio. Who knew being the one who was NOT teaching or presenting could be so great?! I feel like I'm on vacation even though I'm still working.

But, it turns out having this view outside the 12-foot wide floor-to-ceiling window is just a tad distracting for someone who loves hiking as much as I do.