Friday 3 July 2015

Progress of a Sort

I wonder why other people write blogs. Mine started as a means of recording what I was up to in weaving and bookbinding, a sort of diary. But it has a turned into something more akin to the standard diary and I wonder if this is a 'GOOD THING'. We have at last got a date for entry into the Reading house - 13th August and we leave here on July 13th. And I have a raft of things to do before everything  disappears into store. There is actually a lot going on  in the next five weeks and I have realised that I have to be very careful about what goes into store. So immediately this will strike you as being a non-textile blog - but my excuse is that the problems resulting from this shambles are at the top of my head.
 
So yesterday I dealt with the Summer School. I am going to attend a week on Weft Ikat (hurrah) run by Martin Weatherhead for whom I have a great respect. I was pleased to get a place on the course. The Summer School is run every two years by the UK Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. It is residential. I attended the 2013 Summer School and was very annoyed. The access to my course room was through a room in which Martin was teaching Warp Ikat. And every time I walked through the room, I had to grit my teeth through sheer jealousy. Anyway this year HURRAH. I have done a lot of warp ikat and tried weft ikat myself in fine silk and it was not a great success. What I really want to do is kasuri, which Japanese warp and weft ikat simultaneously so you can get pictures. I have a piece of Japanese cotton with delightful sparrows patterned on it. Yesterday I  found all the course notes which had been sent out, searched for and  found some suitable yarn, worked out the details of the warp, wound it, would lots of yarn into balls and found all the tools called up. All of these are in a large plastic crate with a note on top to remind me I need to take the dyeing pot and the Calor Gas stove etc. So job done.
 
I wove a good bit of lampas on the Meyer yesterday. And I am wondering if I should wind another warp for the Meyer to occupy me in the weeks in my daughter's house. I have some more ideas for lampas but the problem is going to be finding time to design new drafts and get the warps wound before next Thursday! Sunday and Monday have been laid aside for an onslaught on dismantling the Megado. That will go into store along with the Louet Kombo and Magic Dobby. I have decided that I will not immediately reassemble the Megado when we are in the new house, but to wait and see if we can have a purpose built garden building for looms. I looked at photos of Debbie Richardson's garden building which looks good. And I remember Sue Dwyer had one as well. But it is a case of planning permission. My sister really wants a conservatory. She has managed to build one on to every house she has owned. We need to know if the local council allow us to build both. Oddly enough we are not in Reading District Council but in Wokingham! The boundary is about five houses further up the road. I do not know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
 
Returning to the function of a blog, I cannot think why I am not designing drafts and there are things I want to say to my sister. I'll tell you something I have discovered. Husbands put up with being woken up early with 'Please get up. I've made you some tea. I want to talk you' but sisters do not take it well. 
 
 

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About Me

I am weaver and - -. I dye my yarns with acid dyes, I paint my warps, put fabric collages and stencils on my weaving. I have three looms, a 12 inch wide, 12 shaft Meyer for demos and courses, a 30 inch Louet Kombo which is nominally portable but has a stand, two extra beams and a home-made device containing a fan reed. And last a 32 shaft Louet Megado which is computer controlled, has a sectional warp and a second warp beam and I am the proud owner of an AVL warping wheel which I love to bits and started by drilling holes in. I inserted a device for putting a cross in. I have just acquired an inkle loom and had a lesson from an expert so I can watch TV and weave at the same time. I am interested in weaving with silk mostly 60/2 although I do quite a bit with 90/2 silk. I also count myself as a bookbinder with a special interest in Coptic binding.