Handweaver and 'cellist, married to Prince Charming, mother of three superheros and three superhero-in-loves, and Lola to nine little princes and princesses. Life is a handwoven treasure, filled with hidden melodies.
What do you do when you are away from your looms for a week? Portable weaving, of course. I thought about bringing my band loom, but fitting the band loom in the car turned out to be more of a hassle than it is worth. So the band loom stayed home.
I have my inkle loom with me instead, as well as my small tapestry frame. Steve is taking a woodcarving class from Dylan Goodson this week at the Texas Woodcarvers Guild Seminar; and while he is in class I am keeping my hands busy with portable weaving.
Steve beginning to shape his relief carving, following the finished example by his instructor, Dylan Goodson.First inkleband of the week is linen.Cottolin warp for the second narrow inkle band.Second inkle band almost finished.Start of a small tapestry of a little girl, derived from a picture in a children’s book.Time to put on one more inkle warp!Adding more details to the relief carving. Good carving takes time and patience. Like weaving.
I need only a few simple shapes to stamp the warp. Fortunately, my woodcarver husband agreed to make the wooden stamps for me. Steve asked me to draw the shapes on white paper, and said he would take care of the rest. The result? Superb wooden stamps for making painted designs on the warp while it is on the loom.
Thread on a carefully wound quill comes off effortlessly. I love the feel of the boat shuttle chasing back and forth between my hands, with no resistance whatsoever from the unwinding thread. I wind a few quills at a time and drop them in the loom basket that hangs on my bench. Then, when I empty a quill, I simply reach into the basket and quickly replace the thread in my shuttle, and continue weaving. It is satisfying to do something as enjoyable as weaving, and have it end up as lovely cloth.
Freshly-wound quill in the boat shuttle replaces an emptied quill. The new weft thread will overlap the end of the former thread, and be secured with the swing of the beater, and changing of the shed.
I do hope to make beautiful things, but it’s more than that. The weaving procedure, itself, seems beautiful to me. Such strategy. Such alignment of movement and function. There is a deeper satisfaction than merely being pleased with the final results.
Beauty serves a purpose. Beauty points us to our Maker. Yes, purple mountain majesties and intricate iridescent hummingbird feathers do point to a masterful creator. But I am also talking about the beauty of how things work, and how people are responsive to love, and how everything in our solar system fits together. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. What a Grand Weaver we have!
This pattern is not as complicated as it looks. Remember, this is plain weave with only twotreadles. How can plain weave look so intricate? Using two sizes of threads does the trick. Really, it’s that simple.
Pattern blocks have alternating thick and thin threads. Two thin thread picks in a row change the blocks.
The treadling is the easiest it can be. The shuttles, on the other hand, are more complicated. With two shuttles, you must interlock wefts around the outer warpends. When the order of the shuttles is reversed every few centimeters, as it is here, it keeps you on your toes. And then there is the double bobbin shuttle. Are you able to wind two quills that have nearly equal amounts of thread? Not to mention catching a shuttle that has two quills unwinding.
We look at the detail and busyness around us and see our lives as intricately complicated. But zoom out and take the view from heaven. From that perspective, a thousand years goes by in one day. Humans come and go, generation after generation. My seemingly complex life is simple plain weave with the grand weaver skillfully throwing the shuttles to make meaningful patterns. Let this breath of time that we call life leave a mark of virtue that lasts for generations.
May you leave a lasting impact for the good of others.
The stamped fabric print is subtle and ethereal. The print goes through to the reverse side, too, which shows that the color is saturating the threads. Thankfully, there is more than just surface color, which means I can expect the woven-in print to last for the life of the fabric.
View from below the woven fabric. The face of the fabric is seen rolling onto the cloth beam.
I had hoped for brighter colors, but with this fabric paint the intensity of color fades as the paint dries. And then, when the weft crosses the print it reduces the brightness even more, of course. That said, I am not disappointed. It is different from what I expected, but it will still make a pretty tiered skirt.
Stamped warp is transformed as it crosses the fell line.
Prayer can be different from what we expect, too. Believing and praying brings amazing results. It’s not always the results we had in mind, though. The truly amazing thing is this: The prayers of believing people are somehow combined with the power of God to bring about his will. It’s his good will that gets printed deep into the fabric of our lives. Disappointment gives way to thankfulness as we see results over time that are more than just color on the surface.
