After only four hours at the drawloom I have a porcupine! That’s an hour a day, four days in a row. I enjoy the design-making process. It is rewarding to work out the details on the computer. The next reward is to see the printed version ready to take to the drawloom. When I first see the feet of the critter woven on the loom, I do a happy dance. And now that the porcupine is moving on around the breast beam, this feeling of accomplishment is the greatest reward. Nine more critter napkins to go, with many more rewards. Jackrabbit is next!
Day 1: Teal hem, gold border, black background, and porcupine feet! Happy Dance!Day 2: Porcupine snout and tail reach into border areas. I use single units in irregular border areas like these, instead of the simpler pattern shafts that I use for the rest of the border areas.Day 3: Second half of the porcupine is mostly the quills on its back. This is easy single-unit draw cords in combination with simple pattern shaft draw handles for the side borders. (Only 2 draw handles are needed for the side borders.)Day 4: Finish up the top of the porcupine, the black background, the gold border, and then a blue hem area (not shown). Now I’m hopping off to design the jackrabbit.
Look for daily rewards. What rewards are you seeing lately?
Gray Fox is complete. Porcupine is the next critter in line. We’ve seen evidence of a porcupine in our backyard, so he belongs in this drawloom parade.
Gray Fox is showing his stride. That bushy tail is impressive. On the drawloom I get to determine exactly where that tail will swish. Where the tail crosses into the side border, I switch from pulling one pattern shaftdraw handle to pulling individual single unitdraw cords. That’s where the complexity of the combination drawloom really shines. It gives me extraordinary flexibility for weaving the designs I have in mind.
Hem area is black. Wide gold checked border goes across the bottom and top of the napkin, and up both sides.Pattern shafts hold the units needed for the horizontal and vertical borders. The vertical border checks are produced with just two pattern shafts. Where the vertical border is interrupted, I am able to choose the single units needed to fill the pattern. (This also means that I use single units directly across on the left border, too.)Just past midway on this napkin.
In some ways I think of the drawloom as a tool of simplicity. Despite the countless cords and shafts, every piece has a simple purpose. Each single unit draw cord, for example, simply lifts a single unit of 6 threads. That’s all it does. Complexity is a matter of perspective.
May you enjoy the simple things you find in complexity.
My husband and I coined the word “lapkin” when our children were young. Lap + napkin = lapkin. We wanted our children to learn the courtesy of placing a napkin on their lap when they were seated for a meal. “Lapkin check!” was a fun game we made of it. The armadillo on the drawloom is a lapkin, if I ever saw one. This thirsty cloth will soak up any drips and spills, smeary hands, or messy mouths that come in contact with it.
Napkin starts with a dark blue hem and gold checkerboard border. I like this view which makes it look like the armadillo feet have really long legs. Single unitdraw cords are pulled (drawn) to raise warp ends that form the pattern in the cloth.Armadillo reaches into one border with its snout, and into the other border with its tail.
Armadillo is the first of a dozen critters that will parade across this loom. Armadillo napkin is the only one of its kind. I’m certain of that. (Fox is up next.)
Simple checkerboard side borders give a fun outline to every napkin.Just a few pattern shafts (six draw handles) are needed for making the horizontal checkerboard border across the width of the napkins.Six-shaft broken twill makes an interesting all-over pattern in the cloth.Teal blue hem ends the Armadillo napkin. Red picks serve as a dividing/cutting line. Fox is next!
Lapkins give us a discreet way to stay tidy at the table. Armadillo, however, doesn’t intend to stay discreet. I’m pretty certain of that, too.
Five of my favorite handwoven works are on display in a local exhibit. The Southwest Gourd and Fiber Fine Art Show is the current exhibit (through July 1) at the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center in Kerrville, Texas. This is a competitive show featuring artists from across the US. Steve made beautiful wooden hanging and mounting devices for my pieces. Winter Window is a double-binding rag rug that is displayed as a wall hanging. I thoroughly enjoyed the design process for this rag rug, so I am happy that Winter Window received a Judge’s Special Award.
Southwest Gourd and Fiber Fine Art Show at Kerr Arts and Cultural Center in Kerrville, Texas.Light as Air Lace Draped Lace in Three-ShaftLace Weave Warp: Linen Weft: LinenChristmas Snowflakes Triptych Banners in Six-Shaft Irregular Satin, Drawloom 30 pattern shafts, 148 single units Warp: Linen/Cotton blend Weft: LinenJoseph’s Coat Wall Hanging in Four-Shaft Swedish Monksbelt Warp: Cotton Weft: Wool and CottonWinter Window Rag Rug in Four-Shaft Double Binding Warp: Cotton Weft: Cotton fabric stripsEye of the Beholder Pictorial Tapestry in Four-Shaft Rosepath Warp: Linen Weft: Wool and LinenArtist Reception and Awards evening. Winter Window receives a Judge’s Special Award.
If you hang a rag rug on the wall it becomes fine art. And I’m ok with that.
