a handweaver's journey
It is the little things that make the biggest difference. The how-to’s and simple solutions. And it’s the big things that make a difference, too. New skills and new friends.
I am having a delightful time at Vävstuga Weaving School this week, learning and practicing. It’s a bonus that I get to be here in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts at such a beautiful time of year.
May you witness beauty all around you.
Vävglädje (Happy Weaving),
Karen
My recent visit to Vävstuga Weaving School will remain high on my list of fond memories. Between New England autumn splendor, ten-shaft satin damask, and a side trip to see Becky Ashenden’s collection of drawlooms, there were enough “firsts” to keep me ooh-ing and ahh-ing repeatedly. With her smålandsväv coverlet, complete with sheepskin, draped behind me on her living room sofa, Becky made me feel at home as we talked about weaving. Click HERE to read the first part of our conversation.
And now, enjoy this second part of my conversation with Becky…
You studied handweaving in Sweden. How did you face the challenge of teaching what you learned to American students?
I’ve learned a huge amount from my students. When I first started to teach, I knew how to explain everything in Swedish, but I couldn’t do it in English. Someone would say, “Oh, you mean such and such…,” saying it in a different way. I’d say, “Oh yeah, that was a good way to say it (chuckle).” And I’d think to myself, “Hmm, say it that way next time.”
What is your approach for handling the various learning styles and backgrounds of students in your classes?
This is something that’s been intriguing to me since I was young. I started folk dancing when I was seven; and, when I was about twelve, I taught my first dance. I remember thinking, even back then, “Well, that brain is thinking about it one way, and this brain is thinking about it another way.” You can see around the room, “That person’s not getting it, but this person is getting it. Maybe if I say it another way, that person will get it.” The psychology of it is fascinating to me. It’s the same with teaching weaving.
I try to teach to what the person wants to learn. Does this person want a lot of knowledge, or, want hand skills, or, just want to have fun? Another person is uptight about being slow, so I want to make them relax (laughter) and enjoy it. Because–What are you doing it for? My biggest goal is to make this activity something that people can go home and enjoy. That’s why you’re doing it. I enjoy analyzing, “What’s going to make this person enjoy it?” I love working with people, and trying to understand where different people are coming from.
With the small class size of only eight students, you can see what students’ needs are.
Yes. And what their goals are. Someone who’s ambitious and has a goal of doing a lot of production is going to be motivated to do what they need to do. I let people have their own motivation. I used to cram more information down (chuckle), because I had an agenda of what I thought they ought to learn. Now, I try to understand–What do they want to learn?
The other thing that you do, Becky, is push us beyond our current ability.
If I see something that can be better, that’s my job to point it out. If the person wants to take me up on it, that’s their prerogative. If I see that they do, then I know I can keep giving out more.
Are there any new adventures on your horizon?
Oh… I hope so. Always (laughter)!
I am thinking about expanding the program, especially with the drawloom facility. Hopefully, to include linen and flax processing.
Those drawlooms are set up for my Drawloom Basics class. I don’t want to always do little basic warps. Bit by bit, I want to put big, lovely warps on all of them. People might do just a little of a big, lovely warp; but, they still learn about the different looms. …And then come back and weave even bigger, amazing things.
I’d love to translate more books, if I can figure out how to fit that into my life…
More trips to Sweden, certainly, to study different techniques. It’s been a while since I’ve been.
Those are ambitious plans, considering there’s only one of you.
I’d like to expand, also, in bringing in more young people. I want to make a concerted effort to pass the torch. …If I can have people trained to fill in the gap of being only one of me (laughter), instead of four of me (laughter).
Thank you again, Becky. It’s been a pleasure to get to know you even more.
Well, thank you. It’s been a real pleasure for me, too.
Side note: Did you know Becky is an accomplished accordionist? It was a treat to hear her play some of the folk music she knows so well.
May you enjoy the adventure of something new.
Happy Weaving,
Karen
I had the special pleasure of sitting across the room from Becky Ashenden in her New England country home for a personal conversation. After spending five days as a student in her Vävstuga Classics class, I was eager to learn more about this fascinating woman. I hope you can hear Becky’s cheerful enthusiasm. As you read, please imagine Becky’s smiles and laughter gracing our pleasant time together.
This first part of the conversation discusses Becky’s perspective of handweaving, including her training in Sweden. The second part, coming in my post later this week, continues the conversation by exploring Becky’s teaching philosophy and some new adventures she sees on the horizon.
Where do you find the most enjoyment in weaving?
The way I usually answer that question is that my favorite thing to weave is whatever I’m doing at the moment, as long as it’s going well (chuckle).
You have spent a lot of time at the loom, haven’t you?
I’ve done so much production. There’s something about doing production that’s pretty boring; but it’s also pretty mesmerizing. If it’s plain weave and you’re just going, going, it’s a physical enjoyment. And with a bigger loom with ten shafts and ten treadles, if it’s going rhythmically, it’s a very physical enjoyment. If there’s something that you have to concentrate on, it’s a mental enjoyment, as well as the physical enjoyment.
I really like the variety. And I’ve always done a lot of variety. So, sometimes just two treadles is really fun after ten treadles; and doing something delicate is really fun after doing something really raucous.
It seems like you enjoy a challenge, and the discovery of finding solutions.
That always makes it interesting, yes. I definitely enjoy a challenge–like rearranging heddles if I have to change the threading (laughter). Problem solving is something I’ve always loved.
And one aspect of weaving that I enjoy, too, is taking a project off, seeing the empty beam, putting all the tools away, messing with the tools. I love messing with the tools. I love doing the tie-ups. I love messing around with the equipment!
You sound passionate about enjoying the process!
That wooden equipment, and every little stick and string being in its place, and seeing a newly beamed warp–the processes of it! And the magic-ness of turning thread into fabric. I really enjoy the whole process and the huge variety that there is. Something I’ve always felt, even from a young age, is that when I get bored with one kind of thing in weaving, there’s more than a life’s worth of other things to explore, so I’m never going to run out of things to explore. And I remember thinking, “Some of the little fussy things that I don’t like when I’m young, maybe I’ll like when I’m older,” and I find that I do. So there’s just endless, endless variety, and I love sharing it with others. That’s certainly one of my greatest joys–sharing that enthusiasm that I have with others.
It’s the whole process, and it’s the tools, and it’s having the tools arranged in the studio a certain way.
What else is important to you in the weaving process?
Using the things afterwards, and showing other people how to use them. Not just putting them in a drawer, but having a different table setting three times a day (chuckle). That’s definitely part of the enjoyment, too. Why do it otherwise? You spend all this time making something beautiful; and the things are meant to be part of daily life–not just special occasions, but daily life.
Is there something that sets your teaching approach apart from other weaving instructors?
Being trained at the school that I was trained at, Sätergläntan Hemslöjdens Gård. I really, really appreciated how I was taught to weave, and especially in Sweden.
Why was Sweden important?
Sweden was a place where they had preserved a tremendous amount of their handweaving tradition, which really is a tradition that exists all over the world in its various ways. In many places, the industrial revolution made things easier for people’s lives at home. They didn’t have to do all this grueling labor to produce all the fabric they needed; and it was a blessing for them to be able to buy fabric. It does not take very long, though, once the industrial revolution comes through, to lose all the old hand skills that have been developed over centuries and centuries. You can’t just get it back. Sometimes you have to reinvent, and it’s not the same as this centuries-old knowledge that’s been handed down.
So, how did people in Sweden manage to preserve these traditions and skills?
In Sweden there was an organized effort to preserve the tradition, because they said that, while this was getting lost in some places, “We don’t want this to get lost.” There were people that were real movers and shakers who set up schools. They decided to teach weaving to potential teachers. So, even in the 1920’s, or so, there were many handweaving teachers that were professionally trained, with an eye towards keeping this tradition alive. They were all trained in the same way. So, it’s very consistent. Consistent approach, consistent equipment. It was a whole package that went together really well.
Very, very well thought out, and very well developed. And that’s what I was taught. I was taught a complete package of handweaving, beginning to end, with all the same equipment, same approach, same tradition. I think that is different from what a lot of teachers in this country (USA) have available to them. So, I had this training that comes from way, way back. It’s such an honor to have been trained that way, and to put it into practice for so many years. I feel that I really do have something to offer that is different from other teachers. …Maybe not so different from what is offered to people in Sweden.
How would you describe the type of weaving instruction that you offer?
I think that what I offer here at Vävstuga is a little bit more traditional; and, perhaps in some places in Sweden they might say “old-fashioned.” There are a lot of wonderful artists in Sweden that are very contemporary. They’re well-trained, and they do amazing beautiful contemporary work, which isn’t what I do. I’m so attracted to the old-fashioned traditional weaving. And it seems that other people are attracted to it as well, enough to come to do what I have to offer.
…To be continued…
May you integrate laughter into your conversations.
Your friend,
Karen
Cotton, linen, wool. Thick, thin, slick, rough, smooth, bumpy. Yarn comes in so many shapes and sizes. But, oh, it’s the colors that draw me in. I love a wall of yarn! I don’t need to have it all, I just want to look at it. Thread on tubes looks spectacular, piled up in cubbies. Yarn in skeins looks inviting. Yarn, thread, fiber… Whatever you want to call it, may I have just a little more, please?
Please come back next week for the lively conversation I had with Swedish weaving expert and founder of Vävstuga Weaving School, Becky Ashenden, in her living room. Find out what makes her tick!
May your days be filled with color!
Just a little more yarn, pretty please,
Karen
This Swedish rosepath is a weft-faced structure, which means the warp is covered by the weft. (To see more of what I wove during my week at Vävstuga Classics, click HERE and HERE.) Yes, you can see this linen warp preceding and following the woven wool weft, but if you look at just the patterned area, the warp is not visible. The treadling is simple (weaving on opposites); and because of many possibilities with pattern and color, designing at the loom is incredibly fun! Do you ever think about the warp that lies under the pattern and color of your life?
At times I find myself so involved in my day-to-day activities that I only think about what needs to get done, forgetting the unseen warp that provides the inner strength I need.
Our creator’s goodness is so constant we can overlook it, forgetting how much we need his goodness to sustain our lives. And it is his unending love that gives meaning and stability to the overlaying patterns and colors that form our days. You do not have to see the warp with your eyes to know it is hidden within the beautiful rosepath weaving. The scenic autumn New England countryside that I enjoyed last week is the creator’s rosepath on display!
(Next week: You don’t want to miss my exclusive conversation with Becky Ashenden, the delightful master weaver of Vävstuga.)
May you discover hidden things worth discovering.
Having fun with rosepath,
Karen