Three days is almost too short for threading looms, sleyingreeds, tying on, and tying up. And designing and weaving a realdouble binding rag rug. But with this fantastic group of weavers, we did it! It is satisfying to hear a roomful of looms at work. Beaters banging, treadles clacking, and exclamations of “Oh, look at this!,” and “Karen, Help!” The highlights for me are seeing the amazing designs created by each individual, and watching the delight in each weaver’s face as she rolls out her own rug on the floor.
Morning sunlight at the cabin in the woods where we are staying.Red Scottie Fibers in Eureka Springs, Arkansas is hosting the workshop.Six looms with weavers setting up for weaving double binding rag rugs.Janet’s was one of the first rugs off the loom.Gayle’s reaction to seeing her new rug on the floor was a spontaneous happy dance!Double binding rag rugs and four of the rug designers.
May you make something beautiful and do your own happy dance.
This time I get to teach. I enjoy being a student, learning new things, and new ways of doing things. I also love to teach. It is a wonderful opportunity to come alongside a learner, to lead someone to see what they can achieve, to open up a door to fresh possibilities. This week I am in the teacher role. I’m eager to get to know the students and see the double binding rag rugs they will create as a result of our focused time together. And I am looking forward to learning what the students will teach me!
Compiling notes and assembling folders takes place in my office, which is in my music studio.
With my checklist in hand, I make little piles of supplies, tools, and examples in my weaving room.Workshop supplies are stacked in plastic bins. The big duffle bags holds example double binding rugs.Car is packed while there is still daylight. Road trip begins very early the next morning.
Do people know how much fun it is to weave rag rugs? Next week I’ll be in Arkansas teaching what I love. This ten-yard warp is giving me ample rehearsal time for explaining double binding techniques. Mostly, though, I want to introduce students to the thrill of rag rug weaving!
Double binding uses two ski shuttles, because the structure has two layers woven together. Each side of the rag rug is the reverse of the other side.
I am puzzled by weavers who are not fond of weaving rag rugs. “It’s too slow,” I’ve been told. “It doesn’t interest me.” And what about weavers who have never attempted to weave a rag rug? “What?!” I want to say, “You have a weaving loom, and you’ve never tried weaving a rag rug?” That tells you more about me than it does about them. People are drawn to what they know and love, and they see that thing differently than someone who is not drawn to it.
The goodness of God is like that for me. I’m drawn to it. God is good. One famous saying of Jesus is that the pure in heart will see God. That motivates me to examine my own heart. I can’t think of anything better than seeing the goodness of God.
May you be drawn to good things.
(There is one opening left in my double binding rag rug workshop next week at Red Scottie Fibersin Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It’s not too late to sign up! If you’re interested, let me know.)
I just spent three days at Weaving Southwest in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico, studying tapestry techniques with Teresa Loveless. It was a great experience! “Habitat, a Study in Verticals” is a fun and informative class, with exceptional personal attention given to each student. The looms are Rio Grande walking looms that were designed by Teresa’s grandmother, Rachel Brown. You weave standing up!
This stunning double rainbow over the mountains greeted us on our first evening in Arroyo Seco. Images like this inspire countless artisans in New Mexico.
The emphasis for this class is vertical joins in weft-facedplain weave tapestry. Teresa uses memorable words and phrases that help students remember techniques. Just ask me about threads kissing! Besides the vertical joins, we also practiced other tapestry and shuttle techniques, including pick and pick, color gradation, and hatching. Finishing techniques, like sewing in loose threads, stitching slits, braiding fringe, and blocking the finished piece were covered at the end of the last day.
Standing in front of the Rio Grande walking loom I used at Weaving Southwest, after weaving the first portion of my design.Five students in the class each have a loom.
We had a fabulous selection of Weaving Southwest’s own rug wool in rich, fabulous colors. To take advantage of the hand-dyed wool’s unique features, I chose background colors that had an almost variegated appearance.
Color gradation with three shades of red, using “wavy lines.”Pick and pick, creating vertical stripes of color, is one of my favorite techniques. Maybe I will make an entire wool rug using pick and pick.Just enough time to add some hatching at the end portion of my piece. Fun!
I will show you my finished piece in an upcoming post. And I will share a personal conversation I had with Teresa, talking about her big dreams.
Efficiency isn’t always faster. I cut these two rugs off even though there is still warp on the loom, because an empty cloth beam enables me to get optimum warp tension for the next rug. It does take additional time and effort to tie back on, but I get better results in the long run. So I call it efficient.
Listening is like that. Most of us think we are too busy to learn new things. But listening well increases our learning capacity. It does take effort, but it is the kind of effort that brings rewards. Good listening habits increase learning efficiency.
How do you hear? Since listening is key to learning and growing, consider these four ways of listening.
Casual listening. In one ear and out the other.
Convenient listening. Interested only as long as it is easy.
Distracted listening. Divided attention.
“Receiving” listening. Fully engaged attention, with fertile soil for seeds of learning to grow.
“Receiving” listening takes effort and attentiveness, but is the most efficient kind of listening because it produces the best results. None of the effort is wasted, and little by little you see the seeds of learning begin to grow into fruit to share with others.
I would love to have you join me in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, August 27-29, 2015. I will be at Red Scottie Fibers at the Shoppes at Fleece ‘N Flax to teach a Double Binding (Dubbelbindning) Rag Rug Workshop. I will take you through the steps to design and weave one of these beautiful rag rugs of your own. Small class size; few openings left. Contact me if you would like more information.
