Getting ready to travel to Sunny Southern California. I’ll be teaching classes on sprang and fingerweaving at HGA’s Convergence® 2012 Long Beach conference, July 15-21. There are still a couple of openings in my classes at http://www.weavespindye.org/? loc=8-00-00 The sprang class will take you through basic interlinking, as well as work with a figure-8 warp, resulting in a cap or bag. There’s a half-day fingerweaving class that introduces the basic method. I’m also teaching a two-day workshop on fingerweaving. Participants in the 2-day workshop can expect to weave a small bag. I’ll also be available for booksigning on Thursday, July 19, 7-8:30 at the HGA booth. In other news, I’ve completed another silk sprang officer’s sash. This one is extra wide. I’m also busy on my loom weaving a couple dozen yards worth of sash (3 inch wide tape) for use on the back side of some mighty fine hooked rugs. Rachelle LeBlanc of hookedrugstudio.com. contacted me earlier this year concerning her project, and now’s the time for me to deliver.
0 Comments
Students at Bannatyne School sewed those ‘sashes’ together, using braids made by the younger students. This tapestry commemorates the 100th anniversary of the school. It celebrates the role of the individual, as well as exemplifying the strength of the community.
Each thread is important. A single thread can make a huge difference. Single threads are fragile, can be easily broken. Many threads together can create something very strong, very beautiful. Here’s the completed tapestry. My husband needed to go for a bit of a road trip, get out of town. We drove west, to Batosch, Saskatchewan. I was thrilled to hear that personnel there had learned to fingerweave from my book. They had several examples of work done by employees as well as visitors. They are working towards leg ties for the interpreters, and eventually sashes. The Saskatchewan prairie is beautiful My husband said I had to include a photo of me as a passenger in the car. It was a ten hour drive. He can’t expect me to just sit there. I attach my weaving to the visor, and tension it under my feet.
The delivery man from Friesens Printing phoned this morning. My books were ready for delivery! Luckily I had help to assist in moving 2000 books from the truck to my living room. This afternoon I’ll be busy taking packages to the post office, all you who pre-ordered! Keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll like what you see in Sprang Unsprung. I should add some photos from my adventures in Grand Portage, Minnesota. We were greeted by a rainbow as we set up camp. I was impressed by the number of people wearing fingerwoven sashes. Michelle Delorme was proud to show me the sash made by her Québec mentor. I always learn new things. Another participant showed me her method for securing the weaving while riding in a car. She uses a pillow. Her weaving was very nice and tight. Kudos. Amazing stories of how sashes call out to people to become weavers. And they have been able to create amazing pieces. She told me the story of the first time she saw a fingerwoven sash, how it moved her, how fingerweaving has helped her re-connect with her French Quebecois heritage. There were lots of other activities, lacross and twoball The setting was really beautiful. I did take an evening to do a bit of hiking. The view was spectacular. Back home, back at work, I’ve set to re-creating those little coin purses, such as the one found among Lord Nelsons things, and featured on the front cover of the book by Martyn Downer: And for the ladies, pockets. This one is based on an image I found on-line from the Williamsburg site.
The Rheault Farm in Fargo was the site of the Fargo Fiber Festival. Amazing demonstrations of diverse fiber techniques, spinning, knitting, quilting, embroidery, stumpwork, tatting, felting, kumihimo, basketry, on and on. I brought my fingerweaving and sprang. A great idea for using up all those extra quilt tops. I’ve set up another pair of sprang socks. This time I want the socks to be long enough to be ‘knee socks’. Here is my inkle loom where I set up the warp. I wove the feet all in one evening. More as the socks progress.
Drove to Thunder Bay last Thursday to attend the Great RendezVous at Historic Fort William. On the way I stopped in at Quetico Park to see the sash I wove for them while artist in residence two years ago. At the RendezVous, I gave a workshop on fingerweaving to participants and Ft William Staff. This woman had learned fingerweaving by herself. She found the book Fingerweaving Untangled in her local library.
The annual Visit with the People of Red River was held yesterday at the Musée de St Boniface. Twelve stations of activities were available. Students made a rotatation through six activities, twenty minutes each during their half-day at the Musée.
My activity has always given students a basic understanding of weaving, and fingerweaving in particular. That’s why I developed the fingerweaving dance twelve years ago. Still working on that sprang book. I’ve sent drafts off for editing. I am amazed at the helpful comments that have come back to me. Details such as staying with the same tense, switching person are just not in my mind when I set out to write these things. Yes, they do make a big difference, will make a cleaner, more readable end product. The book is still in progress. I’ve been developing a simple sprang tutorial. I tested it out on the Manitoba Weavers and Fiber Artists last night.
Trying to break down the technique to its most simple form, I gave them twelve strings and an illustrated how-to printout. They did succeed at creating their samples within 20 minutes time, however I also realize that my directions require clarification, simplification. Thanks so much to the weavers. I’ve been doing some sprang lately. A pair of wooden handles gave me the idea. The fingerweaving class is progressing very well. Five women have progressed to the flame pattern. Today we were joined by members of the group that meet monthly at the St Boniface Museum.
My husband had reason to visit Montreal at the end of April, and I went along too.
I arranged to visit with the curator of the McCord Museum, Cynthia Cooper. Thanks to the instigation of members of the Braid Society and Michelle Beauvais, the McCord Museum is considering an in-depth inventory of their sash collection. I would be very proud to assist them in this work. The current fingerweaving class is going very well. Five students have been very diligent, absorbing the technique like sponges. They have also been faithful to their homework, sailing through the tasks I’ve set for them, stipple, diagonal stripe, vertical stripe and sawtooth, and chevron. My daughter taught them the weekend I was gone to Montreal. She has her own approach, sometimes it’s a good thing to get a different perspective. Students reported favorably, did not seem to miss me much. As a testament to their ability, they all completed an arrowhead during class last Sunday. Two more classes to go, and the world will have five more certified fingerweavers. Such apt students remind me why I am teaching. Such a pleasure to teach people who want to learn. This past week I presented fingerweaving workshops to students at the St James Heritage Fair, as well as to the students of Lord Wolseley School. |
Categories
All
Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|