For many months, I have been working on a new Woven Woman that is based on Rumi’s poem:
‘We came whirling out of nothingness
Scattering stars like dust…..
The stars made a circle
and in the middle
we danced’
I wove the words on the magical narrow band loom that my son and I created- LINK
using a double slotted rigid heddle.
To weave the letters, I graphed out my hand writing and experimented until the letters wove up in a pleasing manner, both technically, and aesthetically.
I also used the dragonfly and star looms that I designed for Dewberry Ridge looms – LINK
And, I included some tatting, too.
I made the face and hands from 1/2 inch plywood and the backdrop from 1/4 inch plywood.
She’s a departure from the direction I have been going with my Woven Women, so I really questioned myself about her.
She spent quite a long time on the dining room table as I moved her component parts from here to there.
And now, completed, she measures 11 inches wide and from the top of the arch to the tassel at her hem is more than 60 inches.
But, I feel really drawn to weave words right now, so I will continue to do more….
I made the ratchets and pawls from purpleheart wood, cut the ends and sides into the shapes I wanted, made the warp and cloth beams and started painting it.
I loved it, but found it a bit too big to hold in my lap while weaving, and I didn’t have the perfect table to sit it on and weave comfortably.
So, I asked Angus to take some funky old legs that I had bought at a garage sale, and build a stand for the loom.
I made the metal image of the Dreaming Lady of Malta with sheet metal, using the repousse technique of pressing and shaping the metal from the back.
Because I work with my dreams and use them as one of the main sources in my art and artisanship, I felt that placing an image of the Beautiful Dreamer was a great metaphor.
I am so excited- I have just learned more exciting things about weaving with the double hole rigid heddle loom!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
The other day, I posted a video about how thrilled I was because I had finally figured out how to weave with the double hole or 2 holed rigid heddle loom. Link to previous blog post
I had extrapolated from how I wove pickup on the inkle loom, and was, to put it bluntly, wrong wrong wrong about so much of what I was doing.
A lady on the Braids and Bands list LINK on yahoo very politely, graciously and gently let me know that there was a much better way to weave with the double hole rigid heddle.
She told me that the Latvian way is to NOT drop the background strands, but to keep them in the weaving- and ONLY drop the pattern threads when they are not called for in the pattern.
That way, they would form tabby weaving, with no long floats (Happy dancing!) with the pattern threads showing up beautifully in reverse on the back of the band! H A P P Y HAPPY DANCING!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
Look at the difference! the bit of band on the left was my first way, and the bit of band on the left is the right way!
Who wouldn’t want their bands to be sturdier, and reversible?
AND here’s MORE good stuff:
I also decided to get over my attachment to the weaving stick, and to keep my hot little hands out of the weaving, and to weave it like a traditional weaver (I almost added the ‘put on the big weaver panties, but didn’t, oh wait, I just did….) and weave the band ONLY with my shuttle.
Well, of course, that speeds things up and I am now clipping along like Daisytrains, merrily weaving MUCH nicer bands!
Not perfect, but oh soooooooooooo much better!
I have deleted the first video, and have made another, showing my next stage of the journey.
Once, when I was a child, I must have said something very stupid, because my father raised his eyebrow, fixed me with a baleful gaze and pronounced that Abraham Lincoln had declared that it was better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.
ouch.
Well, I think that Abraham Lincoln and my father weren’t ~always~ right about remaining silent.
If I hadn’t had the courage to speak up and be willing to be found wrong about what I was doing with this, I would STILL be doing it wrong.
So, I say: Be willing to be thought a fool.
Speak up and ask.
There are kind people out there who are willing to show you a different way of doing something, and that way may make a world of difference in a skill that you are learning.
BUT… you’ll never know if you don’t have the guts to say:” This is what I am working on – got any suggestions?”
Besides, when you have big ‘aha’ moments in your learning curve, it can really be useful to other people!
So, that being said: Here’s the latest installment in my voyage of discovery with the 2 hole rigid heddle loom!
Last week, I wrote about weaving healing and prayer shawls on my Cricket Loom, using a method that I have developed (the mitered loop shawl). Here’s the link to the tutorial
This is one of the shawls that I have just woven for my daughter. The colors didn’t show up at all well… sigh. It’s much prettier in person! Much more turquoise-y.
Recently, my sister-in-law had an abscess in her brain, which is devastating and life threatening.
Her friends and family rallied around her and have formed a loving caregiving team.
I decided that as part of my caregiving, I would weave healing and prayer shawls for her and some of her closest friends.
So, I warped up the Cricket Loom from Schacht (I love this loom…. it’s beautifully engineered and weaves like a dream. It’s small enough to be portable – you can weave in the car, and big enough to handle full size projects.)
Here’s the Cricket warped up for one of the healing / prayer shawls:
I put approximately 150 inches of warp onto the loom, which is pushing the limit, but there’s a reason for that.
I used Caron Simply Soft combined with some tweed weaving thread from my stash for the warp, and the tweed thread for the weft.
I used 2 strands of yarn in each of the slots and holes. I put the tweed yarn only in the holes and the mixture of yarns in the slots.
After I wove the long strip of fabric, I folded it, and stitched the ends together like this:
This forms a long loop. Trim the excess warp strands to a few inches. If you use a sewing machine, use a zig zag stitch. If you do it by hand, work a Philipine edge first to secure the warp strands
Now, fold the ends into points:
Pin the folds in place, and sew the center seam. Stitch the ends in place, and steam and press.
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