Let's Try This Again

Regarding the two drafts that looked similar in the threading, tie-up and treadling, but were not the same in structure, I was trying to follow what Rose told me in her comments, but I thought I was going to go blind staring at the two drafts. As if she was standing behind me, she recommended I take out the color effect out of the drafts, and now I see that the structures are not identical.

This is the 7-shaft Corkscrew example.

This is the 8-shaft Shadow Weave example.

I'm not sure where I am with the definition of Corkscrew, but at least I got these two sorted, and I think the bottom one is, ummmmm, not a Corkscrew. Don't I, Rose?

Greens

In 2000 or 2001, I did a correspondence course on colors through the Guild. (Actually, the Guild was worried if this foreign-sounding-named person could cope with the course, so I had to have an informal interview of sorts before I got to sign up.) Anyway, before I did that course, I had one shelf of navy blue yarns, one shelf of other blue yarns, and half a shelf of undyed yarns. To do the course, I had to buy a few other colors, so I bought small amounts of yellows and oranges and a little bit of greens.

After I finished the course (which was much too short and brief, and we only started to learn some interesting bits towards the end,) the only thing I knew with a degree of confidence was that there were no inherently ugly colors, but just ugly combinations. So I've started stepping outside my comfort colors, and accumulated a few cones of blacks and reds and purples. But I still don't have a lot from the warmer half of the color wheel, (from about orangey red to mid-green).

I'm looking at the photos of the two green scarves I wove for Area, and the third one hanging in my laundry, and though they make perfect theoretical sense, for me, greens are good for eating and voting, but not really for weaving. It was almost incredible how underwhelming it was to be sitting in front of my loom which was dressed with two greens in the warp. I think it'll be a while before I weave in only in greens again.

OK, I'm Behind、But All Is Good

Georgina's baby was due today; I haven't heard from Georgina, so I'm not sure if the baby arrived. But I can tell you I'm once again behind schedule; for a while I thought I might get the baby blanket done by today so we could deliver it tomorrow, but no, I'm still in the middle of measuring the warp.

I had more warp left on the Area warp than I thought, and I actually got another scarf, plus some samples. Then I super-cleaned the studio yesterday afternoon because I didn't want any coarse wool dust being picked up while I wove the baby blanket. I could also tell you I had to go to the gym, and wasted a lot of time traveling to/from the gym, but gym is for myself, after all, and I'm trying to get out of this negative thinking. So there, all is well. Tonight, I warp the Baby Blanket warp.

Weavers, Help Me Understand!!

I apologize for the "foggy" pictures, but here goes.

From A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns, edited by Carol Strickler, Interweave Press, 1991; the top draft is Example #252 on Page 63 and is an example of a 7-shaft Corkscrew Weave; the bottom draft is #269 (left) on Page 69, and this is an example of a 8-shaft Shadow Weave.

Both warps are in LDLD; both wefts are in DLDL. The appearance is slightly different because the top tie up is in 3/4 twill, whereas the bottom one is in 4/4 twill, (would that be correct?) Anyway, what I wanted to ask was.... Structurally, are they the same???

Chilly

It's been a little chilly here in Nelson for the last few days, but winter in Nelson, at its worst, is still not a very serious winter. Says this Minnesota kid.

Earlier in the week, it was sunny and the air crisp and sparkly, and though I neglected to photograph the Takaka Hills, they've looked almost exactly like the day a year ago when Jay at the Red Gallery agreed to have some of my work at the gallery. And it only feels like yesterday, or this morning. I was shaking so badly I had to sit down on the bench on Trafalgar Street, and I rang Ben, and then I rang my mother in Japan from a cell phone.

A year on, I want to get a little more creative with the pieces I have in the gallery, but I think Jay seems my pieces more as fashion pieces. There is room for discussion, but I'm still proud to have my work there. So once again, may I present to you the photo of the Takaka Hills I shot on 22 June 2006.

I Hope I Never Get Used To This

I'm not sure if I've become a pessimist, but for now, not selling enough work to generate income seems to be the only worry I should have. That, and my slowness. Otherwise I have plenty to keep me feeling happy.

Nelson Arts Marketing have spaces at Nelson Airport terminal building to showcase work by Nelson artists. Though I've always studied and admired many of the works, I never paid much attention to the displays as a potential participant, because everything I've seen have been "hard" stuff; jewelry, pottery, glass, sculpture and a few paintings. Yesterday, I was asked to bring in a few small scarves to be included in the display from August to October.

And, gee, it was nice to be asked. I've been walking on a pink cloud ever since. I hope I never get used to this; I hope every invitation and every inclusion in exhibits always make me feel ticklish and giddy.

If you fly in/out of Nelson Airport between August and October, please look at the bottom of the glass case before you rush off. (Don't worry, I'll post a photo of the display in a month so there's no mistaking what it looks like.)

Craft is Not Inferior Art

I was looking at an old issue of Arts New Zealand at the Red Gallery café, (gosh, doesn't that sound posh!!) and found an article on Jacquieline Fraser, a multi-media artists (I think it's safe to say) whose works are inspired by couture/high fashion. I was looking at the amazing details of Fraser's works, and thinking how much they looked like real garments.

Then I thought, with real garments, the creator/s (the artist? the designer? the pattern cutter? the machinist?) must also consider the utility of the garments, the human body movement, the wear and tear, the give, the texture. So, in fact, there are lots more practical considerations going into a creating real garment than Fraser's beautiful work.

So, going back to the art/craft continuum, utilitarian/applied art/craft is not necessarily inferior to pure visual/decorative art, because of the extra utilitarian considerations that goes into the making. And no matter what you where you want to place high fashion in this continuum, if you can't wear it, it doesn't meet the basic requirements of a garment, right?

OK, who shouted, "What about wearable arts?" Out, you!!

Click on the Exhibition titles on the left to see some photos of Fraser's works.

Creative Standstill

That's me at the Writer's Retreat, amidst a complete creative standstill. And I look exactly the way I felt.

I've been having slow but steady progress as regards weaving, if I don't worry too much about selling, in the last few weeks. In fact, I have three quite exciting prospects I've either begun to participate in, or have had proposed to me, so I should be happier. And I am, as regards weaving.

I'm a little sad, though, that I've had to put my first love, writing, on the back burner for the last seven years, and sadder that I've disappointed my long-time mentor Joan. I don't travel back and forth between my "word world" and "visual world" very well, so I've needed to stay in the "visual" to concentrate on weaving. And to be honest, I don't know if I'll ever give my writing a serious go, outside of the one weekend every year.

Think about it. Wouldn't we all rather have a nice, soft scarf, than a badly-written, smug book of my fiction?

Area 07

I worked on the Nelson/Marlborough/Buller Area (of the New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society) Exhibit submission all week. As my Cross Country Weavers Group Mate Viv named them, I used my "un-Corkscrew weaves" to create two scarves from the same warp. It was wonderful to try not to think about marketing and selling, and to concentrate on what I like to do best.

I finished them on Thursday, and on Friday morning, in a miserably cold and gray morning, I had 15 minutes to photograph, pack, and deliver the scarves to the selection committee office, which is Margaret's house 10 minutes down the road. Poor excuse for a dull, flat-textile photo, but the light was horrible.

These are mid-size scarves, about 30cm wide, and 180cm long, with wool warp and possum/merino/silk weft. The dark green piece, Ben named "Peacock", and has five points where nine gold glass beads accentuate the center of each design repeat; the yellow-green piece I called "Nightingale" because that's what the color is called in Japanese. Both have very fine fringes. The texture is coarser than what I'm used to, because of the type of warp yarn I used, and because there are big areas in plain weave, rather than the twill I like to use lots of.

Area exhibits are important to me because this is the smallest exhibit in the national guild structure (the Society); I'm lucky to be a member of the Marlborough Weavers (the Guild), and I hope to represent my group well, and support the Area activities. I know I sound like a girl scout or some such, but I believe in the grassroots activities of the guilds, and besides, I was terribly relieved to have finished these in time. After we dropped these off at Margaret's, we packed and took off to a weekend Writer's Retreat.

This week, I weave a most luxurious baby blanket for Georgina.

Taitamariki Mihaere

A friend passed away last night. He was a respected man who did a lot for the Maori students at the Polytech and in the community. I think he was younger than me chronologically.

He was a quiet man, but wise. His health hadn't been too great, however, for quite a while.

Once I ran into him a while after I left the Polytech, and he asked me how I was. I told him I was trying to become a weaver, and he asked me how that was going. I told him I loved it, but I'd never be rich. He laughed softly and said , "Oh, kind of like being a musician, then." He told me he used to be a musician.

Back then, I also offered to teach Japanese to Maori students for free, if there was ever any interest. He came back to me perhaps four years later, but by then I was deep into this weaving thing and I couldn't deliver. I don't think I've seen him or spoken to him since. That was about three years ago.

I can just see him walking around quietly in his next place; I hope he doesn't need a walking stick where he's gone. I think he still has a youngish family, so my thoughts are with them.