1H0512-Part 1: Catching Up

Between April 30 and May 8, every alternate day I had occasions to meet and speak with Humans-Other-Than-Ben; that's five in a row of some great and some not so encounters, plus four bad-news emails. I wished I could ignore the bad and the petty but in the mindset I was they turned into multiple conversations in my head, with the bad news circulating far louder and annoyingly more often. I felt like a duck whose back absorbs all water except the good news, feeling fatter, heavier, wetter and wobblier. In one case the conversation was so petty I walked around the house shouting, "I left high school in 1977!". Not worth repeating.

Buchaknow, at times like these, all the memories of teachers who disliked me, the friends who excluded me, the scoldings, the (perceived) slights came back like a bad animation, and I felt I was a terrible person. Funny how good news and compliments really do roll off my back. And thank goodness I had the presence of mind not to cancel spending time with good friends, too; their presence and words got me out of the rut, and reassures me there's nothing wrong in choosing friends wisely. 

I was/am going through a Keanu Reeves binge on the DVD-hire/rental front and saw Thumbsucker one day. I didn't like the film much but the interview between the novel writer Walter Kirn and director Milke Mills was fascinating I watched it two and a half times, and I listened to a bunch of Walter Kirn interviews. I was so relieved to discover there were other chronological-grown-ups who (im)patiently waited to become the adult person s/he felt s/he was meant to be. 

Meanwhile, I finished one cashmere scarf which was half woven and left neglected for months; it's the first piece in the last Log Cabin warp, I think, but the two navy warps are so close in color, size and texture I can't tell the difference. I just remember using two "different" cones, and I rarely have two cones of the same yarns of cashmere. I'm thinking of rethreading it in an undulated twill or some such and joy-weaving the next four.

I put the purple warp (second photo, middle) on the big loom; I don't know what exactly I'll do but I'm thinking of swirly network twill of some description. I've seen enough of them and don't feel excited by them at the moment, but looking at what's available at the Suter Gallery shop, I thought they would look different from anything else, (my other stuff included,) so I think I'm on the right track.

Ben had a week off but it rained the whole week so we splurged on plants, hoping to do something about our place, again, this winter. Right on queue, Monday was a lovely still day and I gardened a couple of hours, followed by another hour and a half on Tuesday. I felt a wee ting on left wrist on Monday, but by Tuesday lunchtime the tings had spread to both wrists and elbows. I didn't garden Wednesday or Thursday but made the mistake of reading blogs on Thursday and made it worse by not using the mouse but fiddling with the tiny touch pad. I couldn't think of anything interesting I could do at home, so yesterday I went into town to run errands and saw two movies, but the familiar dry, white feeling on my muscles are definitely bad. Darn. (She types as she confesses.)

In the mail today were rug wool purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Fest 2011 from Rachel Beckman in my kind of dirty yellow, (bliss!) and handspun by Dot, silk with merino dyed in Australia. The first house we rented in New Zealand was on Waratah Street in Auckland, an Australian plant the yarn source is named after; I like this kind of coincidences. Thank you very much, both.

True Story

This is my understanding. 

Artist A makes a piece of work.

Artist B lends own artwork to Artists A to have said artwork photographed by a professional photographer; let's call one of these photos Photograph C.

The artwork is shown in a group exhibition by Organization D. Photograph C is "loaned" to local Newspaper E, (owned by Media Company F,) and goes on Organization D's website.

Three years passes.

Artist G makes artworks and exhibits at Gallery H. Artist G is interviewed and artworks photographed by local Newspaper I's Staff J, (and a photographer?). Staff J's article appears and all is good.

Newspaper I's Staff K, however, compiles events/calendars section, and dips into Media Company F's pool of photographs and picks Photograph C to decorate the notice for Artist G's exhibition; Artist B uses the same techniques as Artist G.

Tiny hell breaks loose; there are at least five more peripheral players who know almost all other players to a certain degree; said events/calendars may have appeared online only for one week only, (it's gone now); the copyrights of the photograph is murky, as is Media Company F's policies. You can imagine it all happened in a very small place.

Artist B, perhaps ill-advised, protested to Gallery H instead of/at the same time as Newspaper I. Gallery H, most astonishingly, was unaware of the misleading photograph in the events/calendars section concerning their exhibition, and did not inquire/protest to Newspaper I.

Staff K unapologetically explained picking Photograph C from Media Company F's files. The two Newspapers do not, to my knowledge/experience, explain to interviewees and all concerned all photos are free-for-all within the larger Media Company F. Sometimes they don't discuss copyrights at all. Not sure if Staff K even checked with Staff J if there were photos from the exhibition.

So what did I learn from this?

A) Know my rights, study copyrights, and if someone wants to use my photos, discuss the extent of what I'm allowing. (I find this very hard, but Ben does it well with all his photos.) I don't mean I want to hold on to all my photos in all instances with an iron fist, but to consider various possibilities and decide/know where I stand in the first instance, how far I will allow others to go. With me, usually a heads-up before the event covers most instances, but this is thin ice. 

B) Clarify my thoughts, and clarify understanding/agreements if other parties are involved.

C) Do everything I can to prevent whatever is beyond what I can allow; learn technology/computerese if need be.

D) In the end, don't be surprised to find anything anywhere and don't be afraid to ask/protest.

Attitudes towards copyrights in New Zealand is alarmingly relaxed, both by the pinchers and the pinchees; I didn't even like the term "pinch" used to lighten the impact of what is in some cases theft.

The above case was made worse by two distinct views on copyrights from different backgrounds. I feel sick at how not alarmed some involved are; Ben and I worked for IBM so you can imagine where we stand, but by the same token, understand once something is on the Internet, anything goes, including a "proper" media company with a public publication (!).

The story ends with Artist B ringing Gallery H to explain the situation, in addition to communicating with one of the artist exhibiting at Gallery H. And pointing out to Staff K it is very slack journalism and to mark Photograph C as something akin to "not for general use".

What are your thoughts?

By the way, Interweave has a free Copyright 101 for Weavers.

Stuff

I've been frugal of late, you know, relative to the way I've been for a few years, and so much so compared to how I was longer ago. But I thought I'd show you some recent acquisitions because the nice thing about frugality is, I appreciate more what I do get, which is a lovely, satisfying feeling.

Two two cones are 4-ply cottons I got from DEA at the Festival; they are thicker versions of my fav 20/2s with some of the same colors. I've wanted to sample these every since they came out. 

The leg/arm warmer is from DEA as well; Kylie, Deanna's helper at the Festival, had a pair of black ones on her arms and extolled the virtues of these, in particular over fingerless gloves. I haven't decided if I'll keep them or send them to Mom, who complains her upper arms get cold, but they are cheerful and soft and warm!  

The tiny Japanese bamboo bobbins were gifts from lovely Sampling. And as they come from the same outlet as my tiny bobbins, they fit; the size of the holes are good in about 2/3 of them, a smidgen too small in the rest, but that would be easy to fix. Sampling tells me they come in a bag of 100; something to keep in my mind.

And lastly, I found the Saori Tie Rod at Kaz's and thought it would be great to try particularly with cashmere warps on my four-shaft loom to eliminate as much waste as possible.

The idea is so simple and straight forward; you clip the warps inside a groove in the the dowel and hold them down the flat stick which fits into the grove and bands, at the start of the warp/project. Years ago, I tried a similar idea by winding the warp around one dowel and holding them down with another dowel and many, many rubber bands, but warps started slipping and it didn't work.; I intended to try the same idea with flat stick next, but never did.

I should be careful with the tension when I try this because sometimes, especially on the Big Loom and with cottons, I weave under high tension to the point I have snapped flat sticks and pine dowels at the back of the loom and bent and destroyed a brand-new, hollow, stainless steel dowel.

Goodness, that's long enough on the computer. Mom and I were on Skype for after the third paragraph! Lunch, then garden.

Finished at Last

Oh, dear. Post drafts are accumulating again. It must mean I'm doing well staying away from the computer, and working more. (It's relative, I know.) I even tidied the flower pots a little, although "tidying" is relative, visible only to someone who lives here.

This is my attempt at trying to quieten what appeared to me like discordance in the warp colors, and I still think it turned out unintentionally "Japanese", but do you see that? 42EPI with matching 20/2 weft gives this one a real drapy, clothy hand.

And this, with the finer 60/2 weft, is what it is.

Oh dear. Oh well, one piece for me.

The cloth part, I like, but the selvedge is so bad I'm beyond embarrassed. I was alert and unwove, (not crazy about the word "unpicked" because I'm a weaver, not a picker,) sections some days, but other days I missed/ignored large sections. While designing. I was careful about shafts 1 and 3 which is where the far left and right warps were threaded, but that wasn't enough. I don't remember having this much problem the last time I wove with the same combination of threads. BBBE scarves were slightly wider on the loom from memory, sleyed at 36EPI instead of 42, and I used the end-feed shuttle. This time I used the Swedish boat shuttle because I thought its lighter weight would be more suitable, but a 42EPI warp would have held the heavier shuttle and might have been a better choice. I also know the body likes certain width better than others, allowing the weaving to go inexplicably smooth and fast, but I've never examined this aspect.

I had a bad, bad evening Thursday night, pressing these two. You know, the recurring self doubt. In my case it's either: "when will I get better technically?" or "How long do I have to do this to remember THIS? I've been here before!!" On a rare occasion I put on a short dummy warp just to improve my picks; more likely when sampling I try to slow right down and practice good selvedge for that particular warp/draft, but when I'm doing the "real" weaving, I tend to prefer to have a rhythm. Oh dear.

There is another conundrum. Physical exercise is good for mild to moderate depression. I know from experience moving the body can sometimes get me out of (the perception of) tiredness or low mood instantly, and other times it rewards me for doing at least "this" much. For  me, weaving or gardening works better than exercises, and this is why my garden gets a fairly good, (relative,) workout in the winter. The last couple of weeks I've been physically tired with no correlative reason, and though the mood has been up and down a bit, I have not been depressed. So I made myself weave.

I was counting on the motion of weaving putting me instantly in the singing-and-twinkle-toe-weaving mood again because I've got so much to weave. Instead, I stayed tired and mayhem takes place on the loom. And because I try not to rely so much on my feelings/perception at these times, (which may be a mistake, I really don't know,) I don't know if/when I should work just a little more or quit right away.

Another issue is, I am getting older, less fit, and even shorter. I am a small person weaving on a big loom, and although we've done everything we could to modify the big loom to suit my body, I wonder if my body is finding it harder. And that's the most comfortable of all my looms!

So I'm trying to do more general exercises, not specifically to improve my mood, but to prevent the body from being even less fit. That's seems to easiest place to get started. 

Oh, dear.

Still, to busy to get depressed.

May Already (Even for the Other Side of the International Dateline)

I've been weaving this very scarf for... ever. An hour a day should give me around 30cm, but a week-plus on, I have only 120cm, so what's wrong with my math?? I had hoped to finish it yesterday, but today, I think it'll take two more sittings.

The cloth part is looking lovely, showing different colors in different lights, but the selvedges in some parts look like the Wild Wild West with gunfights and tumbleweed. I don't know if it will make a merchandise.

* * * * *

During April, I tried to do a "self portrait" every day, though some days I had to make up for the missing days, and I still haven't done one for April 30. They are not serious attempts, mind you, and the project was not as onerous as I had expected. 

This is the kind of portraits I intended to work on, i.e. the body shape (!!!), but in more details and various styles, (of drawing). I did a lot of half-blind gesture-contours with pencils, color pencils, charcoal and conte; also some digital manipulation of photos, (but not of drawings, I wonder why,) a collage of my drawing, and when I was really tired, I scanned/printed photos and drawings and colored them in.

I ended up with quite a few closeups of face, face parts, or hand, the main reason being I often drew these plonked in front of a small mirror and as the last task for the day.

The problem with a small mirror was I couldn't seen the whole face in focus so drawing one part at a time made the face out of proportion. I think the eyes were most often much larger than in real life. Resulting face shapes and the impression one gets from the face is inaccurate, (if an impression can be inaccurate,) and proportion being my biggest weakness, practicing every day didn't help me improve.

And this was my best-effort, goody-two-shoes style. (4B pencil on pink paper.) I think my face is even wider and shorter, and this looks more like my mother than me. Working on inexpensive cartridge paper in funky colors helped me not take the project seriously and choosing the color of the paper was often the best part of the evening.

I'm getting my April stuff bound at the copy place; that's my thing now, compiling bits of paper and getting them bound with the recovered/recycled binding material. The bound "books" give me the satisfaction of fishing projects, albeit small.

I'm following an old Design Study guideline and continuing on a similar theme of "Self" in May, (though I didn't do anything yesterday.) I'm expanding the definition of my subject, so I may even manipulate (destroy?) printouts of famous self-portraits. Come to think of it, I should list ways I could manipulate images before I forget. I'm not sure if this is going to lead me to the collaborative piece for the October exhibition.

How to Enjoy your 22nd Anniversary

Well, go to the Festival, among other things. I've been tired all week, so we had a slow start. We had breakfast, headed east, had lunch at Havelock; got to the Festival around 1PM, caught up with some friends as much as you can in a Festival front foyer, browsed the Trades hall, bought two cones of 4-ply cottons I intended to try; Ben wanted to see the National Exhibition, took lots of pictures meanwhile and had a few taken of us wearing funny hats; finally headed back west, stopping for a Green-lipped-muscles dinner in one of our fav restaurants, in Havelock again; came home, watched TinTin, ate ice ream, and went to bed.

"Important people have fascinators," said Joan; she's speaking to Maria, of Group R, who visited the Festival for the day.

Rose's double-weave vest, my fav piece in the venue decoration; I predict Ben will ask me for a photographer's vest, so shhhhh.....

A knit hat with possum fur; only in New Zealand where possums are pests.

Polite Customer; my money is on someone's husband or son seconded to deliver something pronto to the venue!

The best thing about knowing my stash was I only bought two small cones of 4-ply cottons, something I intended to sample for a while anyway. It's a lot of work for the vendors, though, and I appreciate them coming; just wished there were more of them that catered to weavers.

We were all supposed to wear something handmade; I didn't get around to putting a cashmere collar on another top, so I brought our hats. And wore them just for a few minutes.

The all-important red dot towards my Brisbane Trip fund. Joan told me there was a session held by the Exhibition selector on Friday evening, during which the speaker said my piece would be handy in an airport when your flight has been delayed because there is so much to look at; I am considering calling my block weave scarves "Airpot Lounge" series or similar... (Are you thinking, "flag of Japan" too?)

I've posted pics on the Festival and Marlborough Weavers blogs as well. As I said in the last post, my tenure as regards those group blogs are over; I'm a smidgen sad, but greatly relieved after 19 and 39 months respectively. I can really devote myself to the October exhibition work. Without distraction. Like, Facebook. Ya know. And other ideas. Like life after the October exhibition.

Busy Tuesday

I've been good; I've been working consistently, on many projects, so as not to aggravate my arm because I was naughty last week. However, working hard and diligently doesn't guarantee good results, does it?

I finally started weaving the second scarf from the previous warp, in three orange and three pale yellow-green 60/2 cottons. And though the designs pop up nicely, the selvedge is... let's just say I wouldn't post a close-up shot of it.

I've been sampling for the "Pillars" project and it's not going well; for one thing I don't have enough warp nor weft I selected to weave five pieces of 60cm by 300cm pieces; for another, my favorite weft is too, too skinny and while it produces a lovely stiff gray cloth, I'm hesitant to apportion 10 weeks for weaving this one project at this point. So I've taken out everything I have in white, gray and black, combining them and sampling on a table-loom-with-legs, (Louet Kilk), which is too low if I stand up, but whose Shaft 7 and beyond are out of reach if I sit down. I'll post when I have some kind of a decision made.

This coming Thursday-Sunday is the much-awaited Festival in Blenheim, and even though I was only peripherally and remotely involved, I am feeling, also, a proportional load off my shoulder this week. I've done admin work to bring the Festival-related Internet stuff to a tidy end at the end of the month. As well, I'm handing over the Marlborough Weavers blog to Rose, so I can concentrate on the October Exhibition, ostensibly from May 1, but realistically from around mid-May.

I've also been playing around with the idea of (self-)portrait for the collective work. Nothing serious, yet, just looking up famous painted portraits, doodling my face, that kind of thing. Again, more on this when I have something to show you,

As if the Weaving Goddess is rewarding me, I got two more envelopes this evening. 

The top one is "The Netherlands Kasjmiek silk" from JM, and it came in a cheerful handmade envelope! Below is hand-dyed (??) cotton from Daniella Zeni Bomatter in France.
I like more and more the idea of combining the idea of self-portrait with the friendship aspect in one piece.

Chillly Thursday Morning

My arms tell me I shouldn't weave so much today. I'm a little worried about the optimistic calculation mentioned in yesterday's post; I think a drastic change in my work schedule in my head is in order. So here I sit, looking at interesting images, checking FB settings, being frustrated once again at "We're sorry. Due to publishing rights restrictions, we are not authorized to sell this item in the country where you live," from yet another business to whom I pay a small monthly subscription. (Audible.com this time.) Anyhoo, here are two random thoughts.

* * * * *

Guatemalan Barbies. Yes. You can see plenty of pics and read the pros and cons. I was instantly amazed at the costumes, suspected they may be handwoven, at least in parts. And apparently they are. I have inherited my mother's great loathing for Barbies, (she never bought me anything to do with Barbie, though I got a whole load of hand-me-downs from one aunt; Mom stuck with Tammy and her kind for me, which I liked equally, so I wasn't deprived!!) and I have problems further propagating the idea or visuals of Baribie, regardless of this venture is aimed at tourists or local girls. On the other hand, if it helps to bring income to local crafters, (and textile makers in Guatemala are largely, if not completely, women,) and if it helps to make known to the wider world the handmade-ness, the crafters, and the textiles themselves, I find myself leaning more towards than away from the idea.

If nothing else, it's a brilliant marketing ploy, don't you think?

Sample articles: here and here. I'd love to hear what you think.

* * * * *

Sketchbook Project 2013 was announced, and before I knew it I had signed up for it. The sketchbooks themselves have been changed; though there are no pictures, it sounds like they are a bit sturdier and amenable to all our carrying/dragging/working-on and what not. And being handled by exhibition visitors later. I know Arthouse is pretty prompt and I'll receive mine in the few weeks, but I've half a mind to hide it until October 1. Or carry it around but promise not to work on it until October 1. Or not.

The idea I'm toying with is to create a group of weavers or textile artists to share ideas, show each other stuff, or just enjoy each other's company. I know there are groups for textile artist Sketchbook Project participants, but the reason why I have been toying with the idea is because I swore last time that if I were to take part in another Sketchbook Project, I'd like to highlight handwoven cloths, so our group, (either created or stumbled-upon by me,) would concentrate on something to do with the handmade or cloths, not assembled. And this is not a aesthetic/moral/value judgment, but just a narrow focus.

I'm just thinking/typing out loud at the moment. And a little in denial about weaving 15 meters in dusty gray wool.   

"Pillars"

I've made some progress/decisions for "Pillars".

1) I'm going to weave not narrow tubes but banners, (flat pieces), because a)I don't want to sacrifice shafts, and b) I can hang banners in more varied ways than tubes, though these are just examples and I'm not going to hang then in a quirky or "funny" way.

2) Pat let me hang my life-size "models" from her deck railing today, and we both instantly liked the 60cm width, on its own, and in comparison to others. She said something about the proportion made the 60cm look best, and told me not to even think about another live model 50cm wide. Fine by me!! These "models" are 318-319cm long as I thought 320cm would be a good length to hang under rafters 365cm high, but we decided "all the way to the floor" wasn't necessarily a good look, so I'm going to aim for 300cm, or 3m, finished.

3) I need five pillars; that was both of our gut feelings; each piece big enough to be interesting on its own, but enough of them to collectively do something interesting. So, five pieces of 60cm by 300cm banners, with sleeves for dowels at the top and bottom. I think a 20m warp, minimum. I'm giving myself the whole of May to weave them, but if a 180cm scarf takes four to five days, I'm not sure if this is good math!!

4) I'm going to go for a complicated/pretty look. I haven't selected the structure yet, but it would have to be one that allows me to modify the drafts slightly so I can have three variations; I want the top of the pillar to look slightly fussier/finer than the middle, the middle slightly fussier/finer than the bottom, in the same way Greeks made the pillars tapered to accommodate for... perspective, was it? But without changing the size of the weft yarns, so for e.g. by varying the proportions of twill. 

5) I have 7000m of the warp yarn and 8723m of the weft. I don't know yet if this is going to be enough. Just washing several strands, (i.e. no interlacement,) the warp shrank to 87.5% of the original length, the weft, 93%. I put a short warp for sampling last night, just to determine shrinkage and sett and to see if the pattern can be... seen; the weft is only slightly darker than the warp. I started at 18EPI, which is much closer than I had wanted. But I love the color of the warp and how it fulls, (very old wool from Mom's stash,) so I'm sticking with it.

To "enlarge" the patterns so it can be felt if not exactly seen from below, I might have to use a tied weave, in which case as I weave/"climb" up the pillar I may be able to change the color of the plain weft. There is going to be loads of sampling for this project, I can tell. Goody! (But then I'll have to weave the banners.)

6) I spoke to an electrician about lighting; I told him I wanted the pillars lit up like those in Greek ruins and fronts of old museums. We brain-stormed a little, and he's going to meet me and discuss in situ closer to the time, as well as look for LED lights I can hire instead of buy.

Changing Threads exhibition is coming down on Sunday; if I wanted to I could go test out the 60cm-wide "model" in situ, but I feel 60cm is good to go; even when I was cutting out the models, that one felt just right, you know; I should put more trust in my gut instincts. I'll report back after I've done some preliminary sampling. I'll also show you my "doll house".

The Latest

I like Tatsumura's cloths, but it's not what I aspire to weave. For one thing, I don't like the old, musty, Chinese-influenced motifs; I've seen too many in museums, often in the unpopular old ceramics, wood carvings and metals sections. For another, I'm not crazy about the colors; to me, they are neither Chinese colors, nor Japanese colors we wear in our kimonos. (Though one can find kimonos in those colors if one knew where to go and had loads of money.) Tatsumura and the other companies reek of Imperial taste. So, lovely to admire, but not exactly... inspiring?

Besides, I'd need tiny boys sitting on top of my loom, or a Jacquard loom to weave these, and if ever I have access to a Jacquard, I'd much rather weave lovely large flower, oak leaf, or grapevine motifs; you've seen them; think old curtains. Bliss.

Still, the current piece is taking on a rather Japanese mood. This photo was taken under a whole lot of artificial lights so it look glittery, but the wefts look like I'm going to work on some tanmono, kimono fabric!