In August I went on a trip with my husband to the Islands off the coast of British Columbia. We stayed on Mayne Island for a few days, then on to Saturna Island. On Saturna, I met a wonderful weaver, Teresa Higgins. She toured me through her studio. We shared ideas for working with grade school students. She has a wonderful ‘worry doll’ kit. A delightful thing! Back home, it was back-to-school time.
I participated in the annual Scottish Heritage Parade in downtown Winnipeg. In 2012 they will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first Scottish settlers in the Red River area. The Living Prairie Museum held an end-of-the Summer event on Sunday, Sept 12. I attended with my sash display, and of course, the sash weaving dance. In September as well, I was invited by the Alliance Française of Manitoba to speak with Pascal Jaouen, an amazing embroiderer. Mr Jaouen is participating in a cultural exchange. Have a look at his website http://www.ecoledebroderie.com/pascal_jaouen.htm Photos cannot do justice to the quality of work done by this man. Yes, the decorations on the clothes on that website are all hand embroidery. Anyhow, Mr Jaouen was in Winnipeg to have a look at Métis culture. Alliance Française called on me to show him Métis fingerweaving. What an honor to meet such a master. It seems that a set of pieces are to be created, I cannot wait to see them. In the midst of all this, yes, I am seriously working on another book, this time on Sprang. I’ve located several examples of the use of this technique in North America before Columbus. It’s such a lovely, flexible technique. I’m working on the step-by-step of it all. I had a few pages written up and laid out. I took them along on my travels in early October. Yes, in early October I did a bit of travelling. First up was the Textile Society of America Symposium. I met up with textile enthusiasts and specialists from all over, Textile Museum curators from the US, Mexico, and Canada, weavers, academics, and others. Hoping to put these contacts to good use, learning more about sprang, and marketing my fingerweaving book, as well as the soon-to-be sprang book. Next was the annual War of 1812, that is to say Mississinewa 1812, held annually near Marion, Indiana. There I display my weaving, sell a few sashes, as well as fingerweaving books. I met up with Peg, who has been participating with me on the Yahoo sprang list. She saw my sprang sweater in person, and reviewed my prototype sprangbook pages. Thanks Peg, I’ll have more for you to look at soon. Then on to Chicago to visit with my cousin, Peg. And to the Field Museum, where I was granted a look at sashes in their archives. Too bad, as the collections manager stressed, the Field Museum collection began long before museum science existed. Some of their sashes look pretty old, but without provenance the age and culture of origin is anyone’s guess. Ah well. Nevertheless, it is lovely to see sashes done by other people, come to better understand what has been done in the past, collect ideas for future work. Last but not least, I was able to attend a meeting of the North Shore Weavers. It’s always fun to meet other weavers. This group was as lively as any, a real treat to meet you gals.
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I’ve been doing some research. Frances Densmore, writing in the book Chippewa Customs, describes the work of a woman creating a sprang sash, working around stakes in the ground. I followed her directions and found the technique to work quite well. I created a bag, photographing the process. OK, now I’m going to retract a bit. Technically this is NOT sprang, as you get but one row of cloth for every row worked. The technique to be described is what I’m now calling ‘unsprung sprang’, that is, the simple interlinking technique. Interlinking is a stepping stone to sprang. True sprang uses the tangled mass, trapping it at the bottom of a frame … nevertheless, the following is as accurate as I can make out to the technique described by Densmore and her observations of the Ojibwa in the early 1900s. This is the bag I made. The bag is worked in a long skinny rectangle. Starting at the bottom of the bag, you sprang towards the string ends, then return to the bottom and sprang in the other direction, up the other side of the bag. Finally you attach the drawstring and sew up the sides with an invisible seam. What you need: I used strings that were about 30 inches (80 cm) long. Tie them together in a knot midway along the length. Use the contrasting color of string and large needle to organize these threads, dividing them into bunches of four: The red yarn goes around each bunch of four threads. The bunch of yarn is attached to the notched stick by the red yarn. The stick will help to hold the yarn bunch. Attach the whole affair to a fixed point. In the picture above, I attached the yarn bunch to a chair across the corner of my work table. Now pick up two threads from each bunch of four. Begin spranging. After weaving about 8 inches (20 cm) I figured this part was long enough. I now returned to the initial shed at the stick. I removed the stick, and slipped a knitting needle into the first row. I am thinking that I should have put a ‘safety cord’ in the first shed to facilitate this a bit. This spot will be the very bottom of the bag. I’ve spranged one side of the bag, and will now sprang up the other side. I left the red yarn in marking the place where I turned around. It marks the place of the bottom of the bag. I work in this direction, the piece grows in length. I continue to sprang until the red yarn is at the halfway point: I tied the warp strings in groups of four, catching the draw-string cord. The sides are sewn up, if you’re careful, it can be an invisible seam. The pros and cons of a sprang frame.
The frame hold the threads firmly in order. It also catches the ‘false weave’ the reverse of the work. The cloth grows at a rate twice as fast. The frame can be difficult to put in your backpack for you to take and work on it anywhere. The no-frame technique requires only a stick and a fixed point attachment site. It can be rolled up and mashed in a backpack, taken out anywhere to keep your hands busy. The novice is nervous that the threads will get out of order. With a little bit of practice, you learn to keep your eye on the previous row. An elder said, “Listen to the threads, they will tell you where they want to go. (The student said, “The threads speak a foreign language.”) Another trade-off is that the free ends do not collect the reverse work. You un-do the ‘false weave’ as a tangle near the cut ends. It’s a bit slower, but if the idea is to have a project that fills up your ‘lost time’ you are wanting a project that is not completed too quickly, right? How long does it take? That depends on how fat the yarn, how long the strands, how big a bag you’re wanting. I’ve completed a small bag in under an hour’s time. Taking inspiration from the local weavers group, I wove a cotton blanket for my niece. I used the kind of commercial stuff you use to knit dishcloths. I figure it will be cool and soft for the baby, as well as quite absorbent. I gave the blanket a wash, and was not pleased with the way the fringes melted into fuzz. I then cut off the fringes, and applied a satin binding edge. Next up is a beaded sash. For this one I’ve taken inspiration from articles in the collection at the Rochester Museum. Beads are threaded onto the weft. The work at the loom is slow, nudging the beads into place one by one. For loomweaving it’s snail’s pace, but much quicker than fingerweaving. I gave the blanket a wash, and was not pleased with the way the fringes melted into fuzz. I then cut off the fringes, and applied a satin binding edge. Next up is a beaded sash. For this one I’ve taken inspiration from articles in the collection at the Rochester Museum. Beads are threaded onto the weft. The work at the loom is slow, nudging the beads into place one by one. For loomweaving it’s snail’s pace, but much quicker than fingerweaving. 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.
A good friend of mine invited me to come for a visit. How could I refuse. After two weeks of Folklorama I’m always ready for a good rest. Since it’s rained almost every day in Winnipeg so far this Summer, sunny British Columbia sounded like a lovely idea (the weather is usually reversed, rainy in BC, and sunny in Winnipeg). I was able to connect with some of the Vancouver Area weavers for their August Dim Sum meeting. Thanks for inviting me! I also visited Maiwa on Granville Island. What a lovely shop. Taking the ferry to Victoria we saw Orca whales, a whole pod of them. Sorry, I did not have my camera at the ready. In Victoria we toured around, the Burchart Gardens, of course. We checked in on several yarn stores, and happened on a Social at the Knotty by Nature yarn store. They invited me to give a quick workshop … just the kind of invitation I love. Off to Salt Spring Island. I’ve ordered lots of silk from Treenway, and just had to see their digs in person. The lovely rainbow display in their showroom is worth the trip. Afterwards, as we drove back down the road I thought ‘Darn, I should have taken a picture for my blog in there’. Oh well. Here’s a picture from the road In Ganges I happened in on Stitches, another wonderful yarn store. I did have some quiet time which I spent finishing that piece for the Manitoba Handweavers and Fiber Artists exhibit at the Manitoba Craft Museum and library. It’s a fingerwoven belt or scarf, done in a multiple diamond pattern, or ‘X&O’. Inspired by octapus bags I saw earlier this year, I decided to finish the fringes using a tape loom. People in British Columbia found it easy to remember my name. Carole James is the representative from Beacon Hill, Victoria, and also the leader of the NDP party there. There were many amusing moments, I came to introduce myself as ‘the other Carol James’.
Many thanks again to Gisele for the invitation. Now for preparations for my trip to Korea. I’ve been quite busy, demonstrating fingerweaving at Folklorama, the Métis Pavillion during week 1, and the Pavillon Canadien-Français during week 2. Thanks to all the former-students who helped out. In other news, I’ve finally finished that seamless garment dress As well, I finally finished that wool carpet that’s been on my loom for way too long. Time to get to other weaving projects.
How to describe what I’ve been doing. I’m working on a woven dress. I started out with a set of threads laid across the shoulder of a dressform, and wove them several rows. I then removed the sticks, and wove towards the back of the dress form. Now I started on the other shoulder, doing exactly the same thing on the right side of the dress form. A while later you can see the upper back of the dress, about the lower level of the sleeve hole
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