I attended the Textile Society of America Symposium Sept 19-22 in Washington, DC. The title was ‘Textiles and Politics’. Papers were presented on all manner of topics, textile work and the economy, textile work in emerging economies, dyestuffs, self-expression. My paper was on the subject of sprang and military sashes. I met textile experts from around the world.
While in the DC area I had arranged to visit George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Staff there allowed me to inspect the Braddock Sash. Of note, the beginning- and end-threads of the circular warp were tied to a neighboring thread at the middle meeting line, just like Peter Collingwood suggests (Techniques of Sprang, pg 259-261). And here I’ve been advocating that you remove that edge thread.
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I’ve been trying to keep up with my weaving while travelling. Luckily fingerweaving can go anywhere. Here I took a photo of myself working in my hotel room in Basel, Switzerland. I was in Basel, Switzerland in order to visit the AbeggStiftung. One of the curators showed me around and let me examine a mid-asian skirt. A major component of the skirt is worked in 2-2 interlacing. Some of the pieces of 2-2 interlacing are probably 3 meters long … yes, this is possible with fingerweaving. I made up a piece of 2-2 interlacing, using Peter Collingwood’s directions. I completed the sample and mailed it to the AbeggStiftung for them to compare with the original.
While in Switzerland I also visited with Noemi Speiser. I’ve been blown away by her books. Her Manual of Braiding, for example brings such order to a wide variety of structures. I had to meet her. She is a delightful character. I only hope I’m half as sharp, should I make it to her age. On to Munich where I met with Dagmar Drinkler. Over the past two years several people have referred me to Ms Drinkler’s article from the Archaeological Textiles Newsletter. She has recreated sprang pants, following inspiration in Greek painted sculptures. Now on to Holland where I hope to meet Blue (of denblauenswaen fame) and Fenny Nijman. Manchester UK was the site of the 2nd International Braiding Conference. It was an amazing opportunity to meet top experts from a variety of braiding techniques. I attended Joy Boutrup’s class on loop manipulated braids, and made several myself. Simple braids can be made by one person. We learned how to work together making even more complex braids. It was then my turn to teach sprang. We spent a day at Macclesfield, learning about the English silk industry. I also visited Platt Hall and the Stockport Hat Museum. Very interesting. On to Lyon where I was treated to backroom tours of the Guimet Museum and the Textile Museum. I was priveleged to view some sprang bonnets associated with mummies in these collections. I am going to have to set aside some time now to try to replicate some of the designs. Presently I am in Bern, on my way to visit the Abegg Stiftung. They call themselves the Confederated Helveticans.
Here I am in Copenhagen, Denmark. I’m here getting rid of jetlag before the Braids 2012 conference next week, and at the invitation of Katia Johansen, curator at the Danish National Museum, whom I met at the Textile Society of America Conference in 2010. The view outside my window gives you a bit of an insight into the daily life here. Lots of bicycle traffic. The whole point of my visit here is to view sprang articles in the collection of the Danish National Museum. Yesterday I went to their facilities just outside Copenhagen, located in an old textile factory. I was priveleged with an up close and personal view of sprang sashes which belonged to Danish kings, as well as two of those sprang hairnets described by Margrethe Hald, dating as far back as the bronze age. Of note, singles (mind you very fine and very tightly spun) were used. The Danish National Museum in downtown Copenhagen has some lovely hairnets as well. Exquisite! All done in fine, tightly spun singles! I am thinking that if you spin very fine and very tight (greater than 45 degree angle of twist) and leave the spool to set for a year, the yarn will then have forgotten its need to kink up on you. The amount of twist added or subtracted in the sprang work will be insignificant in relation to the amount of twist in the thread.
At any rate, I’m seeing fine singles in these pieces. I was invited to participate in Metis Day at Discovery Harbour in Penetanguishene, Ontario. I spent the day with my fingerweaving demonstration. I also introduced people to the interlinking method and sprang.
Around me there were many other very interesting displays, beadwork, leatherwork, rug hooking, moose hair tufting, porcupine quillwork, and live music and dancing. Discovery Harbour Métis Day was a very pleasant event, certainly seems to deliver quite a lot for the $7 entry fee. Well worth the trip. I’m hoping to be invited to return again. Glenna Dean had invited me to visit New Mexico after Convergence. I had a lovely time. We spend a couple of days dying wool in her studio. Some of the places we visited include the Ghost Ranch, Espinola Valley Fiber Arts Center, Village Wools in Albuquerque, and the Southwest Regional Spinners Retreat. At the Retreat Glenna led a dying workshop. I also took a workshop from Ric Rao on punch needle embroidery. I must find the time to explore this technique more, it’s quite fascinating. I taught a workshop as well, on oblique interlace weaving. When not in workshops I sat at my sprang frame. I had a lovely time in New Mexico, must figure out how to come back again sometime.
Convergence 2012 is well under way. Arrived in Long Beach to attend the 2012 Handweavers Guild of America Convergence. Lest I get bored on the long plane rides I brought along something to keep my hands busy. Fingerweaving is well adapted to airplane travel. The fold-down table clip is a great place to attach my weaving. It is being held at the Conference Center here in Long Beach. Yesterday I went on a tour organized by HGA. First stop Cameron Taylor-Brown and her tree house. Cameron does her part to integrate the arts into schools and other aspects of daily life. What an inspiration! Next stop was the Craft in America Study Center and the Freehand Gallery. Some of the artists were on hand to talk about their work in the current exhibit ‘looming election’. The afternoon was spent at the LACMA. What an amazing collection they have. We also were given an hour’s ‘backroom’ tour a close up inspection of some ancient textiles from the Andes. Absolutely stunning.
Today I’m setting up for my classes. I’m teaching sprang tomorrow, and fingerweaving Thursday through Saturday. On my way to the Handweavers Guild of America Convergence in Long Beach, I stopped off to visit with my brother who lives near San Francisco. The Carmel Crafts Guild has a series of ‘study boxes’. One of them, prepared by Anne Blinks has a set of sprang pieces. The Carmel Crafts Guild graciously allowed me to go through the box. I encourage anyone interested in sprang, wanting to handle some actual pieces, to contact the Carmel Crafts Guild about this box. While in town, they had me address their monthly meeting, and I gave them a quick introduction to sprang … nothing like the workshop I’ll give next week at Convergence, but an introduction nonetheless.
Off for a hike with my brother today, then on to Long Beach for Convergence. Drove up the Sunshine Coast to visit Yvonne Stowell’s Fibreworks Gallery. What a beautiful exhibit, textiles and pottery with a water theme. Worth the trip. One yurt is the exhibit space, another yurt is a classroom, and Yvonne has a third yurt for her weaving studio. Sunday we took the ferry to Vancouver Island. Duncan weaver Alison Irwin hosted me for a fingerweaving class. Alison had lined up the local scrapbooking store for their classroom space. Very nice. Such a pleasure to work with students so keen and eager. They all did very well, attacking the basic method of fingerweaving. Now don’t take my word for it. Read what one of the students had to say about it http://weeverwoman.blogspot.ca/2012/06/finger-weaving-demystified.html Vancouver Island is a special place. While I was teaching that workshop, Alison’s husband toured my husband around. There’s a pretty spectacular train trestle bridge near Duncan. Tuesday I attended the ‘drop in’ meeting of the Victoria Handspinners and Weavers. There I met someone who had taken my weekend fingerweaving class a few years ago. She brought her sash to show me. Pretty impressive! On the way back I stopped in to see Olds College, and the Olds Fibre Week. There I found master spinners and master weavers students, keen to hear the good news about sprang. I also learned a really fast and interesting way to purl, looping the thread around your neck or through a hook on the front pocket. OK, my husband insists that I make mention of what I did during all that driving. It’s 3000 kilometers from Winnipeg to Victoria. Long hours of sitting when it wasn’t my turn to drive. Of course I brought along a project to keep me from going stir-crazy. I had made a sock to photograph for my book. This trip seemed the perfect moment to finish the second sock. I had started the toe right after completing the first sock (these are free-end interlinking socks, not sprang). By the time we made Revelstoke BC I had finished the second sock. It really takes no longer to make socks this way than a comparable size sock by the knitting method. I needed another project as we still had some driving to do. So I made a set of ‘safety cords’ for the students in Duncan. Yes, I completed another project on the return trip. It was a piece of two-layered sprang. I purchased two balls of yarn on Grenville Island and worked them into a hat or bag. Initially I set up the warp while still in Vancouver with the two colors both wrapping around the frame. I got into trouble within the first few rows. I took it all apart and began again, this time setting up two separate warps. I worked them as two separate warps for the first four rows, and then combined them for the rest of the piece. The really kool thing about sprang is the elasticity. And now for the scenery. We started out in the flatlands. And then there are the Rocky Mountains We pretty much took the same road home again. Oh, on the way back I took a picture of the ‘salt mines’. Back home now, getting ready for the next trip: Handweavers Guild of America Convergence in Long Beach!
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