The annual Visit with the People of Red River was held yesterday at the Musée de St Boniface. Twelve stations of activities were available. Students made a rotatation through six activities, twenty minutes each during their half-day at the Musée.
My activity has always given students a basic understanding of weaving, and fingerweaving in particular. That’s why I developed the fingerweaving dance twelve years ago.
Still working on that sprang book. I’ve sent drafts off for editing. I am amazed at the helpful comments that have come back to me. Details such as staying with the same tense, switching person are just not in my mind when I set out to write these things. Yes, they do make a big difference, will make a cleaner, more readable end product.
The book is still in progress.

It’s almost ready. I’ve been working for two years now, putting together a how-to manuel on ‘sprang’. Following the same style as Fingerweaving Untangled, this book assumes no previous knowledge. This past week I received another draft back from the layout people. This one is very close to a printable version.
Looking around my workroom, there sure are a great number of samples made over the last two years.

I’ve lost count of how many samples I’ve made now. Each technique has detailed step-by-step drawings, as well as photos of the setup, the process, and the finished article: straps, sashes, bags, hats, sweaters, even socks.
It’s an 80 page book. The ‘No Frame’ method from an earlier post is featured, as well as work on a frame: figure-8 and circular warp.
Yes, I’ve been away from this blog for some time. I was busy writing and making these samples, and wasn’t sure how to describe to you the process, what to say here. Friesen’s Printing is now expecting my manuscript for the end of June. Keeping my fingers crossed that the book will be available for sale in July 2011.
OK, I have been corrected. The free-end method is technically NOT sprang. Sprang, by definition, according to Collingwood and Emery is always worked on a warp that is attached at both ends and always results in two mirror-image pieces of cloth.
I am interested in teaching people how to use threads to make things. Interlinking, interlacing, and intertwining can be performed on loose ends or on ‘framed’ threads. I’m wanting to break down the barriers, get people to explore these techniques, encourage them any way possible. Yes, it’s easier to work the threads when they’re stretched on a frame. The frame is an extra step, an extra expense. My tactic is to get people to try interlinking (or interlacing or intertwining). When they see how much fun it is, and that you can get TWO rows of cloth for every row of work … hey, the frame is pretty easy to concoct.
So I begin with ‘unsprung’ sprang, that is, the free-end method.