I made a silk sprang sash earlier this year for a military re-enactor. Officer of higher ranks had sashes were made of silk, a very strong fiber. Now there are stories out there about people being carried on sashes. It seems that a person injured on the field could be carried back to camp on the sash. A client earlier this year requested a sash wide enough and long enough to try this out. So I made this sash, and then encouraged him to try it out, and send me photos. I even promised to replace the sash, should it not hold up to the claim. He has now sent me photos of the event: I was assured that the sash was not at all damaged by this test. The sash was seven feet long, and eight inches wide lying on the ground. When the sash was stretched laterally to support the full width of the body, it shortened a bit. I was told that another two feet of length (and probably a bit more width) would be desireable. I hear that the Braddock sash is 24 inches wide and 12 feet long, a very nice size for a litter.
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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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