A few years back I used some of my single spun wool to make a bonnet. The wool was quite dark in color, and does not photograph well. I’ve since made another bonnet, this time using some commercially spun linen. The pattern is based on a bonnet in the collection of the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen. The pale color in the linen makes it easier to see the stitches. It is really a few simple stitches, combined to make an interesting pattern and a lovely bonnet.
Now, examining historic hair nets, some of them were made from tightly spun singles. I experimented with some tightly spun wool, not treating the overtwist, nor waiting for it to settle down. It worked just fine. The weaving was easier than I expected, not really hampered by the extra twist. The finished piece, well, yes, I soaked it and blocked it twice, but it looks just fine.
0 Comments
The Art and History museum in Brussels, Belgium, has a lovely collection of sprang items, including a pair of socks. These socks feature sprang ‘uppers’ and a knitted sole. I decided to try my hand at this. I began with a 3 ft long (75 cm) warp. I worked these threads for about six inches (15 cm). I then added more warp. This now, is the complete warp for the ‘upper’ of the sock. I separated the two sock uppers, cutting along the midline of the warp. OK, to be honest, when I measured out the second, shorter warp, on a warping board, my first attempt was too long. I realized this as soon as I tried to mount the second warp beside the first. I should have warped directly onto the sprang frame. What to do? I am too lazy to un-wind that warp, and do not want to waste the yarn … so I set that warp aside. Now that the socks are complete, I think I’ll try a pair of fingerless gloves. I started working at the fingers. I’ll have one hole for the thumb, and another larger one for the rest of the fingers. This means I started out working two separate strips. Now, making these up into gloves, I decided I needed a small bit to breach the gap between index finger and thumb. So, I set up two tiny warps.
I’ve been busy teaching. The Midwest Handweavers Conference was held at St Thomas College in St Paul, Minnesota. I taught a finger weaving class and then a sprang class. On the way to Minnesota I stopped in Fargo to visit. Kim Baird said I should look up another instructor while there, Donna Kallner. Arriving at St Thomas College, I was assigned a roommate … none other than Donna Kallner. What a lovely campus, and terrific vendor’s hall. I found just the yarn I was looking for, the right size yarn to work a more authentic version of that Coptic sprang turban. Back home, I’m working on yet another pair of sprang leggings. These will hopefully be more accurate to that portrait of a Venetian gondolier. Not quite sufficient time to finish those leggings, and I’m off to Colorado and the Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango where I taught a three-day sprang workshop. Great to catch up with former students. And there was a batch of new sprang students The lovely thing about a three-day workshop is that students are supported through the learning process. By the third day some really creative things can happen. After the initial bag, and a circular warp lace sampler, and some exploration of twining, some students were ready to explore. We were looking at images on the internet of wildly braided sprang pieces. Sally offered to use her piece to explore this method. We began the process in class. Recently she sent me this image of the completed piece. You see, sprang is so much more than ugly bags and hats. After the conference I had the opportunity to tour Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, and Bandelier National Monument, sites of ancient cliff dwellings. One room was clearly set up for weaving, a place for the upper beam in the ceiling, loops to hold the lower beam in the floor. Thanks to Laurie Webster and Glenna Dean for being my tour guides. In other news, I’ve been working on a collection of sprang lace patterns. I’m looking for individuals interested in trying out my lace patterns, giving me feed-back on the readability of the patterns. Any takers out there? Send me a note, carol at sash weaver dot com.
Some of the things I’ve completed recently an oblique-weave sash And a silk military sash And a better version of that Egyptian turban This replica turban is based on a visit with a mummy in the collection of the Guimet Museum in Lyon, France. The turban is interesting as it makes use of a common phenomena in sprang: one side is not the same length as the other side. Here this was done intentionally. The part around the head is 3/4 the size of the ‘tails’. That is to say, the tails were packed more loosely. Here’s how it went: Once blocked, the tails can be wrapped around the front of the head, transforming this into a turban.
Spring is slow in coming here in Winnipeg. Today was a balmy above freezing temperature, but back down to below freezing tonight. Meanwhile, I’m busy with my sprang. I’ve been busy making military sashes. I’m also working on another pair of sprang leggings. These were inspired by images of Persian warriors fighting the ancient Greeks. Indeed a friend of mine is a re-enactor, who plays ‘Hoplite’ and will be going to Marathon, Greece, to re-enact the battle that made famous the practice of 23 mile runs. Yes, sprang can be ‘shaped’ and there is fair evidence that ancient Persians used the sprang technique to create form fitting clothing such as leggings and shirts. Here is my current sprang piece, destined to be leggings. The zig-zag pattern is achieved by the use of twining within a background of interlinking. For more information on sprang twining, check out my youtube videos which give you basic instruction on twining.
Instructions for the ‘W’ pattern can be found in my book Sprang Unsprung. October 2014 was spent in European travels. The impetus for the trip was the invitation to present information on sprang at the Early Textile Study Group conference in London. The topic for this year’s conference was Peter Collingwood. Dagmar Drinkler agreed to present her research on the subject of ‘tight fitting clothing in antiquity’, and I contributed my experience making leggings. I did take the time to tour around London, spent a day on a double-decker bus. While in the UK, I stopped in to visit friends. First up was Oli and Erica of Weavolution. They hosted me while I taught a finger weaving class to the Cambridge Weavers. Next I visited my friends Elaine and Andy. They toured me through Yorkshire, including a trip to Chatsworth House, an amazing place. Elaine and I talked sprang, and the probability that ancient Persians and Celts work sprang clothing. Back in London, I stopped in at Alexandra Palace for the Knit and Stitch show, on Oct 9, minding a booth for The Braid Society, and gave a class on finger weaving: Weave a scarf on the train. After the Early Textile Society conference in London, I travelled to Reading. There I was able to have a sneak preview of an amazing collection of braided pieces in the Reading Library, the Braid Society’s Biennial Exhibition. Near Reading is the town of Aldebourne where individuals interested in diverse braiding techniques meet regularly in the local town hall. Thanks to Sally, and to my hostess Rosie, I taught another workshop there, this time finger weaving (last time was sprang). On to the mainland of Europe. Thanks to Frieda who met me at the train station in Antwerp, Belgium. I taught classes in the Belgian town of Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor. This was an ‘advanced finger weaving class’, the follow-up to a previous session. Participants explored some of the variety of patterns possible. The following day was a sprang class. Pauline brought a sprang cap that she had made after the sprang class last year. By then it was time for a rest. My friend Karin took me home. I sat in her backyard and worked on other sprang projects. Accepting an invitation to visit a very talented bobbin-lace weaver (this sister of a Winnipeg friend) I travelled to Braunschweig. Between discussions on the subject of bobbin-lace, finger weaving and sprang, we toured through downtown Braunschweig, and made a visit to the top of the newly rebuilt ‘Schloss’ and the Quadriega. On to the Netherlands. Braid Society member and friend, Ria toured me around the Netherlands. We had been invited to the island of Terschelling. Resident of Terschelling, Marianne, is a very talented textile artist. She also has an amazing collection of textiles. She introduced us to the neighbourhood chickens. While on Terschelling, I visited the local yarn store, Tante Lies. Come to find out, I’d been volunteered to give a talk on the subject of sprang at the Tante Lies yarn store. I brought along a frame, and people were invited to give it a try. While in the Netherlands I was privileged with a visit to another Ria. On Nov 1, I taught a sprang class in The Hague at the textile studio known as DeSpinners. Thanks to Dineke and Katia, this was a follow-up to a finger weaving class I taught last year. What a pleasure to spread the good word about these amazing techniques to individuals interested in learning. On to the final destination, Lyon, France. The Greco-Roman museum is built into the Fourviere hillside, right beside the remains of two Roman amphitheatres. If you’re in Lyon, you really should stop in, it’s a ‘must see’. The theme of the month at the Fourviere Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon was textiles. I had been invited to give a lecture on the subject of sprang bonnets. This is the reason I’d been working on that sprang turban. Wednesday I presented a workshop for children (and their parents, grandparents) on diverse braiding techniques. Thursday I presented my lecture and workshop on the subject of sprang. I brought along several replica sprang bonnets that I have made. Sprang frames were available and seven women took the opportunity to explore the basic sprang technique. The Gallo-Roman museum had a lovely little sprang bonnet, on loan from the Textile museum. Back at home, I’m now trying to map out the pattern.
Still working on those sprang patterns. I sent out drafts to friends and former students. They’ve given me some great feedback. Presently I’m updating the patterns, making them easier to use, and hope to start posting them soon. Made another pair of sprang gloves, this time with a thumb. Yes, you can make sprang gloves with fingers. The deal is that you create the cloth with an eye to the size and shape of the intended garment. Have a look at a pair of gloves made out of leather or cloth. There are little strips of cloth between the fingers. That’s what I think will be the easiest way to make sprang gloves. I made a short thin piece to go along the webbing of my hand between index and thumb. Getting ready for a series of teaching engagements. I’ll be at the London Knit and Stitch show on Thursday, Oct 9, showing the world how to finger weave. In honour of this event, I’ve set up a warp for a neck scarf. I’ve completed another pair of sprang leggings, this one inspired by another portrait in Dagmar Drinkler’s research. I’ll bring them to the ETSG conference on October 10-11.
I’m working on a series of sprang patterns. Some people have commented that they need a bit more information than what is in my book. Maybe what people need is something like what has already been done for knitting and crochet, books of patterns for hats, vests, scarves and the like. I’ve gone back to the hats in my book as a starting point, describing the ‘how-to’ of these hats in greater detail. Now, just how much detail do people need? That’s the question. Here are three basic shapes of hats. I’m starting with a rather detailed step-by-step describing the making of these three. Once I’ve written out the basic instructions for these three hats, then there can be variations. For example, working a lace pattern on the tam, you get a lacy tam. OK, so I’m needing to write something about how you get the lace pattern, and then how to work the lace pattern onto that tam. I’m needing to do a similar thing for S and Z patterns. That’s this green hat. I’m open to suggestions for patterns.
My computer has been getting full, making it difficult to download more photos to share with you. OK, I’ve learned that there are solutions. It was a couple of trips back and forth to the computer store, and that excuse for not blogging is now gone. I’ve been busy since April. Let’s see. I made a series of shako braids for Norwegian re-enactors. I then worked on lace patterns for gloves for my daughter to wear at her wedding this Summer. Follow-up to that conference in Barcelona last March, my colleagues and I are working to produce a print version of our presentation to publish in the Proceedings. We decided that we needed better photos, so I made yet another replica of that bonnet in order to photograph the process. I finished off a couple of special-order sashes, among them a finger woven sash. Back in April, one of the vendors at Fibers Through Time, the woman behind Mary Gavin yarns, gave me two skeins to ‘sprang up’ into something. I created a shawl with this lovely yarn. Instead of shipping it right off to Mary Gavin, I kept it long enough to wear it to Handweaver’s Guild of America Convergence in Providence, Rhode Island. The yarn (linen and rayon) has lots of sheen, so the shawl looks spectacular. It was nice and slippery to work with. OK, now I’ll mail the shawl off to Mary Gavin. While at Convergence I taught two classes, on on finger weaving and one on sprang, and then a PowerPoint presentation on that George Washington sash replica. The students were great, taking on to the techniques like ducks to water. It was also great to meet former students, who showed me what they had done since we last met. And then there was the fashion show. Two of my vests made it through the jury to the runway. What I had not anticipated is that my vests would be worn by a male model. I’m thinking that the cheers were for his great body more than for my vests. I’m going to have to get a copy of the video. Most recently I’ve created a pair of sprang gloves to wear at my daughter’s wedding. This pattern was inspired by my visit to the Petrie Museum in London. Gloves are really a tube. You make a rectangle, wide enough for your hand and arm, long enough to satisfy you for the length. Because you’re working in sprang, you get two rectangles for the work of creating one. Then there’s the sewing up … leaving a hole for the thumb. I threaded a silk drawstring through the loops at the fingers. An elastic cord runs through a row near the elbow … that’s where I cut the two gloves apart, making knots to ‘seal off’ the stitches and prevent unravelling. A certain length of thread is required to tie those knots. Guess I need to trim the fringes a bit before the wedding.
Winter is getting to be rather long here in Winnipeg. The snow is up to my waist. It’s been difficult to keep up with the shovelling, and then the snowplows pass by and completely block off access to the street. Yes, it’s time to go South. Weather in New Mexico was very mild by Manitoba standards. Luckily I had been invited to teach at the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center in New Mexico. The group there was keen, and learned fast. We covered flat warps as well as circular warps. Glenna Dean of Abiquiu Dye Studios helped me special dye some yarn for multi-colored circular warps, and participants learned how to make some fancy patterns. Then on to Albuquerque and the Las Aranas Weavers and Spinners. I gave my powerpoint talk on sprang to the guild meeting, and then presented three days of workshop on sprang. It must be something in the New Mexico water. Everyone did well. Some even started exploring ‘S’ and ‘Z’ patterns, interlacing and intertwining. Many thanks to the folks at Village Wool (fiber addiction specialists), to Chris Allen and Ruth Ronan and Extra special thanks to Glenna Dean.
|
Categories
All
Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|