Spirit Cloth

a long table and a short break

Well. I don't think I have ever had such a great surface to work on. 2 tables actually, end to end. I feel so organized. The rolly basket thingy was knocked together by my handy son.  I will set up one of the table looms at one end.

Not much cloth making today, a small start. I usually use a twined beginning, to space out the thread to where I want them.  But I knot the thread around the end  yarns to keep it from slipping . 

I have an impacted wisdom tooth so I am off to the dentist today. I will talk more about this tomorrow if all goes well .  I did just notice this though, and I really like it.

And I like this too.

a little weaving and a little old cloth

Dressing a regular loom is a bit complicated. There are many off loom alternatives like using a piece of cardboard and things like that. But one easy method is to adapt a small beading loom which can be picked up for a song in most craft stores. I have this very old one I used to get my beading badge in Girl Scouts. Ha!

I am just planning a few little journeys with an indigo warp before setting up my larger looms. I could just sit and stare at that blue all stretched out before me. Weaving makes long cloth. I know that there will be some Whispering about weaving.

Meanwhile, the flicker feather found its way onto some old cloth. Old cloth is a lot like old sky. It seems at home. There is some new cloth in there too. From T. Feels like home too.

no wind

   A damp still morning. Hard to believe it is almost October with all this green.

A new table and a new feather.

light's magic

The first fire of the season.

And i really like this.

an unusually warm day in september

Yesterday we went to the shore, because it was probably the last real beach day of the season.

There were dogs playing.

...and things growing...

And still a sense of change in the landscape.

Things abandoned.

I wandered. We wandered. I stitched. The tide came in .  The magic cloth stayed home, needing more stitch before its sea wash. I always seem to wish the season could be longer. 

I am obviously  not alone. Ha! How I love to photo beach trash.

The Three looms

Papa loom is a floor loom, a Macomber, 16 harnesses. I borrowed the money to buy this one from my father. I used to use it when I was a freelance swatch weaver and colorist for the textile industry. I paid Dad back the following year.  It sits in the corner of my studio. I had a bigger one, but I gave it away.  This one will weave a 24" width. It used to have a computerized dobby attachment but I removed it.  My son wove a scarf for his first grade teacher on this one.That was about 24 years ago.

Mama loom is a table loom. Leclerc, modified to 16 harnesses. I used this in my first full time job as a hand weaver.  They were replaced and this one was being thrown out so I took it home. I can weave a 12" width on this one.  It is currently up in an attic loft. Soon to be sitting on a newly acquired wood table in the studio. A workhorse.

Baby loom is a table loom. All metal. Structo. 4 harnesses. I found this one in the trash.  handles an 8" width but I sometimes use it for narrow bands. It is very noisy. This one was hanging on a studio wall and I just took it down. It is quite dusty. And rusty. I'll clean it up.

These are the looms I did not make myself.

...another for my collection.

what day is it?

The warmer weather has returned for a bit. Good for stacking wood, but not for wool.  Today is Mom day anyway . So I have the Magic Cloth packed up and ready to go.  Once I started really stitching things down in preparation for the ring of beasts, I just really started to love the process. This one is so much more  involved than the treehouse quilt in terms of construction technique. I want to base quilt the whole thing and wash it to get a feel for the new cloth.  If it stays warm enough, I will throw it in the sea for a while.

I am really loving the contrast between the boro rag style edges and the regular patchwork seams.  This is giving me more ideas on how to move forward. It is time for a new video I think. I am not sure what day this is, I will have to count backward, it has been so long...

There is no way I will finish this within the year... it will carry over in to the next at least, and I have already noticed some new points, which fits into next year's theme.  A coincidence? Maybe.

Some other protrusions I noticed yesterday.

the little woven pouch

The sketch I made along with my first woven pouch, which I made as a gift for that wild traveling brother of mine, maybe in the 1970s, boy I am getting old.... was used for a long time and I see it is still in almost one piece.  Now it has become some kind of timekeeper. I remember jotting the word chuspa on the paper in my journal, and looking that up, and making a few sketches. I was really interested in Peruvian weaving at the time. And so I am back to it again, weaving that is. And some little useful things.

First I will repair this one, fix the lining and reattach the strap. Just to get the conversation going again. 

...the bottom details are still intact.

3.5" square. I wonder if I still have the touch.