Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Starting a Weaving Blog





I have only been weaving for about a year, but I am already hooked so I decided to start a blog. I am a young weaver (25 years old) and have no family background in weaving. My mom and sister are talented knitters, but I never managed to pick that up. So... here I am with my weaving blog.

My journey into weaving began in the summer of 2007 when I wanted to take a pottery class at the ArtSpace in Washington, DC (http://www.artspacedc.org/). Unfortunately, there were no classes available at the time and I was encouraged to try the Fiber Arts class instead. I began on a 4 harness LeClerc table loom (we call it "Clangy" because it's so damn loud). My first "project" was a twill sampler from the green Davidson book. I am still surprised that I didn't quit after a few weeks. It took me many hours to wrap just 80 ends on a warping board. Then I had to pull each of those treads through tiny holes in a reed?! And THEN I had to pull those through heddles?! Yikes. After many weeks I was finally able to start my sampler and see some results. My edges were a mess and I didn't have a good eye for the colors. 3 yards later, though, and I was finally done with my sampler. It just sits in a plastic bag now, but that's ok. Ms. Maybelle guided me through the process with much more patience than me and she is responsible for getting me hooked. As I began my first actual project (placemats above), I found myself searching ebay and craigslist for used looms.

In March of 2008 I bought my own Dorothy LeClerc 4 harness table loom. My first project was a set of mug rugs (see above).

In July of 2008, my boyfriend's father gave me a handmade inkle loom. I am glad that I started weaving on a table loom as it makes me appreciate the ease of using the inkle loom.

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