Jahanara's E-Portfolio » weaving

William Jefferies Tapestry Workshop!

weavemage — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:48:36 +0000

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here. I’ve been busy with many other things. I did finally take some time out for weaving related things!
I traveled to London to participate in a William Jefferies Tapestry Workshop hosted by the Handweavers Studio!
This was a very exciting trip, because this was my first time taking a Jefferies workshop and my first visit to the new HWS locale!. The new shop space is fantastic. It’s got most of the same great products we’ve come to expect from HWS, but in a more spacious and well lit environment.
The workshop was also everything I expected. William is a fantastic weaver and teacher. I went to the workshop hoping to learn how to weave a circular tapestry and to learn soumac, so I can begin to weave tapestries in the 7th C Persian style! I learned both these techniques and so much more.
William has a style of weaving that is very different to what I had learned so far. I learned how to more efficiently use my tapestry bobbins, how to effieciently work with several bobbins and a better way of ending and beginning with new threads! I was able to weave a roundel and incorporate soumac into the tapsetry.
I also learned so much about teaching weaving! William has a very organic style of teaching, which really lends itself to tapestry weaving. His teaching style is very much like tapestry weaving himself. He doesn’t talk about what you’re going to do. He demonstrates and gets you started on each step without bogging his students down with too much vocabulary or too many instructions all at once. He also doesn’t have students work with cartoons right away.
This really threw me in the beginning, but by lunch time I realized this is an excellent way to get students tucked into their weaving and that once students are comfortable with what they’re doing you can talk about cartoons, vocabulary etc.
This workshop has really improved my weaving and I think will prove to help me improve my own weaving teaching style.
Namaste,
Jahanara

Quantifying my Art

weavemage — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:02:40 +0000

I’ve written several times before about how long weaving takes me. I don’t write about this because I dislike weaving or the amount of time it takes. I write about this to help myself better understand my weaving and to help others understand the amount of time that goes into these art works! This evening, I timed how long it took to weave 2″ of V’s blanket, it was just under 15 mins. This means tha I can weave one inch in approximately 7.5 minutes. So if I end up making V’s blanket as a square 32″ x 32″ then it will take approximately 4 hours weaving time!

This really isn’t long at all! It means that if I put my mind to it this Sunday I could finish weaving this project, freeing up more time for other items on my to do list! I’m looking forward to finishing this project and moving onto others, as well as seeing, V use and enjoy it!

to do!

weavemage — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:47:05 +0000

current weaving to do:
on the loom
tapestry sampler
cloak

warping
V’s blanket

begin warp
rigid heddle WAL
Sigmundr’s garters
Sigmundr’s heraldic tapestry

other
embroidered hoods-3

Craft Resolutions

weavemage — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:39:03 +0000

The last few years my resolutions have been to lose weight, which goes well in the beginning, but those late year holidays are always a killer. I am also hoping to lose and keep off at least 10 pounds this year. However, I’ve decided not to make this my new year’s resolution. I’m making a resolution that is craft related this year.
That resolution is to not start a new project until at least one in progress project is finished! It’s not that I have a problem finishing projects, the problem is that right now I feel overwhelmed with the number of projects I seem to have going at the same time right now. I have:
The Wool Insulae Draconis Cloaks Odo’s Hood
Tapestry Weaving Sampler
Kumihimo braid for Viceroy A&S Prize
Odo’s cloak fabric

Depending on how you count that, I’ve got 5 or 6 projects going at once. I do tend to make good progress on one or two projects at any given time. However, there are projects, like Odo’s hood and cloak that linger for far to long. I’ve had Odo’ cloak fabric on the loom for almost two years! I have about 10″ of the first section done, but I need at least 36″ on the loom per section for three sections. So in two years I’ve managed to make only about 15% progress at that rate it will take me over 12 years to finish that project. Now I don’t know for sure, but if this is to be his knight’s cloak I’m guess that would be a bit late! The hood has not been in progress that long, but it is going on 6 months. I have one roundel completed and 7 more to go! In the time I’ve been working on that project I’ve started and completed several other, admittedly less intense, projects. This is why I’m resolving to start no new projects until I have at least one of these 6 completed.

This doesn’t mean I won’t plan other projects, there’s no stopping inspiration when it strikes. It does mean that I don’t get to physically start any of these new ideas until I finish some of the ones I concocted first! I’m hoping that this resolution will help me get through my ever increasing project wish list! I don’t think any artist ever probably gets their artistic to do list to be a short one, but hopefully I’ll get through my more ambitious projects done more quickly
Note: I’m having problems with my site right now so the links may not work for a while
Wish me luck,
Jahanara