Thursday, July 30, 2015

SAORI Worcester


Worcester, Massachusetts was my goal today and all things Saori.  I arrived at Mihoko Wakabayashi's Saori Worcester a little before the agreed 10am in time for a couple hours session of weaving.  Not having a Saori loom myself, I looked forward to having time at the loom.  I learned so much from Mihoko and her gentle way of teaching.  
The Saori looms in Mihoko's studio
The most basic was the correct way to wind a pirn for the shuttle.  I was doing it Incorrectly filling areas and moving slowly along the pirn.  OH no... The best way is to wrap the yarn 7 or 8 times around crisscrossing to get started without tying a knot and then placing it on the bobbin winder with the yarn coming over towards you as you wind.  Then most importantly moving you hand quickly back and forth along the length of the pirn to crisscross the yarn not build it up. Such an easy fix and one I'd never known!
Mihoko and one of her students Glenn

technique for 3 clasped weft weaving
After chosing several cones of thin bouclĂ©'s in violets, turquoise, green and gold I picked a sample of shadow weave from her pile of examples to learn.  Mihoko quickly explained how you weave with two cones of yarn alternately on one side of the loom on the floor picked up by the shuttle thrown across the web.  Her trick is to catch the shuttle with your hand under the color you want to pull across.  Pull one color further than the other to get an interesting effect.  You can use high contrasting yarns like the violet and gold I chose or more subtle colors like green and turquoise.

I shared some of my woven pieces.  She was especially intrigued by the piece I had woven Saori style on the Blazing Shuttles warp.  She took photos of it to show one of her students Kris Nelson who space dyes her own warps.  Kris will be teaching a workshop for Mihoko's students soon.  Mihoko and her apprentice Annie were also every interested in our fiber guilds Oatland Mighty Oak fiber installation in Savannah.  So I shared some photos I had of it on my iPad.  It was great to be able to share experiences with Mihoko.


The two hour session (only $20 including materials as it was my first time) went so quickly!  After cutting my sample off the loom we were ready to go to lunch. The Saori way of ending a weaving is so easy.  Kenjo Jo the inventer of the loom designed a long dowel with a groove cut the length of it.  The dowel is placed under the warp near the beater leaving plenty of warp yarn for fringe and so it doesn't unravel.  A very thin long stick is pushed into the groove.  And the warp is turned around the dowel and stick a few times and placed on the tray until the whole piece can be tied easily to start the next weaving.  Genius!

 

Mihoko arranged for us to have a Mediterranean lunch with two of her longtime students and friends Susan Gardner and Alice Webb (the moderator of the Facebook Saori Weaving group.  What fun it was to be able to relax and discuss Saori with kindred spirits.  Susan is an inner city 4th grade teacher and Alice is a landscape architect in their other lives.
 

Mihoko showed me where her storefront studio had been and explained that she had to move because of how wonderful yet distracting it was to have drop in visitors all day every day.  Her current studio is in a very urban neighborhood of two story clapboard homes.  She has a very long one story nondescript building down the driveway.  It's not beautiful and there isn't even a sign to say what magic lies beyond the door, but once you step inside you can feel the energy.
We wound our way past downtown to the other side of Worcester where the Sprinkler Gallery was housed in a former factory building that now is home to several small artist studios.  The gallery is on the 2nd floor.  Once we turned the corner my eyes lit up to see a light filled gallery brimming with colorful textured Saori clothing, wall hangings, banners and more!  It must fill Mihoko's heart with such joy to see the work of her students so beautifully displayed.  The high factory windows let light stream in and the exceptionally tall walls were draped with cascades of woven fabric banners.

Mihoko did a beautiful job curating the show, finding the perfect way to display each piece. Novice beginner weaving was intermingled with more seasoned expert weavings and even some of her own work.

I was particularly drawn to the rainbow banner with loopy selvedges that Mihoko wove displayed on one corner with one woven in a more controlled way by her student Glenn, an older man who comes a couple times a week to weave in her studio.  There were several beautiful pieces by David who is dealing with a loss of short term memory due to head injury and is able to create wonderful fabric that Mihoko helps him turn into garments.  The women we had lunch with also had standout pieces... I loved Susan's open weave wall hanging and was pleased to see a SOLD sign on it though it was grossly undervalued at only $40... It was about 2' wide by 6' long!  

Susan Gardner's weaving
detail of Susan Gardner's weaving
Alice had a very textured golden hanging with trinkets attached that was quite interesting.  
woven wall hanging by Alice Webb
detail of weaving by Alice Webb
 The work of space dyer Kris Nelson was spectacular.  it was unlike other Saori weavings as it wasn't textured.  There were several long narrow wall hangings with bold blocks of color woven with a single colored yarn.  
Space dyed banners by Kris Nelson

Mihoko's top woven with elastic yarns was intriguing and masterfully constructed to create lots of visual interest utilizing the elasticity to create shaping and a folded collar.  Her jacket in large bold blocks of red and black seemed the perfect coat for the NE winters and though more traditional in design it certainly had the elements of Saori!  Guarded by a long haired calico cat, each woven Saori pieces glows and was obviously woven through eyes that shine.  It was a magical space and I was so happy I was able to see it for myself!

 Article about Loom in Essence in Worcesters Telegram.
Here's another article about the show. 


images of Mihoko's elastic woven tunic
weavings by Glenn (banner) & David (top)
detail of weaving by Susan Gardner
woven Saori dress by Leslie Sudock of Ready to Hand Saori studio, Philadelphia
detail of Leslie Sudock's dress
Winter jacket by Mihoko
Thank you Mihoko for sharing your day with me.  I have learned so much and your inspiration has touched my soul!

Instead of starting for home after all of this stimulation I turned toward Boston to go to Framingham to see the work of an old friend, Stacey Piwinski.  More about this in my next post.

Fiber adventure July 2015

Harrisville Designs in Harrisville, NH
How I love to be immersed in fiber... yarns, unspun fibers of all kinds, the art of creating in fibers.  I had two days to myself.  Though, I love traveling with my dear hubby, this trip was all about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to stop for however long I felt necessary.  It was all about ME.  That doesn't often happen, so I really was appreciating every minute.  This adventure started with the desire to see Saori Worcester's Loom in Essence exhibition of the work of Mihoko Wakabayasi's students.  And OH it became so much more!

My adventure started early Wednesday morning July 23 when I look off across the lake to discover all kinds of fibery things. First stop was Williston, VT and after finding I had gotten there too early for my first planned stop, I ran in to Marshalls ostensibly to find a bathroom but also found a great blue swimsuit for just $19.99 and the perfect pair of taupe capris to go with the handknit sweater I had just finished and was wearing!  Whoops, I  wasn't planning on clothing purchases!

On to the reason I stopped in Williston just outside of Burlington... the Northeast Fiber Arts Center.  It's a tiny shop but absolutely crammed with all kinds of delicious temptations. I loved all the yarns, but their collection of unspun fibers and felting supplies was amazing.  I had a hard time deciding what to splurge on with a limited budget. I landed on natural tussah and bombyx silk fiber (to be dyed in the Fall at our guild's Indigo Dye Day) some mill end silk remnant fibers to add to weavings and felting projects in reds and a beautiful shiny burgundy red skein of Cascade yarn. I could have spent SO much more but I was trying to be conservative.

Back in the car I headed down I87 through the mountains of Vermont and then south along I91 towards Keene,NH listening to classical music. The mountains were full of every shade of green imaginable and dotted along the highway were little yellow wildflowers. My newly handknit summery sweater in greens with lacey yellow and browns was perfect.

Harrisville, NH and its mill pond
My first view of the Harrisville Designs Show Room
I wound my way to the delightful hamlet of Harrisville, NH to find the home of Harrisville Designs.  The multicolored flowers along the village streets juxtaposed against the ancient brick factory buildings set the tone.  Delightful.  How wonderful to explore the tastefully arranged displays of the shop.  So many temptations!  


I was intrigued by their ProLooper Loom... One and a half times the size of the original looper potholder looms... to make 14" squares. Their supply of colorful cotton loopers was amazing.  Delicious wool yarns spun there were also tempting, but with Savannah weather I'm staying away from wool in favor of cotton, linen and silk.  I DID manage to find a couple cones with these fibers to bring home and three lovely beautiful buttons and an 8" stick shuttle for my Cricket.  Lunch at the Harrisville General Store was delicious and then back to the shop to pick up a couple of teddy bear/felting kits in a cut replica of the brick factory building for my two youngest g'girls upcoming birthdays.  Jason Collingwood's, well known carpet weaver was teaching upstairs. Oh how I wanted to take a peak, but I respected their privacy and felt pleased knowing I had enjoyed a class with Jason in Albany several years ago.

Tearing myself away from Harrisville was difficult but I needed to get to Nashua, NH as I was spending the night at daughter Kim's home.  I took a quick side trip to Peterbrorough, another quaint though gentrified New England town and discovered a SCAD artist, Bin Yung had his work chosen for the revered show of under 30 year old artists at the Sharon Art Center home of the NH Guild of Arts.  His photograph had been awarded Best of Show.  Small world... I had spent some time discussing these photographs and his work with Bin at SCADs Silver and Ink show in Savannah a few month ago.

Before dinner with Kim and g'girl Maja We stopped into the local downtown Nashua yarn shop Twist.  Fun to see the women sitting around knitting much like we do in Savannah.  I couldn't find the quilt thread I needed but picked up a couple light green and lavender skeins to add to my treasures.

After relaxing by reading Maja from her favorite book about Disney princesses I easily fell asleep with visions of fibery things dancing in my head and anticipating another fun day ahead.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

2015 FIBERWORK: fiber art of the Fiber Guild of the Savannahs

The last of my catch up blog entries is about our Fiber Guild of the Savannahs annual Show and Sale.  This year it was held at the SPACE (Savannah Place for Art Culture and Education) Gallery, a city of Savannah run gallery during the month of May.  Over 24 of our members exhibited and I had several items that I was able to show and offer for sale.
My work on exhibit:
Funky Saori style hats and Pin woven cuffs
Cuffs woven on a Pin/cardboard Loom with Buttons I made at the ClaySpot
Detail of one of my cuffs with ceramic button I made
Me
Handspun,handwoven alpaca shawl, cotton Saori style top and dress
Me demonstrating spinning wearing my nuno felted top in front of my handwoven items
Detail of my nuno felted scarves
Nuno felted scarves on display
 The woven tapestries of Muriel Henry:
The woven tapestries of Urban Jupena:
A weaving by Doris Grieder:
 Overall views of Fiberwork:
 Members demonstrated different fiber arts techniques.