Jacquard woven samples, etc.

Jacquard woven design

view from our boat at our marina on Lake Champlain.

the images woven side by side

image that I photoshopped and reduced to 13 values

for 13 satin patterns (darkest to lightest)

I can't believe it has taken so long to add to my blog! I think I kind of liked the way the last entry looked and didn't want to bump it down. Actually, I was procrastinating!

I received my jacquard double weave sample in the mail a couple weeks ago from the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles where I took the weeklong class in August (more in previous post):

detail of the double woven pockets and picot

the back of the image

jacquard sample using 2 photoshopped images and 2 colors

images woven side by side

photoshopped image from a photo of our boat

and a photo of the dock looking down at the water

We're back in Savannah and enjoying an extension of summer. We had a great last 6 weeks on Lake Champlain (August and early Sept.) but before that it was pretty cold and rainy. It felt so good to be back under the live oaks with their lacy spanish moss gently swaying in the breeze and to go swimming in the ocean at Tybee Island! I really love it here, but I must say that even with the rain... Lake Champlain... and living on our Catalina 36 sailboat was terrific!

I just finished warping my 8 shaft Mighty Wolf with an interesting braided twill pattern with a narrow charcoal gray tencil warp for scarves. I hope to weave 5 narrow (5 inch wide) scarves -- keeping one for myself and hopefully selling the others at our Fiber Guild of the Savannahs show in January. I'm using some cotton/silk blend yarn for the weft and hope to spin up some milk fiber for one of them! Yes... MILK! I couldn't believe it when I saw a skein of soft lustrous yarn in a cotton/milk blend at a local yarn shop! I ordered some fiber that was dyed pinks and reds from an Esty site I found through Ravelry. It's a tiny amount -- 2 oz -- and pricey ($16) -- but delicious!

It's great to be spinning and weaving again. I did do a little cardboard loom weaving on the boat... and knit a sweater and socks... but to have my loom and spinning wheel working again feels wonderful!

Now that I've blogged... back to the loom...

Jacquard!

What a treat! I spent the week of August 10-14 nurturing my passion. I traveled between the boat on Lake Champlain, NY and beautiful downtown Montreal, Quebec to be trained in the Pointcarré program which interfaces with the Jacquard looms at the Montreal Center for Contemporary Textiles (MCCT) Louise Lemieux Bérubé, the center's director taught us the fine points of jacquard design and how to create four different types of jacquard weave structures.

Louise is a master -- both as a very powerful creative artist in this medium and as a teacher. The Center is celebrating its 20th year anniversary this year under her very capable direction. On the last day of the workshop, she gave us a preview of her exhibition called "Love One Another" which opens officially August 24th for 2 months in the center's gallery. Her study was inspired by a desire to show the changing ethnic face of Quebec. She photographed many different people who she has met in different ways: some are good friends, some are people she met briefly, and others are interesting strangers. She designed the jacquard fabric panels so that the figures are lifesized or larger, so that the viewer is face to face with these fascinating people. She has paired them in ways that force the viewer to think about their interaction: a beautiful Asian woman with a comical Jamaican lady, a bearded thin man with aids beside his pinstriped suited lawyer brother who he hadn't see in many years, a Muslim woman with a young African boy (the Muslim woman is actually a self-portrait of Louise who stood in for the young Muslim woman whose husband forbade her to wear traditional clothing.) It's quite a spiritual experience to view this meticulously detailed woven work!

The workshop participants worked in the computer lab designing fabrics that were woven by student weaving apprentices on one of 2 jacquard looms: the older one with a black warp and newer one with a natural white warp. On the first day we designed a Repeat Design using shapes, Tuesday's lesson was on Single Layer Weaves using shaded twills and satins, on Wednesday we explored Multiple Weaves with one warp and two wefts, on Thursday the 4th day we learned about Multiple Weaves with Double Weave pockets, stitched, and piqué. The last day was spent finishing up samples, saving our information in Photoshop so that we can see it at home and enjoying the exhibition and Louise's explanation of the pieces in the show.

This is my first sample woven on the black warp...

Here is a short video clip of the samples being woven...

Some more photos of Louise's exhibit and the workshop are on my Flikr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suzyhok1/sets/72157622152752064/

wabi sabi for a chaotic world!

I've been thinking a lot about wabi sabi again. Today while driving around the north country here in upstate NY we wound past old weathered barns that were elegantly lit by the sun streaming through the heavy cloud layers. WABI SABI!

I'm really enjoying being a part of Weavolution! It is such an wonderful way to connect with other weavers all around the world! Weavers can ask questions and receive answers from many different points of view which creates a community of helpers and new friends. Weavers post information about themselves including projects from the past or pieces they are in progress. They can post their websites and/or Flikr sites to share images of their work. It's really quite amazing!

Anyway... back to wabi sabi... I "met" a fellow weaver from Ontario on Weavolution's Cardboard Loom Weavers group. We exchanged messages about wabi sabi -- because -- I had seen her Flikr photos of exhibitions called WabiSabi. I sent her a private message asking for more information and this was her response -

Thank you for your interest in my photos, and indeed I did run and named a fine craft show inspired from the Wabi Sabi philosophy.

The name of the show came about when I read a newspaper article about the subject and its relation to arts, simplicity and time's passage. This was in the summer of 2000. It got me thinking of how poorly we showed and appreciated the fine crafts in my neck of the wood. Originality and artistry were taking the back seat to cookie cutter production and mediocre works. Also when I read the article, followed by the book, it is as if I had finally found a name to what I deeply felt living and creating was all about. I found that Wabi Sabi best translated the respect of materials and artistry. So, in 2001, I made contact with fine crafts artists whose works were not defined by trends or time, and at least a little open mind. The show was also perfect for a renovated 100 years old Town Hall, with good natural light and patina.

I lead the show for 5 years, until 2005, when I was physically and emotionally spent. You could say that it was a 5 years project for me, and I did achieve my goals of raising awareness towards quality over quantity, originality, uniqueness, simplicity and local fine crafts artists. The show is still in existence. This year will mark its ninth year in existence.

I feel that more and more as life gets more complicated with unquestioned consumption and wasted resources, that the Wabi Sabi philosophy remains authentic and sane in a chaotic world.

I hope that this answers your question, or at least part of it!

My response, in return:

You have eloquently stated the essence of wabi sabi. Thanks for sharing the process which led you to the creation of your heartfelt exhibition.

I, too, feel that more people understanding and following the philosophy of the Japanese words, which identify their aesthetic, would result in a much less chaotic world. So many people in our world -- even, unfortunately, most of the younger Japanese -- are caught up in the "new, bigger, better" philosophy of consumption.

We had a dairy farm and 4 children for almost 20 years about 20 years ago... (the baby is now 32!) and some of the initial attraction of wabi sabi to me I must admit, was economic. Most of my continued interest, however, is the ability to imbed each created object with your heart and soul. Your objection to kits and the "cookie cutter" mentality is one to which strongly agree! Objects with character and texture and even slight imperfections far outshine their antiseptic counterparts.

I am also attracted to the clean, pure lines of modernism and at first it may seem contradictory, but we have found lovely items that have that sense of history and a bit of wear and tear that show it is well-loved. I love the world of two Japanese artists -- architect Tadao Ando and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto -- that capture the essence of wabi sabi in a most contemporary way.

Was the book you mentioned: Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren? This is my favorite book on the subject. There is a children's book that was just published that also does an excellent job explaining the wonderful qualities of Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein. It's beautifully illustrated!

It's wonderful chatting with you about this. Perhaps we should start a group on Ravelry (and Weavolution) to spread the word!

Just thought I'd share this with the rest of you! A wabi sabi way of life! I totally agree with her comment:

"I feel that more and more as life gets more complicated with unquestioned consumption and wasted resources, that the Wabi Sabi philosophy remains authentic and sane in a chaotic world."

Anniversary Sunshine

Hooray!  Summer has arrived.  The past two mornings we awoke to blue skies and sunshine! Sailed for awhile last evening and cooked out with our new grill in a nearby bay and today we sailed for several hours.  Then we celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary with a yummy dinner overlooking the lake on the outside deck of the marina's restaurant. Heaven!

 

Grey Days

Gee... here it is the 2nd day of summer and it's still cool and grey!  Where's the sunshine?  My hubby and I are playing dueling laptops while our PWD pup Kizi is sacked out on the settee. Lazy day! I need to turn the computer off and take up my needles again and knit!

I have been working on Nora Gaughn's Eastlake sweater using Bristol's Lyndon Hill 85% Pima Cotton and 15% silk.  The yarn is a bit thin for the pattern so its very open and light, but I think I like it that way.  It will make a great summer sweater.  Someone on Ravelry knit it with short sleeves and it looked great... so I may do that. OR... I may knit it with long sleeves instead of the 3/4 length and wear it with a shirt underneath.  The lacey effect of the leaves may be a bit revealing!  It's gone very quickly and I'm already on the 32nd row!

in the Nick of TIme...

With no time to spare... I finished my Queen Anne's Lace summer outfit this afternoon!  I plan to wear it tomorrow night to my retirement reception in Albany.  The design has been percolating for weeks in my subconscious and finally I figured out how I wanted the top to look! 

I wound up using every bit of the fabric I had woven -- how's that for planning!  I adapted the pattern from the first summer top I wove, changing the neckline and thereby added a cap sleeve.  I made the skirt out of 3 pieces of 36" long fabric woven with the white slubby linen on QAL gathered at the top on non-twisting elastic and with a 6 inch kick vent in the back.   The top was created out of the yellow fabric -- yellow cottolin on the QAL warp.  The top has a yoke that is made up of the yellow fabric cut lengthwise into 10" pieces and I added a band of the cream fabric at the bottom of the yoke.  In the front I cut it in half like the yellow and in the back I left it the 20" width.  For the bottom  I attached the yoke to the yellow fabric that I cut horizontally with the selvedges at the edge that met the yoke and the hem.  I put darts in the front at either edge.

When I tried the top on it fit well but the top gapped.  SO... I took a dart along the top edge on either panel from 2 inches down to 6 inches towards the neck at an angle.  Then I flattened it and sewed the triangle down.  This forms a nice cap sleeve.

I used French seams throughout.  The ones on the yoke seemed too wide, so I sewed a straight lines down the middle of each one.   I used a sewn stretchy zigzag on each cut edge.  Each edge, both cut and selvedge, was turned under to finish off the neck, hem and sleeve edges.

Pictures to come. 

Miles to go...

It's been far too long since I last blogged.  We headed North early in May so that I could present a program based on my book, Woven a Bauhaus Memoir a Weaving History Conference in Clayton, NY.  We packed up our gear and our dog crate behind the front seat for PWD puppy, Kizi, put the top down on our Saab convertible and the journey began. 

Being back on the water is great. We're living aboard our Catalina 36 ft sailboat for the summer until mid-September when we head back south to Savannah.  

We've been spending lots of time on little projects to make our old sailboat more shipshape.  We're getting closer and have even enjoyed 3 lovely afternoon cruises playing with the wind on beautiful Lake Champlain.  We are a bit frustrated by the weather, however and I'm sure I'll never get my hubbie to come North before June in the future.  Savannah was just settling into beautiful weather and we left.  It's been quite cold and rainy... not too much fun on board.

Before one stretch of rainy, cold weather a couple weeks ago I woke up and said... "Why don't we go visit your father?" Sounds innocent enough, but my 92 year old father-in-law lives in Salt Lake, Utah -- a mere 2500 miles from upstate NY!  We washed clothes and took off that afternoon on May 26th, staying the night with our daughter, Kristin and her family near Albany, NY.  

150 miles down and 2350 to go!  Howe, Indiana first night... then Lincoln, Nebraska and Rawlins, Wyoming along I80 and four days later we drove through the mountain pass into Salt Lake City Saturday afternoon, May 30.

We enjoyed the Tetons, Yellowstone, Bighorn and the Badlands on the way home staying with our daughter's friend, Sam Bixby over the mountain pass from Jackson Hole in Victor, Idaho one night and Gillette, Wyoming and Jackson, Minnesota and South Bend, Indiana on the way back taking I90 a good part of the way. Twelve states and 5156 miles later we are back floatin' on our boat!  How great it is to be retired and to be able to do this!

It was fantastic seeing father-in-law Hok doing so well.  Brother-in-law Bill and his family are really doing a great job caring for him!  We were able to stay in the retirement apartment, Parklane, and how the folk who lived there loved Kizi.  What a trooper she was!  She road beautifully in the backseat when the top was up, and snuggled on the floor by my feet when we had the top down. Every now and then she took a flying leap into my lap when I wasn’t paying attention. 

I took along a knitting project: my Salt Lake City or bust blue toe-up socks.  I started shortly after we began the journey and finished shortly after we made it back to New York State.  I'll add photos below.

We both return with a heightened sense of the majesty of this amazing country we are blessed to call home.  From purple mountains to waves of Spring green grain, to wind turbines creating peaceful power, to craggy layers of rock and snowy peaks, and friendly cowboys and folk we'll never see again, and fabulous family and friends -- INCREDIBLE!!! And to quote my lovely and well-missed late mother-in-law, "So vast!"

ps. photo is one of my favorites - Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park - June 2, 2009