Thursday, January 31, 2013

Out of my Office until February 18th

I will be out of my office until February 18th.



Please forgive the delay in responding to any correspondence or orders.



I’ve been weaving, if not keeping my blog updated. I have tweed Michigan tartan upholstery on the loom now and recently finished two very wide 5/2 cotton picnic cloths. That was a test of my reach on Bene Toika - much better than on a treadle loom!


With the computer doing the treadling, I was just barely able to reach the 45 inches!



In November, the Linen Rabbi, Nahum Ben-Yehuda, http://biu.academia.edu/NahumBenYehuda

from Israel visited with his wife. We worked on reproducing some ancient wool fabric, exploring weft face, balanced, warp faced - and some ranges in between. After multiple re-sleyings, I cut to the chase, set up for weft-faced, then stopped using the reed to work the warp narrower, then produce warp faced on the same piece.

On a set warp width weft-faced and weft dominant were possible in both madder and natural.
Then the fun began with a piece that transitioned from weft faced to warp faced.  The labels identify the ppi's.


The Rabbi had sent some singles linen, about 20 lea; some tow, some dry-spun, and some wet spun. We explored how to get any/all of these to weave successfully. The plan came out to a sort of “singles linen tartan”. It did take careful tensioning and a warp dressing to tame the 3 to 4 inch protruding fibers, but yes, every one of the five qualities wove up quite successfully.
The reed marks will be visible for a couple washings yet, but the cloth makes a wonderfully absorbent towel.
Until I return with tales of Australia and Kay Faulkner's two studios......

blog: www.kayfaulkner.wordpress.com   web: www.kayfaulkner.com.au

  Kati

1 comment:

  1. Hi Kati,
    Thank you so much for your wonderful talk at the Weaver's Guild of Boston yesterday. I really enjoyed it.

    I was interested in your comment that the gingerbread on Lithuanian homes reflects textiles. Islamic scholars also claim that the brickwork patterns in their area of the world is taken from weaving. Great minds!

    I noticed one book that I have but that wasn't on the Bibliography you handed out and from your book - Latvian Weaving Techniques by Anita Apinis-Herman, published by Kangaroo Press, 1993. I wondered if you had heard of this book? It seems to have a lot of costume information in it.

    Thank you again! - Sally

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