Last month I attended a weaving workshop covering double weave, deflected double weave and differential shrinkage techniques. It was held as the part of the Auckland Creative Fibre Spring Education Festival and led by Agnes Hauptli. There were 10 of us and prior to the workshop we were supplied with pre-wound warps to dress our looms, a different one for each student. The workshop was run as a round-robin so that at the end of the workshop we all had a variety of samples to take home, as well as the remainder of the warp on our own looms to weave off. The samples were all wet finished and here are the results.
Back in February I wove a bunch of doubleweave vessels based on the instructions from VAV magazine Nr. 3 2023. I was using corriedale yarn from Anna Gratton instead of the yarn used in the magazine so had to experiment a bit to get the results I wanted. The basic method is to weave a tube, using different yarns and weave structures (plain weave and extended plain weave), which will give you the variations in the diameter of the vessel. Once off the loom you then gather the bottom up to make a base, tidy up the edges however you like and give it a hot wash in the washing machine until it’s felted to your liking. Once you remove it from the washing machine, you have to shape your rather sad looking tube and then leave it to dry.
Off the loomTube gathered at the bottomOut of the washing machine
So when I put on my first warp to further explore what I had been doing at the workshop with Stacey Harvey-Brown I decided to try make some more vessels but this time using 4 warp layers to weave a double layer tube, with the inner tube having a wool warp and the outer tube a cotton warp. The wefts were a mixture of cotton, paper, and wool. Once off the loom I gathered the bottom of the tube and then wet finished it by hand in hot soapy water until I was happy with the results. The shapes and textures of the vessels are caused by the differential shrinkage between the inner and outer tubes, different weft yarns and when and how the inner and outer layers are connected,. I particularly liked the effect the paper yarn produced when used in the weft, you can see that in the upper edges of the vessels.
Exterior of tube before wet finishing The tube turned inside out to show the inner layerThe interior of the vessel before wet finishing
Time to dust this poor, neglected blog off and post some new photos. There’s been a bit happening but the most exciting is our trip to France and London in June. I mentioned in a post way back in September last year that I had been awarded the Creative Fibre Mason Charitable Trust scholarship for 2023, and that I was putting the funds towards a weaving workshop with Stacey Harvey-Brown. The beginning of June saw me and my husband flying to Paris where we spent a fabulous few days sightseeing before heading to the Loom Room France located in the beautiful SW French countryside near Nérac.
Just one of many photos of the Eiffel Tower from our trip.
The Loom Room is a purpose-built studio integrated into a renovated barn, attached to La Tuilerie, a ‘maison de maitre’ which is Stacey and her husband Graham’s house and where we stayed. There were 2 other weaving students staying for the week and we were each had our own weaving programme tailored to what we wanted to learn. While I was off weaving, Dale explored the neighbouring countryside on foot and just generally relaxed.
Outside La TuilerieThe view from our bedroom windowLooking outside from the studioThe garden gate leading to the path in the next photoThe start of morning walks, exploring the country side
We were all staying on site, which meant we shared meals together. Graham cooked us delicious lunches and dinners, and Stacey went into town each morning to get fresh bread and pastries for our breakfast. We also were treated to local wines with our meals and Graham’s own beer from his micro-brewery. When we weren’t weaving Stacey showed us around the neighbouring area including a woad-dyeing business, the Saturday market at Nérac, a couple of bastides (fortified towns), some amazing churches, local artists and several meals out.
But back to the weaving, I was interested in learning about sculptural weaving so Stacey had a 8-shaft table loom ready for me warped up with 4 layers, 2 cotton and 2 wool. My samples didn’t look too exciting on the loom as they were flat plain weave layers. I explored swapping layers, weaving tubes, using different yarns including paper and linen and lastly removing some of the edge warp threads from the woollen layers. The magic all happened on our last weaving day when I took the samples off the loom and wet finished them, with all sorts of ruffling, gathering and shrinking going on. We also discovered during finishing one of the wool layers was probably machine-washable as it didn’t shrink as expected but that just added even more interest to the results . It was so exciting seeing my transformed samples.
Off the LoomBefore Wet FinishingAfter Wet FinishingBefore FinishingAfter FinishingAfter FinishingBefore FinishingAfter FinishingDrying on the line
I had such an amazing time at this workshop, Stacey is such an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher. Since returning home I have been continuing to explore the techniques that I learnt and having fun seeing what I can create.
March is the start of feijoa season, and also time for Easter eggs.
On my table loom I have been weaving a colour with double weave sampler from an article in an old Weavers’ magazine. On my floor loom I have been weaving some pieces using upholstery weave from The Weaving Book by Helene Bress. The piece under the Easter egg basket above, and in the middle photo below used 3 weft colours, and the piece on the right used 4 weft colours.
Rufus enjoyed a trip to Te Toro beach, with many things to sniff, though he was rather disappointed that he wasn’t allowed to fully investigate the dead gull he found.
And today, I finally got around to cutting the kōrari (flower stalks) from the harakeke (NZ flax) plants in the garden and harvested the seedpods for a dyebath. The first photo below show the flowers and seedpods last month, the birds love feasting on the flowers. Once the flowers have died off the seedpods fully develop and usually I harvest them when they are still fresh but I left it later this year so most of the seedpods have dried off and split open to distribute their seed.
Kia ora, it’s been a while. In my last post I mentioned that I was working on the Creative Fibre correspondence course ‘Certificate in Design 2’. After taking a break over the Christmas and New Year period I finally finished it last month and I’ve made a short video to show some of my process.
The course builds on the skills from an earlier course that I completed a few years ago. In that course you learn about the design process and different tools to use. In the Certificate in Design 2 course you use the design process as you choose a concept/theme for an exhibition, design and complete one work, virtually plan the exhibition and develop the concepts for several other works that would be part of it.
My exhibition and completed work were inspired by the pāua shell, in particular the contrast between its exterior and interior. Below is a photo of the finished work, the colour is not quite right, the joys of taking photos inside with bad lighting. The colour is more like the second photo below.
I’ve been following the lesson on Monk’s Belt with Colour and Weave in Season 7 of Jane Stafford’s School of Weaving. Juggling 4 shuttles is not fun and there have been a few dropped shuttles but I do like the outcome.
I’m also working on a project for the Certificate in Design correspondence course offered through Creative Fibre NZ. I’m at the sampling stage but it’s taking longer than I expected as I experiment with various yarns and structures.
Meanwhile the typical Spring weather of rain and wind interspersed with the odd day of sunshine continues. Rufus doesn’t mind but it’s not much fun for the lucky person who has to play ball with him.
Some yellow yarn and flowers to brighten up another rainy day. The flowers were a gift from a friend to celebrate that I have been awarded the Creative Fibre Mason Charitable Trust scholarship for 2023. The objective of the scholarship is to give a member of Creative Fibre NZ the ability to extend their knowledge and push the boundaries of their capabilities and their design skills by studying overseas with a recognised international practitioner. So in June 2024 I am off to France for a workshop with Stacey Harvey-Brown at The Loom Room France. It’s very exciting and I’m honoured to receive the scholarship.
The yellow corridale wool yarn was solar-dyed with Dyer’s Chamomile flowers. I was not expecting such a bright yellow but it is very cheery. I picked and dried the flowers months ago, and then kept moving the container with them in it around the place until I decided that I really should use them. I used alum as a mordant and left the yarn in the dye for about a week. There weren’t many sunny days in that time but obviously there was enough sunshine to do the trick.
I can’t believe it’s been two months since I posted here. At the beginning of July we went into down town Auckland to see the Matariki light displays. We managed to pick an evening when it wasn’t raining which was a bonus and we had an enjoyable time wandering around Queen Street and the waterfront.
On the weaving front I made my first prototype of a lidded box. I’ve been trying to work out how to make one after reading a post on Peggy Osterkamp’s website about Kay Sekimachi’s woven boxes. Peggy wrote a post about creating one herself but I couldn’t really understand how she did it but after the workshop with Melanie Olde I had another go. It’s not by any means perfect but I’m pretty happy that I managed to get to this stage. It has two seams, one on the lid edge and one side edge. You can see a reel I made on my instagram feed.
I have also woven three new cotton scarves in Ms& Os.
It has been quite wet and our lawn has turned to mud, it is amazing how much mess one dog who loves to run and play ball can make.
I’ve had a busy few weeks starting with travelling to Wellington to attend the Creative Fibre national event ‘Festival of Fibres’ held in Porirua. The accompanying 2023 National Exhibition was at Pātaka Art + Museum, below are photos of a few of the works on show. Photos of the award winners should be going up on the Creative Fibre website soon.
Top: Woven Bowls – Margaret Hill
Middle: Totem Pole – Cathy Priddey, Te Ao Wairua (The Spiritual Realm) – Hanne Vibeke
Bottom: Aureola – Agnes Hauptli
Top: Chaos – Dianne Dudfield, Textural – Jane Clark
Middle: Totem Pole – Cathy Priddey, Te Ao Wairua (The Spiritual Realm) – Hanne Vibeke
While I was in Wellington I took the opportunity to visit Te Papa and the Mataaho Collective: Te Puni Aroaro exhibition. Mataaho Collective are four wāhine Māori artists who have worked together for the last decade. The description of the exhibtion from Te Papa website: These monumental installations evoke the histories of water, light, atua, and wāhine Māori. Industrial materials reflect contemporary Māori experience, and showcase the ever-changing nature of customary textile practices.
The following weekend I was off to Tauranga for a weaving workshop with Melanie Olde, an Australian experimental weaver. Melanie was keynote speaker at the Festival of Fibres and also gave talks on Biomimicry In Weaving and Experimenting With 3D Weaving.
The workshop was titled ‘Thinking Outside the Plane’, and it was wonderful. We worked with a multi-layered warp on 8 shafts and explored different weave structures and techniques, you can see some of my samples below. Further explorations await.
Last but not least, especially if you only come here for kurī (dog) photos, here’s Rufus:
Weaving some tea towels on my Mecchia dobby loom, using up odd spools of cottolin. The draft is A Basket of Stripes Towels by Megan M. MacBride in Handwoven May/June 2022.
Sewed up a skirt using fabric I wove way back in 2020. The skirt pattern is one I have made up a couple of times already, but this is the first time using handwoven fabric. It’s the Clair skirt, a zero waste pattern by Liz Haywood, mine isn’t quite zero waste as my fabric was narrower than the recommended fabric and I also managed to measure one piece incorrectly and had to do some piecing. Very happy with how it turned out though.
Continuing to weave the Deflected Double Cloth sample blanket from Exploring Woven Fabrics by Janet Phillips. I’m nearly halfway through and I’ve found that my understanding of this structure has definitely increased after working through the different lift-plans. Really looking forward to finishing this warp so I can plan some projects based on it.
Kate Alberta Weaving 