Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Threads Woven not Sewn

Took the weekend off from working on my presentation and went south to Paso Robles. My MIL invited me to join her art guild in a workshop on Tablet Weaving with Diana Brenna.

I have taken tablet weaving classes in the past, but was frustrated with the lack of tension and real understanding of the process. Yes I know I have perfectionist tendencies, but I really hate it when I can't get the tension right on a project.

The class was small - 8 of us and it was great! Diana is not only a wonderful textile artist, but a really good teacher. As an artist she creates full woven costumes with a wide variety of threads. Each has a tablet woven element. She was trained by Candace Crockett and other top names in the field. She has studied with nearly everyone who is in the field of tablet weaving.

Needless to say 2 days was not enough time but we did cover a lot. On Saturday we took a diamond pattern, 14 cards and 3 or 4 colors and warped up. We wove the diamonds, chevrons, spiraling, and plain weave. On Sunday we did double weave, card shifting, and creating an angle (or "v") for starting or ending. We also spent time creating our own design for 4 sided cards and 24 cards wide; with varied threading.

Most of the class wove on "c" clamps but I used my inkle loom. Think I want to make a couple modifications to my box loom before I use it, but I have a much better feel for getting the tensioning right no matter what I use.

Good weekend. Wish it had been longer. Want to learn more! However, back to the grind stone for now.

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