travel – Page 4 – Backstrap Loom Weaving

Backstrap Weaving – Tales from Way Down Under

I went to Melbourne as a 10-year old. Most of my parents’ friends from India, where I was born, seemed to have settled in Melbourne rather than in Sydney where we lived. So, we made a summer family trip to visit. I remember eating lots and lots Indian food, the tremendous summer heat, the trams on the city streets…but little else.

So, I was delighted and excited when I was invited to teach backstrap weaving by the Handweavers and Spinners Guild of Victoria. Here was a chance to venture to the southern end of the Australian mainland once again and experience Australia’s second largest city.

I was hosted by Ruth Mitchell who lives within walking distance of the guild. The guild is a truly unique place among the various guilds that I have managed to visit in my travels. It is located in North Carlton, a beautiful city suburb of Victorian era cottages and terraces. I do love inner city living and spent some years before I left for South America in Strawberry Hills in inner city Sydney.

I loved walking the blocks to ”work” every day at the guild. Every little cottage and terraced house was gorgeous…the lace iron work, the little gardens, the colors!, not to mention the palm tree-lined streets. I couldn’t get enough of it. Of course, I took lots of pictures strolling home in the late evening light and I can’t wait to weave something inspired by all those iron work patterns and colors.

The pattern formed by the colors of the brickwork in this house reminds me of the dru, horse’s tooth, pattern used in Bedouin weaving.

These patterns in classic white inspire me to weave something similar in brocade. I would love to weave white patterns on black using a supplementary weft somewhat like I did in this piece some time ago…

It will be interesting and challenging to try to create patterns in brocade that capture the beauty of the Victorian era iron work motifs. I must get some fine silk for that so that I can make the patterns as detailed as possible. It will be a nice piece to commemorate my Melbourne visit.

As you can imagine, after strolling these streets in the mornings with thoughts of pretty iron work and brocade in my head, I would arrive at the guild feeling very inspired and ready to weave!

I did tell you in my last post that the home of the guild is a marvelous place. It’s big! There’s a large library, craft supplies store, exhibit area, woven and knitted goods store, workshop spaces and rental equipment storage space. The craft supplies store certainly did some damage to my wallet. I wanted to bring home Australian fleece for spinning and I also bought some Landscape Dyes…colors of the Australian landscape. Lesley gave me a skein of yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills to use with the dye I had bought. It’s labeled ”fine merino magnolia” and it feels gorgeous. I will weave something with it on my backstrap loom.

I also had a fiber and textile outing in Melbourne with Ruth and I purchased some lovely fabric pieces from Kimono House for perhaps lining some of my woven bags and pouches.

Here is the first of the two Melbourne groups busily winding warps for Andean Pebble Weave. My host, Ruth, is second from the left facing the camera.

The guild is a busy, welcoming and fun place every day. At least four volunteer staff are there every weekday to run the craft supply store, front desk and library. Marie on the left was my ”go-fer” for the day. I am not used to having one and was hard pressed to keep her busy. I was certainly well looked after!

The library now has my books! 🙂 Lesley was on library duty on this day.

I picked up some bargain book gems from the boxes of used books. The open magazine has articles on Australian Aboriginal art and Maori textiles. You can see a piece of Aboriginal art work on the open page with a beautiful leaf design…right up my alley!

If you are wondering about the weight of my luggage when it was time to come back to Bolivia… well, yes, less important things, like clothes, got left behind in Sydney.

Here’s new guild member, Sia, working on her Andean Pebble Weave patterns. Sia walked into the guild and signed up as a member, saw a flyer for my class and jumped on the opportunity. She is hoping to come to the Tinkuy in Peru next year and maybe visit me in Bolivia so perhaps we will meet on this side of the world.

Sia made a wee mistake in one of her patterns and ended up creating the design which I have named ”Sia’s fish”…

June is celebrating the completion of her first star pattern. She was particularly happy when we later learned how to make continuous string heddles mounted on a stick. She had gone to Japan and brought back a traditional Japanese backstrap loom and has been teaching herself to work on it. However, she told me that making the continuous string heddles had defeated her. Here is a picture of her loom. It’s an intriguing set up. I find myself saying over and over ”If I come back to Melbourne, I will….”. That list of activities includes the hope of being able to see June weave on this loom.

In any case, even though she has been finding the heddle making challenging, it looks like she has been producing some lovely cloth.

She brought along some Japanese textiles to show me as well as her tea ceremony equipment… all wrapped in a furoshiki cloth, of course. You can see one of the beautiful bamboo reeds that she got in Japan.Tatiana, from Chile, was in my second group of Andean Pebble Weavers. She does meticulous handwork and brought me one of dozens of hand knitted dolls she has made. The doll collection is fabulous and I told her that she really should make an exhibit for the guild. When in Chile, she had seen such knitted dolls being made by Aymara ladies from northern Chile and this gave her the idea. She tells me that the Chilean dolls are more rustic and charming. I find the doll she gave me absolutely adorable!

She also had a bag decorated with the embroidery of Ayacucho. I have shown this in other blog posts. My friend Dorothy has some of this Ayacucho work and when I made an appeal on this blog, several people wrote to me to tell me how to do the stitches. I have never actually used the stitches but, you never know, one day….

It seems that wherever I go, I will run into something South American. I showed you in my last blog post the Mapuche belts that Gerlinde gave me. These belts traveled from Chile to Europe to Australia and now are in my home in Bolivia.

Of course, the beautiful work of the weavers of Chnichero, Peru is internationally known. One of my Melbourne students, Melanie, had been to Cusco where she took weaving classes. The little pouch she uses for her weaving tools is from there. The Chinchero pieces with their gorgeous natural dye colors are instantly recognizable.

I worked with two groups in Melbourne. They both learned Andean Pebble Weave. There is talk of forming a study group and I hope that comes together. The guild has the space to hold such meetings but I was told that the problem is finding a spare day as there are so many study groups and other activities happening in the space. While I was there, the kumihimo and tapestry groups got together to braid and weave.

On my day off between the two workshops, Ruth kindly took me into the city.. a short tram ride away. We did a little textile and fiber tour stopping first at the famous Australian Tapestry Workshop. It is housed in a historic building in South Melbourne that was once a knitting mill and it is beautiful both inside and out.

From the mezzanine level we got to look down on the work area with its works-in-progress and recently completed pieces. Amazing!

This piece designed by British artist Keith Tyson is called Gordian Knot The circular piece seems to float in space.

Australian designer John Olsen’s piece, Life Burst, was on display in the gallery.

Hi signature appears in the corner along with the emblem of the Australian Tapestry Workshop where his design was woven by a team of tapestry weavers. It was amazing to look closely at the piece and see just how many colors had been blended. What appears in the picture above to be solid yellow actually comprises many strands of multiple shades of yellows, oranges and other colors.

It was fascinating and mind boggling watching one of the weavers at work. I will always remember Joan Ruane’s remark when she watched me doing pick-up on my backstrap loom. She said something like..”Oh my God, it’s slower than tapestry!” After watching this lady at work…I don’t think so! This piece is called Perspectives on a Flat Surface and was designed by John Wardle Architects. You can see the sample pieces that have been woven and mounted next to the main piece of work. Yep, tapestry weavers have to sample too.

It was a very enjoyable visit. There was a hands-on piece in one of the galleries where Ruth and I got to pass a few wefts and leave our mark and then we went yarn shopping. I picked up a half dozen tiny cones of tapestry wool which I think will work wonderfully in warp-faced weaving. There are 362 colors from which to choose and the workshop has a resident dyer. I will weave something to remind me of my visit to the ATW.

Melbourne is a pretty city. I found it light, open and airy. It has quite a few churches. This one is St Patrick’s Catholic church. It is possible that Sydney’s CBD has just as many but they just don’t seem to jump out at you like the ones in Melbourne.

The Flinders Street Station is bustling and beautiful…

I loved running into these landmarks. These are names that I have heard all my life growing up in Sydney.We crossed the Yarra river that flows through the city dividing Melbourne into north and south banks.

We went to the Nicholas building which houses an eclectic gathering of craftspeople including a tailor from Peru who uses, among other materials. industrially produced fabric from Peru in interesting ways to make elegant coats.

After being thoroughly absorbed looking at the various stores and studios we suddenly realized it was 3 o’clock and we hadn’t had lunch. I enjoyed visiting one of Melbourne’s famous laneways. This one, Central Place, is stuffed full of tiny eateries that have just enough space to seat a handful of people. We crouched on tiny stools eating sushi and watched the people go by. There are apparently many of these laneways, each one with its particular personality.

At home, Ruth showed me what she has been weaving. I am kicking myself for not having taken photos. She has been using my second book to learn intermesh and has been using her Ashford inklette to weave bands with lettering. She adds the two additional sets of string heddles for the ”mesh sheds” to her inkle loom and was using fine wool to weave a striking red and black band. I was happy to meet Ruth’s two daughters and discover that her elder daughter, Lisa, is a well known Australian singer and songwriter and has been so for the last ten years. Well, I have been away for 23 years and am not caught up with what is happening in Australian music.

Lisa Mitchell is her name and here she is performing with one of Ruth’s hand woven guitar straps. I was tickled to see that she had used some of the celtic knot patterns from my second book that I adapted to the Andean Pebble Weave structure. Ruth has woven several other beautiful guitar straps for Lisa, one of which has silver-colored threads and which catch the light beautifully when Lisa performs on stage. And yes, that’s one of my friend Annie’s guitar strap kits that she is using.

I got back to Bolivia last Thursday. It was a 54-hour trip…don’t ask! I don’t think I have ever really known what jet lag is until this trip. Sure, I get tired after a long flight but jet lag is something else again. I have been trying to claw my way out of the fog and get back to my loom and I am pleased to report that yes, it finally happened. I have been putting to use some of the jewelry findings I bought while in the U.S.

The cuff isn’t new. Nor is the silk lanyard. You might remember that I wove this lanyard pattern again as I hadn’t been happy with this first attempt. The ”good” one went to the BRAIDS 2016 where I met its new owner. This less-than-good one is now the holder for my new glasses. I forgot my glasses in Sydney, darn it. The new thing in the picture is the bangle. I want to have sets of ”arm jewelry” and wear them all at once from wrist to half way to my elbow…cuffs, bangles, braided wristlets and bands like the lady in the picture below. I have been fascinated by this idea ever since I came across the picture. You may remember it from this blog post. So, here are two pieces in the ”blue” set. There will be more ”arm jewelry” in blue to come.

From Afrostyle magazine and designer Tarun Tahilian

Now there is a brown set underway…

So far, I have a bangle and a wristlet. I will use a tiny braid to connect that wristlet, tied through the eyelet at one end and looped around the button. The wider piece is going to be sewn into a cuff with a tubular edging and then I will weave a few tubular bands to also use as wristlets. I have lots of things going on right now that are preventing me from getting into a large project…although my head is overflowing with great ideas!! The list gets longer. Traveling opens my eyes to so many things and gives me the time and head space to organize my ideas, visualize possible projects and make adjustments and improvements before I can even touch the loom.

My small jewelry projects are keeping me happy for the time being. They are fun. I hope I get to wear them soon.

See you next time.

Backstrap Weaving – Strands

BRAIDS 2016 – Braids, Bands and Beyond. The conference at UPS Tacoma, Washington is over. What a week it was.

Let me quote my weaving friend Ruth Temple who was one of the 175 or so participants…

My soul is happy, my heart is full, my brain is jumping with excitement, and my fingers have been wonderfully well-tangled in strings all week.

The Proceedings of BRAIDS 2016 is available through the Braid Society, Braidershand and Giovanna Imperia Designs. — The Proceedings of BRAIDS 2016 containing articles by all 30 instructors is available through the Braid Society, Braidershand and Giovanna Imperia Designs.

If you are not already a member of the Braid Society, there are many reasons to join, one of which is the fabulous conferences.

But, even if you can’t attend one of those, the annual Journal which is aptly named Strands, is alone well worth the price of admission. I had missed out on receiving my journals the last two years because I had lost my P.O Box. Debbie brought my copies for me with her from England. They are juicy!

Many of the instructors at Braids 2016 have authored the articles alongside other renowned braiders and band weavers. In the following photo, fans of Susan Foulkes will catch a glimpse of an article on Latvian bands in the 2015 issue with detailed instructions and photos.

Strands…after attending an event like this you start to see strands everywhere and in everything. Strands…wavy tentacles of glass at the Chihuly exhibit in Seattle. Strands…branches extending in all directions from the trunk of the massive sequoia on the UPS campus like strands of thread waiting to be worked into a braid.

At the conference, strands of yarn, wire, raw hide and even human hair were plied, split, twisted, turned, crossed and looped into beautiful braids and bands as well as exquisite pieces of jewelry like the brooch of braided hair below.

Ruth Macgregor and Carol James work on a Peruvian head band in Rodrick Owen's workshop. — Ruth MacGregor and Carol James work on a Peruvian head band braid in Rodrick Owen’s workshop.

I was lucky to have the chance not only to instruct but also to take Rodrick Owen’s class on Peruvian head band braids along with Ruth and Carol (above) and several other participants from the 14 countries and 6 continents that were represented at the conference. I was proud to be representing South America.

We spent the first morning setting up our looped strands to braid. I was determined not to miss anything and took lots of notes. I find that it is best to get things written down in my own hand and in my own way as a supplement to the instructions we received in our color handouts. That is what works best for me.

I really want to continue working on these kinds of braids and I have plans to try and make some wrist cuffs with them. I wanted to make sure that I was absolutely clear on the process. For that reason, I stayed with working on just the one braid for the two days rather than learn the second one that Rodrick presented on Day Two. I know that I will take the opportunity to learn that second braid in a class with Rodrick some other time in the future.

Sprang expert and instructor, Carol James, also took the class. I am sure that she felt, like me, that being a student now and then is a priceless and necessary experience for teachers.

Demonstrating the second braid on Day Two. — Rodrick demonstrates the second braid on Day Two.

My briad in progress...some mistakes and lumps and bumps while I get the hang of managing the tension...but I am very pleased with it! — My braid in progress…with some mistakes and lumps and bumps while I get the hang of managing the tension…but I am very pleased with it!

I bought some Valdani cotton at the conference in the Braiders’ Bazaar so that I can work on this braid while I am on the road. I am wondering how manageable it will be in cotton which doesn’t have the stretch and ”give” of wool.

I had met Rodrick Owen by chance at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival back in 2010. It has taken me this long to take a class with him even though our paths have crossed many times since. All the wonderful things I had heard about him as an instructor were true.

I love workshop tables with their chaos of yarn and sticks and tape and tools and this one which I shared with Jeanne, who kindly shared her photos with me, was no exception.

Outside of class time, Washington gave us some glorious weather and the campus gave us lots of opportunities to enjoy it with outdoor eating areas to hang with friends and maybe do some braiding for those who practice the more portable techniques.

John Whitley works on a ply-split piece of his own. I met him at Braids 2012 in Manchester and he and his wife Stacy have done some backstrap weaving with me on a couple of occasions. — John Whitley is always able to whip out one of his current projects and keep his skilled hands occupied. Here he is working on a ply-split piece of his own. I met him at Braids 2012 in Manchester and he and his wife Stacy have done some backstrap weaving with me on a couple of occasions since then.

Meeting new people and hanging out with old friends…6 of my backstrap weaving students from various parts of the USA are present in this picture.

The conference was a great opportunity to meet up with my weaving buddies from all over the USA as well as folks from Europe that I had met in Manchester in 2012. Even a blog follower from Capetown South Africa, Joel, was there.

With Annie! You will know her as Aspinnerweaver, the weaver of unique colorful guitar straps. We haven't had much chance to hang out since she moved to New Mexico. — With Annie! You will know her as Aspinnerweaver, the weaver of unique colorful work-of-art guitar straps. We haven’t had much chance to hang out since she moved to New Mexico.

Tablet weaver John Mullarkey was at the table too (see below). He likes to tease inkle loom weavers about the supposed inferiority of their chosen equipment and technique to the tablets that he prefers. I think he met his match at that table of fierce inkle loom fans. Jennifer accused him of ”inkle envy”.

I got to wear my woven accessories…something I dare not do at home in Bolivia where I have had several things pulled off my neck and wrists in the past while walking down the street.

I had woven a neck pouch especially for the conference in which I could stash business cards and card keys. My sample for that project became a wrist cuff and I only realized later that my necklace and camera strap were also good matches.

You may remember that I was just one of many many people who had volunteered to weave lanyards for the conference. I contributed a mere 6 of them. There were 175 of them to be made!

Having arrived early at the conference with my friend Marilyn Romatka, I was able to enjoy scanning the lanyard table before the name tags were distributed, ooh-ing and ah-ing over the variety of techniques and patterns and colors represented there.

Marilyn taught bow-loom weaving. Here’s Marilyn ”dressed” in her looms entering our dorm building for the first time. And, if you are curious about these very cool bow looms, which are used by the Akha people of northern Thailand and Laos to weave narrow bands with beaded selvedges, here’s a closer look at them as Annie and I weave with them after the conference at Marilyn’s place…

Here’s Robyn Jackson who did a fabulous job attaching the various clips that turned braids and bands into lanyards for our name tags. She chose to wear one of mine 🙂

It was fun playing ”spot the lanyard” trying to see which of the 175 participants got mine. It wasn’t until Day 3 that I found the last of the 6 I had made around the neck of Braid Society Chairperson Shirley Berlin. Unfortunately, I never found out who made the pretty purple lucet-worked lanyard that I was given.

The weather was perfect for outdoor weaving and I wish I had thought of suggesting doing just that to my group of backstrap weavers above. There were certainly plenty of trees to tie to and lovely lawn in which to sit. We studied supplementary-weft patterning and double weave over two days.

Brian and Karen are working on their double weave here. It was lovely to meet up again with Brian who had woven with me at Vavstuga last fall, as well as Eileen, my host on several visits to Austin, Texas and Tracy with whom I have woven quite a few times in California. Karen is the first Alaskan weaver I have ever had in a class. She really took to backstrap weaving. It was nice to have two UK participants…Kay and ply-split expert and instructor Julie Hedges. Barbara had interesting stories of her travels in Peru with Martha Stanley. Susan was there. I had worked on the Weavolution booth with her at Convergence in Albuquerque 6 years ago. Beverly and Heidi were new backstrap weavers and I hope they enjoyed the class enough to continue their new skills at home.

When these weavers were happily settled into their double weave adventure, I took the opportunity to go out and briefly visit a few other classes that were in neighboring rooms.

Here are two of my dear backstrap weaving buddies. Braiding expert, Ingrid Crickmore, is instructing pick-up patterns on finger looped braids while inkle- weaving artist, Annie MacHale, watches. Dominic Taylor braids away in the background. I met Dom at Braids 2012 in Manchester and he was here in Tacoma to teach cylindrical braids in raw hide. I am grateful that he made me aware of some of the beautiful work in braided raw hide that is being done by the gauchos in Argentina.

Here are just a few of the pick-up patterned loop braid samples that Ingrid brought for her workshop.

Annie showed Marilyn and me something of what she had learned with Ingrid in the finger-loop braiding class. It was interesting after having just taught double weave on the backstrap loom to learn about these double layer braids that connect when colors are exchanged between layers and which allow motifs to be created through ”pick-up”. The braider can decide which way she wants to handle a dual-colored loop to bring one of the two colors to the upper face of the braid to form a pattern. Ingrid’s article in the conference proceedings goes on to explain more.

Carol James was just down the hall wearing one of her amazing sprang creations and watching over her group of happy sprang braiders. I saw some really sweet pouches come out of that class.

Here I can treat you to a closer look at Carol’s sprang garment while she advises one of her students.

Marilyn took this class and gave Annie and me a demonstration when we got back to her place after the conference. It was nice to see it in action on the frame. I had been at one of the fun kitchen parties at Braids 2012 where Carol had placed yarn in my hands and given me an impromptu class in the ”scissors and pinch” technique….so beautifully explained and something which I have never forgotten.

Mariyl set a piece with space-dyed yarn that looked anazing — Marilyn set up a piece with space-dyed yarn that looked amazing.

While I didn’t get to visit Anna Sparr’s class on braids made with human hair, or ”hair work”, I got to attend her evening lecture and see some of her jewelry pieces. It is a technique that dates back to at least the 17th Century. Anna’s family originates from Våmhus in Sweden, home of the traveling hair workers who would move from city to city all over northern Europe offering their work and providing a significant source of income for the village.

You can read much more about this in Anna’s contribution to the conference proceedings. Apparently whisperings were overheard on how some people would have liked to harvest Robyn Jackson’s and my hair for hair work. I decided to sleep with my dorm room door locked that night 😉

I dropped in quickly to another room where Ria from The Netherlands was busy braiding in Leigh Morris’ class on variations of zig zag braids for jewelry. Ria and I had met in Manchester and it was lovely to see her again. She even remembered the liking I had developed for Dutch stroopwafels when I had visited with Marijke van Epen and brought me a bag of them all the way from Holland.

There was a break from the talks and workshops mid week for an outing. I joined the group that visited the Burke Museum and the Mood Indigo exhibit at the Seattle Asian Museum. I had already seen Mood Indigo in the spring but these things are always worth a second look.

I guess one of the things I enjoyed most was the chance to see Maori twined and woven work at the Burke. When I had been exposed to kteh twining with my Montagnard backstrap weaving teachers, I had looked around online for more examples in other cultures and found information on Maori taniko, bought a book, and started playing. Here are my first experiments using Montagnard and Bedouin motifs…

This was the first time I was able to see real Maori pieces. Of course, I very much wanted to get my hands on this skirt and look at the other face of the taniko wasitband. I have used weft twining here and there in my work and now I am inspired to do some more.

There were also examples of local work in the form of a Salish mountain goat wool robe and coastal Salish clam basket and strap…

It was a lovely day out and about. We had lunch by the water and there were masses of blackberries nearby just asking to be picked. I couldn’t understand how they could just be left there for the taking until someone told me later that I had been stomping about in poison oak while I was happily picking. Fortunately, I did not suffer any effects….and the blackberries were delicious!

My eye was caught by Judy walking about with an interesting bag. She had taken a trip on the Silk Road and picked up this bag in Kyrgyzstan. I was struck by the fact that I had just posted about Kyrgyzstan textiles and looms in a blog post and welcomed the chance to be able to examine the textile.

The conference ended with a banquet which I chose to miss. It had been a busy and exciting week and I felt that I needed a little down time. I walked out on a quest to find a good viewing spot to peacefully watch the sunset over Mt Rainier, or Tahoma. I found one perched on top of a wall and enjoyed the colors of the sunset from orange to pink to blue as the sun slipped from the sky. For me, it was a perfect ending to the week. I then met up with friends when all the banquet excitement had subsided who told me that the venue for the next Braids conference had been announced…Kyoto, Japan in 2019.

The departure day at conferences is always bewildering. How did 5 days just slip by so quickly? You regret the pictures you didn’t manage to take and lament the fact that you didn’t get to hug certain people goodbye. This departure was softened for me as, rather than heading off alone, I was leaving with Annie to spend a few days at Marilyn’s place in Seattle. On the way home we had a frantic and fun time at Shipwreck Beads buying findings for jewelry making, I have lots of ideas for making more necklaces and bracelets from my woven bands. We bumped into other conference folk there which made it feel like the conference hadn’t really ended at all.

At Marilyn’s, between harvesting her figs, apples and Japanese plums, we spent time on the floor sharing the techniques we had learned in our conference workshops. That was an excellent way to reinforce what we had learned and for me to update and extend my notes.
We watched the first rough edit of the little instructional movie that Marilyn’s husband is making with me on backstrap weaving. That’s just a little tease for now. I will tell you much more about that later 🙂

We visited the Chihuly Glass Museum which was breathtaking both inside and out. We strolled about the gardens soaking up the colors and shapes.

And then, from that strange world of glass, it was back to nature, strolling the wooded trails near Marilyn’s home to a special place that she calls ”Middle Earth”…more strands!

Annie then headed back to New Mexico and I went south to my friend Betty’s place where there were blueberries to be picked. Have I mentioned that I love to pick and eat fruit straight from the trees?

Betty and Ladella took me out to meet with a group of Karen community backstrap weavers who get together every Thursday in a nearby community center. The ladies were not weaving and had not brought their looms but I got see some of their textiles and I was able to demonstrate some backstrap weaving of my own for them on a tiny narrow warp. I showed them how my loom is set up and operated to weave the Andean Pebble Weave structure. They were fascinated.

One lady, Ra-day, who I was told is the best weaver of the group, was so intrigued that I gave her my warp to take home to study. I am sure that she will quickly see how it all works and I would be thrilled if she started playing with the technique herself.

Isn’t it amazing how strands of yarn can connect people creating common ground and understanding and overcoming language barriers?

Ra-day on the left and one of the other Karen community weavers examine the picking cross in my warp. — Ra-day, on the left, and one of the other Karen community weavers examine the picking cross in my warp.

All the information needed for experienced backstrap weavers such as them selves to set up a warp like this is there. The examined the threads that were enclosed in the two sets of heddles. — All the information needed for experienced backstrap weavers such as these to set up a warp like this is there. They examined the threads that were enclosed in the two sets of heddles.

I admired one of their woven pieces for its colors and lovely warp-float pattern and, before I knew it, Betty had bought it for me as a rather early birthday gift :-). It was one of Ra-day’s pieces and I asked her to pose with it with me.

As always, I had a lovely time at Betty’s, talking textiles and yarn, visiting my first county fair, looking through her extensive collection of textiles, artefacts and books and listening to stories of the textile and trekking tours she had led to Peru and Bolivia in the 1980s and 90s. And then, it was time to move on…

I left this behind…

and boarded one of those huge Airbus A380s for the long flight to……

…greet a glorious Sydney morning. Good morning Australia! If you look closely you will see Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House beyond it.

Braids 2016 already feels like it was a long, long time ago….

Let the magic live on….you can buy the book of the conference proceedings from the Braid Society website or from Braidershand (where you can also buy Rodrick Owen and Terry Newhouse Flynn’s new book Andean Sling Braids: New Designs for Textile Artists), or from Giovanna Imperia Designs.

Backstrap Weaving – Majestic

MAJESTIC – I took the title of this post from the new name of the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. Yosemite….just one of many majestic things I saw during my trip in the U.S. this spring.

I was already jumping up and down at this first sighting of Half Dome. While I took pictures, Anne took a few pictures of me. My friends in Sonora made sure we had a day to spend together in the park. Thank you! This has always been a dream of mine.

I am back in Bolivia now to a rather cold and soggy winter. There’s nothing like travel to show you how climates are changing in different places. I just left southern California where people are seriously wondering if they will ever see rain again. Back here in Santa Cruz, our dry season is on hold, with day after day of dreary drizzle which is seeping into the walls. Wet Season used to mean hot humid mornings with clouds building up to tropical downpours at 3pm daily. They were a joy and a relief. Twenty minutes later, the sun would be out and the clean streets would be steaming.

One thing about those endlessly warm dry days in southern California…you can weave outdoors! This is something I have been wanting to do on all the visits I have made to the U.S and it has just never happened. The weather wouldn’t cooperate.

This time, it was simply perfect with just enough breeze to cool things down. And it remained perfect day after day after day. We had fun weaving tubular bands and Andean Pebble Weave patterns on Ginny’s sheltered patio and then out on the grass as more people came and we needed extra room.

Here is some contrasting scenery from the south and north along the west coast…

Hills in southern California. — Hills in southern California looking sandy and dry.

Hiking in the forest with Betty in Washington state.

And then, of course, there’s Yosemite! My friends saved this overlook for me for the end of the day after having done some hiking and some sitting about in the sunshine in the valley. Majestic!

I love the two soaring birds against the face of El Capitan.

And, there was lots of weaving to be done, fun people to hang out with and beautiful textiles to be seen along the way….

…like the opportunity to meet Taylor Cass Stevenson whom I had first encountered via my blog while she was learning to make string heddles from my tutorials. She came to visit with Betty and me in Washington and brought bundles of beautiful Bhutanese textiles to show. There were large backstrap-woven panels and tablet-woven belts that she had bought and been given in Bhutan as well as books and remarkable pieces she had made herself.

Tablet-woven belts and fabric that Taylor wove herself while in Bhutan.

Gorgeous Bhutanese cloth that Taylor acquired during her stay. — Gorgeous Bhutanese cloth with fine supplemental-weft motifs that Taylor acquired during her stay.

Taylor had spent two years in Bhutan working on a project which involved weaving with recycled materials. She worked on weaving bags made with recycled plastics. The large green bag in the next picture is woven with strips cut from plastic soda bottles. A small simple device that uses the blade from a pencil sharpener is used to cut the bottles in strips. The best part of this story, for me, is that the bags have found a strong local market.

I’ll quote from Taylor’s Live Debris website…

Live Debris workshops demonstrate and develop techniques and products for reusing and reducing waste materials, while also addressing the social and personal significance of reintegrating our discards. The workshops are site specific, taking into account local waste production, resource availability, need and interests. They also demand mutual education, asking participants to share their own skills and ideas around reuse and alternative waste management systems. Artist and waste researcher Taylor Cass Stevenson has taught reuse craft and design in the context of peace and security to kids and adults around the world. Workshops can be conducted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese or Sharchop.

See more bags here. You’ll be hearing more from me about Taylor in future posts.

I got to go to several guild meetings and see Show and Tell, hear about weaving challenges and see the results, get lots of ideas for my own projects, as well meet people who have been following my blog.

In Los Angeles, I got to see a fiber art exhibit which included Anna Zinmeister’s amazing work, The Beatles, which I believe also appears in the latest edition of Handwoven magazine. On my visit last year when I stayed with Anna, I saw her pieces depicting John and Yoko which she had made as part of her guild’s Beatle-themed weaving challenge.

Anna Zinmeister Damask Weave The Beatles — Anna Zinmeister. Damask Weave. The Beatles.

At this same guild meeting, I was given two beautiful Bolivian awayos one of which is labeled as having been made in the late 19th century.

Here it is folded up. As you know, one of my latest ”things” is the siray, or joining stitches that weavers here use to connect their woven panels into larger pieces. This weaver has used a couple of styles to decorate the join in her carrying cloth. Look how small the terminal area is where she had to stop doing her pick-up pattern and resort to plain weave in order to complete the four-selvedged cloth. You might be able to make out what look like stripes in the black solid-color section. Those are formed by using Z and S-twist yarn in alternating narrow strips.

In this next picture you will be able to see more closely the changes in the direction of twist. Now I think this is something that I would like to try.

My friend Betty has an enormous textile collection and each time I visit is another chance to look at things. Each time I have something else on which I want to focus. This time it was joining stitches. As you know, I don’t buy textiles any more when I am traveling in Peru and Bolivia unless I really can’t figure out how a piece was made. I will then buy it so that I can examine it more closely at will. I just take pictures of textiles now and so I don’t often get a chance to handle and inspect things as closely as I would like.

I love all the pebble weave figures on this one and the jolly joining stitch down the middle.

I used another piece in Betty’s collection as background for my band with its heddles on sticks. This band is too narrow to warrant heddles on sticks but I was teaching friends how to make them and this narrow warp served the purpose. The heddles are just so darned cute on those tiny sticks. It took me a while to recognize this pattern which I copied from one of Betty’s pieces as simply the kuti hook pattern woven connected head to tail and flipped back and forth. That is the way so many of these patterns are formed…by simply mirroring, flipping and sometimes connecting small simple motifs.

One of my weaving friends took this very classic Andean hook motif and flipped it this way and that, separating each motif with a white horizontal bar. I love the look of her own innovation. It sits on a piece with the beautiful natural dye colors used by the weavers in the CTTC in Peru.

That particular Andean hook pattern is more often seen woven like the examples in the next set of pictures Focus on the white threads in the picture top left and you will see the basic hook. Focus on the black threads in the picture bottom right and there, again, you will see the simple hook motif.

Here’s another version. If you focus on the white threads rather than the red, you will see that this is the same classic hook woven tail to tail and then head to head. I charted this one from this textile in Betty’s collection and sent the chart to a couple of weaving friends with whom I had spent time on this trip. Here’s Elinor’s version…

I love charting and like to share my enjoyment of it with the people with whom I get to weave. I like to walk them through a couple of simple charting exercises in the hope that they will find patterns on textiles and online that they want to weave and have the skills to do so. I was very pleased when Tina grabbed the Tarahumara band that Sofia had brought to show and started charting it. I hope to see her woven version of it one day. It wasn’t an easy one to chart!

There was double weave fun to be had too in northern California. Wendy had charted her own butterfly motif but didn’t get to weave it in the time I spent with her. I hope she sends me a picture of it soon.

We got brave and later added extra heddles to make the pick-up process faster…

Tubular bands and decorated pouches were also on the weaving list…

That’s Annie’s pouch with ñawi awapa tubular bands along the sides, coil stitches along the bottom and some cross knit looping along the mouth.

Here’s a closer look at that tubular band…

Here’s one of the outdoor weavers, Carl, enjoying Andean Pebble Weave…

Ginny got tired of having to pick up her sword when it slipped out and fell to the ground and Snap the dog was probably tired of being bonked in the head with it. I offer two solutions…sit on the ground so that sword doesn’t have far to fall…weave lots more because experience will help you find that ”sweet spot” and ideal tension that allows the sword to stay in place. But now, Ginny has a third solution: apply some double sided tape and stick a piece of fine velvet on the sword…

And while Anne was taking pictures as she Patty and I were hiking in Yosemite park, my weaving friends from the U.S and around the world were sending me pictures of their work and themselves at the loom…

That’s Destin a day or so after our time spent together. She was camping at a lake and her husband set up a post so that she could do some Andean Pebble Weave. How idyllic is that?

In Florida, Berna and Cyndy got together to make their backstraps…

Lori in northern California made a backstrap too…

As did Wendy…

I love those colors!

Cindy sewed three bands together and made a pouch. She covered the joins and decorated the edges with red cross knit looping. While I haven’t seen cross knit looping sewn flat in Peru and Bolivia, my Montagnard backstrap weaving teachers use it flat, as Cindy has done, as a joining stitch when connecting woven panels.

Adem in Turkey has just about finished the adorable poncho for his 1-year old niece. You can see that he split the piece while weaving to make a neck opening for her. I told him that I want to see her wearing it in the next picture. Adem uses a vertical Mapuche-style loom rather than a backstrap loom. The patterning technique he is using is the one I call Simple Warp Floats.

Alicia Wilches in Argentina, under the instruction of my friend Susanna Vallejo, wove a pattern that I charted in my second book. Alicia also uses a Mapuche-style vertical loom…

Hungyingyu in Taiwan has been dabbling in double weave. She used the llama figures that I have charted here on my blog. This is her first attempt. I see great things coming!

Dawn, in the Netherlands, sent me pictures of things she has been making following my blog. I cannot tell you how much admiration I have for people around the world taking up their sticks and learning all this via the internet and my blog without ever having had face-to-face instruction. They are inspiring!

First we see her beautiful backstrap…

Then she tried some Andean Pebble Weave using my book…

…as well as some supplementary weft patterning. This is a pattern I charted from a scrap of pre-columbian fabric that I have.

Sobahime has been delighting us in the Ravelry group with the fabulous towels she has been weaving on her backstrap loom in cotton. Sometimes she uses her own handspun cotton as weft. She made her own reed to achieve a balanced weave structure.

Here are two of her finished towels. The one on the right uses her own handspun cotton as weft.

What else?

I bought yarn, I was given yarn, I stayed in Susie and Rex’s yurt again, this time with its new painted door..

Betty had read about my use of 60/2 silk in backstrap weaving and brought out some unused cones of Lunatic Fringe 140/2 silk for me!! Dare I??

Later I showed these to Sara saying that they were kind of her colors. She agreed but said that the pink was a bit wimpy. She likes fuchsia. The next day she showed up with cones 140/2 silk from her own stash to add…Thank you!

I will be making cuffs to start with to see if this is actually doable! It will be interesting to see how much pattern I can squeeze into a cuff width using this fine thread. In this picture you can also see a bunch of buttons and charms that I picked up all over the place for bag closures and more woven necklaces and bracelets. I really enjoyed wearing those things on this trip. There’s also a sweet zipper adornment that Cindy made in tatting and gave me.

While with weaving friends in northern California, I was invited to select things from a deceased weaver’s estate. There were so many GREAT books. It was nice to see them go to good homes but inside I ached…it would just be too troublesome getting them back to Bolivia. Instead, I picked up all the wonderful silk natural dye samples you see below. They are all beautifully organized and labeled and I think I can weave something nice with all these soft tones. There are samples of logwood, indigo, cochineal, madder, osage orange, cutch, fustic, mixes of two or three of these and overdyes.

I am thinking of picking one color group and weaving small projects with dark solid supplementary-weft motifs on the background of soft tones. I wonder how that would look. I am inspired by Mollie Freeman who posted a hand painted warp project on Facebook on which she stamped dark leaf motifs.

Speaking of natural dye colors, I got to visit with a textile collector in southern California. I can’t even begin to tell you about this collection. The color work on some of the older mantles, the incredible fineness of the yarn and the width of the backstrap loom woven pieces were astounding. What would appear as a blackish purplish solid-color piece in indoor natural lighting would simply shimmer with all sorts of tones when held up to the light.

I was struck by the piece you see below from Bolivia which the owner estimated as being possibly made in the 1880s because the colors look just like those that are being so expertly produced by the CTTC now in Peru. I like the plain-weave tubular band edging. It is interesting to see the ripples across the solid colors in the terminal area which shows how the weaver must have labored to finish the four-selvedged piece picking up the extremely fine threads with some kind of needle to form those final sheds.

Mary, with whom I stayed on this trip, is running an online natural dye class. The first sessions are on yellows. I got to see all her prep work for the classes as well as some of the finished work from her students. Future classes will be on reds and indigo. What fun to be able to do this online from far away interacting with teacher and fellow participants online. A kit is sent in the mail.

I will leave you here with one more picture of that special day in Yosemite…

Many thanks to all those who opened their homes to me.

Backstrap Weaving – Folk

It’s been a while! Here I am back in Bolivia with stuff that I brought back from this latest trip. Not much to show for two and half months away, is it?

In fact, the silk warp that you see there was made from silk I took away with me. I wound a warp with it early on in the trip so that I could make a bookmark for a friend. And that was as far as I got. I was just way too busy on this trip to make a start on it. I made those heddles just last night.

I brought back loads of black dye so that I can continue my ikat projects. There are three pieces I want to make for my next set of wall hangings, all with curved shapes. I have found curved motifs that I like from cultures around the world that represent the north, south and center. I bought a used book on ikat which I hope will give some tips to add to the body of experience I have collected so far in my own experiments.

But first, I have to get those three bird pieces off the loom. I need to add some red weft twining to finish them and thus create another common thread to connect the set.

I bought the charcoal pencils that you can see in the first picture…at last! Now I have a better way to mark the motifs on the warp threads before placing the ikat ties. Marker pen, in one of my experiments, bled yellow into the white spaces after dyeing and regular pencil just doesn’t do the trick. I saw, via video, that some of the design masters in Uzbekistan use charcoal to draw the patterns onto the warp before handing it over to those who specialize in the tying process.

I got some Valdani cotton at the Northwest Folklife Festival. I don’t know yet what makes this thread from Romania so special (I’ll let you know once I have used it) but I liked the ladies who owned the stall and the thread is one of my festival souvenirs. I will weave a ”folky” wrist cuff with it in memory of the three fun days spent at the festival with Marilyn.

And then, there are the hairsticks. You can see just one of them in the picture. There seems to be an endless supply of these at all kinds of folk art and ethnic textile and craft stores. I go over each and every one to find the ones with nice points so I can use them as pick- up sticks when I work with supplementary weft.

I bought the three skeins of wool from a small yarn store in Skagit Valley.

I decided that I need a wool backstrap to add to my collection and the colors were totally inspired by Peggy’s beautiful project that she was weaving when we met up….indigo, purple and apple green.

I wonder where Peggy is with that project. I can’t wait to see it finished.

The Valdani cotton that I bought is a selection of variegated and solid colors. I love the look of variegated yarn and thread but have never used it myself in a project. I have never really been sure what to do with it! After seeing Peggy’s project and getting to weave Sara Lamb’s beautiful reeled silk warp, I feel more inclined to start using strips of color that are not solid.

You may remember this next shot from a previous post…that’s me all excited about getting to play with Sara’s dyed and hand painted reeled silk warp. Sara, in what I have come to learn is her typical generous way, gave me her warp. There are two of her narrow hand painted strips amongst the solid colors. I would never in a million years think of putting these colors together. The warp contains, fuschia, copper, blue, orange, yellow and purple. Could this experience launch me into a whole new color palette? Well…maybe after I have finished all the red-black-and-white wall hangings for which I have ideas that will keep me busy for several more years.

I used deep red tencel (another choice of Sara’s) as a supplemental weft to weave a hook pattern I designed in the central copper strip. The transformation after washing and pressing was very exciting. I picked it up off the ironing board and it turned into liquid color that simply slipped through my fingers….luscious! Sara has used this reeled silk in a balanced weave project having made fabric for a bag and commented on the fact that the reeled silk tends not to ”bed”, that is, warp and weft do not entirely bond to make cloth after the wet-finishing process. Even with a cotton weft and a warp-faced structure I can feel what she means in this band.

Nevertheless, I love this piece and really enjoyed weaving it in the brief moments I had available during this trip. Thank you, Sara! I have enough length to make two cell phone pouches and have already promised one to my friend Betty.

Other things I bought to add to the tool box….extra skinny cable ties, long tatting needles which I will use for weaving, not tatting, and music wire for creating third selvedges in wide pieces….all things about which I got extremely excited. Imagine me skipping around Michael’s triumphantly waving those skinny cable ties.

But, as always, the best things I bring back from these trips are intangible…such as:

Inspiration… in the form of the colors used by Peggy and Sara as well as this Andean Pebble Weave band woven by another Sara who wove with me last Spring…

Sara used some of the original patterns that I created for my first book, Andean Pebble Weave. These are colors that I would never have thought to use together and I love the way this has come out.

More Inspiration…this time, in the form of patterns. Meg brought an embroidered pouch from Mongolia and I can see an adaptation of the lovely curved shapes being included in my ikat project.

Knowledge…for example, I now know and have experienced the difference between reeled and spun silk having made a cuff in spun silk and a band from Sara’s reeled silk warp.

And, I know a little more about the takadai having spent a few days backstrap weaving with the talented John Whitley during which I had the chance to see some of his takadai creations.

He cleverly edged his beautiful scarf with finger-weaving.

Skills...I tried ice dyeing for the first time, thanks to Elinor, and now have a ”new” ice-dyed shirt, plus I know another way to use a shuttle to tatt, thanks to Tracy in Ohio.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Dye covered ice blocks are ready to melt and seep into my shirt.

Experience…the thrill of actually touching, examining and operating an Atayal loom from Taiwan about which I had enthusiastically written in a blog post some time ago. I also got to see some hard-to-get books on Taiwanese weaving that Marilyn has in her textile library.

Marilyn sat and tensioned the warp while I got to use the ''twisty'' stick to open the heddle shed. — We didn’t have a backtrap on hand and so Marilyn sat and tensioned the warp so that I could to use the very cool ”twisty” stick to open the heddle shed. You can see a coil rod has been placed toward the back of the warp.

Marilyn's feet are braced agaisnst the ''box'' around which the circular warp is positioned. Relaxing tension on the warp in order to open the heddle shed is a simple matter of turning the feet to allow the box to roll forward. — Here’s a closer look at the ”twisty” stick that I so love. One prong acts as the shed rod while the other allows the weaver to apply tension to one layer of warp ends while raising the other. Marilyn’s feet are braced agaisnst the ”box” around which the circular warp is positioned. Relaxing tension on the warp in order to open the heddle shed is a simple matter of turning the feet to allow the box to roll forward.

And, I got to experience the Northwest Folklife Festival, once again, after having attended it way back in 1992 while on a backpacking trip through the U.S. I fell in love with Seattle back then and abandoned my planned trip to Canada to stay three weeks in Seattle instead. Many thanks to Marilyn who took me along on three days to enjoy the art, crafts, music, dance and food. On the second day we were part of a Fiber Arts Flash Mob on the green. We also spent some time practicing arts in one of the booths along with spinners, embroiderers, knitters, quilters, braiders and basket makers. Marilyn demonstrated one of the many things she teaches, Viking Knitting.

Bcakstrap weaving on the green at Northwest Folklife. — Backstrap weaving on the green at Northwest Folklife.

From Bulgarian folk song and dance on stage in spectacular costumes, to teens in tshirts banging away at marimbas on the grass…

The Bulgarian singing was certainly not like anything I heard before…strong, throaty, earthy voices in harmony presenting songs from various Eastern European countries. And, speaking of traditional folk costume, my hosts Elinor and Einar in Skagit Valley showed me theirs. Einar is Sami from Finland and Elinor has both Swedish and Norwegian background. Here is Elinor’s black Norwegian costume from Gudbrandsdalen…

Einar has examples of ”every day” wear for a Sami man (on the left) as well as an outfit from the Trondheim area of Norway. I was also treated to his playing folk music on his accordion in the evenings…

Trying to drive one of the barn looms. My feet could barely touch the pedals. — Trying to drive one of the barn looms. My feet could barely touch the treadles.

Yes, it has been a busy time since the last blog post a whole month ago.

I headed down to central California (to those stunning impossibly round hills!) where, amongst other things, I was taken to visit guild members Kay and Rosemary’s amazing barn weaving studio.

The upper floor is full of magnificent big ol’ barn looms and the entire place is decorated with textile treasures that Kay and Rosemary have picked up in their travels.

I hope I get to weave there some day and listen to more of Kay and Rosemary’s stories over a cup of tea. There is certainly no lack of heavy things in the barn to which backstrap warps can be anchored.

I got yet another glimpse of Eastern European folk costume in this tapestry that Kay and Rosemary have decorating the barn studio that was woven in Transylvania. — I got yet another glimpse of Eastern European folk costume in this tapestry that Kay and Rosemary have hanging in the barn studio. It was woven in Transylvania.

I then took the train, which slowly wound its way back north up the escarpment, through the drought-ravaged hills, and onward to Oregon and Washington. The forests of Oregon, which had been heavy with snow the last time I took this train, were a vibrant green. The tracks were lined with brilliant yellow Scotch broom.

I spent the weekend with my friend, Betty, and we wove in her studio. It is such an inspiring environment crammed as it is with Andean textiles she has collected in her travels.

As I headed north and then beyond to Skagit Valley to finish my trip, I liked to think that I was leaving behind a trail of eager backstrap weavers….

Fourteen-year old Dana was so eager, she went home and wove a wrist band for herself while showing her family what we had done together…

Stacy was already designing her own Andean Pebble Weave motifs and Susan (below left) also went home to design a pretty one that she calls ”River of Love”.

Susan is now happily backstrap weaving in her garden at home. Amy is finishing her supplementary weft piece using a borrowed backstrap that is too big for her (she added a pillow to make it fit!). Hopefully her next project will be to weave one of her own. Marilyn took off to teach at a spinning seminar and still managed to find some time to weave in her dorm room!

Here’s progress from Jan and Jane further south…

The first two pieces are Jan’s. She wove with me twice, has finished her backstrap and has moved on to Andean Pebble Weave. We can see Jane’s big piece moving along at a get together of the ”String Sistahs”.

It was a very A ”folky” trip!

As always, it is the people…the folks… who make each trip so special…all those who open their homes to me, come to weave with me, bring textiles to share, take me to see places and meet people and do so many little things to make my travels easy and comfortable.

I am sending you all big hugs. Keep in touch, keep weaving. I hope we can get together again soon.

Backstrap Weaving – Thinking Big

Big trees, Big Hill and a couple of weaving gatherings entitled Thinking Big. That’s what’s been going on here in the gold country of California. I passed through a town which holds an annual frog-jumping contest which attracts international competitors, enjoyed the sunsets from the summit of Big Hill where I wove with a group of ladies from Sonora, and walked amongst the big trees that line the historic gold mining ditches.

The Thinking Big, or the ”Go Wide or Go Home!” gatherings, as Jane liked to call them, were about creating a project using techniques that had already been studied in other get-togethers. The challenge was to take those skills and go bigger in terms of width, length or warp ends. Not everyone chose to weave a product. Some people used the class as a chance to sample or refresh their memories of techniques they had studied long ago.

Here are some of the things that were on the looms at Diane’s place in Grass Valley…

Jan and Shan ,easure their warps for backstrap projects. — Jan and Shan measure their warps for backstrap projects. Jan’s is complete and Shan is securing the cross on hers.

Diane got a head start by warping while I wa staying with her prioir to the class. Here isher warp, heddled for Andean Pebble Weave, and ready to go — Diane got a head start by warping while I was staying with her prior to the class. Here is her warp, heddled for Andean Pebble Weave, and ready to go. Her project is inspired by the natural dye colors on the Bolivian pieces I had brought to show and will be a pouch for her long swords.

Jean makes heddles for her red-and-black backstrap project. She wove the band in plain weave and decorated it with a supplemental weft.

Thse who were weaving plain-weave pieces, like Sara, here, inserted a coil rod to prevent corregation. Sara is ising reeld silk that she dyed herself and inserted two hand-painted sections. — Those who were weaving plain-weave pieces, like Sara in this picture, inserted a coil rod to prevent corregation. Sara is using reeled silk that she dyed herself and inserted two hand-painted sections.

Kathy used wool from a natural dye workshop she took in Cusco, Peru. The wool was handspun by ladies in Chinchero. Asshe had not woven a sample with the wool, we had to wildly guess at how many ends to wind for her project. We measured a pouch she had bought fromthe weavers in Peru which I now suspect was made with much finer yarn. Kathy's project is coming out way wider than we had expected! — Kathy used wool from a natural dye workshop she took in Cusco, Peru. The wool was handspun by ladies in Chinchero. As she had not woven a sample with the wool, we had to guess at how many ends to wind for her project. We measured a pouch she had bought from the weavers in Peru which I now suspect was made with much finer yarn. Kathy’s project is coming out way wider than we had expected! Here I am giving her some tips on how to clear sheds with this rather sticky wool warp.

This isStephanie's Andean Pebble Weave piece which is flanked by plain weave. — This is Stephanie’s Andean Pebble Weave piece which is flanked by plain weave.

Janet is weaving an Adnean Pebble Weave piece with thick borders. — Janet is weaving an Andean Pebble Weave piece with thick borders.

Jan wove a complementary-warp pick-up technique which required her to pick up the patern in every single shed. Nevertheless, she zoomed along! — Jan wove a complementary-warp pick-up technique which required her to pick up the pattern in every single shed. Nevertheless, she zoomed along!

I gave Diane some tips on how to open the sheds on a wide two-heddle piece.

Here is Sahn's piece with its Anden Pebble Weave pattern in progress. This is a knotwork motif which i charted for the Andean Pebble Weave structure. — Here is Shan’s piece with its Andean Pebble Weave pattern in progress. This is a knotwork motif which I charted for the Andean Pebble Weave structure.

Further progress…

Jean's — Jean’s supplementary weft pattern, which she adapted from a pebble weave motif in my second book, is progressing beautifully. Kathy’s Andean Pebble Weave motif is emerging while she learns to work with the wool. Diane is operating her two sets of heddles smoothly. Jan shows her progress on her pick-up patterned band and Sara’s reeled silk look luscious with its stranded silk supplementary-weft pattern.

I stayed on longer in Diane’s home and got to watch her progress…

Before all this, I had ventured even deeper into gold country and and found myself at the summit of Big Hill with its glorious views and sunsets. My hosts, Anne and Gary, had a group of beginner backstrap weavers in their home from the Sonora area. The evenings brought visits from flying squirrels and a bear while wild turkeys strutted about with their chicks during the day. While the ladies sat and wove, I got to gaze at the view out over the deck.

The Sonora group...hooray, I will be back next spring. — The Sonora group.

And then it was onward to the place I have visited most on these weaving safaris over the years…Santa Cruz, California, and another Thinking Big session. Some people went big while others did some guided study of techniques we had studied in previous years or used my books and online tutorials to study something new.

The new venue was fun. We had our warps tied to handrails. Here are five of the eight people in the group. Jane came over from Grass Valley and Marya came up from San Luis Obispo.

Yonat, Peggy and Anne. — Yonat, Peggy and Anne working on a variety of techniques…Yonat chose to study Guatemalan supplementary-weft with patterning sicks, using a tutorial on my blog. Peggy created a stunning warp with some ikat-dyed sections flanked by Andean Pebble Weave. Anne wove what would make a fabulous hat band using the intermesh structure in 10/2 and 20/2 cotton with an adpated Mexican motif.

Yonat's Guatemalan patern stick supplementary-weft sampler. Jane making heddles for her wide piece afer having completed her sample. Ingrid brushed up on the intermeshstructures from a previous class. Peggy's beautiful ikat and Andean Pebble Weave piece...couldn't take my eyes off it! — Yonat’s Guatemalan pattern stick supplementary-weft sampler. Jane making heddles for her wide piece after having completed her sample. Ingrid brushed up on the intermesh structure from a previous gathering. Peggy’s beautiful ikat and Andean Pebble Weave piece…couldn’t take my eyes off it!

Dorothy wove a bird motif to practice the Andean Pebble Weave structure. She has a warp prepared with three columns of birds flanked by plain weave which is gorgeous. You can see Anne';s green and white intermesh band . The white is 20/2 cotton and the green 10/2 which gives the piece a lot of texture.On the back of the band the green motif rises above the white background. Marya took her first stepsin Andean Pebble Weave while Barbara chse fine thread to weave a series of viscacha motifs and refresh her memory on the Andean Pebble Weave structure. — Dorothy wove a bird motif to practice the Andean Pebble Weave structure. She has a warp prepared with three columns of birds flanked by plain weave which is gorgeous. You can see Anne’s green and white intermesh band . The white is 20/2 cotton and the green 10/2 which gives the piece a lot of texture.On the back of the band the green motif rises above the white background. Marya took her first steps in Andean Pebble Weave while Barbara chose fine thread to weave a series of viscacha motifs and refresh her memory on the Andean Pebble Weave structure.

Peggy's hands at work picking up threads for her pebble weave pattern. — Peggy’s hands at work picking up threads for her pebble weave pattern.

Did I mention that Jane had woven a sample in preparation for this class? Here it is! This sample showed her the width she could expect from this weight of thread and also helped her decide the arrangement of colors and width of stripes for her wider piece. — Did I mention that Jane had woven a sample in preparation for this project? Here it is! This sample showed her the width she could expect from a number of ends in this weight of thread and also helped her decide the arrangement of colors and width of stripes for her wider piece.

This is where Jane was at with her wide piece after having finished her sample and planned and warped and made heddles for the ''real''piece. — This is where Jane was at with her wide piece after having finished her sample and planned, warped and made heddles for the ”real”project.

It’s been a very rewarding couple of weeks!

And here I am saying goodbye until the next post, happy as can be, as Sara gave me one of her reeled silk warps with some of her own hand-painted sections to play with….

Many thanks to Diane for sharing this and some of the other pictures that appear in this post.

I did walk along the cliffs this morning to enjoy the big trees and ocean before sitting inside on this pretty day to edit pictures and write all of this!