varpapuu en route to studio

these pictures were taken last year in March when I drove out to Stone Road to visit my mom and dad and to pick up the loom, a Varpapuu, a beautiful old Finnish loom. Above, are photos of the loom parts on the car. Amazingly, they didn't fall off during the trip from Oakham. Below you can see the very first things that were moved into the studio: Varpapuu parts, shuttles, yarn and Blue.

varpapuu

Finally, the Varpapuu is being brought to life, after resting for quite a long time. Jan and Ellen came to the rescue last week, and I am so grateful for their help. It's not quite ready to go, but getting there.
Texsolv heddles and cords are being used here for the tie-up

(If you click on the photos you can see more detail). I put on a 15 yard ivory and pale green striped warp back in November, made several scarves and now I'm looking at it all - trying to gather what I like and scatter what I don't like. I learned a lot about color, stripes, my way of composing, and other intangibles. I'd like to continue working with these colors and this "Forrest Crook's blanket weave" threading. It seems a shame to move on to a new threading when the ideas here are still fresh. On the other hand, it would be fun to do something completely different. One thing I will change is the sett- it's a little close for a scarf or shawl at 12 epi. This warp was also a little too wide for comfort (12 inches when finished.) If I redo this threading, I'll skip the stripes and go with 6 inches at 10 epi. I will also aim to make each piece more unified. The look of many of these pieces says "sampler" , which is not necessarily always desirable. I've got to get over this need to improvise every 6 inches or so.
Or not.

this is the warp in the process of being chained and taken off the reel.




to the left is the whole warp all chained. it looks like a large snake.




above is a view from the back of the studio looking west. what good light this is to work in.

Open House

We're looking forward to opening the studio this Saturday, December 5, from 2:-00-5:00, for an open house. Tom Hughes will be there, along with me and a friendly group of family, old friends and neighbors. This will be the first open house at the studio, and will feature paintings, (oils and watercolors, landscapes and portraiture) by Tom, as well as an opportunity to see my looms and weaving. The paintings are for sale, and portraits may be commissioned.

This shawl-as -table runner is more purple than it looks in the photos. i recently moved it -it's now hanging on the wall in the studio.

This is the purple shawl/table runner that i started in the summer, after a couple of individuals said they liked the gold and red weavings i had been working on, but would prefer , for themselves, something in lilac or violet. I decided to pretend that i had a commission, and made this cotton and wool warp. (The white is the cotton.) I was not terribly inspired, but created a striped warp, then wove it in plain weave with the purple (wool) yarn. Yesterday I completed the finishing, fringe and washing and it is now is sitting on a table in the dining room. It's destiny is to be a shawl for my mother in law. I learned that it is more enjoyable to work on a project that comes directly from my interests: colors, size, design. But also that I could probably do commisions if requested.