Woo-hoo, new loom

All in all, March has been a pretty rubbish month. But, there is light at the end of the tunnel - I have my new loom!

This has been really carefully designed - now I just have to hope that it works just the way I want it to -

I should be able to weave both with tablets and with heddles (either string as in inkle or a rigid heddle). I also think it will still be suitable for items such as knotted fringe.

The longest warp length is 11.6m, so providing the tensioning device is long enough proportionally, I should be able to weave very long lengths in one go. (This was the only bit I was unsure of how to work out!)

The shortest warp length is about 1m, so it will also work for samples and trials.

The lower area (cloth beam), should be in a good position for a standard chair (like a dining chair) without having to be bent over the weaving, so hopefully a bit less backache. I prefer to sit in front of the weaving, but in theory I should be able to sit at the side should I prefer when tablet weaving, by setting the warp on one of the lower posts.

There are enough posts to not only be able to warp many different lengths in between, I will be able to use these for warps for braids, long cords, tassels and bullion, so less hassle with setting up other warping posts, and less equipment needed overall. It's sturdy enough that I will probably ending up screwing a small hook into it as a fixed point for fingerloop braiding too. (though I could just secure to one of the posts).

And, it doesn't actually take up much room at all - its only about 1m long. And, it's not too heavy considering (though it's not light).

So, not authentic, but, should be very very practical for me in my small house. There's nothing worse than having too many different looms and bits of equipment taking up my space! If the tensioning device is long enough for the longest warp, I think I am going to look into having these made for sale - probably only in the UK , as I can't imagine how it could be shipped overseas - I reckon I can't be the only one who really needs this... ;)

Alot of weaving lined up...

I'm currently working on the next batch of gold brocade tablet weaving - this time using red wool for the same client that had the blue bands. It's moving along nicely, though I'll be having break shortly as I have had to order more gold plate, and it's made-to-order so I won't get it until the end of the month. The red wool makes the design easier to see in bright light - as when the gold reflects as dark, it has something to contrast against. Very interesting.

I am still waiting for a special order of silk to arrive for a girdle that I will be working soon; it seems as though I've waited forever, yet it's still within the 28-day timescale so I'm not yet stressed about it arriving. I'm just used to it not taking as long as they say it will....

Silk ribbon rosettes

For one of my major long-term projects, I've been playing with using silk ribbon to create bows and rosettes. The image above shows a bow and rosette made from the extra ribbon I recently wove, and I have to say that using this silk ribbon made creating these shapes SO much easier than trying to use a synthetic ribbon (which I had initially tried to use so that I wouldn't damage the silk ribbon!). Honestly, if you fancy making rosettes don't even attempt it with modern ribbons - the feel is completely different, and it just doesn't want to be manipulated in the same way.

Pheasant raids bird feeder

Something which have made me smile this week - we have a regular visitor to our garden of this pheasant (fondly known as Butch) who waits patiently every morning while I put out the bird seed. He's not even worried about my dogs, just moves out of the way to let them pass...

Well, he's figured out that he can eat even more by flying up to the tray - probably not what the manufacturers intended when they designed the bird feeder....

Finally saw the film...

At the weekend we finally watched Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp. (Can you tell I don't go to the movies!) As a musical, not really my thing, (I much prefer the old favourites) though as expected, the imagery was totally Tim Burton and so that was enjoyable.

Of course we, (hubby and I) did rather spend the whole time shouting 'buttons' every time we got a good glimpse of the Dorsets I made for the film! It was quite thrilling that you could see them so often as well, when I watched the BBC broadcast of Richard II from the Globe I couldn't pinpoint anything much that I worked on due to the way it was filmed - the usual story really with such small items. It'd be just great to get my mitts on one of those 'blood' stained shirts with my buttons on it.

However, I still can't quite fathom why 300 of them were needed - dear ol' Johnny must have changed rather often ;)

Tassel and Knops styles and timeline

I have now posted the very beginnings of the Tassel and Knop timeline to my website. It took me a little while to try to figure out how I was going to organise the information, but I think I've worked out a classification system which may well work.

I have decided to make a primary list of types and decorative styles. That way, each item found, or seen in a piece of art, can be classed - first by its type, then by any decorative techniques used. (As I go through my notes, I expect this to grow as well) In theory, this will help to keep the basic list manageable, and ultimately allow me to see what sorts of patterns emerge.

At the moment, I am concentrating on pre-18th century items, but only because during that century, so many tassels are multi-form that I haven't quite figured out a way to classify them yet. That will change though, as I have some references to some lovely 18th c tassels!

As you'll see, it's very early days, but having a system means that all of the individual notes I have collected over the years can now be organised. And I have alot of notes to go through.

I'd like to do the same sort of thing with other small items of silkwork, including worked buttons and ribbon patterns.