Backstrap!

Laverne Waddington came again to our area, this time for a few events. We had a guided study group, she was able to attend our guild meeting, and then she taught 2 classes: a new weaver's group and "wide fabrics on the backstrap" for the intermediate group (that's me!).

I set up a reeled warp of hand-dyed and warp painted sections for weft brocade:


Here I am testing the brocade weft: this is 3 strands of silk floss, and it's not quite covering. Laverne took a look at it and thought I should both a)add to the floss so it would cover, and b) weave less narrow (don't pull in so much on the weft) so there was more room for the brocade to fan out and cover the warp.

Since this was (to me) a sample, I planned to finish this part off, and the weave a bit wider in the next section and see how that went.

Laverne blanched. She hesitated. She looked at me funny. Then she said "you could just take this out". Well, of course I could! but it's a sample. I'd just weave on. This clearly made her uncomfortable. She is a master craftsperson, and she wanted to see this done correctly. She offered to take it out for me. I said sure! While she did that, I ran a second warp of the same reeled silk:


This is set up for a pebble weave center section, and "thick" borders, as in pebble structure all the way across, rather than plain weave borders.

Everyone in the class was doing something different and it was great fun to see all the fabrics people were making. First up:


Here's Jan settingup her wide warp for a backstrap for herself. Jan was in the beginning class only the week before! But she is smart, and dedicated, and clearly learned well:



This is her band (complementary pickup) at the end of day two. She'll have it done and in use by Spindle Camp, where several of us plan to weave together on our backstrap looms. Jan is the mastermind behind Spindle Camp, which is now more Fiber Camp, as we do all kinds of fiber, not spinning alone. Another weaver from the beginning class, Diane, has also finished her back strap and done some complementary pickup: she'll be joining us at camp too!

More bands from the intermediate class:

Diane's pebble design thick borders


Janet's, also pebble design


This is Stephanie's set up, I did not get a photo of her woven piece: also pebble.

So Laverne is off traveling somewhere else, now, and we are left to finish up these bands and look forward to her next visit. We have a class scheduled to learn finishing techniques next Fall, which includes Niawi awapi, among other things. More backstrap weaving to look forward to!

And me? Traveling too. I will be visiting with a Hot Pink Flamingo: