Have I mentioned how big the room is? It's huge and there are loads of tables. A few people have asked if all that space has inspired to work really big. The thing about weaving is that it might be big, but all the cloth is all wound up on the loom so you can't really tell until the very end when you unwind it. It's one of the things I really enjoy about weaving: the excitement of seeing your creation in its entirety for the very first time.
Wednesday morning started with the last of the mini-workshops. This week we made small woven pouches. I love this design because the whole thing is woven in one piece and there are no threads to weave in or edges to finish, you just pop it off the loom and it's finished - other than the cord it hangs on, and I'm pretty sure there might be a way to weave that in as you go along as well.
That's it for the mini workshops. I still have a full day rigid heddle weaving workshop coming up on November 17, 9:30-3:30, $135/person, and if people want to stop by to hang out and work on their own projects, they are welcome to come to open studio time on Wednesday mornings 10:30-12:30.
After the workshop, Jill from CreativiTEA came by to interview me and she took me out for lunch.
I pulled out one of the backstrap looms that I was given a while ago. I've been saving them to play around with during this residency. It looks like there might be a few pieces missing from some of the kits and the instruction booklet was more amusing than helpful, with some really really bad hand drawn illustrations.. Fortunately one of the looms was already set up with a bit of weaving started on it, so I could tell what things were supposed to look like. It was an interesting exercise, but I'm not sure I like this type of "loom". I'll have to give some thought to how I might use these looms. Maybe one day, I'll visit some traditional backstrap weavers and learn more about their weaving.
I found someone in the heritage museum who was able to tell me about the Salish weaving that they have. It was commissioned for them and woven recently in Chilliwack. The river with the red fish references one of the possible meanings for the name Coquitlam. Another possible meaning is "the people who have hands that stink like fish". One of the other symbols (the person giving the explanation didn't know which one) means friendship.
I've decided to do a "Coquitlam: red fish in the river" weaving on my own Salish loom. This will be a prototype for a proposal that I'm thinking of submitting to create a large rag rug. I warped the loom with "mop cotton" which is about the same weight as the heavy wool that is traditionally used for this type of loom, and tore strips of rags to do the weaving. This is a much easier alternative to sourcing and spinning the thick "buffalo yarn" that is usually used. I'm pleased with how it is turning out so far.
Coincidentally, I found a couple of books in the studio space on using scrap fabric to make new things - one is on upcycling sweaters and the other one is about rag rugs.
There's been more progress on the community weaving, and I've decided to weave in bits from my personal projects, so that there will be a "trace" of my time at Leigh Square left behind with the weaving. As you can see this week, I added some "rags".
The last thing I did before I left for the weekend was to set out a basket with some yarn and "warped" CDs with instructions for anyone who happens to find them to add to the display that I've started. I don't know how well used the space is when I'm not there. I'm looking forward to seeing what people have done when I'm back next week.
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