Winter's Weaving

24"x30", shaft-switched, hand-woven rug

Hello lovely people.

Well, the spring semester has begun, and I can begin to see a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.  I am very excited for this upcoming semester, all of my classes, and the opportunities that will become available.  I actually received an e-mail about a week ago, congratulating my acceptance to present at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR), which will be held at the University of Kentucky this spring.  I am not sure how many presenters were chosen out of the 4000+ that applied, but I feel very honored to help represent my university.  I will be presenting research that I had completed for my mesoamerican art history course from last spring, where I tied together a few ideas as to how Mayan spiritual beliefs influenced their architecture.  I am not an art history minor, but I wish I could be.  I love to research and relate to the past, and this is why I love weaving.  I am continuing on a tradition given to and perhaps founded by women roughly 8000 years ago or so, and that is exhilarating.

Speaking of weaving, the above picture displays the final product of my weaving project that I completed over the winter break on a table loom.  The final rug is actually a little sampler, only measuring in at 24"x30" (three 8"x30" panels sewn together).  This little guy was created with the intention of working out the kinks in the project before I scaled it up to a large 4'x5' rug (three 15"x5' panels sewn together), and it has proven to be a very helpful little project.  I need to figure out the appropriate stitching and actually sew the panels together, but at least I can get started with ideas in mind for the larger piece, which is hooked up and ready to weave at school.

And on that note, I leave you dear lovely people, as I prepare for classes today.  Have yourselves a great one, and stay warm out there; the Midwestern weather of late has been brutally cold.

My dog, Bella Bear, all bundled up in her red parka.  Stay warm!

Winter's Weaving

2'x3,' shaft-switched, hand-woven hand-dyed rug

8"x29," shaft-switched, hand-woven first panel

Hello lovely people.

Welcome to 2014!  I have a lot of anticipation for the upcoming year as it is my final year of school; I graduate this December and have my senior show this fall, which will feature my woven rugs using the shaft-switching techniques.  I have already posted a bit about shaft-switching and what I would ultimately like to do, but first I am running a sampler.  The first image above is the first shaft-switched rug I wove, and it is the inspiration towards my bigger endeavors (in one of my previous posts, I included an image from Photoshop that repeated this rug six times over to create a larger piece).  I absolutely love the stripes with the "brick" pattern, as my professor Morgan describes them.  The image below is the first panel of the sampler.  

Currently, I have off until the end of January before classes for the spring begin, and I was determined to keep working towards my show.  Morgan lent me this great little table loom, and I put together a pattern for a shaft-switched rug that is made up of three panels, sewn together.  As soon as classes start up again, I have a larger version of this (approximately 4'x5' when all is said and done) that is also made up of three panels that is hooked up, dyed, and ready to be woven.  This smaller piece will help me work out the kinks in linking separate panels before I invest more time and energy into the larger version.  

I am only into the second week of January and have two more panels to weave.  I was hoping to be a bit further ahead of schedule, but the past few days have bogged me down with a nasty head cold, consequently slowing up my work time.  However, I am excited to continue working and weaving; though a sampler, this little piece will be great and will give meaning to this peaceful time off from school.

As always, thank you for reading, and have yourselves a wonderful winter's day.