Scandinavian Weavers Study Group

Month: February 2012

  • Scandinavian Weavers Study Group February Meeting

    The Scandinavian Weavers Study Group met on February 19, 2012.

    Linda Simpson was a first-time attendee, with a charming story of her desire to weave.  Her grandmother, who lived with Linda’s family when Linda was a child, was a weaver.  She died when Linda was four, and the loom was packed up and stored in various locations for years.

    When Linda moved to Roberts, Wisconsin, a few years ago, she met Patty Kuebker-Johnson and her dream of setting up the old loom was revived. She rented space at Color Crossing, ensuring a lot of expert help during the process of bringing the old loom back to life.The loom pieces were very dirty, and charring indicated they may have narrowly escaped going up in flames at some point during storage. Repairs were needed. The ratchet system was a bit warped, and the pieces where the beater bar hung were worn through.  Linda has completed her first weaving, a runner woven from old rags from her grandmother.  She is moving on to a new project, paraments made in huck lace technique with Harrisville wool.

    Even though she was only four when her grandmother died, Linda still remembers sitting under the loom. It seemed magical.  Judy Larson, who along with Patty helped set up the old loom, noted, “Now we’ve all sat under the loom, but sometimes with a beer.”

    Mary Litsheim’s PhD dissertation has been published on the University of Minnesota website. She has submitted some portions of the thesis to Vesterheim for possible publication in the magazine; others may be published in the Textile Newsletter or the rosemaler’s newsletter.  She presented a paper based on her thesis at the SASS (Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study) conference in Chicago in 2011.  She said the attendees were amazingly interested in the smallest nuances of information about Scandinavia.  They asked many questions.

    At home on her Hagen loom Mary has been struggling with a tapestry, finally realizing, “I don’t like tapestry!”  Instead she will continue on that warp with Vestfold technique in a small, fine format.

    Judy Larson weaves rugs on 8 foot cranbrook loom.  The rug she brought, made from fabric strip from jeans, wasn’t so wide but it was ten feet long! At 12epi with seine twine warp, it should be a long-lasting rug.

    She made a smaller rug of men’s ties in a three-shuttle technique, part of the Color Crossing Tie Challenge.

    We discussed upcoming issues of the Norwegian Textile Letter and solicited articles.  For anyone who does not subscribe to this fabulous publication that is SO REASONABLY PRICED, send $15.00 for a one-year subscription to Mary Lonning Skoy, Editor, 7200 York Ave. S #120, Edina, MN   55435.  Email: maryskoy@hotmail.com

    Nancy Ellison bought a book, Old Swedish Weavings from North to South from the Vesterheim bookshop.  Here’s a fun YouTube preview of that book.

    Melba Granlund is traveling to Becky’s Väv Stuga for a beginning Swedish weaving course; Patty Kuebker-Johnson is taking Becky’s drawloom class in May.  Becky’s Vavstuga website has a section with many fun and instructive videos; see her mini movies page. http://www.vavstuga.com/minimovies/

    Nancy Eillison is continuing her exploration of the cradle loom, and in particular, making slit tapestry on the cradle loom.  If anyone finds information on similar looms in Norway, she would be very interested to hear about it.

    Patty Kuebker-Johnson is very enthusiastic about using the half-heddle system for accomplishing patterning that does not run all the way across the warp.  She is working on a project for a study group show at the Phipps Center for the Arts.  As she put it, she is making slow weaving even slower. She used her half-heddle set-up to make the pieces with dots shown here.  The new pieces will be the same dots, but dots falling apart, complete and incomplete dots. Here are the first full-dot experiment pieces.

  • A New Year and New Weaving Goals

    The Scandinavian Weavers met on January 15.  2012 is still new and shiny so in addition to discussing recent accomplishments and current projects, we talked of hopes for our weaving work this year.

    Robin is in search of the perfect loom.  Melba is taking her first tapestry class, and hopes to weave a virgin – an image from the traditional “Wise and Foolish Virgins” tapestry traditions.  (Will she weave a wise one or a foolish one?)  Melba asked for advice on which yarn to use; a few people suggested Rauma prydvevgarn and aklaegarn.  Jan has also used single-ply ullspiss yarn to good effect. Harrisville yarn isn’t a great choice; it is more for clothing and blankets.

    Jane wished for something that many of us could use – more time for weaving and a more organized approach.   She would like to do more tapestry, krokbragd, and card weaving.  She may try a Vestfold piece on a home-built copper tapestry loom.  The laid-in pattern Vestfold technique could also be done on a frame room, but it’s difficult to keep a tight tension.  She has been creating Viking chain jewelry and experimenting with chain mail technique.

    Claire brought a beautiful slit-tapestry piece, impeccably woven.  She talked about the difficulty of making the slit areas meet without gaps or overlap.  Jan said some people throw an occasional shot of sewing thread across the whole width of a piece in areas with long slits.  The sewing thread remains invisible, but helps the slit areas stay together without excessive pulling-in.  Claire managed perfection without that tip!

    Mary has three projects on deck; Christmas towels, pillow-tops in huck technique, and a rya to hang above their fireplace.  The rya image will be geometric, in blacks, whites, greys, and a dash of red?, it will include her initials and those of her husband.  She also has a monksbelt pattern in mind.  Her final resolution?  To purchase NO more yarn for sweaters the rest of the year.

    Jan noted that our group resolution should be to enter at least one piece in the 2010 National Exhibition of Weaving in the Norwegian Tradition at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. Personally, she is going to finish a commissioned krokbragd piece, weave at least one piece of monks belt, and make a large skinnfell.

    Robbie’s plans are modest.  She will complete at least one, or hopefully more, small tapestries in her series of family portraits.  She will continue with monksbelt pattern experiments, with more runners/hangings with an “op art” effect.  A big rya is planned too, one that will be displayed with the back folded over for display.

    Veronna brought two recently-completed doubleweave pieces.  In one, the cross with ‘L’ shapes and dots in the corners is the seed pattern for making a seven path labyrinth according to the source she used, ‘Labyrinths, Ancient Myths and Modern Uses’ by Sig Lonegren, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York.

    The other piece, with horizontal and vertical lines, graphed out on paper in a perfect square but something happened in the weaving as the horizontal lines didn’t take up as much space as the vertical lines. She described the technical problems with making exactly balanced geometric designs.  She apologized for mistakes, but of course the resulting runners were beautiful.