I had a wonderful time at Complex Weavers Seminars. I took six seminars: collapse weaves, turned tied weaves, double weave, four color double weave, three-shaft weaves, and crepe weaves. I learned a lot – I couldn’t always follow every detail, but I got the main idea in all six seminars and am looking forward to investigating further on my own.
I thought Seminars was super well organized – there was always plenty to do, and the exhibits were terrific. The keynote, by Patrice George, was great, and the luncheon speaker had us rolling with laughter as he talked about the history of the female bosom in fashion. There were three exhibits: the juried exhibit “Glamour, Glitter, Glitz”, which was stunning, the Fashion Show, which was fun (I wish I’d been able to inspect the garments up close!), and the “Off the Runway” exhibit, which had lots of beautiful work. (My favorite was a small piece by master weaver Inge Dam – I love her work, especially her use of color. I want to be Inge when I grow up!) There were also the Silent Auction and the Marketplace, which featured lots of beautiful (and tempting!) books, yarns, and finished pieces. I had resolved not to buy anything, but wound up purchasing a used 8-shaft table loom – a beautifully crafted folding loom which is eminently storable at only 13″ wide. (My mom is shipping it to me, fortunately, so I didn’t have to figure out how to fly it home.)
And, of course, it was wonderful meeting all the people whose posts I’ve seen on WeaveTech (and other mailing lists), with whom I’ve corresponded privately, and whose samples I’ve been admiring. It really was like a nonstop party.
I’m flying home today, rested and refreshed and ready to get back to work!
I did get some inspiration at Seminars, particularly from Bonnie Inouye’s seminar on turned tied weaves. I’m thinking it might make an ideal structure for the lightweight fabric inPhoenix Rising – I loved Bonnie’s sample with light – colored lizards (geckoes?) on a painted background. I still have to think through all the pros and cons, but I think I could use this to make images of birds against a flame-patterned background – which would be totally awesome, thematically speaking. I’ll think through it more on the plane – if it looks promising, I may just cut the cotton warp off the loom and put on a sample warp in fine threads. 60/2 and 120/2 silk, I think.
Finally, the latest book post went up yesterday morning, this one on the skills needed for design. Tuesday’s post will be all about how you can make up for missing or weaker skills, and Thursday’s will be about ways to improve skills. After that I’ll start talking about the design process from the very beginning – points of inspiration. Check it out!