Heddles & Pedals

Heddles and Pedals
Weaving, Arts and Crafts Photo Essay

Some have asked about my work; so, I thought I would provide an essay of sorts.

I had always been attracted to color and fiber as far back into childhood as I can remember. My aunt tried to teach me to crochet at age nine. I didn't quite grasp it until I got a combination knitting/crochet book at the local dime store. I wasn't good at following the written instructions so most of what I made was of my own design. This was something I did off and on through my college years. I made countless afghans, scarves and hats as presents.

In college I majored in art as I also started drawing and painting at an early age. At the university I attended there were no fiber classes given. Not too long afterwards, there was an art/craft gallery I frequented where weaving was carried. The desire to do this was forming within. I had seen someone weave a couple of different times as a child, and those memories somehow resonated and registered becoming deeply rooted within me. In the second grade I actually was even using crayons and drawing designs of what I would weave in the future. I didn't know at this age that I was doing that. It wasn't until maybe a decade ago that this memory flashed while I was at the loom and became one of those "ah ah" moments.

These are the designs I was drawing in second grade.

I began weaving probably in 1983 with a small rigid tabletop loom. It was very difficult to work with, and I was trying it on my own without any guidance. I would place chairs from one end of the room to the other separating threads to manually get it on the loom. You can imagine the nightmarish mess of entangled threads. If you can endure warping a loom in this way, and don't throw your hands in the air and give up at this point, you really have an interest in weaving. By the end of 1983 my husband bought me a floor loom for Christmas; however, there was a problem in the manufacture of the loom, and it didn't arrive until April of 1984.

I still had no instruction, not knowing anyone who wove. I was trying to warp it up using a part of a picture. The first time I did it wrong. Realizing my mistake, the second time was successful. It all began with experimentation. What would this pedal do, and what design could I do using this sequence of heddles and pedals? I would use different materials. In the end I totally used all warp threads for both the warp and the weft to control the color and design better. I later discovered that no one was doing this. This was my signature. In my case being self-taught had a lot of advantages down the road. My work was definitely unique. Also, having the interest I did in painting drove me to use colors boldly. What I lacked in technical skills I found that my artistic background made up for it.

An example of bold use of color in a rug.

Being self-taught also had some disadvantages. I really knew verylittle technically about the loom or the process of weaving. That is Ididn't know the terminology used by weavers. I had thought about learning, but it seemed boring in comparison to actually making a piece. I found I did things quite differently than other weavers. My method of warping was different. I also stood to weave, whereas everyone else sat. I was all for efficiency and speed without compromising the work.

Some basic terminologies I do know and will share are:

Warp is the yarn or thread that is placed on the loom as the foundation for the piece. Perfecting the foundation is everything. Uniformity is key. A mistake here cannot easily be fixed.

Weft or woof is the filler that goes across under and over the warp strings.

The Shuttle is what the weft is wrapped around which you slide through the warp. Sometimes it is shaped like a boat. The size and shape you use depends on the thickness of the weft and the size of the piece you are making.

Midway down the loom there are wires with eyelets, called Heddles that you guide the warp thread through. You can have a minimum of two rows, which are called Harnesses, perhaps up to twenty-four or more. I have four rows or harnesses on my loom. I have managed to make an intricate number of patterns with this lowly number.

At the bottom of the loom are Pedals. I have six pedals. By way of using your foot or feet on the peddles in different sequences, you are lifting and lowering harnesses to make patterns.

Me, warping up a loom.

Weaving began to pile up. People heard about it and would come by my house and purchase it. I placed it in a few area shops. In 1990 I did my first show, which was local. I did quite a few of those. In that same year I applied to several prestigious shows and guilds. I think my ignorance paid off. I had no knowledge of what was out there or the competition involved; therefore, I had no hesitancy about sending slides of my work to be judged. I got accepted to one of the country's leading art/craft fairs. For the first few years when I saw the brilliance of the work surrounding me I thought I was going to get thrown out when the judges came around. My booth display was really pathetic. I went in completely blind without even the customary tent that craft artists used. I really felt like a hick from the sticks. But I found my peers in this business turned out to be the same hippie crowd that I had attended college with almost twenty years prior. The dress hadn't really changed either, at least for the outdoor shows. My fellow artists were quite helpful in showing me the ropes of this gypsy type business. At that first major show, I actually sold everything down to a handful of pieces, even to the other artists, and was selling as we were loading up to leave. My prices were too low. I had a lot to learn about the business aspect.

The show experience after a proper tent.

My experience of the first major show I did was really great in so many ways. Most of them were like that. My weaving was a family affair. My husband and daughter were integral parts to this business I had started. The people doing the fairs became like family. Even customers became that way. I found as a craftsperson or artisan you would develop a following; and those same people would come back time and again and would even follow you to different shows to buy your work. I actually felt guilty. There was one couple that had probably accumulated so much of my work that they could have sit up a secondary booth. There were plenty of show junkies out there. Sometimes they were your best source for finding good shows.

By April of 1992 I quit my job of fifteen years to do the weaving full time. In some ways it was a hard decision. I had a good job. The people there were really good to me. I had one of the first pregnancies in that office for quite a long time. My child was like the mascot there. They were very lenient and she would run around the office quite frequently as a toddler and later when not attending school. It came to a point where I had to make a decision. I couldn't do both. I was using all my vacation time for shows. Also, I wanted to be home for my child, and working from home was a good solution. The good thing is that I still get together with friends I made while working there.

I really loved outdoor shows the most. At this time this was my only contact with nature. As I said the whole show thing was a family affair. All was perfectly safe. The children of the vendors, besides helping out at the booth, ran around the fairgrounds together. I eventually got a small portable loom, which I would take to shows to both get more work done and do demonstrations. I basically let children or adults sit at the loom and weave a few rows, and answered questions.

My daughter even in highschool had a good eye for arrangement and design, so she would take quite a few shots of my work for me, as above.

The most frequently asked question was how long does it take you to do one of those. There is no set answer for that question since every piece is different and since the work is done in different stages. I could tell them how long it might take to do a particular segment of the process for a particular piece. For example, I could do the actually weaving, that is throwing the shuttle through, of a basic twill placemat (this is nothing complicated) in ten minutes if listening to some good music. Music was a must while I was working. Now this time did not include warping up of the loom, tying the knots on the fringe, or trimming or fine tuning the piece and tagging it with washing instructions, etc. Of course, the bigger the piece, and the more complicated the design the longer it took.

Since I was now working at home, ideas were flowing about how to make this business successful. I had an open house and invited other artists to display their work as well. It was supposed to be an occasional thing; however, people somehow got the idea that I was going to have a shop. I had already started wholesaling my work to different shops. I had begun doing a wholesale show where buyers from across the country came for that particular purpose. I thought I could also become a buyer at the same shows I was wholesaling my own work at. I started small and built my business in stages. Now, I had my weaving studio where I was displaying the work, which I fully owned, of approximately one hundred other craft artists. I wanted to follow the golden rule and do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Therefore, consignment was out. Consignment was messy and something I rarely ever did, except in the beginning. Since I sold my own work outright I certainly was not going to ask artists to consign theirs.

(More to follow later with pictures of artist's work I carried and how the business progressed)