Latest From The Studio

Dec. 2018 - Black and White doubleweave in 10/2 mercerized cotton. The alternating blocks form a double layer that is well suited to make small bags as the fabric is self lining.

Trimmed with handwoven pickup bands, these are small bags to fit over the end piece on

a loom bench to hold small items and quills. Here are half a dozen - each one a little different.

2018 - Lampas continues - ON THE SAME WARP

This time, fine weft is 20/1 linen and the pattern is an adaptation of a single flow tiled over the surface in pink and purple.

More variations to follow.

2917-18 - LAMPAS Experiment - essentially triple harness - 1. pattern harness, 2. ground harness with long eye heddles, 2/1 twill, 3. pattern harness tabby, regular heddles. Ground weave in mercerized cotton, tie warp unmercerizee cotton, pattern weft doubled 20/2 Jaggerspun wool.

First finished objects - 2 sofa cushions with braided trim

2016 ONDULE FABRIC Woven for Convergence 2016, one of three similar pieces was in the IceAge yardage exhibit and another, "Urban Snowscape" was in the Fond du Lac Artists' exhibit at the THELMA Art Center. Made from a mix of yarn sizes and textures, the fan reed was manipulated on elastics - bringing the weft clost to the fell line in the generous center of the reed and making the final rais or lowering of the reed as the weft was pressed in.

2015 TAQUETE BLANKETS

2014 CONVERGENCE JACQUARD CLASS

2014 RUG

Woven on the Ulla Cyrus Loom

Handspun weft - Coopworth and Romney

Dyed with madder, walnut, osage orange

Warp seine twine with ends woven back into piece.

Latest Tapestry Rugs

June 2013

Woven on Cranbrook Loom

4-ply Churro warp from Tapetes de Lana

Weft - handspun Romney and Coopworth, vegetal dyed

Walnut, madder, cutch, Navajo tea

Left: Original design

Right: inspired by one of the little paintings of rug motifs found at the Hubbell Trading Post in Arizona

Drawloom - Silk and Wool Scarves

Feb. 2013

Warp Jaggerspun Zephyr (50%silk/50%Merino) in 2 close shades of red

Weft - assorted pure silk from my private stash in varying shades of red, lavender and pink

Sett - 30 epi

12" x 72"

Handspun Wool Yardage

Dec. 2012

Handspun Shetland singles - S and Z, som indigo dyed

This was an experiment using slightly energized handspun singles and combining S and Z in warp and weft. The blue warp is S, the grey Z - weft was Z spun.

Subtle effect were that the fabric didn't track or distort from the energy left in the yarn - instead, the fabric was smooth on the loom and remained smooth after wet finishing - needed little or no steam pressing.

Sett: 20 epi

Full Sized Oaxacan Style Rug

May 2011

This rug is made from a combination of Mexican handspun churro-type wool and millspun churro wool from Mora, NM.

Original design.

Woven on the 4 foot Cranbrook rug loom.

32" x 40"

Detail photos

Course at Jacquard Center/Oriole Mill

Hendersonville, NC

Sept. 2010

This was an opportunity to design fabrics for the industrial Jacquard loom using Jacqcad software and the looms at the Oriole Mill.

The loom was warped with 20/2 unmercerized black cotton, 51 ends per inch and the suggestion was to weave various satin or twill damask pieces.

Chosen weft was 16/1 or 20/1 linen in natural, grey and red.

Shown at right is the design process -

1. Acoma Pueblo pottery as inspirarion

2. Pencil drawing of modified motifs

3. Photoshop stitching of the 2 hand drawn squares

4. Woven fabric in black and grey

Below:

Loom used to weave fabric

This is the direct opposite of the techniques pictured in the first two pieces, but equally satisfying. The Jacquard technology allows fabrics to be woven with patterning that would be nearly impossible on a handloom.

Likewise, the knotted pile or tapestry pieces cannot be duplicated on the Jacquard loom.

Finished jacket - worn first to performances at the Metropolitan Opera - 4 operas in 4 days - you can't wear the same thing every night.

HEARTH RUG - 20" X 41"Â

Traditional knotted pile

This rug received 1st prize at the 2010 Blue Ridge Fiber Show, Asheville, NC - category Decorative Functional - professional.

This rug is an extension of my exploration of pile weaving techniques. Following up on a small "ruglet" this piece is large enough to fit perfectly in front of the new high efficiency fireplace insert as a hearth rug.

The design is a composite of motifs selected from Layatif Kerimov's "Folk Designs from the Caucasus" - there are 3 concentric borders surrounding a double flower in the center. Around the flowers are several other small figures.

There are 4 colors - white, black, natural gray Jacob handspun, natural beige Shetland handspun.

This piece was worked with a complete set of hand forged tools from the Middle East acquired from Oriental Carpet dealers.

Shearing is nearly comlete, but some rough patches still exist on the surface. This process can take several days and is done in small increments.

The next project is using finer pile yarns and will be the face of a large, bright colored tote bag.

Rug on loom showing cartoon.

Whole Rug

Detail of Flower Motif

Rug in front of hearth.