Teaching weaving Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Peggy Osterkamp's Weaving Blog

Another Collapse Piece

April 21, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

110228-0012 copy.small — Pink Creature (cloick on to enlarge)

Here is the Pink Creature I mentioned in my previous post. I thought it would come up with a search, but it didn’t. This is one of my very favorite pieces.

I’ll be teaching 2 seminars at the Northern California Handweavers Conference next spring (May 18-20, 2012) at the Oakland Convention Center. One subject is collapse weave–a technique I love and have experimented with a lot. Here are a couple of pieces mounted in plexi shadow boxes.

Pink Creature has been in a previous blog. Do a Search for it on the home page.

110228-0025 copy.small — Another chemise

My New Old Studio

March 8, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

Here are photos of the “new” old space.

studio full room, back wall — studio to the back wall (click to enlarge)

I’m thrilled with it. There are things yet to put away (the difficult things), but I began

studio full and window — Studio to window

putting a warp on the loom over the weekend. How nice it is to have my hands

on the threads and be threading heddles again.

It’s nice to have my work on the walls, too.

Sheds Too Small?

February 25, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

One day a student complained that the boat shuttle I loaned her was too big for the sheds on her table loom. I suggested that she throw the shuttle closer to the heddles and advance the warp often. The reason is that the shed is bigger the closer it is to the heddles (shafts). It’s obvious that the shed is small when it is closer to the fell of the cloth (the place where the last weft is woven). A made this into the weaving tip: Sheds Too Small.

A Weaving Teacher’s Happy Day

February 4, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

two separate layers — Double Weave: Two Separate Layers (click to enlarge)

Today a weaver (former student) and a student (a super beginner) came to see my show. The now-weaver, former student brought me wonderfully gorgeous things he had made! Was I ever proud! What pleases me greatly about being a weaving teacher is that none of the students’ work ever looks anything like what I weave. Each one does interesting and original projects. That is thrilling.
Now he is learning double weave and I wondered if he had read my chapter about it. He hadn’t realized it was in my new book, Weaving for Beginners. I always loved to teach double weave to what I called, “virgins”. I wanted to be the one who introduced them to the subject. See my tip about double weave.

My other visitor is a motivated “beginner”. She bought a small floor loom that I found in a second hand store. Today she went home with some of my “stash”–it was wonderful to find such a good home for my extra equipment. I gave her a warping board, an electric bobbin winder, a wooden swift, a ball winder and best of all–a doubling stand. I think two boat shuttles went home with her after her previous lesson. See the tip about the doubling stand.

I’m Still Teaching Weaving

January 31, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

Someone wrote to ask if I was giving up teaching weaving when I give up one room of my studio. I still teach privately in my weaving studio. There is still space for that. I love seeing people one-on-one. When I retired I decided a book for beginners was necessary for my good methods to get out to potential weavers. My new book, Weaving for Beginners, came out mid June and has been a huge success. I’m hoping that it along with my other three books will take the place of my teaching classes and workshops. Also, my DVD on setting up the loom is helpful. So, you see, you can not have me and have me, too. See descriptions of all my books and DVD here on the blog or order on my web site: http://www.weaving.cc. Let me know if these suit you. PS There are two wonderful reviews of my new book here on the blog. Use the Search button to find them.

An Illustration Found!

April 12, 2021January 15, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

I have been very unhappy that an illustration in my Book #2, Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps, wasn’t correct. Today, I found the correct version of the illustration in my own Book #3, Weaving & Designing Your Own Cloth.
It’s on page 43. See the comment I got about this technique.

Concept for Tying On New Warps Behind the Heddles

The incorrect illustration is in the Tying On New Warps chapter, right at the beginning. (Page 99, Figure 142.) It is meant to show the concept for tying on new warp threads BEHIND THE HEDDLES. It really is a much better way of doing it. Most weavers don’t know about this method. Read more in the Weaving Tips section of the blog. Here is the way the illustration should be.

A New Idea for Floating Selvedges

April 12, 2021January 13, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

My student today had trouble seeing the floating selvedges. I got the idea to make the threads in a contrasting color! I never thought of doing that in all my years of teaching! It’s so much fun being able to dream up solutions after so many years.

Read more in the Weaving Tips section of the blog.

More on weighting separate selvege warps begins on page 306 in my new book, Weaving for Beginners. All about floating selvedges can be found beginning on page 304.

Twill Diaper

April 12, 2021January 10, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

I got a question about blocks in “twill diaper coverlets”. Diaper is a term that means the textile is patterned in an all over design. Often it is in small diamonds. In Twill Diaper Coverlets the principle is based on warp face (3/1) twill contrasting with weft faced (1/3) twill. In other words the blocks woven in either 1/3 or 3/1 twill. Each block requires enough shafts to make twill (so that means 4 shafts are needed per block). Let’s say the blocks that are weaving pattern will be in 1/3 (weft faced) twill and those in the background are 3/1 (warp faced twill). Read about profile drafts in my new book Weaving for Beginners, and in Book #3 Weaving & Drafting your own Cloth (in the Drafting for Multi-shaft chapter beginning on page 236. )Read on.

Beautiful examples of these coverlets are in the book, “Keep Me Warm One Night” by Burnham & Burnham. They look like overshot coverlets, but instead of being overshot weave structure (which needs only 4 shafts to make 4 blocks), they are woven in twill diaper (where each block needs 4 whole shafts and a 4-block design would then require 12 shafts). For the pattern blocks instead of weft thread floats, the blocks are woven in weft faced twill (1/3 twill).

This is not a beginner’s weave but the concept is the same as block substitution anywhere. You start with a profile draft and plug in the weave structure that you want to use. Read about block substitution in Weaving for Beginners and Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth.

My weaving and teaching studios

January 20, 2022December 17, 2010 by peggyosterkamp

Here are what my studios look like today–after finishing a book and accomplishing a major move. The two rooms are adjoining. They are a mess, but workable for both teaching and weaving. Someday you’ll see them all cleaned up with everything put away. (Don’t hold your breath.)

Although come to think of it, I’m pretty sure that every office or workspace that you ever walk into has clutter everywhere. It is a known fact that some people just work better this way. I know I do, and my friend does too. She primarily works from home as her job means that she can. But that is all about to change soon, as she has made the big step to go back into the office and work from there. Though she does it a couple of days out of the month, she has decided to go back full-time and I couldn’t be more excited for her.

Her employer told her that she could have her own office space, away from the hustle and bustle of the other employees, and it is the perfect chance for her to make sure her office stays as clean as possible. She has said that she has already come across somewhere like Office Monster that sells a wide variety of office supplies like folders, storage boxes, filing cabinets, and cupboards, and with all this, it should be a lot easier for her to keep everything clean. At least she has been given full creative control over which pieces she wants to get, as this makes the process even more exciting.

So, watch this space!