Weaving studio Archives - Peggy Osterkamp's Weaving Blog

Where Am I Based?

April 12, 2021 by peggyosterkamp

A question came from Scotland: “Where am I based?” I live in California in the San Francisco Bay Area in Marin County. I weave and teach privately in my studio which is 10 minutes away. I try to get there most afternoons and weekend days. Notice that I said, “try”.

Needle Book Mania??

February 19, 2019 by peggyosterkamp

I wonder if I have a “thing” about needle books. The first one I had I made in 4-H when I was 10. I never saw the use of it and never used it. Then I saw one my friend Mary Rowe had when I was in New York. I think it was her mother’s in New Zealand. It was the cutest thing I ever saw so I made one for my best friend’s 40th birthday years ago. She still uses it a lot of years later. [ click photos to enlarge ]

Last month or so a weaver/friend died and I took care of finding homes for her loom and stash. I found the most wonderful needle “cushion” in with her things. (The colorful one full of her needles.) It now lives on my new dobby loom. I had to weave some of my own! I’ve been dyeing with black walnuts so I thought I would dye the cloth and the pattern threads–what whimsy and fun that was. I made a lot for gifts when I travel. On the rest of the warp I had fun designing 4 new fabrics without changing the threading.

These are needle books I have lying around–in my sewing box at home and near my looms in the studio. In 4-H I learned that one needed protein fiber for pins and needles so they won’t rust. So all the pages are wool fabrics. (The new needle cushions are made with silk).

The round yellow crocheted needle book is like the one I saw in New York and made for my friend. The inner “pages” are made from scraps of wool overshot fabic I wove when I was an apprentice with Jim Ahrens. The tiny heart shaped one I found in a sewing box at a thrift store–lovingly crocheted. The round, fat pin cushion with sashiko stitching I got in Japan and couldn’t resist it.

The last is a pin cushion I made and use now. We wove yards of this wool fabric in a production weaving class with Jim Ahrens at Pacific Basin School of Textile Arts in the 70’s. My inspiration was a pin cushion I got in Whales at a weaving mill made from their scraps. The red book came from there, too.

My New Baby is a Cutie!

December 14, 2018December 14, 2018 by peggyosterkamp

Now my studio really looks like a weaving studio. My newest loom is in the center. All my looms except this new sweetie were built by Jim Ahrens. Now the new one was made by AVL looms—the “A” stands for Ahrens, so all the engineering is related. The ‘V’ stands for Jon Violette, who began the company with Jim and the ‘L’ stands for looms.
Are you wondering what the other looms are that circle the new one in the center? Starting with the loom on the left and going around clockwise: 10-shaft, side tie-up, 4-shaft loom, 40-shaft dobby built by Jim Ahrens in the 1940’s, and my love, the 4-shaft loom made of bird’s eye maple wood which I have used exclusively for years and years. Going to 12 is a giant and exciting step for me!

Here she is—a real sweetie. I’ve been trying to reduce and give away things but this loom from Jan Langdon I fell in love with years ago. When she decided to down size, she said I was the only person who had longed for it. It is a 12-shaft dobby about 36” wide. Note that in the photo, my 10-shaft loom with a side tie-up is back behind the new loom. Small in a way but the dobby will increase my capacity for new structures greatly. I’ve been wanting to weave a structure for years and finally decided to do it until I realized I would run out of treadles. The dobby solves that problem. Two treadles work the mechanism to raise the shafts. Notice it is on wheels—that has been very handy already. I just need a pillow on my bench.

Here’s the back of the loom. The dobby mechanism is on the left side in the photo.

This is the dobby mechanism. Each bar represents one shed or row of weaving.

A close-up shows the pegs in the bars. A special tool makes it easy to ‘peg’ each shed. The holes without pegs are the shafts that will go up. Since there are 12 shafts, there are 12 holes in each bar. When the right treadle is pressed, the mechanism raises the shafts for one bar—one shed. When the left treadle is pressed, the shed closes and the mechanism readies itself for the next shed. When all the holes are filled nothing will go up. It’s a way to mark the end of a repeat.

Here is the first thing I’ve woven! I wanted to shade the 12-shaft satin weave to go from only the warp showing graded to only the weft showing. The white warps are shiny spun silk (2 different yarns) and the weft is handspun silk from Bhutan that is not shiny.Then I dyed the piece lightly in black walnut dye. I was hoping the shades of the color would contrast more, to go in shades from light to dark–but that is what I’ll work on next. I thought the two yarns—one shiny and one mat would contrast more when in the dye. Lately I’ve been weaving cloth for the dye pot—really fun to weave and get my creative juices flowing.

Preparing for Weaving at Camp

July 25, 2015 by peggyosterkamp

The counsellors and a few of the campers and a parent came to my studio to set up the looms before the camp started. The day of these photos a counsellor made a warp and she and I threaded one of the 7 Structo looms together. Her little brother and his friend came, too, and had fun weaving while we were having fun ourselves setting up the loom. It was a lovely afternoon. [click photos to enlarge]

Peggy’s Weaving Studio Update

May 11, 2013 by peggyosterkamp

I got 15 small collapse pieces back from the framer in New York who makes may special plexi shadow boxes and had to do some rearranging in the studio to get them on the wall. If you like how they look, let me know and I can give you his contact information.

We decided they would look better with a black background so up went the felt pieces I had and I think they look really nice. They are the small pieces on the black background.

While I was at it, I thought I’d share pictures of the studio as it is just before I leave it for 3 weeks while I am in Japan.
[click first photo for slideshow]

Tips for Weaving a Tube

October 23, 2012 by peggyosterkamp

I found my selvedges splayed out and were ugly until I tried the solution in the video. I hope it is helpful. Also, I use special threads for the selvedges.
> view at full screen in HD <

Peggy Weaving a Sheer Ruffle

October 3, 2012 by peggyosterkamp

The weaving is going along slowly. The fine, fine weft breaks, a warp thread breaks. But the warp is OK and didn’t tangle, thank goodness. There are 491 ends in about 5” width for 96 ends in an inch. The threading photo shows most of the threads treaded through the heddles. It was a 10-hour job. I was careful and there were no threading mistakes! Hooray! The 12-dent reed has 8 ends per dent. Repairing a broken warp thread is a serious issue. It would be impossible if I didn’t have the lease sticks in behind the heddles. They allow me to track where the thread belongs and find the exact heddle required.

Weaving with old Rag Rug Rags

September 25, 2012 by peggyosterkamp

Here is what I made of the tangled warp.I love the rag balls and determined while working with them that they surely were meant for weaving rag rugs.Such a pleasure it was to think of the woman who made them.Each rag was carefully sewn to the next and all were uniform in size and weight.They were nice and narrow so turned the corners beautifully at the selvedges.

The second photo shows all of the pieces I wove with the rags.They are about 25” long.I wove in something interesting at the tops of each of them.The third photo shows one of the horse hair pieces.The fourth, weaving with twigs that had little dried berries.The last photo is with rose hips and rose canes.What a pleasure to weave with some large wefts for a change.Now the loom is getting ready for the next project: more ruffles.
[click first photo to start slideshow]

A Weaver’s Tangle Update

September 20, 2012September 20, 2012 by peggyosterkamp

I spent my summer untangling 10 yards of fine silk thread. The first photo shows what I had to cut off—about 8” so that is good. The second photo shows the warp on tension and what I had to do. I could not untangle every single thread, but was able to separate the threads into the groups for the raddle. This small raddle has 5 dents per inch. There are 10 threads in each raddle space. So in essence the sett is 15 epi (size of my reed) instead of 96 as I intended! It is a bit narrower at 2 ¾” wide now. The next dilemma was to find large enough threads in my studio for the wefts. When I downsized my studio space and got rid of 500 pounds of yarn, I only saved the fine threads and my linens. The third photo shows my solution for the wefts. I have these old balls that someone made up of rags ready for hooking a rug. The rags are vintage cottons from the 30’s or 40’s and are just the right width and thinness for my warp situation. The colors on the outside of the balls are subtle and faded; it will be interesting to see what they are like inside. There are prints, stripes, solids. I can’t wait to see what comes up. I need to get the loom emptied ASAP so I am looking forward to weaving these strips in the soft colors and soft rags. I might put in some rose canes and horse hair, of course. The warp threads will collapse, so I made some samples and the squiggles look nice with the rags. Off to the studio for an adventure! (All the strips are sewn to each other with a few hand stitches. I feel some wonderful connection to the woman who collected her rags so carefully.)

Weavings for Convergence

June 21, 2012 by peggyosterkamp

I’m getting ready for my booth at Convergence! Here’s the set-up for easels I’ll put on tables to show my art pieces. I hope people will like them. I’ll have my new art book (retrospective) as well as all the others and my DVD. I’ll be at Booth #535 and hope to chat with a lot of people. Please let me know if you check my blog.

My New Woven Ruffles

March 24, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

neal ruffles good — Neal Howard Ruffles Scarf

Neal ruffles close up — Neal Howard Scarf (click to enlarge)

This is the scarf I wove with the Neal Howard painted warp kit. It was such fun to weave along and see the colors merge and change. I love wearing it as a sort of scarf-ruff.

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.

Empty Teaching Studio

March 2, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

Empty studio used for photo shoot

Monday was the last day in the old teaching studio. I had a big photo shoot of much of my work while the space was empty. It was a good way to end that era and begin the next. Photos of the “new” space in a future post.

photo shoot looking into camera — More of the photo shootIt was a grand way to close the studio. Photos of the "new" space in a future post.

A Weaver’s Stash

February 3, 2011 by peggyosterkamp

I got an email from a weaver with too many books who hoped that my books were available in PDF format. When I replied that they weren’t she answered, “I think I’m probably just going to have to shuffle up some space on the bookshelves and hope my husband doesn’t notice!”

Before my divorce 11 years ago, I hid a warping reel in our guest room shower stall. Whenever we had a guest, I would sneak it over to my neighbor’s garage. This week some of you know that I am emptying 1 of my 2 studio rooms and by now I’ve given away over 500 pounds of yarn. And today, some equipment went—I found about 5 or 6 temples stashed away! I think it will feel so good when I get settled into my one room with just the yarns and tools (and looms) that I think I’ll really use (and those that I couldn’t part with yet!). I hope I don’t have to sort through the books just now. I’m embarrassed to tell people how much stuff I had stashed away–but many say that they, too, have big stashes!

PS There are “before” photos of my two rooms on my blog posted on January 28th.

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.

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!