Still very much a beginner, more so after 3 years away from the torch. Still, my 6th century Anglo-Saxon bead string is starting to take shape.  According to Sue Heaser, in Anglo-Saxon Beads 400-700 AD, the translucent blue and opaque red are some of the more common beads from grave finds. Thus it makes sense to start with these simple beads as I relearn my skills. 

These are from two sessions at the University of Oregon Craft Center where I rent studio time. (And yes, I accidentally used a different red (CIM Ladybug) for one of the four red beads, I will correct that in a later session!)

Many craftings are happening...

 Yesterday I picked up two glazed cups from the clay studio, and put a couple of dry ones onto the bisque firing shelf.  I'm not super happy with the reddish area where the blue celadon interior/rim glaze and the ombre body glaze meet.  But now I know that it does that!

I spent an hour today at the U of O craft center glass lab and made 9 beads that I hope are keepers, and utterly messed up another 4 beads.  I got tired and was pushing too hard on the mandrels with the molten glass, and broke loose the bead release coating.  Bleah.  The guy managing the lab was very nice about it, said not to worry about the 4 now-ruined mandrels (glass sticks to metal and doesn't release).  He reminded me that when you step away from a craft for a few years, you think you can come back where you left off but in reality it will take a little time.  Hopefully I will have bead pics next week when I go back for another session, and pick up the annealed beads from this session.

Finally, I wrapped up the evening by making another foot or so progress on the rigid-heddle plain woven belt. 

Collection of interesting weaving videos!

 

Comparing paper, horn, and wooden tablets for weaving:  

A series on Baltic narrow band weaving for the absolute beginner.   This video is part of a series.  Part one introduces the concepts, part two warps the loom and sets it up, part three shows you the mechanics of weaving, and part four teaches how to read a pattern and do the picks.  The bonus part five teaches how to chart your own patterns, though I found it went way beyond the level where I understand it-- still learning, never woven Baltic pick.  Find parts four and five on the creator's channel, I did not link them here.

Beads are in my future!

 Holiday presents this year included a hothead propane torch, a rolling stainless steel table to clamp it to, and this wonderful book, Anglo-Saxon Beads 400 - 700 AD!

The Ripple Effect

I keep gradually letting the weave get looser until I suddenly notice that my centers aren't right up against each other anymore and then I tighten up.   It seems to be related to how close or far my heddle is from the working area, but maybe that's a false correlation?  

There are ripples in my woven band, but I hope they will not be super noticeable when it is in use.  I'm more consistent now, but still have to pay close attention.  I seem to be able to weave for about 40 minutes before I start losing focus and screwing up.  That's a great improvement over when I started, when 10 minutes was all I could do.  It's also kind of fun now, rather than a strain.

Being completely wrong

After I got my warp untied from the front and traced it back into the heddle, I found that the problem was not in the heddling, but in how twisted the warp had gotten while tying it onto the front rod.  I remembered something I'd seen in my weaving exploration videos about separating a wide warp into subwarps and tying it on in smaller bundles.  

I did that to my warp, and now had threads that lined up, but were too far apart.  I managed to pull the three bundles more or less together, but the tension was completely random.  Now I remembered this video by Ellisif Gydasdottir where she gets some tension evening by doing four weaves of chunky yarn into the warp before starting her band in earnest.  The advice is for tablet weaving, but I figured it might work for plain weave as well.

Some plain red yarn to the rescue.  I did four beats and also pulled the warp more together, enough to start weaving my band.  So far, it's working! I have no idea if the lock weave I did at the beginning will work correctly given the mishegas of how this started, but I can always braid or backstitch it to lock it.  Forward!

The weaving journey continues

 I could not find a configuration in my house that would work to warp a 10-foot band with my little portable clamps, so I went over to Eugene Textile Center and found a reasonably priced used warping board.   I got a crash course in using it, and went home and set up a warp about 4x wider than I ever had before.

Then I took this huge warp and chained it up and then tried to load it onto my box loom Easy Weaver and get it heddled correctly.

I thought I had succeeded, but when I tried to start weaving, I have two white threads crossing that won't resolve.  I am going to have to untie the front apron and swap the position of those two strings in the heddle and tie it off again.  I hope that's all I have to do to fix it.  This is intimidating!!!

Learning is happening!

The next few inches of my weaving came out pretty well, and I've advanced the warp twice now.  Exciting!  This is becoming fun.  

Climbing the steep wall of the learning curve

I successfully warped my Easy Weaver loom and started my first weaving ever. The first couple of inches is a little rough but it's getting better!  I am sure that it will turn into a relaxing activity at some point but right now it is too new.  Now I have to figure out how to take a break in such a way that the cats cannot get to the loom.