Val Weaves Like She's Playing the Piano

That is what my friend told her grandma the other day after watching me work at my loom. It hit home with me. I talk about this all the time to people who will listen. Like everything in life, there is a rhythm to weaving with the treadling of harness changes and passing of the shuttles. I can see where she could see that in weaving.

That passing back and forth, working the loom, and watching the weaving grow into my art is relaxing for me. Once you get the rhythm down you fly. Before you know it you've woven several feet of material. It's like I fall into this zone and the music I set in the background helps me keep pace with what I am doing.  I always have music on, or I am thinking of music in my head, or singing when weaving.

There are days I do not find that ease and grace...there are days I struggle with just how much to beat the material into place and those days drive me nuts! I recently had one. I was weaving with my favorite ~ pearl cotton. Beautiful material ~ deep violet, but for me who was trained and worked as a rug weaver was finding it hard to do that "lack" of whacking the reed against the material. Meaning I needed to be more gentle and consistently softer with the material. So I achieved this awful banding in the material. It's where your beating is not consistent and then you end up with this uneven beaten effect. NOT GOOD!

See the darker areas where I beat the material more? makes banding...

So, in order to get my project done on time I switched material. I chose a cotton yarn, but mixed in with a little flax and rayon to help me out. It's not as soft and smooth, but it worked. Because truth be told even though I am a weaver and worked as a weaver I have not woven consistently for a long time...since about 1998 exactly.  So, I unwove the material which was about 22 inches and started all over. And guess what? It worked. The new material worked out much better for me and I am happy with the result!

Switching material and using a color that was closer to the warp color helped.

This just goes to show that practice makes perfect and everyone needs to practice their technique. Everyone can improve on what they are good at. And I play the piano also...which I haven't played or practiced in a long time. Maybe I should get back to that and find that rhythm I need for the more delicate work I would like to achieve on the loom. I see scales in my near future!