Add CommentI thought I might start with the studio space. Some folks have an entire yurt dedicated to their studio space. Some folks have the corner of a room. Whatever your space, however, there are a few things you should think about when you're making this the best place possible for you get down and funky with your weavin' self.
As you can see, I'm in the "corner of a room" category, which means I had to be pretty ferocious in how I organized my space. First and foremost - lighting. If you can't see what you're doing, you're going to squint, you're going to crouch closer, you're going to contort yourself to try and make things do what you want them to do. That said, more lighting does not mean better lighting. Frankly, with my eyes, I find too much contrast to be seriously uncomfortable. My light has to balance out, to come from more than one direction. So, you can see I've got a couple of windows there (lovely windows, too, I like them) but I also have a lamp in the corner and overhead lights above the door. Lights are on when I'm working at the loom!
I have used a headlamp when I'm threading, and that's a great tool when you can't control your lighting. I find them really useful when I'm going to a weaving class and can't be sure I can control the lighting. But at home, good quality light all around is the thing.
So, light lecture done. Play with lamps, ones that bounce light off other surfaces and don't aim the light like you're being interrogated at the loom. Seeing is believing.
Next bit o' lecture: space around your loom. This one was really difficult for me, 'cause I wanted ALL my weaving stuff surrounding me. Well, too bad, sister, 'cause there just is not enough room for all my stuff, my loom, and me. When there isn't enough space to move freely around the loom, getting a warp on is a royal pain in the butt, shoulders, and other body parts. You end up having to contort yourself to get to pieces and parts and, well, ask me how I know. So, I ended up putting a bunch of things in storage boxes under my bed. I looked at any unused space in the house, like small bookshelves in the dining room, that could handle some of my stuff without turning everything in to an unpleasant mess.
One cool tool I have in there probably looks more decorative than anything else, but it's really awesome. That's the garment rack the warping board is hanging on. A garment rack is a GREAT weaving tool, did you know that? It has wheels so it can be moved around - stored against a wall when not in use - and it's for more than just hanging things. When you are beaming your warp - getting it wrapped tightly on the back - you can hang it over the top of a garment rack, tie a weight to it, and suddenly you have a yard or more of tight warp that can just roll on that back beam. Look up "warping valet" or "warping trapeze". It's da bomb.
So, light and space. Important stuff. Now let's look at a couple of really little things which just made life simpler. First, what do you do with two sided sticky tape and an old measuring tape?
Well, what I did was tape it to my beater so I never have to figure out where the center of the reed is, whether the reed itself is centered or not, how much draw-in I've got going on at any given time. Some folks have found fabric store sticky tape that will work for this. You may have found something else. I found an old measuring tape. You get the idea - don't be afraid to modify your loom if it is going to make your life easier when weaving!
Last big thing. What are you sitting on? Are you weaving at a floor loom in your kitchen chair? Tell me no. Or, if you can't tell me know, tell me that you're going to go out RIGHT NOW and get an adjustable stool, a bench, something way taller than your standard kitchen chair! Let me put it this way. See your elbows? OK, no, you probably don't see your own elbows, but I'm going to assume you know where they are at any given time. Did you know your elbows are scared of the loom? Mine sure are, and if they are close to touching the loom while I'm weaving, they'll try and move up. Now, being attached and all, they can't move up without the shoulders helping out, and thus my shoulders end up just a wee bit tight. Tense. And after an hour of weaving, very very tired of trying to have a conversation with my ears. So, make sure whatever is sitting on allows you to have your elbows not close to rubbing the loom, so that in turn your shoulders can relax. Your ears really don't want to hear what your shoulders have to say, since all your shoulders are doing at that point is complaining.
So, that's the big things I've got for you about studio space set up. A few other miscellaneous things which may or may not work for you - have a small tray or something to keep your most critical tools nearby as you weave. A rolling basket-table can be good. I have a little trap that hooks on the front of my loom for good stuff. And if you are weaving off several things on one warp, have you tried cheap paper register tape to keep track of how far you've woven? Doesn't impact the cloth as it's being wound on the front beam, its cheap, and it takes out guess work. I am doing that for now, tho' I really like Laura's idea about having a different color cloth ribbon for each of the common lengths she weaves. She keeps it pinned on and just moves the pin so that the ribbon doesn't wrap on the front beam as she is weaving. Quite reusable, and you don't have to guess if you're doing a 2 yard scarf or a 3 yard length of fabric for a jacket.
I hope that helps some of you! In future blog posts, I'll try to do something about threading and sleying, and about winding on the warp.
