The Tzouhalem Spinners & Weavers Guild has been blessed with so many new members over the past few years. Many of the new members are new to the world of weaving and were anxious to learn how to get started on their weaving journey. We hosted a 2 day Beginner Weaving Workshop over the past 2 Saturdays with 10 participants, 4 members acting as teaching assistants and our instructor Alison to lead us. Two of our members want to share their experience with you dear Blog readers.
Week 1 by Stacey
This is what 107 warp threads look like in the heddles:
I have always wanted to learn how to weave. During my first year with the Tzouhalem Spinner’s and Weaver’s Guild I saw a lot of free looms come available for free. I wasn’t ready, though because all my stuff was still in storage and I didn’t have a place of my own to live. So not only did I not have space to put a loom I also didn’t have space in my life to take up weaving.
Sometime last fall, one of my guild members (easily) persuaded me to take her table loom which is fairly portable and did fit into my storage locker. I figured the Universe was trying to tell me something. Soon after I was finally offered a job (after almost a year of not working and having applied for 230+ jobs!). I moved into my own place in December.
A few weeks later someone else from my Guild (Patty) offered me her floor loom complete with lessons. Things were coming together for me. I spent several days with Patty at her house, she showed me everything from how to warp a loom, to threading and then weaving. Last month, we broke the loom down, still warped, and I brought it home to set up and finish weaving on. It’s still a WIP – just a practice piece for me to understand tension, colours, and flow. It’s been SUPER fun to do.
A great thing about being in this build is the amazing volume of talent and skill we have, including our world-famous weaving teacher, Alison Irwin. She was kind enough to offer a Beginner’s Weaving class to our guild members for a very low price. This would give me the opportunity to get to know my table loom and learn a different set of techniques different from what I learned from Patty. We had day 1 of 2 classes this past Saturday and it was SO much fun. I enjoyed thinking about what colours I wanted to use while still learning all the jargon.
This Guild has brought me so much life and healing since I’ve been back on the Island. Not only am I learning new things. I have also developed some solid new friendships, while also being inspired with skills and crafts I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Janine, who I think is 60(?) said she has plans for all the things she wants to make before she is 78. Lucky for me, I’m only 50. Still decades to learn new skills and make beautiful things!
Alison gave us homework, threading the loom through the heddles. That means, for the non-weavers out there, I had to pull 107 strings through a loop on one of four shafts, and thanks to the careful planning Alison had us do, we had to be mindful of which shaft each of those strings go on. I love what this is doing to my brain.
While I was doing my homework last night, I discovered that I miscounted when I was preparing my warp; I missed two of the main colour and two of my contrasting colour. I happen to have a lot of string in my house, so I improvised with some cotton embroidery floss. I’ll find out next week when we actually start weaving if it’s close enough in colour to not be noticeable. I will report after next week’s class on how my piece turns out!
Week 2 by Karen
Heddles and reed threaded ready to tie on the warp:
What a great opportunity to learn the basics of weaving on a 4 shaft table loom these past 2 weeks. I knew next to nothing about how to prepare a loom or weave before arriving for the first day of the workshop. So much information and assistance was generously provided by Alison and the assistant weavers. We had 1:2 support for both days.
Weaving on a 4 shaft loom is not a low threshold art! There is so much to learn and prepare before you arrive at that exciting moment when you can start to weave. I’m very grateful for the instruction and support received. Perhaps one day I’ll get to the point where it all becomes second nature, for now I’m very excited to be over the threshold of possibility and onto the pathway of creation.
Thanks Tzouhalem Weavers & Spinners Guild for sponsoring this event and again, thanks Alison and the support crew for a fantastic introduction to weaving.
Stayed tuned for the post workshop sample photos in a few weeks.
Older unlabelled table loom:
Warp almost all tied on ready to start weaving:
Lovely Woolhouse Loom made in Armstrong, BC:
Louet Kombo loom:
Look at me weaving!
Workshop samples:
