Today's post we have a lovely profile on the weaver Laura Fry! Laura Fry has been a professional weaver since 1975 and in 1997 received certification as one of Canada's Master Weavers. She has written Magic in the Water which is a wonderful book about wet finishing your handwoven cloth. As she likes to say "it isn't finished until it is wet finished!" Her book is a must have for book shelves and her woven work I just admire.

I love looking at photographs of textiles, especially when the colors are rich and saturated. When I can see the individual stitches or picks of the cloth I tend to fall into the imagery. The age of digital cameras and inexpensive photo editing software makes it incredibly easy to share your own work with the rest of the world. Even if you are not confident with a camera, here are a few tips to help take baby steps in creating beautiful photographs of your weavings!

A chromophobic impulse is a fear of corruption or contamination through color. Many weavers who begin to design their own works often feel intimidated by the use of color in their work. The imminent fear of choosing the wrong colors acts as a deterrent from exploring different color combinations.

I have been adjusting to the new schedule my life has been developing for me. I am having a bit of a writers block so I have decided to show you some of the new goodies that I am getting ready to put on the loom. I am making some more ombré infinity scarves in different color families. Using the Harrisville yarn is incredibly rewarding because the heathered quality of the fiber makes the transitions from one color to the next seem effortless. Each one of these warp chains is 13+ yards with 214 ends each.

This is the first weaving that I've done since the move. I have actually had this yarn since December (or January) and I have been aching to weave this forever. It has taken a while because we had to move, set up the loom and deal with a few issues (of the feline variety). But here are some shots of the fabric now that it has been woven!

Have you ever planned your weaving project, full of excitement to weave it off the loom? You get rolling, winding bobbins and just full of anticipation to see your finished creation? Then, about ¾ of the way through the project, you go to wind another bobbin and you can’t find your weft yarn. Why can’t you find it? Because you have used it all up because you didn’t account for the amount of weft you would need. So when you order more yarn or go to your local yarn shop, you can’t find the same dye lot, and you are left with a project which is not up to your standards.

So you have finally found a weaving draft that you love. You can see it in your house are wrapped around your neck and you are so excited to get started working on it! But how much warp do you need? How much yarn do you need order in order to make the warp and have enough for weft? How do you figure out the sett? There are so many things to think about and it can be very frustrating.

I have a weak spot for books that have beautiful images of textile art and techniques. I saw this at the 2010 Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival and I HAD to have it. Then soon afterwards, I received a second copy of it in the mail from my Dad as a birthday present. So I have two glorious copies, one that I can photocopy and scan for mood boards, and the other with a perfectly intact binding that I can showcase.

You have been finding cool weaving drafts all over the place, you are getting excited that you are starting to be able to understand what you are reading. You skip over to a library you know has books of weaving drafts and you try to explore some historical weaves. You open up a book and suddenly there are no pictures! All there is are grids and notes and nothing to indicate what you are looking at.

As I unpack boxes into bookshelves, I inevitably stumble upon my many sketchbooks from my years at college. The edges are always wavy from being taken out in the rain, or having dye splatter on them. The covers easily bend under my fingers. And in some the bindings are falling apart because I have tossed it into my bag so many times.

The drive to create is so strong, that it physically pains me to think of a day when I couldn't make objects with my own two hands. I recently listened to a lecture that was given at the Art Institute of Chicago (it was posted as a podcast in iTunes). The speaker, Jackson Lears, touched upon the division of the craft ideal with the promise and pressure of industrialization. I still have to sit and listen to it when I am not trying to focus on something else: but it made me think about the waxing and waning fervor for craft making.

I am a little bit of a technophobe. I find many computer programs to not be intuitive. It could be because I need to feel the permanence of actual materials under my hands rather then seeing pixels on the screen showing me the possibilities that could be possible. With that being said: I do understand the importance of computers in the developing craft movement. People are integrating wires and computer chips into fabric, we can digitally print jewelry, and we can make our artwork more interactive with sensors, robotics, and other crazy things.

This blog is a little late because I was polishing up this very special entry for this week. It is snippet into the life and creative mind of a weaving artist that I am extremely fond of: Tien Chiu. She is an inspiration to me to push harder and think more critically about my own hand weaving. I sent her an email correspondence with a list of questions that I always want to know about weavers (or other textile artisans) that I read about, and she graciously sent me back some great insights into her work and what she is passionate about. Below is a short bio that can also be found on her Creating Craft Blog.

Deep down in the very pit of my soul- I want to design and sew garments using my handwoven fabric. Being a fashion designer is something that I have wanted to do since I was 16 years old. However, I can't sew. Sure I can follow a pattern pretty closely, but the garments I make never quite seem to be perfect. It is just a hurdle that I will eventually get over.

There is a deep satisfaction in making a product from start to finish. I fell in love with processing raw fleeces a few years ago when I was felting all the time. Though, I am still very passionate about felting, it takes a lot of space and time and I now have at least eight giant totes of nice clean fleeces that need to be used up.

In the newest issue of Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot which is distributed by the Handweavers Guild of America there is an article called "Try Some Saori Free-Style Weaving" by Marcy Petrini. I have never quite understood what this type of weaving was. It looked to me like some form of tapestry weaving. But upon reading this article I learned more about the technique and found that there are a wide range of execution for Saori free-style weaving.

Last week I explained all the different terms that are used in weaving drafts. Today I will show you how all the fancy words come together, so you can read and translate a standard weaving draft. Disclaimer: A standard reading draft to me is translated for a jack-type loom where the shed is created by lifting the harnesses.

I am part of a generation that has a very difficult time creating in absolute silence. Although I do enjoy the rhythmic beat of my loom as I work- I tend to lose focus and then the beat gets off and the pattern created has a glitch in it. When it requires true concentration I put on some music. But when I am doing a task that doesn't require every single neuron to fire in my mind- I turn on a podcast or a video on my computer. I usually watch or listen to one or two and then my heart is pounding my mind is racing and I have this unrelenting need to create something awesome.

So you have taken a couple weaving classes- or you have been teaching yourself from a book. You are so excited to actually do something other then plain weave. You have in front of you a book of weave structures, not knowing what is in store- you open the pages giddy with excitement. And then...

Every weaver has their favorite set of books that they always have at the stand by to help answer questions or to just spark their imagination. One of the books that I learned to weave from is Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler. Tonight I'm going to share with you why I love it so much.