10/11/2026
Studio Update for Saturday:
We did open for the morning today. The last farmer's market was running, the weather was in the process of turning. I had one person upstairs in the studio and I ran the storefront for the day.
There were a few people out and about. We have a few lovely visitors. We have chairs in the storefront for days like today where we can invite people in and talk for a bit. I enjoyed the conversations.
I also got to play with making rope. I started with bright rainbow colors, because that is exactly what I do. The original length of rope was pretty close to 20 feet from the front of store to the back. That length presented a few issues of its own, but I eventually worked things through and now I have a bright rope for future projects.
It was also time to get the Cross and Rose mounted onto the canvas background that I had painted for it.
I looked at the bright rope and decided I could make a second one that matched the cross, with gold, natural and brown threads. I also estimated the length I needed with the bright rope. This rope needed to be doubled over itself to get the thickness I wanted for coverage of the side of the canvas.
At the end of the workday, I laid the whole piece on a floating frame in gold and have decided this is how I would like to present this work.
There is no question that it is a serious piece of fiber art made by a fiber artist, presented with the formality of Fine Art.
The rope reminds me of a Friar's belt in a monastery. It picks up the colors of the weaving so well.
I have been wondering how I could present my weaving as Fine Art and I am now well on my way. The piece is sewn on to the canvas so that it has not been altered and someday could be removed, conserved or studied.
This piece has been made with Montana wool. The pattern wool is Alpaca from Snowdrift Alpaca up the street. The piece has been woven on a 4 shaft Leclerc loom made in the early 70's rescued from the local area, here in Butte, MT.
The pattern adaptation is mine, I designed it nearly 30 years ago, but had not woven it. The pattern itself has roots in the 17th century in some of the first weaving books in Europe. I can find references to this type of block work in many of the early colonial weavers draft books, but the clearest example for similar placement is from Hemmet's Vavbok. A version of the pattern also appears in A Handweaver's Pattern Book - the Green Davison book that is celebrating 75 years of publication next year. In this book it is listed as a Large Overshot pattern.
In the Vavbok version of the design, it is intended to be a tablecloth made of linen using a fine sett of 30 to 40 ends per inch. I did some research on this version of the pattern and noted there are fish symbols/motifs in the weaving - these are deliberate. The design was developed by German weavers who were invited to Sweden's Leksand area in the 1620's to revitalize commercial linen weaving there. Similar designs were published in by John Landes, Johann Speck, Repp Family Weaving Draft Book and Jacob Angstadt's book. Some of the draft versions are published in two colors.
What I find significant, is the way multiple motifs (blocks) are effectively combined together in a single fabric. It most clearly illustrates the high level of weaving knowledge the linen and silk drawloom weavers possessed. A design made originally for a drawloom weaving damask using blocks, could be successfully moved to a much less sophisticated 4 shaft jack loom, which is what many of the weavers had when they first emigrated to North America beginning in the late 1600's.
In my version, I centered the rose, added borders to frame the image and extended the pattern treadling to form a cross. During the weaving I used an inlay technique with multiple bobbins to weave the roses.
From this warp there will only be one piece of this cross done in two colors. It has been a unique labor of love. I will be offering the piece for sale through Art As Support for Recovery to help pay the rent for the space we are working in.
I will let you know when it is on display in the gallery. If you are interested in supporting my work here in the community you can contact me to purchase the piece, or to make a donation.
