Posts by curiousweaver

New ready-to-go warps

A very limited number of new pre-wound and ready-to-go warps have just arrived from Japan. See them all here.

The first is an all cotton mix of loop, regular and other textures in the colours of the Australian Western Desert.

A lovely bold mix of colour. I can send further photos of them on request.

The other new arrival is a 100% silk - Silky Beach Walk hues. A luxuriant warp for a special occasion or special gift.

All the warps are a great canvas for weaving your unique self into a textile. From a Saori perspective, to stop yourself falling into monotony with cloth weaving it’s a good idea to use a fibre other than the one used in the warp. This is why wool is often used with the all cotton warps. Please note that the warps are wound onto a square paper tubing so they are only suitable for Saori looms which were developed for the concept.

To waffle or not to waffle

Another scarf finished – “Remedy for the blues”.

I mostly like naming my work even though it seems esoteric at times and sometimes I just feel it’s pointless. But as with any art – there is a time of creation that does have meaning to the maker and it’s worthwhile to record it, even if it’s for me alone.

With this work I’ve been thinking about how restorative and totally fulfilling art and weave is. Its practice, and its wearable or useful function gives delight in every part of its journey into creation. A true remedy in every way for the blues.

Last week I attended an exhibition at the Manning Regional Art Gallery from the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing. Sadly, for me, the exhibition didn’t contain any of the innovative Contemporary Chinese Art in textile form like I saw at the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney but nevertheless I really enjoyed the works in the exhibition.

One of the senior artists in the exhibition, Wang Yuping, had the most refreshing artist statement ever. “I enjoy collecting typewriters, this is my favourite one.”

No artist writes “I liked the colours appearing” or “I felt like making it” – I wish artist statements had more capacity to be honest and simple like that. I think what we don’t say leaves more to build on than the waffle we’re invited to write up. Maybe I’m wrong….maybe I shouldn’t have titled my new scarf and tried to explain it. Maybe everyone out there can see what they like and why for themselves.

The insatiable urge to create

“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:
A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.

Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create — so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off… They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating.”    - Pearl S. Buck

Pearl S. Buck

Do these words ring a bell with any readers??  This drive to create can be a curse at times and creative people should try to surround themselves with people who support that. Often people who are really driven by it are percieved as extra sensitive too, as Pearl describes, as they need to fully sense and feel life with maximum emotion so they can express that experience through their chosen art. The dilemma with this is the extreme version  coming across as  utter narcissism and self absorption which actually alienates creatives from the world we find ourselves in. Cutting them off rather than embracing them.

Pearl Buck was winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. She had an astounding output of writing, with her most well known novel “The Good Earth“. Growing up in China her books are very accessible about life there.  I’ve read Dragon Seed which is the story of China at War, featuring a character who weaves. Very easy to read, although reading about the brutality of war always shocks me.

New weaves and weavers

My friend Lyn has just started her first Saori weaving with great ideas and gusto. This is an example or her first project which uses cotton and wool – with some silk/stainless steel thrown in. I can’t wait to see it off the loom and washed. It’s a cloth full of anticipatory surprise, like many Saori inspired textiles. It will shrink up in unexpected ways creating a unique and time infused (fancy words for ‘taking much longer than a machine’) textile.

Today I’m going to attack my Toika loom, to complete winding the sectional warp with my AVL warping wheel using many segments that were handpainted. More later…