Random thoughts.

I have things on my mind...

Since I have been weaving, and had absolutely no one to coach me, I often was with out a game plan as to what I wanted the woven piece to become when it was complete.

I had been in a pretty bad accident, I fell off of the top of a dump truck, and was out of work for 1 yr. and 4 mnths, (I used to operate heavy equipment).  The holidays were coming and I was desperate for a way to 'MAKE' gifts.  Then KraftyMax handed me a Mirrix loom to play with.  It was borrowed from her mother in California...I had no knowledge at the time that her parents owned Gilmore Looms.  I also didn't have internet...right behind that I had no idea information would be so difficult to find in sunny Florida.  Or anywhere else for that matter.  Let's not forget that I had no money to BUY yarns...most of what I worked with was acrylic donated by my friend Max, a long time crochet lover.  I didn't even know the difference in a bead loom, or a tapestry loom, or what weft face or warp face meant.  All I knew was over, under, over, under and just keep experimenting.  Funnier still...I though if I had 'A' that I should be able to weave any way I wanted to...for instance overshot on a tapestry loom.  I really had no idea that some looms are better suited for a particular weave structure...what is a weave structure anyway?  LOL 

I am sure you get the picture...I just kept stumbling along and trying to come away with something usable.  There were alot of hot pads, and toilet tan toppers, coasters and table mats for a very long time.

I graduated from the Mirrix and built myself a large free standing Navajo loom from scrap lumber from the Home Depot.  From there I even started spinning the Navajo way.  That Navajo spindle is what my friend Dana is learning at today, 15 or so years later.

But, of course, I digress.

Where I was going with this long winded explanation, is that I wanted to ask you, "  Dear Reader, do you always have a 'PLAN' when you are being creative with your chosen medium?"

For me I usually go into my stash and say....hmmmmm, I like this color, hmmmmm, I think this would look nice with it and then maybe just a little of this for accent.  Sometimes I would even warp up the loom with a white or natural white warp (knowing that it would go well with anything other color I chose to weave with) and look at it for sometimes days or weeks until it spoke to me.  Surprisingly I came up with some really nice pieces.  I also think in some ways it made me a better artist to have to make what I had on hand work, instead of running right out and buying whatever I wanted to work with.

I still work this way most of the time.  When I tried to work with Dana in this fashion it drove her crazy.  She needs a plan.  She will adjust any time she needs to...but she really wants to know which direction she is headed.  I guess what they say is true, opposites attract.  I find following charts and thread counts that will reproduce a replica of someone else's idea of art extremely limiting and frustrating most of the time.

Usually I know how long the piece will be now...usually I have an idea of which technique I will use, or try to use.  Sometimes I even have an idea of what colors I want to use.  BUT, often I have no idea of the thread's size unless it is hugely different, 8/2 looks remarkably like 10/2 thread to me.  Thus, width is often relative to me.  Sometimes I run out of a certain color...hate that...so I adjust accordingly.  Sometimes there is a mistake somewhere in the warping (like my piece with the little people in it) and I like it anyway and just go with it.

I like to let the loom and the yarns talk to me and tell me what they will or won't do.  And right now, I am interested in hearing how you get your juices flowing.  Do you like to have a preconcieved idea of what will happen, a game plan if you will.  Or do you like to 'wing it' as I do most of the time.

Write me and let me know.  I am keenly interested in your answers.