Turned Upside Down (very picture heavy!)

I haven't gotten a ton of weaving done this week, but it isn't because I haven't been spending time in the Studio.  This past Fall and Winter has not been good for production weaving or spinning, surgeries, death and general upheaval have been the name of the game.  

As Spring is now in full swing and I am feeling much better after my February Thyroidectomy, and I have begun to feel my interest in weaving reawaken. (It's a good thing since I have a room full of looms!)  I was feeling a little restless though and I couldn't put my finger on it for awhile, but I finally realized that the state of the Studio,  which was grave, was putting a damper on my creativity.

I spent about 30 minutes this morning searching for a post I did early last year, where I had done the first part of a Studio overhaul, and I finally found it.  It was way back in January of 2015, back then I went on to move all the weaving supplies in one of the studio rooms and all the spinning supplies in the other studio room.  (Both former kid rooms! Yay for the empty nest!)  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but in the end, all that stuff  in plain sight was choking me!

Corner #1 before

Corner #2 before

Shelves behind looms full of stuff, shelves beside looms full of more stuff!
















Bags of loopers here and there, boxes of unknown contents here and there added to the confusion.

Corner #3 before

There was more! A corner full of odds and ends, filing cabinets that I don't put to good use, a closet full of clothes that I have been saving for when I get my girlish figure back.  HA!
There was a bag or 2 of bags, a pile of empty containers, boxes of stuff that should have made it to the above mentioned filing cabinet!  ( a lot of it was over 7 years old so it bypassed the file and went straight to the shred pile!)









When you do a Studio reorganization, it is sometimes like one of those  hand held puzzles that you used to get that had one piece missing and you had to rotate the pieces around the frame to solve it.  That is the way this project was going to have to be managed.  I started by moving all the stuff out of the corner in that last picture, and went to work emptying all the wooden type shelves that I had in that room (2) and in the room across the hall (2).I then began gathering all the fine weaving threads that I have and loading the shelves according to yarn weight, this took awhile.







As I was gathering cones of yarn, I was slowly emptying many of the plastic shelves that were also in the room, along that back wall.  As these shelving units emptied, I took them across the hall along with all the heavier weaving weft that I have to make rag rugs with.  (That would be rolls of fabric, blue jeans and t-shirt material.)

Corner #2 after

That is so much better already!  I moved the Hearthside loom to fill up the space that formerly held the bags of bags and piles of containers (corner #2) right next to the Binder 8 harness.  Then I could move my Burchard loom over a bit and  the Cambridge Junior slid in right beside her.

Corners #2 and #3 after

I added a couple of long necked lamps (adequate lighting has always been a problem since I only have one window in the upstairs rooms) and ecco fatto, a Studio I might just be proud to show off!

Since I  had moved the looms over towards Corners #2 and #3, a space opened up in Corner #1, by the only window  in the room and opposite the entry door.  Here I placed the tall file cabinets a few feet  apart, and I placed one of the sliding doors that belong to the closet on top for storage of the office supplies.  

Corner #1 after

Underneath that shelf I placed this wire mesh shelving that has had many jobs over the years and I filled it with cones of 8/4 cotton.  (I ended up scooting the unit full of  8/4 to the right and sliding the floor ankle loom right beside it.) 

To the right you can see the other sliding door, it is sitting on a couple of desk high filing cabinets I picked up at the local Habitat for Humanity store for just a few dollars.

  

 Now I can tell you what happened to all those plastic shelving units I had taken across the hall.

The t-shirts and the jeans are in one unit, and the fabric is in the second, with wonderful  tool storage on top.  I forgot to mention that the table went into this room from across the hall as well.

You can barely see the tubs and boxes of spinning fiber on the other side of the table.  I loaded  2 shelving units with all the fiber I have on hand, plus there is more under the table and on the floor.


(As I have said before, I do not need any more fleeces, unless they are free of course!)

Then , turning to the right, all the rolls of fabric went into this shelving unit I happened to have on hand.  This is a much better job for these shelves to do.

I took bags and bags of "stuff" to recycling, to a local thrift shop, and finally, I took a few bags to the dump.

The last couple of weeks I have been bringing odds and ends to the Center on Tuesdays as give aways, and  I was sure that next I was going to be bringing a bunch of weaving yarns, but now that I have things better organized I feel much better about the yarns I have on hand for future weaving projects, so I think it is all staying here.

There is still a bit more organizing to do,  (there are corners you have not seen) but I am already breathing easier, and once this post is up, I will be back up in the Studio, but this time it is to wind on more of  that never ending white warp, and  maybe to finish  the t-shirt rug on Junior.

Until next week, Happy Crafting, Tina

Today is the first day of the rest of my life!

I have been working to get the studio ready to be productive, and I really am making progress; the looms
are in place, the shelves are up and full, the table is there where I want it, (though it has new bags of fabric on it, that I don't want the pup to get).

Across the hall I have a shelving unit for my spinning stuff and a shelving unit for my knitting stuff, both of which are full to capacity. ( It is there behind all my daughters stuff.)

In the hallway between the two rooms is a bookshelf full of knitting books, spinning books, gardening books, and home improvement books. All of it is looking really good. There are still some things in the hall that need to go to the goodwill or the dump, though we have already made one trip.

So today, I have hemstitched a rug I finished weaving weeks ago, next on that loom (Leclerc Mira), some bluejean rugs. Last week I bought 75lbs of Blue Jeans off of Craigslist. I was going to pay $1.00 lb., but we decided $50 plus a rug 2x4. The woman I got the jeans from used to work for Levis. She thought it would be cool to have a rug from the jeans she helped to make. Cradle to grave kind of thing.

I also need to finish warping Lillian for the breadcloths. I only have one section done. I am winding a warp on the board, and then using a tension box, that doesn't really fit well on the rounded back beam, then winding on each section. I don't have enough spools to wind onto to use the spool rack. Bummer!

I had to get the rooms in order before I could really get going. I suppose, now that things are pretty much done, I just have to do it! It is a little scary this producing to sell thing. I know I like to weave and I enjoy what I weave, but is it good enough?

I am constantly learning new techniques, and having new ideas, so much so I almost don't know where to start!

Today I am taking pictures of the items I have to sell online, I suppose that is as good a place to start as any, since I am the one who has been telling everyone to send the specifics to Bonnie so she can set it up for us!

Here is to new adventures!

Happy Weaving, Tina