Looms for sale!

We have finally fully relocated to WV and my home in VA is in the process of closing. I have a Lillstina, 4-harness, 40″, x-frame loom for sale. It has many texsolve heddles and is a dream to weave on. It’s NOT a rug loom as it’s an X-frame. Selling price is $600. I just sold the horizontal free-standing warping mill, but I have many rigid heddle, table and tapestry (tabletop) looms. In addition, I have a swift, a bobbin rack for warping with a tensioning box and much more. As a matter of fact, if you are looking for something, just ask and if I have it, I’ll get it to the house in Schuyler to sell. The moving sale is 4/10 from 8-noon, but if we are home, it’s very likely we welcome you to come and have a look.

Sewing machines are availble too. I have a few Singer machines that are 6-7 years old, metal mechanics and only used about 20 hours each. $60 each is a firm price.

I have a good, heavy and long (maybe 8′) folding table with 1 bench that’s good for classes if you are a fiber arts instructor, or getting into it. There is also a 8′ crafting table which I used for teaching sewing. We used stools in my studio, so the table is good for anything you would stand to do. I think it has a fold down leaf too. The leaf won’t bear the weight of a sewing machine, but is good for layout.

We retired and enjoyed 7 years of retirement before the healthcare cost caught up with us and now, I’m back at work doing a whole different kind of work as I needed a job with “benefits”.

the best way to reach me is as a comment and I’ll get back in touch with you.

A springy addition to my Toika tapestry loom

Oh my, I haven’t posted here in a year or two. One our the readers has posted a comment requesting pictures of the spring “attachment” that I did on my Toika to hold the beater off the fell of cloth for easier weaving. I’m attaching those pictures here, hoping they will help more than just one person.

I also want to mention that several years ago, a weaver asked me what modification i did to my Lillstina to make it accept texsolve heddles. Sadly, I just never got around to responding. I’d like to remedy that right now. The Texsolve heddles were just about 1/8″ too small for the Lillstina loom. The harnesses on that loom are just two battens (for lack of a better word) that are held apart by metal rods at each end. The rods insert into drilled holes on each end at the top and the bottom. I simply took my Dremel tool and drilled 1/16″ deeper into each hole. That allowed the heddles to gently slide onto the harness, and yet it was such a small depth to increase the holes that it didn’t drill through, rendering the batten useless. It’s proven to be a great fix through the years.

I got a new job title : “grandma”

Look at this little angel cutie. How can I get anything done with thoughts of this guy preoccupying me 😀

Photos of the rigid heddle workshop

Just putting up a few pics of the work the students did Saturday at the Rigid heddle workshop. This was a privately booked workshop for 2 friends. They were such fun folks and their works is lovely.

The folding loom is a Schacht Flip and the non-folding loom is an Ashford Rigid Heddle loom.

The ladies had taken a dye workshop the day before with Barbara Gentry of Stony Mountain Fibers and used some of those beautiful yarns in these weavings. Barbara is a very knowledgable fiber artist with a great retail selection on Hammocks Gap Rd just north of Charlottesville. I’ve long enjoyed her kind, creative personality, and she has provided supplies for my classes. I also think that one of my early looms came from her file box of people selling used looms.

Anyway, the workshop was fun and as usual, I’m humbled by the beautiful work my students have created.

Fricke Double Treadle Spinning Wheel for sale

One of my former students asked me to post that she is selling her lightly used double treadle Fricke spinning wheel. Her friend has a single treadle for sale also. So if you are looking for one of the best spinning and yet most affordable spinning wheels available at a great price, get in touch with me, and I’ll put you in touch with her.

On another note, I’m teaching a rigid heddle workshop on Saturday, in Schuyler, VA. I do not have openings in that class, but can offer this class again, in Goochland, VA, Schuyler, and in Marlinton, WV.

Very soon, I’ll be offering all of my classes in WV. We have a warm beautiful studio on our property fronting 2 beautiful creeks, surrounded by pastures and woodlands, and very close to the Greenbrier River and the Greenbrier River Trail.  Weekend workshops and weeklong retreats will soon be available. It’s been too long coming, but the time is almost here.

 

Rigid heddle weaving workshop

Yes, I have a one-day rigid heddle weaving workshop in Schuyler, va this Saturday. I’ll post pics. This was a privately booked workshop, or I would have posted it on here.
Additional workshop are available upon request. Eeeeeeee! I love these and can’t wait 🙂

Quilt top assembled

I finished assembling the quilt top. Here is is: 

I’m thinking that I probably still want some border around the entire quilt, instead of just binding it. I’ve also begun to wonder if I might want prairie points. No matter what the circumstances, I do intend to have it at the longarm quilter by the end of the week. It’s currently 80″X110″. That’s another reason I want to add the border. I’m hoping to get the width up to …… 90 or even 100″.

I like the “piano keys” striped border here: http://pamcave.blogspot.com/2009/05/african-wedding-quilt.html

I think It would be nice to have the quilt come down over the sides of the bed, without having the blocks hanging down, out of site. Just a thought. More later.

Weaving lessons

I’m able to offer weaving lessons at Schuyler, VA, Buckeye, WV and Goochland, VA now. Whether you are interested in learning to weave tapestry, or rigid heddle, or floor loom I can teach you. Cost is $50/hr. Last weekend, I taught a wet-felting workshop. It was a private workshop, so I didn’t advertise. We did wall-hangings. We had a great time. Two weeks prior to that, I taught a spinning workshop. Some of these I teach through the Virginia Museum’s Partners in the Arts program. I’ll be looking for opportunities like that in West Virginia. If you are interested in lessons, or booking a private workshop for you and some friends, just shoot me an e-mail. Private lessons are $50/hr, but workshops are priced on a per person basis. I do gift certificates, so you can book a workshop and give gift certificates to up to 3 friends and we can felt or spin together (for a total of 4 participants). 

Currently, I’m working on 4 commissions for the same client. 2 ladies scarves, a man’s scarf and a 4th scarf that is a bit like an ascot. All are handspun chiengora and all will be hand-woven as well. I’ve worked for this client before. She has 2 beautiful collies that are therapy dogs. I love spinning their fiber and they are such sweeties, too. 

My workspace in Goochland is my home; in Schuyler, I have a free-standing studio at the house, and in West Virginia there is a separate studio also. Right now, we are looking for a good heat source for the free-standing studios. Until we get the heat sources worked out, I’m teaching inside the house at each location. 

One last item that keeps me busy (too busy to blog lately, anyway) is that I am an artist-in-residence in the Richmond Public Schools. This year, I have two schools that I work with and my target age group is 4th grade. I’m loving JEB Stuart and the principal, Mrs. Moore is the most supportive principal I’ve met. She has booked every single class to come and spend time with me, the visiting artist. Awesome!  I am felting, spinning and weaving with the 4th graders. They are a loquacious group and i adore them. 

For now, that’s all. I’ll try to post pics very soon.

 

Weaving lessons available in Goochland, Schuyler, VA and Buckeye, WV (near Cass).

I’m now set up with looms and spinning wheels in 3 locations to teach. If you are interested in learning to weave or spin, scribble out an e-mail and let’s get something booked. Lessons are $50/hr. Count on 2 hours for the first lesson. If you are working on a rigid heddle loom, that might be the full session you need. If you are on a floor loom, it’s a more time-consuming process. Spinners should count on a series of 4 one hour lessons and homework in between. Things you might want to bear in mind as you consider classes:

1. The process is the same whether you do a bookmark or a blanket, so start out with a bookmark, because what you really need to learn first is how to dress the loom. A bookmark might take you 1.5 hours to set up, where a blanket might take you 15 hours of instructional time. That’s a $ difference of about $675.00! I know it’s difficult to shell out $100 to weave a bookmark, but you aren’t paying for the bookmark, you are paying for Knowledge and help in becoming a weaver. It’s an investment in your future as a weaver/craftsman/woman.

2. To begin with, inexpensive yarns, like RedHeart are great to learn on. Move on to finer yarns as your skills improve.

3. If you book a lesson, show up for it on time.

4. Your best improvement will come from practice, so plan on doing homework. 

Hope to hear from you soon! maidensweaver at earthlink dot net

It’s done and delivered!

The chiengora commission was delivered yesterday. Here is how the final piece looked: 

I wish I could upload a tactile file, so you could feel it! Very soft. And the client who commissioned it picked it up with the fiber donor, Tess. It was Tess’ birthday! Here is Tess and her owner, with the piece made from Tess’ fiber:

She is a precious, retired therapy dog who was rescued rom a puppy mill. As a breeder in a puppy mill, Tess was not allowed out of her cage, but rather, treated like a production machine to pop out puppies and nurse them. She is very lucky to have been rescued. To the right of Tess, is her brother, Toby. One day, I look forward to spinning/weaving Toby also, as his owner posesses his puppy fur! I’ve enjoyed my connection to this family, as with all the chiengora families I’ve met.