#ghostweaver

[ghostweaver]

Starting a new band!

Apologies for not posting in a while, I've needed some time to adjust to my new routine before I could even dream of setting up my loom again. But luckily, between classes and 3 jobs and everything else, I was able to get some weaving in. I'm so, so glad I've been able to keep up with it. Keeping a hobby keeps you sane, you know? Having something you enjoy doing that isn't doom-scrolling into the ether does wonders for you, even if it's only for a half an hour a day. We get so caught up in the need-to-do's and deadlines that cage us in our lives, but those hobbies are our enrichment! They're there to up morale, to keep us entertained and happy, to let us take a break from the stress that steals so much of our minds already. I promise you, the need-to-do's can wait half an hour, and then when you get back to them, you'll be all the better for it.

This one will be a WIP for a long while, yes, but already the journey of creating the pattern, setting up the loom, and starting to weave has done wonders for me. I encourage all of you to keep a WIP handy at all times as well! We all need our emotional support hobbies.

[ghostweaver]

I don't know why, but it's so funny to me that most people who post their weaving have the same kind of angles to their video, and most of them, if not all of them, hide the chaos that's going on at the back of the loom. It's the same idea as "never ask a fiber artist to see the back of their project" with the embroiderers, or really any other craft where ends have to be managed. I know I'm guilty of it too; let's be honest, there's nothing glamorous about looking at the tangle of... 'creative' solutions to my ongoing tension struggles. But hey, for anyone curious, here's a peak behind the curtain on my latest project!

Here's some pictures too, to make it easier to see the chaos.

It's one of those things that I think is important to remember; behind every work of art is a not-so-glamorous process that you REALLY just have to trust. Everything seems so perfect when you see it online (at least in a crafting context), but it's important to know that it doesn't have to be. You can have things go wrong and still end up with an amazing product. You can have the weirdest solution to a problem, but if it works it works!

Never be afraid to mess up and work through it, even if "working through it" is messy in its own way! That's all part of the fun, friends! Trust the process, things will work out!

[ghostweaver]

Arachne returned to check my progress!

She (or many of her scouts) visited me this past weekend to see my weaving in progress. They were quite the audience! I had no less than 5 different spiders stop by for a peek at my work, though not all wanted to be photographed. These two stuck around for a long while on their respective days, though! The darker one on the mostly-green project was especially active, insisting on being at the front of the loom the whole time! Quite the funny little friend!

I hope Arachne is satisfied with my progress. I certainly know that I have been. Maybe, at the end of the day, that's what matters.

[ghostweaver]

PSA: Embroidery Floss can be used in inkle weaving!

Have you ever wanted to add a splash of color to your band or mess around with gradients, but you don't need a cone of excess that will just sit on your shelf for all eternity? (Alternatively, yarn is expensive, and buying cones for full gradients would be so much just to use only a little bit. I wish, but my student loans said no)

Well fun fact, one little 10-yard skein of embroidery floss is enough to get 4 warp threads exactly on an inkle loom*. That doesn't sound like a lot, but many patterns require just a few warp threads of these accent colors, and it gives you so many options if you get your hands on a variety pack and just see what you can come up with.

This is what I started now:

*keep in mind, different ways of warping on an inkle loom lead to different warp lengths, and thus will need more or less yardage to get the 4 strands. Below is the way I warped my loom, and it was perfect for the 4 strands in 10 yards!

[ghostweaver]

Arachne approved 👍

This little friend was sitting on my loom supervising my weaving for over an hour today! There's a lot of pressure with that many eyes watching you, but it was fun to have them as my little supervisor.

[ghostweaver]

I love that inkle weaving makes it so easy to mess around with color. Because it's just warp-faced plain weave, the colors and how they're warped is what makes the pattern, and you have the freedom to do so much with so little. This pattern is mostly stripes, the most basic thing you can do aside from a solid-colored band, but using colored stripes strategically gives you quite the sunset gradient. This many unique colors in any other pattern type may be too busy or overwhelming, but in the right contexts, any combination can be gorgeous!

It's amazing, really, because no matter how much I weave, I will never truly be able to capture every combination. There will always be more colors to add, more patterns to try, more orders and more widths and more numbers... the possibilities are endless! And what a paradoxically beautiful thing that is, to start on a quest that you have no hope of finishing. Your adventure will never have to end, but on the other side of the coin, you will never get to the end. Not in this lifetime, not in a thousand lifetimes. But how lovely it is to take part in that journey regardless. How lovely it is to know that you've created something new, something no one else has made, something that may inspire someone else someday. Then maybe, if you could be so lucky, the discovery of your journey will start another's, and your story will be woven into theirs. One could only dream...

[ghostweaver]

I forgot to show you all the little fellow I made the other day!

He's one of the prototypes for a multimedia project I'm working on now, and I am so proud of how he came out. He's entirely woven, sewn, and folded by hand using the bands I've made on my inkle loom (I'm sure anyone who's seen my other posts recognize this pattern!) I do wish I took more progress pictures during the sewing process, but alas, I didn't think of it at the time. It was definitely a process you really had to trust.

Even so, with enough creativity, anything is possible! There are no limits that can't be surpassed, no boundaries that can't be shattered. In art, rules are there to be broken, and in those cracks, you'll find the most interesting creations.

Use a medium you've never tried! Go into a process blind and see where you get on the other side! What is mundane to some is uncharted territory for others, fascinating and wonderful. Yes, he is just a small token of that creativity, but I love him all the same. I hope you all can find projects you're this excited by too!

[ghostweaver]

You know, something hits different about late-night weaving. Or doing any of your hobbies late at night, really. You know you should be sleeping, but in the moment, this feels so much more fulfilling. The world is quiet, there are no other commitments... it's just you and your loom in the most peaceful act of rebellion against the tediousness of everyday life.

Maybe it's just a me thing, but this will never get old.