Of Studios and Messes

Top of work table with neutral gamp yarns ready for winding

My studio is home to many different activities. I don’t just weave I also dye yarns for re-sale, teach, write and once again make weaving kits.

Each of these activities requires equipment and materials and – of course – space.

The first photo shows a stack of bins. The ones on the top are those being used right now. Each bin contains the yarns for one of the colour gamp kits, plus handouts and any wound warps/quills.

Beneath that are bins with the 2/20 silk to be dyed. Some of it has been re-tied, some of it still needs to have the original ties replaced. A job for Karena when she comes in next Monday.

On the other side of the walkway is my work table. It is set up with the metal Leclerc skein winder. I’ve worked out how many turns are required for each quill. That yarn then gets wound onto the paper quills. The bobbin winder is just out of sight to the left.

Under the table is an office chair on which another bin full of shawls to be fringe twisted is temporarily stored. That bin may go with me to Seattle for the demo area. Another bin is stored under the table, too. It’s full of teaching samples. I just don’t know where else to store it right now. :}

There is also a roller from the AVL with some red shawls that I wove last spring and still haven’t taken off and fringe twisted. 🙁 Another one of those ‘I’ll get round to it one of these days’ jobs.

The last picture shows the skein winder and the yarns for the neutral gamp that I was using tonight to wind warps and quills.

In the distance you might be able to make out the Silver Needles cone winder. I had been coning off some of the dyed 2/20 silk in preparation to weaving it up, but the colour gamp kits became the priority. The silk warp was experimentation and speculation; the kits have actual buyers waiting for them. 🙂 The ball winder stays on the corner of the table – again I don’t know where else to put it.

The table has other tools and materials on it – tape, scissors, quill papers, the pastel gamps awaiting wet finishing, boxes with yarn and bobbins that will be used in a day or three.

The activities that go on in my studio vary from day to day, week to week. While I would love to have a pristine studio, there is one thing lacking – sufficient space to store the things I need in order to do all the things that I do.

And so I work in quarters that are cluttered and messy looking, with piles of boxes and bins in every available corner, and clutter on every flat surface. I don’t like it that way, but there doesn’t seem to be much that I can do about it.

This is just one little area of my studio. It doesn’t look any better in any other area of the studio. Do I really want the entire weaving world to know what a messy person I am? Not really – I’m only sharing this with my close personal friends. Friends who will not judge me and find me less worthy now they know my darkest secret. :} And now you know why I declined to share my studio with Handwoven for the current issue!