Tien Chiu

  • Home
  • About Tien
    • Honors, Awards, and Publications
  • Online Teaching
  • Gallery
  • Essays
  • Travels
  • Book
  • Blog
  • Dye samples
You are here: Home / All blog posts / Smug
Previous post: Almost halfway done with feathering
Next post: Running at full speed

April 17, 2008 by Tien Chiu

Smug

It is way, way, way too late for me to write this up properly (I’ll do that in the morning), but let’s just say: Stephanie Gaustad (the legendary spinner/weaver) spoke at my weaving guild tonight on how to judge textiles (great presentation, btw).  After the presentation I got up my courage in both hands and asked her to give me critical feedback on one of my pieces.  She said yes, so I showed her “Liquid Fire”, which I happened to have with me at the time.

She liked it!  She said the sett was well-chosen and appropriately dense (“people often sett silk too loosely), the finishing was well done, the selvages were nice and straight (“you’ve been weaving HOW long?”), and the color scheme was gorgeous.  She did point out some skipped picks and gave me advice on how to repair skips and how to tension warp properly so loose threads aren’t as prevalent.

But the kicker came at the end, when she put the piece down, looked me in the eye, and said, “You should really enter competitions.  And start writing articles.”

Me?  I’ve only been weaving for just over a year!

But if a highly sought-after fiber arts judge is telling me this, well, there must be something to it.

I’m starting to think I should make a serious study of weaving, as opposed to the dabbling I’ve done so far.  Not until after the AIDS Ride, but still…definitely something to mull over.  Not a career, but perhaps an avocation…hmm!

But anyway, tonight, I’m just plain smug.  “Walking on air” is closer to it.

More on stuff tomorrow morning – I’m up too late already.

Share this post!

  • Tweet
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Print

Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, weaving

Previous post: Almost halfway done with feathering
Next post: Running at full speed

Comments

  1. Taueret says

    April 18, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    You’re very brave! I don’t blame you for feeling proud.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Archives

Tags

aids lifecycle outfits autumn splendor book cashmere coat cats celtic braid coat color study cross dyeing design design class devore doubleweave doubleweave shawls drawing dye samples dye study group gradient colors house infinite warp jacquard loom katazome knitted blanks kodachrome jacket ma's memorial mohair coat network drafted jacket/shawl project network drafting painted warp phoenix rising phoenix rising dress phoenix rising kimono phoenix rising reloaded pre-weavolution project sea turtles taquete tie-dye tied weaves tomatoes velvet weaving drafts web design website redesign wedding wedding dress woven shibori

Categories

  • Africa
  • aids lifecycle
  • All blog posts
  • All travel posts
  • Asia
  • Bangkok
  • Belize
  • Cambodia
  • Central America
  • Chai Ya (Wat Suon Mok)
  • Chiang Mai
  • Chiang Rai (Akha)
  • China
  • chocolate
  • computer stuff
  • creating craft
  • Creative works
  • cycling
  • Delhi
  • Dharamsala
  • drawing
  • dyeing
  • Fiber Arts
  • finished
  • food
  • garden
  • Ghana
  • Guatemala
  • Hanoi
  • Ho Chi Minh City
  • Hoi An
  • India
  • Khao Lak
  • Knitting
  • knitting
  • Ko Chang
  • Laos
  • Luang Namtha
  • Luang Prabang
  • markleeville death ride
  • meditations on craft
  • mental illness
  • musings
  • Phnom Penh
  • powerlifting
  • Rewalsar (Tso Pema)
  • sewing
  • Siem Reap (Angkor Wat)
  • Southeast Asia
  • surface design
  • textiles
  • Thailand
  • travel
  • Vangvieng
  • Vientiane
  • Vietnam
  • Warp & Weave
  • Weaving
  • weaving
  • weavolution
  • writing

© Copyright 2025 Tien Chiu · All Rights Reserved ·