Heaven and Hell

Sorry for the radio silence! I was in a creative funk most of last week, but I snapped out of it over the weekend, and have been too busy weaving to write!

Between Saturday morning and Sunday evening, I finished winding, threading, sleying, tying on, and debugging 1,440 threads in the latest warp. And here is the result:

The warp is sixteen inches wide, with ninety ends per inch – I had been nervous about the density, but it turns out to be just perfect – the pattern beats square, anyway, though I am having to double-beat before throwing the shuttle, to clear the shed.

Anyway, the cloth is just gorgeous – it’s wildly iridescent (only somewhat visible in the photo) and the delicate pattern (circles and diamonds in huck lace) feels just perfect. I think I am a convert to weaving with superfine silks! It requires considerable patience, but the results are wonderful. I have ten yards on this warp and am looking forward to weaving it off!

Debugging was a real pain, though. The first few inches of the warp are where all the tension issues, mis-threadings, etc. all turn up and have to be fixed, and that process took me at least three hours. It’s difficult because after all the work in threading up the warp, you still can’t weave! But I got through it at long last, and weaving the fabric was pure pleasure.

The next two photos remind me of a Zen koan that I read somewhere:

A samurai asked a Zen master to teach him about Heaven and Hell. The Zen master replied, “I cannot possibly teach this to someone as stupid as you.”

Angered, the samurai drew his sword to chop off the Zen master’s head. The master said, “This is hell.”

Enlightened, the samurai sheathed his sword and bowed to the Zen master to thank him. The master replied, “And this is heaven.”

So, here’s the weaver’s version.

This is hell:

And this is heaven: