Tag Archive for: Weaving

Are you searching for a colourful afternoon of artistry and craft?

Travelling the islands of coastal BC is an inspiration to your inner artist. The rich colours and whimsical weather patterns are a muse to local artists.Locals love to capture this ever-changing landscape through a variety of mediums. 

Weaving is an enjoyable craft that beginners and artists of any aptitude can venture into easily. With the help of a guide and a ready-set loom, you can create your own hand-made souvenir. 

SAORI Weaving Workshops on Salt Spring Island are a natural vacation activity. Our studio in the woods is a great place to get quiet and hear the inspiration from within. Explore weaving as a meditation or as a fun group social activity. The SAORI tools, yarns, warps, books, equipment are here for you to try and SAORI handwovens to inspire your new or next project.

Contact us today to book a Beginner Weaving Workshop on Salt Spring Island: 

  • Private Lessons: Weave something beautiful to take home with you in a 2-hour class, whether you have woven before or not.  A few simple instructions will get you started. There are endless possibilities to explore. Visit our bookings page.
  • Group Lessons: Designed for families, friends, vacation activity, business/corporate team building, inquire for a custom workshop. 

SAORI Weaving and Clothing Design

When I first looked at this cloth, I thought I would make it into a simple top or vest with the white bands down the front. I cut the cloth in half and pinned it, and didn’t like it after all. Now what?

I browsed through the pattern books to get a new idea and saw the Triangle Blouse and so just turned the pieces on an angle – and I liked it so much better. So, I made the triangle blouse (SAORI Beginners Clothing design book – pattern 4).

SAORI Weaving and Clothing Design

My cloth was not the dimensions given in the book, but I just worked around that. The front is a little longer, the back a little shorter, but in truth it can be worn either way. Easy to make – just 4 seams – shoulders and sides, but a whole different look with the cloth at an angle.

SAORI Weaving and Clothing Design

I had a bit of cloth still from this warp and I made it into a simple vest with straps.

SAORI Weaving and Clothing Design

I want to share some of the things I’ve made based on some patterns in the SAORI books. I say “based on” as nothing I make follows the pattern exactly. Each cloth, each person and so each piece of clothing is different.

My variation here is using 1 1/2 widths of the cloth I had on hand. I did this so that it would fit without being a short crop top. I put the extra half on the top on the front of the vest and the half width on the bottom at the back (scroll through photos to see). On the neckline, instead of a straight boat neck, I cut the fabric in half again and overlapped it a bit to make a simple open v-neck.

I have no specific measurements for this. It is based on the cloth on hand and on the person.

Easy to make. Colourful. Fun to wear.

I remember being in Hawaii with Kenzo-san as the Beginners book was being considered and his thought of how to encourage people to make their cloth into clothing. And to make it simple. He said “pick your placemats up off the table and sew them together at the shoulders and sides – a Placemat Vest!” So this became the first “pattern” in the book.

Based on SAORI Beginner’s Clothing Design book, pattern 1 with variation

Happy New Year!

I’ve just sent out a newsletter with events happening at the studio and in Victoria in 2020.  You can read it here.

It includes information and registration for SAORI weaving workshops and retreats with SAORI Salt Spring.

Honeysuckle Cottage B&B

As of November this year, my teaching studio will be moved into Honeysuckle Cottage! This means there will be more space for weaving, a sewing room, a bathroom and full kitchen. We will still be in the woods, with a beautiful deck to enjoy.

Honeysuckle Cottage B&B

Honeysuckle Cottage – soon to be the SAORI Salt Spring Studio space

The current studio space on the property will be converted into a SAORI “store” where you will find an array of warps, yarns, books, equipment and woven items for sale on display. You’ll also be able to try out the “specialty” looms in the store including the WX90 (a 36” SAORI loom), a 4-harness loom and the Piccolo loom.

For those coming on retreat (which of course I will still be hosting) there is a B&B next door to us at Bloom Organic (at the Blue Horse Gallery) with 2 different suites available. The neighbour on the other side is Bird’s Hill Cottage and their B&B will accommodate up to 5 people. Both are a short walk from the studio, so you’ll still be able to wander over to the studio anytime. As with all my retreats the studio will be open early and late (8 am  to 8 pm) for extra weaving time.

Other accommodations in the area include Angel Cottage, Magnolia Petal, Quarrystone Inn, Soul Reflection B&B and many more. You can also find many listings and availability on the accommodations website at www.saltspringaccommodation.ca.

I’m looking forward to this new adventure and to seeing you here on the island!

 

To book a workshop or retreat, please have a look at my calendar here and information on classes and retreats.

(See my entire Autumn 2018 newsletter here).

“Spaces Between”  is an installation at the Green Raven Clinic on Salt Spring Island.

Reflections:

Warp – I am the warp. I am black and I am strong and I hold all these pieces together. Without the warp she could not weave. I am dark and in the background so that all the colours of the weft can take centre stage. I am straight, usually. This time, she took out the reed and moved me from side to side at will. Usually the reed keeps everything under control and in straight lines – but the reed was nowhere to be seen. At one point she started pulling some of me out! I felt vulnerable, but I held everything together anyway.

Weft – I am the weft. My colour changes by her will and whimsy. I am often blues and greens, the colour of the island, but now I am grey and soft, red and strong, black and dark. Usually I go across and back, across and back. But now, she stops and starts, changing direction, changing colour, leaving holes and spaces. Leaving spaces between.

Black – I am black and dark. Black and strong. A background colour. A bold colour. No colour. I reach into dark places and call things up for exploration. I am the colour of the west and the storm clouds, but they also bring the cleansing rains. You may see me as solid, but look closely, I am only threads woven together, absorbing the light.

Red – Bold. Strong. Startling. Stop. Look at me. Her Aries colour, seldom expressed by her. I think I am not her true colour as she feels jolted by me. I stand out. I draw your eye. I call to you, to women.

Grey – Soft, woollen grey. Gentle lines, moving, bending, blending in. Making you feel relaxed and soft. Warm and cozy. I rest your eyes from the other strong colours. I withdraw into myself. I balance the other colours, leaving a more peaceful feeling.

Wool – I am little bits of wool. I am scattered here and there like little bright spots. Soft spots. I make you smile when you see me. I am texture and unexpected. Playful.

Spaces Between

Waterfall, 2009
Blue Cashmere Jacket, 2018
Spaces Between: Flow, 2018
Spaces Between: Apart & Together, 2018
Spaces Between: Missing, 2018
Spaces Between: Crossroads, 2018

Artist’s Statement

These 4 pieces were woven as I started yet another year with Chronic Health Issues.

“Spaces Between”  was my search for answers. I wasn’t sure when I started weaving what the spaces were about. Were they the spaces, the moments of good health, the good memories? Or were they the spaces of darkness and ill health? Were they breathing spaces? I wove and I wondered.

When I showed one of my pieces to a friend as I was asking this question she said to me “It really doesn’t matter which they are, as when I see the whole cloth together it is beautiful. If the spaces are the good places or the broken places, they all work together to make the whole tapestry of your life”.

Each piece is different and it was clear when it was finished. I unrolled them and they are all of a similar length, a chapter of the story.

As I was finishing the last piece, just near the end, a piece of blue wool called to be put into the weaving. At that time I knew that this was the last piece of the series as I was being called back from this journey and search.

Spaces Between

Then I was at a clinic day at Green Raven and a question came to me “Where am I in all of this?” – it felt like something outside of me. Like I wasn’t present. It was at that time that I realized I had to add to this exhibit some pieces that are me, that reflect who I am.  The two pieces that I chose are blues, of course. One, called “Waterfall” was woven early in my SAORI weaving journey for an exhibit in New York City, before my illness started. The other “Blue Cashmere Jacket” is a piece that I just finished.

saori weaving

I am now weaving with more ease, more breathing room, more spaces to allow things to be how they are.

Happy Weaving,

Terri

Misao Jo has inspired an approach to weaving that opens the heart and the mind.

On January 10, 2018, Misao Jo sensei passed away peacefully. She was 104, with her 105th birthday just a few months away.

Misao has inspired so many through the SAORI philosophy and her passion for it. At 57 she embarked on a journey that will carry on through her family and so many others.

I had the great honour to meet her in Japan many times on my trips. I will think of her as I weave and share SAORI and do my best to help others know the joy of this beautiful philosophy.

Love, prayers and blessings to her family. She will be greatly missed.

SAORI weaving is based on a philosophy started in Japan by Misao Jo in 1969.

“All flowers are beautiful, even though each individual flower is different in form and color.  Because of this difference, “all are good”.  Because everything has the same life, life cannot be measured by a yardstick.  It is this individuality that makes everything meaningful and the uniqueness of each thread that creates the tapestry of life.”

Misao Jo, Founder of SAORI

saori weaving

Kenzo Jo, Misao Jo, Terri in 2014 at SAORI no Mori

 

*First two photos, photo credit Sakaiseikisangyo Co. Ltd

Lynn Jones – reflections on her Artist in Residency at SAORI Salt Spring – Fall 2016
I was delighted to be the Artist in Residence at SAORI Salt Spring for 3 1/2 days this month. The deciding factor for me was ‘weaving on Salt Spring Island without distraction’! I have a very full life at home. Both of my sons are living with me right now, my hubby, Bob and my (getting very old and grumpy) dog, Wilma. Though I have a ‘studio space’, it is shared. With musical instruments and a family computer and lately, some silver smithing / jewelry making tools. I love the busyness of it all, but it does impede the creative process for me. One thing that I took away from my time on SSI is that I’m best really early in the morning. Always knew that, but never really put it to creative use. So, from this time forward and forever more, I will use the time from waking til 9:00 am to be creative, alone, with my cloth and my babe (draping, shaping, cutting and sewing). I can weave with everyone around, but I can’t improvise with my cloth unless I have some peace and quiet. So, I had time to create…2 pieces I’d woven earlier. A jacket in blues with blue jean sleeves and a tunic woven with fabric from some thrift store finds.

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img_0570-e1479166785661-450x600The other amazing experience I had with Terri was the time to collaborate on a weaving. I had ‘scored’ some thrift store silk. 75% off beautiful blue, green, pale yellow, mustard and white silk threads! This was our inspiration.

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Though I had a plan for the weaving, it became something completely other! SAORI philosophy tells us to listen to the cloth, not to plan ahead of time, to weave ourselves. So, the plan I had will materialize on some other visit. What Terri and I created was a kelp bed, unintentionally of course . The whole weaving was shared…every piece that went into it, every idea, all the threads. As Terri so beautifully put it, there were no egos. We threw ideas back and forth. We have so many more ideas to put into our future weavings!

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It was just as much fun weaving as it was photographing the experience. We had to keep reminding each other to take pictures….. And sometimes we just got silly!

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I had time to create in the cottage.

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To cook for Terri and Alan. To sip wine and listen to music. Carole King’s Tapestry was my go to cd. How appropriate!!!
I am so very grateful for the experience of being the AiR. Looking forward to annual WOWWWs (weeks of weaving, wondering and wandering) and whatever else comes from my journey into SAORI weaving and it’s never ending possibilities.

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I read this quote from Misao one morning:
“I am often asked, “What did you do before you started weaving? You must not have been just an ordinary housewife.” Well, when I was twenty five years old, I had a profound experience that opened my eyes. Some would call it a revelation sent by a Supreme Being. Anyway, it turned out to be my work for the rest of my life. In my pursuit of this, I have always been aware that some great, invisible power is within me. Looking back, I see that each small incident I experienced as an ordinary house-wife (mother, sister, banker for me) led me to this path. All the experiences in the past were preparation for what I am now doing. Simply put, everything was leading me to comprehend that kansei (the significance of an intuitive sense of beauty existing inside of us.) is inherent in everyone.”
How appropriate for me to read this while being the AiR.

————————————————————————————
I had a great time with Lynn. It was fabulous to collaborate and explore together – so many ideas!
Happy Weaving,
Terri
Next Artist-in-Residence: February 2017 application info tba
My website: www.saorisaltspring.com
Or you can find me more often on Facebook or Instagram.

Well, it has been a while since I’ve written. Many things have been happening over this summer and there are pictures on my Facebook page and also on Instagram if you haven’t been following along.

We recently finished 10 full and fantastic days with Loom Dancer Weaving Odysseys (watch the great video at this link for a view of the trip) here on Salt Spring Island…

Loom Dancer 2016

A great group of enthusiastic women. I always come away from these events with ideas popping! So, after getting much of my studio set up again it was time to try one of them out. I chose bobbins that were left from the retreat – so there is a feeling of that gathering in this piece.

At the retreat, some people were exploring the cool cross and weaving a circle, and I had an idea to try a loop weaving and so I started my exploration into this 3D method that I was imagining…

loop-top 3D weaving

Front…

loop-top 3D weaving

Back…

loop-top 3D weaving

Looks kind of crazy, but it worked as I had hoped and imagined it would. Two panels of weaving joined with loops.

loop-top 3D weaving

It has become a no-sew top! Some of the loops go over the shoulder as straps and others are the sides. The weaving itself is the front and the back of the top. So fun!

loop-top 3D weaving

loop-top 3D weaving

loop-top 3D weaving

Always something new to try when there is so much inspiration.

Happy Weaving,
Terri

My website: www.saorisaltspring.com

For a year now, I’ve been teaching workshops at the beautiful Pacifica Paddle location in Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island. It is so wonderful to have my looms and supplies there at a ‘satellite studio’ and just come over on the ferry to share SAORI weaving.

pacifica-looms

Here is a sampling from this weekend.

We arrived on Saturday morning and the weather was a bit misty…

misty morning

One of the first weavings was in all whites. Stunning!

White weaving

Then more colour, a lot more colour, crept into the next one.

weaving

Some rugs were woven with local wool and alpaca roving. This one for a lucky kitty!

handwoven cat mat

The following day we had a full workshop including members of the Victoria Weaver’s Guild – they were interested in seeing what SAORI was all about and trying the looms out, learning about the philosophy and letting go…

We tried some ripple weave,

ripple weave

feather plying,

feather plying

And lots of colour and texture.

saori weaving

Marilee was learning to make warps with Kenzo’s new warping tools. It’s kind of like making your own pre-wound warp. Quick and easy to do – and it can all be beamed and threaded right at the table. Or you can use the loom.

blue warp

A wonderful weekend again.

weekend weaving

Thanks to Peter & Sandra for making these workshops possible at their workshop location. And to all who come out. You can always go out for a paddle while you are there – or bring a partner or friend who would like to get out on the water.

You can also enjoy a paddle

Next month there is a workshop on Saturday, March 12 from 10-3 and then a mini-workshop on Sunday, March 13 from 10-12. We will be joined by a special guest – Stacey Piwinski from Boston – who will be the Artist-in-Residence at SAORI Salt Spring that week! Come and meet Stacey and see some of her works from her recent exhibit.

Stacey Piwinski, Artist in Residence

PLUS a SAORI Kai on Sunday, March 13 from 1-3. Please come out, bring your weaving, your questions and share in the joy of SAORI. All are welcome.

Happy Weaving,
Terri

My website: www.saorisaltspring.com, see some updates on my Gallery page here.

Or you can find me more often on Facebook or Instagram.