The Summer/Winter Studio
The Summer/Winter Studio
Superior, WI 54880
ph: 715.398.5970
kmtweave
About the Artist
About the Artist -
I fell in love with weaving at a very early age - no rhyme or reason. My 7th grade art teacher gave me the opportunity to weave on a 4-harness table loom, and from there I was hooked. Later, when I went off to school to study interior design, I ended up spending more time in the art department, and instead received both my B.A. and M.A. in weaving and textile design.
An interest in history and old weave structures directs my focus in the Summer & Winter weave; a technique used in the Eastern United States in the early 19th Century. Fully reversible, coverlets (bedding) woven in the Summer & Winter weave were created by professional weavers since home looms were not technical enough to complete the structure.
For my own work, I hand-spin and dye domestic combed wool, which I then weave over commercially dyed cotton threads into table runners and coverlets. The weave structure is perfect for blending the warp and weft colors. Though I start out fairly rigid in both design and color, each piece eventually dictates its' own direction to the end.
I'm fascinated with the geometrics, and my current design influences are from Prairie, Mission, and Arts & Crafts styles and patterns. The pinetree motif most often seen in old coverlets has always been one of my favorite motifs, and one that I will continue to explore and incorporate in my work.
Designed to function in both traditional and contemporary settings, I construct each piece individually with the utmost attention to detail and craftsmanship.
For over 25 years, I'm fortunate that weaving has been both my profession, and my passion.
"First Star"
About the Looms -
Currently, I'm weaving on a 60" wide, AVL 24-harness loom with a computer dobby and WeaveMaker software. While the software does speed up the designing process a bit, the computer dobby does not speed along the weaving process.
The Compu-dobby allows you to replace graph paper as your design tool. Once a design is completed, each row of weaving for any given piece has to be programmed for the dobby box that is attached to the side of the loom, and interfaced with cables to the computer.
The dobby box has 24 cables, each attached to one of the 24 harnesses hanging in the middle of the loom. Individual threads are put through the harnesses following a particular pattern.
A computer dobby loom then has only two foot pedals, one that when depressed signals the computer to tell the dobby box which harnesses with threads will be raised, and then the other pedal when depressed raises those harnesses. By raising the harnesses it creates an opening between the threads by which the shuttle then carries the weft through and creates the woven fabric.
The loom still has to be threaded by hand, and a shuttle thrown for each row of weaving in the same manner as a loom without a computer interface.
The new Compu-dobby loom is only 30" wide but has 40 harnesses, for a lot more design possibilities. It took about 3 days to assembly - with a lot of interruptions! It feels really small compared to the big loom, almost like a toy loom. So far though, it's been working very well. It's easier to thread, and very quiet. The work that has come off of it has been pretty good too.
The Summer/Winter Studio
Superior, WI 54880
ph: 715.398.5970
kmtweave
