Arduous March

The last couple of weeks have been a bit distracting, but work is still getting done.  Above, a detail from a tapestry sampler.

And there's this.  I started it last Fall.  I think it's done.  Maybe not.  I'm on the fence.

Blast!

The ARM loom is threaded.  Now it's just a waiting game until the control head is ready to cooperate. I wish someone would invent a wi-fi control head to replace the old Patronic system.  The data transfer from computer to loom is like The Jetsons to The Flintstones.  Another year or two and the technology gap will be too big to overcome without a modification to the control head.  So somebody get to work on that.

Above are a couple of drawn joomchi collaborations.  Maybe it'll go somewhere…maybe not.  Worse case scenario, I end up with more samples.  And I do need to replenish my sample supply anyway.  I dropped off a fat stack of joomchi at The Morgan, so if you're curious stop in and give them a fondling.

Above and below are the first successful tests for something really amazing.  I've been prepping for the Nuno felt portion of my felt-making class, and kept thinking about the misleading description of joomchi being "paper felting"(…sorry, Aimee and others…).  The reasons joomchi and felt form are entirely different, but I was convinced that there had to be a way of creating a laminate fabric with wool and paper.  After some experimentation I finally arrived at a method for making a fabric that is both joomchi AND felt!  I'm sure others have wondered about this, and maybe even found a way to do it…but I can't find anything on the Interwebtubes, so until someone corrects me (...and, please, don't hesitate to correct me…), I'm going to be terribly immodest and claim to be the first to do this.  There.  It's done.  I was the first.

For those curious about learning this technique:  There isn't room in the already scheduled itineraries for my upcoming joomchi workshops, but I plan on running it as a backyard workshop in early August.  There will be a proper e-blast before the end of July with the scheduling details, however, I'm willing to compile a tentative enrollment list if anyone is eager to get onboard.

Now, back to the ARM loom.

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UPDATE:  There is now a mechanical failure occurring in the ARM loom's lift system (most likely the solenoid control circuit) that is unrepairable by the likes of me.  So I cut my warp off, and I'll set it up on my small loom at home.  Sometimes the older methods are more reliable.