I Have an Inkling

 Are you sick of my bad word play titles yet? Too bad :) Today I am going to talk a little about weaving.

I have always found myself particularly drawn to weaving. I love weaving, and I find it to be very relaxing. It probably started because I had weeping willows in my yard growing up in Wisconsin. It was great! Free materials whenever I wanted. As a kid I would make all kinds of things, hula skirts, crowns, baskets, a “bow” for shooting “arrows” (random sticks I found in the yard.), whatever I wanted to play with that day. It's one thing I miss about living in a temperate forest, all the free craft supplies! As much as I may try to resist it, (NO! I am NOT my mother!) I'm a fiber arts person. My first loom was this tiny little thing used to make Native American style bracelets, and of course, I have been crocheting since childhood.

I still love weaving baskets but sadly they are just not cost effective. Reed is pretty pricey to get out in so-cal, and with every department store on earth selling very cheaply made baskets at super low cost, there's just no turn around for me. Due to this basket weaving is a bit of a dying art form. So, when I weave a basket it is a kind of a treat for myself.

Since joining the SCA I have learned a few new types of weaving. All the trim you see on my Etsy or facebook page is inkle weaving. Inkle weaving uses a small loom to make trim in simple geometric patterns. It dates back to as early the 1600's as it is referenced in several Shakespeare pieces. Inkle is very  frequently used in the SCA to make “period” trims for garb etc.

When I picked this up I discovered I really liked making trim. It's fun, and relatively easy, and I can weave and be social at the same time, watch TV etc. The problem was I started to have way more trim than I would ever use, and my husband doesn't appreciate living in a giant ball of trim. So up it went on the Etsy. To be honest, I was surprised when the first one sold. I figured it was such a specialty item there wouldn't be much interest. Several trims later I am still selling, and very happy to have customers supporting my habit!

I have just sold enough to “pay off” my first loom, woohoo! Although I have now moved on to a bigger loom that my friend James made me for Christmas. He's been dabbling in woodworking and decided to give it a try! (it came out beautiful, and he even wood burned in a wolf for me, which is part of my SCA heraldry)

I still have a lot to learn! There is also card weaving which uses the same loom, but instead of warping the threads directly through the frame, they are threaded through “cards” (this allows for a wider variety in patterns.). There are also a few techniques such as brocading and pick of weaving which also allow for some fancier trims. Hopefully soon I shall have some of these fancier trims for all to see!

This is the latest trim off my loom. After making the purple D20 I was feeling a little purple-y, (to be fair, I'm almost always feeling purple-y.) Today I warped up the loom to make some fun orange and black Halloween trim. Yeah, I know it's only August, but it's my subconscious's way of wishing for cooler weather. (Fall months will inevitably be filled with tons of Halloween crafting posts :) )

Update: Since this last post I have also decided to learn card weaving. I wrote a post about making the switch from inkle to card here.

Thanks again or reading!

See you soon!
~By GoblinGal



#SCA #InkleTrim #Weaving