Unit 1 - Fiber Preparation

Studio 1 - Combing wool/flax

Students explored various types of wool: two breeds washed but not scoured (lanolin still in) and one breed well scoured. They also handled some retted flax fiber. Using combs, a hackle, and primarily their own hands, students worked on turning the wool into roving by opening up the locks, picking out debris, and aligning the fibers. I also brought in some silk cocoons as an extra treat.

Supplies:

Pictures

A large bin of grey, brown and white sheep's wool. Besides it is a bag of dirty white wool, a pile of dark brown wool, a bag of the same wool, a coil of flax fibers, and two wool combs. A studio classroom with students sitting at tables handling wool. On a center table there is a bin of wool, some piles of other wools, and some flax fibers. Students use their hands to pull apart locks of wool and align the fibers, rolling them into snakes of roving. A hackle is bolted on to one table. A studio classroom with students sitting at tables handling wool. On a center table there is a bin of wool, some piles of other wools, and some flax fibers. Students use their hands to pull apart locks of wool and align the fibers, rolling them into snakes of roving. A hackle is bolted on to one table. Flax fibers lay on a table, with some short tow fibers in a pile next to them. Behind, a student pulls apart white wool with her fingers. In front of her on the table is a long snake of wool roving she has prepared. Students sit at a table and roll pale brown and white wool into snakes of roving.

Unit 2 - Spinning

Studio 2 - Spindle assembly

Students assembled their own spindles out of wooden dowels and wheels and began to learn how to spin yarn. It takes a lot of practiced to start drafting (drawing out) the fiber evenly to make yarn that will hold and not break! Students also picked up supply kits for the rest of the semester.

Supplies:

Pictures

Five students spinning white wool roving into yarn on wooden bottom-whorl drop-spindles. Two students sit at a table spinning. One winds spun yarn onto the shaft on his spindle, while another drafts fiber. A wooden bottom-whorl drop spindle leans against a fluffy mass of gray wool. A small amount of grey thread is wound onto the spindle and connected to the wool.

Studio 3 - Tech den tour

Students took a tour of our university's 3D printing facilities and had the opportunity to print for themselves variously formed spindles and Roman ring distaffs.

Supplies

Pictures

A blue 3D-printed ring distaff side-by-side with the ancient bone artifact it is modeled after. The distaffs are in the form of a ring attached to a tapering conical shaft. Louvre collections Cp 9464. My hand wearing the ring distaff and holding a drop-spindle. The distaff is worn around the pinky and has a fluff of grey wool wrapped around the top. A screenshot of 3D models of 2 spindle shafts and 3 whorls. One whorl is a simple wheel-shaped cylinder, one in an ancient Greek ceramic conical whorl, and one an Etruscan stone conical whorl.

Studio 4 - Spinning and plying

Students continued to work on their spinning, producing finer and more consistent yarn. Those who filled a whole spindle shaft learned to pull out the old shaft and put in a new one to keep spinning with the same whorl. In addition, students learned to ply their yarn: spinning together two or more strands of yarn in the opposite direction to make a stronger plied yarn.

Supplies

Pictures

My hand, holding a wooden dowel with a hook on the end wound with a cop of white hand-spun yarn.

Unit 3 - Weaving

Studio 5 - Cardboard looms

Students learned about the basics of weaving using a simple cardboard loom. They warped their looms by winding yarn through the notches on either end, and then used their hands and tapestry needles to weave weft threads over and under alternating warp threads. Then they experimented with changing the shed by lifting up every other thread with a shed bar (a piece of cardboard), and/or heddles (pieces of string tied to a dowel and to every other warp thread).

Supplies

Pictures

A large box full of skeins of Karisma brand wool yarn in various colors. A student lifts a dowel acting as a heddle bar to change the shed on her cardboard loom. She is weaving a narrow piece using her own handspun white and brown yarn. A student turns his cardboard shed bar on its side to open up a shed on his cardboard loom. He weaves red and blue wefts into a green warp. A student evens out a blue weft thread on his cardboard loom. He is adding a blue stripe to a green piece and his cardboard shed bar stands on its side, holding open the shed.

Studio 6 - Warp-weighted loom setup

Students set up a warp-weighted loom similar to those used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Before class, I prepared a starting band and warm and bound the starting ban to the cloth beam at the top of the loom. The warp was divided in half so that every other thread hung alternately in front or behind the lower shed bar. Then the warp threads were divided into even bundles which the students tied on to hanging clay weights to introduce tension into the warp. Next students knit heddles: a string was wound around a horizonal dowel and around every warp string that hung behind the shed bar. This set-up took most of class, but at the end students began to weave in trios, with one person operating the heddle bar, one passing through the weft, and one beating the weft into place. While students worked in rotating groups on the warp-weighted loom, others continued working on their personal weaving projects on the cardboard looms.

Supplies

Pictures

Disassembled pieces of a wooden warp-weighted loom lean against the wall of my living room. A student sits on the floor and ties a bundle of warp threads to a loom weight. Already there are two rows of loom weights tied to warp threads hanging. The loom weights are pyramidal and made of fired clay. The view is wider so you can see how half the warp threads pass over a shed bar in the middle of the loom, and half hang straight down behind it. A student sits on the floor and ties a bundle of warp threads to a loom weight. Already there are two rows of loom weights tied to warp threads hanging. The loom weights are pyramidal and made of fired clay. A student knits string heddles around the warp threads attached to the warp-weighted loom. This is a process that is quite difficult to explain in words if you aren't already familiar with it. One student pulls the heddle bar forward. The string heddles pull every other warp thread forward, creating a shed through which a second student prepares to pass a bobbin of yarn. A student beats a weft thread upwards into the woven fabric using a weaving sword. The weaving sword is a wooden implement shaped like a short sword inserted into the warp. The edge is used to push the new weft thread upwards. A close-up shot of the top of the warp-weighted loom showing the woven fabric. The warp threads are an undyed pale wool, and a thicker grey yarn has been woven in as weft. A student weaves a white weft on a small cardboard loom with a shed bar. The fabric she has already woven has stripes are different shades of blue. Students sit at tables in a classroom working on weaving rectangles on small cardboard looms. There is a warp-weighted loom leaning against the far wall of the classroom.

Studio 7 - More weaving (finishing pieces, decorative weaving, tablet weaving)

In this final weaving studios, students continued to work on their own weaving pieces and the warp-weighted loom collective piece. Teams of students worked on the warp-weighted looms as others worked on their personal pieces. Students learned how to take completed pieces off of the loom and finish the edges by making fringes/tassles, hemming, or weaving in ends. Some students also learned how to weave narrow bands using tablets with holes punched in them. Students continued to experiment with weaving designs, varying texture and color and creating patterns like stripes or dots.

Supplies

Pictures

The finished piece of cloth woven collectively by students on the warp weighted loom. The cloth has visible white warp threads. The weft alternated between sections of green and blue. The edges are a bit messy and the piece narrows as it gets longer. A student smiles at the camera as she works on her cardboard loom. She has been weaving a narrow rectangle with stripes of white, brown, and grey yarn. The white weft yarn she spun herself. Closeup of a narrow piece on a cardboard loom in speckled pale blue and brown. A student twists blue tassels out of the warp of their woven piece. A student passes a cardboard shuttle with blue yarn through the warp on her cardboard loom by hand. A student lifts a heddle bar and inserts a bobbin of yarn into her piece on a cardboard loom. The piece is woven in various shades of purple and a white/grey 2-ply hand-spun yarn. Beside her work is a stack of cardboard tablets and two completed woven pieces. A woven rectangle of white warp, pink weft, and with some blue checks. The tabby weave is quite evident, especially where it is balanced instead of weft-faced.

Unit 4 - Decoration and finishing

Take-home studio - dyeing

While I was away at a conference, students were assigned a dyeing studio to do on their own time. Students were divided into groups, ensuring that each group had access to hot water. Each group took a sample of various natural dyestuffs, alum (a mordant), and wool to dye (white wool roving or their own handspun yarn). The groups created dye extracts from the dyestuffs by cooking the dyestuffs in small amounts of water and straining the liquid off. They prepared their fiber by cooking it in a mixture of water and alum. Then, they gently cooked the prepared fiber in a mixture of dye extract and water, rinsed the fiber, and left it to dry. Students brought their results into class to share and compare with others.

Supplies

Pictures

A student pushes wool roving into a metal pail with dye extract at the bottom. Wool roving sitting in a mixture of orange-colored dye extract and water. A small ball of yarn dyed pale orange with madder root. A student uses a stirrer to push undyed wool roving into a pot on the stove containing mordant and water. Two pots on burners with dye extracts cooking (cochineal and logwood). Two pots sit on burners, one containing red liquid, and one containing white wool. Three students work at the stovetop on their dye pots. A student pour red dye and dyestuff through a fine sieve into a second pot. A strainer strains cochineal extract into a pot. Behind it, undyed roving cooks in a pot with mordant. A student lowers a piece of mordanted roving into a pot of dye. Two pots of roving cooking in dye on the stove (yellow osage and red cochineal). Yellow dyed wool sits in a strainer, draining out the excess liquid. A student holds a piece of bright magenta wool roving dyed with cochineal. Three plastic baggies with small amounts of yellow, orange, and purple dyed wool. Undyed wool roving and handspun yarn cook in a pot of mordant and water. Cochineal cooks in a pot of water, turning the water bright magenta. A pot with yellow osage wood chips floating in yellowing water A cheesecloth strains dye extract out of crushed cochineal. Two jars of dye extract: yellow extract from osage, and black/purple extract from cochineal. Wool roving and yarn cook in a pot of magenta cochineal dye. Wool roving cooks in a pot of pale yellow osage dye. Magenta cochineal-dyed yarn and roving hanging up to dry. A small skein of magenta cochineal-dyed yarn sits next to a small amount of yellow osage-dyed roving. A skein of magenta cochineal-dyed yarn sits next to wool roving dyed the same color. A turkish spindle sits on a pile of fluffy purple-pink roving. There is some spun yarn wound onto the spindle, and also some dyed yarn of the same color in the background.

Studio 9 - Felting and fulling

In this studio, students learned about felting: the process of using moisture, heat, and friction to interlock and bond wool fibers. Students stamped and banged on their finished woven wool pieces to create a smoother surface and turned colorful wool roving into sheets of felt and shaped felted objects.

Supplies

Pictures

A student applies pressure and friction to a woven wool rectangle with her hands. A student prepares a sheet of blue and brown felt on a paper towel. A student smiles at the camera while pounding a plastic bag containing wool, soap, and water with his fist. Behind him smiles classics department chair Timothy Moore, observing this week's studio. A student lays out a sheet of felt with a white background and bright colorful stripes artfully arranged. Next to thsi piece is a previously completed thin sheet of blue felt. A student tears off small pieces of colorful wool roving to prepare for felting. Several pieces of colorful felt drying on a paper towel with some colored unfelted wool roving behind them. One piece is white with a red spiral in the center. Two pieces of colorful felt arranged on a table above two pieces of yarn forming a smiley face. A large piece of variegated pink felt lying on a sheet of tinfoil. A miniature felted purple hat and a miniature felted dark green witch's hat. Behind them sit tinfoil forms used to shape the hats. A woven rectangle of white warp, pink weft, and with some blue checks. The tabby weave is quite evident, especially where it is balanced instead of weft-faced, but the texture of the fabric is much fuller and denser looking than before fulling.

Unit 5 - Textile uses

Studio 10 - Sewing and outfit assembly

This studio focused on turning unshaped textiles into clothing. Students who didn't previously know how to sew learned the basics of sewing. Using pinning, cutting, sewing, and draping methods students assembled ancient style outfits for a variety of miniaure models. In addition, students draped full-size outfits on each other using large rectangles of fabric.

Supplies

Pictures

A large stuffed rabbit wearing a red toga. A student sews a line of running stitch around the top of a circle of red fabric, preparing to gather it into a ruffled skirt. A student fits a red tunic onto a stuffed monkey. A large stuffed rabbit wearing a white peplos. A student wearing an ancient Greek peplos fashioned out of a large white piece of fabric. Behoind her on a table is a stuffed rabbit also wearing a white peplos. A student wearing a long chiton fashioned from a green sheet and a small white himation draped over a shoulder and one arm. A small art mannequin wearing a white peplos belted with a black ribbon. A small art mannequin wearing a one-shoulder white chiton belted with a wide purple ribbon. A crocheted art doll wears a blue unbelted dress. A small pink and white teddy bear wearing a mini white peplos and a sheer pink himation. A small art mannequin wearing a sheer gathered dark blue skirt and a simple pale blue top with open sleeves.

Studios 11-12 - Final projects

For our last two studio days, students worked on their final projects. I circled around and checked in on each project and gave advice and aid where needed. Some studens worked on the studio component of their projects, while many worked on research.

Supplies

Pictures

A student works on a tablet weaving project. One end of her red warp is tied to a belt around her waist, and the other to a table leg. A stack of cardboard tablets are threaded onto the warp and she passes the weft through the open shed created by the tablets. A student holds a small art mannequin and smiles as she works on her laptop. In front of her is a pack of supplies for constructing miniature Greek outfits. A piece of weaving in progress on the warp-weighted loom. white warp threads are painted with a pale pink design which appears striated as the white, loosely packed weft passes through. A closeup of the piece in the previous image. The pink design painted on the warp is the shape of a developing dog fetus.