MY BOUCHEROUITE OR RAG.

For some time ago I saw an aritcle on the blog Sri Threads about Boucherouite, also known as RAGS. The article was written by Gebhart Blazek who owns the Gallery Berber Arts in Graz, Switcherland. Blazek collects berber carpets and textiles from Morocco.
Last week I went to Malmø for shopping. There I always visit a shop; Marrakech which sells tiles, lamps, textiles and other interior items from Morocco.
This time they had three Boucherouite and I fell in love with this one, not so big. 152 x 92 cm. Today it lies in the bedroom with my blue/white japanese textiles and a big carpet I use as a room divider from India. The main color is also blue. Allthough they have different kinds of patterns, they still look fantastic together.

I like the way they have made the pattern and none of the Boucherouite looks the same.

A close-up. Here it is possible to see all the beautiful colors and different kinds of patterns in the rags used in the Boucherouite.

Even the bag is beautiful. It reminds me of the swedish "trasmattor", also made out of rags.

For further reading and purchasing.
Cavin Morris

Muskelil

TILES IN PERU.

When visiting a monastery in Peru, you will often find the most beautiful tiles. To me they are related to textiles because of there patterns and colors. These tiles are from Lima.

BOBIN LACE.

When I was 14 years my grandmother teached me to do bobin lace. I still remember I drove to her house on my bike twice a week and she sat there next to me, explaining how to make the different kinds of patterns.
For me the pattern called "spider" was difficult, but my grandmother Doris had this patience and she kept on untill I got it into my fingers. Many years later I were the one who still came to her house, helping her when she became to old to remember. Again it was the "spider" that was difficult.
All this bring out good memories. My grandmother was a woman who knew how to work with her hands and a couple of years later I started to weave. Unfortunately she passed away the year I were lucky to be accepted to the Danish School of Design in Copenhagen.
I think my fascination into the gauze technique started at this time, as to me the gauze have this lace like apperence I am fascinated by.
The first bobin lace I did at the age of 14. This was meant to be sewn onto a handkerchief. The "spider" is next to the edge and in the middle is the heart. This pattern is of course very simple, but to me as the first I did so complicated.

In 2007 I went to London to a textile conference held by ETN -the European Textile Network. In the weekend I went to the fleamarket on Bortobello Road. There was a stall full of bobin lace; big shawls, handkerchiefs, parts to be sewn onto dresses etc. Here I was lucky to find this piece with beads which is from the biginning of the 19th Century. It contains of five of the above pieces and I think it is meant to be sewn onto a blouse, dress in the neckline.

Detail.

NAKACHUU YARNS FROM JAPAN.

Last week I went to Skals Haandarbejdsskole in Jutland to teach in weaving. This school I went to when I was 16 years old, just finishing my primary school. It was the first time I went away from home. This was the starting point for me and it was an eye opening into the textile world. 22 years later I was asked if I wanted to come back, this time as a teacher in weaving.
At the school it is possible to learn different kinds of subjects; embroidery, sewing, weaving etc. and you can do courses in different kinds of length.

I deceided to do a class in japanese yarns from Nakachuu, which I visited last year when travelling in Japan. They have the most beautiful yarns many of them in paper, with different kinds of treatments onto the surfaces, bast fibers, wool /steel, silk /steel etc. All of the yarns can be bought through Nakachuu in Nishijin, Kyoto and some of them through the danish organisation; Garnindkoebningsforeningen of 1998.
Yarns in cotton mix (black/white also known as number 33-A), silk bouclé, thin transperant paper, silk with some kind of treatmend on the surface, silk thread woven in about ½ cm width and many more.
The course lasted a week and I had several samples with me the students were going to weave.
One of the samples was woven in a honeycomb structure. This is just a little part of it from my weavingprogram called Weavepoint. I like sitting and working with it and then take all the knowledge onto the loom, working with the different kinds of yarns, seeing how they react.
In this set-up the warp was a one-thread linen and three different kinds of samples came out of it. All of them made on the same tying, but woven differently.

Here a silk -white with a treatment on the surface is woven in the plain weave, from Nakachuu. The black yarn is called ANTARA and is from Garnindkoebningsforeningen. Woven into the plain /floating area. This textile become very graphic because of the contrast.

Here ANTARA is woven into the plain area and the black /white, number 33-A into the plain /floating area. The textile is beautiful in the tone-in-tone hues of the black.

A paper yarn called KOYORI M/C 1/6, black is woven into the plain structure and a funny bristling yarn; a cotton thread surrounded with the bristling small paper in white. Woven in the plain /floating area.

These three samples I think can be used for pillow covers. I have already woven the two first samples and just need to sew them.

Here is a twill /plain variation I did some years ago in Trevira CS. For this course I only change the yarns and a totally different kind of textile came out of it. The samples get a ricepaper look. The warp is the transperant paper and the silk treated so the surface get a different kinds of feel and touch.

Here ANTARA is woven in the twill area and the one-thread linen in the plain.

The KOYORI paper yarn is used in the weft. Black in the twill and white in the plain.

Here the weft is the transperant paper yarn, in the plain area and the silk treated in the twill.
If you are interested in buying yarn from Nakachuu.

WEAVING AT MY WORK.

To survive as a textile designer -weaver it is important to be openminded when it comes to different kinds of jobs. I have for several years been applying for grants, teaching, holding lectures etc.
This year I am trying something complete new. I have a one-year contract with the Center for Deaf where I teach weaving. The people who come and work at the Center is besides beeing deaf, have also other kinds of handicaps as well. This can be mental illness, autism, blindness etc.
For me this job is very life-giving and every day is a new challenge, especially as I did not had any knowledge of sign language before I started.
All the weavers at the Center is fantastic, each of them have there own speciality, what they do best. I would here like to talk about Jan, a man who have autism and who is such an amazing weaver. Jan have been working at the Center for many years and have woven different kinds of patterns and structures. Last year I did some other teaching where I developed all the patterns, structures and designs. One of the designs have I change a little bit into other yarns and now Jan is weaving the most beautiful scarfs.
If you as a weaver have an ordinary contra march loom with a hanging beater, which can be moved in the top, you can make this as well.
Here it is important to put everything into different steps, so it is easier for Jan to follow. I put up L and R (H in danish) on each sides of the loom and also wrote 1-2-3-4-5 for each step he should change the beater direction.

Made a paper for changing the steps of the beater and he was ready to weave. It took a little while before he catch the idea. I guess he had to put it into his system as many autism people have this.

I did not had any background in working with people who have different handicaps, but I find it so interesting as there are always new ways to do things to think of.

As you can see on the paper the beater most of the time does not hang equal on the loom.

I am very proud of Jan who is now weaving scarf number 8. The weaving structure is very simpel, just a plain weave. It is all about the way the beater is changing on the sides of the loom. There are four wefts in each repeat and then changing into a new.

Detail.

Each year in November there is a Christmas Market at the Center for Deaf.

TACTILITY.

Surfaces that contains different kinds of tactility, have always inspired me when weaving.

In Peru, me and my husband visited several places and especially Urubamba with it's salt minerals impressed me. When coming there and seeing the complete view, it was amazing.

I like taking close-up of pictures, so I get the complete surface, structure, tactility and 3-dimensional effect. I use this in the beginning part of my weaving.

Two views.

Close-up.

At this very thin part where the white is, people were walking, when going to one place and another. I never found out how deep they were.

Top of the surface is a little bit crackled.

I love the crispness that is shown in this picture. Almost like frozen water.

On the sand where we were walking, there were a very thin layer of salt and all of it were crackled into a beautiful pattern.

Another frozen part, almost like snow.

I think it was amazing to see so many structures, and the whole experience is still inside of me. Going to Urubamba, seeing the salt minerals is recomendable. Next time me and my husband is in Peru, I will visit again.

MOJIRI-ORI IN JAPAN.

Last year I travel to Japan to study the weaving technique GAUZE, in Japan called Karami-oro or Mojiri-Ori. I call it Mojiri-ori as I have learned from Living National Treasure Takeshi Kitamura.
Mojiri-Ori was imported to Japan in the 7th and 8th century. Mojiri means movement and Ori to weave.
When I learned how to weave many years ago, I was told there were three main structures or techniques. 1: plain, 2: twill and 3: satin. In Japan there is a 4th which is Mojiri-Ori. There is three types of Mojiri-Ori: Sha, Ro and Ra.
Sha is the most simpel Mojiri-Ori. It consist of the standing- and the twisting thread. This is the one I call the plain gauze.
Ro consist of Sha and plain weave.
My own weavings is a combination of Sha and Ro together.

Ra is the complex gauze. This is the ground idea. The ground idea is often used in the peruvian gauze. It is possible to make very complex patterns by using the Ra.

I was living 1½ hour from Kyoto city in Keihoku. A little villages surrounded by mountains. In this little agriculture community there are many weaving companies and also some of the biggest artists have there studios here.

Toshio Tada, a specialist in Mojiri-Ori have been working most of his life in factories in the Nishijin area in Kyoto. He was my teacher for two weeks in Keihoku.

The above picture shows shifu paper, which is plated with gold in patterns and then cut into very thin strips, so it is possible to weave with.

A work by Toshio Tada, an obi in Ro-kin. Woven in silk and shifu paper plated with gold on a jacquard loom.

Detail.

Toshio Tada had many special working methods.

Here is an obi, about 35cm in width, consisting of 2400 threads. He wanted to tighten and make the warp even. Where most weavers would have used a spray can, he drank some water and blew it over the warp.
Very sweet.

Toshio Tada and I at his home. He invited me to his place to show me a special book about Mojiri-Ori at the Shosoin Treasures in Nara.

I went to Kawashima Textile School where I was able to be part of a special tour to the company connected to the school.
Here two men was able to weave Mojiri-Ori and they showed me some of the work made at the company.

The top picture and the one below is an obi woven in a very thin silk. The pattern looks very chinese inspired.

I like to take pictures through a magnifying glass, so I can get some good details. Then it is also possible for me to analyse the technique better when I am back home.

Another textile in silk.

This obi was woven in a silk that had a special rubber or plastic feel. Perhaps it was woven in kasuri as the color faided beautiful into each other.