Sponsored by TWIST - Tablet Weavers International Studies & Techniques I've been having a conversation with another long-time tablet weaver, and it brought up something interesting - what do you start your students out with? I always start with a half-black, half-white warp, because it can be easily set up (I pre-warp them, to get the students past the hurdle of warping before they get hooked on the weaving... like drugs, the first one's free....) and it allows the creation of a variety of stripes, checks, solids, double face patterns, etc. It also allows progression, for those students who "get it" quickly with the basics of turn-beat-weave. I can then use the same warp to demonstrate double-face and brocade, if it's a long class or two sessions. I demonstrate warping, and if I have a long class, I will have them warp the second setup, so that they can get a handle on wrangling all the yarn. I illustrate the basic principles of how the tablets work, by threading an over-sized tablet with huge macrame cord; this lets everyone (in a smallish room) see what's going on as the tablets turn back and forth, bringing first white and then black threads to the surface, and making twisted cord or forward and backward reversals.
I know that most of the books and classes I've seen, begin with some simple warped-in pattern, like diamonds. I find this frustrating for a lot of beginners - the warping is complicated to understand, and you can't really tell if you're doing it right, until the weaving starts. Once you've got the weaving started, the pattern is typically inflexible and repetitive. If you've messed up the warping, it's a pain in the butt to fix after the weaving starts. So what do your beginners start with, and why? What are some of your experiences with teaching new folks to tablet-weave? Michael __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com Send private reply to Michael <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----------------------------------------------------------- To stop receiving tabletweaving (not tabletweaving-digest), send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: unsubscribe tabletweaving. To stop receiving tabletweaving-digest, see the end of a digest.
