TELL ME ABOUT: Ergonomics for the Spinner
and Weaver
Marjo Wheat
Marjo Wheat
Ergonomics
was called body mechanics many years ago when I trained as a nurse. What
it boils down to is that it is important to take care of your body so that you
can do more with it. Ergonomics starts with an awareness of how your body
is feeling. Does it hurt anywhere? For example, spinning on a drop
spindle can mean that you are lifting one of your arms quite high as you let
the twist go into your yarn. How does this feel? How does your back
feel when you are weaving at your table loom? How do your hips feel when
you are weaving a large piece on your floor loom?
One
principle of good ergonomics is that a joint is most comfortable when it is
supported. When you sit to spin which of your joints are supported?
Your hips will probably be most comfortable if you are sitting in a chair which
keeps your hips at a 90⁰ angle and supports your upper
legs. If you are sitting in too low a chair, your hips will feel some
stress. In too high a chair, your hips will also be uncomfortable in time
because the joint will not be fulling supported or at its most relaxed angle.
Ergonomics
are particularly important when you are doing repetitive tasks. When you
are dressing your loom, can you support your lower arms on the breast beam as
you pull the threads through the heddles and reed? As you are spinning on
a wheel, can you support your arms either on the arms of a chair or in your
lap? What difference does it make if you support them or don’t support
them? How does your back feel?
Recently
I saw a posting on the internet which showed a wooden framework that you can
set a drop spindle into, which keeps it spinning well, but also means that you
don’t have to raise your arm as high to get the twist into your yarn and you
don’t have to bend to pick up the spindle. It looked like a great idea to
me! An acquaintance who has issues with her shoulders uses an Akha
spindle which works side-ways; you draft and put the twist in your yarn by moving
your hands close and further apart. Your right hand twists the spindle,
while your left hand drafts the fleece. With a little practice, this can
work very well.
Laura Fry
has done a lot of work on ergonomics for the weaver since she has been a
professional weaver for many years. Her video, The Efficient Weaver talks
about some ways to take care of your body while weaving.
A lot of
ergonomics boils down to being aware of how your body is feeling, then looking
at ways to support your joints, and keeping them in a comfortable position
(often at a 90⁰ angle) as much as
possible. After all, we all want to keep doing our lovely spinning and
weaving as long and as much as possible!
Best wishes for a happy, productive and enjoyable New
Year!
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H word
tapestries
The “H” project was started with an idea from Archie Brennan.
We were at a retreat at Pam Patrie’s cabin in Oregon, with Archie and
Susan.
Archie set us a project to go on a tapestry journey. To thread the
loom at 8epi for 1 1/2”, 12 warp threads. Weave an “H”, then a vowel
and as you weave, decide what word you want to weave. It can be a
word or a phrase. You can have a look on the Facebook
page, “H”, a Journey in Tapestry. I volunteered to coordinate.
We will have an Educational Article on ATA with all of the tapestry words
photos published online. There are about 36 woven so far with more people
who plan to weave. The deadline is April 30, 2016. Then I
have to write the article and resize the photos for a July 1 deadline for the
ATA Educational Article.
The people at the retreat were invited to join the challenge. We
have also asked people to tell their tapestry friends and others have joined
in. Our Vancouver Island group are all doing words. It is fun and
often people weave more than one “H” word.
Would you like to join us in weaving an “H” word? Invite
others to join to. So far, we are only having an online, virtual exhibit.
We may have a local exhibit here in May if plans for a workshop come
together. Then we would invite anyone who wants to bring their word over
or mail it to join in.
Christine Rivers Williams christinerivers@shaw.ca
Luskwalwun
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Social
Media and Your tapestry practice
Receiving article submissions Deadline: January 15, 2016
Receiving article submissions Deadline: January 15, 2016
Social
media was constructed to allow the creation and exchange of user generated
content. It provides a highly interactive platform through which individuals
and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify. Not only has it
precipitated substantial and pervasive changes to communication between
organizations, communities, and individuals, but it has profoundly impacted our
practice as tapestry weavers. Social media has connected us together virtually,
has diminished the sense of isolation endemic in our practice and has been
instrumental in being able to connect to other tapestry artists all over the
world.
Real
connection with others, however, comes in the physicality of doing, in
materiality, in actions, interactions, processes and events shared by an
assortment of individuals and groups. Weaving is an appropriate metaphor for
engagement and activity with others. Both can be described as a means of
producing a coherent united whole or collaboration through the combining and
interlacement of various elements. Tapestry weaving is a slow, labourious and
manual practice, a contrast to the speed at which social media weaves word
threads of connection to others.
Have you
used social media to connect to other tapestry weavers? Has this enriched you
and your practice? If so how?
Have you resisted the social media currents? If so why? Is this deliberate or circumstantial?
Has it helped you feel less isolated as a tapestry weaver? Aided in your development and education?
Has it transformed or impacted on your tapestry images and techniques?
Has it broadened your tapestry world?
Have you resisted the social media currents? If so why? Is this deliberate or circumstantial?
Has it helped you feel less isolated as a tapestry weaver? Aided in your development and education?
Has it transformed or impacted on your tapestry images and techniques?
Has it broadened your tapestry world?
Submit
your article to Theme Coordinator, Line Dufour, tapestryline@sympatico.ca
Tapestry Unlimited Blog Tour
6 weeks! 6 weavers! 6 new techniques!
Starting December
23rd, once a week for six weeks, six tapestry weavers will share a
weaving technique on their blog. At the end, your toolkit of tapestry
techniques will be full of new tricks that we hope will get you excited about
entering Tapestry Unlimited: 11th international, unjuried, small
format tapestry show. Anyone can enter and everyone's tapestry
will be part of the show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the summer of 2016. In
addition, every participant will receive a free catalog for the show. The
deadline to submit your intention to participate is January 31, 2016. You
tapestry is not due until March 31, 2016. Read more about the show. Enter the show.
Please share this
email with people who are not ATA members. We want everyone to join in the fun!
The Blog Tour Line-Up
December 23rd: Vancouver Yarn
Using value to render images
Join in the fun!
- January 3, 2016. 2:00 opening Beaverlodge Fibre Arts Show until January 28 4:00 closing.
- April 16, 2016 Hines Creek, one day Peace Country Spinners' and Weavers' conference.
- September 10, 11, 12, 2016 Lake Saskatoon, Peace Country Spinners' and Weavers' workshop, Saori Weaving. www.saltspringweaving.com
- Remember to find Peace Country Spinners and Weavers on Face Book and become a friend. For more information contact 1358@telus.net
Season's Greetings, Happy New Year, Happy Spinning and Weaving.
