Above, the piece after conservation.
I had the privilege to
repair and conserve a portion
of this unusual textile artwork
created by Suzi Piegols,
a well-known Oregon textile artist,
shown left with
a quilted piece of her own.
I wish I could have treated
the entire piece,
but time was limited.
GENERAL NOTES
Note 1: The videos shown in the blog are very casual, intended for my client only
to allow her to see what I was working on daily. We don’t often do this, but
as this is a very sentimental piece – her mother’s – we wanted to engage in this manner. Highly technical terms, such as “this” and “that” were used, with a lot of pointing!
It is unlike what you read in the blog or on the website, partly because
I needed to keep them under a minute for easy sharing and adding definitions
such as what hand carded pencil roving meant would only add to the time.
I decided to share many with you as they are informative,
plus shows you behind the scenes how we work with our clients!
Note 2: Color is subjective in the images, as they were chosen for clarity.
The color above is closest to the actual piece.
Note 3: I apologize in advance for blurry photos.
Imaging white weaving is difficult, and I would have had to stop for each image
and place an object like a needle into the photo in order for the camera
to have something to focus on — and it became too much!
Most thumbnails below expand to much larger images: Click on them!
ASSESSMENT AND CONTEMPLATION
Above, the piece before conservation, front and back.
I spent a day studying the piece, and deciding how to approach it. I was tasked to repair only about ten inches of the RF weaving (right-facing from the front which becomes the left on the back). My goal, besides conserving this treasure, was to reuse all the original wool if possible.
Much of the wool was not necessarily yarn, and especially the loosely spun wool that created the large hole that needed reparation. This was wool hand carded pencil roving which could not be easily handled or rewoven, shown right, because it pulled apart easily. I knew I might not be able to reuse this spun wool, and so my first goal was already in jeopardy.
While on the subject, at the end of the project I packed the roving carefully
in acid free tissue and labeled it to give to the client. While I could not
use it right now, there might come a time when this could be used. In any event,
nothing original and reusable is ever thrown away; it is kept with the piece.
I made the decision to use bright white warp rather than coming close to what the warp looks like now, shown left.
Mitchell voiced the concern that the natural linen might darken too much over time, whereas the bright white would age to be the color the original warp is now.
In the end 24 warp lines were replaced, seven more than we originally planned, because I found more breaks hidden in intact weft.
The broken warp, while still in place, had lost tension. This compromised the weft. It no longer aligned properly, sagged, and in a few instances had unraveled. From the front, above and right, before treatment.
Note the heavy ring, right, which pulled on an area of roving and warp toward the top, and would be corrected during treatment.
Above right, an area that I also repaired though it was not part of the contract, discussed later. I could not leave it!
SO MANY ISSUES
Looking at the upper backside, shown
above and right, it is easy to see how
much the weft has sagged along the warp lines which are broken at the bottom,
shown below.
I had already pulled the weft up and down the original warp line where possible, trying to find out how much of the warp line was embedded with weft.
Again, the embedding of weft wool into
the original warp lines made the
project more difficult.
Left, the bottom half of the backside of the textile, and at the bottom of that image you can see the hole, which is shown in detail in the above two rows. In details images 1, 3 and 4 above you can see the dangling roving and the hole.
In image 2 note the original warp which had remained woven, and is “white”, versus the broken warp which had been stripped of its weft and turned brown and brittle.
Image 6 shows an area which looks intact, but I found broken warp embedded in the weft, and this led to more replaced warp lines.
The video above discussed the missing roving (which I mistakenly call yarn in the video),
and how I will approach the reweaving (replacing) of the warp.
Above, technically I started the first warp line (discussed below) in the video above, but had to do it over again and so this video really discusses issues in the weaving, and belongs here.
FIRST WARP LINE
I used a #8 crochet hook to make sense out of the roving, shown above. When I began I didn’t anchor my warp line but let it dangle. I wanted to experiment with the first weaving of the warp, and this allowed me to pull it easily. Soon I used metal pushpins to use an anchoring devices top and bottom, shown in the EIGHTH WARP LINE, below.
Along the way I tied a couple of knots, shown right, in the roving (although that happens to look like the warp line is in the knot it is behind it, an illusion).
In most cases, I placed the new warp line in next to the old warp line, then removed the old warp line. The first line was nerve wracking, and made difficult because I had to fight with the embedded wool to allow the new warp to go through the weft rows.
Occasionally I found a four-wrap weft at the edge, shown in image #4 above; I never understood why.
In the “crocheted” or “knitted” weft, really just a stitch that looks like it, shown left, I found cut threads in the 4-ply yarn. I barely managed to tie them off to keep them from unraveling; to secure them I used Gütermann cotton thread to knot them in place, shown left.
Above, the video shows my first warp line installed.
In it I discuss the bunching of the weft yarns, which I will even out later when all
the warp lines are replaced, and show the knot in relation to the long line. Note: what I call weft yarn at the end of the video is the wool hand carded pencil roving.
SECOND WARP LINE
The second day of weaving I felt a bit more comfortable and was able to take
more images of my progress on the second warp line. Scroll through the
images and you will see my commentary.
In the third through the sixth warp lines, I began to move faster than one row
in a day. I did not record each line until the seventh, just oddities. Had I documented all the lines it which would have tripled my time on the project.
SEVENTH WARP LINE: THE RING
Earlier I noticed Suzi often let the weft weave over several warp lines,
or would let one warp stay free, and assumed it was a design technique.
I finally understood that one instance of the anomalies had to do with when she encountered the rings, because she wanted the warp lines, which were strong,
to wrap onto the rings a few times, and this did not allow the weft to move
freely around that line. Suzi skipped that warp when weaving her weft for a couple of rows above and below, which allowed the weft to move freely around the ring.
In the seventh warp line I encountered a ring, shown above, and
did as she would have done, and I could see this clearly in the original weave.
I wrapped the seventh warp around the ring several times, but did not
weave the warp into the weft above or below for about a half inch.
In the seventh warp I first engaged the jute rope.
EIGHTH WARP LINE
I recorded the eighth line because it cut through the leather/fur and engaged the jute, shown above and right.
In image #2 above, you can see the fur/skin, and it cracked in two places. When weaving the warp back through the weft and around the fur, I pulled the new warp line through the fur next to the skin, or let it sit behind the fur/skin. This was a deviation from Suzi’s weaving, but I had to be inventive to save the leather from cracking.
I had enough warp lines in to begin to move the weft lines to balance the weaving overall, shown above. I was confident at the end I can balance the whole RF-side!
I began tying my warp lines with a loop, and placing them top and bottom around metal push pins, shown above and left, knowing that at the end Mitchell would use upholstery techniques and tacks to secure them top and bottom.
Suzi had a pattern of weaving two warp lines together in the roving, shown left.
It might have been a design decision, but it also could have been done for a different stability reason around the roving
LAST FEW COURSES, WRAPPED WARP,
AND A NEW WEAVING PLAN
As I moved along the bottom of the RF-side, I ran into difficulties and had to find a way to work to resolve certain items as I found them instead of completing a whole course.
One issue was I was afraid I’d get a course done and then find a buried
original warp line — that is how hard it was to see what I was doing.
Further, I found some broken warp lines so we increased
the number of warps I was going to replace.
The video above discusses working through the mess of original warp lines embedded
with wool yarns , and also having almost no way to find them, as the tags left
by breaks were sometimes buried in the weft.
At the sixteenth warp line the weaving became very tricky. The weft was partially intact, and wonky (highly technical term), shown above left. I had trouble differentiating which warp was the one I needed to thread next, and then because from time to time Suzi skipped weft lines, I lost the warp lines a few times trying to make sense out of the weaving. I thought not having weft was hard, but having to deal with the wonky weaving intact was harder. Finally I decided to concentrate on the warp lines and take
them up to the jute weft, which was the easiest to see, shown above right.
This took a long day of 9 hours to get them to this point, and was tense.
Be sure to click on the image to the right above
to see the entire image, as it is not square.
The next day I took the lines up to where most of the warp lines were wrapped with an original toasty colored yarn, shown right.
I unwrapped the original warp lines, shown above, another time consuming task as some of the weft yarn embedded into the warp line. Suzi’s wrapped warp also was part of a weaving of a bright soft white weft yarn, shown above right, and they were so tightly bound into their own corkscrew shape they caught on everything.
The original wrapped warp lines to be replaced ended where new warp lines were intended. I almost had to work with just one of the next wrapped lines, but didn’t.
Suzi had knotted the wrap yarn at the top, shown above left, and then used
sewing thread to further secure it, possibly because she had to trim it close
or it would have been seen dangling through the open weave.
I unwrapped two lengths of yarn, one that wrapped the first three wrapped warp lines, and the other which wrapped the next five wrapped warp lines. Both had tight corkscrew curls.
I washed the yarn to remove the tight corkscrew curls that were created by being wrapped for many years.
After I thoroughly washed it, it still required gently working it with my hands to make
the yarn relax. I pinned it to the wall and allowed it to dry, shown above right.
I finished adding the rest of the 24 warp lines, shown left.
SECURE WARP LINES
AND CORNER ANGLES
Now it was time to secure the new 24 warp lines
Mitchell used Gurney Quality 6 oz upholstery tacks, wrapping each new line
top and bottom, then tapping the tack into place, shown above.
Note that Mitchell places the tacks in a step pattern to ensure the wood is not stressed
all along one line, which could eventually cause a split in the frame.
The original steel angle braces had been designated to return to their original corners, shown top left.
They were backed with Mesheshe Self Adhesive Felt Sheets, shown top center.
It is our policy to conserve all nail and tack holes on a project by filling the holes with hard wooden picks, shown top right during treatment. This ensures holes cannot continue to degrade and cause issues in the overall structural strength.
After everything cured, the angles were installed in their original holes with their original screws, shown right.
WRAPPED THE WARPS
The new secured warp lines were wrapped with their original yarn, cleaned and relaxed from the tight corkscrew folds, shown completed left.
The shorter lines were quite difficult, perhaps in part due to running out of wrap yarn. The next five wraps were easier, and I was able to vary the wrap direction as Suzi did. The top was stapled, and the bottom was tied off and stitched as necessary. I was unable to wrap it as tightly as Suzi did originally.
Following are three videos which describe and discuss that process! Please excuse my stumbling dialogue in the rest of the videos; I was on a muscle relaxer as I hurt my back.
When I discuss Suzi being able to tug and pull the wrap taut,
it was because she was, I assume, tugging upward.
I discuss the process of washing and manipulating the original wrap,
preparing it for the re-wrap of new warp lines.
Shows the difference in the wrap yarn before it was wrapped (in a tag off another
warp line not replaced) versus the yarn I washed and manipulated.
ROVING
Originally my client had agreed to allow us to substitute a mix of creamy yarns
that matched the original woolen hand carded pencil roving well both in
color and intent, shown above center. I was thinking that I would
simply fill in the arched hole shown above far left.
A new idea came to me just before I started, which was to gently spread and space
the original roving and then weave the new yarns into the gaps.
This worked out so much better than adding yarns alone in that arched hole!
Below, a video about the process.
CLEAN UP
I tidied up my work on the back.
Far left above, I braided the leftover new warp lines, then stapled the braid
in the corner and once along the side. This might allow someone if necessary to
adjust the new warp lines if necessary in future.
I tied all long bits of Suzi’s leftover yarn which was dangling, to protect it from harm and to save for anyone in future who might need it. A simple bow, easily untied, was used.
OUTSIDE OUR CONTRACT
I was compelled to repair two items that were outside our contract. Remember the before treatment image (right) with the bundle of yarns which we placed back in their loop just to keep them out of the way?
I wanted to make it look proper!
I removed the original long staple, shown above left and center. Two small nails were used to replace the piece as it was originally.
Below, this should be properly repaired by replacing the warp line, but as an interim to keep the line from lufting and possibly catching on something, I stapled the line into a taut position. Later that staple can be removed and the warp line replaced.
THIS AND THAT
When the textile was delivered for conservation there was a large wooden sliver on the left-facing bottom of the frame.
The last day it suddenly fell off, as if begging for a repair. Above, Mitchell glued the 7-inch piece back into place.
I thoroughly vacuumed dust from the
textile front and back through a filter. However, the jute rope had sloughed bits of dark rusty rope which did not vacuum up, shown left. They create a rusty cast on the creamy white wool.
OUR WORK ON SUZI’S PIEGOLS’
TEXTILE IS COMPLETED
Above, the front of Suzi Piegol’s textile before, left, and after, right.
In these images the work performed is on the right-facing side.
Below, the back, which exposes the damage, before, left, and after, right;
shown from the back it is as if it is the left-facing side.
Below, details of the right-facing side after treatment, from top to bottom.
Repositioning the weft yarns up and down the new warp lines looks good,
details above. I am so happy with the way the hole filled, last image above.
dkatiepowell @aol.com / mitchellrpowell @aol.com
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