Thursday, November 09, 2006

Cardwoven Calligraphy Spells F-U-N!



I've become something of a cardweaving maniac over the past few months. I took a class in basic cardweaving from Gudrun Polak at Lacis last year, but all that C-clamp business just didn't appeal to me. I mean really, what if I'm in the middle something and the kids need to use the dining room table for something crazy like eating.

So, at CNCH in Modesto last spring, I sprung for a Gilmore inkle loom, which is WAY cool for cardweaving, as it has warp and cloth beams (just like a REAL loom!), so you aren't limited to a certain length warp, and you don't need to worry about all the twisty business that goes along with cardweaving, which can create a hellish mess on a regular inkle loom.

I also picked up a copy of Linda Hendrickson's book, Please Weave A Message, which tells all about the mysterious art of cardwoven calligraphy. It actually not all that hard to do, as long as you follow the tips in the book. Particularly, the one about drawing a line from the A-B holes on all the cards so you always know which way you're going. I just colored the side edges of all the cards (using a different color for the border cards). In doing about 3 feet of words, so far, I've only made one mistake.

I'm using DMC Cebelia size 30 for this band (destined to be bookmarks and name badges), but I think the next time I'll try size 50, as this seems to be a big bigger than I anticipated.

If you're interested in cardweaving, and want to make some holiday gifts that will impress the heck out of anybody on your list, give it a try!

2 Comments:

Blogger Beverly said...

I'm just getting started in my quest for an inkle loom--is the one that you're using in this picture an inkle loom? Can you do card weaving on one? Sorry for my ignorance...I'm trying to learn as much as I can online!!

7/25/2008 12:26 PM  
Blogger Nancy said...

Yes - I do it on a Gilmore Inkle Loom. It's a bit different than most - it has warp and cloth beams like a floor/table loom. It's great for cardweaving.

7/25/2008 2:49 PM  

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