home          bio          portfolio          studio          resume          links

Paula Bowers Hotvedt

S T U D I O

click any photo to see a larger version

Welcome to my studio.
	7:30am, as my work day starts in the studio.
I've started coming to the studio at 7:30 in the morning and one of the surprising benefits is the beauty of sun falling on my warp because the sun is so low in the sky right now.
	I wind the warp which goes from the back beam to the front beam, through "heddles" and a reed inserted into the beater. This is the beginning step in creating cloth after the threading, width and number of threads per inch have been determined on paper.
The weaver's cross which is at both the beginning and end of the warp is the essential step in keeping track of threads. Every other thread is crossed and this cross is maintained while the warp is wound onto the loom, while the threading is completed and while the threads are arranged in the reed.
	This is a silk warp, 16 yards long, waiting to be dyed and then painted upon with fiber reactive dyes. The process is called "painted warp" because the dying and painting all takes place prior to bringing the warp to the loom for threading and weaving. As I weave into the various colors, it is very exciting to see the weft thread become dominant in places and disappear in others as it blends into a similar color in the warp. This particular warp will become 3 shawls, 25" wide, 80" long, with 7" of fringe which I will knot or twirl at each end.
This rack holds all materials needed for cold water, fiber reactive dying. I have a similar rack for my natural dyes.
	I draw on styrofoam boards and then burn away the material surrounding the design with wood cutting tools. This puts the design in relief and simulates, inexpensively, a wood cut board. I then roll vat dyes onto the design and press the board into cloth. After steaming the cloth, the vat dyes remove the original color on the cloth and replace it with the color rolled onto the board. This is a discharge process which I learned from Janet Taylor at a week-long workshop at the Appalachian Center for Craft.
I have two "walls of yarn" arranged in single depth so that I can readily view color and texture as I select my palette. I also have a 3 bay stainless sink which I love for dying and washing finished cloth.
	My Macomber 8-shaft loom which I bought 27 years ago after finishing a 2-year program at the Fashion Institute of Technology. It is one of my best friends.
This is my AVL 16-shaft loom which is computer driven in terms of the lifting of the shafts in the order determined by my design. I design on the computer and when I'm satisfied with an idea, I lock the design down and start weaving. The computer is linked to all 16 shafts and lifts the shafts in the order mandated by the design. This is a very complex loom and has been one of the most challenging adventures I've encountered in the 28 years of my weaving life.
	My sewing area consists of a cutting table, 2 sewing machines and an overlock machine which is essential for woven cloth.

home          bio          portfolio          studio          resume          links