A Change of Venue

After our move, I have mourned the loss of my tiny, but bright studio in Virginia.  I had a great skylight that got lots of light, and windows to our front yard and a window into our kitchen.  The studio was never dark, and I loved my little space.  Our house in Bainbridge has lovely views.  We traded the green hills of Virginia for the ever changing water views of the Puget Sound.  I love our new views.  I miss seeing my horses out in our fields, and the kids and I miss our land, but I also love our new views.  The water of the sound are ever-changing: one day fog, the next sun, calm blue water, dark grey water with white caps and spray.  However, my studio is dark, dark, dark, with no lighting.  I cannot see the colors to weave, so I have not woven on my big loom since we moved here.  Last week while my husband was on a business trip, I folded up my loom, dragged it out of my dark cave into my well lit bedroom with views of the water.  My husband came home and said, "Wow, I thought our bedroom was much larger, maybe I am just used to the hotel room I was in!"  It took him a while to notice the loom though.  Good soul that he is, he has not really complained, and I can finally get back to weaving.

Here you can see my loom in its new home with the early morning light.  ( I apologize for the questionable quality of the photo.  It was shot with an iPhone, my son now has our nice big camera for his photography class.   Maybe I can hire him as my photographer for my blogs after this semester!)  Now, I can comfortably sit weaving in the light listening to Craftlit!  (I just finished with The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde, and are now starting The Scarlet Letter.  These are two books that I have never read!)

My goal is to finish this tapestry by next Friday.  Hopefully,  I can cut it off the loom and get both tapestries that are on this loom off and finished in time to submit them both to American Tapestry Alliance's Biennial.  This biennial will have a showing in Tacoma, so it just seems fated that I must get in, right?  Tacoma is so close.  Well, you never know, but I can always dream....

Help Needed! Moving a Loom

During all the very VERY cold weather we have been having, the pipes to our laundry room froze.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that a few years ago we renovated our 1967 ranch house, opening it up and getting rid of painted faux paneling and covering up the old black industrial type tile on the floor with beautiful bamboo flooring and painting everything a lovely MOMA white (yes, we used the same color as MOMA in NYC).  Well, I went to take my daughter to art class and pick up my son from school at 4, and everything was fine, and at 6 when we got back there was water flowing out the back door.  We had a burst pipe in the ceiling of our laundry room.  I panicked, we finally got the water shut off, my 13 year old son stepped up to the crisis and ran to the barn and came back with a large push broom and swept 2 inches of water out of the house (who knew so much water could come from one small pipe?) , and I called the plumber and the insurance company.

Now what?  After a week and a half, the house is dried out, and 1/3 of our flooring is torn out.  Which leads me to my request for help.  The flooring in my studio is totaled.  They pulled out the worst, but it will have to be replaced.  I moved my loom so they could get the worst of it out, but now I have to empty my studio.

My question is this.  I have a Macomber loom with two tapestries on it.   One is finished and one is 1/3 of the way done.  I cannot get the loom through the door without folding it up which is going to seriously release the tension.  Is it possible for me to move the loom without losing the unfinished tapestry on the loom?  Has anyone done this?  Got any tips?  I am not sure where I will be moving the loom since most of the floors in the main spaces of the house are going to be replaced, but first I need to get it out of the studio.

I would appreciate any insights or thoughts.