In June I decided that I am no longer going to have my studio in the Casket Arts Building. It was a grand five-year experiment. I enjoyed every minute I was there, but found that I just didn’t choose to go there enough to make it worth keeping the space. My tapestry looms at home remained busy, and I wove less and less on the Toika floor loom at my studio.
By the end of the year, I told my husband, I’ll sell the large floor loom, and keep my eye out for a larger upright tapestry loom to have at home. Something will come up in the next year or two, I thought, and I have other tapestry looms to keep me busy. Here are a few more current studio shots, ones that make me start to waffle on my decision to leave.
Then in July a random Facebook post noted that an upright Glimakra Regina tapestry loom was for sale in Ohio. Right price, wrong location! I wrote the owner and wished her the best of luck in selling it, but if she didn’t, and would consider shipping it to Minnesota, let me know. Her prompt response was, “How about if I drive it half-way, to Iowa?
In a karmic turn of events, a weaving acquaintance wrote to say she heard I might be selling my floor loom. My twelve-harness Toika is exactly the upgrade she needs (up from her four-harness jack loom) to explore a variety of Swedish towel patterns.
“The universe wants you to have that tapestry loom,” my daughter commented.
Making the move home from the studio nudged us in the home improvement direction, starting with refinishing the scuffed-gray wood floors. Which means all the bookcases need to be moved, and all books evaluated. And the walls that haven’t been painted in many years need to be painted. And the ceiling crack needs repair. And we’ll have to have the two adjoining bedroom floors done, which points out the need for painting those rooms too. Kala Exworthy to the rescue, armed with her paint chip fan decks and expert advice on choosing colors!
Oh, things are a mess right now! We drive to Iowa tomorrow for loom pick-up, but odds are it won’t be set up for a while.