A tangled web...

When I started weaving again after a very long hiatus, I acquired my first multishaft floor loom. Floor looms are large and somewhat complex, but the weaving possibilities are endless and the physical "dance" with the loom treadles, beater and shuttle is magical.

What I hadn't anticipated was the considerable amount of waste floor looms produce. You can't weave completely to the ends of the warp threads, so there are lots of bits left over. Between half and a full metre of unusable warp, with hundreds of threads involved in most projects, is standard loom waste. A set of towels, with 400 warp threads and a half metre of loom waste, will result in 200 metres of waste.

Loom waste, called thrums, is a huge problem for weavers, the garment industry, and the environment. Not wanting to contribute to the problem, I started thinking about how to use thrums creatively. The cover picture for this site is from a table runner I wove. Called Meditation, the runner was woven using a weft comprised entirely of thrums that I tied together. It has hundreds of knots, and each knot was a meditation on the human and natural resources that were involved in the production of that yarn. The piece was accepted in a juried art show and sold on the first day.

I was inspired by a renowned weaver, Tom Knisely, who had researched Japanese textiles and discovered the practice of zanshi. Japanese for "vestige," it was the use of leftover warp, scraps of yarn, and leftover bits on bobbins to produce clothing for the peasant class. At the time, textiles were costly and in short supply, so the complete use of available resources was essential. From need came art.

I asked fellow weavers if they had any thrums they didn't intend to use, and was given an enormous bag of yarn. The picture above is the result of sorting all that yarn by fibre type, weight and colour. Some of it went to a friend who taught children crafts, and the rest is slowly being used in a variety of weaving projects. It is so deeply satisfying to use loom waste. Selecting colour combinations is inspiring. Tying the many, many knots is meditative. I tie thrums during long car trips, and my grandson likes to wind the resulting yarn onto bobbins. I think he is enamored with my mechanical bobbin winders, but he is becoming quite discerning about my colour choices and will stop to trim ends that he considers too long.

Using thrums has served as a reminder about the need to find creative uses for whatever seems to be waste. Our community has a well-developed recycling program, but does not include textiles. I have salvaged usable fabric from my old jeans to make a backpack and vest for my grandson. My daughter-in-law used old t-shirts to make a floor mat. My sister has woven outdoor mats using plastic shopping bags. I haven't stopped purchasing yarn, fabric or garments, but my view has shifted to extending their use and very little goes to waste.What do you have too much of, and how can it be put to use? Something to meditate on...