It should (hopefully) come as no surprise to anyone that a lot of planning goes into our online video workshops. Months before we tape, the instructor and I work together. We create a script of sorts, detailing not only what the instructor will generally cover, but specifically what they need to do, say, and show—and when. When we do a weaving workshop, though, . . . hoo boy. The amount of work grows exponentially, but so does the reward factor when we finally wrap. We thought it would be fun to take you behind the scenes at one of our more recent shoots: a set of workshops on doubleweave by the wonderful Jennifer Moore.
Jennifer, ready for her close-up.
In order to weave, you need a loom, and we didn’t have one in our studio. Thankfully, Schacht Spindle Company was willing to sponsor the show and provide equipment, and they are a mere 40 minutes from our studio in Golden, Colorado. Getting that loom to our studio was another issue; even a compact Baby Wolf will not fit in a Honda Civic. A word to the wise: Always have a friend with a backup SUV.
Many of these close-up shots were done on a handheld camera before or after each section.
As you weavers probably realize, looms can be kinda complicated, and I still recall the face on our videographer when I introduced him to Mr. Baby Wolf. Normally, we’d use three cameras: one overhead, one straight-on, and one to the side or over the instructor’s shoulder. In a weaving shoot—especially one on doubleweave—this won’t work. The action is all in the harnesses, the treadles, and especially the shed, as you really need to see what that double warp is doing. We ended up using four cameras so we could capture Jennifer’s feet and sync that to what was happening in the harness frames and shed.
Jennifer and our videographer, Ted.
Warping for doubleweave takes hours, and Jennifer came up a day before the shoot to get that done. Setting up lighting and decorating the set take additional hours, so Sunday was a busy time. Then Jennifer and I had to discuss an urgent matter: what socks to wear??
Miz Moore, like most weavers, has an extensive sock wardrobe.
Since we were actually able to shoot her feet, we wanted to make the most of it. While Jennifer wears the same clothing in both videos, her socks change every section. When a weaving friend watched her workshops and then emailed me “OMG I love all the socks!”, I felt the sort of warm glow often associated with birthdays and kittens.
If you’d like to learn doubleweave, I can’t recommend a better teacher than Jennifer, and our workshops are the next best thing to being in a class with her. Whether you are a doubleweave novice or someone looking to take a deeper dive, please check out her workshops today.
Never stop learning, Allison