Textiles and Tea, John Mullarkey

 John Mullarkey is a card weaver, primarily working in silk,  incredibly fine and beautiful work, making bands. He also spins his own fibers.

I've tried card weaving, and made my own cards for the purpose. There are four holes in these, some people complicate it with more, but this is the commonest number. 

You thread the numbered cards onto your warp threads in the way the pattern instructs, s or z, and weaving is done by turning the cards, between passing the weft through the shed that is opened by the turning of the cards. 

The four holes make the equivalent of four harnesses in a floor loom. You turn the cards in the patterned way, forward or back, whichever cards are called for, sometimes all of them. 

This all sounds so much easier than it is. And a master of the craft like John, whom you can see on YouTube makes it seem easier, too. I've done this back strap fashion, not using a loom for tensioning.

Here's some of my output, using my design, which I learned to chart on paper,  a little shaky in execution but a lot of fun to experience. And my handmade cards, made of all available card-like materials, ranging from historic photo postcards to tissue box card. The letters in the corners, A to D, are the harness equivalents.

You can see how the pattern has two sides, where the colors reverse.  Now, on to a serious practitioner!

See the cards threaded onto the warp threads of the loom.

Shoe laces, and a band for his niece's christening

Silk threads he spun. Very fine, virtuoso work

This is a bit different, I don't think card woven, more likely a different weaving approach. He didn't explain this in detail.

He's a master teacher as well as weaver, using cards with and without a loom. You can see him on YouTube doing back strap card weaving.

And while we're on the subject of fiber, here's the silk merino I ordered which arrived very promptly. 

Hand dyed by Chameleon Fiber, and exactly as lovely as pictured. I do like to buy direct from artisans. 

I'm thinking doll hair as well as spinning this lovely silk merino.

I noticed an uptick in energy when this arrived and I watched T and T. Funny how that works