Welcome to my Studio. So nice of you to visit. Here I weave, spin, knit, crochet, dye, paint and draw with watercolor and ink, experiment with all sorts of art supplies, write, and generally just exist in my happiest state.
The studio has filled out since I started this part of the journey in 2019. Let me show you around my space.
This is where the good stuff happens. Back around 2012, my Michigan born husband and I started kicking around the idea of moving to Colorado. As we started getting closer to the age of retirement, we made the choice to stay here, where we have built family and community. We took a walkout basement that was filled as storage space and transformed it into my dream creative space.
The brick wall was built with the house. It used to have a cast iron fire fireplace that we switched to a cleaner gas insert. Found an old card catalog that I refinished that houses much of my art supplies. A stereo and good speakers for listening to music, and two comfy chairs complete this area.
I have a chalkboard wall for keeping track of projects I want to explore. I also have my essential oil shelves here. That’s a throwback to when I had the 5th Elements Store in Oxford. When we redid the laundry room, we made it a space that was easy to clean and bright so that I could still make things with essential oils. It’s also set up for being able to comfortably wet finish my weaving. The sink has a built in washing board side and plenty of counter space, as well as a pantry, freezer and beverage fridge.
This corner has a lot going on. From the bottom right is my Lendrum spinning wheel. Above that hang some lovely warps ready to be woven. The cabinet is an expandable sewing station with sewing machine and serger. There are some dress forms and hooks on the wall that are wearing items I’ve made. My inspiration wall is half of my fiber stash. I like to have to open to look at and allow myself to design in my head until it needs to become an actual garment. I have the fibers on cones categorized by content. Most of the skeins are knitting/crotchet projects. I have spend the last couple of years gathering all my tools and supplies so that I can simply focus on creation after retirement, Top shelf is indeed several badgers and a paper mâché mushroom. And peeking out of the left of the photo is my wine fridge.
On the opposite wall is my window to my garden and greenhouse. My husband’s lab space is beyond the far door. I love the natural light from this window and the beautiful small garden we’ve created just outside. The bathroom area is designed to look like a head on a ship. The ornamentation is all tentacles and octopi and artwork from wonderful people.
Now let me introduce you to my looms!
These are my two smaller looms. They are both allow me to weave pieces about 24″ across. The Louet Magic Dobby loom on the left has 24 shafts, so it allows me to create the most complex patterns. I use a computer to tell the loom which shafts to lift for the pattern, where the other looms all have treadles (peddles) I control with my feet. The Baby Wolf on the right is the first look I bought myself after learning on a beautiful 4 shaft Leclerc Fanny. I have a piece of deflected double weave fabric I’m working on from a workshop. On the table in between are some finished sample piece from this project.
This is just another view of this area
This is my wee Glenna. She’s my workhorse. She’s such a lovely loom to work on for big projects. She allows me almost twice the width of the other looms. I can make a single layer 47″ wide. She’s so big that to tie up the treadles to lift the shafts, I sit inside her. She’s a countermarch style, which is the mechanism on the top that has a scissor style action for raising specific shafts while lowering others. She’s got 8 shafts on her right now, but I can put up to 16 on her for more intricate patterns. The box at the bottom is my next improvement for her, a sectional beam to allow me better tensioning for longer warps.
We’ve nearly been around the entire room. This is where my dreams happen. Those barrister shelves house my vast palette of tencel and ring spun rayon colors, but it also has my precious fibers like silk, cashmere, and alpaca. The colors here inspire me so much, which is why I face this wall when I work on wee Glenna.
On top of the cabinets are spare bobbins for the wefts I’ve used. There’s more artwork from dear friends, an my steam iron and the covered item is my drum carder for blending fibers before I spin them. You can also see my elliptical for moving when the winter prevents me from getting outside to walk.
Thank you so much for coming by and seeing my space, I loved showing it to you. Most of the artwork you see on the walls was done by artists I know. If there’s anything that catches your eye, I’d love to tell you more about them.
If you’d like to get ahold of me, please email at ravenswebs@gmail.com, or visit me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ravenswebs), Instagram @ravenswebs, and soon TikTok @ravenswebs
Ravens Webs 
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