Mar 21, 2013 | Ravens & Eagles, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
“Raven Brings Daylight to the World” or sometimes called “Raven Steals the Sun” or sometimes referred to “Raven Breaks Daylight” or “Raven Brings Box of Daylight” – Design by Clarissa Rizal – 1991
I found this t-shirt amongst my T-shirt collection (that I never wear) – I haven’t seen this for years! I think I wore it once maybe when first printed. I might have to do another rendition to make it more “weave-able or at least print another edition! – The image is as it says, a Raven holding the sun in its claws and beak…
Mar 20, 2013 | Honoring Others, Ravens & Eagles, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Tools-of-the-Trade |
Close up of “Jennie Weaves An Apprentice” Chilkat robe by Clarissa Rizal completed 2011 – It is part of a series of Chilkat robe designs by Clarissa featuring a Chilkat robe within a Chilkat robe – the green and blue is to delineate between apprentice and teacher, the past and present, the present and future, Raven and Eagle clans
Jennie Thlunaut taught me several Chilkat “laws” or guidelines for weavers and weavings. This day in age we would call them “taboos” since most of us modern folk do not (or will not) honor the laws of old – most modern folk think that following the “old ways of thinking and doing” no longer applies to us today. Some of us folks say that they want to follow the ways of our people, yet when it comes right down to applying those old teachings, or when it comes to honoring the elders and their guidelines, we choose to ignore.
Chilkat weaving has a strong spirit. Jennie tried hard to explain these things to me. I was young then. I am young still, however, in my experiences as an active weaver, I have come to know many things of the unseen, and I see why the Chilkat laws of weaving apply today even as they did 100 years ago…the ways of the physical reality may change, the ways in how we live may change, yet the ways of spirit do not. I have experienced that when you apply these teachings, any or all, no matter what goes on in your life, positive and negative, there resides a strong, steady “rudder” serving as a guide of the straight and narrow path – and you will recognize all the good things that have been placed in your path – kind of like a path of righteousness.
In the next blog entries towards the end of March into April, I will list some of the Chilkat weaving laws, for both the weaving and the weavers. You as a weaver, can decide for yourself which laws may apply to you.
Thank you for staying tuned.
Mar 18, 2013 | Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Tools-of-the-Trade |
Yellow cedar (approximately) 1/8″ strips – the color darkens to the like of red cedar because the sap is cooked out of the cedar in order to spin with the wool
A new student of Chilkat asked me a very good question: does it matter if we spin our Chilkat warp with yellow or red cedar bark strips? Is there a significant difference?
Yes, it does matter if we use yellow or red. However, the option is up to the weaver. And sometimes a spinner/weaver does not have a choice because of availability.
Yellow cedar is more pliable and supple than red. The yellow cedar and wool spin up smoothly for Chilkat warp. Some of us will use the red IF we do not have yellow available. The red does not split as evenly or smoothly as yellow. Warp with red cedar is a bit more stiff than warp with yellow (of course too this depends on the wool/bark ratio).
Split cedar strands hang alongside prepared wool roving on an antique drying rack – ready for spinning Chilkat warp!
You will notice red cedar used in the old Chilkat robes. These robes have a bit more “body” than those robes woven with yellow cedar warp. Like I mentioned, the preference is up to the spinner/weaver, and the whether or not the spinner/weaver has a choice in the availability of red or yellow cedar.
Mar 15, 2013 | Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Tools-of-the-Trade |
Bundles of yellow and red cedar
Hang cedar to dry THOROUGHLY. Do not attempt to store until the bundles are completely dry. Depending on your climate, time of year and moisture in the air, drying time may take a couple of days to a couple of weeks. If you must place in a bag, use a paper bag at first. Always store in paper bag and not in plastic bag. You can use a plastic bag AFTER the cedar is completely dry!
Why am I stressing using the words THOROUGHLY and AFTER?
AVOID MOLD!
IF mold has set in to your cedar, check to see the depth of the mold. IF the mold has completely invaded the cedar through and through, then I would not use it for anything! IF the mold has only marred the surface of the cedar, then immediately soak the cedar bundles in vinegar water! Add approximately 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 2 gallons of water, immerse the cedar completely weighted down by a heavy bowl, and let it sit for an entire day before rinsing with warm water several times. Then let cedar bundles air dry THOROUGHLY!!!
If you’ve allowed your cedar to get moldy once, you will NOT ALLOW the next harvest of cedar to mold again!
Mar 13, 2013 | Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Tools-of-the-Trade |
Stained cedar bentwood box carved and painted by Clarissa when she was 16 years old under the tutelage of Peter Bibb, the woodshop teacher at Juneau-Douglas High School. The box was a Mother’s Day gift for her mother, Irene. After Irene retired, she began doing bead work; within a 15-year period, she had filled the box with beaded floral and clan emblem pieces. In celebration of her 50th wedding anniversary, Irene’s beaded pieces were applied to button robes, vests and octopus bags for her children and grandchildren. – A smaller cedar bentwood box sits to the right with a beaded “sailor hat” on top a glass head – Clarissa inherited both hat and box when her grandmother passed in 1976.
In the olden days, cedar bentwood boxes stored our clan regalia. Cedar boxes are/were the perfect natural insecticide against moths who have appetites for the woolen regalia in the Chilkat, Ravenstail and Button blanket robes and accessories. Nowadays, many of us use the Rubbermaid plastic tubs for storage, unless of course, you can afford your own work and grace one’s self with carved cedar boxes, or you trade with an artist friend to carve one for you!
When I carved the bentwood box, it was my very first introduction to Northwest Coast Art. Peter Bibb encouraged a number of us Native students to take up our own art because there were very, very few people still carrying on the traditions. He provided us Bill Holm’s “Looking at Northwest Coast Art” book, and if I am not mistaken, the design of this box comes from that particular book. ( I don’t know for sure because I eventually gave that book to my son after my mother passed so I don’t have it on hand to confirm design origin.) Peter kept close watch on my carving; at one time he grinned “…young lady, it looks like you’ve got a natural skill at this…(he chuckled)…who woulda known a little thing like you could do this!?”
When I carved this box for my Mamma, I did not imagine 40 years later I would have it sitting on one of my work tables; it stores woolen yarns as I have begun to learn how to knit.
Mar 5, 2013 | Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Assistants to the curators at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon hang “Resilience” to be photographed for P.A.M.’s website. The painting on canvas is the “pattern board” for a Chilkat robe Clarissa is proposing to weave this year. There’s the possibility the Portland Art Museum may commission this robe. (Photo by Kate Damon, P.A.M.)
Design Narrative by Deana Dartt-Newton, PhD, curator at the Portland Art Museum:
“The Chilkat Robe, an enduring symbol of Northwest Coast Native cultures, has remained an icon of Native American art through time. Today, fine examples of Chilkat robes can be seen right here at the Portland Art Museum.
Chilkat robes, a complex form of tapestry twining, are the best-known textiles of the Northwest Coast. Emblems of nobility, they are prized for crest significance, fine workmanship and spirituality. The labor-intensive process to create a robe includes spinning wool and cedar bark warp, dyeing weft, then weaving the blanket. The abstract designs of crest animals on Chilkat blankets fill the entire design space.
In the Resilience design, Tlingit weaver Clarissa Rizal, student of Master Weaver Jennie Thlunaut of Klukwan, will illustrate in a commissioned traditional Chilkat, a narrative about colonial impacts on Northwest Coast Native cultures.
Within the central design field, Eagle and Raven symbols dominate, as they continue to form the foundation of culture – the clan system. Rizal expresses adaptations for cultural integration and survival by incorporating logos of the Native corporations and organizations “giving flight” to Native rights and sovereignty. The right and left panels contain symbols of Western influences integrated into lives of Native people including museums, institutions, and mining represented by the pair of hands holding the gold pan.
A powerful bridge between the traditional and the modern, the Resilience robe will set the stage for an exhibition in 2017 highlighting continuities and change among the art forms of the Northwest Coast. The picture of balance and symmetry, the Resilience Chilkat is modern expression woven in traditional form and represents the powerful bridge we need to bring our historic collection of Northwest Coast Art into the 21st century.”
Read about Clarissa’s design description of this robe is in a previous blog entry: http://www.clarissarizal.com/blogblog/?p=2914
Feb 28, 2013 | Class Act, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Uncategorized |
Chilkat warp stick
Chilkat “warp sticks” are an easy device for measuring warp for your projects. This “traditional” warp stick (shown above) was fashioned directly from Jennie Thluntau’s warp stick. The stick measures approximately 53″ high x 2″ wide x 1″ thick.
Chilkat Warp Stick notches are cut at 1″ intervals
The warp sticks are generally made of wood with notches at 1″ intervals. There are two groups of 1″ notches: The group of longer lengths are for a standard size Chilkat robe; the shorter group of lengths is for a standard size Chilkat apron.
Vanessa Morgan measures her warp lengths on her brand new Chilkat Warp Stick!
Using a piece of cardboard as another alternative for a Chilkat “warp stick” – a piece of cardboard cut to the desired length of a weaving project, you wrap your warp around and around and cut only one end of all the warp – another one of Jennie Thlunaut’s “tricks-of-the-trade”
I hope you are enjoying the various “tricks-of-the-trade” shared with you the past couple of weeks – please stay tuned for additional ones within the next couple of months….thanks for visiting!
Feb 27, 2013 | Acting Out and Musical Chairs, Honoring Others, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Clarissa and her ukelele – which, by the way, was purchased at Hawaii Music Supply…
Who woulda thought I’d be playing Tlingit songs with the sounds of a ukelele? Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later…!
I learned this song in 1972 from Harry K. Bremner, Sr., who then was in his mid-80’s. He said I had the rights to sing this song because our clan, the T’akDein Taan Black-legged Kittywake had branched down from the Coho Clan on the Alsek River near Yakutat – the Coho who are the owners of this song.
Here I sing with the ukelele accompanying just a shortened version.
YakutatBackStage
The following is a shortened version of a T’akDeinTaan song written by J.K. Smith; my sister Irene Jean Lampe discovered this song on an old recording of clan elders. I play a shortened version (without any of the words):
J.K.SmithSong
My very first song I wrote called “Shifting Shanks” – It’s influenced by “spaghetti western” sound, like a combination of “cowboys and indians” – the song is about not being aware of our Western privileges; we have so many freedoms many other countries do not have…we are born with “silver suspenders…”
ShiftingShanks
Feb 23, 2013 | Class Act, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Skeins of Ravenstail warp
Depending on the size of your robe, apron, leggings, etc., the following are the AVERAGE amounts needed for projects in either Ravenstail or Chilkat weavings:
Pouch …………………… 30 yards
Leggings ………………. 60 yards (both leggings)
Apron ………………….. 150 yards
Blanket ………………… 800 to 1000 yards
(and for Chilkat robe, add 200 yards for the side braids)
To determine the amount of warp needed for any project:
To work out the amount of warp you need for a project, use the following equation. First decide what size of piece you want to weave (Remember to give yourself a little extra length so you have enough to trim the ends straight. On a weaving without fringe, add at least 3” to the finished length so that you can work the bottom rows easily.
The Equation:
– Width of piece x number of warp ends per inch = total number of warp ends
– Length of piece x number of warp ends = number of inches needed
– Divide total number of inches needed by 36 (# of inches in a yard) and the resulting amount is the number of yards you will need for your piece.
Example:
Width of piece = 30”
You will use 10 (epi) ends-per-inch warp
Length of piece = 18”
So 30” x 10” warp ends-to-the-inch = 300 warp ends
300 warp ends x 18” long = 5400 inches of warp
5400 inches divided by 36” (in a yard) = 150 yards
You will need 150 yards for the project.
Need warp but you don’t want to spin your own? Just a reminder, I’ve got a couple of friends who are spinning both Chilkat and Ravenstail warp for us! You may place your order any time…!
Feb 13, 2013 | Class Act, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, To See or Not to See |
Notice the slightly darker shade of the braids than the weaving in both the yellow and the blue – that’s Jennie Thlunaut’s Chilkat trick-of-the-trade #1… (please forgive the blurred photo: I’ll replace it one of these days!)
Back in 2006 when I was visiting the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum collection of Chilkat robes, one of the staff members had pointed out that during another weaver’s visit to their collection earlier, they had noticed a difference in color of the braids from the weavers in a very old robe and wondered why that was…guess what I told ’em?
Jennie Thlunaut’s “Trick-of-theTrade #1” – While we are weaving, sometimes we mistaken our braids for our weavers. To avoid this annoying blunder, use a slightly different shade of braid, lighter or darker, than your weaver. Oh boy! Happier Weaving!
