Like many other area artists, weaver Penney Auld, who lives in Adna, has been busy preparing for the annual ARTrails of Southwest Washington studio tours starting this weekend throughout Lewis County.
Auld has several looms that range from two large floor-standing looms for tapestries, to smaller tabletop ones for shawls and wall decor, as well as inkle looms for creating sturdy straps and belts.
The largest, a Navajo rug loom, is 7-and-a-half feet tall and 5 feet wide.
“Actually, I currently have three looms — and a piano — in my kitchen,” Auld said.
An accomplished weaver, she weaves primarily on a multi-shaft loom using traditional techniques.
“Warp is what one thinks of as the north and south threads that run perpendicular to the loom, and these are the ones that keep the tension in the weaving,” Auld said. “The weft threads are those that run horizontally.”
Traditionally, one weaves with the weft. In some of her works, Auld follows a Navajo-developed style of pulled warp weaving where some of the warp threads are left showing for a few inches.
“With this negative space, you can create curves or make a right angle, enabling pieces to become more sculptural,” Auld said.
Auld creates intricate wall hangings from a few feet to several feet in length, softly woven scarves, and larger shawls known as ruannas that are open in the front and sewn in the back. Most of her works are created from wool or cotton. She also upcycles plastic bags, weaving them into durable totes.
Auld said she has a roomful of fabrics and threads that she has collected or been gifted over the years.
“Weaving isn’t a hurried skill. It often takes a few weeks to carefully plan out what will be made or what threads to combine with others,” Auld said, adding, “It can take longer to dress the loom — as much as two days — than to do the actual weaving. You have to account mathematically for the threads to fit together.
“You also need to create a sample piece first to see how the finished piece will look, as when woven together some yarns will shrink or stretch, others are bumpy, and often the yarns will create their own patterns.”
As she wove a recent scarf, the art piece took a turn. “All of a sudden there were diamond patterns every 12 inches in the fabric, perfectly placed, which I hadn’t expected. It was a nice surprise.”
A keen observer, Auld takes note of the world a bit differently than many of us.
“Color and textures inspire me,” Auld said, describing the layered colors and tactile surfaces of green moss growing on the stone walls of a castle which caught her eye during a recent trip to Scotland — inspiration for a future weaving.
Travel to Scotland occurs every few years as her oldest son, Kevin Auld, of Everett, is the director of the Northwest Junior Pipe Band, a youth bagpipe group that competes regularly in the world championships held at Glasgow. Auld has knitted many pairs of kilt hose for her son’s outfits for the events.
She has been a member of the Olympia Weavers Guild since 2018, and her works are featured year round at The Rectangle Gallery in Centralia.
Auld will be demonstrating weaving at the gallery each weekend during the upcoming ARTrails area studio tours, which are set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20-21 and Sept. 27-28.
See www.artrailsofsww.org or follow the many studio tour signs placed throughout Lewis County these next two weekends.
