February 28, 2025 • 13 mins
In this episode Sasha takes what she has learned from abstract painting classes and suggests how we might use those lessons in our spinning practice.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Sheepspot Podcast: Episode 101 - Combination Drafting vs. Combination Spinning
You can find the script for this episode HERE.
You can comment on and discuss this episode here in The Flock, Sheepspot’s free online community for inquisitive spinners.
Here's the link to the Podcast search page and playlists.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:59):
Spinning tips from a non-spinner? Absolutely.
Making is making, and I believe that there's a lot that we as spinners can learn
from artists who work with other media.
Coming up, I'll break it down.
Hello there, darling Sheepspotter. Welcome to episode 143 of the Sheepspot Podcast.
(01:22):
I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love.
In today's episode, I'm going to take what I've learned from some abstract painting
classes that I've been taking and suggest how we might use those lessons in our spinning practice.
So last week, I talked about my still-absent spinning mojo and how I'm experimenting
(01:48):
with a new medium, watercolor paints.
And this has led me to Skillshare, where I have discovered an art teacher who
works with a variety of media.
Her work is all abstract. It's not representational.
Her name is Denise Love, and she seems to have made dozens of classes on Skillshare.
(02:14):
And I've got to say, I think I'm a little in love with her. I just find her
exuberance and her excitement completely endearing.
And I feel like she's the perfect teacher for me at this moment because she
is all about experimentation and play.
And that is what I've been craving in my own practice.
(02:38):
So, I'm going to tell you today about five lessons that I have learned from Denise Love.
And the first one is find ways to make getting started easy.
So, Denise talks a lot in her classes about the problem of the blank page and
ways to just get started.
(03:00):
For example, and I love this idea, she suggests making a biggish painting.
And remember, we're talking about abstract paintings.
This, what I'm about to describe, wouldn't make much sense with more representational paintings.
But so make a biggish painting and then you crop or cut it up into smaller ones.
(03:26):
And what this makes possible is that you can just start putting marks on the
page to begin with and then worry about composition or worry about the relations
of the elements to each other,
and to the frame later.
And you can't get too precious about a painting if you know you're going to
(03:46):
end up cutting it up into smaller pieces. So this approach also really lowers the stakes.
So I've been thinking about whether there are any analogs to this approach in spinning.
So just how can we make it easier to get started spinning a project?
And I think there's one way that we don't talk about enough,
(04:10):
and that is allowing ourselves time to really warm up and experiment at the beginning of a project.
And I want to encourage you, and I'm also encouraging myself,
to think about the first few yards of any project you spin as time to experiment
with different tensions,
diameters, and even drive ratios.
(04:34):
Make a few plyback samples and see which ones you like best.
I often start spinning something and then I just think that however I happen
to start spinning it is just fated to be the way I spin for the rest of the project,
when there are probably actually a range of good options, which I could discover
(04:54):
if I just gave myself even 10 minutes to experiment.
The second lesson that I've learned from Denise's painting classes is to make lots of things.
And so another stakes-lowering thing that she teaches and demonstrates in her
(05:15):
classes is how freeing it can be to make lots of different iterations of a thing.
So in a painting session, she'll make eight or nine small paintings in which
she explores similar ideas or techniques in slightly different ways.
And this increases the likelihood that she'll end up with something she likes
(05:36):
because she can stop doing things she doesn't like the look of and double down on what she does like.
And so the iteration allows her to refine and make adjustments as she goes.
So how can we translate this principle of making lots of slightly different
versions of something to spinning?
(05:59):
Say it with me. We can do it by sampling.
And not just sampling different yarns, as I just talked about,
but by incorporating sampling into different parts of the yarn-making process.
When we're washing a fleece, we can wash a small sample first,
see how it goes, and make tweaks before we wash pounds and pounds of wool.
(06:23):
When we're deciding how to prepare a fleece, we can try using a variety of methods,
spin samples, and see what we like best and most enjoy spinning.
And when we're combining colorways in a combo spin or a combination drafting
project, and I talk about the difference between those two techniques in episode 101,
(06:47):
we can try several different versions to see which one we like best.
Number three, use good materials. So I'm learning a lot from Denise about art supplies.
She has a lot of them and usefully she's a big believer in using professional quality materials.
(07:10):
When I first got started with watercolor, I was introduced to the distinction
between craft, student, and professional grade paints, also brushes and paper.
Turns out watercolor paper is a whole thing. I'm learning a lot about that lately.
And I learned that the difference between grades of paint is in the quality
(07:33):
and the amount of the pigment present, and also in how light fast the color is going to be.
And I started with a student grade set of pan watercolors, which I'm actually
really liking working with.
I think they're the Da Vinci brand.
(07:55):
And I'm but I'm working my way towards starting to experiment with more professional
grade paints and papers and here the application to spinning is pretty obvious.
I beg I beg of you use the best materials and the tools that you can afford
(08:15):
because it will make a huge difference to your spinning experience right from the beginning.
And for heaven's sake, stop accepting gifts, and I put that term in quotation
marks, of free fleeces and then feeling that you're being wasteful if you don't spin every bit of it.
(08:35):
There are watercolors for sale that aren't light fast, and there is wool so
packed with VM that it is not worth your time.
So be kind to yourself, honor your time and energy, and just work with good stuff.
Spinning is supposed to be fun.
Number four, recycle your leftovers.
(08:57):
So the exercise of making a large painting and then cutting out the parts of
it that you like is going to produce some scraps, right?
And Denise reminds us that those scraps can be just the thing to add to a collage.
I've been doing some collage as well, and having some bits of painting projects
(09:18):
to put in collages can really liven things up by adding texture and color,
and it's probably color you already like since you've already used it in a painting.
Last week I compared art bats to collages, so here again the application of
this idea to spinning is a pretty straightforward one.
(09:40):
Just save those little bits of fiber and use them on your drum carder or blending
board or even your hand cards.
I sort mine by color and keep all those little bits in big bins in my studio,
and they're a great way to create really rich, complex color in your yarns.
(10:02):
And finally, number five, let yourself love what you make.
The last lesson I learned from Denise can be good advice for any maker,
and one of the reasons that I find watching her classes so much fun is that
Denise herself is having so much fun.
She'll make a mark on the page and burst out laughing or say,
(10:27):
I love that, or isn't that just beautiful?
She's from Atlanta, so she has a Southern accent, which I am not trying to reproduce
for you, but just imagine it in your head.
In other words, she really lets herself love what she makes.
And I think that we can hesitate to let ourselves just fall head over heels
(10:50):
in love with our own creations.
I know I did for years. I didn't trust my own skills and instincts,
and only if someone else told me that they liked something I made did I feel
that I had the permission to like it too. And how messed up is that?
And when I think back on that version of myself, it actually makes me really sad.
(11:14):
I know now that if I love it, that's enough. I don't need others to affirm my aesthetic choices.
So just decide today that you are going to let yourself love what you make.
That doesn't mean that you have to love every little thing about every project
or that you're going to stop striving to get better.
(11:34):
It just means that you're going to allow yourself to fully take in the joy of creating stuff.
So to sum up the five lessons I've learned from painting classes with Denise
Love are find ways to make getting started easier, make lots of things and iterate as you go,
(11:56):
use good materials,
use your leftovers, and let yourself love what you make.
I hope you found these lessons give you some food for thought and that you experiment
with them in your own practice. If you think of any other ways to apply these
lessons to spinning, I would love to hear about them.
(12:17):
And you can add them to the dedicated discussion thread in the flock where you
can comment on this episode and discuss it with me and other listeners.
The link is in the show notes for this episode, which you'll find right inside your podcast app.
So just open up the description for this episode, click the link,
(12:38):
and you'll be taken right to the thread.
Darling Sheepspotter, that is it for me this week.
Thank you so much for listening. I will be back next week with our first episode in March.
All the podcasts in March are going to be about the plying and yarn structure
(13:00):
pillar from the Pillars of Skillful Spinning, and you definitely do not want to miss them.
While you're waiting, spin something. It's good for the soul. I promise.
Spinning tips from a non-spinner? Absolutely.
Making is making, and I believe that there's a lot that we as spinners can learn
from artists who work with other media.
Coming up, I'll break it down.
Hello there, darling Sheepspotter. Welcome to episode 143 of the Sheepspot Podcast.
(01:22):
I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love.
In today's episode, I'm going to take what I've learned from some abstract painting
classes that I've been taking and suggest how we might use those lessons in our spinning practice.
So last week, I talked about my still-absent spinning mojo and how I'm experimenting
(01:48):
with a new medium, watercolor paints.
And this has led me to Skillshare, where I have discovered an art teacher who
works with a variety of media.
Her work is all abstract. It's not representational.
Her name is Denise Love, and she seems to have made dozens of classes on Skillshare.
(02:14):
And I've got to say, I think I'm a little in love with her. I just find her
exuberance and her excitement completely endearing.
And I feel like she's the perfect teacher for me at this moment because she
is all about experimentation and play.
And that is what I've been craving in my own practice.
(02:38):
So, I'm going to tell you today about five lessons that I have learned from Denise Love.
And the first one is find ways to make getting started easy.
So, Denise talks a lot in her classes about the problem of the blank page and
ways to just get started.
(03:00):
For example, and I love this idea, she suggests making a biggish painting.
And remember, we're talking about abstract paintings.
This, what I'm about to describe, wouldn't make much sense with more representational paintings.
But so make a biggish painting and then you crop or cut it up into smaller ones.
(03:26):
And what this makes possible is that you can just start putting marks on the
page to begin with and then worry about composition or worry about the relations
of the elements to each other,
and to the frame later.
And you can't get too precious about a painting if you know you're going to
(03:46):
end up cutting it up into smaller pieces. So this approach also really lowers the stakes.
So I've been thinking about whether there are any analogs to this approach in spinning.
So just how can we make it easier to get started spinning a project?
And I think there's one way that we don't talk about enough,
(04:10):
and that is allowing ourselves time to really warm up and experiment at the beginning of a project.
And I want to encourage you, and I'm also encouraging myself,
to think about the first few yards of any project you spin as time to experiment
with different tensions,
diameters, and even drive ratios.
(04:34):
Make a few plyback samples and see which ones you like best.
I often start spinning something and then I just think that however I happen
to start spinning it is just fated to be the way I spin for the rest of the project,
when there are probably actually a range of good options, which I could discover
(04:54):
if I just gave myself even 10 minutes to experiment.
The second lesson that I've learned from Denise's painting classes is to make lots of things.
And so another stakes-lowering thing that she teaches and demonstrates in her
(05:15):
classes is how freeing it can be to make lots of different iterations of a thing.
So in a painting session, she'll make eight or nine small paintings in which
she explores similar ideas or techniques in slightly different ways.
And this increases the likelihood that she'll end up with something she likes
(05:36):
because she can stop doing things she doesn't like the look of and double down on what she does like.
And so the iteration allows her to refine and make adjustments as she goes.
So how can we translate this principle of making lots of slightly different
versions of something to spinning?
(05:59):
Say it with me. We can do it by sampling.
And not just sampling different yarns, as I just talked about,
but by incorporating sampling into different parts of the yarn-making process.
When we're washing a fleece, we can wash a small sample first,
see how it goes, and make tweaks before we wash pounds and pounds of wool.
(06:23):
When we're deciding how to prepare a fleece, we can try using a variety of methods,
spin samples, and see what we like best and most enjoy spinning.
And when we're combining colorways in a combo spin or a combination drafting
project, and I talk about the difference between those two techniques in episode 101,
(06:47):
we can try several different versions to see which one we like best.
Number three, use good materials. So I'm learning a lot from Denise about art supplies.
She has a lot of them and usefully she's a big believer in using professional quality materials.
(07:10):
When I first got started with watercolor, I was introduced to the distinction
between craft, student, and professional grade paints, also brushes and paper.
Turns out watercolor paper is a whole thing. I'm learning a lot about that lately.
And I learned that the difference between grades of paint is in the quality
(07:33):
and the amount of the pigment present, and also in how light fast the color is going to be.
And I started with a student grade set of pan watercolors, which I'm actually
really liking working with.
I think they're the Da Vinci brand.
(07:55):
And I'm but I'm working my way towards starting to experiment with more professional
grade paints and papers and here the application to spinning is pretty obvious.
I beg I beg of you use the best materials and the tools that you can afford
(08:15):
because it will make a huge difference to your spinning experience right from the beginning.
And for heaven's sake, stop accepting gifts, and I put that term in quotation
marks, of free fleeces and then feeling that you're being wasteful if you don't spin every bit of it.
(08:35):
There are watercolors for sale that aren't light fast, and there is wool so
packed with VM that it is not worth your time.
So be kind to yourself, honor your time and energy, and just work with good stuff.
Spinning is supposed to be fun.
Number four, recycle your leftovers.
(08:57):
So the exercise of making a large painting and then cutting out the parts of
it that you like is going to produce some scraps, right?
And Denise reminds us that those scraps can be just the thing to add to a collage.
I've been doing some collage as well, and having some bits of painting projects
(09:18):
to put in collages can really liven things up by adding texture and color,
and it's probably color you already like since you've already used it in a painting.
Last week I compared art bats to collages, so here again the application of
this idea to spinning is a pretty straightforward one.
(09:40):
Just save those little bits of fiber and use them on your drum carder or blending
board or even your hand cards.
I sort mine by color and keep all those little bits in big bins in my studio,
and they're a great way to create really rich, complex color in your yarns.
(10:02):
And finally, number five, let yourself love what you make.
The last lesson I learned from Denise can be good advice for any maker,
and one of the reasons that I find watching her classes so much fun is that
Denise herself is having so much fun.
She'll make a mark on the page and burst out laughing or say,
(10:27):
I love that, or isn't that just beautiful?
She's from Atlanta, so she has a Southern accent, which I am not trying to reproduce
for you, but just imagine it in your head.
In other words, she really lets herself love what she makes.
And I think that we can hesitate to let ourselves just fall head over heels
(10:50):
in love with our own creations.
I know I did for years. I didn't trust my own skills and instincts,
and only if someone else told me that they liked something I made did I feel
that I had the permission to like it too. And how messed up is that?
And when I think back on that version of myself, it actually makes me really sad.
(11:14):
I know now that if I love it, that's enough. I don't need others to affirm my aesthetic choices.
So just decide today that you are going to let yourself love what you make.
That doesn't mean that you have to love every little thing about every project
or that you're going to stop striving to get better.
(11:34):
It just means that you're going to allow yourself to fully take in the joy of creating stuff.
So to sum up the five lessons I've learned from painting classes with Denise
Love are find ways to make getting started easier, make lots of things and iterate as you go,
(11:56):
use good materials,
use your leftovers, and let yourself love what you make.
I hope you found these lessons give you some food for thought and that you experiment
with them in your own practice. If you think of any other ways to apply these
lessons to spinning, I would love to hear about them.
(12:17):
And you can add them to the dedicated discussion thread in the flock where you
can comment on this episode and discuss it with me and other listeners.
The link is in the show notes for this episode, which you'll find right inside your podcast app.
So just open up the description for this episode, click the link,
(12:38):
and you'll be taken right to the thread.
Darling Sheepspotter, that is it for me this week.
Thank you so much for listening. I will be back next week with our first episode in March.
All the podcasts in March are going to be about the plying and yarn structure
(13:00):
pillar from the Pillars of Skillful Spinning, and you definitely do not want to miss them.
While you're waiting, spin something. It's good for the soul. I promise.
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