During the pandemic, Deborah Jean Cohen joined two groups on Facebook, a Nyingma dharma group who practiced the Longchen Nyingtik Guru Yoga together, and a potholder weaving group on Facebook. The Nyingma dharma group needed a new monastery and the potholder weavers were looking for new patterns. The rest was a force of karma.
How did you get started creating woven potholder designs? Why did you choose that medium?
I wanted to make potholders for a few bachelor friends, so that’s the origin. I’d made them in Girl Scouts. Then the pandemic…that weird time when anything could happen.
Do you feel that you chose your “passion,” or did it choose you?
LOL. It chose me for sure. It was a totally unplanned event and came out of nowhere, so I’m thinking it’s some kind of sneaky karma.
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Tell us about your new book, Radical Potholder Weaving. How did it come about?
As you know, In the Loop came first, then I began looking for a publisher.
The beginning happened during the pandemic lockdown of 2020, when people were doing things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, and connecting in ways odd for them. I’d stumbled upon two online groups — a Nyingma dharma group who practiced the Longchen Nyingtik Guru Yoga together, and a potholder weaving group on Facebook.
These things went together somehow (in my neuro-divergent mind), and each was missing something: the potholder weavers needed patterns. They were tangled up in tabby, they needed more to do. The Nyingmapas needed a monastery, both to fulfill a commitment and to answer a Nepalese community’s request. The rest is the inexorable force of karma. Who could have known?
Radical Potholder Weaving continues to fund the effort. The book is the result of a group of dedicated and talented weavers and designers including Mary Clarke, Christine Olsen Reis, Deborah Jean Cohen, Paula Royse, Malia Jackson, Karen Broiles D’Angelo, Andrea Scheidler, Kendal Rosenberger, H. Michelle Spaulding, and Yavia Mirez.
What motivates you to continue to create potholder designs?
Interest. I find I still want to do them. I expect at some point I might stop weaving, but not yet. It’s a relaxing thing to do, an immediate connection to our need to create, for expression — it’s a behavior hardcoded into us. I have many back-burner designs that deserve to see daylight.
Where do you find your inspiration for your designs?
In fine art, nature, other people’s weaves, Handweaving.com. Sometimes a conversation or one word, world events too.
Describe your creative space.
We just moved to a new house, and my studio is what was the master bedroom, bath, and walk-in closet.
I use the very large bathroom for loop dyeing, the large walk-in closet for storage, and the light and airy bedroom holds the work area.
I weave, knit on my circular sock knitting machines, and make icord on my 1940’s Hobby-Knit machines and on David Kettman’s new, printed, improved Hobby-Knit clone, the Icord Maker. It has an engine!!
What is your favorite tip for organizing your stash of creative supplies?
Discipline. Find what works for you, and put everything back in its place. I highly recommend storage bins and over-the-door pocket organizers for shoes, for loop storage.
Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?
I use blank chart templates, made in Apple’s Pages, to design. For difficult designs, like Indian Weave Interwoven, I work out the changes on paper and use math.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I start a new design when inspiration strikes, so that could be any time. I’ll often get it to a certain point, so it’s not lost, and back-burner it until I’m drawn to it again.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
I wanted to do a cross for my Aunt Jean. I began it in 2020, but at the time was working on In the Loop, and was also learning what will work and won’t work on the small loom. This got back-burnered (in my online projects folder), and although I played with it rather a lot over the next few years, it wasn’t until I think 2022 that inspiration combined with experience, and Resurrection was born.
I like it very much, there’s a lot of radiant energy there. Something like Resurrection.…you need to work with the imagined pattern and the physical limitations of the small loom. Of all my designs, this one has the most iterations in its archive folder.
Indian Weave’s Interwoven came about as our fascination with this Nelly Bee design turned into a whole chapter in the book. Indian Weave is a split-loop pattern from 1930-1940. Mary Clarke initially found it, discovered a huge mistake in the published pattern, and fixed it. We love how the design fades in and out, as if in shifting mist. This was my most difficult technical design. I did it mostly on paper to visualize and place the many changes. I’m certainly not done with this one! It leads the mind to variation. It’s a hard pattern to weave, and to choose color for.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
Of course the best part is when not only the design comes out exactly or even better than what I’d pictured, but the colors miraculously enhance it. And color is my biggest challenge.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received on your creative journey?
It’s my advice to myself: Stay true to yourself.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
Balance. Share your time with everything else you enjoy.
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you before you started this journey?
To not stress out on people.
Where can people see your work?
It’s in In the Loop: Radical Potholders & Techniques (at Harrisville Designs, Acorns & Twigs, Wool Novelty Company, Mielke’s Fiber Arts, Homestead Weaving Studio, Kate Kilmurray)
Radical Potholder Weaving can be pre-ordered on Amazon in the UK, Canada, and the US. It too will be at Harrisville Designs.
My workshops, some patterns, and small weaves can be found on KateKilmurray.com.
I have a shop, the Lamb & Weevil, which isn’t live yet. It’ll be on Makerplace.
Interview posted June 2024
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