CLAUDIA PEARCE - KPBS ON AIR MAGAZINE NOV. 1997

AFTER VIEWING the incredible, shimmering damask fiber art of Bill Rafnel, one would imagine the artist as a cool perfectionist, safely ensconced in his ivory tower. So it comes as a surprise to find out that the master weaver is a folksy retired Navy chaplain who stumbled into weaving in his early 40s. He was bit by the weaving bug, Rafnel says, when his wife told him about a backstrap loom class by Carol Martin at Bazaar del Mundo. It's been warps and woofs ever since. "I have no idea, so far as what got ahold of me," says the 66-year-old artist, "other than I really like the fine work of putting threads together and the interlacement. And there's some mathematical stuff in there which is fun too. And the perfection of everything when you're done. I don't believe weaving's just for women. It's for anyone."

While Raftiel spends most of his time creating cotton masterpieces, he also spins wool for a change of pace. In the last 25 years, he and his wife have spun quite a few skeins of the stuff. 'We just collect it," Rafnel says of their mounting piles. "Eventually I'll make rugs out of it all." Then fiber art aficionados will be able to have Rafnel classics on their floors as well as their walls and tables. -

SAN DIEGO HOME/GARDENS LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE APR. 1997

Bill Rafnel's custom weavings make the most of fiber, color, the reflection of light and his favorite damask weave known as the "Cloth of Kings." Rafnel weaves with a palette of 120 colors in pearl cottons on an AVL loom with a computer interface that gives enormous design possibilities. Commission everything from table runners to large wall hangings.