Start of Winter Weaving

 Winter Weaving has be brought in by the use of wool in 3 & 8 plys and the interesting find at the Bendigo woollen mills of a rainbow coloured yarn with a black thread twisted around the rainbow. I am still on the Saori way of clasp weft and freeform as is more easy to see in last couple images. Squares by way of inlay and or clasp wefting gave a great sample or small piece.

Front before trimming.

Front now trimed, I like the threads showing the way I made

and possibly the unfinished and slightly messy way it looks.

I have washed this sample and knotted using two threads together.

This is the whole piece looking at the back, before it is ironed.

Moments wrap is showing how in winter the moments of sun, fun and comfort can be time shortened

yet much enjoyed and needed. I have very much enjoyed making these three weavings.

Winter Moments a very fun bit of weaving was had by myself with shape and rainbows against the black background showed the colours well.

Thank you

Weavings -

Weaving is the common theme in this selection of previous makings.

I have been exploring different materials and equipment to see what happens.

 From plastic's to barb wire and rust, loom to free hand working and then beading.

 Anywhere from metre to 15cm wide and many sizes in between.

 To have metal and fibre's together developing texture and form, then adding glass gives a reflective quality.

3D - and bendable to fishing line and copper and gold colour wire go together nicely. Then green garden wire with speaker wire and a length is made that is flexible but different.

Experimenting with heat and mix media, along with recycling materials that can be found in most homes. So here are a couple of different ideas that I have explored over the last few years. 

Thank you for seeing a few ideas, I have been making in the past.

Bright Warps



On the loom.

This bright warp is to be made into brooches, bookmarks, and scarf using a comb reed. A nifty idea with a interesting reed that is 5 dents per inch.

I worked at using the comb reed over these two warps and I had these bright yarns to play with, along with the weather getting sunnier - what a way to greet Spring. 



Bookmarks from two warps.

 

All weaving is work in progress.

 As the warps were randomly wound, it brought out many combinations and pattern in colour. I am a very much flow with the yarn type - I often just want to see. In this case what these 4 ply yarns would look like. I did not work out the set, for this would mean decisions made by me at the beginning and I want the yarn to be involved. I sample via using the warp, this allows for the yarn and I to see how much can be gotten from a ball/hank. These warps are straight drafts and on 4 shafts. I can Do SAORI weave if the idea doesn't work and I will play again. Having fun is one of my main goals when weaving.

Brooches - needing finishing.

I started with the more red/blue warp and with the comb reed (a reed without the top bar so you can lift warp from one dent to another) and wove the scarves then re-dented closer to a rep weave type set and out came bookmarks and brooches at the same time side by side on the loom. Yes I divided the warp used two shuttles and wove, why not is how I think.  



 

With the Second warp the very bright yellow, greens. etc I learnt it is much harder to do brooches and bookmarks first then a scarf, As when I re-dented and wound on it affected the tension of the warp but a few sticks and patience when weaving the scarf. The lifting order came from the Handweaver's Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon. Which is the kind of book I keep Handy when weaving patterns as it has so much choice.

 

Two different -4 shaft patterns.

 

Rolled up scarf - 4 shaft pattern



 

 

The holiday season brings in texture

I have been taking in the recent warm weather to do some baking of shortbread, along with trying out small banana breads from a recipe I decided to test out. This is my regetting to know cooking with the oven again after a long time as the sampling is more how I eat my cooking most of the time.



Yes it has been that time (my word for this blog of the day) THE Holiday season with many options to buy presents for people, but I wanted to make something and different from previous years of textiles in some form. This year cooking and proud that so far reasonable results and gifts made and delivered.


It is interesting how I think of texture when I watch the mixture either brown or rise while cooking and the changes that take place. It reminds me of when I have yarn which moves through the process of weaving - knitting in one of the many forms ( hand, machine, both), sewn or other method that I have been drawn to try and assist this yarn into it's new form - fabric that can be a finished item or needing to be cut up and sewn into a item. This is one of my box's that went into my recent graduation body of work. It is a inlay technique called Theo Moorman over 6 shafts that is just off the loom and awaiting the triming of excess threads then sewing - of the edges and into a box.

A small confession is that I have not cut up a big length yet, some samples and short pieces of weaving as I have been weaving the shape eg box's that can be made up or tapestry using the 4 selvege method that I learnt, yet still understanding how to do well. Below is my glass weaving before it is slumped this again was texture with colour or as some say without colour - white, which has so many shades, so colour is what I am using- for a better word to describe it.