A Subtle Web
This is the official final post for the projects I worked on for P2P2, but since I didn’t finish the project I started or start one of the projects I planned you will be hearing more about them later. First, as a recap, I started with these photos:
My favorites were the colorful toys and the feather in the grass and I started playing with the feather first thing in this post. Then I contemplated the toy photo in this post. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to create any sketches for the toy photo and I’m still not sure how to draw what I want to make, but the idea is fully formed in my head.
But first we will talk about the feather photo since I did at least start my project.
These were the sketches that I started out with. I didn’t want to recreate the image exactly, but I did want something pictorial so I started just pulling out the basic shapes and lines. Soon after I started I realized that I needed to set some boundaries for this project as “make something based on a photo” was just too broad for my poor head to handle. The first thing I decided was that I couldn’t buy any new yarn for this project. I also decided that a major feature of the piece had to be texture, though at the time I didn’t know what textures I was going to play with. After poking around in my stash I realized that I had a lot of thick knitting yarns in various shades of brown and a loom that had been warped for a year for rugs that weren’t going to happen. Doubling and tripling the yarns gave me a lot of loft and adding a strand of scratchy acrylic yarn gave me the feel of stepping onto recently turned soil that I was looking.
Once I had the ‘ground’ figured out, I needed to decide how to add the feather and grass. For the feather I decided to use some blue/gray eyelash yarn I had sitting around along with some soft white yarn for bulk. The grass has turned out to be the strands from a Hawaiian grass skirt I picked up at a costume shop (it is the only new yarn I bought for this project). I decided to use the sketch in the bottom right corner and make the triangles out of the blue yarn and the lines out of the grass skirt which has been put in using rya knots. The rya knots are taking me forever, so I only have about 6 inches of what I expect will be a yard long project when all is said and done.
I plan to keep plugging away at it and will post more about it as I work on it.
I also have a plan for the toy photo, but this post has gotten long enough so I’ll just leave you with a teaser of the ‘ingredients’ for it.
See you soon,
Heidi
I haven’t been very productive lately due to hot weather and general busyness, but I did manage to finish the shibori warp that I was working on.
Shibori
I dyed it what was supposed to be red, but turned out a very bright pink. It is about the right size for a scarf, but since it is made out of 6/2 unmercerized cotton, it is really heavy. I could use it as a runner, but it won’t iron very flat due to the shibori treatment. Unless I can think of something to do with it, it will probably end up in the sample box, but for now I have it out so I can admire it.
Shibori Close Up
I have also started on my P2P2 project. I decided to do something based on the feather photo and I like how it is turning out so far. I don’t want to share too much until it is done, but you can see what I’m using for the weft here:
P2P2 Weft
Considering how fat the yarn I’m using, it is going really slowly. I’m going to have to pick up the pace if I want to get it done in time. I’ve been having to stand at the loom I’m using and keep the shed open for a while. Does anyone have any suggestions how how to keep a treadle depressed while you manipulate the weft?
I’ve also been spinning a bit. About 2 months ago I finally taught myself how to drop spin and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. My favorite thing to spin so far are silk caps, they make a nice long roving that doesn’t break very easily and you get a nice thick/thin yarn from it:
Silk yarn
I’m going to be on a non-fibery vacation next week so I probably won’t be posting again for a bit unless I get some great travel photos.
Until next time!
Sorry about the length of time between posts. I haven’t finished anything other then a project that is now sitting firmly at the bottom of the pile of “things that I refuse to look at ever again, but can’t bare to actually get rid of”. In a couple of months I may pull it out and see if it can be salvaged, but for now I am very glad it is no longer on a loom. Have you ever had a project like that?
Unfortunately, the project was on my table loom so it hasn’t freed up the loom I want to do my samples for my P2P2 project on and the project that is on that loom is taking far longer to weave up then I thought it would so I’m a little stuck at the moment. I think I have the details figured out for what I want to do with the feather photo, but I have to double check that I have the appropriate yarns. My one constraint for this project is that they supplies have to come from my stash and, while my stash is fairly organized and cataloged, I really need to feel the yarn to make sure it is what I want.
Toys
I’ve also started to play with toy photo. Of the photos I received, I think it is my favorite. I love the bright colors and the texture, and the patterning in the wood that the toys are sitting on. Unfortunately, sketching didn’t bring out anything to focus on and playing with the photo in a photo editor didn’t show me anything new so I don’t have any photos to share.
Working with this photo has me thinking a lot about what I want to express in my art. I don’t want to recreate them exactly, I don’t think I have the patience to be a tapestry weaver, but I still want to express them somehow. I think art should say something. It needs to be more then pretty (though I prefer art that is beautiful), but it doesn’t need to say something serious either. When I think about the art that I really like it is pieces that seem to find the essential bits of something like Chinese brush paintings or make you see something in a way you never would have been able to otherwise which is the feeling I get from Peter Collingwood’s macrogauzes.
Indian paintbrush
I think this photo is the best example of something that I’ve done that I could point to say “this is art”, but I don’t think anyone else would agree with me. Actually, I know most wouldn’t. When I was considering sending this as a P2P2 photo, I showed it to a friend and she thought it was a lovely photo of a flower, but didn’t understand why I loved it so much. I can understand her point of view because its power isn’t exactly the image itself, but the emotion I get from it. This image instantly transports me to my childhood in Vermont when my mom was well and we would go for walks and she would name all the flowers for my sister and I. I would love to use this image to inspire a weaving, but how do I express all the feelings that I have tied up in this simple flower so that others can see it? Or do I even need to? Questions to ponder as I plan my P2P2 project.
Thanks for reading,
Heidi
I sat down last night with the feather to see what I could do with it.
- Feather
I had no clue where to start with it to turn it into a textile so I decided to do something I don’t usually do and do some sketching. I didn’t want to do try to recreate the image, I’m not that good a drawing, but I wanted to find some interesting shapes. I decided to look for the strong lines that the grasses make and pull them out. This is what I came up with:
Lines
I liked the idea, but it didn’t incorporate the feather so I decided to draw just that and to see what I could see. As I was drawing, I decided what I liked the best was the places where the barbs had separated and created triangles. I ended up with this sketch:
Feather
Neither drawing is that interesting to me on its own. The lines just seem like they are floating in space with no connection to anything around them and the feather is just boring. I decided to combine the two too see what they would look like together and drew this:
Lines and feather
This I really like and could see possibly creating a textile using this idea. I’m not sure if it really expresses the photo, but it is very interesting visually and I have some ideas of how it could be woven up.
After looking it over, I decided I really needed to use different colors so I upload the photo to Colourlovers. This site allows me to pick up to 5 colors from the photo and play with their width. It is kind of surprising what colors you can pull out of a photo. At first I was going to just start with a dark brown and move to a light brown, but when I tried to find a dark brown in the shadows under the grass the color is a actually a very purplish color. I did finally find a dark brown that I liked and highlighted it with a creamy light brown. I then picked a little green for the grass and added some white and gray from the feather. After adjusting the proportions I came up with this:
Feather and Grass Palette
I really like the balance of colors here. It starts out very organic and gets colder with the white and gray. Weaving this up, I would probably use the light and dark browns for the background, the green for the lines, and the gray and white for the triangles. Hmm, now I need to go check my stash for some appropriate colors for a sample and finish a project so I put a new warp on.
Happy Weaving!
Wonderfully, my inspirational pics arrived just as my nasty cold was making it’s final push and I have spent the last 2 days flipping back and forth between them trying to decide which I like best and trying to think of how to translate them to woven cloth. The photos I got are great and a wonderful mix of colors and textures. My partner even included a fabric sample of rya knots that are beautifully tied. However the process of deciding what to create has been a little frustrating for two reasons. (ETA: the use of the phrase “deciding what to create” is pretty telling, I have to keep reminding myself I have months to do this project, at the moment all I need to do is think about what I could possibly create. I need to work on brainstorming, not just latching onto the first idea I happen upon)
The first issue is that I find I’m working backwards from my usual process. Usually my inspiration is more along the lines of my dad would like a table runner and he likes red. So I start with a product in mind and chose a design that is going to give me the product that I want. With out a product in mind I feel like I’m on very shaky ground.
The second issue is I’m having a hard time addressing the photos as more then the obvious. I’m not feeling an emotional connection to any of the photos other then the rug and I mostly feel annoyance at myself for not making a rug after taking a class with Jason Collingwood last summer. I’m going to continue playing with them and maybe finally learn how to use GIMP like I’ve been meaning to for years so I can really morph them.
Toys
First Thoughts:
- Primary colors
- Something for a child or childish
- Spiky/hard/uncomfortable
Feather
First Thoughts:
- Natural materials/linen
- Early spring
- Texture juxtapositions
Tomatos
First Thoughts:
- I hate tomatoes
- Bright/earthy colors
- Round
First Thoughts:
- I really need to make a rug
- Snowflakes
- Craftmanship
Rya Knots
First Thoughts:
- Texture
- Dimensionality
- Bright
So that is it to start. I’ll be playing with them more in the next couple of weeks to see what I can come up with.
See you soon,
Heidi
I was going to post a very insightful commentary on inspiration, but I have a bit of a fever so I’m going to put it on the back burner until I can read it when I’m sure I’m not under the influence of a high temp or drugs to bring it down. Instead here are some gratuitous photos of my cats:
Simon
Asher
Also, a couple of weeks ago I noticed this being built:
(The picture was taken on my porch through the screen door that I exit every morning.)
Today, I decided to check what was in it to see if I could try to scare the bird away.
Can’t do that, this hungry face greeted my camera, and mom’s dive bomb chased me back inside. I may have to find an alternative exit for the near future 
A couple of weekends ago I decided to try my hand a warp painting. Unfortunately, I didn’t take pictures of the entire process, but I wanted to share the photos of the skeins with you. I started off with white, 10/2 cotton that I got from Webs ages ago. Since I don’t really have a plan for how I’m going to use these, and I just wanted to play with color, I just wound 3 warps of 90 ends which should give me something about 5″ wide in the reed if I do plain weave.
I used Procion MX dyes to do the dyeing since they are designed for cellulose dying and cobbled my directions together from various places on the web, in books, and a video. There are a lot of ways to dye cotton and everyone uses slightly different measurements. Since I was warp painting I tried to go with the low water instructions and managed to get some nice, bright colors which is what I was aiming for (I really like shiny, bright things). The colors I used were brightest blue, sun yellow, wisteria, mixing red, and forest green. I also wanted an orange color so I got brave and mixed my own. So without further ado:
Purple and Yellow Warp
The colors of the college I work for are purple and gold so I thought I would start off easy and go with something I could weave up to wear to work. I had to be really careful placing the colors because purple and yellow don’t make a pretty color when they mix so I made sure to leave a little bit of white in between them. When I weave it up, I think I will create a border with some other purple yarn that I have to make it a little wider.
Multicolor Warp
This is the one I decided to mix up an orange for. The orange is just the yellow and the red in equal parts so not a complicated mix. After dyeing the red is a little pinker then I expected, but I like the orange/red/yellow parts. I added the green to calm the warp down a bit, but I’m not sure I like how it turned out. I think if it had been a brighter/yellower green that it would have worked out a little better.
Red and Blue Warp
This one is my favorite of the bunch. For the other, I spread them out and placed my colors at various intervals along the length of the warp. For this one, I left it chained and painted one side blue and the other red and then squeezed it a bunch to get the colors to move around and blend. As you can see, there was a lot of blending and the color appears very randomly. I’m a little in love with randomness at the moment so I’m really excited about how this one turned out.
I can’t wait to weave with any of the warps to see how weaving changes how they look, but first I have to get a loom free. You would think that wouldn’t be a problem with as many as I have I have a guild meeting on Wednesday and they are always very motivating to get something done for show and tell so hopefully I’ll be weaving one of these up by next weekend.
Thanks for reading,
Heidi
Yeah! I got my email from Meg this morning and it looks like I will be sending photos to Australia tomorrow and getting some photos from Sweden in the near future. I can’t wait to see what I get and I hope my new friend in Australia likes what I send her. Oh, and the poster that Meg created from a photo by Cally Booker is stunning.
See you soon,
Heidi
Hello Again,
A couple of months ago a friend who spins and dyes her own yarn invited me to a dye day at her house and started me down a fascinating and dangerous path. Before that day, I didn’t see the point of dyeing my own yarn or fabric as I could find almost any color I wanted in the cotton yarns I prefer (I know, very naive of me). She dyes wool, which I don’t have a lot of so I took a couple of silk hankies that I had sitting around. She had a couple of colors mixed up and I mixed up a couple of other colors and I had a blast creating bright, colorful hankies.
Colorful silk hankies
Any suggestions on what to do with them?
This led me to some experiments with warp painting (more on that on another post) and a bit of research into ways of patterning with color. I ran across the book Woven Shibori by Catharine Ellis and decided to give it a try. I warped my 8 harness Lane Loom with some natural 6/2 unmercerized cotton, chose a pattern from the book and got started.
With woven shibori you start out with a flat piece of fabric with some long floats:
Shibori on the loom
Gather up all the weft threads that have long floats:
Partially gathered shibori
Apply the dye (I used Procion MX dyes- brightest blue on one side and forest green on the other):
Dyed shibori- ready to cure
When it is dry, take out the gathering threads:
Shibori Blue Side
Shibori Green Side
(you can click on any of the photos to make them bigger)
I having a hard time with the delayed gratification required of these weaving this way, but the weaving goes quickly and the results can be stunning (not my samples yet, but I’ll get there). I still have a lot of warp on the loom so you will probably be seeing some more examples in the near future.
Thanks for reading!
Well hello there and thank you for coming!
I’ve decided to participate in Meg’s Pics to Picks (P2P) challenge so I guess it’s time to get this blog going and this website up and running.
I suppose I should start by introducing myself. I’m a part-time weaver and a full-time librarian. I grew up in upstate NY (the part with all the cows) and moved to Iowa (the part that isn’t quite as flat) after I finished library school. Don’t tell my family, but I think I may actually like it better out here, though I do miss the mountains (except in winter).
(It appears I am a fan of parentheses, I’ll have to work on that so I don’t drive you nuts with the side comments).
I have been weaving for about 5 years. Up until about a year ago, I mostly wove dishtowels and table linens, but lately I’ve grown bored with them so I’m not sure what will be coming off the looms in the next couple of months. At the moment I have 4 looms in use and another in storage while I decide if I want to keep it or not. They are from smallest to largest:
The Louet:
The Lane Loom:
The Hammett Loom:
The Glimakra Standard:
I don’t have a photo of the one in storage is a neat little Union loom.
In my next post I’ll talk about the fabric I have on the looms now.
See you soon!
