Complimenatary warp, backstrap loom
Learning to manage a backstrap loom. Exploring basic Andean motifs and then how to double, reverse, reflect them to make new designs. Inspirations: Abby Franquemont's Andean Weaving workshop, Center for Traditional Textiles in Cuzco, Peru and the book, Weaving in the Peruvian Highlands:Dreaming Patterns, Weaving Memories.
Inky's August Attire
Inspired by one of Laverne's bands posted a while back, I decided to see if I could draft my own version. This one is WAYYYYY easier to treadle than my previous "mudcloth," and I am enjoying weaving while traveling very much. (I don't think this one will take me as long to finish, either!)
Fairisle inkle band
the basic draft from my fairisle inkle band.
celtic knot band
Made using a pattern i found online. The plan is to trim a replica of an iron age shirt for my dad when I get around to making it.
fairisle inkle band
my first attempt at a complicated pick up pattern. Had to give up at 6 inches when my brain melted
Pebble Weave bookmarks
In November there was Tinkuy de Tejedores (a gathering of weavers) in Peru. I would love to have gone, but it was not in the cards. The pre-Columbian weaving that is still being done in the highlands of Peru is incredible. No one should ever underestimate the ancestors.
Trying to learn a little about this weaving, I found an article by Doramay Keasbey in a Handwoven magazine from January/February 2000 that explained how to do pick up weave on a floor loom (instead of the backstrap loom commonly used by Peruvian weavers). I put on a long
warp and started weaving bookmarks.
Intrigued by this complex pick-up weave, I contacted Laverne Waddington, who lives in Bolivia and has first-hand experience with weavers who live in the Andes. She has recently published an e-book through Weavezine on Andean Pebble Weave. Her comments can be seen on my website http://abovefault.net/ I have purchased her book and I think I see a backstrap loom in my future and further exploration of this and other pick up weaves.
I just received the most recent Handwoven magazine (January/February 2011) with articles by both Doramay and Laverne on pick up weaves. Thanks to both of them for giving me this new window into the weaving world and an admiration for what can and has been done. It is both exhilirating and humbling. Too much to do, too little time!
I finally made scrolls!
This is the first piece of this 9 1/2 ft long warp. I decided to take a small piece off to see if I liked the design work. I had graphed the scrolls myself and I was afraid that it would seem too busy with all of the different color background stripes. But I think I nailed it! This will be a cell phone pouch for an i phone. The rest of the warp is going to be a table scarf for my sister's coffee table in front of her couch for Christmas.
Wide paired float web
I like the finished pocket to carry as a small purse. The flamingoes stand on their feet on the back also. I am not pleased with the seam at the bottom. At first I could not get all the white threads covered, tried several techniques then covered it with very dense buttonhole stitch to get it as black as the woven solid black bands. Then I washed it, the design popped up but the the bottom seamed buckled! If I were to do it again I'd put the seam at the top and cover it with the strap. I might like the birds looking at each other also. Second time is usually better.
The strap is woven from the same threads on the same loom, just a new warp, finished it was 7/8" x 59". The pocket itself is 8 1/8" x 8 1/2". Hangs nicely on me too, a little higher because it has to go around more.
I would like a bag/pocket to wear and decided I'd try a wide version of the Latin American paired float technique I've been using for bookmarks. I've been working on a sturdy, handmade inkle loom, in the shape of a cat, that has the pegs supported on both sides except during warping.Well, by the time I had enough warp threads to make the bird motif one of the pegs was bending. So I shortened the warp plan. I could not get the peg to fit into the second side when I re-assembled it because of the severe angle. This is definetely the limit for width of this loom, or maybe a little beyond it. Because of the angle of the peg the warps are not all the same length and I have been creative in trying to keep them all under the same tension. You can see the broken peg and the bars in the background of the bird have curves. I am managing to weave it though. But I think I have reached several limits; limit of the loom, limit of the designs that can be woven with this technique (it just takes a lot of threads to get a charming motif) and my interest in these technique is waning.
It is size 10 crochet cotton ( the only size I can get in lots of colors), not exactly rope, and there are about 270 warp ends and it is weaving 4.00" wide.
It is now off the loom with 4 flamingoes, two upside down. The woven area is 39.5'x4.25'. Now on to construction.
Sewing the bottom seam with buttonhole stitch. I want it to be as black as the center stripe. The paper sticks out the opening. I need to weave a strap now.
Mud Cloth Inkle
Here is my interpretation of Mud Cloth on the inkle. I had no specific fabric in mind, just the warm brown tones and somewhat irregular patterning of curves and lines. The pick up is a bit of a challenge, and I haven't translated it to a pdf yet, but I will.
Driving back from Iowa to New Jersey, I finally had a significant block of time and concentration to really latch onto the pattern, so now I can converse, etc. while weaving and stay on task, or if I make a mistake, I can readily see where it is.
I use string heddles in key positions in a different color than the rest, so that *REALLY* helped on this pattern for the pick-up areas. The front and back is somewhat different, as you can see. The light color down the center is straight, but the black curves on the face of the fabric visually "bend" it. I didn't predict that!
This was also the sad little "abandoned inkle" project that I posted in various airports in the fall of last year. It has been to CA, MO, OH, PA, TX, AZ, IN, IL, WI, MI, and IA so far this year, and it will travel to Knoxville, TN before New Mexico, so I expect I will still be weaving on it at Convergence.
If you want to see it in person, stop by the Weavolution vendor booth Thursday around lunch time when I've volunteered to give Alison a lunch break, or at the meet-up that evening, 5:00 outside the vendor hall.
South American paired floats
Made a short warp to try this technique and the results are bookmarks for the Guild.
