Monday, 29 March 2021
Saturday, 14 November 2020
Memorial Pillar: First* Panel
I’m not sure why it looks wonky - it’s not - must have been the angle I held the iPad at. The original tiny panel is blu-tacked to the reed bar for colour reference. The enlarged panel photo hangs over the cloth beam.
There will a lot of ressaut added after weaving to soften some of the edges, and add the detail shown up in the enlargement.
Monday, 9 November 2020
Untangling: A Parable
Once upon a time there was a weaver - let’s call her FrouFrou. People often commented that she must be very patient, being a weaver, but she wasn’t really. One day, FrouFrou bought some delicious, smooth, shiny silk yarn for her latest project. This yarn, as many do, came in a skein. FrouFrou knew, as do all weavers, and many knitters (and her Nannan before her, when all yarn came in skeins), that skeins must be wound into balls before you can use the yarn. Horrid tanglements ensue if this rule is forgotten. Nevertheless, because FrouFrou was excited about her latest project, and because the yarn was lovely, and because she was impatient (see above), FrouFrou hung the skein over the end of the loom, and started taking lengths from it as required...
It tangled.
A lot.
Project over, the mare’s nest was put aside in a box. Yesterday, FrouFrou needed the yarn for another project, and decided that the Great Untangling must commence...
It took two hours of slow, patient (despite note above) winding and unknotting, but in the end, FrouFrou had a properly wound cheese of silk, still shiny, smooth and delicious.
And the silk goes into a weft with other yarns, and the new project continues.
The meaning of this parable?
Doing something properly in the beginning will save time in the long run, but, even if mistakes are made, wrong decisions taken, and tanglements ensue, with patient, loving attention, individual beauty and order can be restored, and then become part of a group that work together to make something new.
As Kiki Dee so wisely put it:-
"I will untangle myself
So that I can be
Loving and Free"
Friday, 6 November 2020
‘Weaving Against the Wound’
The improvised warping board (as I can’t use the warping mill at WD at present) and chained warp - linen from Weavers Bazaar.
Tied on, waste weft and double half hitches.
Aphraminta Splodge inspecting the large scale print from which I traced the design lines for the first panel; it will hang near the loom for colour reference. I upped the contrast and saturation before printing to make the areas easier to delineate. I am fortunate to have a very good printing company nearby (Lollipop Chichester, formerly ProCopy) who have done a lot for me over the years. They have established a very good system for no contact for the time being; they also give a lollipop with each order collected! I’m saving mine for when I’ve woven an inch all across.
Wot Did & Wot Doing
Next up is the writing of my Literature Review, so I have been away from the loom. Until yesterday. A bereavement during the week (coming after several this year) meant that I simply could not immerse myself in writing theoretically about grief and loss for a little while, and need to ‘weave it out’. While invigilating the exhibition I had time to do some sampling for ‘Memorial Pillar (for Diana)’, the maquette of which was part of what I was showing. I had realised that I would not have time (with chaplaincy work and a LitRev to do) to make the next three shrines before our next exhibition at the end of January, so decided to go with ‘Pillar’ instead.
I wound the warp yesterday evening, and today is loom dressing; sleying the reed with a soundtrack of ‘70s Genesis. The finished piece will be 97cm high, woven sideways, so, at my usual sett (4epc, woven over doubles) that is 388 ends. I’ve wound a warp long enough to do two of the shrines on afterwards (and yes, there will be a lot of retying to do between cutting off this one and resuming).
Friday, 12 June 2020
Bad Habits
I’m not going to list all my bad habits here, but you will see from a comparison of the upper and lower photos how much weaving I have done, and how I have neither taken photographs nor posted updates. How will my devoted followers know what I am up to? 🤣
I started on the thumbprint section of ‘Neshamah’ yesterday, having experimented and softened the blend by adding two strands of the grey weft. The sections are too narrow, and the sett too wide, to be able to ‘halo’ the transition between the two areas, so this was a good compromise to make the difference less stark. I’m now only 35cm from the top of the weaving of this shrine; after another 10cm I will switch across to ‘Nefesh’, weave up to the same level, and then wind on for the last time. After all the vicissitudes with the warp, I will be perilously close to the top of it by the end. I’m hoping to get away without needle weaving (I had to resort to that at the top of ‘Lament’ all those years ago, and it was not fun!). In my calculations for the next warp (for ‘Ruach’, ‘Hayyah’ and ‘Yechidah’) I have allowed a lot more waste.
I might even frame it.
Friday, 22 May 2020
Outdoors!
The lurid cartoon handprint is now covered up, much to my relief; it was necessary, but somehow vaguely irritating. I have been enjoying using ressaut which is a new technique to me, but renders the image in exactly the way I want.
Holding my iPad (in video mode) in front of me I walked the perimeter, then the henge, ditch and plateau; ever decreasing circles and ever decreasing footwear - it seemed appropriate to walk barefoot and labyrinth style somehow. I am sure people thought me most odd, but I was ready to claim ‘artistic immunity’ if challenged.
Real tea - standards must not be dropped!