Clasped Warp and another Weaverbyrd Workshop

The lovely Weaverbyrd showed me a new technique this weekend: Clasped Warp.

I had a go at it. I apologise for the awful photos. At this time of year my house becomes very dark.

As you can see my warp is red and black. With mostly red weft. I used a variegated chunky wool at either end as an experiment.

It was really easy to do! It looks like it should be more complicated but it was a surprisingly simple process. I want to play with it more and make some structured patterns.

Also, I made a weaving I am really proud of, based on my Day of the Dead sketchbook. All these photos were taken by Cherrie Stevens. She is (as you will notice) a far superior photographer to me.

There are still elements I need to add to the piece, so bear in mind its still a work in progress. The colour pallette wasnt quite as planned, but I can always do another piece on my loom at home.

I had a great time again. I'm so pleased that I learned how to make windows in the cloth and as you can see I have a floating warp going up through the weaving. Its the bright blue wool on the right, for those who don't know what I'm talking about.

I like it a lot. So much colour fun! I really enjoyed just picking up any colour I wanted and weaving it in. I even used a couple of yarns with sparkle in them. :)

Dia de los Muertos

For my newest weaving project, I am working on a Day of the Dead theme. Here's some of my sketchbook pages as a taster of things to come! 

Weaving, Weaving, Weaving.... Pt. 2

Tomorrow I'm doing an art fair to try and sell some work. Not weaving or fibre art this time. Like before at Art on the Prom, I will be selling small paintings and drawings. Its at the UCS Waterfront building 10-3pm. Scary, but I have a small knitting project to keep me occupied. I have learnt to use double-pointed needles! So I'm going to try and make some chunky legwarmers....

Anyway to continue my weaving post....

My 3rd piece is where I had problems with my warping. I used a wool that was very fluffy the first time I warped the loom for this piece, the fibres stuck together when I tried to move the heddle and actually weave. It was really frustrating and after a few attempts to weave with it I got cross and took the whole thing to pieces. The next day I warped up again using a bog standard acrylic I had lying around. It works. Which is ace and I worked on it for a couple of days, and created 2 lines of Brooks Bouquet (which I am proud of). I also made some loops to give the piece some texture. I tried clasped weft again, which turned out well.

The piece is for Wool Against Weapons which is a very worthy cause. The piece needs to be 60cm x 100cm. Since my loom is 50cm across, I thought I would make 2 pieces at 30cm wide and then sew them together. My piece is a little short (my measurements were clearly inaccurate) but maybe I can crochet an extra bit onto it once its all done. It needs to be done in all pink. Which I am definitely struggling with. There is a bit of blue in my first piece 'cause I wanted to make big bobbles with this ace yarn which has bits of pink in it. I think it will be ok as there is only a bit of blue. Enough blathering, on to the piccys.

The 2 lines of brooks bouquet. So pleased with the way it looks and how stable it feels.

Clasped weft and some white bobbles.

The blue-ish bit with pink bobbles.

Another close-up of the brooks bouquet. Just 'cause I can.

Clasped weft up top and at the bottom.

The 1st piece in full. On my washing line in the garden.

Hope you like it. I will start the 2nd piece on Monday with any luck. And have it all done by the week after if I work hard. I will update you asap.

Sleepy now.....

Weaving, weaving, weaving...... Pt.1

Since my last post, I have got myself a lovely loom. Actually, it was bought for me by my partner (even more awesome). Its an Ashford Knitters Loom (50cm), like the one I used on my course but 20cm's bigger. This is ace 'cause it means I can make a piece of fabric up to 50cm in width.


It looks like this. ^ It folds up so I can carry the loom around and weave pretty much anywhere (if i can figure out how to do it properly).

I have warped 4 times so far, 3 times successfully. One attempt was thwarted by a particularly difficult wool, I didn't know until I had finished warping and started weaving that it wasn't going to work. I swore at it a lot. Warping is still a bit of a struggle with only 2 hands but I seem to be getting the hang of it.

My first project is going to be a cushion for my partner once its washed and sewn. I call it the 'Hobbit' 'cause I warped up while watching the film and Rob (my partner) is very fond of LOTR.

I had a go at clasped weft and adding bits into the weave. Its pretty cool for a first go.

My 2nd project was a shawl for me during the autumn/winter time. I based my palette on the film 'Chocolat'. I love the brilliant colour's of Vianne's cafe. I wanted something comforting, rich and bright. I made it predominantly out of a nice brown wool from my local shop Jenny Wrens Yarns . I had a great time picking out yarns.
 I found out, after running out of wool, that you shouldn't start a piece using remnants of wool you find in charity shops. You cant get the wool again unless it has a label, so you shouldn't base a whole project on it! I wont do that again. You will notice on the pictures that I started with a lovely dark chocolate brown, but had to change to a lighter shade because of this incident. In this piece I varied the colours on my warp so I could create small blocks of colour within the piece. I also added skull beads to enhance its Mayan feel.

As you can see, I need to weave in the ends and wash the piece. I haven't been able to wash them yet because of a sprained knee, but I am itching to do so.

I will write about the 3rd piece in pt. 2 of  'Weaving, weaving, weaving.......'.

Weaving Workshop 24th - 25th July 2013

This week I did something amazing. I went on a 2 day Saori weaving workshop run by the lovely Cherrie Stevens in Felixstowe. I had a great time; I got up early and grabbed a coffee on the way to the studio. I sat on the beach and stared at the sea before wandering over to Cherrie's studio, it was well lit and beautifully decorated with her own weavings and creations, as well as gorgeous pieces of fabric from other cultures. I received a warm welcome and met the other women on the course. 

My loom was already warped and we were all shown how that was done (we didn't do it ourselves, as it would have taken forever), we were also introduced to the philosophy of Saori (follow the link to find out more about it) and then we got into weaving. The course fee included materials and Cherrie really had some ace materials. The wools, fibres, fabrics, beads and oddments were all fabulous and I felt really well catered for. During the 2 days (2 mornings 9-1pm) we learnt a few techniques to make interesting textures within the weave. 

Have I mentioned how much I loved it? I loved it. I really did. I don't think I have allowed myself to be that relaxed and creative in years. I just played. Just played with materials and techniques. Its not the most perfect piece of art that I have ever made, but it is a excellent piece of evidence. I have evidence that I have relaxed, learnt loads and most importantly that I had a really great time. I simply cannot recommend Cherrie's course enough.

I based my colours and textural ideas on Australian Aboriginal art. I have always loved the earth tones, textures and patterns.

I'm the one in the middle. See how pleased I am?

The whole thing.

A detail. The buttons were bought for me by my lovely friend Emily from Australia.

Another detail. Check out the lovely pieces of fleece.

Todays offerings

Ask, Believe, Receive (Drawn for lovely Julia)

More Ink Spirits

Shaman Face Totem

I'm weirdly enjoying using photoshop to colour/re-colour my drawings. Its fun to be able to play with images without permanently ruining them. Here is todays drawings.

Its too cold to draw anymore, my hands are very numb. Go away snow!

Playing with my drawings

I played with some of my drawings in photoshop. I really like how they turned out. They would work beautifully as big prints, on t-shirts or as covers for notebooks. Hope you like them too. :)