I have been on an adventure to western Queensland. No, this blog will not be about that but in passing I will mention that I’m sure that the colours, textures and history in particular will find expression sometime in my work. The Longreach and Winton areas are extremely interesting destinations.
Rochelle spent a couple of days in the studio and finally finished her gigantic double width blanket. She has promised to bring it back totally finished. I bet it will keep her warm as toast. A reminder for others out there: the studio is available on a negotiated basis for students to come and weave.
This month’s studio class was Beyond Basics where we started with profile drafting and extended into structure. Jen and Hilary, both from Western Australia, produced a quantity of weaving files and actual weaving. This is an overview of the 5 day class. All the warps had the same profile drafts for the treading, while the treadling was based on each students profile draft. In this way all the samples related.
There were several hours spent on creating weaving drafts.
Jen weaving Atwater Bronson lace on a wool warp with a silk weft.
Hilary is weaving twill blocks on a draw loom. The pattern shafts are arranged as for the profile draft. What a great way this is to promote understanding of how profile drafting can be used. It’s also a fun experience.
Fabrics include 4 and 8 shaft overshot, crackle, atwater and bronson lace, summer and winter, twill blocks. The following images were taken late on the last day when the lighting wasn’t all that good.
Jen’s collection:
Hilary’s collection:
Congratulations to both. They have some very beautiful results and all projects are totally finished. It was a great 5 days. What a lot of work they did!
There was enough warp left over on two of the “overshot” looms for me to play. There had been much discussion on the length of supplementary weft floats when weaving overshot. So the challenge was for me initiated by the students was to find ways to make use of these long floats to make interesting fabrics. I’ll share these 3 experiments. It was a great way to clear the looms and to enable students to really appreciate the potential of a structure.
Of course there’s always woven shibori. Any structure that achieves long supplementary floats is ideal for converting into weft shibori. Eventually I will get around to dye this hand towel.
This hand towel uses just one block of supplementary weft which are then stitched into groups once removed from the loom. It’s a pretty effect.
When weaving multishaft overshot (a 4 shaft profile draft converts to 8 shafts of structure) each block can be woven independently. This meant that I elected to use just the half tones with just weft floats on the front to weave this fabric. The pleating will stretch because of the wool/lycra yarn that was used. The finished result and the reverse side and before laundering.
I thought the weavers may enjoy my installation. I had acquired these very rusty reeds over a number of years. Here, at the entrance to the studio, was the opportunity to do something with them.
Next month: There will be no studio classes. I’m getting ready to set off on another textile adventure.
Posted by kayfaulkner 