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When I’m weaving a custom baby wrap, mom picks all the colors, color orders, and weaving pattern. I haven’t had any requests that I don’t like, but some just hit a personal high note with me. This is one of those.
E. chose these colors and color order, and since I warp for 2 wraps at a time, her friend A. came along for the ride. Both moms want a black weft. I’m hoping it makes the bright, happy colors really pop. Stay tuned! I admit it. I’m a Project Runway junkie. Whether it it’s the original, Project Runway All Stars, or now Project Runway: Under the Gunn, I’m at my TV to watch it. It’s not uncommon to see some variation on color blocking in the designs. Although that wasn’t what was in my mind when I started this scarf, once I got about 10″ into the weaving, that’s sure what it reminded me of.
This is a 10/2 cotton warp with an 8/2 rayon weft, woven in a straight draw. I’m clearly not done exploring the clasped weft technique yet. It’s also clear to me that unless I’m using rayon chenille, I prefer a 2/2 twill over the plain weave that’s needed with the chenille. I think it shows off the colors much better. I wasn’t sure what I’d think of the finished product as I was weaving it, and in fact thought I wanted at least one more color in the scarf but didn’t have the ‘right’ one. I am fond of the finished scarf, though. I plan to do some more color blocking, both with chenille and other fibers. Because I didn’t know if I’d like it, I didn’t want to weave the second scarf on the warp similarly. I tried something different – color bars.
I like this concept, but would definitely prefer it with a black warp. This scarf required me to cut and add a new color after every 8 picks – even more time consuming than other clasped weft designs I’ve done. I thought the bars should have been wider – more like 16 picks – but I didn’t figure that out till I was this far along. I didn’t want to spend all the time weaving something that would just be ok, and since it was just a cotton warp, I decided to cut my losses and cut off the warp. There’s enough length on there to weave a towel or two, and maybe I will, but maybe I’ll just let it go. The other day I enjoyed about 1/2 hour of watching a group of six deer calmly munching their way around my yard. My crab tree, which retained a lot of fruit, was a particular favorite. These two spent some time there. Then one wandered away and the deer that was left decided to spend quite a bit of time on his hind legs getting the higher apples. I’m guessing it was a male, since they get some practice on their hind legs during mating season. I could be completely wrong about that. Then when all six moved down to a lower section of the yard, one deer – I’m assuming it was the same one as above – decided to reach for the higher crabs on that tree, too. Me moving around in the house and snapping photos didn’t seem to bother them. Until they were almost ready to move on anyway. Then one decided to spend some time looking at me. What a beautiful face! I just received official notification – my application for an Artist in the Community grant was selected for funding! I am amazed! And a bit in shock. And scared – can I really do what I proposed? Will it take an ungodly amount of hours to accomplish? What will I have to forgo to be successful at this? YIKES! I’ve already sent out email notifications to the people who agreed to partner with me – the elementary art teacher and the local library board – to let them know so we can begin planning in earnest. Here’s the shortest synopsis that explains that plan: About 160 kids in grades 3-5 will each weave a small square (about 3″) on an individual loom. Then, I’ll set up a larger loom (about 2′ x 3′) at each of 3 community concerts, with musical groups in 3 different genres. People attending the concert will be invited to weave. We’ll see if the musical genre impacts the colors and/or type of weaving people do. After all that, I’ll weave or sew students’ squares into borders for the larger pieces. All will then be in a semi-permanent installation outside the library. Whew! Does that sound ambitious or what?! Incidentally, the community weaving project from Angelica this past summer made it to my house a few weeks ago. They needed to take it down from the storefont and I was happy to hang it on my porch. I think it looks great. (Not a good photo. I’ll try again on a cloudy day.) I had an aha moment while I was weaving yesterday afternoon. I’ve been double beating my baby wraps. And this on the Macomber, which has a relatively heavy beater bar — much heavier than on my little counterbalance loom. Double beating definitely slows down the process, but I couldn’t manage to get the wraps to be balanced – the same number of threads per inch in the warp and picks per inch in the weft – without double beating. But why did I have to double beat? My aha was that it actually makes sense. The wider the weaving, the harder it is to beat; the narrower the easier. When I make my bookmarks – about 1.5″ wide – I have to set the warp threads closer together and still beat quite lightly to make them look right. When I’m weaving a scarf – usually about 9″ wide – I usually beat sort of lightly, since I’m usually using fine threads. When I’m weaving a baby wrap – 31″ wide – I have to beat hard to get the weft right. For me, it’s easier on my body, my brain, and my loom to double beat instead of really beating the heck out of a single beat. In fact, I realize now that’s why my snowflakes don’t look like snowflakes – I was purposely not double beating. Since I wasn’t making it a special order for anyone, I wanted to see if I could save the time of double beating. Obviously not if I want my woven motifs to work out. At least now I know. And I know that for me, double-beating makes sense and is worth the extra time it takes. |
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