Wednesday, April 8, 2009

DESIGNING AND A NEW WEAVER

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I have been very impressed with the scarves of a new weaver. Her name is Artemis. She is a jewelry designer who lives in London. Now she has taken up weaving and is recording those adventures in her blog, Tales of a jUnkaholic.

Go here to see a fascinating post with pictures of her little loom.

Take a look at her latest scarf here. This is scarf number six. Do take a look at her other scarves.

In scarf six, I am intrigued both by her treadling and by her use of color. The first thing than captured my attention was the various bands of pure white where she has used white weft against the white warp. She has several areas where three bands of white are grouped together, but none in the same way. And then there is one band of white.

The second thing that intrigued me was her treadling. The basic treadling is plain weave, but then she has occasional bands of a twill treadling. But not always the same treadling. And the bands are not always the same size.

The amazing thing is that, to my eyes, her approach works.

end of warp sampling 2008 So I took a look at the sampling I had done at the end of the last warp (and which is still hanging on my door). These are all the same treadlings. What is different is how I used color in the treadlings.

Looking at the gold and blue part on the left, you can see that colors are used to create blocks. Looking at the blue and red part on the right, you can see that color is used to create motifs. I had thought a bit about the possibility of combining motifs and blocks, but at the time it just seemed too complicated. I would need to sample.

And that is what I am getting ready to do. Right now I am getting ready to sample for creating motifs. I am happy about that, but who knows where I will be when I am done with that? Perhaps trying to combine the two approaches. Perhaps trying something else entirely. Wherever this upcoming scarf/sampler leads me.

Related Post: Crackle Shawl—The Motifs


Designing and a New Weaver” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 8, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

2 comments:

Artemis Russell said...

How could i have missed this post?
Thank you very much for the words of encouragement, and im very glad that an experienced weaver such as yourself can see some merrit in my little scarves! I really enjoy weaving, its extreamly demanding hobby as I'm sure you know! but thats what keeps me interested...I like to keep my weavings spontaneous to a certain degree, a bit like drawing a picture- you have a basic idea when you start, but you never know untill you actually start drawing! I wish I could be an expert as you (I love your weavings!)one day if I keep at it!! many thanks!...more weavings to come from me...artemis

Peg in South Carolina said...

You are very welcome. I look forward to seeing more weavings from you!