DESIGNING THE SCARF

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I decided I needed some visual concept of the overall scarf before I began weaving it. Not the details; just a general layout. I had never felt the need for to do this before. But also this is probably the most complex design I have ever tried to develop. I wonder how keeping my E-sketchbook has played into this new development.

DESIGNING IN PAINT SHOP PRO

I opened Paint Shop Pro and did some playing. The yellow marks, which are just erratic dashes, represent the motif designs, their general idea, not how they will appear in fact.

The design on the right is the first one I came up with. It’s a symmetrical design. OK, but boring.

So I came up with the design on the left. Still symmetric, but some changes. The solid red spaces are all the same size. Well, they are supposed to be. My “drawing,” despite using the ruler PSP offers, was a bit slapdash. But the motif designs have changed.

CHANGE IN MOTIF DESIGNS

• I have added the blue shadow crackle on either side of each motif. That is represented by the erratic blue dashes.
• Then I have changed the sizing of the designs. The center design is twice the length of the others. This gives a focus.

So now I have a sense of the overall design. Once I have figured out the actual sizes, I can start weaving and work on the details as I weave.

SOME DESIGN DETAILS

• Working out each design, both pattern and color
• Creating ways to make the background look interesting without overpowering the major design elements

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“Designing the Scarf” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 13, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina