Buttony, wavy, ribby and wide weaves

Yet another magical workshop came to a close too quickly over the weekend.  Several of the participants were Sturtees and returnees.

Daisy came to work on a special buttony weave which incorporated her mother’s buttons in a bed runner. Rather than stitch them onto the two metre plus cloth after weaving it, we decided to have the buttons threaded onto a warp thread which could be woven with each row and the buttons positioned as she went.

The buttons could also be positioned with the weft but I think the warp idea went better. A large shuttle full of many large buttons were a bit of a ‘danger’ in that movement usually twisted them around each other, so Daisy used a paper sleeve to protect them and the shuttle was left on top of the shelf. The buttons were stopped from falling with a little peg and just bought down as needed. She did very well indeed.

Ruth used her great artistic colour palette to create yet another truly delightful piece. Like Daisy, Ruth has been to two previous workshops and each time I’m loving her work more.

She used the ‘wavy’ beater to great effect and we did the friend weave distorting the cloth. With the 2 and full 3 colour clasped weft she used a bobbin in a shuttle on the Saori shelf to control the interlock. I’m always putting cones or shuttles on the floor and it never occurred to me to have it higher than the cloth but it does work well.

The black in Ruth’s work really defined the wavy work and made all the other colours pop!

Paula worked on a sampler for a roman blind. Working with jute and its properties on finishing provided a good decision for the actual blind. She used some Cordyline Australis spines for the ribs which will work on a narrow width but I think she will need something stronger for a wider width. Another great project for the loom!

Three of the weavers also participated in a little dye demo/experiment using ikat/kasuri wefts. You can see Paula’s weave here and it was surprising just how organic the pattern wove up. With resist areas going off edge and gathering stronger in some areas.

Glenda was an experienced spinner but new to weaving – although who could tell! Restricting her palette but not her techniques the cloth was so beautiful. Her next task was to thread her new loom with the widest and longest pre-wound warp. Which she achieved in just a few hours. With a long 30 metre warp there are many cloths ahead just waiting for the human hand to bring it to life on the warp.

Thanks so much for the great, great workshop!