Egypt and Japan interlace in Australia

Weaving underway with the narrow warp I decided to use tapestry techniques to emulate the rounded shapes of the potatoes. I’m weaving lozenge shapes to get the feeling and using a little more of the contrasting orange that the imagery suggests so I can get a stronger effect. Historically this type of weave was explored best by the Egyptian Copts. Here is an example. Instead of weaving to a straight fell, the weave is built up to express the required shapes ignoring the inclination to have all rows even and ordered for either aesthetics or tension. The result is a weave that goes with the design rather than flattening it, especially curved and lozenge shapes. The skill of the weaver lies in balancing  the beat of each individual weft to allay tension issues which could impact on the completed cloth. 

I’m trying not to beat heavily overall but allowing some denseness for the lozenge wefts. I think this technique is really suited to the Saori technique.  What am I making? Skinny scarf mark one.  More next week.