Archive for January, 2008

As the Threadbare exhibition approaches, I was given some invitations by the gallery. They look great and promise a little opening ‘party’ too. I’ve entered eight textiles and one of my photos was even included on the invitation. I’m in with some pretty heavy names of textile artists, so I’ll get to explore and see some interesting work. Hopefully I’ll get some decent photos to post up, too.

My previous post on clasped weft has heated up a couple of weavers to try it out. Kimberley has been busy weaving clasped weft scarves which are really beautiful. She also has another beautiful muted version.

Cally, has taken the idea and applied it to a waffle weave. It’s a weft challenge for her and the results are great.

Then if that’s not enough for you, get over to Lynne at the twisted warp to see what she has in mind for the clasped weft. She is going to use it on her vibrant warp.

I love how everyone has a vision when they see a technique that just might……It’s a shame that clasped weft is so hard to say because it’s easy to do. Any other ideas?

For a very simple direct weave structure this pattern sure has lots of potential. It weaves flat on the loom but ‘magically’ pleats up after washing. It’s not so dependent on type of yarn as the size of the pleat repeat – so experimentation is needed.

The pink pleats photo is of a very wonderful and drapey scarf. Getting the RIGHT type of pleats is important and I wanted to create a shoulder clingy textile. By this I mean a scarf that doesn’t slip off all the time, one that is in tune with the body.

I used a 20/2 cotton warp and a 60/2 silk weft. For my first experiement I used a 16 thread repeat. This produced very tight, highly organised, stiff pleats – not what I was after.

In the next sample I used a fine Galway linen as the weft. This weft didn’t enact the pleat at all but produced a lovely textile nevertheless.

Finally the magic textiles consisted of a 12 thread repeat in the cotton warp/silk weft. This made the pleats a little unexpected and clingy.

These experiments gradually let to a series of ‘skinny’ scarves inspired by the tides on Old Bar beach, Australia. One collection is infused with the colours of the rocks and another with the ocean. I am currently offering these for sale through my new etsystore.

You can see a photo here of the pleats stretched out. The weft is emphasised on the inner part of the pleat and the warp is emphasised on the top of it. Here’s an opportunity for real dye playing and manipulation. It’s my next project – I hope.

I’m sure, some of my best projects are in my head – and I haven’t got the hi-tech equipment to take photos in there. Getting those ideas out into the open is the tricky bit. Thanks to this blog and the generosity of its readers I can articulate some of my ideas and processes more clearly, propelled by the discipline of writing in this format.

A screenshot of the 8 shaft pattern. A wif pattern
is provided here.

Here is what you can achieve with Clasped Weft. It’s an easy technique for making angled patterns and only requires two shafts. These visual instructions use two colours (green and blue).The green weft is wound onto a bobbin on a shuttle and the blue weft is drawn up from the floor underneath the loom.. I think this will look great as a table runner and helps me to weave a little every day. You can plan the design beforehand but it’s such an intuitive technique that feeling the colours and design as you go feels really good.