This week has been a time for completing. Then starting again.

It’s always very satisfying completing a textile. Finishing it then pressing and processing it for use or new ownership. I get so close to all of my textiles in weaving and seeing every little thread that I find it next to impossible to have any distance from them. I can’t see them well at all. Several years after I’ve woven a piece I think “that’s not bad and I like it”. But waiting a few years to assess the weave is a bit long! I let things pass me by then think about it when I’m at a safe distance. Most of my best pieces have actually just happened. I know this sounds very cliched. Yes, work, planning and designing went into it all but somehow things just happened beyond and within that. All the be creative books say just work and carry on and this is the best advice for anything despite failings and misunderstood turns. At least for me. This kasuri piece was like that in every way. The weft kasuri is a bit freeform and I added the twill blocks for some zest and somehow the unusual colour mix came together in the dye painting. But of course, it had the distance of a year or more in time for me to process and finish it this week. “It’s not bad and I like it.”

Shibori

There is nothing…nothing like the thrill of woven shibori. So drab and uninspiring generally on the loom but ‘bang’! After the dyebath it’s all colour and patterns.This loom patterned controlled woven shibori has a different style to the  ‘shibori saori’ fabrics I’ve been weaving lately.

This piece is woven with a singles hemp yarn on 20 shafts to control the shibori patterning. The fabric is exciting; not only in patterning but the hemp yarn itself is very special and offers a nice weighty fabric. The hemp has a very organic sense and is a delight to work with (thanks Gail!) Although it functions like linen on the loom and there is no give in the yarn, it works towards a  balanced weave very well.

The completed fabric was tied up and dyed, overdyed again then partially untied for another bout.