2014/11/12

Epic Fail / Joy!

My first pleat sample was an epic fail. It looked  better just off the loom, but washed and dried, nada. It doesn't even show the weave pattern in real life, although it looked a proper two-faced twill on the loom. The right half is 24EPI, the left is 21; bottom was beaten softly with about 1mm between picks, the top portion "snug". And the weft is so skinny I almost can't see it under artificial light. But the worst part is, this warp is scratchy and it needs taming with good merino, so I'm modifying the threading, resleying at between 18EPI and 20, and making a normal, unpleated piece. I'm not having any luck with my gifts-to-friends, am I?

Terri and hubby Alan Bibby came to visit me today; they've been touring the South Island and I've kept abreast of their travels her fb profile, but it was lovely of them to stop by. (With warning, of course.) Needless to say, the conversation focused on weaving and her thoughts on Saori weaving, (as I imagined, she's utterly genuine about the message of peace associated with her weaving and has woven in some very interesting places/context,) but also about photography, her hubby being a professional photographer and a documentary maker. He told me my pantsed camera is a really good camera. Thank you for a lovely, lovely afternoon and safe travels!

There may be a picture of us appearing on her blog. (I, of course, was too busy talking.) Alan took some pics of me, and I'm not sure if it was part of a project of his, collecting images of decaying, changing things. LOL.

2 comments:

Laura Fry said...

Hi Meg, I've found the pleats need to be kept narrow or the cloth flattens. With 2/20 cotton warp at around 36 epi I keep pleats at between 8 to 16 ends. Then during wet finishing I pull on the cloth lengthwise to pop the pleats up...

Meg said...

Ah, the width of the stripe - that makes sense. Had I liked this warp, I was going to sample 30 and 36EPI next, but the next warp is also for pleating, so I shall keep that in mind. And make a new draft. Thank you, Laura.