2017/07/27

The Weaver Weaves

Life seems to be back on the old/default track, albeit much slower; I've been gardening a bit, weaving a bit, cooking a bit, and... wasting a lot of time dithering. The only thing that's different from before when it all went downhill is that somehow I'm keeping up with the drawing-every-day thing: I don't draw every day, but manage between 8 and 10 a week, so numberwise, I'm ahead, but then they have become super quick, (mostly blind,) line drawings. I think the goal this year is to stick with the plan, although I keep drawing the same faces by Matisse, Modigliani and van Gogh, so I'm learning a bit about a few.

This week's weaving has been the familiar twill, double width; the warp is Merino/Mohair, the weft is merino and I'm doubling it to make the width approximately the same as the warp, 20EPI/40DPI and slightly sticky. The weft repeat is short for me at 156 picks. I don't make very nice centers with double-width, but for the client, if she still wants these, this is sixth, and the seventh will be on the same warp, same threading, with mid-blue merino of the same size and a different draft.
 Seen from the side. 
The weft is a pale gray marl, which is why I wanted the Merino/Mohair, to better show the design. I'm always taken aback when I need one or even three whole days to finetune the draft because the basics don't take that long; it's the fine-tuning and fixing the long floats without destroying the overall look, (even though they may be indistinguishable in the end,) that takes up time. Perhaps if I spent longer in the earlier stage my twills will be more varied.

The reason why I moved on to this piece, why I had the gumption to find/fix two threading mistakes I marked almost a year ago, was because I got lost/fed up with the tapestry-technique piece.
If you remember, I got started; the treadling was tricky but I color-coded it in small segments; and Pat clarified the technique so I was good to go, in my head. (It took a longer to get the body used to it.) But the way I switched colors was the usual zigzag, (what I call "kasumi", or "mist/cloud", a Japanese visual device used when depicting bird's-eye view,) and I wanted a less fussy pattern so I started over. But they don't look all that different, just slightly less fussy, so I'll keep going, mixing things up a bit. I think.

By the time I started the second time, I had half the treadling memorized so the weaving went somewhat faster, but I need breaks every two repeats lest I get tired and cross-eyed.

I want to write more about this piece but I'll wait until I'm happier about it. Or at least have made more progress.

10 comments:

Socrates said...

Good to know the weaver is doing what weavers do! How long was the hiatus? I wondered if the face I saw was based on Modigliani, but it is more expressive than most of his (which seem aloof to me). Keep drawing!

Maureen said...

Curious and happy to see where you take the kasumi pice, Meg. ❤️❤️

Meg said...

About a year, oh, Wise One; yesterday I discovered I kept no record of the last time I setup and sampled the same white warp, but I think it was August sometime. And then I've been playing with the smaller loom with cashmere and colors since... mid-July, so strictly speaking about 11 months, but I'm going with a year. And you know, when the person drawing has opinions/attitudes, they tend to seep into faces. LOL!

Meg said...

We shall wait together, eh. I feel these spontaneous pieces need careful planning. Oh, dear.

Tess Wyatt said...

They look beautiful from here

Meg said...

Ummm... Just remember. you are looking at it upside down! :->

Cally said...

I love those sunset colours and the way they fit together - looking forward to seeing more, when you can manage it

Meg said...

Thank you. They are what's left of the 2/20 to be honest. And some achromatics. I wished I had a real red, and perhaps ultramarine or even, gulp, teal, in addition. I've been thinking of starting over with a simpler treadling, though, otherwise the weaving is... crap.

Cally said...

Nobody ever has exactly the colours they want. Why is that, when our homes and studios are so full of yarn?

Meg said...

I guess it means we must buy more of the colors we love?? That sounded so good in my head.