happy happy weaver
An amazing thing has come off my loom: the rich berry wrap is truly gorgeous! I probably shouldn’t say that myself, but I am so thrilled with it that I am going to say it anyway. It is the loveliest piece of cloth I have made so far – and I wish I could keep it!
I cut it off yesterday and then went down to Blockbusters to see if I could rent a really long film, long enough to last me through twisting 562 ends x 2 into bundles and knotting them. I came back with Prince Caspian (2 hours and 24 mins) which turned out to be about 10 minutes too short. Fortunately it wasn’t an especially engaging film, so I didn’t feel I was missing a lot by looking at my fringe rather than the TV screen. Cinematically, a bit of a disappointment — especially since I had enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — but I highly recommend it as an accompaniment to dreary tasks.
Afterwards I washed it gently by hand, draped it over the airer to dry and this morning I took the iron to it and snipped off the loose ends of weft. Aaaahhh. Now that it is washed and pressed it has such a lovely drape…. and there is a lot of it: the finished size is 23″ x 84″ plus fringes and it weighs 475g, or just over a pound.
It posed for the camera like so:
And then let me take some close-up pictures:
which — I am relieved to see — don’t look at all checky. Looking straight down on it like this…
…you can see the horizontals fairly clearly. However, by elongating the 1/3 and 3/1 sections and never doing more than three repeats (12 picks) of the 2/2 sections, it does have a linear rather than a gridded appearance. The effect I love is seen best in the first of the close-up photos: the way the warp appears to rise to the surface and then dip down again.
A note on the “never more than three repeats” remark: I didn’t work out a plan for the treadling, other than to cycle through the twills from 1/3 to 2/2 to 3/1 to 2/2 and back to 1/3. I varied the length of each section as I felt like it, something that for me makes treadling a more enjoyable activity than having to follow a pre-planned arrangement. I did mark out a paper tape to remind me when to change the colours though. There are six weft combinations in all, but I’ll post more about that later.
And I should say that although I am really pleased with the result — let me just enjoy that feeling again for a minute! — there is plenty of room for improvement on my selvedges. I do struggle with more than one shuttle. I have a scheme which works to keep me reasonably in order, but I still get bumpy edges. More on this later too. For now I am going to bask in my sense of satisfaction at a lovely cloth woven. There’ll be plenty of time for self-criticism tomorrow.
“happy happy weaver” was posted by Cally on 21 Dec 2008 at http://callybooker.wordpress.com
This is the moment I’ve been waiting for: I’ve enjoyed following through the stages in this project and the end result is stunning. Congratulations!
She’s lovely! The colors. the texture. The everything! NICE!!!
Oh my, that is a dropdead gorgeous shawl. If you need a home for it…. it is truly lovely.
Wow, that is a beautiful shawl! I LOVE the colors you chose, or, that chose each other. You have every right to be proud.
Stunning! Completely and utterly stunning.
Beautiful!
I love that the complexity and planning is not immediately apparent – the first impact is “wow… gorgeous… breath-taking” and it takes a while for any coherent analysis to begin.
It is lovely. It took me a while to get past “ooh, pretty colours” and to realise that the pattern did actually change. I know, all that effort you put in went straight over my head. I got there in the end though.
Hi Cally, I love your blog! This latest project is so beautiful, thanks for sharing.
A major success. Enjoy the moment.
it is indeed a lovely cloth!
now,enjoy the feeling and pat yourself on the shoulder.
congratulations!
neki desu
It *is* gorgeous! And you should say so yourself! I love the colors.
Absolutely Wonderful! You deserve to be proud of it!I am proud for you! Blessings Joan
Absolutely stunning! And yes, you should do nothing but enjoy this at least until 2009. I will make some comments you can leave till then.
“…it does have a linear rather than a gridded appearance.” — In all thee pictures, all I really see is the linear (vertical) effect. I assume you were after “gridded”?
“The effect I love is seen best in the first of the close-up photos: the way the warp appears to rise to the surface and then dip down again.” — yes, this is quite amazing, very textural verging on 3-dimensional.
“I varied the length of each section as I felt like it, something that for me makes treadling a more enjoyable activity than having to follow a pre-planned arrangement.” — a weaver after my own heart!
“There are six weft combinations in all, but I’ll post more about that later.” — I look forward to reading about that………NEXT year……(grin!)
“I do struggle with more than one shuttle. I have a scheme which works to keep me reasonably in order, but I still get bumpy edges.” — I struggle a bit too, though the more I weave with multiple shuttles the easier it becomes. I think that the bumps are inevitable (unless you find a marvelous way to get rid of them!). I think the trick might be to figure out how to make them regular so they appear to be part of the whole package.
What a wonderful way to end the year!
Oh my my my Miss Cally!! I’m away from my computer for awhile and look what happens while I’m gone — pure M A G I C!
Stunning. I was about to say, “Stunning plain and simple.” However, there is nothing plain nor simple about this, except perhaps that it’s plainly elegant, and simply divine!
The colors came together with such a richness, and the weave patterns give it that shimmer of satin, that makes me want to reach into the screen and run it through my hands.
Strut around your studio like a peacock, gal — because you have surpassed yourself!!
Weave on! and Happy happy New Year!
Jane
oh Cally that is GORGEOUS. Everything about it- and I LOVE the little random element you added. I am catching up on a lot of your posts and had to stop and say WOW!