“Plays Well With Others”

26 Monday Nov 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Color, Uncategorized

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dsc_1061a111 At a recent guild meeting we watched a portion of Laura Bryant’s DVD “A Fiber Artist’s Guide to Color.” She discusses how to arrange colors so that they don’t “fight” against each other. That reminded me of elementary school report card behavior comments:

Follows directions

Completes assignments

Expresses ideas clearly

Does neat thorough work

Plays well with others

Do the colors I pick for any given project follow my mental directions in the warp and weft? Do they express my ideas of what that fabric should look like? Do they “play well with others”?

dsc_1055a111

Laura took the audience through several exercises demonstrating how our perception of colors is affected by all the other colors around them. Putting a purple patch over a white background or a blue background affects how that purple looks. Our eyes will “see” it as different when it is actually the same.

Watching her exercises, I recalled a “problem child” cone of yarn I have that doesn’t play well with others. It’s called “Bluebird” and by itself, is a delightful purple which leans toward blue. But just try to blend it with other purples or even with reds and it becomes either a bully by standing out like a neon light or is itself bullied into a non-descript gray.

I can blame some of this on my camera or my lighting, but this cone of yarn is often the culprit when I can’t get a towel to photograph well. It’s a case of the background color either highlighting the accent or pulling all the color out of it. What I need to figure out is the happy medium.

I do a lot of color-blending in my warp and it’s fun to see which cones work together and which ones I have to save for another project. That’s what makes each project unique, each towel “expressing ideas clearly” and “playing well with others.”

……..

Don’t forget the holiday specials going on in my Etsy shop. I am offering 10% off on any orders over $75. Just enter the code HOLIDAY18 at check-out. And if you order on today, November 26, your treasure will ship for free.

Barn Raising

13 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Uncategorized

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Framed Barn Picture You’ve heard the saying: “You can take the girl out of (insert your favorite place), but you can’t take the (insert your place again) out of the girl.” Cute and catchy. It explains all sorts of idiosyncrasies we aren’t even aware of, and some we wish we could outgrow, but no, they are part of our make-up.

For me, it’s my rural, upper Midwest upbringing. The way I pronounce certain words (much to my husband’s amusement); my love of cheese curds, brats, and beer; my preference for cool weather and all things “Norman Rockwell”-esque. You can take the girl out of Wisconsin…

I shared in Learning Experiences about this damask barn I was working on that would reflect both my Dad’s dairy farming and my Mom’s quilting. The challenge was getting the woven piece to show the same proportions as the graphed picture.

Five samples later, I took it off the loom, but then had to decide how to frame it. Another month went by before I found an answer in a box of my mother’s old pictures—a frame made by my grandfather. Its dark brown, rustic finish works, although I wish I had used a similar colored thread in the weaving. But then I didn’t know about the frame when I was weaving. Maybe next time.

It felt good and right to hang the barn above my loom, to step back and remember. I’m hoping they would approve.

More on Opphämta

26 Friday Aug 2016

Posted by jeanweaves in Opphämta, Uncategorized

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Color, creative inspiration, Projects, Textiles, Tradition, Weaving

Opphämta on the Loom

Earlier this summer, I set out to explore opphämta and chose to put together some aprons using the patterning as borders along the sides and bodice. This has been a season-long project, but one in which I’ve learned a lot.

Because I wanted to make unique aprons, I wound only enough warp to make two aprons of each color. I also wanted to include some contrasting threads spaced randomly across the warp and weft. Since the borders and ties are woven on the same warp, this presented a bit of a challenge. Those contrasting threads interrupted the opphämpta pattern.

Royal Apron with White Opphämta Pattern

My first solution was to weave the body of the apron first with the contrasting threads. Then for the tie bands and patterns, I replaced those threads in the warp with the main color and weighted them off the back of the loom. This worked okay but caused a few tension issues.

White Apron with Star and Rose Pattern

I actually preferred the second solution—changing the contrasting threads on the warping board as I was measuring the warp. This did take some calculating, but the warp tension was more consistent.

My color choices were mainly pretty traditional—blue on white, white on blue. Then for the third warp, I used some seafoam green mercerized cotton that blends well with lavender. Those color studies from earlier this month came in handy.

White Apron with Star and Leaf Pattern

Each apron uses a different opphämta design. There are so many different sources and motifs that I can spend hours playing with stars, roses, diamonds, and crosses. The scale of the pattern had to fit on the apron, so I kept my units to two threads each. With a sett of 24 epi, a five-unit float is almost ½”, so any float over five units had to be tied down.

Seafoam and Lavender Apron

As enjoyable as the aprons have been, I’m ready to move on. The nice thing about these opphämta patterns is that they can be used for other weave structures. Next up—damask. But what if these same units could be woven in overshot or lace or ….hmmm…

The Language of Color

12 Friday Aug 2016

Posted by jeanweaves in Color, creating, Uncategorized, Weaving Inspiration

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Color, creative inspiration, Weaving

Color Swatches

I get a kick out of perusing the color trends that come down from who knows where. Just do an internet search for “color trends for home interiors” and you can get an idea of the colors being promoted by industry. Everyone from paint companies, interior decorators, furniture manufacturers, not to mention fashion designers, all have a take on what colors we want in our homes this year.

And the names of the colors can be quite poetic. Green is not just green; it’s Lush Meadow, Nile, Malachite. Pink can be Orchid, Salmon, Peach, Rose. Phrases like “transcendent, powerful and polarizing,” “restrained and refined,” “serene”, tempt me to read between the lines—what color are they really talking about? What does “serene” look like? I think of the soft green of a summer meadow, but really it’s a pale sky blue.

This is more than a casual search for those of us who create for the home. It does little good to go to all the trouble of handweaving a piece that doesn’t go with anything in anyone’s home. I used to buy odd lots of mill end yarns because the price was right, but soon discovered that those odd lots included colors that were long out of date.

There is a down side to following the trends. It takes a good long time to plan something, weave and finish it. Will that “trendy” color still be trendy by the time my handwoven hits to market? And who redecorates completely every year? A friend of mine doesn’t watch the color trends for just that reason. She creates large quantities of items for an established line and she can’t afford to have unsold pieces sitting around because a color has gone out of style.

The upside of color trends is that they are usually pretty broad. Look at most forecasts and you are bound to find some shade of your favorite hue. And the trends from previous years will carry over to a certain degree. The Marsala and Radiant Orchid of 2015 and 2016 still show up in 2017 forecasts, even if they are not called exactly that. Even the Emerald of 2014 shows up in home interior ads.

This is especially true for those of us living outside major urban areas. Often color trends on the coasts of the U.S. take a couple years to filter into the midsection of the country.

Yarns on Hand

But when it comes right down to it, when I’m planning a project, the colors come from my yarn on hand. When I stock up on yarn, I focus on colors that will “play well together” over time, to make something pleasing both to me and to the person who buys it.

So that’s the creative challenge for handweavers—using the yarn on hand in ways that will complement the current color trends without being limited to what someone else says we should choose.

Cotton Kitchen Towel in Aqua and Turquoise

I am not a color theorist, nor have I done any extensive study of color. What I know, or think I know, about color comes from paying attention to what’s in the market, what yarn colors are currently available, but most of all, what I like.

Look at the yarn on your shelf. What can you make from what you have?

This is it!

06 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by jeanweaves in Uncategorized, Weaving Inspiration

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Columbia Weavers & Spinners Guild, creative inspiration, Fiber Arts, Handweaving

After months of threading, weaving, hemming, meeting, and planning, this is it — our local guild’s annual Holiday Exhibition and Sale is here!

We’ve been doing this exhibition for 25 years now. Out of a guild averaging 100 members, 20-25 usually submit items to show and sell. Many other members have demonstrated, greeted, answered questions, and generally hung out at the museum for the weekend. We enjoy each other’s company!

Photo by Rebecca Bergfield

And this is one of the ways we reach out to our community to show them what we do and how we do it. Many people have only a vague idea of what weaving, spinning, felting, or paper-making involve. This is our chance to show them. It’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

There’s everything from handwovens (of course!) to alpaca fiber, ornaments to jewelry, baskets to handmade paper. If you are in the Columbia, Missouri area this weekend, stop by to see what we have. Details are at http://www.cwsg.missouri.org/holidaysale We’d love to meet you!

A small selection of handwoven towels. Photo by Rebecca Bergfield

Handmade Paper Art. Photo by Rebecca Bergfield

Unexpected Days Off

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by jeanweaves in Uncategorized

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Results of Monday’s winds

This week had a stormy start here in the Midwest that left me with some unexpected days off from weaving. I did get another towel woven on the red warp on Monday and part of a double weave bookmark. At the end of the day, I loosened the tension on both looms and went upstairs as normal.

However, Monday night we had straight-line winds that knocked out the power and a good portion of a couple of our trees. So this week I’ve been outside picking up sticks, waiting for call-backs from tree companies and insurance, and basically waiting around until the power came back on and I could see enough to work downstairs. We are grateful no one was hurt here and our thoughts go out to others not so lucky in other parts of the Midwest and points east.

The power came back on late yesterday, so now it is back to work.

The Joy of the Process

14 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by jeanweaves in Tatting, Uncategorized

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Fiber Arts, Tatting, Weaving

I had an interesting conversation with my mother this weekend. She met two women at a community presentation who gave a program on tatting.

Tatting is a form of lace making. When I was a child, my grandmother told me tatting was a dying art. That was all it took for me to try to learn how to do it. I don’t recall my grandmother tatting—my great aunt was the tatter in the family—but she knew how to point a child in the right direction! I learned the basics of rings and chains after a fashion, then set it aside.

One of my first finished pieces of tatting!

Fast forward to 2014. I mentioned to someone in my guild that I kept trying to tat, but not really knowing what I was doing, didn’t get much beyond a few rings. She organized a tatting class over two Saturday mornings and now I’m on my way again. Thanks, Ginny!

It seems that one skill leads to another and then to another. Some weavers spin in addition to weaving. Spinners often knit and crochet. Weavers and spinners sometimes dye their own fiber. And those with wool sometimes felt it. I surprised a fellow guild member recently by admitting that I spin. It’s a tactile activity that soothes the soul, and I enjoy it. Like I enjoy tatting, knitting, and crocheting. And I’ve even tried my hand at making a booklet. It’s the joy of the process, the joy of working with my hands.

Like my grandmother challenged me long ago, I challenge you to try something new. Pick up a craft you haven’t tried before or return to one you’ve set aside. Rediscover the joy of the process and working with your hands!

The Draft That Didn’t

20 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by jeanweaves in Napkins, Placemats, Uncategorized

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Handwoven, Napkins, Placemats

: Color Block Placemats off the loom

A funny thing happened with those napkins on my “To Weave” list. I started out with one plan and ended up with another. But let me go back a bit.

A couple months ago, I began purposely planning projects to use up some old yarn. I have some heavy cotton blend yarn in spring-like colors that were ripe for the weaving during those cold, snowy days. For the first project, I chose the medium orange (think tangerine), a perky red (strawberry–I see a theme here), and peach. The colors really do work together! They became color block placemats with an off-white cotton ground thread as the tie-down.

Color Block Placemats off the loom

As I weave placemats, I think about the napkins that should go with them. Not everyone uses napkins (my husband never seems to need one) but many of us need protection from our food. I’m speaking from personal experience here. And I like my napkins to at least pretend to go with my placemats. So when these placemats came off the loom, it was time to tackle the napkins.

I don’t have light weight cottons in colors to match the placemats perfectly, but I have plenty of off-white on hand. To add a little sparkle, I alternated mercerized and unmercerized across the warp. But I needed a weave structure that would play well with the bold blocks of the placemats. I turned to A Weaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns edited by Carol Strickler (1991 Interweave Press). In the chapter on twill blocks, there’s a nice twill and basketweave combination that looked like it would work, but after threading the loom and weaving for several inches, I wasn’t so sure. I checked my tie-up, my threading, and my treadling for errors, unwove and rewove, but it still didn’t match my mind’s picture for my napkins. So I took a walk to consider what to do with 8.5 yards of off-white warp threaded for block twill.

The obvious choice was to just treadle those twill blocks as they were threaded. Because I was using a 3/1 and 1/3 twill, the way the light hits the two blocks makes them look distinctively different, matt versus shine. The 10/2 cotton gives a nice hand to the cloth and with washing, will soften even more.

Twill block napkins on the loom

I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out after they are finished.

The Pause Between the Warps

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by jeanweaves in Uncategorized, Weaving Inspiration

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Handwoven, Weaving

It’s happened again: I finished up the warps on both my looms at the same time. There’s a great sense of accomplishment when I unwind the newly woven cloth. What started out as cones of yarn is now a web of cloth, just about ready to use (after preshrinking, hemming, and ironing). While I’m finishing the fabric, I’m thinking about what’s next?

I’m a firm believer in lists and like a lot of weavers, have a “What to Weave Next” list. The list is constantly evolving. What do I get excited about? What challenges me? What is an easy project to do after finishing those challenging ones? What have I been curious about, but never tried? What have I been putting off and should finally learn?

The “To Weave” list also includes what people have asked me about. Sometimes someone will say “What I’ve really been looking for is…” On to the list it goes! What seems to be popping up in all the ads? What color is promoted at the home stores?

Often I’ll get side-tracked and will go off on a weaving tangent not on my list. That’s okay; that’s what creativity is all about. The tangent should lead to more ideas.

So what is on my list? Since I just finished color block placemats in tangerine, melon and strawberry, I’ll be weaving napkins to go with them. The formal tablecloths from the big loom will probably get napkins as well, something more refined in finer thread. The towel stash needs to be replenished for the spring and summer. And the 2014 Color of the Year is Radiant Orchid (see http://www.Pantone.com) — guess what color will be showing up in the new warps?

What inspires you? What spurs you on to the next project? How do you decide what’s next? What’s on your list?

The Results are In!

17 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by jeanweaves in Doubleweave, Uncategorized

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Doubleweave, Finn Weaves, Handwoven

The Finnweave and doubleweave samples are finished and I learned a lot. It’s fun to try a new technique, all the while thinking about how I will use it in future projects. The Finnweave sample is on the left above. The sample on the right is doubleweave.

As a comparison, the Finnweave is threaded two by two: two threads of background, two threads of pattern, etc. Doubleweave is threaded one by one: one thread background, one thread pattern and so on. When weaving Finnweave, you pick up your design and throw the shuttle twice before you have to pick up the next row. In doubleweave, you have to pick up each row. That is the main reason Finnweave is considered faster to weave than doubleweave. Also in Finnweave, the diagonal lines are smoother than in the doubleweave. That may make a difference if you want to weave something with lots of diagonals. And while Finnweave is technically not reversible, the back side is still pleasing and usable. Doubleweave is completely reversible.

It took me a couple tries to figure out the Finnweave process. The green was my background color, pink the pattern color. So with every throw of the shuttle, I had to think about whether I needed the pattern to be horizontal (like the “stitching” along the bottom and top) or vertical (like the “stitching” along the sides). The pattern color is picked up on different rows depending on how it should look in the design. This slowed me down quite a bit and I had to unweave several mistakes.

The doubleweave sample went much faster. Perhaps it was because I’ve woven loom-controlled doubleweave, where the layers are interchanged with the treadles rather than picked up manually. Perhaps it was because I didn’t have to think about the horizontal or vertical pitch of the pattern thread. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed the weaving and went on to weave two other small samples of old graphed designs.

Now it is time to move on to other warps. But it will be interesting to plan how Finnweave and doubleweave will show up in projects to come.

jeanweaves

~ Jean Williams, Handweaver

Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Plays Well With Others”

Barn Raising

More on Opphämta

The Language of Color

This is it!

Unexpected Days Off

The Joy of the Process

The Draft That Didn’t

The Pause Between the Warps

The Results are In!