Designed2Weave

Pressure was on, as soon as we finished one project we had to have ideas for the next. 

I chose to base my project on woodland mosses and lichen on oak trees in a nearby wood.  It is north facing and really damp and fairly undisturbed.  I spent a few happy hours drawing and stick painting and using my finger in the mud.  Fab fun.

I did quite a bit of artwork but as usual one image tends to work its way into my head and my designs more than the others.  This is the one.  I loved the chalky greens with the bark showing through and the bright mosses on top.

I ordered some gorgeous yarns from Rennies in Scotland.  Cheviot.  But then had big concerns about how fine they were.  In my last project, I vowed never to do any fine work again.  Ah well. 

Sampling went pretty well.  I wanted to explore the idea of Estate Tweeds -they take the colours from the landscape for camoflaging the estate workers in scotland.  One traditional weave structure for this (amongst many checks) is herringbone.  I thought the diagonal lines in this reminded me of the fronds of moss.    The best samples were the ones that I felted in the machine.  I have used boucle and linens in some.  I am pretty pleased so far.  The samples are hard to photograph – the colours are a bit muted but they look ok in real life.

I plan to make bags, with some leather in.  I have found the right brown leather and some perfect lining.  I have warped up my table loom for as wide as it will weave and am about to weave my first batch of material. Really exciting. Then comes the stressful bit – the sewing of the leather.  But I am on target time-wise.  I decided against using the floor loom this time. I haven’t got time to sort out problems with it at the moment.  So all in all, things are going pretty well – 8 weeks to final show!

Thanks Margreet for prompting me to do a post.  I get so behind with reporting where I am up to, that it seems to hard to start.  But…..(jumping about 6 months work)…. here goes.

I finished my project on Morecambe Bay.  I produced a linen cushion with rippling effect.  I used some felting wool at intervals in the weft and when washed at 40 degrees in the washer, it gathered up nicely.  The only problem was, that because it gathers, it meant that I had to weave a very wide piece of fabric.  I had to use my floor loom which was new and wasn’t set up perfectly.  I didn’t have time to sort it so I just ploughed on with it.  I was really happy with the end result

It will always remind me of the coast where I grew up and it’s great to have a souvenir of the Bradford Course