Wedge Weave

I'm at HGA Convergence in Albuquerque and spent the last two days in a class on wedge weaving. Wedge weaving is easy to identify by it's scalloped edges. It was originally done by the Navajos but possibly fell out of favor when interior designers equated straight selvages with quality. I had not heard of this type of weaving until reading about the class in the Convergence class catalog. I have been wanting to learn tapestry techniques and this was the closest I could come to at the conference. I googled "wedge weave" to find out what it was and looked at some traditional images (on right). I also checked out the instructor Connie Lippert and liked the contemporary way she was interpreting this traditional technique(below left).

Wedge weaving is unusual because the weaving is done at an angle, changing colors to create wedges, diagonals and arrow shapes. We all started out working on little cardboard looms learning how to begin each wedge, and how to change colors.

At right is my beginning cardboard sample.

We then moved on to our real looms and began our projects. I chose to go for the big shapes, minimal color, bold approach. I also used colors that were totally unlike me, I don't think I have ever used blue, red, and gray together.

Below is my beginning, middle and end of class project. I think I'm about half done after 10 hours of weaving. This did include some time for "unweaving" my errors and general slowness trying to figure out what to do next or begin the next section.

My weaving technique was in general, not great, but that would improve with practice. I also was using heavy yarn, which on one hand made the weaving go faster, but I also think it was harder to make it smooth and even since the three yarns packed differently. Or I could be making excuses...

I'm also including (below) the weaving starts from some of my classmates.

I probably won't get into wedge weaving in a big way, but the techniques are interesting and could see myself using this together with other tapestry techniques in my future work.

Single Weft Interlock

I'm finally getting back to my goal to learn tapestry techniques in 2010.

This is the joining system that says “tapestry” to me. Both colors go around the same warp making a very durable weaving. The finished piece can be hung horizontal or vertical without any sagging or bagging. It is slower to weave since you have to keep all the colors in the same row or they won’t interlock, so you’re always picking up the next butterfly and moving across, unlike some of the other methods where you can take one color and weave just that section because it doesn’t lock with the color next to it.

I did notice that if you made a straight vertical line, where both colors twined around the same warp, because two wefts came together, it would start to bulk up on that warp. So I guess the trick is to not go around the same warp to many times or use a different method of joining.

In my little double square tapestry I was fairly happy with the way it turned out, changing from two wefts to three and back again usually worked out the first time, but sometimes I had to remove or add a half a row to make the weft fall the right order with the raised and lowered warp.

Another pick-and-pick

I did another sample because I really need the practice. Do you see the amount of draw-in on that thing? Way too much for a weaving that size. And do you see the big error? I don't know how I did not see that as I was weaving. I must have wanted to get this done. Yes, I did some stripes in the middle to use up space. I could feel my frustration level starting to rise and I think I need to move on to another technique and come back to this another time.

My buddy Carroll, the author, gives some tips.


If this is a reversible tapestry, because the methods above create ridges on the back, just forget all this and cross the side wefts around each other.

Sure sounds easier.

If there are an uneven number of warps, you’ll only have to deal with one of the selvedge methods, instead of changing at each selvedge.

That has a certain comfort to it.

The author says she tends to like the second method (when it’s down, go around) because it tends to lay flatter and not curl, but when she does pick-and-pick in the middle of a row, she likes the first method best, because she thinks it’s easier to go around a raised warp in the middle of a row.

There’s always something.

My conclusion: As I worked my second pick-and-pick sampler, I tried to change what I was doing more often. Trying to make a checkerboard type pattern was fairly challenging, figuring out how to introduce the yarn without making a blob of yarn or a hole. My sample is far from perfect. What I did like was carrying an unused weft up the side of the weaving and not having it show until I was ready to introduce it again. That was a nice way to not having to keep starting and stopping after using a color for only three rows.


I can see the possibilities for using this technique, especially the checkerboard type pattern for introducing subtle color and texture in an area.

Pick-and-pick

This is the tapestry technique where you use two different colored wefts going the same direction, but in opposite sheds, so to create vertical stripes. When I did this on my first sample I just twisted the two ends, one weft over the other, and started back across the warp. This created a multi colored edge which is not correct and doesn’t make a good selvedge. So to Carol K. Russell’s, “The Tapestry Handbook” I went and read the instructions.

If both butterflies are at one selvedge, the shed has been opened for weaving the next row, and the selvedge warp is raised, then the yarn of the next butterfly to be woven should be underneath the selvedge warp, and the other butterfly should be over the selvedge warp.

(Photo to right, example of bad twisted edges)

Ok, got it, I’m ready.

Carry the active butterfly over the yard of the resting butterfly, under the selvedge warp and into the shed. Tug slightly on the yarn of the active butterfly, causing the yarn of the resting one to slip around the selvedge warp. This maneuver also steers the yarn of the active butterfly over the second warp from the selvedge, its correct position for the row. Note that the active butterfly has completely avoided the selvedge warp. Bubble and beat this row.

Huh??? It’s a good thing there were some pictures to look at. I could see what was supposed to happen and when I followed the instructions it worked! It was really pretty slick.

(Photo to right, example of better/not perfect edges)
Change sheds, and weave the second butterfly. As this butterfly is carried into the shed, it automatically makes a second trip over the selvedge warp, compensating for this warp’s being skipped by the first butterfly. Bubble and beat this row. Observe the neat progression of vertical stripes. Each warp including the selvedge warp is neatly covered by only one weft color. (The reverse side of the tapestry will have a double-width stripe of one color along the selvedge, but the right side of the tapestry will be perfect.)


Well, that was pretty cool; one yarn doing a little snake dance and hiding underneath and the other covering the warp working perfectly. I can do this.

But wait, that’s not all…

The above instructions are for if the selvedge warp is raised. It’s completely different if the warp is lowered.

If both butterflies are at one selvedge, the shed has been opened for weaving the next row, and the selvedge warp is lowered, then the yarn of the next butterfly to be woven should be over the selvedge warp, and the yarn of the other butterfly should be under the selvedge warp. In these circumstances, the next butterfly to be woven should be the one covering the selvedge warp. First in order to avoid crossing the two yarns, place the resting butterfly out of the way on the woven surface – not the unwoven warps. Wrap the active butterfly twice around the lowered selvedge warp. After the second wrap, carry it through the shed, all the way across the row. Two wraps of the selvedge warp with the first color compensate for its being skipped by the second color. Bubble and beat this row, and change sheds for the next.


Who would have thought…

The second butterfly can be woven through the shed with no special manipulation. Notice that it completely avoids the selvedge warp. Bubble and beat this row.

This all sounds fairly simple, at least once you go through it and see that the words do make sense, but I had to continually look at the directions. I finally got a rhyme going for when the warp was lowered – “when it’s down, go around” (wrap the butterfly twice around the selvedge) -- but I never did think of a rhyme for “up” or “raised.” My selvedges are far from perfect, this will take more practice before I will know what to do instinctively just by looking at the situation.

I can weave diagonals

I know this is a simplistic tapestry, but I’m LEARNING. After doing the first little weaving I decided I would do another practice piece of just diagonals, I now feel pretty good about this technique using 2 colors, I think I’ll go for three before moving on to another technique. My learning style for tapestry weaving seems to be “find ways to have small successes,” and for me finishing a 4” x 5” weaving seems to work. Someone told me I should felt them when I’m done, not a bad idea…

I’m also continuing to work on the burlap fiber pieces, they take a larger block of time than my tapestry learning. The burlap is into the 3-d building phase, this is when I attached the perpendicular pieces that will later be trimmed and coated with GAC-400 to keep them upright.

Photos: I shred the burlap, so I have some long fibers to poke through the burlap, the fibers then get tied on the back side and ta daa! They stand up on the viewing side.

Stones into Schools

OK, this has nothing to do with fiber art in any way, but I just finished reading “Stones into Schools” by Greg Mortenson. It’s comforting to know something good is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan rather than just the horrors we read in the paper. Greg Mortenson also author of “Three Cups of Tea” (read that one first) has been building schools in these countries for years – with the emphasis on education for girls, believing literacy will do more for peace than anything else. The work he is doing is astounding, but I will let the books talk for themselves as I cannot do them justice.

My favorite quotes are: an African proverb, “If you teach a boy, you educate and individual; but if you teach a girl, you educate a community.” According to the book in military parlance, girls’ education is a “force multiplier” – and in impoverished Muslim societies, the ripple effects of female literacy can be profound… Young women are the single biggest potential agents of change in a developing world. – WOW!

Another quote comes much later in the book when they have also started some classes for older women who lost out on the chance for an education when they were younger. “When women take charge, things start to get out of control really fast.” Talking about how whatever these women learned, whether it be how to read or use a cell phone the knowledge spread like wildfire, Greg’s men in the field couldn’t even keep track on how many women’s lives were being changed.

How lucky/spoiled we are to have been born in the U.S. of A. We can work, earn money and spend our free time making art. We can quilt and make “pretty” things to hang on walls; they don’t have to keep anyone warm.

What a luxury.

Secret places

I’m working on the computer at my day job, (actually I’m writing this) but thinking of stitching burlap. Waiting until I can steal time away during a break or lunch to work on my project. I usually go across the street to one of three buildings and sit in their lobbies, pull out my project and get to work. I try to rotate my destination so as to not always be in the same place at the same time. Technically these are private areas; I suppose I could be kicked out for loitering or not have business to accomplish in the building, so I try not to call attention to myself. They all have cafes in them, so at lunch I could have a reason for being there and hanging out in the lobby, but I’m usually not buying the food provided there. It was suggested that I should carry a glass or cup previously obtained so it looks like I just purchased…


I have one place at lunch that I particularly like, it’s quiet, a nice big space, has great light, and looks out onto a patio/open space; when I rains I can watch the drops plop into the water feature/stream right outside - perfect for stitching fabric. There's one exception, usually a security guard posted there. She doesn’t seem to mind that I’m using their space, but still, I don’t go there every day.

First "tapestry"

This is my first “tapestry” as I attempt to teach myself something new. I glanced at my book, ignored the first instructions and jumped in. The bottom vertical strips were the first part to be done working with 2 “shuttles.” Basically the dark color is followed by the light color, both traveling in the same direction, when it comes to returning the other way I just did a twist of one color over the other and went on my merry way. In looking closely at my selvages I didn’t really like the way it looked and when I referred to the book, I had of course not done it the “best” way or the correct way according to the book.

Now this is exactly why I did not want to produce a “sampler” -- all the techniques in one weaving  -- while learning techniques, at this point I would be so annoyed that it doesn’t look nice that I would either unweave it and start over or procrastinate and slowly (very slowly) continue. But the way I’m doing it, I can completely start over putting the “bad” one aside; I can also do another variation to practice the technique. Maybe it’s easier for me to focus on one technique per project. Having something finished – yea! victory! And then move on to the next project. I also have “cute” little weavings suitable for a doll house or maybe coasters – never underestimate the “cute” factor on the satisfaction scale.
I did like doing the angled weaving part, I’ll do more of that for practice building up some confidence for when I get the nerve to do curves and someday a circle!

What is tapestry?

For a brief moment I wondered what the official definition of tapestry was, so to “The Tapestry Handbook” by Carol K Russell came:

Tapestry is the interweaving of discontinuous weft yarns with tensioned warp yarn through two alternate sheds, resulting in a firm, weft-surface textile constructed concurrently with the description of its design. Taken as a whole, this definition identifies tapestry’s distinctive elements.

Uh huh, ok well fine… I knew my first little sample was not tapestry, but I wanted to see what weaving on the little toy loom was like. There are a lot of disadvantages, like hard to tension evenly, no shed to open, it was more like needle weaving, but I still think I can get the techniques down, and convenience factor was high – I could carry it anywhere.


“discontinuous weft yarns” In most hand-weaving techniques, a weft yarn is passed continuously across each row of weaving. Since the direction of the weft is reversed only at a selvedge (an outside edge), weft colors are all interchanged vertically. By contrast, tapestry technique involves several wefts in each row of weaving. Because they can be entered, deleted, or reversed at any point in the row, color can be shifted horizontally.


My little stripe weaving does not meet this criteria.

“two alternate sheds” Tapestry weave is the simplest of all woven structures, universally known as “tabby” or “plain weave” – that is, each weft is woven over and under successive warps, in opposite order to the weft preceding it.


Definitely fits this.


“weft surface textile” Horizontal rows of tightly woven weft completely cover he vertical warps and thus form the surface of the textile.


Ditto on this one.


“constructed concurrently with the description of its design” In most visual arts (painting, for instance), the artist adds an image to an existing surface (in this case, a canvas). In tapestry, however, the artist constructs the image and the surface at the same time. This last criterion helps differentiate tapestry from other types of textiles. Embroidery stitched onto a woven surface may be fiber art, but it cannot correctly be defined as tapestry, it does not form the essential structure of the textile.


Ok, there is not really any image, but it does form the “essential structure.”


My sample is a pretty weak attempt, but others will follow more fitting of the definition of “tapestry.”

Happy 2010

I started this blog to journal the year in the U of W Fiber Arts Program. After we had our final show, the blog came to an end, but with a new year I think it's time to start again.

The update on the class: some of us continue to meet once a month to see what we're up to and to give encouragement and advice. We are currently planning a show for the month of March at a cafe in the University district. There will be eleven of us participating. We started a "portfolio blog" that shows the final projects of the remaining 11 members and it gets updated whenever someone has a piece in a show somewhere.

I am going to continue to work on the burlap pieces until I get a "body of work" or feel I have taken the idea as far as I can. I think parts of this work will move forward into my next exploration, but how that will play out, I can only guess at this time. (at right; "Canyonlands," 30" x 32")

One of my goals for the year is to explore other related fiber techniques. It may include card weaving, inkle loom, kumihimo, finger weaving and learning tapestry trechniques. My thought behind this is that you never know what will spark an idea and I think it's important for me to have a variety of techniques to draw on.

I'm in ANWG!!!

I know it's been forever since I posted... Spring is such a busy time even without school projects to work on. But...

I was notified today that I'm in the Juried Show at ANWG (Association of northwest guilds) in Spokane at the end of May. yea!!! I actually designed the piece last summer before taking the fiber arts class, so I think my stuff is more interesting now, but hey, who cares, it's a good thing.

Work on the final project is progressing, I'm pretty happy so far how it looks --- it's sort of a fantasy topographic map -- more later.

Our group project is due before that -- we're doing mini parachutes and launching them inside the Library in the atrium on Wednesday, May 20.

I feel like I'm being pulled many ways -- class projects, gardening, bike riding, getting stuff ready for the conference, plus work and day to day stuff -- somehow it will all get done... maybe.

The 2 week weaving is done

It is off the loom and I'm tying ends, but it is not ready to hang so I would not exactly call it finished, but good enough to evaluate. I like parts of it. I also see what else can be done and what is possible, but over-all it needs work, I can see where I went wrong and I can also see where my dyeing technique needs to improve.


Execution

In creating the dyed pattern, I thought that it would be boring to have large areas of the same color. I wanted more depth to the piece so I started dyeing the warp in gradations of color from the outside in. On top of that was going to go a subtle gradation of the same color to mimic the gradation of the window blinds, but in weaving the two together I see that I have too much going on. It’s distracting. It is more distracting in the green area than the blue area on the bottom.


The weft gradation dyeing that I loved so much wrapped on the pvc pipe ended up sometimes being dyed on only one side of the yarn. Although they were in the dye bath for quite a long time, I think they were wound so tight the dye couldn't penetrate through, so I ended up with white streaks where there should have been dark blue, adding to the busyness of the piece.

In trying to dye just one small area -- the bright yellow oranges, where the "light was shining through" I was not careful enough and dyed too large of an area so there is a lot of the orange mixing with the dark green. Some of this seeping is would be kind of interesting, but there is so much of it. I see that is possible to dye, or paint a certain area with dye and have that be the design, the subject of the work, I just need to be more careful. I also need to plan for the "accidents" that will happen and let them happen in the most pleasing way.

Reflection

I think I had a solid concept, something good to explore. I thought about it, kept revising it in my sketchbook, but I rushed when I got to the dyeing part of the execution and made decisions without thinking them totally through. I also needed experience and more practice exploring dyeing techniques to get what is in my head to the yarn. How can I make it more accurate?

I like the idea of the piece. I like that there is a technical challenge in the painting or dyeing of the fibers. I also like the excitement of starting to weave and put it all together. Have I dyed the parts so they end up in the right place? Will the colors in the warp and weft mix well together? I want to continue exploring this dye/painting idea.

I also like the strong colors, some of it is probably the newness of these acid dyes which I have only begun to use, but on the other hand I also think it is time to refine my palette. I think the total color of this piece is too dark. If I lighten up the colors I use and try not to be so dramatic, the colors will achieve something more sophisticated, more depth and richness in a more subtle way. The dyeing "accidents" which are going to happen will probably blend more pleasingly with softer colors.

2 week weaving continued again and again

My life. Go to work, eat, go upstairs and warp loom. Hopefully Saturday I will be weaving.


Photos: warping the loom and little bundles of weft ready to be woven.

2 week weaving continued again

I've started warping the loom last night -- still on schedule to get my project done for next week. These are the dyeing photos from the weekend. The top one is a small part of the warp dyed, this it the "letting in the light" part, Hopefully it will line up where I need it to when it's woven.

This is the top half of the warp dyed, this is what got done on Saturday. You may notice some plastic type pieces tied around the warp, this was to prevent the dye from spreading to far in that part; sort of like tie-dye.

When the warp was completely dyed it got hung up outside in front of the garage so all the neighbors could look at it. It also hangs outside until it stops dripping so it could come inside the nice warm house to dry.

The bottom photo is the weft dyed. For this project I wound four strands of yarn around large pvc pipe so I can dip it in the dye and get one long gradation for each strand of yarn. This should create the gradations of the "blinds" that I'm trying to incorporate. I really like how these came out, they may not work out as planned for this project, but they sure have me thinking about doing something with this idea for the next one.

2 week weaving continued

I guess I need to go back to the beginning of the assignment...

The project that I'm using for my "past" example is the one featured in this blog on Sunday, December 28, 2009 and Thursday, January 1, 2009. (It's still not really finished, ends tied and ready for hanging.) Upon "Reflection" (using the four aspects of the Creative Process) I'm thinking over how I came about to do this project. I think I just put the idea into my book, not even putting in the time to finish the sketch. I was getting back into weaving and just wanted to get going on something. There wasn't really a concept, certainly not any incubation time where I really thought about it. I was also in a hurry to try these acid dyes that I had bought, seeing what I would get for colors. I got the yarn dyed and had it on the loom by the time the Fall fibers class started and there it sat until we had a break at Christmas when I finished weaving it. I guess I thought the colors were nice and intense, but now after going to class I wasn't really satisfied with it, because it didn't really say anything. After awhile I gave it a name "Breaking Through," I thought it was fitting with what I had been learning. So I guess I gave it a concept after I was finished with it, not exactly the best plan.


The new project I'm working on for the assignment...

During the fall I was mulling over what I was hearing in class, trying to break free from the geometrical, balanced gradations that I had been doing. Musing in my head about how much information there was about us out there for anyone to find out. And how much we are even inviting strangers into our lives through blogs, Facebook, etc. We don't really know who's reading about us, watching us, listening...

I was also looking at the blinds in our house liking the repeating horizontal lines, the gradation within each slat. Thinking if someone pulled the blinds apart to spy or peak out, this light would also be released. I thought about it for awhile and finally made this sketch a few days later. I continued to think about it, how I would dye the yarns to achive it, could I really dye the yarns with enough accuracy to make it work?

I kept going back to the sketch in my book, revisiting the idea, thinking about how I could make it happen. So when the possibility of doing a weaving came up, this project was just waiting to happen.

Final 50

I'm way behind on posting, so I'll probably skip a lot just to get caught up.

The 50 collages. Practically everyone had 50 collages done! (or close enough). Well wack me in the head! I was so wrong about this, these people are obsessed with completion! They either have more time or work much faster than I do at putting things together. I'll show some photos of classmate's work, but unfortunately a photo with 50 items in it doesn't show very well in the small format of this site, but many of them I really liked and thought were very well done. I applaud them all,


I'll start with my own. My theme for the first collage project was "what would an echo look like." I was thinking of hearing the sound and how would I interpret it in shape and sound. Out of the 50 sketches I did, I picked a few to do in real materials, a few of them with photos cut from magazines, but I didn't like them much, so I won't waste the space here.

Macomber Looms

When I was out in New England last fall I decided to visit Macomber Looms and see where my loom was "born" many years ago. We drove down two lane Beech Ridge Road outside of York, Maine until we found the factory. It was as one would expect; a barn-like sturcture with a woodshop inside. When we first arrived we went upstairs to find someone to talk to, but only found tables with piles of paper on them - not much for computers in this place.


Downstairs we found the man in charge and he gave us a brief history as we walked around the place. Several looms were in various constuction stages and a few looked like they were ready to ship. I asked is all this was done by the two people I saw there, but he said "no, there were usually seven, but it was huntin' season." The maple comes from the lumberyard down the road and I think they manufacture the entire loom right there except for the heddles. I was giggling on the inside and had a big smile on my face on the outside. How wonderful to be standing right there where something is actually made all in one place -- should I say it? - in America.


How local, how simple and personal.

Off the loom

The project is off the loom. I have many knots to tie and figure out how to complete the finishing so it can hang on the wall.

I know what I want to start next, better get started winding warp.

On the loom

I dyed this wool during the summer and got the loom almost warped before the U of W fiber class started. The top photo shows my excellent drying work space in the garage. Open the doors of the paint cabinet, throw a stick across the top and you have a drying rack. Makes a nice composition with the bicycle.

The other photo is the project on the loom. It's a simple double weave project and it's going fast. I only have four harnesses and limited in how complex I can get, so I'm seeing how far I can go design-wise just using the dyeing part to create interesting projects. I have purchased more parts for the loom, so I will move onto more complex weaves, but may continue with just the 4 harnesses for at least one more project.

Snow slowdown

All of the class photos I have of our fall final projects are up, I guess class is really over now. The lack of class and the snow has given me time to catch up on many other tasks. My goal is to get the weaving that has been on the loom half warped; woven and off the loom. Getting the weaving "finished" as in ready to hang up, is another task, but I should at least be able to get a good start on it before going back to class for winter quarter.