Investigations in colour, 2012
The making of ...
little investigations. In between the big woven pieces I weave these small studies of 34 x 40 cm to test variations in weaving techniques. Leading to variations in form and colour. And yes; the long white stripes are warp floats!
Course Summer and Winter
In the winter of 2011-2012 my Weavers Guild "De Kaardebol" = "The Teasel" wanted to do a small two day course Summer and Winter weave together with our neighbour Guild "De Heerder Hevels" = "The Heddles form Heerde". Together we had enough participants to pay for a teacher. We really enjoyed learning something together and looking at the different results.
Balconies
I took inspiration from two apartment buildings in Oslo, especially the vertical lines and the balconies appeal to me.
Design on four shafts
The first design is only on four shafts. Why use more shafts if it is not necessary?
Testing unusual variations
I beamed up a black wool and white cotton warp.
The weft for this test was dark red wool for pattern and black sewing thread for tabby.
I experimented with leaving out the tabby in some parts which resulted in long black and white warp floats, see photo. These floats hang loose when the fabric is of the loom and no longer under tension. I don't like that.
Furthermore I didn't like the dark red wool because it is too thick and too dark.
Testing materials
So I started another experiment with different yarns for the weft; from light orange to dark red in linen, wool and coton.
I liked the orange and the thin wool and decided to continue with this type of wool in different colours.
Investigations 1 and 2 on the loom
Investigation number 1 in red and number 2 in orange on the loom. The slight difference is that number 2 has even a little less tabby and therefore longer warp floats.
Investigation number 3
Investigation number 3 in lilac is all about shifting foreground and background and weaving within weaving.
The left strip of balconies is similar to Investigation number 2, the orange one, but the middle and the right strip start to move around on their own. Some rectangular forms hide partly behind the white floats, some disappear completely. This is how I tried to suggest depth and perspective.
I needed two extra blocks to get this done, so this Investigation is on six shafts.
Investigation number 4
In Investigation number 4 in purple, the rectangular forms start to distort.
At the same time they do not stay in place vertically.
This is a weaving on eight shafts because I again needed two extra blocks for the extra variation.
All four workpieces
All four works were stretched around a wooden frame. That is the way I present my work.
From left to right see the progress in freedom of form.
Jubilee exhibition of Weefnetwerk
All four the little investigations were exhibited at the 2013 jubilee exhibition of Weefnetwerk, the national weaving guild.
