Some design work

Just a few things I've been working on lately using double weave techniques with black and white yarns. Even though painting out designs can be time consuming, I love the process. After I've chosen my colours and yarns, I usually sit down and mix them up in gouache and ink, play around with ideas as I go. Illustrator comes in handy if I want to try out other colour combinations or work on scale and balance. I have eight days of my residency left and plans for four different warps. Not impossible, but certainly ambitious. I just bought a few new colours in silk that I want to try out in a triple weave design. That is, if I can get my head around how it all works.  

I've been wanting weave a warp and weft ikat fabric for a while and have resisted. Mostly because the process itself is very labour intensive and you need to be exact in your set up. Once on the loom, it's quite easy to weave, and it calls for using simple weave structures. I'm thinking of layering slight changes in dye colour over one another. The design itself will either be a luna or triangle motif, and was thinking I might use either linen or silk yarn. Linen can be troublesome to weave with, but certainly always worth it in the end.   

Double weave

I was thinking that I might not figure this out in time. Time being the three weeks before all of my work is due. Double weave in six blocks and on twenty four shafts. A little lesson in life is that the best things come when you least expect it. I was almost going to re-thread the loom to weave something that wasn't as complicated before I wove this sample, but I'm glad I didn't.

I miss my typewriter. It didn't like the fact that I kept using the full stop and not much else. My typewriter man said that it was too big a job to fix but I might give it a go over summer. I always wanted to get my hands dirty and try to fix something mechanical, so I figure here is my chance.

A few more ideas with ink.