framing

i love the moment right before sleep, when the brain is no longer distracted by sight, and solutions are found. i had a particularly beneficial moment of inspiration a few nights ago, and solved the puzzle of how to finish my little weavings in an aesthetic way. essentially, mounting them between pieces of wood, and creating an open-backed frame around them. the backs of textiles are sometimes more interesting than the viewable side, so why not make it available?

the 1 inch width also allows you to perch the pieces on a bookshelf, instead of being constantly mounted on a wall. i am awaiting some cherry wood for a richer frame that would look amazing next to some of the weavings, and am quite pleased with this solution.

sometimes i wonder if i should try my hand at wood working, as i am oftentimes inspired by details such as dovetailing and butterfly joinery. lately i've been obsessed with all the varieties of wood there is; pink ivory, amboyna curl, zebrawood, cocobolo, purpleheart, bubinga, vera. it doesn't help that there are so many exceedingly fine drop spindles and shuttles being made out there with such nice woods.

little weavings

i've been struggling with my last couple of warps. i get an image in my head, not clear or precise, just go with it, and put planning aside. pretty much just warping first and thinking about the weft later. with this set of weavings it worked out well, as i was able to experiment with a variety of warp threads and techniques.

using a fine paper yarn and a strip of bunny fur created a light, tiny weave with open spaces woven in silk. i need to frame this one, but am still working on that part.

this one was a mixture of kasuri remnants from a previous piece; very speckled.

the curly weft threads all but lost the linen warp, which is cool, as it brought focus to the pile weavings. it was quite fun to try these surface embellishments, hopefully i can use them in future pieces.

linen on linen can be boring, but the pattern really comes through, and the shots of cochineal dyed cotton add interest.

this yellow thread was really fun, so chunky, and made the pattern huge compared to the first one. i played with some pile weaves and a chain stitch like weave in purple yarn.

there was a tiny bit of warp left, so i finished off with some cottolin and bamboo.

i have another linen warp now on the loom, but i'm a little lost as to what weft will be going on it. i had wanted to use a tsumugi silk yarn, but it completely overwhelms the warp, so i need to do some planning. i shall spin some wool, and think some more.