Next weekend (Oct 30-31) my three-weekend tapestry workshop at the Southwest School of Art starts. We have thus 6 days (1- am- 3 pm) to work on projects there. I often work on my portable Hagen loom, since I can continue the work at home. I started the lettering tapestry there in July. I could of course continue to work on the lettering tapestry but I believe there are some technical difficulties. I will take some pictures when I get home tonight. The problems:
- I think perhaps my sett is too wide (too few ends per inch). I noticed, when I prepared to take pictures of it, that the warp threads are creating very visible ribs in the tapestry.
- I need to rework how I am using color on the gray background letters. I wanted a sort of pencilled look, but used just one weft bundle with a couple of shades of the same gray. I think I need to experiment with combining different grays and with doing some hatching -- the part I did looks very flat to me.
I came up with another idea then for the workshop, one that would let me continue to work on the color wheel. I though, in preparation for weaving the Clip-Horizontal, and pursuing the question of developing copper colors, I should do a color sample. I could experiment with different ways of weaving different colors to achieve the effect I want. As per your earlier comment, I could try different weft blends and weaving with complements, different background colors, etc. I could also do the same with different grays, to develop the look I want for the background letters for the lettering tapestry.
This idea appeals to me because it lets me focus on what we are talking about here on the blog; puts it into practice; and also structures the sampling into those three weekends.
What do you think?
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ReplyDeleteI cannot make a comment on the lettering project until I see it. There are several reasons why ribs might form.
ReplyDelete1 Sometimes when using a small frame there is not enough elasticity in the warp and one set of warps will pull slightly tighter than the other set. This usually happens, in my experience, on small simple basic wooden frame looms, where you do not have a great deal of weaving space and the warp gets tighter as you weave.
2 The other cause of ribbing is that one hand is usually slightly stronger than the other and the weft is pulled slightly tighter on the passes in one direction. Are both your selvedges exactly vertical and straight?
Usually a warp that is not at the right sett will ie too far apart will result in a softer feel to the fabric of the tapestry, and it will feel spongy, if the weft bundles are not thick enough.
What kind of warp do you use?
I will make an additional posting on thoughts about greys and post a couple of images of Kay Lawrence's tapestries, she has designed tapestries where pencil marks, have had to be interpretated.
It is up to you whether you continue with the lettering tapestry (as it is now)at the SW School or start a new project with the sampling of colours both in Clip Horizontal and the letter, and work out the interpertation of the letter.
ReplyDeleteIf you choose to do the sampler you have not got much time between now and the weekend to choose the colours. I will also psot something on complimentary colours, I could not find the tapestry sample I was thinking about but have found another sample that will be useful.
As you started the letter tapestry at the School it might be useful to take it in for comment and feedback anyway.
I shall look forward to seeing the scanned image. When you upload the image and it is on the preveiw page you can click on the image and a small dialogue box will come up with a choice of sizes for the image, choose either largest size or original size
You might also like to look at the thickness of your weft bundle, sometimes too much weft also gives the ribbed effect
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